It was, before the ADA required banks to replace any ATM that could not handle audio integration. That was about 2-3 years ago. OS/2 typically could not handle the hardware upgrade necessary for the required audio. The banking industry paid millions, maybe billions, to upgrade tens of thousands of ATMs. Diebold, NCR and Hyosung made out like bandits.

What about Johnstown, when a dam built by a railroad company collapsed, killing well over 2000 people. Yes, at the time the dam belonged to a club run by industrialists as a hunting and fishing preserve, but it was still an industrial accident.

Great. A new version of Java. Many of my vendors do not support 7u51. Now we got 8. When I hear someone propose a Java solution, I reach for my firewall.

Most people on this thread understand that a cheap Boeing 737 costs about 60 million USD. For $100,000, knowing that an jetliner could not be lost, that is a sum the public may demand that the airlines pay. That is to say, for about 1/10 of 1% of the cost of a very cheap jetliner, this sort of massive charlie foxtrot would likely not take place again.

Further, there is a long tradition of government interference being required in the transportation industry to force changes that benefit overall public safety. Railroad history is rife with them, including entire political parties (The Grange) put together in an effort to boost regulation of a necessary industry. If the government is going to give away airports and airspace, allow jetliners to dump pollutants into the air, and provide gaterape security, then it is not unreasonable to ask airline companies to pony up 1/10th of 1% of the cost of an airplane to improve security.

Didn't Heinlein write a short story about something similar? "Life-Line" I think it was called.

To quote Chester "Snake" Turley: "Oh no, Beta."

Mom?

OK. When you say Barack Hussein Obama, you just sound like a dick. I am a Patron level NRA member. I go to church. I vote Republican. I do not like Obama's policies. I am conservative.

But when you go on about the Hussein garbage, you are just making yourself and people like you sound like a racist. The reason why: You are racist.

Turncoat dixiecrat morons have invaded the GOP. You have dragged us down. You took a once noble and progressive party and made it irrelevant.

Stop it. Just stop it. Stop being racist. If you cannot, please take your festering hatred and crawl under a rock.

You are not civilized. You are not genteel. You are not polite nor engaging. You perpetuate stereotypes that are harmful to people whom really want restrained and controlled government.

Your opposition of a man's middle name (and cultural ancestry / skin color) is an embarrassment to people who would oppose Obama's policies because they are bad.

Either stop your behavior or go away. If you persist in your vile behavior, you are damaging the party and the country.

I am under no such belief. Nevertheless, it does not mean that a man cannot regret things that happened. Obama is a man, and most men are good. He might, for the sake of getting things done in Washington, ignore the morals of pardoning Snowden. However, on the last day in office it is common for presidents to pardon people that really deserve it, but it is politically inopportune to pardon. I believe Snowden definitely falls into this category. I also believe that a good man would pardon him.

A Presidential Pardon, issued at 11:58 am on January 20, 2017.

Seriously, Snowden's a hell of a guy and did a real good thing - they even recognize this by their claims for the need to limit the actions of the NSA. But the administration cannot condone his actions. Hence, a last minute presidential pardon is the only politically viable option.

At the moment, never. The energy usage is too great for the average person to be able to afford. The mean hours between failure is atrocious, especially given the catastrophic results of failure. What you propose would require a technological seachange, one that cannot be predicted at the present time.

(If you are being sarcastic, then good job.)

Ships did OK on coal.

Agreed.

To keep it from killing things I want to kill or to keep it from interfering with me reintroducing a species, such as wild turkeys.