Correction: Good parenting means not letting your children become shit, regardless of the state of the school, corporations or politicians in control down the road.

I would go off what amazon.com reports on browser usage in the US.

Why does this anonymous coward get to decide what is good and what is bad for the rest of us?

This is one part I hate about socialism and communism, these centralized economic systems allow for people (or committees of people) no smarter and often less intelligent than the common individual to make arbitrary decisions for the greater good.

The beauty of capitalism (and why the US should work to get back to a pure capitalist society) is that each of us as individuals can decide for ourselves, vote with our money, with our goods, with our services and support things we like and ignore things we do not.

And since it would be the pension funds, that would mean this whole occupy movement is against pension fund members. You know, people like middle-class teachers, middle-class union members, state and federal government employees, etc.

This whole "war on the 1%" is such BS, for several reasons:

1. After the current 1% is removed or looted, there will still be a 1%.
2. The collateral damage to people who work or earn a living from the 1% will be tremendous. I know you are going to think I am crazy when I say this, but in my experience, rich people have often hired me to do work for them and not once has a poor individual given me a good job.
3. The reality of the situation is that while the occupy camp claims to be against the 1%, this claim is done to make a false majority and gain support. When in reality occupy types are truly against "anyone with more stuff". Once you recognize this, you will understand why they attack employees of Google.

There are several useful additions to 8.1 that you would probably enjoy.

1. Right clicking the Metro/Start icon (8.1) or Metro screen corner(8), gives you quick access to most common management tools, insanely convient.
2. Search ability from Metro screen is fantastic, just bring it up and begin typing.
3. Useful with touch screen monitor
4. Snap windowing options, great if you use a large screen and want to have apps side by side, OK in 8, great in 8.1
5. Simple and clean switching between user accounts with just mouse
6. Powershell is awesome, while product of .NET framework and not specific Windows version, PS makes windows a great scripting environment

I do a fair amount of Linux administration and back in the day MS gave me a free copy of Vista Business and Office 2007 to lure me over, I took advantage of it. I upgraded it to 8 for $39.99 and then 8.1 for free. I use this machine for Visual Studio when I need it and also for watching media, either DVDs, youtube or Amazon.

The issues I hear about Windows 8 and 8.1 are the same issues I hear about Gnome3. In both cases, I suggest people use them for 30 days. You will find useful benefits and they are both getting tweaks and upgrades all the time.

Why are we fixated on trying to artificially diversify professions?

The PC BS has to stop at some point. There are some professions and things that men prefer more than women and others that women prefer more than men.

I will give you one example of this insanity:

In the mid-nighties a friend of my parents came over all upset. She was a manager for a publisher and all except one of her editors were female. She explained that men did not have a strong desire to edit textbooks. The only male she could find that was both good and interested cost her over double the rate of any other female editor. The reason was that she had to hire him away from another employer so that she could meet a diversity requirement from some of the states who purchased her textbooks.

Well, this male editor ended up getting an even higher offer from a different publisher. As she sat at my parents table saying "Men just do not enjoy or wish to be editors as much as women do. How am I ever going to find enough men who are both good and interested in doing this job?"

It was at this point that my dad who worked in IT at the time walked in and heard this statement. He said "I have the same diversity issue at work, they would like to have more women in IT, but most women don't want to be in IT."

At this point my mom suggested the simple solution, she explained how my dad was paying good women more money than men to work in IT when he could find them and sometimes not as good women when he had nothing else. So my parents friend ended up hiring three not so good male editors and just had whatever they edited initially sent back through to other editors.

Was that fair? Was it right? No, it was what the government wanted.

People walk around saying "Diversity is our goal" or "Diversity unites us". Yeah, that last one goes up at a state office building each April, I go to their lobby just to laugh at their mini-ministry of truth.

The truth is so much simpler. Hire people who are interested in learning/growing in the areas related to their work. Don't worry about how the numbers turn out. The only reason companies worry about diversity is because of some BS forms some bureaucrats asks them to fill out. Don't let your world be shaped by this nonsense. If asked be honest, explain you do not discriminate, you only hire the best qualified.

(I agree, I do need an editor)

So only 1% of the people who drive the car home to comparison shop between body shops or are waiting to hear from the other drivers insurance are screwed. Well then it is OK if their garage goes up in flames.

So why do we have crash tests? Oh right right, to use as evidence against the car companies the US government does not own.

If we applied science and we have test results ending with multiple cars catching on fire (even if delayed). Those results should either prove the car unsafe for the real world or discredit the test.

Don't steal it, patent it.

We in the US live in a republic, which, is much better than living in a democracy.

Just to be a dick, I'll point out that given we have a trading deficit, if no foreign countries wanted to trade with us, it seems reasonable that it would lead to more American jobs in the long run as we'd have to make things we needed and wanted here, instead of places like China. It would also hurt those holding cash (banks and insurance companies) the most and reduce pressure on those owning money. No doubt defaulting now would suck, but it would be better then our current model, which is to keep borrowing with no plan and a likely default in the future. The idea solution would of course be to cut spending to the point we are no longer borrowing.

Well, except for people, who can always stop buying products and services they don't want from corporations they didn't like. The only exception being Obamacare that requires we buy health insurance from really big, really wealthy insurance companies or pay a fine.

You're still in college aren't you?

We don't need universities or schools anymore. I have learned more about historic European and Russian firearms (something I find iteresting) and Linux (something that helps me earn a living) from youtube videos and online blogs and meetups than I have from countless books and experts who have come out of academia.

Truth, thankfully, is that a warrant is required to do a search, if a judge has a hard time understanding this, you can always go to a jury trial.

People who are pro-biomass, make me laugh. Isn't it more logical to use oil and natural gas first on this planet and then transition to biomass as it begins to run out? I believe the current supply of oil and coal came from something like 60 million years of tropical plants making that biomass and then 200 million years of it being converted into coal and oil. So whatever we could make in a year minus the energy it takes to get into a usable form, we have roughly 60 million times more in the ground and it requires less energy to get into a usable form. I know, I know there I go with logic again.

PS - C02 is not a pollutant or nearly as effective a greenhouse gas as say H20. Just ask your plants if they have a problem with C02 (Ok, that would be silly we all know the only plant that talks is marijuana after you have smoked enough of it's leaves). Carbon neutral, is code for give up more of your liberties. What is worse giving your rights and freedoms to the state (or worse world government) or having the temperature go up 1% in the next 100 years? That is assuming GW was real, which FYI it has gotten colder the last decade.