I gave in and went without a slider once I realized they were never going to come out with a narrow (portrait-oriented) slider. I want an approximately blackberry-curve-shaped keyboard that slides out at the bottom of my phone, rather than the landscape-oriented one that made me choose an original droid over a blackberry storm (well, that and the fact that the onscreen keyboard on the storm was complete shit compared to the moto droid's).

I still really want one, but they won't make it.

I tend to agree with you. I'm not ignorant about my driving. That's the *reason* that I'm a conservative driver.

I've been a driver for 24 years. In that time, vehicles I own have been involved in 5 collisions. In two of those, the vehicles were parked and struck by other motorists. In one, the vehicle was stationary, but not parked, and struck by another motorist, in one, I backed into a car that was going around 25 mph through a gas station parking lot (lesson learned), and in one, I clipped some poor guy's '63 skylark with a humvee when doing a courier run at the very end of a 24-hour CQ shift (I still feel like a jackass about that one...I'd swear I looked right and things were clear, but I was obviously wrong).

Aside from that, I've had one claim arising from a hailstorm that beat the crap out of the family minivan.

I was not giving some list of things I do that make me perfect, because I'm not perfect. What I am is cautious, mainly because I'm not made of money, and deductibles are not my friend. I don't drive strictly the speed limit, but I always follow at a safe distance for the road conditions, and I pay attention to folks behind me who don't do the same. I let faster drivers pass me and move over to make that easier when possible. I signal lane changes and turns. I change lanes before the last minute so that I don't have to worry about cutting someone off.

I do all of those things for a couple of reasons. First, I don't want to be the cause of an accident and cause damage to myself, someone else, my car, or someone else's car because it sucks for everyone when that happens. Second, I don't want to pay any more money than I have to for the privilege of driving.

Damn it. Usually, I get to play the pedant.

Actually, as someone who is a pretty conservative driver, I welcomed the option to let worse drivers subsidize my premiums in exchange for them tracking my driving for a while. I could care less that they know (for example) that I always signal turns and lane changes and don't aggressively accelerate or stop. I could also care less that people who can't demonstrate the same behavior are seen as a higher risk and charged a higher premium.

...except you, of course, since you're on my \. frinds list and all...

No, the problem is that the judicial branch told the FCC that *until* they classify ISPs as common carriers, they don't have the authority to mandate anything with regards to paid prioritization or de-prioritization.

With Mr. Wheeler in charge, there doesn't seem to be much impetus to reclassify the ISPs in that way.

I am an independent who often votes republican, and I believe that the republican bill as currently laid out is a bad plan. Internet service is a utility in the 21st century, and should be treated that way.

Not for nothin', but 4 or 5 decades ago was the 60's or 70's...9 or 10 decades ago, maybe?

This isn't evil, it's stupid. Indie artists are only using YouTube so that they can share videos and make some minor revenue if they're lucky. If YouTube makes the terms of that arrangement unattractive, then they will see indie artists leave for video hosting services that are more indie-friendly.

The folks at Vimeo are probably ecstatic.