Very, very well said. Kudos.

From the FIRST PARAGRAPH of the article:

"some rich areas of the country receiving up to US$23,000 per line per year from the agency's Universal Service Fund"

Per line, per year. Not one-time.

I wonder why you think I'm upset.

Your sig suggest that you're a thoughtful person, but your post seems as if you didn't think about what you were saying at all.

Surely you don't really think that a market wherein the vast majority of consumers use an optional (subsidized) system will treat outlier, "pay-as-you-go" consumers equitably.

I've never been able to accept the oft-cited studies claiming that hands free is no safer than using the phone directly while driving. I'm embarrassed that I never considered a common cause between accidents during hands-free and hands-on calls that is unrelated to the call.

In any case, IN YOUR FACE commenters who cited the older studies!

I had the same questions, so I went to their site. I browsed around. Read the FAQ. Tried to borrow a book.

I still have the same questions.

-Peter

Aren't casinos exploiting humans? Isn't this worse?

-Peter

For scale, 700,000km is half the diameter of the Sun.

-Peter

Just goes to show what you can learn by posting snarky comments on slashdot!

-Peter

When I was a kid, sprinkling heavy metals around was considered a bad thing.

My, how times change.

-Peter

I don't know the show, but I don't think there's any place above the Arctic Circle that isn't below treeline.

Oh goody, let's have this conversation again.

Slashdot is a US site. Yes, it has users from around the world, and it's great to have you all here. But bar aren't commonly used in the US and, therefore, are not relatable units in context.

-Peter

I didn't know we were showing our work.

-Peter

That's about 715 atmospheres, in case anyone else is interested in remotely relatable units.

-Peter

FYI, aught ~= 0, ought ~= should. It matters aught, but I thought you ought to know.

-Peter