It won't matter that it's an isolated, rare, or user caused issue. I own a Pontiac Fiero, and although there have been 260 fires reported out of a total 370000 cars made, and even though about 75% of those were 1984 models in which the owner ran it out of oil, every time I drive mine, all I hear is "Woah buddy, careful. You may die in a horrible fiery death any second!" Works for me both ways though, as used models drop in price.. :)

There goes the xbox.

Speaking as a gamer who got married and had kids, as well as somebody who lived overseas: Spend the time meeting your wife and kids in activities that THEY like,and explore the huge world around you IRL. The gaming will wait a few years, your wife won't feel abandoned in a foreign land, and when the kids get older, they'll love gaming with you (can be your "thing" with them). I have a gaming rig that I haven't even turned on in 2 months.. Sad, but time with the family is priority one for me, and I'll be honest in saying that there were many times I had to CHOOSE to make it that way, as my selfish feelings told me to sit in the basement many times. If your wife IS interested, I agree with above that Portal would be a good start, in coop mode.

Spend a great deal of effort becoming humble and courteous. In every interaction you have with somebody, be patient, and humble. Your work will speak for you, and people will gravitate to your opinion out of respect for your work. People will feel comfortable approaching you, as they will learn that you will be the exception to the "nerd arrogance" rule. Personally, my sense of humor is aimed at myself a lot of the time. I provide IT support to a small business (about 75 employees) and feel so appreciated that I try even harder to make sure I never let my sarcastic side damage my work relationships. If you need help becoming humble, get married, and have kids. :) That worked quite nicely for me.. Nothing wipes away arrogance quite like changing a diaper on a child with explosive diarrhea.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379786/quotes?qt=qt0433100 "I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar."

I'm not an engineer, but if the craft (like the one envisioned) is much lighter than the space shuttle, is the re-entry heat still such a huge obstacle? Just spitballing here, but say a low-orbit vehicle just starts 100% throttle at a vector that is 100% opposite to the direction it's travelling: if it's light, it can decelerate rapidly in space, then just fall to earth and use the wings to glide in when it's in thicker atmosphere, right? Maybe I'm way off here, just curious if that would work.

I've got a public comment, best expressed with a single finger. Yeah! You're number 1 FCC!

It's interesting to me that this is the same problem facing PC's, where there are hundreds of different versions of open source OSes vs. Windows/OSX.

Ok, so we pay to release CO2. Pay whom? And what is done with the money to reduce the effect of "global warming?" There may be actual man-caused global warming, but what's the solution? Arbitrarily raising the price of breathing? That's just retarded. Global warming as a research science is good and fine, global warming as a tool to funnel money into questionable political entities is NOT fine. Follow the money and tell me if you think the motivation is still pure.

Ok, I'll support it, as long as it leads to me getting my flying car.. :)

I would think this actually makes it easier to figure out who's not on the up and up.. There's no way the military and DHS will give up primary radar as a security device, and all they'd need to do is compare the two data sets to find people flying with transponders off. What I do see this impacting is personal aviation.. I may be paranoid, but it seems like one more way to take away a freedom by forcing somebody to buy something they can't afford...

... which is EXACTLY what they want, so you become wholly dependent on the hard teet of the gov't, and the party of entitlement will then never be voted out.

Why are you surprised? Those of us that work hard and succeed are taxed more to pay for the lazy, those of us who pay our medical bills are paying for those that receive ER care for free, and my property taxes are paying for a failed school system that I wouldn't let my kid set foot in. It was only a matter of time before somebody figured out a politically sell-able way to tax those that are ignorant about security online. Just wait, I would bet my right testicle that eventually there would be an add-on that helps compensate companies for lost "revenue" due to piracy which would require a slight rise in the "online safety" tax..

What a fantastic way to ensure a free press: have them paid by the very institution they're supposed to be the watchdogs for. I'm sure they won't forget how to be objective and unbiased though... /sarcasm

You must live in California.