If pictures of the new Mac Pro were posted on April 1, we'd think it was hilarious! Perhaps this is Apple pranking everyone?

I wonder if Apple will sell an official "NOT A TRASH CAN" sticker, so that the design geeks won't have to be constantly cleaning trash out of their computer?

And the in-joke among geeks will be "Hey, do you remember when Apple designed their top of the line computer after a trash can and people actually bought it?!!"

It's all about priorities: AVIATE, Navigate, Communicate.

Pilots and others with some level of emergency services / high stress career training know how to prioritize.

We need to increase standards to receive driver's licenses in America, and drill Aviate, Navigate, Communicate into their heads, and actually expose them to high-stress driving.

Speech-to-Text at its current level of development will absolutely make matters WORSE. Texting while driving makes drivers more stressed because of frustration: what's in my mind is not appearing on the screen and that means I have to try two or more times to get the message to show up correctly. This greatly increases my level of stress while driving, which is why I don't do it.

When I'm driving, if I feel like I am becoming stressed, I remove all distractions: the radio is turned off, the girlfriend has learned to be quiet, and I concentrate on the road. I wish everyone would behave this way.

Couldn't I just take a desktop SSD along in a dock with USB and eSATA ports and be happier at lower costs? I guess maybe I'd pay about as much, but I probably don't need ALL of that capacity as flash. Maybe a hybrid drive would be good. Lots of data on platters, and the project I'm currently working on cached in flash.

I agree. I think they should limit the initial database to certain time spans surrounding events of national interest and "tweets" that seem to be related. They can learn database structure and procedures from there and perhaps later add in the full archive. The most important part of anything like this is metadata. For example, a tweet that says "dudes! this concert rocks!!!" is useless unless you happen to know that the user is at a Trans-Siberian orchestra concert. And then, if you are able to attach all of the posts related to that concert together, it could be potentially useful.

And yet we have fewer murders here. Strange. Probably because we can defend ourselves. I love Indiana.

If she's alive, she wasn't electrocuted. Thousands of police officers have been tazed; none have died from it. Nearly every police officer who carries a Taser has been hit with it. They know what it feels like; they know it isn't fun; but they care enough to try to minimize your injuries.

Uh, no. It's the police FORCE not the police debate club. They are hired and entrusted by society to maintain order and prevent chaos. You can ask politely, but everything an officer does has to be backed up with force. If the police officer was limited to asking politely, it wouldn't be long before no one would comply. Force is a part of their toolbox.

Make sure you offer your services next time the police have to control a psychotic patient. You have no idea how much damage a crazy or drugged person can do. The Taser offered a solution that was safer for the suspect, safer for the officers, and safer for everyone nearby.

It's a whole lot safer for her that way. Taser wounds are a lot less painful than torn ligaments, broken bones, etc., that she might have if the Taser wasn't available. She should have complied.

Nonsense. There is a use of force continuum; a range of force used to correspond to levels of resistance: officers use force one level above the level of resistance. There are a range of options between yelling at someone and shooting them. Where in that continuum the Taser is used is dependent on department policy. Some departments use it at lower levels to avoid going hands-on with a suspect. Others use it at higher levels (as opposed to a baton). The Taser most definitely isn't a replacement for lethal force. Less lethal shotgun rounds and other less-lethal tools are used for that in the rare circumstance that everything works out just right: the right tool and certified operator is present, other officers are available with lethal force to cover him, the suspect is the just the right distance away with clear line of sight, etc. It's way more complicated than most people realize.

How about the thousands who die every day after drinking water?

In Indiana, formal courses are optional. They were way too expensive for my family to afford to send four kids through. Instead, we are required to hold the permit for a certain amount of time (6 months?) and then pass a written exam (the exact same test as for the permit) and a practical exam. I would like to see simulator-based testing to check reaction times in collision scenarios.