FTFS:

So it was work-related.

It's that "sort of" that makes the difference, however.

Again, movies tend to make it simple. Take something like torture in "24." We're generally forgiving because, hey, we know the bad thing is going to happen. We know that whoever Jack Bauer is torturing is the right person because for the last 3 episodes we saw him scheming with the other bad guys. And, finally, we want to get on with the story and to do that, our hero needs to know this stuff (that we, the audience, already know). Since it's fiction--and we know it's fiction--we know that nobody is really getting hurt so it's no big deal.

Again, real life tends to be more complicated. Yes, the Cops knew that this guy was a drug dealer, but was he really? Depends on how much you trust the police.

Don't get me wrong--there are idiots out there who can't really separate fact from fiction or imagine a real-world scenario based on the movies. I remember when the US Government was talking about torture and a scenario that sounded right out of 24 with the old, "Wouldn't torture be okay then?"

Well, movies are supposed to manipulate your emotions. That's why they have soundtracks and the like. Fiction does that.

Well, we're more accepting of it in fiction mostly because we know who the bad guys are. We know who they are because we've seen them do bad things.

In the real world, it isn't so clear cut.

I thought this was interesting. FTFA:

My only question would be how would you verify that the provider is returning a realistic answer? Remember AT&T's "Faux G"?

That said, I gotta admit that this is a neat idea, especially with the idea of network service levels. For example, I can get by with 2G service for a message to Google/Apple asking, "Is my software up-to-date?" But I'll want that 100Mbps LTE goodness when watching a high-def movie. I might be fine with something in between for casual web-surfing.

No worse than "Semper Fi."

I hate to suggest RTFA, but...

First, the plaintiff was contacted by a Google recruiter, so at least somebody believed that he was a good candidate. His phone interview went poorly--he was contacted by a person who had limited english skills, used a speakerphone with a poor connection (or maybe it was Google Voice) and refused to switch to the handset. He asked him to read code to him over the phone rather than using Google Docs.

I'm not sure it was discrimination, but I'd argue that the interviewer was a total jerk who had no interest in this person whatsoever. Whether that was due to age or some other reason (perhaps he had a buddy who needed a job) is unknown.

Actually, a few years ago at WWDC, the whole "Apple isn't making personal computers anymore" came up in one of the labs. And the comment from one of the Apple guys was, "Do we really want iOS development to be dependent on Windows?"

Or a few centuries?

I mean, you're going to die anyway, right? So what's the big deal if it's tomorrow during an earthquake or in 50 years from natural causes?

Agreed. However, you have to remember that when you have to get a permit to cut down a sapling, it's a minor inconvenience. When a large drilling operation has to go through these permits, it's a huge inconvenience that costs money and jobs. We have to protect these job creators and get the government off their backs so they can get things done.

At least that's what I heard on Fox News.

I always love these "small government" types. They're the first to yell about how we need smaller government. But when something goes wrong, they're the first to say, "Well, where was the government in all of this? They should have done something."

I remember something from several years back where the police would just say, "Oops! The Dog is reacting to something. Do you want to let us search the car now or do we have to break windows and things like that?"

Whether the dog really was reacting to something would be up to the officer handling the dog. It's not like I'm an expert in dog handling to be able to say, "No, that's not true."

I'll bet you'd still get government alerts on your voice-only smartphone. Heck, even when I didn't have a text plan, I still got free AMBER alerts at 2:00AM when I was asleep.

That's the nice thing about T-Mobile. They give away all this bandwidth to anybody.

Or...

The reason you get free streaming from select streaming music services is that they are paying T-Mobile.

Wonder which one it is?

Speaking of fantasy scenarios...

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but you're replacing one fantasy scenario with another. And I could easily believe that the lions share of houses would have solar before this cheap alternative battery technology is available.

I dunno. If someone had been micromanaging it, maybe they would have remembered to reinforce the floor.

Reminds me of an old joke.

"The IRS is introducing a new form for taxes next year. It's very easy--just four simple steps:

Step 1: How much money did you make last year?
Step 2: What were your expenses?
Step 3: How much did you have left over?
Step 4: Send it in."