Ripping my CDs solves the disappearing problem. So long as I can convert to current formats before the old ones perish from the market.

Most of the political poll calls I get, and I get them regularly, are focused on the 2016 Presidential election.

The primaries are still 7-10 months away. I am uninterested. I hang up.

Call me in November, when campaigning should be heating up. It's MUCH too early.

And yes, I know this is driven by the candidates, money, and the media. Those points don't make me more eager to participate so early.

Ditto. My 8.1 machine at home had its first blue screen 18 months after update from 8.0. The single most stable release of Windows I've ever had.

Mostly I use it for a proprietary terminal program, browsing mostly with Chrome but also IE, Office 2003 apps, and Blender, FreeCAD, Slicr, and some similar stuff. No problems. And I use the classic interface unless I drift too close to the right edge of the trackpad.

Unless you're buying XP updates, there are many good reasons to upgrade to 7.

Your NT server is an attack magnet.

Sounds to me you're relying on internal anti-malware and perimeter security, and that will work if you prevent foreign machines from attaching internally. Which you cannot.

In glad you're not my client.

I use a Netipot, only for clearing sinus congestion. No homoeopathy involved, straightforward flushing.

Overthrowing a corrupt government is one of the extremes of self-defence.

Look at it this way:

I can use Google Play for $9.99/month. If this price stays, I would spend as much on streaming as I did for my current CD collection in about 40 years.

But will I be able to get the music I own now from Google Play, if I rely on their stream, in 40 years? Or even 10? 5?

Because Google Play can only stream to me from their library the music they have rights to. The music THEY have rights to. Not mine. So it is not entirely impossible that the music you love won;t be available to you if you rely on streaming, because, gasp, it was never yours at all. Yes, they want to deliver what you want to listen to and be competitive. I'm pretty sure iTunes users wanted to play Beatles tunes for a very long time. How did that work out back then?

I still buy music, much less than ever for lack of interest, but I see streaming in the long term as a potential loser.

Before any of this, I listened to Dark Side of the Moon for weeks before it was available for sale. Taped it from WABB (now WABD) on a Sunday night, copiend from the Revox reel-to-reel to a cassette repeatedly as I wore that out.

Bought the album the second day it was on sale. Copied that to reel-to-reel and cassettes to play as much as I could.

Bought the CD the week it was released.

And ripped the CD to my computer, then to Google, and listen to it entirely too much.

I bought it twice. No, I do not intend to buy it again. I still have the CD, but new puters are coming out without CD drives. This alone may make the ripping debate die, as I have to re-rip my collection to new formats for 'permanent' retrieval.

Don't call it archiving. It's just alternative playback.

I personally know a musician that makes a living selling CDs, gigging in people's living rooms and tiny venues, and even selling futures for new work.

It's possible, but you need to create, maintain, and promote your own brand.n Kinda like what the labels did years ago.

Of course, live music isn't what it used to be. People have always wanted productions, but most new 'concert musicians' seem to rely on the theater, less on the music, with notable exceptions.

'Killed the music industry'? I see more music than ever available.

I use metric regularly, and I'm a US citizen, living in the States.

We may not have passed a law mandating this, but it's a fact, the US is a both systems nation.

Now go back to your EU and pay attention to your own problems.

I could argue that restrictions on these seemingly unnecessary weapons might lead to similar restrictions on lesser weapons, and even to the point where rifle ammunition would be banned.

But that's stupid, right? Never happen, right?

Um, wrong measure.

We trail only Mexico and Russia in rate of intentional homicides. If your definition of 'major countries' includes Argentina, even South Africa, it gets worse. OR better.

You don't need to exaggerate. We are a violent nation. But that violence is concentrated in specific demographics, locations, and situations.

And what is the point of the Second Amendment, if not to protect your right to protect yourself?

I'm pretty sure you were going to figure that out for yourself, being rational and all.

True. I had the misfortune of working with fighter pilots.

" Just their theme parks alone must generate millions per day."

No doubt. I wonder how much it costs to keep those parks open and functioning as expected.

I'm pretty sure you meant " Just their theme parks alone must generate millions in profits per day."

Which is the primary reason Disney operates them... And I'm sure you think Disney makes more than enough profit, and should reduce ticket prices, rehire employees previously laid off, and of course keep their IT staff in house and on shore, US Citizens, and be good corporate weasels.

It's popular and attractive to condemn corporations for excess profits, and I'm not defending them, but it is also facile to whine 'profits!!!' and call every single corporate action a blatant abuse of the world, most specifically the part *you* inhabit. Or a friend who's been laid off. I know there is a real human cost for corporate decisions to offshore - I see it every single day I work, and it impacts me directly. It has cost me plenty of money personally. But your own experience leaves you working for such a den of corporate weasels. Like me, are you sucking it up, getting along, and and fighting the important fights, or do you give your management the same complaints you voice here?

FWIW, I work somewhere I can in fact give full voice to my observations and complaints. SO far, I have not annoyed anyone sufficiently to risk retaliation, but I get the chance to make fervent pleas for different decisions. None are even acknowledged, so far...