I always just assumed that Tie Fighters and X-Wings had vaguely aerodynamic designs because they weren't pure spacecraft, but rather transatmopspheric dogfighters. Given how often both are shown to do precisely that in the films, it never seemed like much of a stretch.

The X-Wing's variable geometry does make some degree of sense from that perspective as well, with the X formation providing greater fire variability and the flat providing better aerodynamics and lift in dense atmospheres, as well as a better profile for evading fire. Of course, they never seemed to give a damn about that part in the films, so maybe I'm way off base.

I strongly suspect that both of those theories are completely invalidated by the non-movie canon... in which case, I still don't care about the extended SW universe.

What "free market" are you referring to here? We never had one with regards to the telcos, and the content side can only barely pretend to show some semblance of free-ness. Get a grip.

You're right, 6' tall is a bit taller than median, but well within the fat part of the bell curve. I am somewhat tall, but not particularly.

If you don't believe that your son has ever unintentionally seen down a woman's shirt, you are simply incorrect. Either that or he has never spoken to a woman shorter than about 5'6" wearing a low(ish) cut shirt. It just happens.

As to my being a pervert who can't get dates... I don't have that particular problem, and while many members of society dislike me for a variety of reasons, I have no evidence to suggest that undesired ogling is one of them.

Good luck with the bizarre moralism you've cultivated, I hope it serves you well.

"Dogs read our emotions by looking at our facial expressions and other body language. They can then associate those with the words we use. It might seem like the dog understands what we say, but it's just Pavlov up to his old tricks. "

You know that is exactly how humans do it as well, right? The only difference is that we have a larger vocal recognition center and possess human vocal chords.

"Their definition makes it legal to look down shirts as well as up skirt"

As a 6' tall Resident of Massachusetts, I'm very glad to hear that. I very often find myself looking down shirts despite having no intention to do so, because I am otherwise unable to look at many women at all from normal conversational ranges. If they had made it illegal for me to speak to women, that would have sucked. I actually can't make it through most days without doing that at least once.

Don't forget all of the hard work he put into being born extremely wealthy in the first place. That's a pretty significant accomplishment.

So you're saying that release is less important than *starting* design? Really? Do you think that HP just magically intuited what Apple was doing, then spat out a product, without any planning or development, in order to beat something that didn't really exist yet to the punch? I'd actually be impressed if they did, but that just doesn't seem possible.

"(4) A visual display used to enhance or supplement the driver's view forward, behind, or to the sides of a motor vehicle for the purpose of maneuvering the vehicle."

Wow, it's almost as if they thought of that and included a clause addressing it. Weird.

Fun fact: I stopped reading at your first use of the word "sheeple".

Stocks are terrible at being currency, which is why they are virtually never used as such.

You can't correctly follow the logic if the very first thing you do is ignore it.

"At least the poor thing never ended up in a nursing home. Bad food[...]"

After they were done, they donated the remains to a local nursing home to turn into soup. A Welsh nursing home. Your comment, however accurate it may be, is just cruelly throwing salt in the wound. Not literally, of course. The soup could probably use it if you did, though.

So... Second Life? Why?

Perhaps Twitter is concerned that their own actions are causing users to be infected with malware by following links on a first party website.

"Small companies are not just more fun [...] there's usually minimal to no politics"

I'm very much sure that isn't true. The politics are certainly different, and often clearer, but that doesn't make them less potentially dangerous to your career. When the president, CEO, and head of HR are all the same person and that person also owns the company, it can become VERY uncomfortable if any one of those titles comes into conflict with you for any reason.

Wherever you work,it's a good idea to keep an escape plan ready, just in case things go sideways on you.

My personal experience is that current teenagers are, overall, vastly more realistic with their career plans and expectations than my peers and I were at that age. Hell, many of them are more realistic about that stuff than many of my peers are NOW, and I'm definitely too old to aspire to rock stardom or astronaut or whatever sans serious progress toward already being there.

Of course, that's just my anecdotal, unscientific, likely unrepresentative experience. YMMV.