I was with my previous ISP (Speakeasy) for about a decade. They were a wonderful find when my DSL provider went under without warning, forcing me to shop for an alternative from the "comfort" of a coffee place. But as the independent DSL business consolidated (read "collapsed"), they eventually got bought out, customer service predictably declined, and (worst of all) I was still paying the same amount for the same speed I'd signed up for circa 2000 .... I finally jumped ship to (sigh) Comcast.

I encourage scientists* to follow up with studies of politically-driven politics. Without involving any politicians, of course.

*Social scientists, I suppose, but that's better than nothing ;)

But if an experienced landscaper is willing to do it for $20 – because he's been "laid off" from his landscaping job (unofficially for not being in his 20s anymore), but he would still like to continue eating – why shouldn't you hire him? Hiring decisions should be based on the actual job requirement (willingness to work for the pay), not assumptions about the applicants based on someone functionally irrelevant (age).

The "review" of NASA's programs focused on studying Earth seems more like an attempt by climate-science deniers to stifle research that doesn't confirm what they want to hear, than anything to do with a supposed "turf battle with NOAA".

"Have you been the victim of recruiting spam?"

I have an account on LinkedIn, so ... yes.

Which is funny/sad, because there is nothing in my linked-in profile that suggests that I'm particularly qualified for any in-demand jobs. So the spam I get is for garbage jobs, and positions for which I am obviously neither qualified nor interested.

Cue the pseudoscience nutcases who'll cite this as "proof" that fluoridated water is toxic to our chakras or something. Oh, wait, except that it's coming from the federal government, so it must be part of a conspiracy with Big Pharma to... um... increase our dependence on commercial toothpaste?

I would hardly classify ethernet as "necessary"; wifi serves the same purpose in most situations, and more conveniently. I honestly can't remember the last time I actually used the RJ45 port on a laptop (other than loading a software image as part of my tech support job).

And how often would you want to connect an external drive at the same time you need to connect the laptop for charging? I'll grant that only having a single multipurpose connection point (like the new 12" MacBook) could be a bit of a bother in situations like that, but I can't see it being an obstacle.

When the Acer guy says "PC" I'm pretty sure he's talking about the category of "computers that come with Windows installed". That's how consumers use the term.

I measure my altitude in reference to Lake Michigan-Huron, you insensitive clods!

Meanwhile, another person has dropped two different weights from the Tower of Pisa, and observed that they landed at the same time.

And this just in: high-resolution photos taken from the International Space Station appear to confirm that the Earth is approximately spherical in shape. Experiments intended to determine whether objects in motion tend to stay in motion, are underway.

I support this idea, for the simple reason that it will help keep Californians from trying to suck the Great Lakes dry instead.

The first step was pulling my head out of my ass. Let me know when you've finished that, and I'll walk you through the rest.

"Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics, because the stakes are so low." – Wallace Stanley Sayre

Wikileaks performs an important public service ... and does it badly.

The U.S. Constitution recognizes that it is necessary to violate privacy to expose wrong-doing, but places limits on the government's authority to do so "unreasonably", because the very act of doing so can be harmful to those who are not guilty. We shouldn't applaud when a private entity violates others' privacy even more irresponsibly than the government.

One thing we've known for a long time is that a good half of them are sons of bitches.