Every once in a while I get the urge to try out one of the Metro apps, but I usually get too annoyed and go back to the desktop before it finishes launching. I haven't heard this complaint much, but in my experience the Metro apps are hideously slow to launch, even taking 10s of seconds.

My machine is reasonably fast (Intel i7 with 8GB of RAM) and it's very responsive when using "real" applications.

I'm not smart enough for some of the XKCD strips...

Hell, I'm not smart enough for Garfield.

I hope you encrypt everything on those drives, just in case your bag is lost or stolen.

I didn't say I carry the bag around. I keep it locked in a massive safe buried underground.

It's not as convenient, but it sure is secure. Except from flooding, but that's a different story. I can't actually get to the data, but it's there. Secure. But not from floods. I'm going to have to think about sealing it in impenetrable waterproof material, but I can't afford that because the password to my online banking is on one of those SD cards, in the bag, in the safe, 20 feet underground.

You see how complicated my life is.

Just because the transponder was manually turned off, that doesn't prove a terrorist forced the pilot to do it. Maybe it was an inside job.
Why would it make sense for a plane to disappear? A Boeing 777 costs at least $200 million. The parts alone are worth many millions of dollars. Even though many of the parts have serial numbers, there are struggling airlines and outsourced maintenance depots that might be receptive to creatively sourced parts. Even if the plane was shredded for scrap, it's a lot of money for one day of work.

The transparent, libertarian way is to have your money stolen in front of you.

So, the 700,000 bitcoins that disappeared under Mt Gox were stolen "in front of" the people who owned them?

Maybe we need to define "in front of".

Neoliberals? I'm under the impression that Libertarians with the minds of teenagers are the ones so in love with Bitcoin

Neoliberals = libertarians. They mean about the same thing for the purposes of this conversation.

Neoliberals will shrug this off as an anomaly, but the ability of people of privilege to steal is enhanced by unregulated free markets.

It never fails. When there are no rules, it pays to be unruly.

Do you carry your SATA drive around with you wherever you go and attach it to every computer you use?

Yeah, there's a portable SSD in my bag, with eSATA and USB. There's a couple of 64gb SD cards in there too.

It's smaller than my smartphone and a lot more sturdy. It sits in one of those little slots on the side. Never had a problem with it.

I've had enough of trusting companies like Google to always have a particular service available and to keep their snoots out of my stuff.

On the other hand, if a company that doesn't data mine, and encrypts all data and does not acquiesce to NSA requests, then we can do business. But not for free or cheap because of data mining. I don't like F2P. I don't want anything for free. I don't trust anything that's being offered to me for free or for cheap. It just means the true price is hidden and that's creepy.

Encrypt the phone, and set a numeric PIN of 6 or more.

Cool, I'll just use my /. UID. Oh, wait... /me struts away trying to ride the old-timer credibility he doesn't deserve.

Oh, "The Left" has it's own peculiarities. But the efforts to turn every one of their own inherent properties into an accusation against their opponents is a hallmark of the Religious Right.

Its a subscription-based MMO. $15 a month. In today's market, that is a recipe for fail.

On the other hand, I only play games that I pay for. I don't want anything for free, and most definitely not a game. Every single F2P game gives me a creepy feeling.

And I figure, since I'm not exceptional in any way, there are probably other people like me, who are happy to pay for a game that provides value. In fact, if the game was good enough, and provided enough value, I'd pay even more than the current price-tag for an AAA game.

I'm not much on MMO's or really, multiplayer anything, but by charging for their work, at least Blizzard has placed Wildstar in the category of games that I will consider playing.

One thing you can always say about the right-wing in America:

It's always about projection.

They have it in their DNA to try to misdirect by blaming others for that which is their most defining property. They think it's some kind of super-secret jujutsu that they can do because some consultant told them to. But it doesn't fool anyone. Look how long they've been trying it.

Smitty makes a big deal about his Christian faith and lives and breathes dishonesty. He thinks that it's OK because he's doing God's work or something. Just look into fhe faces - into the eyes - of the old-line soldiers in the Right to see where this ends up. Go find a photo of Mark Levin and look at the dead, flat eyes. That is not what the grace of God looks like.

Smitty, let go of the corruption before it gets to the point where it will never let go of you.

. You don't need for people not to be able to see to feel private.

No, you need for people to be not seen.

The act of watching, when it is not wanted, is a transgression against the individual. Now, you may say we've moved into a "post-individual" age, where only the collective matters, but I'm pretty sure that's not what people want. There is a basic human dignity that is violated by unwanted surveillance on people who are not suspected of crime. It's why the framers of the US Constitution made a big deal about:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

It was a good idea then, and it's a much better idea now. Because when corporations and governments have the power of ubiquitous surveillance, there is no way NOT for it to be abused. Governments and corporations just don't know any better, because they are not human.

The fact that there are so many people who object to being watched should be enough. No means no. I have a right to be unwatched as much as a woman has a right to travel unmolested. If I don't want to be watched, I have a right not to be watched, when I'm in my own home, or even walking down the street.

Ah, but who are the "takers"?

Maybe this will help a little: http://pando.com/2014/02/26/fo...

There's a difference between surveillance and transparency.

People have a basic, animal need to be left alone sometimes. If there is "omnipresent surveillance", and you can't possibly know who's watching, how can you ever say "no"?

I don't think "decorum" is something that is decided democratically. It is almost imposed on us by the powerful, and that means that it will be beneficial to a few and less so to everyone else.

But again, it's good that smart people like you are talking about this.