Steam at least brings something to the table - fast downloads, huge catalog, chat and matchmaking, workshop, community forums, etc.

SecuROM just breaks shit.

Of course you also have the option of throwing an ice chest in your car, stocked with whatever sizes of soda you prefer. You could save tons of money, and entirely eliminate waste, by buying 3 litre bottles of generic sodas for $1, and using whatever size cup/bottle you prefer.

That's not a solution. Go back and re-read what I said about the 20 oz. going flat before I could finish it.

Generally, you didn't comprehend much of what I wrote. Coca Cola is a *treat* for me now, not a staple like once was.

That said, it's interesting that through your mist of incomprehension you actually came close to mentioning some things I do now.

If I'm on something other than a grocery run, like a day trip to the beach or something, I do pack a cooler. I have a couple of Glacier (TM) water bottles that are reusable. Theae are available at Whole Foods near here. You pay $6.99 for 750ml of water, which sounds crazy until you factor in the fact that you're getting a reusable stainless bottle for much less than what empty stainless is often sold for. I'm not affiliated with either company.

For the fizzy craving, travel sized Welch's grape juice + Perrier. Once again, not affiliated with either company. This makes a fantastic grape soda, and you know that everything in it is good. Once again though, this is only for an all-day trip. Yes, Perrier makes a difference--it's got a "bite" that I only used to find in Calistoga sparkling water, which is no longer available here.

Maybe now you get the idea that I'm not going to be satisfied lugging over-sized bottles of ever-flattening generic HFCS infused soda around in my car.

The problem of right-sized Coca Cola not being widely available remains. Also noted, It's definitely a "first world problem" we're whining about here.

There's probably some license thingy hidden away somewhere that mentions it in a vague fashion.

AFAIK it's a wrapper. It loads itself in RAM, decrypts the actual game binary, and runs it's code. I think there are hooks available for use, as well (think "level 25 boss has infinite health if integrity check fails")

You're missing the point entirely.

The problem is that it is there. Period. End of story.

Who said anything about drinking from a cup? Not every convenience store has a fountain, and even if they do the performance is inconsistent. Vending machines are definitely not fountains. There's no "cup" a lot of times.

There were many times in my Coke-drinking days when I'd partially empty a 20 oz. I just hated wasting the stuff; but I knew I didn't want to drink all of it. It always went flat before I wanted any more.

BTW, the Mexican cokes are still a bit too big. 12 oz. (355 ml) or half-liter. I find 12 oz., poured over ice and shared with somebody is best; although I can tolerate 12 oz. The half-liter is a disturbing trend. The Mexicans certainly don't need it, since they just surpassed the US in obesity.

BTW, I knew the original coke bottle was smaller and found this article about 6.5 oz. bottles.. Sigh... apparently this was available in the UK not that long ago? Maybe they'll bring it back to the US and finally reverse the trend. The original size was just about right. Yes, I'd pay more per oz., but I'd pay the same per *serving*.

Can the Coke executives get that through their heads? Some of us are desiring a *serving*, not a "most ounces for the buck". Wondering what to do with the excess soda, or being suckered into finishing more than you need... is not a pleasant experience. Having a right-sized glass bottle with real sugar in it, that's what some of us want.

Why would russia need to stay saddled with that boat anchor?

Bring everyone back down, and just leave it. It's constantly aerobraking anyway, without recurring thruster maneuvers it will meet it's end.

Firms often fail to supply products or services that are plainly in demand. Sometimes it's a regulatory perversion that interferes with capitalism. Other times the companies are just dicks. For example, CocaCola with real sugar. For years it was very hard to get because of government interference with the sugar market. Now due to NAFTA we can get Mexican Coke with real sugar. If you want a real American drink, you have to get it from Mexico? How fucked up is that? This would be an example of regulatory perversion.

Not to harp on the soda companies, but they also provide an example of companies being dicks. PepsiCo is a big offender. They buy up restaurants, and you can only get Pepsi there. Coke does this too; but not as aggressively. Both companies bully around small convenience stores. I once met an operator in Virginia who found a way to stock Coke and Pepsi. She actually told me that she was getting away with hiding the competing soda from a distributor when they came around. Possibly she trading wholesale lots with a friendly operator across town. This was a long time ago; but I bet it hasn't changed. These companies are dicks.

They also super-sized their beverages to the exclusion of those of us who wanted smaller portions. I really noticed this in my 20s, when suddenly 20 oz. was the only bottle size you could get a lot of places.

I was able to make the long-run decision to reduce soda consumption dramatically, all but eliminating it. I now enjoy the occasional Mexican coke and that's about it. Many others are not so disciplined, and we all know about proposed government fixes for this but really, you can't fix the fact that the companies are just dicks.

I can't help but be reminded of the Rolly. Does this mean the next stock market crash and recession is next year? Frivolity like this just seems "toppy".

I was kind of assuming that people knew all the cited examples were skewed in favor of women. I specifically put in models as an example to counter the argument that these are not highly paid positions. So since we're ruining the humor by explaining this, we might as well go all the way and cite Forbes for some model examples.

Yeah, but how many male kindergarten teachers are in those districts, and how many boys in home ec?

Now excuse me, I'm a busy man. I'm off on a photo-shoot as the top payed model in the world.

Hmm, so if your target was someone who has been killing innocent people, and the three choices for you were:
1. Ignore it and hope the target just decides to stop
2. Go in with ground force, with all the casualties on both sides that would result
3. Drop a bomb to wipe out the threat with as little casualties as possible

You're telling me #3 isn't the better choice here? Because it is... and because it is, that's what happens. When it happens, are you trying to say you'd rather we drop fuel-air bombs in crowded neighborhoods instead of precision munitions? Because I have to say the controlled destruction is just a teensy bit better than blowing the whole neighborhood to shit...

At least they weren't gzipped.

And the farmer cares about his pigs so he doesn't butcher them until they get nice and fat.

Honey, don't log on. That copy of To Serve Man just arrived. It's a cookbook!

States Rights has always been nothing more than a tool used by people who want something. Usually what they want is to take something from other people. They would just as easily use religion, economics, erroneous statistics, philosophy, or any other intellectual tool they could find.

IMHO, ultimately states don't have rights any more than corporations do. PEOPLE have rights. The PEOPLE should have the right to freely associate and provide broadband. If they want to do that through their city government, fine. There's no need to appeal to "states rights" which has quite a checkered past.