Just have a bouncer at the door and disallow underage patrons.

Where do you draw the line between what is and isn't a firearm?

Does the 2nd Amendment allow (in your mind at least) a citizen to have a rocket launcher or a laser gun?

A good question and one that comes up often. The United States Supreme Court has actually clarified the answer to your question in Heller v. DC (2008):

2. Like most rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited. It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose: For example, concealed weapons prohibitions have been upheld under the Amendment or state analogues. The Court's opinion should not be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms. Miller's holding that the sorts of weapons protected are those "in common use at the time" finds support in the historical tradition of prohibiting the carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons. Pp. 54-56.

Basically, if a firearm is in common use and not unusual, it shall be protected, but no, the "rocket launcher" would be considered unusual.

You're right... Remote working doesn't work when it's a small part of the team. The rest communicates via their usual face to face measures, and the remote worker is isolated.

When the whole team works remotely, though, the methods of communication change to accommodate.

Did he compare MongoDB to the correct product then? I'd love to have seen him also include Amazon SimpleDB.

Why would I want to do this?

Maybe you wouldn't. And maybe someone else does. That's why it's an option.

A typical register will have something like $50 in change sitting in there

Not in today's day of Cash Back on debit cards, they don't.

CC transactions often take just as long, if not longer than cash.

On what, dialup terminals? CC transactions can be nearly instant, and many retailers (Walmart, for one) notify you to swipe your credit card while the clerk scans your items, not afterwards.

I imagine there isn't a single carrier that offers an SLA for residential customers.

Become a business customer, however, and they'll offer an SLA - over those very same cables delivering your formerly-residential account (I know, I used to have Road Runner Business Class with the same frequent outages).

In other words, you get what you pay for. Just like you can buy a First Class ticket with all the amenities of the 'glory days' of flying; every industry is embracing (or exploring) tiers of service.

The real reason the desktop pc is on the decline is that it can be upgraded and made to last a very long time. Contrast that with a laptop, ultrabook, tablet or phone which are all disposable devices.

Well, no kidding. I know you didn't mean for this, but rather meant for an anti-corporate screed, but did you ever think that you are several years into this "decline," and the reason for the decline is exactly what you said? That is, the desktops people currently own have been made to last a very long time, thus don't need to be upgraded, and therefore, the desktop market has declined?

It's not because of "corporate desires" or "evil shareholders," it's because a desktop from 2009, for nearly all casual users of computers, works just as fine as one built today.

Tampa hasn't been directly hit by a hurricane since 1921. Not to say it couldn't happen, but I just don't get the 'weather' argument. I remember the reassurances from Amazon Web Services last year when the 'Frankenstorm' headed for Virginia.

I think they have people in India reading scripts.

You have no idea what you are talking about. Neither Verizon nor Verizon Wireless have any call centers outside America.

I think you misunderstood my explanation as attacking the rich. Far from it. I am NOT advocating a wealth tax. I agree with everything you said.

I am attacking the wealthy who propose raising the rates because they know they won't be paying them. Warren Buffett is misrepresenting the debate and he knows it. Too many people listen to him and think, "he's right, Buffett shouldn't have a lower tax rate than his secretary" without actually looking at the situation and asking why.

What was it that Mitt Romney said he paid? 15%? Their tax rate might be 35% but they're not paying 35%

You are confusing income tax with capital gains taxes. Both parties have set up a tax code that does not tax the rich, but taxes those who are becoming rich. If Mitt Romney makes $0 in income and $0 in capital gains, but still has $500+ million in the bank, guess what his tax rate is? 0%.

If an entrepreneur who is putting his blood, sweat and tears into a company trying to become rich, and earns $1m last year, he's paying the highest rate.

The already-rich love this. That's why you hear Warren Buffet, et. al., saying tax rates should be higher - to make sure others don't get to the same level of wealth (and therefore, power) they are. They don't earn income.

I know this isn't what you were looking for based on the summary, but you never know, sometimes there are options you've never thought about, so I'll posit it anyway:

Verizon Wireless offers HomeFusion Broadband for a professionally-installed, rooftop-mounted 4G home broadband service. It sounds like it's ideally suited to your parents, and for $6.99/mo, you get the peace of mind knowing that they will send a technician out to fix any issues that may arise.

I don't know if it's in your parents' price range (it starts higher than a Jetpack, but with a higher monthly bandwidth limit), but it's a fantastic option for those currently struggling with satellite or dial-up and have access to 4G LTE.

When will that be installed in, anywhere else, exactly?

My bad, I thought we were discussing Verizon as an ISP on this thread, I apologize for bringing in facts about Verizon as an ISP.

Verizon doesn't want to upgrade their network and supply the bandwidth they actually sold. Overselling is lucrative -- hence the data caps

What? You mean the same Verizon that unveiled FiOS Quantum, a 300/65 connection, earlier this year?

In fact, they've invested anywhere from $23 to $30 billion dollars in FiOS. To say they didn't upgrade their network is the height of ignorance.

But hey, I guess this one didn't exactly fit into your "X does Y because of Z, always, no exceptions" template.