He's using a computer programming analogy, give him his due.

That's quite true. I didn't see San Francisco till around 2000. But I have to say that all the talk about starving artists and such is really off base. Without Silicon Valley, San Francisco would just be another urban place with character like say, Seattle, Washington or Portland, Oregon. It has a decently developed culture for a US city. But it's nearness to Silicon Valley (and to a lesser extent Hollywood to the south) is what gives it notability beyond that.

From my point of view, what is special about Florence and Silicon Valley is the trade/industry. The Renaissance followed from that in Florence. It'll be interesting to see what follows from that in Silicon Valley. Already, we seem to have some significant stuff in space flight, for example.

Finally, I imagine that artists in Florence probably were complaining about the merchants, cloth finishers, and bankers too.

The US had Nazis from before they became really unpopular and they never became a problem. So why did the US fare better than the Wiemar Republic which got overrun by them? Here's a clue: it wasn't too much freedom.

I have too much of a sense of proportion. Or maybe it's my excessive modesty? Too good looks? Totally impartial viewpoint? Rugged individualistic lifestyle? Nah, it's people who get a little taste of hypocrisy and then go on a huge bender. I get that you don't understand your problem. I'm used to that.

But since you asked so nicely, look in the mirror. Give that guy a punch for me.

While I am a fan of micro USB in general, I don't see why"axial connectors don't work" it's only 4 pins. Not that hard to do on an axial connector. In fact the other common connector on phones (headset) has the same number of pins and doesn't require any orientation.

Speaking of power, those wall outlets supplying mains voltage also require orienting them correctly, as do ethernet cords, even fibre optic cords are designed to require proper orientation (though that one has always struck me as odd) people seem to manage all of these in their daily lives without issues, yet as soon as you put it on a phone it confounds them.

There is nothing sadder than a group of tribalist asshats who believe in Zip Code superiority.

Indeed. Our way of establishing tribal superiority is superior.

You also have to benefit from that sales tax. My take is that New Jersey will miss your sales tax more than you will.

Well, the Nazis of Germany certainly put a high priority on banning other peoples' propaganda so there must be something to it.

That would be equivalent to making it illegal to borrow against your house to fund a political ad, but allowing other means of funding.

The thing here is that the corporate personhood argument applies because the corporation (here, Citizens United) was being blocked from speech that was otherwise legal. The corporate personhood argument wouldn't apply, if nobody was allowed to do the speech in question though obviously other First Amendment considerations would apply.

You obviously don't work for the company that I do. The meatloaf-peeler vendors have persuaded our management that meatloaf peeling is an important capability these days, and any company that hasn't adopted this new approach to meatloaf consumption is doomed to quick obsolescence. So, whether our jobs need it or not, we are all being supplied with the top-selling meatloaf peeler, and other brands are banned from our desks.

But don't worry, your bosses will see the light soon, and a new MS meatloaf peeler will be installed on your desk, too.

And next we'll read of publishers suing Amazon to the their "Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought ..." lists. This is just encouraging customers to ask for a package that contains books from different authors or different publishers. (But they do also use it to suggest other works by the same author.)

The most rational response to such perversions might be to simply eliminate the copyright laws. The primary function of such laws is for blocking useful things like we're discussing here.

Your concerns are justified. I revel in that opprobrium. I was tempted to suggest Gilroy as an alternate locale - it's the garlic capital of the world!

My observation remains. If the place is too expensive for the starving artist, then they should move some place where it isn't. Or maybe get a better job. I don't like paying a lot for things either. But to whine to the point of advocating harmful social policies because a not-particularly-useful lifestyle no longer is economical in a particular place? GTFO.

I think the renaming of Metro to Modern UI has to do with the trademark rights of Metro AG in the E.U. Microsoft is not allowed to call the GUI Metro in Europe, thus the need for a new name.

It's not just San Francisco, but the whole San Francisco Bay area. In fact, most of the really important areas like Palo Alto, San Jose, or Berkeley are a fair distance from San Francisco. Your struggling artists can live elsewhere in the Bay area.

Americans aren't smart enough to make a 300 horsepower four wheel drive small car....

The Cadillac ATS V6 AWD fits that description (but your Suburu or Mitsubishi is almost certainly still better and/or cheaper, of course).