Why get performance out of what we have? Spend more and replace it instead!

Sorry Barbra, but I just got this Macbook Pro. It has 8 gig of ram and is max'ed out. The application I am testing requires a 4+ gig heap under light use. The controller web-app requires 1.5 gigs of heap and the VM to run an Oracle DB server needs another 2 gigs. That leaves 512 megs for the OS, my debugging tools and the test suite to execute in. Without swap something would fail or I would not be able to run the VM which allows for "airplane mode" development without needing networked resources. And, the machine performs just as well with occasional paging as when it's not paging. It has an ssd drive as it's only disk.

I'm on the same page (*rimshot*) as Jaws on this one. Swapping/paging is a good thing.

So, what happens to your machine when you run out of physical memory to run all that stuff? I can burn through 4 gigs on my dev workstation when running a copy of the 2 apps I'm working on and running integration tests against them in Eclipse. Without swap to page out some of the memory the whole machine would just go "out of memory, I give up" and die a horrific death on me. I can't see running with no swap partition mounted when you need to fully utilize all the resources on the machine.

It's the same electrons in your sockets vibrating back and forth. Most of the world uses alternating current and not direct current so the generator/alternator at the other end is actually doing a push/pull/push/pull cycle and the electrons in your wall just "vibrate".

Defense department contractors and their employees are very likely to encourage fruitless wars. Those same people tend to be quite sane.

Sim City is incorrect about the lowering of taxes not improving things. For certain values of "lower" there is a net gain in revenues. While it's still argued because it's a bit over simplified, the Laffer curve http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laffer_curve suggests there are cases where improving economic activity by reducing the marginal tax rate results in a net gain to government revenues.

239.101.51.4 Yes, I do have multicast enabled. Thanks for asking.

I'm in favor of slashing all government spending down to the bare minimums in every department, eliminating all entitlements and subsidies, having everyone pay a flat 3% income tax with no deductions or reductions and many more things you probably would call extreme. Government is a necessary evil for the viability of society as a whole, but should not be anywhere near the growing monstrosity we have in the U.S.

Our 2 party system does play heavily into the "lesser of two evils" mentality. That makes people vote for the guy closest to their view point who is likely to win and not someone who they fully agree with. Personally, I don't fall for this trap and end up "wasting my vote" by placing it for Libertarian candidates. Yes, they often have their own form of crazy. But, it's closer to what I'd like to see represented.

So much stereotyping . . . You're hurting my brain. My spouse, several of my family members and I are counterpoints to your broad brush. Well educated, fiscal conservatives who "deal in facts" every day. We're not alone or even a small minority of the conservative population as a whole. You're letting media propagated images color your perception of the group as a whole. The religious right does not equate to the majority of conservatives or even Republicans. Please stop propagating that image and get your own facts straight.

My child is in the 6th grade. His science curriculum is currently covering the scientific method in depth. So, "they" would have to have stopped learning in the 5th grade.