The New Deal is still fucking us today.

The "democratic process" always fails when 51% of the people figure out they can steal all the belongings of the other 49%. That's why this country isn't a democracy, it's a Republic. (For now, anyway..)

You download the Windows Media creation tool, and it will make you a USB drive for installing windows. Then, insert new SSD, boot from USB, install Windows, and after first boot, it will find your license based on digital hardware signature and activate. If it doesn't find it automatically, there are many tools that will read the Windows key from UEFI, and you simply activate with the license included with the PC.

Am I the only one that immediately wipes/reloads a machine when buying it? Hell, I usually give away the drives that come with PCs and put cheap SSDs in them, so I'm always starting fresh... I'll take the hassle of a fresh install for the subsidy that companies pay to preinstall their crap.. Doesn't affect me one bit anyways.

Having done the procedure, the creepy factor is the only negative. It is legitimately terrifying, but not painful.

As many who have replied to you have already noted, they do full remapping and correct for 2nd and 3rd order abberations. It's amazing tech now. If you can, go in for the free scan where they do a 3d surface map of your eyes, the detail and resolution of the mapping machine is just pure nerd-porn, especially if you're an optics guy. I've done both eyes, and would like to share my story: I've been extremely near-sighted with astigmatism my whole life. I'm now in my late 30s, and my eyes stopped changing in any real fashion about 5 years ago -- they stabilized around -8.75 diopters of correction needed. I'd always worn disposable contacts, but hated being blind at night when they were out. When I was 5 or so, I walked into a branch that left a scar on my left cornea that previously excluded me from lasik -- UNTIL the new 3d wave mapping came out. They did have to use the blade to cut the flap on my left eye (as opposed to the ilasik cutter on the right eye), but I can now see at 20/25 out of my left eye for the first time since I was 5. Previously it was correctable to a best of 20/40. They actually almost totally removed the scar tissue automagically while at the same time corrected for the extreme nearsightedness. I'm a believer. If you are worried about the night vision effects, those are truly present in the first couple of months. Those that say they're not are the same people that don't notice the low bitrate on satellite radio.. ;) After about a year, however, I personally have zero effects, starbursts, rings, hazing, or lack of contrast anymore. It takes a while for the lens to heal up, but it did for me. Negatives: I now need UV protection in the sun. I didn't realize that my contacts previously provided UV blocking, and the sun is annoying now without sunglasses.. :)

It worked for Galactica.

I've said it before, I'll say it again. I'd HAPPILY pay for a service that lets me stream any TV show or movie I want without commercials whenever I want. If that service existed, I believe piracy would cut in half in a month. Not that I'm admitting anything, but it's so stupid that there's clearly a market, they technical means to satisfy that market quite easily, providers already in place to serve that market, and shady sources to fill that market, but Noooooo... If you want to watch movies or TV without commercials when you want, you're a criminal.

It won't matter that it's an isolated, rare, or user caused issue. I own a Pontiac Fiero, and although there have been 260 fires reported out of a total 370000 cars made, and even though about 75% of those were 1984 models in which the owner ran it out of oil, every time I drive mine, all I hear is "Woah buddy, careful. You may die in a horrible fiery death any second!" Works for me both ways though, as used models drop in price.. :)

There goes the xbox.

Speaking as a gamer who got married and had kids, as well as somebody who lived overseas: Spend the time meeting your wife and kids in activities that THEY like,and explore the huge world around you IRL. The gaming will wait a few years, your wife won't feel abandoned in a foreign land, and when the kids get older, they'll love gaming with you (can be your "thing" with them). I have a gaming rig that I haven't even turned on in 2 months.. Sad, but time with the family is priority one for me, and I'll be honest in saying that there were many times I had to CHOOSE to make it that way, as my selfish feelings told me to sit in the basement many times. If your wife IS interested, I agree with above that Portal would be a good start, in coop mode.

Spend a great deal of effort becoming humble and courteous. In every interaction you have with somebody, be patient, and humble. Your work will speak for you, and people will gravitate to your opinion out of respect for your work. People will feel comfortable approaching you, as they will learn that you will be the exception to the "nerd arrogance" rule. Personally, my sense of humor is aimed at myself a lot of the time. I provide IT support to a small business (about 75 employees) and feel so appreciated that I try even harder to make sure I never let my sarcastic side damage my work relationships. If you need help becoming humble, get married, and have kids. :) That worked quite nicely for me.. Nothing wipes away arrogance quite like changing a diaper on a child with explosive diarrhea.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379786/quotes?qt=qt0433100 "I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar."

I'm not an engineer, but if the craft (like the one envisioned) is much lighter than the space shuttle, is the re-entry heat still such a huge obstacle? Just spitballing here, but say a low-orbit vehicle just starts 100% throttle at a vector that is 100% opposite to the direction it's travelling: if it's light, it can decelerate rapidly in space, then just fall to earth and use the wings to glide in when it's in thicker atmosphere, right? Maybe I'm way off here, just curious if that would work.

I've got a public comment, best expressed with a single finger. Yeah! You're number 1 FCC!