It's probably more comparable to the telephone's introduction and subsequent ubiquity than it is to existing Internet services. And like the phone system and its eventual finding-of-monopoly and breakup, plus the introduction of new technology (cell phones) that fragmented it, I expect that some day Facebook will be ruled a monopoly and either broken up or forced to turn itself, to an extent, into a backend that allows other services to integrate into it seamlessly, like how MCI and later cell phone companies integrate into the legacy of Ma Bell.

People were doing those things before there was a consumer Internet.

Remember BBSes and Fidonet?

Believe me, it was a HUGE deal when one of the local BBSes got an ISDN frame-relay to the Internet. We could do IRC instead of just teleconferencing. Ironically they were hastening their own demise through giving us access to global content.

Make the system detect something as it descends, and then hit it with the light/heat?

Just don't mis-aim or focus up too high...

How'd you remember the PW? :-)

A free thinker. Which means I will perform thought experiments, with assumed values that are contrary to my observation or bias, and see where that leads. Often an otherwise undiscovered insight or new set of observable conditions can arise - to be confirmed with primary documentary sources.

One thing I can assure you - the USA is no inherently or morally "better" than Russia. Their murdered millions were mostly within the borders of their assumed territory. US's are continual, in secondary economic fiefdoms.

... but that last moment power dive toward my ass with the hypodermic extended is a bit disconcerting.

They'll be back. Bigger. And they'll eat Kiev.

Wait, are you saying we're all inundated by radiation from nuclear fusion? How can we stop this atrocity! We must protect ourselves from the radiation of that nuclear fusion - think of the children!

Apple won't do that - they'd rather you buy an iPhone than use an iPad or iPod to act as a phone. They are in the business of selling hardware, their software and services exist to sell new hardware - not expand the capability of old units.

However, there IS a way to do what you ask - Skype. I use it (along with Google Voice), my Skype number ($5/month) is my main business number. It will ring me at my computer and my cell phone, wherever I am connected to the Internet. For example, I'm in China right now, but I do have a China Mobile account with data - and I get calls from the US on my Skype number whilst out and about in town. I also have voice mail, for the relatively few times I am not connected (or when I am not available). Yes, it costs $5/month to have that phone number, but I have unlimited incoming call minutes - and it's always live, around the world.

He's a third generation fascist terrorist.

Well, yeah, it can be pretty common for US companies to overlook Mexico sometimes...

Diego Garcia

Plane is now here: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/DiegoGarcia1.png

There's some nice places, all down the road. Over Turk Kabobs, and Tabacs.

"We already had a nigra. Aftah that, some Jew bwah ain't so bad, now."

There are no terrorists. They are as fictional - in EVERY sense, as the "terrorists" in the movie "Brazil".

But?

Edward Snowden is definitely a "Harry Tuttle".