I've never understood the need to have a phone last weeks on a single charge.

For me, usually when I'm having a really long day, it corresponds with using my phone a lot. Like a day stuck in the emergency room for a family member. I'd already had a full day's use of the phone, then spent the next 8 hours having to call family and friends about what was going on. My phone had already gotten normal use that day, so it was at about 30% when I left for the hospital. The brief charge it got on the way took it to about 40%, but with all the calls, texts, etc. by the time we were done the phone had been dead for 3 hours. I've taken to stashing a USB battery charger in the car. It stays plugged in, and can throw a full charge into my phone when needed.

actualize green colorless radishes

are you in management?

No kidding. 14 people dead and it's an emergency?

forget that, mini-discs are the way to go.

if you're doing it just for your son, maybe. but i know some people still have relatives that aren't constantly at their computer. one of our grandparents turns her computer on once a month to do bills. for her, on dialup, she's not willing to spend time looking at tiny thumbnails to determine which pics to download to look at. instead, we print a pack of 20-30 every once in awhile, and send them to her or bring them with us. she loves them, especially because she can stick them on her fridge, take them to work, etc. and she knows and understand that if she loses them, its not a big deal because we've still got the digital versions at home.

I can just imagine what it would be like to teach a class in American schools where half the kids don't even have a copy of the book.

no imagination necessary, just go to any inner city school. but that's not too bad, the teacher just ends up giving the textbooks to the half that can actually read.

competent enough to install Linux or their own custom Windows image on there

I had this happen once. the "competent" user installed a pirated version of windows over the company image, didn't bother to put AV on there (which would have been included in the company image), had a partition with ISOs of at least a dozen pirated software packages (big ones, not joe blow's nifty gadget 1.0), and managed to infect his machine very badly before we caught it on the network and shut him down. i've still got his hard drive mounted on a plaque in my office.

market research, probably a lot of phone/web surveys and/or focus groups where people are asked the same basic question with slightly different options: would you pay $x for xGB of data? what about $x for yGB? what about $y for xGB?

yep, this is part of the problem. so many jobs are lumped together as "IT". I get umpteen million offers for network engineering, when i've never configured a router (other than my wireless one). but because my resume has something about understanding networking, i get those requests to apply.

The Colonization Of Other Worlds: Who Will Bring It About And Why?

i'm willing to sign up to bring potato salad. but you're going to have to tell me how many people are coming.

yes, something inconspicuous like "Ford Prefect".

he's also neglecting the fact that very few of those drives have anything but a 5400 or even 4200rpm drive in them. at least the 2.5 ones i bought. but since i tend to by 7200 for my laptops anyway, buying an enclosure (discount electronic stores periodically have enclosures on sale for $5-10) and using a drive i had laying around is a lot cheaper, and the drives end up being faster.

i think maybe it depends on how quickly you drink it. i have a cup before i leave for work, another when i get to work, maybe one more before lunch. usually at least another after i get back from lunch, and sometimes one before i leave work.

I would actually hope this wouldn't be the case, or there would be some way to be customizable. people who have family in certain area might want to know when grandma is in the path of a tsu-nucle-ricane-flood, and for when you're travelling, maybe to know that you shouldn't have put down fertilizer because of the torrential rainstorm heading your way.

for those about to shock, we salute you.