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So we should let them pipe it down to a Gulf of Mexico port and put it on a ship because nothing bad will happen to those ships?

The safest option is to let Canada transport the stuff across Canada to a Canadian port.

...then there's a Giant Rat of Sumatra joke in there somewhere.

So businesses everywhere experienced a huge spike in productivity due to a Slashdot uneffect?

I'm probably the only other person around here old enough to get that one.

So you think that was the result of *not* being good at what they were *really* trying to do?

You got any idea how big a percentage of communications to politicians are about the constituents' Social Security and/or Medicare accounts and problems with said accounts?

Neither do I, but I'll bet it ain't small, especially in a retiree magnet state like Florida, and if you want a politician to use leverage on your behalf with the SSA or whoever deals with Medicare, they're going to need to know your SSN so that the SSA or the Medicare people know who they're talking about.

Yeah, that's just what the Templars and the Rosacrucians want you to think.

No, wait, that's just what Opus Dei and the Freemasons want you to think that the Templars and the Rosacrucians want you to think.

No, wait, that's just what the Gnostics and The Elders of Zion want you to think that Opus Dei and the Freemasons want you to think that the Templars and the Rosacrucians want you to think.

No, wait, that's just what Ordo Templi Orientis and The Cathars want you to think that the Gnostics and The Elders of Zion want you to think that Opus Dei and the Freemasons want you to think that the Templars and the Rosacrucians want you to think.

No, wait, that's just what the Comte de Saint-Germain wants you to think that the the Priory of Sion wants you to think that Ordo Templi Orientis and The Cathars want you to think that the Gnostics and The Elders of Zion want you to think that Opus Dei and the Freemasons want you to think that the Templars and the Rosacrucians want you to think.

No, wait, that's just what the Jaycees want you to think that the Ascended Masters want you to think that the Comte de Saint-Germain...

In both cases, parties wishing to loot the US in one way or another.

The headline made *me* think it was about an undersea "communications" link.

But I did wind up expanding my knowledge of the variations of meaning for the word "moot".

Did you ever even get your spandex jacket?

...of the comment author when modding, or otherwise.

I read the comments, and look to see who wrote it if I think the comment is above average in some way, or otherwise stands out.

So if I were to hand out that many down mods (I very, very rarely down mod, try to use the points to uplift the good stuff), I suppose I could theoretically hit the same author 5 times in a row (if they didn't have a sig).

But yeah, in your case it was probably a jerk trying to find the " -100, I disagree " button.

What monopoly?

The monopoly happens when Staples, Office Depot, and Office Max banded together still aren't strong enough to survive the onslaughts of Wal-Mart/Sam's and Costco on the B&M side and Amazon (and maybe a little Quill) on the web side, and now there are 3 more empty buildings in town to keep company the places that used to be local hardware stores and lumberyards before Lowe's and Home Depot came to town.

And the employer who expects the employees to help cheat the customers will always cheat the employees.

EXACTLY!

No one ever bothered to tell me that it wasn't going to be a band across that had a non-linear top to bottom gradient, but that instead it would be more like a dart board or bulls eye, which means you have to stare absolutely straight ahead, and turn your entire head to see anything not directly in front of you, and that you would have pretty much no peripheral vision whatsoever.

Even if computers didn't exist, my advice would still be

AVOID THEM LIKE THE PLAGUE!

My other rant is about how the only thing available anymore are those ugly skinny frames where the lens height is no more than the width of 2 fingers, and for someone as nearsighted as I am, who needs something that gathers in lots of light, that would still be totally inadequate even if they weren't hideous looking.

But, hey, they save 37 cents worth of plastic and get to jack up the retail price by $20 or more because ironic hipsters or something.