Would mod you up if I had points..

If a gesture to produce a result can be patented "Pinch to Zoom", maybe I should then patent the following.
* Swallow pill to cure: Every orally delivered medicine, past and future now owes me big time
* Push button to Switch on: Every device in existence will now have to invent a new gesture to switch itself on.
* Click button to Submit: Most websites and applications..
* Pull handle to open: All doors.

This isn't about prior art, it is about what is patentable: The implementation (invention) or the gesture to interact with the implementation.

Sony Rootkit anyone?

Easiest way to get started is to build web apps in Javascript built on Google spreadsheets (Google Script). All you need is a web browser, and access to Google Drive.
Go to Google Drive, create a spreadsheet. In your spreadsheet, go to Tools/Script Editor. This will open a web based editor in your browser, and you can start programming. Click on Publish/Deploy as a web app, and now you're set. Build anything from simple functions used within your spreadsheet to full fledged web apps with a user interface. Easy as pie.

The pretty good book on Google Script will get you started in no time.

Maybe the person was really lynching the guy wearing flip flops, who just happened to be black! Would his crime be any less if he had lynched a white guy wearing flip flops?

Should a completely secular serial killer be let off easy, simply because "hey, at least he/she didn't target a specific group"?

Do the police not protect black people? Do the courts refuse to take on cases against black people?

If black people do feel more insecure, maybe we should be fixing these issues first, instead of making examples out of others.

Understanding the law, and whether an action violates it, should not require a history lesson. Assaulting someone, (or any other action) should either be an offence or not. Whether the victims (or perpetrators) ancestors suffered some injustice shouldn't affect the criminality of the action or it's punishment.

Hate crimes are essentially "thought crimes" + some "action".

Thought crimes on their own are specifically protected and considered an essential part of liberty and freedom, and this country has enshrined that in our freedom of speech laws. It follows that the criminality (and punishment) of the "action", should not be affected by the thought behind it.

In some countries (India) committing suicide is a crime in itself. (I guess you can only be prosecuted if the attempt fails). But it does reinforce the idea that suicide is the problem not a solution.

He did?

Microsoft Office

It also means variable salary, which is also a useful tool to LOWER someones effective salary, when either they (or the firm) does not do well. You see, if your salary cannot be lowered, then you will only work so hard as to not get fired. Working any harder is a complete waste of effort.

Peter Gibbons: The thing is, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care.
Bob Porter: Don't... don't care?
Peter Gibbons: It's a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don't see another dime, so where's the motivation? And here's something else, Bob: I have eight different bosses right now.
Bob Slydell: I beg your pardon?
Peter Gibbons: Eight bosses.
Bob Slydell: Eight?
Peter Gibbons: Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled, that and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.

Wish I had mod points.. but very true.. Language tricks and knowledge can be learnt. Solving brain teasers can be hit or miss. Being able to objectively evaluate multiple options and see the trade off's of each and apply them to find the optimal approach for the given situation is an invaluable skill and something that is not easily acquired. I have seen too many cases where people get through the interviews based on their knowledge of the platform or programming language, but are absolutely horrible in reality, since their code always has "issues" even if it solves the task at hand, because they never put it in context of the larger picture/system. Another critical skill is being able to write clean, structured code. I've seen too many "bad hires" because the code they do write once hired is a complete unmaintainable mess.

This is not "before price change" vs "after price change".. This is "earlier projections for after price change" vs "new reality based projections for after price change" An important distinction because we do not know the break down of numbers before the price change announcement. Also for everyone running the math assuming everyone was on the $11 option, there were a very large number of early subscribers who were on netflixes $20 3 DVD (or 2 DVD with Blu Ray) plans who decided DVD's were just not worth it, and decided to downgrade to the $8 plan. It would be interesting to compare the average revenue per customer is before and after the announcement.

Finally! a rational thought in this discussion. Looking at it from the big picture point of view, this is not all that different from any retail model of physical goods, and Amazon more than anybody else understands this model well.

One difference being that with physical goods, the cost of keeping/maintaining inventory often drives discounts and final pricing. In the digital realm this driving force gets replaced by the exposure factor. Discounting/bundling creates exposure, which in turn drives more sales. Given the guaranteed minimum payoff to the developer, this may actually a good thing.

As a developer I would worry more about the perceived value of my product. If it gets frequently discounted to a certain value, I may still make the same amount of money (or more.. look at Angry Birds) however it also solidifies the value/cost perception of the product in peoples minds, and maybe I care about that perception.

Visit New York someday. Most escalator in crowded places like subways etc, will have a line of people standing still on the right, and a moving lane of people walking up the escalator on the left. It just feels natural after a while and people stop thinking about it. If you want to stay still, move to the right, or stay on the left and keep walking.

I've seen this happen a "lot" in my industry..

Here's a couple of questions to figure out..

Are they doing this as part of a larger plan, or to keep you happy and give you more money?
If the the former, then you need to figure out what they plan to do with your current position. Hire an outsider? Promote someone from the team? Shrink the team?

If they plan to promote someone from the team, and you refuse your promotion, It could trickle down and you could end up reporting to someone currently in the team..