You might want to follow that link and see what I was suggesting. It's probably not what you think.

Depending on who's in control of the system, you might get your location sent to the OADS for "service."

I said "99%". You came up with the other 1%. Congratulations, here's your cookie, now sod off.

Either Melinda thinks Bill's hot, or Melinda thinks Bill's money is hot. If it's the former, okay.

I suspect it's the latter, and I note that Melinda isn't giving so much away that her lifestyle is being impacted.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of philanthropy - but giving away something you don't even have a use for is different from sacrificing to help others.

They become dependent upon feedings and lose their ability to survive in the wild. Ultimately, they become violent when not fed the attention the poor widdle things crave.

Nice try - but it still isn't legal tender. Here in the USA there is a legal definition that US money is legal tender and must be accepted for payment of all debts, public and private. Says it right on the money. Any country on the Earth with a functioning government makes the same assertion about their money within their borders. It's one of the basic sovereign powers which any world government is able to exercise (if they're truly a national government).

So . . . no, Republic Credits are no good here. I can buy stuff at the corner grocery store with money. I can pay my rent with money. I can buy gasoline with money. How's that bitcoin workin' for ya?

I've used Google Voice for several years now and have encountered none of the issues you describe (more correctly - I've experienced all of those issues, and discovered that without exception they all traced back to my cellular provider's efforts to eliminate Google Voice).

The latest salvo was when I upgraded my T-Mobile branded phone. It took me nearly an hour of Googling to find the information on Google which told me how to fix what multiple cellular providers have broken, and I can't find any way around the sim lock which prevents Google Wallet from doing tap-to-pay.

In my experience, SMS/voice mail/TTP are broken by cellular providers attempting to keep Google off of their networks (except as a search provider prioritizing their products and services).

How'd an insensitive clod such as yourself get a four digit slashdot UID? I can already see you have a very low IQ, but it's the low UID that fascinates me. Did you inherit it? I've heard that idiocy can be congenital.

And . . . thank you for saying what I was going to say before I said it.

Depression is one of the areas I don't like to joke about. /. and the Internet in general do not count, and there are studies to back that up but I can't be arsed to google them for you. You actually need to go outside and physically meet other people to get the benefits of social activities.

Alcohol has been shown to be not effective in people suffering from depression. I'm not aware of any studies with sex, though it stands to reason that it will have short-term benefits.

Not that I'd argue pro-religion, that's on the same page as alcohol - even if it helps, you don't want all the payload unless you are already insane. Unfortunately, religions know very well how they work and do prey on the weak.

Yes, believing in some soothing bullshit lessens your stress levels, which has all kinds of benefits.

Believing aliens from outer space will save you at the last second will certainly make going into war easier to cope with as well.

Is there a difference between these? Not really, no. It's just that one is socially acceptable thanks to millenia of indoctrination, while the other one strike almost everyone as ridiculous bullshit.

See, the problem with believing in nonsense is that even if it reduces your stress and makes you feel happy and whatever else, ultimately, you still believe in nonsense and with all the downsides that has. There've been a few recent articles on that. For example, the "let's-destroy-the-planet-for-profit" mindset would have a much harder time if its proponents wouldn't believe in an afterlife and would realize this life on this planet is all we've got.

I've had this argument a hundred times, and it never changes. Yes, religion does some good. And for every good it does, it does two evils.

You can't reason your way into religion, it has to touch you personally. Someone in 1700 Europe would not be able to reason his way into belief that such things as elephants existed. He's have had to visit Asia or Africa to believe.

God is only invisible to those who choose to ignore him.

Not all possible, but 99% of them: Make it inaccessible from the inside of the aircraft.

So they don't shoot you down. If you wanted to commit suicide in this matter, you probably don't want just the plane, you want to fly it into something (9/11 probably gave you the idea).

So no, it doesn't add up - unless some nation shot it down and doesn't want to admit it. But that's as much speculation as anything else.