No optical drive means longer battery life and less weight. I've also found optical drives to be one of the easiest pieces on laptops to break. The drive won't stay shut, the drive won't stop checking for a disc being present, or it just breaks.

I've been using a netbook for just shy of four years and have only once "wished" I had an optical drive. I was able to find a work around then, and haven't needed to employ that workaround since.

Of course, I have a desktop for any heavy lifting, but that is not why I have a netbook. It has served it's purpose of couch surfing and travel tech perfectly. And you can get refurb'd ones for $200 all over the place...

Cheap. Light weight. Long battery life. These are what I care about in portable computers. If you are looking for something else...well...there aere plenty of options other then netbooks.

I completely agree that hockey is the dominant sport in all of Canada. I'm amazed that anyone could try to argue differently, honestly. But I do want to point out the the giant screens were not up up for the Stanley Cup. They are left over from the Olympics that was so recently held in Vancouver, and were simply being re-used for this event.

But that does not invalidate your overall point that I competely agree with. Hockey is unquestionably the dominant sport in Canada.

Are you aware that the last riot in Vancouver was immediately after they lost in the Stanley Cup Finals in 1994?

To say it was caused by economic conditions is looking too far into this. The Vancouver riots were caused by losing The Stanley Cup Game 7 after allowing many thousands of people to all gather into a small area.

This is the truly unfortunate reality of what will come of this...

Your comparison is flawed. You are comparing the Mac install base to the number of Windows downloads. For it to be meaningful, you would need to compare install base to install base or downloads to downloads.

But I do think your humping chihuahua analogy is both correct and hysterical.

This is actually a method used by some photographers to protect their expensive gear from random searches and theft. They obtain a valid gun permit and buy a simple starter pistol, which still needs to be treated like any other gun. Apparently the process is to register the firearm at the luggae check in area, and display that you are locking the firearm in secured luggage (which of course also contains all of your pricey photo gear). And then, yes, it does get treated with a higher level of security, and no, it can not be opened.

But you you do actually need to pack a firearm. (Not sure about ammo)

And I have no idea if it costs extra, but I imagine the airline industry would charge you where ever they can...unless the NRA lobbyists got to them...which I would have no trouble believing to be the case.

I also agree with Vectormatic. In my spare time, I don't spend much time creating slick software that would be a big selling point in any interview. However, when I was unemployed, I did make a point of creating from scratch and hosting (via DynDNS) a simple stupid automobile maintenance application. It was not overly complex or slick, but it did the trick. It showed that I can actually get from point A to point B in a coding project. It showed that I actually understand the nature of computers and networks enough to set up a DynDNS account (which was by no means a one click affair back in 2001). And it showed that I actually cared enough about getting a job to DO SOMETHING other than sit on my ass waiting for phone calls.

Done.

My router has been open since about 2006. Haven't had to hire a lawyer yet, and I live in a large condo complex in Boston proper. SCORES of people could share my connection, but somehow I haven't been thrown down any stairs yet.

Stop being too afraid to stand up for your principles.

Thank you.

I am not being sarcastic. You had me near standing on my desk with raised fist while reading this. I could not have put it any better and I agree with every word you wrote.

Again, thank you.

A couple things:
First, it looks like your data is incorrect. There were 116 Law Enforcement Deaths in 2009. 49 by gunshot.41 by Auto/Motorcycle Accident, 10 Struck by Vehicle. (Source: National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund ). Of course, that probably included ALL law enforcement branches, and your figures may be limited to Police Departments.

Second, I know it sounds rather cold, but I find those numbers (both yours and mine) to be incredibly low. So low that I do not believe that it justifies the mashing of innnocent peoples' skulls between floorboards and gun muzzles. I respect the difficulty and danger of their jobs, but they need to stop looking at the world as though everyone is out to kill all cops on sight. An arrest warrent is not a license to abuse people, and they should have the self control to treat subjects humanely.

According to the same site, a total of ~19,000 law enforcement officer have died in the line of duty IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY of the United States. This includes all causes of death, not just intentional attempts on their lives.

And this article does an interesting job of showing how the figures going the other way are rather lopsided:

He said better, not cuter.

You seem to have contradicted yourself there.

I agree. We are all peers. The guy working at 7/11 is a peer of the Fn President of the US. Equality is not a meaningless word. And posters like the guy you responed to always remind me of this classic

Google provides API's that allow programmers to include ads in the software being distributed on Android. That API is "less than free" because the programmer can definitely make money off if it.

You are correct. However, I believe we can assume that folks reading /. are aware of this nugget of wisdom that poeple not reading "News For Nerds" may not be aware of. Or do you think a large (even small?) faction of Slashdot readers are unaware of the numerous and over-reported number of dolts that get caught doing something non-Kosher because of FB posts?