Originally published in “The Year’s Best Science Fiction” in 1997

http://www.spadeofreason.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Spade-of-Reason.pdf

The one in CB looks like a power plant from the road. It's accoss from a trailer park, excuse me, some portable homes.

They didn't spent much on outward appearances. There is one small Google sign at the security gate. If it weren't for that you could mistake it for a manufacturing facility.

There are over 100 larger asteroids that either have moons or orbit each other as binaries or companions.

http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/astro/asteroidmoons.html

I drive by this one occasionally. The only thing you see from the road is the cooling towers. It's interesting to finally read about part of it's function:

>> "This massive antenna receives signals for our Access Services unit which brings fiber optics to residential homes all over the globe. These antennas are also the primary signal source for hundreds of TV channels that make up Google Fiber's TV service."

Google Fiber in CB Iowa? Yes please! How about dragging that line over to Omaha while you're at it?

I live in Omaha NE, Sprint still hasn't turned on their 4G LTE. Verizon's had theirs for ages, but I don't want to worry about overage fees. I always go over 2gb per month. Unlimited data is one of my requirements for a carrier.

Sprint likes to throw around a map of all the places about to have 4G, but they never want to get into tentative dates.

T-Mobile isn't in this area or I'd jump ship. Unlimited data and 4G LTE. I even like Carly Foulkes.

As for the tethering - if you're willing to root your phone there are plenty of Android ROMs that will allow you to tether. I have a ROM called "Blu Cuban" on my Galaxy S2 based Ice Cream Sandwich. I tether all the time and it's never shown up on my phone bill. Check out xda-developers.com If you've never rooted your phone before there's a million videos on youtube to show you how.

Ironic. You're jumping on someone about grammar and you start a sentence with "Jees".

>> "Citation needed."

Quite the opposite. I need to be convinced something the size of a golf cart is safe. I've seen claims by Mercedes-Benz about the strength of the rollcage, but the passengers in a Smart Car sit with their backs effectively against the rear of the car. In the event of a rear-end or side collision there's no crumple space to buffer. Eight airbags might help a bit, but passengers in a Smart Car are at the mercy of physics. There's just not much between them and the car hitting them.

A small car is never going to be as survivable as a larger car. I hope you accept that before starting a family.

Interesting. I hadn't seen that claim by Phoronix.

I've been giving Mate a trial recently. As a former Gnome user it has it's strong points. I like KDE but I've encountered stability problems in Fedora 15 & 16.

People with families don't like smaller cars in part because they're less safe in an accident. A tiny Euro Smart Car gets great MPG but it's nearly unsurvivable in a serious collision.

When you're single you throw things in the back seat. When you have kids suddenly the trunk space matters.

If you're going on a road trip and the kids have a back seat the size of a postage stamp it's going to suck.

I can spell American just fine. Why can't you?

... you aren't being forced to use the netbook/tablet desktop in KDE as you are in Gnome 3. KDE still has a functional desktop environment.

I am frustrated by their stability issues more than their desktop functionality. KDE is very flexible in that respect.

Lightweight/full featured is a different concern. Since the average PC user now measures their RAM in gigabytes this isn't a concern for some people. But if you want your DE to have a smaller memory footprint then KDE is the worst choice.

Order a Model B last month from element14, it took 1 week to arrive. I live in Nebraska.

Being a school nurse is not a resume enhancer. It's not a position most nurses will seek out. It is often a last resort because they've screwed up or washed out elsewhere.

I did not hand out personal information when I created my /. account all those years ago. I can express every opinion I want on Slashdot without handing over my blood type.

The problem in your logic is it assumes a person needs a facebook account (or like service). What do Myspace, Google+ and Facebook all have in common? I don't have user accounts on any of them.

I belong to several discussion forums where I post at almost daily. None of them have my real name, phone number, pictures of me or my kids...

I don't want online identities regulated. One more goverment oversight that can be easily abused.

I hope I don't sound trollish, but it is ultimate your responsibility to safegaurd information you don't want passed around. Reliance on Facebook to safegaurd your stuff implies they care about a few phone numbers, or private photos, or whatever. They don't. They'll write some form letter to everyone and apologize and then go back to fretting about their stock price.

At Facebook you the product for sale. As long as you keep coming back they don't have a problem.

Cut and Paste error