I'm actually happy with it. I don't use much data, and now my cost for a data plan has gone down from $30/month to $15/month. I'm not sure why I wouldn't be happy about that.

John Locke, Jeremy Bentham, Dharma, etc. I assume that giant statue represents some mythology. That asian dude in the temple probably represents something as well. Jakob & his brother are probably Tao or something (I don't know much about that, just making something up). This show was all over the place, borrowing from everywhere.

a group of strangers find themselves in purgatory, and they they must work through their past deeds together to find piece. That is different than what happened hear.That is what happened here. It's a mix of a number of mythologies and theologies, but that's basically what happened in this show.

Even if you accept everything that happened up until the final episode, it is a huge leap to "explain" it all with the supernatural as if it were the most natural explanation possible.

They're not saying it's the most logical explanation, only that it's the story they told.

Go look up what happened at Three Mile Island. It was contained, just like it was supposed to be. Problem was, everyone panicked and we quit building nuclear plants for like 30 years. Now, we're behind on doing it because of the fear.

Currently, none of the major energy alternatives are clean. Nuclear has that nasty waste that we don't have a good solution for (though we should get on with reprocessing like other countries have been doing). Coal results in coal ash, which is possibly worse than nuclear waste. Oil is a total mess. Solar is nice, but expensive and still a bit inefficient. Wind is nice, but still a bit expensive and inefficient. Coal and solar both have geographic restrictions. Hydro is nice, but not everyone lives near sufficient geography. Conservation would be helpful, but the obesity epidemic suggests that Americans have little self control. To make conservation happen would likely require the introduction of taxes, which politicians are too scared to do.

Yes that was my point. However deliberately airbrushing Comrade Jefferson out of the picture, for instance, is going a little further than simply making a "value judgment."

How do you know Jefferson is important? You're probably basing this on the fact that he was in your history books when you went to school. For all you know, those history books were colored by someone who thought he was more important that others and your history books were void of some very important people that aren't favored in the current or recent climate.

Point being, how do you know that Jefferson is of any significance other than the fact that you were told that he was by people who used to be in the same position as the people now trying to determine who is or isn't important? You're making your judgment only by pointing to prior holders of these positions as being more authoritative than this current group. It's really scary how much we depend on other people for the information on which we base our thoughts and beliefs. While these folks prefer red to the blue color you learned in school, you and I will never really know what the color actually was. We just have to piece together shit from the different people who think they know something.

Oh, please. Your discussion of the scrolling text boxes is what this article's author would call "a very good example of miss direction[sic]."

Think of it like this: The certification is a requirement for the job. You don't have it, but they decided to hire you and allow you some time to obtain it. If you look at it that way, they extended you a courtesy by giving you a chance to meet the job requirements even though you didn't meet them initially.

I'm amazed that you're trying to slam me while agreeing with me.

Mine put me at my neighbor's house, which is pretty damn close for not having a GPS.

In the meantime, they keep promoting closed, proprietary and severely limited one way network "consumer terminals" (devices whose primary purpose is to shove predefined content at consumer, more like TV than to facilitate user creativity more like a computer).

Are you suggesting that if OS X had been the dominant OS instead of Windows, we could have avoided the whole "everyone needs a blog" fiasco? I'm all for avoiding the next one of those.

Android is doing the most things right at the moment. Windows Mobile is screwing customers by not offering software upgrades, Apple is screwing customers by not allowing them to use their apps, BlackBerry simply is a crappy environment to code for, and despite how much Palm wants WebOS to gain marketshare, it simply isn't happening.

You're somewhat correct, but I'd say it like this:

Android is doing the most things right *for geeks* at the moment. Windows Mobile sucks. Apple is screwing *geeks* by not allowing them to use their apps. BlackBerry really is a crappy environment to code for. Palm is irrelevant.

The iPhone is more pleasant to use than Android. I've had both; I want my iPhone back. I'd probably be happier with the Droid if Verizon fixed the problem where you stop getting emails/data when you're talking. That part sucks, but that's not Android causing that.

The portable devices for quick use already exist, and they are way better than the iPad, because they're portable enough to fit in your pocket. For everything else you want a desk-bound (or lap-bound), full keyboard solution.

I think you said "you" where you meant to say "I". No offense, but while the smartphone is handy in a pinch, I'd rather have something bigger in my bag that sucked less than a phone. I'd rather not carry a whole laptop. For me, there's that 80-90% of the time when you don't need the laptop, but want something better than the phone. Apple seems to be betting it's more than just me.

The way I see it, unless laptops as a whole are distracting to _other_ students then they are nothing more than another medium to take notes on. On the other hand, if I happen to have a laptop that makes a lot of noise (intended or not) and it is distracting the professor or other students, then I see a problem.

I've been going back to school to get a Master's at night. It's pretty annoying that the classroom is full of kids watching TV or movies on their laptops. While I do what I can to sit near the front so that I don't have any video playing on a screen in front of me, it's not always possible. I have to leave work to get to class, so I can't just show up early enough to get in front of the TV watching idiots.

From a purely anecdotal perspective, I'd say 60-70% of laptops in the college classroom are being used for entertainment, not note taking. At the very least, I'd like to see them confined to the back few rows of the room.

It's pretty annoying when someone in front of you busts out a laptop and starts watching a movie. It's much harder to pay attention to the lecture when there's something more interesting going on. At the very least, they should confine laptop usage to the back rows.

to ask Steve Jobs a question via his direct email address and then get a reply means either:

Why are you assuming that this person sent the email and received a response? Isn't the far simpler answer that this person faked the entire exchange?