The whole idea behind e-Readers is that there are a number of advantages over traditional print:

1: You can collect a much bigger library without needing storage or more bookshelves.

2: You can take your whole library with you when you travel.

3: You can read a lot more for a lot less.

The problem is that #1 and #2 are irrelevant in my opinion. When I'm traveling, I travel for a reason, and it's not to read. I'm visiting family, off to a festival with the family, etc.. Naturally, I like to bring something to read, but one or two books and maybe a couple magazines is the most I need. Usually, it's just one book. As for the bookshelf, I really like a physical book - we have over 1000 between myself, my wife, and our 2 kids. It's that sense of permanence mentioned in TFA. I don't need to keep a book charged in order to read it, and I don't have to freak out if I spill a drop of whatever I'm drinking on it.

As for #3, this would be enough for me to at least buy more of my books in electronic format, but that argument is a load of bollocks - and the biggest disappointment in the entire eBook scene. I often find that the paperback print is the same or cheaper than the eBook. For instance, the Game of Thrones paperback bookshelf is currently $21.03 at Barnes and Noble. The eBook for the same collection of 4 stories is $29.99. Both prices are exactly the same at Amazon. Why would I want the eBook?

Granted, there are specials where the opposite is true, and others where I've grabbed eBooks for under $5, or even as low as a dollar, but these are books I would never even bother with a hard copy on - and often I'm glad I didn't waste time going to find it at the bookstore. I'm really trying to justify buying the Nook Color with books, but so far, I'm using it to let my kid watch Phineas and Ferb through Netflix a lot more than I'm reading books on it. As far as that goes, I don't even bother watching Netflix streaming videos on it, because the quality really is poor, and I can do better through the Wii or my laptop.

Are you saying Mitt Romney is a robot planted to take over the country?

I knew it!

"What would you like to see slowed down to such a degree?"

My 5 year old. I might be able to keep up with him that way ...

"extracurricular activities" whilst watching, shall we say, content intended for mature audiences?

Can't see this working for long. Anyone aware of these cameras and not explicitly into exhibitionism of some kind will immediately cover or otherwise disable the camera (don't we already have webcams for this kind of thing?)

Next it will be people that don't want their kids being viewed in the privacy of their own home by complete strangers. Some folks get really touchy about that.

Or are they just competing?

If they're just competing, then it hardly matters who "wins" this war, either way it's going to be the layoffs later this Summer that will be the casualties. It happens at large companies all the time. Hire a bunch of folks that look interesting, then see who latches onto the promising projects like so many parasites looking for the vital organs.

Then dump the rest.

Ok, it's not really strictly along that process, but it's close enough for the dramatization to be believable when you're seeing it first hand for the umpteenth time. Small companies on the other hand, typically have a very clear idea what they need. Since they don't need to clear it along 20 levels of paper pushers and bean counters, they don't have to generalize and practice the Accuracy By Volume shotgun approach - they don't have that kind of time to waste on it anyway. Their requirements are clear and they typically get the best fit they can find.

Part of the problem here is that everyone thinks using HTTPS will make you safe. Sure, it will make your browsing more private, but that's not the same thing.

Let's not forget that whether you're using HTTPS or not, malicious or compromised sites can result in an attack through your browser. One your company safety methods cannot detect.

At least one company just started dealing with this by blocking all secure web traffic. A company whose security division was recently hacked. An organization very few people ever though *could* be hacked, seeing as their name is synonymous with the secure handshake (literally).

'nuff said?

Or perhaps it just means that people are entertained by such silliness.

More likely, it's just the lowest common denominator that are attracted to such things - they're hitting their target market.

Don't they call that "penance?"

I seem to remember from before I escaped religion that they gave you a penance each time, which ultimately amounts to reinforcement of your submission to a belief system without evidence of its validity.

If it was just a straightforward extortion, I'd almost feel better about it all. When it comes down to it, I only ever did the same things every other kid did, and nothing worth the trouble of blackmail. Certainly not worth the threat of Hell.

That will be 10 Hail Marys and 4 LOLs ...

Oh, I agree completely. Like the old saying goes, opinions are like ... - everyone has their very own. With 7 or so billion of them walking around the planet, it's hardly a simple matter to thoroughly explain *anything* about them.

It's in trying to explain those endless finer points that the discussion is always derailed. I found the statement applicable because the person in question had a short little span of attention coupled with a nearly fundamentalist zeal for socialism, and therefore cannot be made to listen to simple logic and engage in real discussion where his beliefs are being questioned.

It may not be all-encompassing, but that statement boils down a great deal of a very important point of view in the matter - that of the individual. In other words, without misrepresenting or overstating anything, it simplifies a very complex view to the point it might be heard by otherwise deaf ears.

Gonna have to remember that. I have a socialist cousin that won't listen to me explain that I think I give quite enough back to a Capitalist society and I'm not interested in reversing the ratio.

Maybe I could get him to listen long enough to grasp a short, simple point like that.

Cheers!

Did he really write that? Did George Bush get a job in journalism now?

I'm not the only one that sees an analogy to Daffy Duck blowing on his little sail to make his boat go, am I?

And I thought they only watched manga in Japan ...

Ok, new favorite quote. I'm gonna use that one. A lot. Probably even on myself from time to time.

Hell, I'll probably put it on everything but ice cream.