Some people like it. I like it sometimes. Depends on my mood. There's still tons more vanilla porn out there for folks like you.

The first company to come out with fully interactive, fully immersive tactile VR body suits will have a CEO with wealth that rivals Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. Get on it!

I blame everyone for complaining when they clearly did not do their purchase for something that is either a large ticket item, or, in particular, is something to do with their health.

God forbid someone do research on the product they're purchasing, instead of simply buying it because its shiny and trendy.

Wait, that's all I have to do to regain my status as a colonial power?

I never knew it would be so easy.

Amex is really good for a fair amount of things. I'm sure its made possible by their annual fees, but when you need it, they're damn useful.

Some might, but, in my experience, unless you have an Amex, you're in for a huge headache.

I did not state that many people make the "rockstar" salary. That was the poster I was responding to.

In the US, the majority of "independent" arts who make middle-class, stable incomes are folks who compose for TV/movies and contribute to music libraries.

Making money as a performing artist is very difficult, not the least reason of which is that in the US touring rock acts (regional bands, for example, which 3-4 decades ago could make a hard but respectable living touring around their region) haven't gotten a pay raise in 40 years (that is, the per-man take for a night is about the same as it was in the 1970's -- a regional touring band, assuming it can find regular venues -- which is difficult -- can expect to make 125$ per man, per night, before expenses). The only local/regional "music" occupation that can play regularly and make a decent per-man income is that of a DJ.

Most of the folks working in the "music industry" are not musicians.

If you do not agree that we should encourage a robust system whereby musicians (and other artists) can make a middle-class age and contribute/enrich our society, you and I will never be able to have a reasonable conversation.

The gulf between "average independent musician income" and "super rich musician" is astronomically huge.

If you want our culture to have a rich music component, full-time musicians need to make a decent middle-class living. Currently the number that can is vanishingly small.

FTFY. And of those very few, the ones who are making a living that's equivalent to even a 1st year helpdesk employee usually had help from a label at one point or another.

My MBP gets pretty damn hot when streaming off ustream.tv, for example, and that's with the power brick being external. I'd rather the fans be a little more powerful and the MBP be a little less ridiculously hot.

Enthusiasts call that an "xMac", and Apple has no interest in producing it.

The US doesn't have anything like a "national warranty".

Of course, after I hit submit, I realized I should have clarified: while the anime/manga is, of course, drawn art, the "books that people protest/picket" are photo books. Insofar as I can tell, they are not sexual in any way, but, of course, that's from my point of view. The people protesting, apparently, disagree with that assessment.