I stole it. (They only look at the last name when they ask for ID, anyway.)

Plus, it boggles the mind that your nation still relies on horrendously-antiquated checks. We graduated from that over ten years ago now, and it's been almost a year since I saw anyone's checkbook in public.

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Do you really think it's wise or responsible to be using a piece of closed-source software (and one not known for its security, to say the least) so many years after the vendor has stopped supporting or releasing patches for it, and for which known exploits are in the wild?

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In what way does, for example, Google Apps Standard Edition ($0/year), cost more -- either up-front or in the long term?

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Do you not think using current tools at the time to produce a file, then ensuring the file is stored in an industry-standard open file format (such as ODF, RTF, plain text, HTML, TeX, or PDF -- or even better, more than one), is an acceptable archive, without needing to also archive a copy of (or later run) a dated (and bug-ridden and proprietary, in this case) application along with it -- which may not even run on machines "15 or 20 years" later, as you mention?

Right here.

Quoting the Google:

Now businesses can run Microsoft Outlook on Google Apps instead of Microsoft Exchange, so they can achieve the cost savings, security and reliability of Google Apps while employees use the interface they prefer for email, contacts and calendar.

Oh, and it works with all editions of Google Apps, both free and paid, and it costs $0 extra.

You're welcome.

DVI was great when it first came out; HDMI has obsoleted it in home theater and Mini DisplayPort is beginning to do the same in IT.

DVI is just too big a connector for some applications; look at the port side of any Unibody MacBook Pro and you'll see that the use of a DVI connector would have resulted in the loss of a USB port, since the ports are stuffed edge-to-edge on the board.

Mini DisplayPort is part of the VESA DisplayPort 1.2 open standard.

Did you complain when DVI ports were brand-new and required a DVI-VGA adapter for most endusers to be able to use? This is exactly the same concept.

If you don't like Apple's price on the adapter, buy it from elsewhere (like monoprice.com).

I have mod points and am forfeiting the right to moderate this story by posting this. I second this sentiment (although I, myself, would try to not be quite so harsh in the delivery). Here are two links I think you should read, and a book I think you should buy (I bought a copy myself and gave several extra copies to friends with kids):

http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/2008/04/06/why-i-let-my-9-year-old-ride-the-subway-alone/

http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Free-Range-Kids-Children-Freedom-Without/dp/0470471948

I also recommend watching the video in the Amazon link.

Cheers,
Alex

It's called "Air Sharing", and its new big brother, "Air Sharing Pro".

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=312686749&mt=8

Highly recommended; well worth the $5.

Been there, done that, didn't get a T-shirt.

(1) RIM sold more devices in the last quarter; marketshare has nothing to do with that. You are quoting nonsense. In addition, iPhone sales dropped off a cliff last year when people realized a new iPhone model was on its way, and the same is happening now.

(2) What the hell are you talking about with Linux surpassing MS and Apple? RIM devices don't run Linux. The closest thing which exists to handheld UNIX is the iPhone, which is based on BSD UNIX and the Darwin kernel, just like the desktop version of Mac OS X.

Can you losers quit this "Candlejack" bullsh

This is why my motto (and fundamental rule for life) is Don't be a dick: it's simple to understand, and reasonable people can agree on what it means.

Ascorbic acid, otherwise known as vitamin C, also works great to prevent apple slices from browning. It's probably a dilute solution of ascorbic acid sprayed onto them before packaging; there's an ancillary benefit of being even better for you as a result.

Hydrogen peroxide powered rocket packs fly for around 30 seconds, because they have a specific impulse of around 125, meaning that one pound of propellant can make 125 pound-seconds of thrust, meaning that it takes about two pounds of propellant for every second you are in the air. Mass ratios are low for anything strapped to a human, so the exponential nature of the rocket equation can be safely ignored.

A pretty hot (both literally and figuratively) bipropellant rocket could manage about twice the specific impulse, and you could carry somewhat heavier tanks, but two minutes of flight on a rocket pack is probably about the upper limit with conventional propellants.

However, an actual jet pack that used atmospheric oxygen could have an Isp ten times higher, allowing theoretical flights of fifteen minutes or so. Here, it really is a matter of technical development, since jet engines have thrust to weight ratios too low to make it practical. There is movement on this technical front, but it will still take a while.

John Carmack

Sadly, that's categorically incorrect. As a western-Canadian Shaw customer I can confidently assert that despite my connection's maximum speed of 1Mb/sec (tested using speed tests and some fast external servers) bittorrent, even on well-seeded (>2000 seeds) torrents _never_ exceeds 300k/sec. I can and do have dozens of torrents running, and no matter how many individual ones there are they don't top 300k/sec between them.

A less anecdotal bit of supporting evidence is that, after an odyssey with technical support that got me as far as someone claiming to be one of Shaw's network engineers, Shaw told me themselves that they throttle P2P connectivity.