we're not all stupid. Only about 53% of us are.

In her district, closer to 83%.

"It's also a shame that Number 2 is the same every episode as the way he changed sometimes illustrated the lack of personal importance. Number 2 was an identity that, if a particular person were performing it badly as happened, could mysteriously be replaced by someone else. Individuality didn't matter - continuity did."

Aren't there at least two episodes where the change in Number 2 is a key plot element? One, late in the series is where Number 6 gets "elected" as the new Number 2, where the earlier changes in Number 2 were not accompanied by talk of an election. This points to the doubts many have with the electoral processes in which "groupthink" gets people elected without regard to the validity of campaign promises, etc.

In another episode I think the changeover in Number 2 takes place during the episode, and I don't remember the details other than that it would require writing that part of the script out.

With those sorts of exceptions I don't have a particular problem with stabilizing the cast. In fact during the original run of the series I assumed that the reasons for the change had to do with the relative pay for stars, vs co-stars and other "formula" reasons. Consider all the programs that used to have only a single main character that appears in every episode with ALL the other main characters (in a particular episode) being variable from one episode to the next, the "continuity" characters would usually be bit parts that didn't show up in even half the episodes (Rockford's father in the Rockford Files comes to mind).

there's been a lot more bitching about Apple than Microsoft lately

Probably mostly because Microsoft hasn't done anything lately. But don't worry, their slimy bad self is about to wake up again.

Meanwhile, the less Apple can do to imitate them, the better. It is an interesting exercise to see if people think this is an example of that.

You mean other than being in control of the press, Congress and the Whitehouse?

It seem that Microsoft's attorneys should have simply stuck with the facts at hand.

That would be terrain the company is totally unfamiliar with.

I don't know if it is just my perception, but it feels like MS is back to their old ways with a lot of their activities these days - particularly with regard to anything web facing.

At what point did you think that they had left their old ways? The most annoying aspect of their old ways to me was that they were constantly lying about what their intentions/directions were. They did after all start working on OS/2 as the future direction for Windows. More recently they hired a single Open Source guru and did some still mysterious deals with Novell which have done more to make Novell look like Microsoft than they have to make Microsoft look like Novell.

If you don't think they intend to lie cheat and steal to beat Google then I have some property I'd like you to look at.

I can't think of anything else to say.

One more reason not to watch MSM.

Have you ever heard the saying: "good enough for government work"?

Two points when doing these Fox vs MSNBC (substitute any liberal outlet).

First, you should separate purely news reporting from the majority of content these days which is opinion and analysis. It only takes a few minutes for either side to report that Bill Clinton went to North Korea to get some prisoners released, but then on to hours of speculation about how he got there, what the backstory MIGHT be, and how this will affect the healthcare debate.

If you just look at the reporting though, the networks are far more similar. At that point you have to look at where the emphasis is. Which stories are left out, which are included, which get 30 seconds and which get 5 minutes. I've had liberal tell me they watched Fox *News* because of better coverage. They switch over to MSNBC for the opinion pieces. I'm not saying they are correct about that as I don't watch TV at all! Reading Newspapers, watching C-span, getting news from all the sources on the Internet should be enough to convince almost anyone that news as covered on any of the mass-media outlets is more show-business than anything else.

"Syndrome" sounds like a disease. When you really do engage in anticompetitive, manipulative, underhanded practices, have been convicted in multiple nations of doing so in an illegal fashion, have (in my opinion) resorted to bribery to compromise independent standards bodies, have made Webmasters everywhere bear additional costs because you refuse to fully adhere to open standards, and have abused the meaning of "updates to the OS" to install phone-home software (WGA), perhaps it's understandable that many people won't like you? Just maybe that's not a "syndrome" but a predictable outcome?

Sounds like informed and healthy behavior to me. "Syndrome" sounds more like continue doing things against your own self interest when an alternative approach is readily available.

is a container ship captain trying to figure out what happened to those five containers full of Jello mix he was supposed to deliver.

What I think will become evident in a few years (or less) is that property ownership in America is coming to an end.

We've tolerated a system with ever-increasing income taxes at the federal level, paying for a massive bureaucracy which does little other than re-distribute the funds "on our behalf".

We can debate the value of this system, but what I've wondered for years is at what point the various taxes on income would turn into a serious disincentive to traditional work.

Always in the background though was the notion that not just income, but savings, including home ownership would become an increasing target of taxation. These taxes, unlike income taxes which go, mostly, I know not where, are for essential services, like police and fire protection, local education, trash pick-up. These things, unlike funding for NASA, national defense, and so on, would be noticed immediately if suspended.

That is now coming to pass as I compare notes with others, many retired folks who feel less and less like owners of properties they worked hard to obtain and maintain.

As I struggle to cut expenses, like many retirees I notice that the things that bubble to the top of my list are both property taxes (collected in my case at three levels) as well as "hidden" taxes on various maintenance related activities.

The state I live in recently decided to "save money" by getting out of the elevator inspection business. They claim to cut staffing by a whopping 3 people, but in the process replace what was relatively straight forward with a convoluted and confusing flowchart, that the originator of the legislation claim will increase state income, and surely it will, with fines of $1000 a day for such things as missing decals or burned out light bulbs.

Is there anyone who would want to live in a home with unsafe elevators, faulty electrical systems or leak plumbing? No. But turning everyday repair problems into a tax windfall for states and localities coupled with property tax revenue that were based on hockey stick increases in real-estate "value" will turn property ownership for all but the rich into a thing of the past.

This is clearly an unintended consequence of liberal policies which focus on programs, new programs and growth of old programs, and pay no attention to where the money comes from.

Making homes "more affordable" by artificially lowering mortgage barriers had legitimate humanitarian motivations. The unintended consequence of basing so many other "investments" in the "free money" generated from rapidly increasing home "values" is now the price we'll have to pay, and for a very long time for these good intentions.

Conservative Republicans may once have engaged in a "starve the beast" strategy of increasing the cost of (certain) parts of the government to the point where other parts would HAVE to be reduced, but it can be debated whether these policies were the results of calculation or incompetence.

We can continue to have that debate as liberals are now in control at almost all levels of a government that will soon render currency that doesn't have a lot of zeroes printed on it pretty much useless.

When it comes to the "whys" of all of this I vote for incompetence over calculation. But in the end it will make no difference.

Most of these sites witch serve as nothing more than a PR function (static pages with assurances that the government is there to make life better for everyone) should just be turned over to mega companies like Google or Microsoft and not connected in any way with truly sensitive data that certainly does reside at those agencies somewhere.

Government workers don't do weekends (except the military) and certainly not holiday weekends, and the consulting firms that support those agencies fall into the same pattern as a result. Ten years ago it would have been inconceivable that any public facing server would be connected to anything important on the back end. Hopefully to whatever extent they have strayed from that sound practice they need to return to it.

I'd say that in most cases they are naive, and in those cases where they are the ones in power they think we are.

The lefties I know are notorious for not wanting to get into the details. I bet more conservatives have read that document than liberals. The liberals are thinking with their hearts and trusting that big brother will make it all work out in an equitable fashion. Those in government of course don't have families, don't take vacations or drive fancy cars or consider what is best for their own financial interest in any way, they are all selfless servants of us poor downtrodden people. (Play twilight zone music here).

The reality is of course it's most of the (quite comfortably) retired government people I know who are sure that none of these big government programs will work. They've been there, in the trenches, as I have, and know how corrupt and self-serving the bureaucracy is. I even know people still in government at Health and Human Services that actually do the grunt work of implementing these programs (not pie in the sky legislation) and they say the situation is pretty much hopeless. We either stay with the admittedly imperfect system we have or switch to something that "seems" more "fair" but in reality would still provide excellent care to those with proper connections (highly placed government folks and people with lots of money) while the rest of us make do with the leftovers.

This generation is toast. They are going to have to totally screw everything up and saddle their progeny with the job of fixing it (if that is ever possible). We are moving to a two class system at breakneck speed and nobody posting on Slashdot will be among the "haves".

Enjoy what's left of the American dream while it lasts.

Maybe Al Gore will move there and set them straight. I think the little bow he gives before doing his Powerpoint show will be a big hit.

Being a second-class power may have its advantages after all.