Exactly. One word: gorilla arm. (Or is that two words..?)

Nothing bad about trying out the alternative to find out how it works, but is there really some kind of intrinsic value in rooting for the underdog - especially when this underdog is Microsoft? Not to say that Google isn't big (and eeeevil), but MS definitely *is* big (and eeeevil), not just that much in search tech. Same goes for anti-iPod pro-Zune fanboys.

I also don't think being against the grain for the sake of being against the grain is quite honest intellectually. I hope if you find Bing more useful than Google, you end up preferring it because of that, not because of being different from the percieved mainstream.

OK, now I think I understand why Apple shuns HDMI. Why don't they just make one cable to rule them all?

The funny thing is, in Europe protestants are in general the more liberal Christians (there are some pockets of fundamentalists, of course). Probably because all the not-so-liberal ones sailed to the other side of the Atlantic.

"I'm glad they're pushing it out more aggressively as that means more people will get better standards support and less-awful javascript performance..."

Exactly. If there's anything where MS's cramming-it-down-your-throat approach to software updates is justified, this is it. The sooner we have all the IE-using people using the latest, least-sucking version of IE, the better. I, for one, don't want to make any more IE6 hacks to my XHTML & CSS.

I find it rather incredible that supposedly computer-literate people in the year 2009 still think Macs only have one-buttoned mice.

Physically, yes. Functionally, no.

"I want two or three mouse buttons."

Of course I don't know, you might have some special need for three physically separate buttons on a laptop, but I'm actually happier using the "retarded" "one-button" (physically) track pad of my MacBook than I ever was with a two-button Windows laptop (yes, I'm a switcher). It's quicker to do a 'right click' with a tap of two fingers (or hold two fingers on the track pad and click) than to point at a specific button to click.

For serious work, I have a multi-button separate mouse which is better than any kind of track pad anyway.

Here too: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/

Somehow, trying to evoke empathy - a basic human trait - is a 'liberal' thing to conservatives. It's funny, really. The grandparent is a 'beautiful' illustration of the conservative mindset.

No comment about the ban on draining swamps, but just a reminder about this: the mosquitoes eventually became resistant to DDT, so the current malaria malaise would've happened with or without DDT.