1) and 2) are related - describing how MAYBE he wants a Pepsi and maybe not, but only if he's sleepy, and following with comments on his sugar intake are unnecessary. Just say "have regular Pepsi available in case I would like some" and be done with it. Makes it much easier for those arranging the event to accommodate his requests.

As for 3), well that's the crux of the issue isn't it? It's clear RMS doesn't get how the rest of the world works.

He also refuses to have a cell phone because "they are tracking and surveillance devices" and "most of them are computers with nonfree software installed". Except if he needs to make a call, he has no problem borrowing someone else's.

how much due diligence should be expected?

How about "some", for starters. If I drop my wallet with only my dry cleaning receipt, but you know who I am and you know it's my wallet, you have an obligation to do more than just call the cleaners and ask whoever answers the phone there. Like, say, turning it into the police.

It's very much clean cut - it's the difference between you or the bartender who pocketed the money having committed a crime under California law. The "but Your Honor, someone else would've taken it, so therefore I'm not guilty" defense isn't going to get you very far.

Since the German court has ruled twice on the side of the argument that I agree with, I really don't think I have to. But please, feel free to explain the myriad differences between them and clear up your position.

So you're argument is that as long as the box is labelled somewhere with the manufacturer's name, it shouldn't matter how closely alike the products look?

And you anti-Apple posters are cracking me up with your misplaced outrage, so I guess it all evens out. And no, it's not the idea of "a minimalistic design" that the court says Apple can own - just that particular one. The one they used for the iPad. The one that Samsung copied. That one.

His claim is that the iPad has a unique design - defined by more than just a "rounded rectangle", as you and scores of other outraged internet nerds love to rant over - and that Samsung broke German law by too-closely copying it in their own product(s). Seeing as now German courts have ruled twice in Apple's favor, it would seem to be a reasonable claim at that.

If a Corolla looked enough like a Civic as to potentially cause confusion among buyers, then yeah. You'd get something exactly like that.

Actually, the DA most certainly does think there's a case - he just didn't want to get wrapped up in what would surely become a First Amendment battle.

Well in that case, I think we can all agree that the Gizmodo staff should stop breaking California law so the police and DA's office can get back to prosecuting violent crimes.

According to this story, it's not that the DA didn't have a case against them, but he knew Gizmodo would try a First Amendment defense, and didn't want to get into a protracted legal battle over it.

Assuming the setup is such that whomever pays to rent the movie is the only one who can view it, and there's only one stream per purchased disc at a time, then honestly what is the clear difference between your HDMI cable and the internet? Both are simply a medium for moving the stored bits of data that make up the movie from wherever they're stored to wherever they're decoded and played on a screen. The only difference is that the internet is arguably more convenient.

I also fail to see how this would count as "public transmission", since only the subscriber has access (i.e., it's not being "broadcast" and freely available).

Congratulations, sir or madame - you have bested me with your witty repartee!

Point to where I ever claimed Apple is flawless. And I hate to break it to you, but if your job is maintaining a network and you have it set up such that one computer can suck up the entire bandwidth for the company, you've failed. That particular part has nothing to do with Apple or the Lion update.

If you're not the IT guy and it's not your problem, then what the hell do you care how Apple does their OS updates?