Also, in the rest of Texas there's the joke that Austin isn't really part of Texas, it's a colony from California.

I understood the question as "Which one of these random acronyms do you think rolls of the tongue the nicest?"

That leads to the good/bad pattern. 95 was bad, then 98 was a refinement which was good. ME was bad then XP was the refinement that was good. Vista was bad, then 7 was the refinement that was good. 8 is bad so maybe soon we'll get a refinement that is good.

I've thought sometimes about starting a business venture: all the technology in the 250GTO is old enough now that I could easily build one identical to the originals. Any patents have long expired, and as long as I don't put a "Ferrari" badge on it I should be able to skirt any trademark issues. I'm sure there are enough people willing to buy something like that to make it worthwhile.

Exactly what I came here to say. Government regulates a lot of things and does most of them quite well.

I'm not so sure about that... my kid is constantly surprising me when she brings up something that happened months ago. I thought nothing of it at the time, but she's obviously been thinking about it and finally decided to ask about it.

Well it was a bit circular in development. We have hands, so wee develop tools we can use with our hands, then practice using these tools makes us better at it...

I think his point was more that our hand /are/ adaptable, breaking your fingers often increases their strength and makes them less likely to break in future, where playing the piano causes them to develop fine control muscles which makes you a better pianist.

They're probably looking for videos talking about how good Islam is and getting the blasphemous videos instead. I know the reverse often happens to me.

Lego don't even need to short the classic sets. If people are willing to pay these extreme prices for the sets it means that they are in demand. It makes sense for a company to produce and sell products which are in demand.

+1 whoosh?

He didn't add "you dead" to the statement, he only added "dead".

If Google have so offended you by putting them a manuscript on the internet, you should email them. I'm sure they will be happy to refund you the money you spent on it and reimburse you for the time you spent helping them do it. As lucm mentioned: what have you done to bring the Da Vinci manuscripts to the world?

Whether you believe in the sky-wizard or not, lots of people do and understanding exactly what they believe and why they believe it is the first step toward helping them.

I thought your comment started out with people writing on especially expensive meat (given the comment you were replying to it made sense.)

As I read your comment anyway I may as well reply. A good example is the pork/shellfish restrictions in the bible. It was very important for the people back then to not eat these as they quickly go bad in the desert and will make you very sick. These days we have refrigeration readily available so it's not so much of a concern. We should be preserving this knowledge and applying it to the way we choose to live our lives, but we should be doing that in the context of all the knowledge we've gained in the intervening millennia.

Compared to the libertarian paradise of Somalia?

You must be associating with some very maladjusted people. Most cultures I have encountered treat other cultures methods of dealing with their grief with respect.