Actually, in the case of Amtrak it's the exact reverse: privately owned infrastructure (the rails themselves) with a (semi-)public service running on top of it. And that's exactly why it's so f*$&ed up.

Buying paper plates is also an investment. An investment in employees--in their loyalty, in their work ethic: in short, an investment in the products they will be producing, which is an investment in customer confidence, which means customer loyalty, which means long-term payoff that you can't get with these kinds of marketshare-buyout tricks.

Quite honestly, I'd gladly give $2000 of my cash per year to the government if it meant I could count on getting health care, no matter what. $2000 is small potatoes compared to what one gets charged for even the most basic of hospital visits.... The fact that I'm also ensuring the welfare of others is just a moral icing on the cake.

Nice try there with the hypochondriac. But considering hypochondriacs make up maybe 1% of all patients who go to the hospital (a much greater percentage of people avoid hospital visits if at all possible), I really don't think they're a factor.

I think he means "not going anywhere" as in "here to stay". In other words he's agreeing with you.

But yeah, I read it the other way too the first time around.

My guess is that quite a few manufacturers will start producing these kinds of devices exclusively in the future... So basically they can give the finger to MS and its pressure politics...

In the article, no, but in the video the ARM head guy mentions "sub-$200" prices.

Admittedly I don't know what I'm talking about, but it seems to me that if you've done that many IQ tests, you ought to be getting a bit better each time....

They invented Tetris!

Samsung is what I've used, and I've never had an issue with them. They tend to be cheap *and* good, what more can you ask for?

Meanwhile, the Seagate HD in my new MacBook Pro died after 6 months. Go figure.