That's a clever point. I hadn't even thought about that.

I was just thinking about how the new episodes will likely not hit public domain until 2105 at the very earliest. Of course, who thinks current 95yr copyright law will really exist for the next hundred years and not be extended to "forever"?

On the other hand, there is a ton of television content from the 40s, 50s, and 60s which is available in full. Dick Van Dyke Show, Honeymooners, Andy Griffith, and so on.

Agreed. When you only pull in a billion dollars in the first three days after launch, you can't afford to go all-out in preparation of your online component just to make sure you maintain good-will and enthusiasm for your company's product and reputation going into the future.

GTA V wasn't released this Tuesday *or* last week. It was released more than two weeks ago. The online component went live (well, theoretically) Tuesday (yesterday).

Exactly. Most ranking or voting systems for content exist to help promote said content to the top. Therefore, one vote puts it much higher than all the other content at their default. It's like a lot of other things in life - the more exposure you have, the more opportunity you have. This is the entire reason I turn off that Slashdot feature that lets you post comments at a default of "Score: 2". That seems shitty and cheating, since there are a lot of great comments that deserve a chance to rise and a lot of shit comments are posted at an initial 2 score that don't deserve to be there.

Of course, on Slashdot it *is* a little different. We seem to be such consistent assholes that we eagerly await a chance to mod-down even more than we like to mod-up.

Holding an election for 500-600 positions at the same time would take a lot of time and probably cost tens of billions of dollars or more.

Also, it would be irrelevant, because the people voted to replace them would be voted in based upon:

1) Are they the same party as me?
2) Do they promote my religious and personal selfish interests above anything else?

They're still going to take just as much of your money. Maybe more. And all those services will continue, because only the services that actually benefit you in any way are deemed "non-essential". Essential programs that violate civil liberties will continue. This doesn't last very long, they get all the money they need, ultimately, and shit goes back to normal.

Its the job of an intelligent citizen to not depend on the government to provide them with things and to stop saying "cut spending... OH NO DON'T TOUCH SHIT I CARE ABOUT!".

Everyone needs to suck it up and make cuts and then, maybe, they can afford to do some things they care about with their own money when it is kept in their own bank accounts.

You apparently have never heard of the European Union.

It isn't a crises. The government shuts down most services for a couple weeks. Big fucking deal. We've done it before. We survived. Cities didn't burn to ashes and the world didn't end.

Fuck the democrats for the mandated healthcare bullshit; fuck the republicans for this bullshit maneuver in dealing with it. Fuck all politicians for being so disrespectful with the income of the people they are supposed to represent and their addiction to pork.

*gasp*... You mean, leave the cushy government jobs that have to be maintained for life, because the role of the government is apparently to create government jobs for employment? That's crazy talk!

PS: Yes, it sucks for the individual, but maybe we should be axing "non-essential" government positions more often to avoid budget issues in the first place.

I'm all for shutting down non-essential government services, to get our budget under control and even give some relief to tax-payers. Of course, this will only happen for a week or two and will do nothing (they'll make it up over the year). The real non-essential "services" they should be cutting are the last dozen years and the next dozen years of stirring up more future terrorists in the middle east for the sake of pipelines and corporate contracts rebuilding nations in Gen. Wesley Clark's list of seven.

Of course, that would impact corporations. Can't do that. Instead, we're going to move on prominent programs that garner a lot of sympathy, to really make tax-payers and voters feel bad. Cutting off their nose to spite *our* face.

Cue the slashdot Apologists who will tell you that any conversation and any activity you engage in outside of your own private home off-the-internet with your shades drawn is "public" and has no expectation of "privacy" and therefore it is completely fair to be eavesdropped on, recorded, and archived.