All this means is that we got the crap scared out of us at various points in recent history (roughly 5 years after the end of the cold war and 9/11, respectively) and we ended up "recouping" some of the costs incurred by the original freakouts by sending the crap we bought for the defense department to local police departments in the hopes that it might be useful for something. Want a less militarized police force? Don't fund the military to the point of embarrassing overkill, folks.

Maybe so, and perhaps we're all better off for it: your post reminded me that 1) not every young female viewer of Mythbusters is necessarily looking to Kari as a role model just because she has two X chromosomes, and 2) not every male viewer is necessarily panting over Kari's public presentation just because her boobs are more visible (but not necessarily less ample) than her brain. Booms are good. Positive female role models in the sciences are good. Paying people something roughly commensurate with their contributions over 10+ years? Also good.

Good point...and after a moment's reflection, I think I agree. The show has gotten tired in recent years and if the three of them aren't already actually, tangibly banking on their contributions thus far, then yeah, it's time to move on for all involved. This move also opens up opportunities for Adam and Jamie to revamp the show with a new formula, which might be awesome...or not. Time will tell.

True, although I'd honestly prefer to see her in a more independent role and this split, however amicable (or not) might still provide that kind of opportunity for her. The last few seasons she's been playing up the eye-candy bits to the point where I can't tell what she's truly ok with and what some producer decided needed to happen, because you know...smart boobs, geeks with disposable time/income, etc.

Fingers crossed.

...and the show "went back to its roots." Nothing to see here, move along.*

Mod parent up, we need more adults on here. (Emotional, if not chronological.)

Yep, let's see...I pay my ISP for access to the Internet, then I pay Hulu for access to their content, then I pay Hulu AGAIN with my time whenever I'm forced to watch commercials, which are often the only content that loads reliably, which takes up even more of my time....

Screw the biggest, most idiotic kind of that.

Not all physical (optical) media is devoted to entertainment; there are plenty of folks who have yet to be sold on "the cloud" for whatever reason but who still worry about bitrot and the ability to access content relatively quickly. Case in point, one of my immediate family members is a photography buff who has a large library of scanned negatives dating back to the 30s and he's been eyeing M-Discs for a while now. Still too expensive for regular use but like many amateur archivists, he's playing a long game.

...considering the pretty serious security hold in the Apple ID system that was reported earlier today.

I am replying to this in order to wipe out a mistaken mod.

The homeless folks who pilfer our recycling bin on a regular basis force me to suspect otherwise. Anything of sufficient economic value situated in an easily accessible location will eventually be exploited by those with favorable time:reward ratios.

...and spend the rest on actual content via the Kindle, Nook and Play Store apps, among others. I've been really happy with mine over the past two months: The bezel widths are just about perfect for reading with one hand if I make an "L" with my thumb and index finger and use the other three fingers to brace the back, very similar to how I'm accustomed to holding paperback books. It's light enough that my arm doesn't get tired. Battery life is good. In terms of bang for the buck, you could do far, far worse.

No.

But man, talk about having to constantly reiterate basic concepts...don't get me wrong, sales engineers can serve as fantastic bridges between tech reality and business demands, but this sounds like exactly what the submitter is trying to avoid.