Exactly! That's particularly relevant to people in Los Angeles (where I live). Pollution from millions of cars gets trapped by the mountains and creates smog. But if they were powered by electricity produced by plants hundreds of miles away the pollution could be dispersed more easily.

At least the government official asked. It's better to look like a fool before the negotiation than after. And since acronyms can mean different things in different contexts, the example cited wasn't even as dumb as it might seem at first glace.

But with a skill based system the disadvantage of any given skill is that you didn't spend your skill points on something else. A classic fighter type spends all his points on weapon and armor skills, so he can't use magic. A classic mage type spends all his points on magic, so he can't use weapons and armor. And a classic hybrid spends just a few points in each skill tree so he isn't great at anything. And if you want, for setting or balance reasons to say that if you take a certain skill then you can't take a certain other skill, that is trivial to implement.

Regarding the McDonalds example: How is winning a lawsuit against one of the largest companies in the world a bad idea? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liebeck_v._McDonald's_Restaurants