I've read through this thread and all I want to do is bang my head up against the wall. The majority of the posters above are missing the entire point. Let me spell out one example for you guys. One. As in yes there are so very many more to choose from but here's just one example of what it is like to be a woman in society today. We live in a society where (and I apologize but just focusing on male-female relationships/interactions for now) 1- Women are concerned about reactions when they are simply honest. Telling a stranger (or sometimes even a friend) you're not interested in a relationship (romantic) with them can result in different ways: A- he takes it well and everything is fine. B- he seems to listen but thinks you're playing hard to get so he keeps at it and makes the woman uncomfortable because he's already not listening or respecting what she has told him. Things escalate from there. C- He does not take it well and in a show of pride scoffs he wasn't interested/just doing her a favor and other aggressive moves. D- he's reacts quite strongly taking it as a personal affront and makes a threatening comment or gesture. E- he says she's wrong and that she will be with him and proceeds to be completely inappropriate. The A guys are the majority. We know that. We're not worried about them. It's the fact that B-E guys exist and no one is wearing a nametag saying "yeap I'm a jerk" that we have to be concerned. Because it can be a physical threat. The worst part of it is-- short of E and him dragging her away while she screams no - the rest of the crowd tends to be on the male's side in this. No one wants to be rejected for any reason or in any way so it is easy to sympathize with the male and god forbid, no one wants to get involved in a argument. No one tells B to lay off, or C to cool off or D to leave as he's inappropriate. E you might get someone to assist but don't count on it. The fear in this comes from what could happen- based on what has happened and what clues are provided by the males that insinuate possible danger if not agreed with. Call us irrational all you want, but typically most women have experienced enough incidents to make us cautious in these situations. My first experience with someone like this was when I was 12. Twelve. I was at the beach and didn't realize what was even happening because again, I was 12 and relatively naive. I realized an older man was following me around a small store we were visiting. I was was wearing long shorts and a scrub top, nothing revealing. When I finally realized he was following me and looked him in the eye, he eyed me top to bottom and smiled as he walked up to me. I had no idea what he was doing (but understand now) bur I turned to get away because instinct said so- as I did he took the rejection of his advances negatively and called me a vulgar term in a very angry voice, while stepping towards me. If I had not ran to the safety of more people in the store in another area, what perhaps would have happened? Admittedly growing up I always looked older than my age, I doubt he realized how young I was, but regardless of my age at the time I should not have been treated in the manner he treated me. I'm still surprised at his sense of entitlement to my affections just because he displayed interest towards me. Another more recent experience was when I was meeting new people when a number of friends were moving out of the area. I agreed to meet a guy for coffee - not a date at all, specifically and clearly stated as such, in the middle of a local mall. Completely open area. He turned out to be a guy trying to be nice but failing because he wasn't really a nice guy. He was definitely a B and as I said goodbye he grabbed me in the middle of the mall and kissed me. There was NOTHING to signify I wanted or interested in this from him. He assaulted me. Clear and simple. I shoved him away, said that was inappropriate, and left. I know if I'd tried to press charges it would not have gone anywhere because I did "meet him there" and "showed interest by talking to him" and that was enough to encourage him to take liberties with my body and that is why the term "rape culture" exists. Being socially appropriate and polite is not consent nor should it ever ever be considered such! No- as if all this wasn't enough, women are held to crazy standards- a friend was raped but he was not convicted because they didn't think she did enough to discourage him. People still remark that a girl was "asking for it" because of what she wore, where she was at, being out late, being out early, being out alone, being in the wrong neighborhood-- it is shocking. Come on, we've sexed up everything to the point women can't breastfeed in public without scorn. I don't have all the answers. All I can ask for is for men to respect women as much as they would a fellow man. Not because I'm your sister/wife/daughter/etc but because I'm a human being. Stand up for what is right- when you see someone being inappropriate, step up and show that it is not acceptable. Because all of you who posted saying you've never seen it? Ask a woman you trust. I'm sure you have, but it's so damned accepted it went right by you. Read the #YesAllWomen tweets. The experiences they share are true. We all need to pay attention and call out the negative behavior and protect each other. I'm not sorry this truth hurts anyone's feelings or makes you feel defensive, it's about time those who do not see are awakened to what is happening around them. One last thing-- there are a hell of a lot of us women who identify as geeks out here in the world. Perhaps you'll meet some of us if you quit thinking of geekdom as a boys only club because the girls won't join. 99% of the time it's the boys locking us out. If we all keep thinking the same ways we have in the past, nothing is going to get better. Accept things may be different than you thought, talk openly to friends of all genders and learn about their life experiences. Work to make it the norm for all to be respected as human beings.

I miss KABOOM! on the 2600. I could play it forever - just soothing in a way *splash* *splash* *splash*... It is just not the same without the paddles.

In my past life I did tech support for a multitude of customers. There was minimal if any documentation, the job really depended on the employee being fast on their feet, fast learners, and have a good variety of experience to troubleshoot the day to day problems. One round of hiring we interviewed multiple candidates for the position. I quickly developed a very simple question that would literally tell me all the basic information I needed to know to make a valid decision. My question? How do you clear out temporary files and/or cookies in Internet Explorer (we did a lot of this due to our systems and is something anyone who uses a computer and especially wants in the tech field should be able to do) How many ways ARE there to do that? (Quite a few actually and I accepted anything valid) We had people interview with CIS degrees who could not answer the question. We had people with prior help desk experience and even work study in their computer labs who could not answer the question. Really now. REALLY no one teaches kids basics like that? How do you get a degree and can't clear our cookies? How do you work in a lab and not know how to do this? The guy who go the job was the one that when I asked him my question he was shocked that I asked something so simple- it was a look of "What the frell- why is she asking that because really WHAT???" and then he provided a couple of different ways. I was almost more worried that he wouldn't take the job because he had serious questions as to what kind of place is it if that's what we ask in an interview. I'd never been so happy to see someone so surprised in my life.

"comfortably" is too subjective. Especially in coach seats!

By their own definition and what Kevin stated- he fit in the seat with the arm rests down. Regardless if he purchases two seats regularly, he meets their definition of fitting in the seat. Telling him to leave is ridiculous. If I had money to burn, heck I'd buy two seats just to have some breathing room because it is still cheaper than first class. I understand having a rule in place for situations where a person just does not fit in the seat period. And there are planes that I fit in fine and others that are a tight squeeze for everyone but the 5'1" size 00. I'd much rather sit next to someone who's leg may touch mine under the armrest than someone who hasn't taken a bath, who is just barely sober enough to be allowed to fly, who brings out their entire office in their lap and over into your "space" without asking or even apologizing, who doesn't think rules apply to them (Yes you have to turn off your phone!), or people who think it is up to everyone else to parent their child. Or the flight I took where small talk of the "where are you going" bit on a 6 hour flight went from nice to 5 hours of hearing how the other girl and I in the row were going to hell because we were flying out to see significant others. So where really should the lines be drawn? Part of it is driven by the marketplace of course but I think the marketplace needs to recognizes the changes in the market.

Great. The iPad is the new WebTV?