Thanks for the explanation, that makes so much more sense now.

Do you, by chance, know why the term "observer" was chosen?

This. Back in the day *cough* I was able to spend significant amounts of time reading Slashdot, especially the comments. It was great for topics I was interested in, but didn't know much about; the comments contained a huge wealth of knowledge that I could digest and that gave such insight into the topic, even if I didn't fully comprehend the TFA (not that I ever actually read those articles... *cough*).

If only we could have more articles like this. Maybe we'd have those discussions again...

That's why the construction cone is the Illinois state flower... it pops up every Spring.

Learning (spoken) languages after your second is easier because learning the second one taught you *how* to learn a language. Programming languages are like that because you learn logic, control, and algorithms. Once you learn the second language (as long as it's sufficiently different from the first), you've learned that different languages have different syntax issues or handle certain cases in different ways, so when you get to your third language, you already know exactly questions you need to ask to be proficient in it.

Usually the business people want to solve every problem they've thought up. The *incredibly* difficult part is getting the EMTs to the office in time because the business people have a heart attack when they see how much it will cost.

It's a huge problem in American politics. There was a chart (I don't have it handy) that showed how U.S. senators switched party lines when voting. 20 years ago, it was a pretty mixed bag, but now, almost no senator votes against party lines. The polarization of the two parties is really intense, studded very heavily with a "If you don't agree with me, you're my enemy" mentality. It also makes it so someone cannot be on the fence regarding an issue. This is no middle ground, you're either for it or against it. If you were to say, "You know, I'm not sure, I'd have to research the issue and think about it a bit," during a political discussion, you'd garner some mighty weird looks.

You know, I'm really not sure why treating the workplace more like a children's school is such a bad thing. Some parts are pretty obvious (I don't want to have to ask my boss if I can be excused to use the washroom), but there are lots of things both workers and employers could do to make work more fun (or, at least, more interesting).

Obviously the first focus should always be doing your job, but that doesn't need to be the only thing you do. I had an employer that had a "Guess the amount of jelly beans in this jar" contest every week. The winner won the jar. Took 2 minutes to guess, tops. And you know what? I kinda looked forward to going to work on Fridays (Friday!) to see if I'd win. I don't know about you, but that sounds *exactly* like grade school.

There's definitely a way to do it "right," but I'm not sure the same system would work at every company (even companies in the same business). If you have a really cohesive team, then you may be able to pit them against each other and will result in friendly competition. But if your team isn't so cohesive, you may end up promoting a lot of backstabbing, sabotage, and resentful emotions.

A company I worked for had a really simple system to prevent that sort of abuse. Basically, when you really rocked out a project, you got a nail (as in, a straight piece of steel used to hold things together). The developers at the company took a lot of pride in collecting those nails. One guy made a little wooden knickknack and nailed them into it when he got one.

The nails had no intrinsic value, but because everyone at the company praised people when they received one, they became a mark of pride. Managers gave them out fairly infrequently and with totally subjective reasoning, but something about the attitude and respect surrounding them pervaded the company.

Everyone wants to be appreciated and recognized for their hard work. Sometimes, the absolute best motivator a boss or co-worker can provide is simply saying, "You really nailed that project! It looks great!" or "Hey, I really appreciate you working a little overtime to get that project out," or "Thanks for dealing with that unruly client, you're saving our relationship with that company."

Minor praise like that adds up. It makes you want to do better, work harder. Dale Carnegie quoted Charles Schwab and said "Give honest and sincere appreciation - as Charles Schwab said - 'be hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise'. This doesn't mean give false praise." and Mark Twain is quoted as saying, "I can live for two months on a good compliment."

Any other external motivator (cash, time off, flexible hours, personal projects) are always nice, but their motivational benefit is going to be fleeting at best. I don't remember specific cash bonuses I've ever received (and I've gotten a few), but I remember the kind words of praise that my co-workers have laid on me as though they happened yesterday.

Couldn't the submitter at least have posted some of the features new to the release? For those too lazy (or who don't care enough) to RTFA (or is it a press release?): -Integrated Twitter -Over-the-air updating (So the device doesn't need to be connected to a computer running iTunes) -Sync with iTunes via Wifi -iPad multitasking gestures -Rich editor for composing emails

How did this get modded up? TARP was allotted about $700,000,000,000. There are approx. 308,195,000 Americans, 138,000,000 of which pay taxes. That is about $2,271.29 per American, or $5072.46 per taxpaying American.

I am by far not an Apple fanboy. The only Apple product I've ever owned is my iPhone 3G, and I bought it after becoming utterly fed up with a WinMo phone.

I didn't by it to join some club, or be accepted by some group, I bought it because it did exactly what I wanted in a phone. I love to tinker with things, I have a spare desktop to run debian on, and my work laptop runs Ubuntu. I build and race 1/10th RC's. But I don't want to have to tinker with my phone. I want to look for an app I want/need, install it, and have confidence that it will work with no configuration goofiness. I don't want to have to worry that install the latest FOOBAR app is going to affect my ability to make/receive phone calls, while still having a smartphone and all the goodies and gadgets that go along with that.

Now, what I'm really curious about, is how this turned into an Apple thread. So... for the (on topic) Pre... it seems like it has been hyped up quite a bit. Maybe this is just what I can see as an outsider, but it seems like Palm doesn't have any sort of internal policy, like they're just throwing staff and money to play game in the Blackberry/iPhone/WinMo dominated smartphone market, but their running on a really tight deadline and didn't really think past getting the device out the door (with regards to internal policy and marketing from the view of the potential customer)

Buddhism: The Dalai Lama is in fact a great source of inspiration regarding modern-day buddhists. However, you are leaving off part of the quote from 1997:

Note that he uses words such as "generally considered" and "harmless."

Also, from a Tibetan spokesman: "According to an Office of Tibet spokeman, "His Holiness opposes violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation. He urges respect, tolerance, compassion, and the full recognition of human rights for all." source
Could you show any evidence of a Buddhist leader publicly calling for, or actually enact the death of a homosexual? I searched a bit for it, but I could not find any substantiating article or evidence. Admittedly, I did not spend very long on it.

Taoism was only part of the religion/philosophy in place during Japanese Imperialism, and the broad term used to describe the religion (which covered bits of Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism) was (is) called Shinto. Sticking just with Taoism, the religion makes no claim against homosexuality, and that it is up to individuals. So no, Taoism does not call for the banning or killing of homosexuals.

Wicca is actually used to describe the followers of the writings of Scott Cunningham in the 1950's. It actively supports homosexuality. What you are referring to are various other pagan religions that are probably not practiced, or at the very least have a marginal population of followers.

Some people may disagree with you.