there's a pretty good chance that's exactly what happened

All to often, in business (of all types), the whole concept of designing something to be useful/usable is ignored, overlooked, and generally considered a waste of time. When presented with the idea of 1 hours to throw a crappy form together, or 1 day to lay it out properly (size text fields accordingly, put things in a logical order, set up server sessions to save data between pages, add decent validation, etc), most people at the management level will choose quick and cheap any day of the week. They don't care one bit how things look or work, as long as it doesn't affect them.

Start updating TOS to state that anyone who is in public office is banned from visiting or viewing a site. Then start sending the bastards to jail for violating... ok well, none of them would actually go to jail, but it may cause enough stir to get this whole stupid idea tossed out.

I don't think it will take off anytime in the near future. The way that we interact with computers is so ingrained in us that the 3D paradigm is just to foreign for the average user. Sure, movies make it look cool and easy, but out side of gaming and CAD, there just isn't an accepting market. Meanwhile, if you do want to get into 3D development (dons flameproof suit and hunkers down for the inevitable explosion), Flash is still a viable option. Using the Air platform you can target Windows and Mac desktop, Android and IOS (as apps), and with little to no code change, also target any browser that still has the Flash Player installed. At the moment, that's the best option for developing 3D and hitting the highest number of platforms. However, expect much hate and discontent from nerds and fanbois when you mention developing anything in Flash.

my amd hackintosh begs to differ

about different levels of hardware... I can certainly see where they're coming from, but it's certainly not the route I would take. But hey, what do I know?

why? because we can. not because its a good idea, or because there's some potential great end to it, but simply because we can. there is a certain thrill in the accomplishment that transcends any need for a good reason why. and sometimes, just sometimes, "because we can" is the best damn reason ever. other times its utterly f*cking stupid, YMMV.

i can say from experience that neither one is even remotely qualified to manage nuclear weapons. hell, lets be honest, most people people at the management level, civilian and military alike, shouldnt even be managing their own breakfast choices, let alone nuclear weapons, or worse- other people (yes, i consider people much more dangerous than nuclear weapons, but thats just my opinion).

i swear i read an article in discover magazine (i know, a magazine, it was that long ago) about some researcher that had hooked up electrodes to a patient and taught them how to control a mouse cursor, and later and electric wheelchair with their mind. it became and autonomic function, just like moving your arm (i hate the term "thought controlled", you dont really "think" about moving, its subconscious function) and it was done using a basic EEG(?). am i imagining this, or does anyone else remember this as well? its quite possible that this is a completely incorrect memory thought, i was a kid at the time and i read a lot of sci-fi, so its very possible my memories of real-sci have mixed with my memories of sci-fi

Not a physicist here, so maybe someone who is (or knows more than me could answer) - could we find a way to absorb the energy from these particles, and maybe pump that energy into the warp drive? one of those "the faster you go, the more energy you collect" kind of things?

or if youre in a "work at will" state where theyll fire you for being on jury duty, but officially say it was for some other bullshit reason, and they youre ass-out-of-luck. hurray for "work at will"!

doubtful, considering that most businesses wont move to 8 for at least a couple years, and theres a very good chance theyll skip if altogether and thats the only place where i would NEED to use windows 8. in the consumer world, within a few minutes of sitting down at a win8 computer, ill be able to figure out where everything i really need is at (and most likely how to switch to the non-metro mode, but considering that i avoid using other peoples computers where i can it probably wont ever be an issue. and really, who's gonna point and laugh at me cause i dont know how to use win8? 12 year old MS fanbois?

and instagram will make a filter that adds a purple flar to your images so the hipsters who are too poor for an iphone 5 can get in on the action.

theres nothing frivolous about bigger breasts! even if they are fake

One of the big problems in design these days (in all manners of design, including UI's in cars) is that the average consumer has no idea that things like this are a bad idea. They don't think about how tactile feedback, or how much they'll have to take their eyes off the road, or auditory input with visual output, or any manner of things that people like us (/.'s) think of. They think that touch is high tech, and therefore better (regardless of the implementation), they put form over function, they want the newest and flashiest, even if it isn't the best. Good design takes a back seat to "cool" design more often than not, because the mass public only wants what's new, shiny and cool. Every now and then, good design and cool design intersect and everybody wins, but it's rare.