I didn’t think I would ever say this, but Chris Hadfield is entirely wrong. Cooperation is a wonderful thing, yes, but I tend to look at it a little more pragmatically: The Russians could easily refuse to carry non-Russian astronauts to and from the space station for whatever reason, marooning anyone already in orbit. They have clearly shown they have no problem breaking agreements when it suits them. Why can’t we see SpaceX as another entity that NASA can cooperate with to carry astronauts to and from the ISS? And we don’t need to worry about SpaceX refusing service, unless they stop paying their bills. the US certainly can fly to the ISS without Russia. And as more private corporations go into the space business, national entities will become less and less important, beyond funding. I like this idea. I would think Chris Hadfield would as well, since SpaceX is looking to do things safely and profitably... hopefully bringing the cost per pound to get things to orbit down at the same time.

Entirely agree. Without any sort of regulation, it is far too easy for things to be fast and loose and you end up with many people out a great deal of money. While over-regulation can be a stifling problem, no regulation is just setting a system up for failure as the unethical and immoral sorts jockey for position to fleece people that are either too trusting or too stupid to realize that there are no realistic safeguards in the system.

No standard display port is fail? How so? I bough cheap mini display port to display port, DVI, and VGA adapters and I can thus hook my MBP to any display I care to. And it saves needing some huge ass ports making the notebook thicker and bulkier. And just what are you toting around that you need multiple USB and Ethernet cables plugged into it to be useful? The whole point of a laptop if portability, and the Macbook Air (and ultrabooks by extension) are the ultimate in portability.

Probably because Peter Mayhew was so much taller than Carrie Fisher that it wasn't really possible to do it without a step ladder... and that would have really broken up the solemnity of the moment. If I remember correctly, there is a comic book or version of the novel where he gets one too, but I could be misremembering.

Perhaps CAG group members will get to sell the Ubuntu phone in their area for a period of time before carriers who don't join up can. I expect it is hardware exclusivity, not software.

I think the problem is the dual party nature of American democracy, a problem that is compounded when the two parties involved are really just slightly different reflections of the same dysfunctional system. Having more parties might mean that there needs to be coalition governments and actual work to reach consensus. I entirely agree that part of the problem is career politicians. They become so beholden to special interests and lobbyists to fund their next election campaign that they stop representing the people that elect them. 3 terms in Congress OR 1 term in the senate should be the limit. Minimize the influence of special interests and keep entrenched party loyalties from forming by not allowing the same gang of crooks to keep running the show. Of course, that will never happen, because the people that would need to change the rules are the ones who benefit most from maintaining the status quo.

So you enjoy having a far higher likelihood of credit card fraud? Chip and PIN technology vastly reduces the amount of fraud. In two years of using out chipped CCs, e haven't had a single unauthorized charge of any sort, in person, online, or by phone. This story is FUD for the most part, because anyone getting their phone that close to my wallet is going to be entirely noticeable and will get told to sod off.