That bears out what I see when I'm in a city area, which isn't so often these days. Just using my iPhone 3GS sans tethering I'm averaging between 2-5 gigs a month. Last month, however, I had to do everything from the phone (including download of software updates, *and* the iOS 4 firmware)... from the iPhone:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leoofborg/4814198808/

Filer.app (formerly Downloader) & 'Downloads.app' are your friend(s).

THANK YOU. I knew that I smelled bullshit.

I live (mostly) out in the country away from the madding WiFi crowd. Can you guess how much 3G guys like me are sucking up? It's not 500 meg. Try 20x that. And *not* tethering. At all:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leoofborg/4814198808/

Lies, damn statistics and all that.

Exactly.

Now, if people read the linked articles, they would see a number of Republican lawmakers who support this kind of bunk:

• Oklahoma Republican state Representative Mike Ritze appears to be a birther (trying to pass pro-Birth legislation), as are four Republican state Representatives--Stacey Campfield, Glen Casada, Frank S. Niceley and Eric H. Swafford--in Tennessee, as well as Fifteen Republican members of the Missouri House of Representatives
• Republican strategist Frank Luntz denied global warming, as well as Philip Cooney, who was hired by Bush to become chief of staff for the White House (Not mentioned in the Global Warning denial article but also notable is Republican senator Jim Inhofe)
• Not discussed in the relevant Wikipedia article, but Young Earth Creationism appears to be believed by Sarah Palin: ref 1 ref 2

I can't think of a prominent Democrat who espouse this kind of nonsense, but a fairly quick and simple search found a number of Republicans spouting this stuff.

For me to respect conservatives, conservatives need to stop this nonsense. There are a number of conservative causes I believe in, such as law and order and tort reform, but I can't support a party who openly supports fringe theories.

A question for conservatives out there:

Why is it that conservatives believe in these kinds of myths? Why is it that conservatives, even congressmen believe in myths like the Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories, Young earth creationism, Climate change denial, and what not. I can't think of a single conspiracy theory mainstream democrats subscribe to; while some fringe liberals believe in the 9/11 attacks being faked, this is a definite liberal fringe in the US (just as Holocaust denial is a fringe with the right-wing).

I mean, to me, I understand the "big tent" thinking of Republicans, but it has to be embarrassing to be associated with a party with senators and house members who acknowledge the above fringe theories as being established fact, instead of looking at facts and evidence in an objective manner.

P.S.

A once-a-month trip for groceries using my car is also better than if I had no car, which would force me to visit the store three times each week. The walking to the store might be "cleaner" but the quality of life goes down because you have to keep visiting the damn store all the time.

I prefer my once-a-month trips. It saves time and frees it up for other pursuits.

Actually it has a name. It is called repugnance. You have to be really careful with it because if you argue philosophy it will be the first thing attacked. The only time I have seen a philosophy publish it as an argument was Bush's chair for stem cell research and that has to say a lot.

I've seen 810s on eBay in allegedly good condition for ~210 shipped. People still pay as much as $300 though. For a device with that little screen, it is a chunk of change!

If I could get one in good shape for $200, I would do it. Maemo seems totally adequate, and I want something small with internal GPS. Weren't we supposed to be seeing a "rash" of ARM-based netbooks running Android by now?

Except that James Cameron has been dreaming up this idea for going on a decade and a half. The Anime has only been in existance since it's conception in 2001 and wasn't on TV until 2005. James Cameron wrote a lite-script for Avatar in 1995.

Look, back in the 70/80, we did the kind of decriminalization on pot. I was part of that. My dorm floor was bringing in a BALE of pot a week at NIU and selling it . Why? Because the price DOUBLED overnight to450 for a lb of maui wowie, when police announced that they would not pursue small amounts. we could easily hide the bail. All that was needed was to test for paraquat. What will happen now, is that Mexican gang will get MORE MONEY, so they will expand efforts in Mexico making things wore. Decriminalization is the WORSE thing that they can do. It should legalized.

Concord Pilot License Extensions?

How in the world is that the equivalent to buying ISK?

First arrivals are technically immigrants, yes, but usually get the benefit of aboriginal status.

You are assuming that modern Native Americans were "first arrivals", rather than, say, the descendants of the third wave that wiped out or conquered the previous two waves. A shaky assumption at best.

The fact that the North American governments are silly enough to give "special" status to some people who claim to have been here first doesn't make someone who came here by way of Siberia less an immigrant than someone who came here by way of Ireland.

Personally, I'm tired of the distinction. We conquered the Amerinds. Before that, they conquered each other. There is little, if any, evidence that any particular group of Amerinds were the "first arrivals" in any particular place.

Get over it.

Free market capitalism by definition exists within a regulatory framework. You specified improved regulation rather than more regulation, so the only possible answer to your question is yes. In some cases, improved may mean less.

As a somewhat offtopic aside, I see the creation of money supply through fractional reserve lending as something incompatible with the ideal of free market capitalism. I see the provision of a stable currency as the governments role, a responsibility and power that ought not be handed to private banking corporations.

[citation needed]

Seriously, mods, please check to see if stuff like this is real by checking out sources before modding posts up.

Let me quickly defend the Wikipedia here: Yes, the deletionists are annoying. However, there is a reason why "non-notable" articles are deleted: To minimize the number of articles that have to be watched to make sure spammers and vandals don't damage the articles.

Every time someone makes an article, that's one more article admins have to baby-sit. Even with thousands of people looking for spam and vandalism, there's a lot of subtle vandalism that gets in under the radar.

If every single high school or every single garage band or every single webcomic had a Wikipedia article, it would strain the admins ever more.

It's amazing that admins are able to keep the vandalism under control as much as they have been able to. Wikipedia is an Alexa top 10 site (I can't say the same for Slashdot, not by a long margin), and its purpose is to provide useful information for readers. Which is does very well. Yes, the Wiki is imperfect, and, yes, it has admins who have power trips, but the system works.