We all get hung up on nostalgia, but lots of good cartoons are perfectly accessible via Netflix, Amazon on Demand, and PBS on Demand. I think that's the problem. It's just a sign of people moving away from network TV and soon cable as well. The Saturday morning cartoon is gone because all of the content has moved away from network TV to on-demand services.

We dumped our DirecTV after a 2 year contract last year. We use a Roku and have a Netflix and Hulu Plus account. I also had an Amazon Prime account so that automatically gives us the free streaming that was added last year. But the content is largely the same as Netflix so we only really use Amazon when we actually want to buy something. We also subscribe to Mog for music.

That's about $22 per month and we can watch or listen to as much as we like. That's about $100 less than I used to pay for a premium satellite package. When we want something random, I play music with the Pandora / Slacker / or Shoutcast channels. When I want news, I just put on Democracy Now.

But it isn't all perfect. You need to be willing to give up some of the benefits of cable / satellite and really learn how to make the most of the Roku. There will be shows that you might want to watch that (legally) will not be available for another year or so. There are a lot of streaming channels that you can't even use yet without a cable subscription (like HBO Go). Amid the myriad of crap that is on TV, there are a handful of shows that you might miss. Ultimately, they make it to Netflix or Hulu but you just have to wait it out.

That said, if you can dig through these streaming services, you will find things that you like. Many things that you might wonder why you hadn't seen them when they'd aired on TV. There is a lot of value in the current streaming offerings but there are still a lot of things that are missing. It will be a few years before streaming TV becomes the norm and people forget about cable completely.

If you can learn to live and watch TV in a different way that you have, then Roku (or similar) can be a great alternative to traditional cable or satellite. If you rely heavily on TV then you may be really disappointed. I've considered the cord-cutting experience to be somewhat life changing. We don't spend much time in front of the TV anymore. But we still generally find quality material to whatch when we do. It can take some adjustment and experiementation, but can be worthwhile and a substantial money-saver.

Don't you feel sorry for the poor student who has to write a report about actor Dick Van Dyke?

I think the grandparent article was pointing out that an Apple ][ could not have 2MB of RAM "already" when the first Macintosh was released in early 1984, since RamWorks' Applied Engineering and other expansion makers did not offer the 2MB option until later. By September of 1984, it was a moot point, since the Macintosh 512K hit shelves (with the third-party option for more memory).

I work with physicians every day and can agree that they can sometimes be challenging with their social skills. HOWEVER, the main point behind them writing in the chart is care for the PATIENT. There is a reason why orders are called "orders" and not "requests." At any job we all have our roles and a tech's or nurse's or any other non decision making clinician role happens to be to carry out the physician's orders. If this is to make them be nicer and less demanding, it is the most annoying piece of passive aggressive garbage I have seen in a hospital.

Also, the patient's chart is designed to be a concise list of actions ordered, tests done, results and diagnoses, not a social commentary. Adding ANY extra word that does not directly affect patient care just makes it more difficult to read.

There are far more impacting ways to deal with difficult physicians, most of them revolve around a hospital's medical staff dept. To the Parent poster, perhaps you should reevaluate your job if you do not like the environment in which you work. As far as I have seen, the same issues appear, in some ways, at every company where a clearly defined caste system exists.

I know it is more fun to speculate on what he MIGHT mean, but maybe this guy was just making up shit to get potential employers' attention... If they ask about any details, he could always hide behind the NDA he signed when working at MS... Sounds like a perfect plan.

I worked on developing synergies between IBM and Google to better facilitate the upcoming merger... When it never happens, whoops? it must have fallen through.