antipaganda

True. Values are arbitrary. On a related note:

Your name has two ns in it, like some common street urchin or rogue. I say, sir, you must take them out or there will be a reckoning upon the morrow! Eviera it shall be, or my name be not atipagada!

Shhhh! They're happy with their efficient English. Doun't ruin their fun!

Actually, I'd say "Torture? What? Don't torture anyone! Even Reagan! Damn!"

Then I'd quite rightly get thrown out of the thought experiment for involving the Golden Rule without a licence.

Damn right! Girly program languages suck. That's why I never even bothered to try Ada, and why my favourite is Python.

(you nong)

They're not doing nothing; they're risking their money. Risk is hard to get right every time.

Yes, because no-one wants to be able to use wifi with their consumer electronics ever....

Why is videoconferencing so great? What does it add to the meeting to be able to see someone's face? Does it really add so much information that it is worth the hassle of having to stare at your damn phone while calling someone?

For all those people decrying this, and asking why the hell anyone would want Flash at all:

Some of us would like to play Flash games on the iOS.

That, and the porn.

That is all.

That's because the West is further inland, away from the cooling ocean breeze, and gets bloody hot compared to the city.

You can quite happily make your language the DEFAULT way to program on a platform even though it isn't necessarily the BEST way to program on that platform. Just ask Steve Jobs.

Yes, but often there's no way to entirely remove the effects thereof from your life thereafter.

Yet another thing to love about the internet: it helps you realise that Roger Ebert is, in some ways, just a person putting his thoughts out there, like the rest of us.

Sure, those thoughts are pretty awesome...

Apologies, I read you wrong. Renewable resource because it's trees, not because you can recycle it. Eeek. Someone slap me.

It depends. The volcanic ash might be dark enough to - on balance - absorb heat, like the brown cloud over Southern Asia does. I'm not aware of work that's been done on that.

However, good point - hadn't thought of that. Maybe Gaia is swatting planes. :D

That's why I'm confused - I agree with you, Apple is way out of line on this. So why are they doing this, when they're not a monopoly? Do they think that having a walled garden of approved apps and the best UI will work forever?

It didn't work for their desktop business 20 years ago, why should it work now?

When all aircraft were grounded over the USA after 9-11, the temperature over the USA spiked 1.1 degrees above expected. It then fell back when flights resumed.

It turns out that the contrails left by aircraft bounce some of the solar radiation back into space before it reaches the ground, which stops it being converted into infra-red and being trapped in the atmosphere.

So if global aviation ceased entirely, it would help global warming along quite a bit. Of course, the emissions would be gone, but their effect is long-term...

Recycling paper takes a lot of energy and water use, not to mention harsh chemical bleaching. Sorry to burst your "use paper, it's recyclable" mentality. I was disappointed when someone burst mine, too.

...but it HELPS.

Yeah, like we've never not been in a war.

You make good points, but something is definitely lost when someone is forced to give up a sensitive personality due to an overly-abrasive society. Politeness is good for us.

Yes. Sometimes, your enemy is on a boat, with many women and beers.

Instantly made me think "Olive oil. Yummy."

No, it's tastier in third world countries because they use real sugar instead of HFCS: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/11/magazine/11fob-consumed-t....

Don't forget the most important toes of all: China.

Aha! Another one! Burn the witch!

Less is analog, fewer is digital.

We'll all be rooned! said Hanrahan.

http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/authors/obrienj/poetry/hanraha...

Damnit! I keep getting that mixed up. And frowned at.

Exactly. Standard IE is no longer the throw-anything-at-it (and pretty fast as well) browser, unfortunately.

++ re: plain. I still think ie5 was the greatest browser Microsoft made, because it was the basic browser that, although it had no bells or whistles, worked on almost EVERY page. If I couldn't see something in Opera or, later, Firefox, I just threw it at ie5 and it worked.