The flight crew were right for calling the cops.

As for cell phones on planes. I would think the annoyance factor would be good enough to ban them (unless your plane has a cone of silence and good shielding). If all phones are built to spec then interference is unlikely on modern aircraft. However, not all phones are built to spec and not all planes are modern, so from a risk management standpoint, you control what risks you can.

Seat back phones would be an option if they were available and cost effective for the carrier. It's unlikely that they would be cheap, otherwise it would be just as annoying as a cell phone.

There are those of us who wear the uniform to entitle you to spout off in whatever way you want. All we ask in return is a little respect and some decent customer service.

I'm off on a 1 year overseas assignment. I just bought $100 to keep my gophone credit active for a year . I should probably start a pool to see if I'll lost my number before I get back.

Peeps, you need to keep in mind that some people work in regions where internet is either totally unavailable or very expensive. Why should they be penalized for not having internet access for a game that doesn't require it?

@humphrmi: I tell the same thing to my kids when I catch them screwing up. I get more pissed when they lie to me about doing something wrong; just fess up and deal with the lesser consequences. If you lie, the consequences will only compound.

I updated the review once the issue was resolved.

[www.dslreports.com]

@wesmills: If Texas had initiative and referendum (one of the few things I like from California), there's a lot of people that would love to have a constitutional amendment requiring the state to spend the money where it wishes.

anyway, I waaaay digress...

Still, you really should be able to reuse the box if you turn it inside out.

Better yet, turn in the reusable boxes to USPS for a small 'finders fee'. You get a little cash back and the USPS saves money by not having to buy new boxes.
Perhaps you should be able to trade the priority box for a free non-priority box.

All local HDTV stations are carried free over basic/extended cable (FCC requirement). I get about 7 or 8 HD channels on my cable.

@Imafish: ditto

Me thinks that after the election, revisions to economic growth (or more correctly shrinkage) will be handed out on a busy news Friday afternoon.

Many parts of the country are already in recession, it's just creative accounting that is making it unofficial nationwide.

Oh and don't get me started about how 'core inflation' doesn't include energy and housing costs. Of course, now with housing prices on the way down, we may actually have deflation (while everything else is experiencing huge inflation).

Thanks GW, et al.

(mutters something about "met as liberators... roses in the streets...")

Anyway.... "yah, no recession!" (LOL)

Only solution (and not a good one) I can think of is to charge people with unhealthy habits more for health insurance. How to enforce this? If you do this through doctors visits, then you may be discouraging people in need ffrom going to the doctor. House calls might solve this.

I'm curious if any countries with universal health coverage (or mandatory health insurance) have dealt with this. I read somewhere recently that Japan was mandating a maximum waist size. Not sure how they will enforce this (let alone how to deal with sumo wrestlers).
But I digress...

1. It does target the poor disproportionately.
2. What's next?

On the other hand:
1. Fast food joints are often far closer to poorer areas of town than are decent grocery stores. What's easier (not lazier), walking down the block to Taco Bell or taking 1 or 2 buses to get to a grocery store?
2. Fast food joints need to have a healthier variety. Try eating vegetarian at Wendys. It's not much better at McD's or BK. At least Taco Bell has their 'fresco' menu now (aka remove the cheese)

Realistically, cities should zone fast food joints to limit their impact on the populace. If there are no grocery stores (even a small one at reasonable prices) within walking distance (~ 1 mile? ... old folks eat too), then no fast food unless you have a decent, healthy menu.

Or perhaps have the city pay for delivery of groceries to poorer areas. People still pay for the food, but the city picks up most of the tab for the delivery.

Just a thought!

Debris is a serious issue. Most rockets produce debris. ASATs/Exploding spacecraft and rockets produce far more debris.

Besides reentry into the Earth's atmosphere (not realistic for spacecraft above 1400 km), passivating space objects is the next best thing to do.

Salvage would be great and could make you money if you can also figure out how to reuse the metals, etc. in orbit. Easier said than done.

Retrieval is only practical for the largest rocket bodies or defunct spacecraft. Refuelling spacecraft and swapping out burned out components will likely be more profitable in the short run. Again, easier said than done (though Orbital Express did okay in this area).

Check out [orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov] for more info.

Our diplomatic skills are pretty much a joke, especially in the middle east.

Information skills are pretty decent, but the media both helps and hurts this. Still US culture is widely aspired to (for better or worse)

Military - second to nonebut wildky overstretched and new stuff costs waaay too much (isn't this how we bankrupted the soviets?)

Economic. Not so good, especially under Bush. It was all hollow growth; houses aren't liquid assets (save for home equity loans...) Economic power is rapidly dwindling thanks to the me first/consumption economy.

Anyway....

Petsmart immediately euthanized the rest of the "merchandise"

Who gets this crappy detail? "You drew the short straw, please go kill the cute, fuzzy animals, box them up and ship them to the CDC."

If it makes them feel better to itemize the price of my ticket then so be it, just don't nickel and dime me.

Price of ticket should be: cost charged by airline, taxes for airport and federal/state. That's it. Everything else is on the airline.... in other words, raise your prices!

As for those smug types who don't check luggage, how's about you stick to the size limit for carry on baggage? I'm sick of the frequent travelers with the over-sized carry on bags that they insist on putting in the overhead near the front of the aircraft even if they are in the back. That's not to say that the infrequent traveler's don't abuse the rules too.

----

Having said that, it makes me think about other services we pay for. Sometimes a flat all-inclusive rate makes sense, other times a la carte makes sense.

I guess I'm saying, don't nickle and dime me for stuff that is reasonably expected to be included. Surplus stuff should be a la carte.

I've got the same problem with newsmax.com. Their opt-out isn't worth the electrons used to display it on their POS website.

It's a real word, just not the Queen's Engrish. I don't use it, so there, case closed!

The 'government' is incompentent only because we let it be. There is no accountability for the most part.

Still, just because the corporation CAN get away with something like this, doesn't mean they should.

@odoketa: Any yet we claim to be a "Christian Nation"... I wonder who Jesus would be giving aid to? Those greedy "Prosperity Gospel" folks are going straight to hell in a hand basket.

@jefffromNY: 35% is "almost no one"??!?!

In some places the minimum wage is age dependent. If you're young, it's lower. Probably not a bad way to go, especially if you're under 18 or someone else claims you as a dependent.

@VotaIdiota: So kids are the problem then? I'm not disputing they're expensive (I've a few), but you can't dispute the facts that the average family does indeed have 2 kids. The paper was dealing with the average family, not the others. I don't see any "glaring problem".

I would be interested in the figures for single/married no kids, however. DINKYs drive me nuts on their consumer spending, especially the one's with huge debts. Anyway....

This is the government enforcing the law. The governments role should be to protect the least fortunate, not protect greedy corporations.

Sometimes I wish all companies would take Google's stance of "Do no harm". Sure it wouldn't be enforceable and Google isn't perfect, but deliberately taking advantage of people is totally unethical. Yes, companies should be able to earn a profit for a decent service or product, but payday loans are crap.