Good news! He is!

I would say almost 50% reduction in military spending (given current spending trajectory) would be considered gutting.

Link to source: http://www.ronpaul2012.com/the-issues/ron-paul-plan-to-restore-america/

That military budget you talk about slashing? Yea, he does that.
You are aware the plan totals over 1 trillion slashed? It's just the mentioned departments that got zeroed out. Most everything else also took a 15-40% cut.

It's probably one of the best budget plans proposed in decades, from the perspective of actually spending less than you earn.

Perhaps because the military spending can't actually be cut until military operations have curtailed. His platform has always been very consistent: Stop warmongering, shut down the numerous overseas US bases, and slash the size of the military.

Link:
http://www.ronpaul2012.com/the-issues/national-defense/

I too must join the swarm. I discovered /. around 2001, and haven't gone more than a few days without it since. CmdrTaco (and crew!)...you have created one of the most influential geeky sites on the internet. I will keep an eye out for your next project.

This is the first earthquake of any magnitude I (and a good number of other NE dwellers) ever felt.

I would certainly classify that as news, even if it wasn't a destructive quake.

My profile has all of these items filled out. Only things viewable to public is Name,Gender, and a profile pic. Everything else is either shared with a specific circle, all circles, or extended circles based on how sensitive I find the info. Contact Info goes to specific circles. Education + Employment go to immediate circles. Relationship + Occupation go in extended circles, as that is largely public info, but not something I want shared with the whole world.

This is not rocket science people. Every one of those options was displayed in the very same prompt that that info was entered in. The only excuse someone has for not setting their privacy settings on their profile is "I'm too damn lazy to read."

This would work wonders for the music industry. If Amazon or Itunes had a free album up for every artist, I would probably buy 10x more music online. A good 2/3 of my music pirating works along this logic:

1. Hmmm, never heard of this band before...let's download it and see.
2. If awesome, buy or add to wishlist (Money is tight, can't buy everything I want)
3. If crap, delete and never give a second thought.

If I could download a single album from every artist on iTunes that has multiple albums...that would virtually eliminate my music piracy.

Some of Half-life's puzzles were fun. The jumping puzzles were the single most frustrating and annoying part for me. The fact that the rest of the game was pretty damn good is the only reason I endured through those annoyances.

I give you all of my imaginary mod points.

This x 1000. While there are risks in having your transactions handled by a central company (hello Sony!), they are mitigated by a few factors:

If you only have CC Info with 1 company instead of 10, you only have to worry about 1 company being hacked.
On average, 1 larger company will generally have better security auditing than 10 smaller ones...especially a company like Valve.
Steam allows you to purchase, but not save CC info to the account (providing a similar level of security as prepaid points cards on consoles).

As someone who has been stopped at a DUI checkpoint in Pennsylvania (while sober), that is patently false. The setup I drove through went something like this:

Arrive at checkpoint (after waiting 15+ minutes in line)
Officer looks into car with flashlight (obviously doing a cursory search before even speaking a word to you).
Officer asks where you came from and where you are going. (obviously having to explain what you are doing)
Officer asks for license and registration.
Wait.
Take a breathalyzer or blood test. Pretty damn invasive checkpoint with no probable cause if you ask me.

While I won't disagree that drunk driving is a serious issue that needs resolving in society...I would argue that giving police ever-more power is a far more serious concern in the long term.

At the school I work for, there was a major outcry when we implemented a universal SSO for the ever-increasing amount of online tools put out by our school.

There were numerous articles in the school paper decrying the change.

5 years later, and we could only imagine the outcry if we got rid of it: "WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'D HAVE TO MAINTAIN A SEPARATE PASSWORD FOR EVERY SYSTEM!!!???"

Students complain for the sake of complaining.

Incorrect. Vast majority of users are stupid, because they fall for the same tricks over and over and over again.

Is someone who crashes their car while texting stupid? Not necessarily.
If, after getting into an accident because of texting, they continue to text while driving? Then I have to question their intelligence.

Face it...computers are no longer just an interest. Anybody who uses a computer for more than 5 hours a week should be competent enough to avoid the vast majority of attacks. The fact that the most basic of exploits are still usable is a sign of widespread stupidity.

If people weren't stupid, Nigerian email spammers wouldn't exist, because nobody would fall for their scam. I met someone who lost $2,000 to an email scam. I would not hesitate for a second to call her an idiot.

In other words, there is no causal link. The videogames can merely serve as a trigger, much as any frustrating activity could.

The years of bullying or the abusive parent were the causal link.