Really? A viewer that works on N^X operating systems, including ones we haven't written yet?

And what does he do X years from now when that link is broken? What do historians 20, 50, or 100 years from now.

For a supposedly Dog Dude, you seem a bit short sighted.

I worked for The Seattle Foundation for a while (a while ago) and they serve as sort-of an intermediary between people wanting to donate and non-profits seeking funding. Donors vastly prefer to fund capital acquisitions over operating costs - it's just sexier and feels cooler to people who think in terms of growing things (money, power) by default. "Hey, I got them this new truck," sounds better than "I paid for gas and an oil change for this old truck they've had for a decade." You will find donors who believe in a cause and fund both, but they also want to have the freedom to say no and not be taken for granted.

I have to wonder if some of this is the changing values of our population and culture.

Try and keep up ;)

Actually, it does *NOT* stop the rotor in horizontal flight. They put it into a controlled fall and use that period to transition the airfoils.

For that reason, I don't think it will "fly" as a passenger vehicle. Maybe for larger drones, but I've met few people who like a fall during their commute.

If they're truly wanting to make the thing "look" like a bird, they need to model a bird's flying style. Predators move around an area and search; if these just stay in the same spot or even evenly patrol an area it's going to stand out.

Looks like the Jobs reality distortion effect persists after death!

Pardon my raised eyebrows; really?
That straight-winged, .50 cal bullet shaped airframe that was developed starting in 1944 before the allies had their hands on a Me-262 was ACTUALLY BASED on the Me-262? I'm not stating that the XS-1 didn't incorporate lessons learned, but if you look at the two airframes objectively you'd be hard pressed to find any similarities.

Shockwaves form differently based on airfoil (and fuselage) shape. A flying tail certainly HELPS, but you don't necessarily lose all function.

No, Yeager was climbing. A huge-er-er difference.

Much as I like WWII fighters... that's bunk. You first need to build the tools and dies to form the parts. You need skilled workers who know how to use them. Let's also not forget the main strength that gets overlooked - logistics. Your fuel comes from a refinery that probably uses a few microprocessors here and there. What are you going to do when you start having production problems with your fuels, hydraulic fluids, etc.?

No, actually most of the time it's about fear of the other. Plenty of poor people without power are racist and I doubt that they're working for white power. It's just one aspect of a poor group and what they dislike and fear. Dislike of rich bankers is very similar to dislike of people with different skin, just with a different target trait.

Actually, I think Hawaiian has it a bit easier for a number of reasons. They actually fly LONGER flights, and so their aircraft are usually only slotted to fly one round-trip each day. Compare that to a flight that might visit four or more airports in a day, there's less chance for delays to creep in. Additionally, they largely fly on the west coast, out over the ocean, where there are less weather issues than, say, the eastern US with the higher traffic and higher chances of snow and thunderstorms.

How often do you use someone else's system though? Say, your average user who either uses it at work or has one at home for e-mail and facebook? Those systems get loaded up and confusing, and the ability to "windows key + type" has been a boon in my position as an IT consultant because I don't have to CARE if they have organized or not. I don't have to figure out your genre classification system, or search on a fit-inducing desktop/menu system where the user MOVED the shortcut to the desktop, stripping it from the start menu, etc..

There are things that I wish they'd done different, but for people who actually experiment and learn, the features work. Most of the bitching is by people who don't want to adapt.

That's part of a larger issue though.