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Your friend has a computer virus, and it's trying to spread to his contacts via his address book. Tell him to run a virus scanner to clean it up. And tell him to either stop clicking on sketchy-looking email attachments, even if the email comes from someone he supposedly recognizes (it just...

I thought about that after I posted, but you'd still need a data feed with the schedule information in it. Otherwise, you'd have to manually program the DVR to record programs based on a specific time/date/channel (like a VCR), rather than just going into the online guide and saying "Record all...

6 channels? WITH commercials? Not interested. I'll stick with my hundreds of channels where I can fast-forward through the commercials (cable with a PVR), my thousands of commerical-free, on-demand movies and TV shows (Netflix), and various streaming options.

^^^This The "peeve" factor is surfing a site like eBay, seeing something I want with a steal of a price next to it, then discovering there's a more "reasonable" reserve, so there's no way it's actually going to sell for the current bid. It renders the site unusable to me. I'm surfing...

According to the dusty old rule book of just one of the world's 1,000's of religions? I suppose it might be, I haven't seen them in a while. A quote I saw recently online, "You don't need religion to have morals. If you can't determine right from wrong then you lack empathy, not religion."

+1 I think some people in this thread might be projecting a little bit. If my parents spent down their entire estate, or left it all to a charity, or burned it on the beach, I wouldn't care a whit. But if they left more to a sibling than me, or left me more than a sibling, I can easily see...

What "inter-generational duties?" I would submit that parents have automatic obligations to their children, but children don't automatically owe anything to their parents. Parents choose to have kids. The kids didn't choose to be born. Now, through their virtuous actions, parents can...

My peeve: Auctions with reserve prices. In my opinion, that's not a real auction. A real auction goes to the highest bidder. If you're not willing to take a penny less than $x, but you would sell it for $x, then just sell it for $x. If you choose to auction it, you should be willing to take a...

At the risk of being pedantic, neither XNA nor TLA are acronyms - they're initialisms. To be an acronym, it has to be pronounceable, like LASER or SCUBA.

In the context of a financial discussion, isn't "principal" usually the correct spelling variation to use? "The principle of principal is to generate a return."

This is simply making the case for an integrated, nation-wide power grid. Large countries like the US and Canada are better-positioned to take advantage of variable power sources (like solar and wind) than smaller countries, because while it may be rainy and cloudy in New York, it could be...

You posted this while I was already creating my other post, but I don't think that day is as far off as you think. As I noted, Ontario's power grid is already supplied almost entirely by green sources. And lots of "green" sources work just fine at night (hydroelectric, nuclear, tidal...

Perhaps this is a regional difference, but in my jurisdiction (Ontario, Canada), there are plenty of other "Green" sources besides wind. The vast majority of Ontario's power comes from Nuclear (66.7%) and Hydroelectric (25.9%). Wind and solar account for 5.5%, with natural gas and biofuel making...

Hang on - doesn't the percentage depend on the load? I mean, if Acme Power Company can provide 5 MWh of power from renewables, and employs fossil-fuel sources for any required overage, the percentage changes depending on the load. During the day, while people have their A/C running, perhaps the...

I don't see this as a "problem" with extrasolar travel, but rather a reason for it. The Sun is going to be around for a very, very long time, but not infinity. Eventually, it will die, and we'll need to relocate or perish with it.

I've been picking away at a few episodes of Black Mirror here and there. What a delightfully twisted show. They're like Twilight Zone episodes, but darker, and with more production value. Each episode is a completely independent story, so there's no need to watch them in any order. They're all...

Fair enough, I should have qualified my statement. Some planes, particularly more modern ones, control the temperature in the cargo hold. However ALL planes pressurize the cargo hold. They must, otherwise the floor of the passenger compartment would buckle downward, destroying the airplane...

I don't believe that's true; X-ray is X-ray. At the personnel screening security checkpoint, I've seen them vary the "depth" of the X-ray image in real time to get a better look at the contents. As I said, that makes it MORE of a threat. There have been multiple examples of bombs detonating...

True. However, banning them from carry-ons, while still permitting them in checked bags, is a far worse idea than just banning them from planes altogether. When a laptop is brought aboard in a carry-on, it must pass through security. You're required to remove it from its bag so the security...

Not an issue, airplanes are pressurized to 8,000 ft.

The cargo holds ARE pressurized, but not climate-controlled.

Doubtful. Ever try to get a signal at 38,000 feet? 0 bars.

It could probably be done, but you'd need TSA Pre-Check.

Yep. I long ago modified my travel protocol to only include a single carry-on bag, of a size I know will fit underneath the seat in front of me. This has two big advantages: I don't need to worry whether or not there will be any space left in the overhead bin by the time I get to my seat...

It's not the airline, it's FAA regulation. While the plane is at the gate, before it's requested taxi clearance, you have a point. And I don't think airlines would prevent anyone from using the washroom in that circumstance. But that's not the case for this story. In this story, the...