harmonicon

I have to say I rather like it that way but I guess I am not the target user group for such accessibility features.

I have a lot of respect for Bill Gates because of his philanthropic efforts. However, I am very skeptical of the consumption tax argument. To me that sounds like a sales tax and sales tax is regressive. i.e. Tax on French baguette hits the poor more than the rich, since as a group they consume way more baguette.

Even if it is just a special sales tax that targets the rich only, discouraging spending by people with money can hardly be a good thing; that's how recession happen and the rich will continue to capture a bigger share of the total wealth. For an economy to flourish we need the wealth to flow from individual to individual. If all the water on earth is stuck in the ocean we'd have serious problem. Same with wealth.

What 2009 film is this? Sorry I am a movie illiterate.

"the sites where men are most dominant – Wikipedia and Reddit – are on the whole very dry and text-based. ...The sites where women predominate ...Pinterest is full of gorgeous, nourishing images uploaded by contributors."

While I agree with the point that more images and more attractive layout would help attract female visitors/editors, I do not like the language the author used here. Why is text portrayed as "dry" while images as "nourishing"? Personally I prefer text much more over image when I am trying to gain information on a subject. Text is straightforward, precise and quickly processed. Unless I am browsing a geography, food or history article I turn off the image all together. Most of the time they don't tell me anything more than the text.

Wikipedia's purpose is to provide information and knowledge. Not entertainment.

I always thought "turnstyle" and its variants ("turn-style" in this post) are misspellings of the word turnstile. However I have seen it quite a lot online in different articles. Is "turnstyle" actually a different spelling for turnstile?

In a capitalist society, the key to "a good life" is passing a certain threshold of capital accumulation. The poor, not having much to begin with, has to constantly fight this uphill battle of trying to save more money, of finding more resources constantly, adding to their net worth, etc. This article shows that there is even an adverse psychological effect that makes reaching the goal still harder. All this seems to require big intervention of the governments part to level the playing field and make capital accumulation possible.

Unfortunately in the US, one bad financial decision, one loss of job, one bad case of illness or one trouble at home can reset the pool to 0 and often negative due the extensive background and credit history checking. It is the US government's responsibility to fix this because we submit to its authority, fund its existence and elect its officials for the purpose of trusting it to steward our nation and its people. Sadly when I tune into the political discourse it's all about gun/abortion/tax/federal debt and whatever other kinds of "freedom". Why is helping people never and enhancing social mobility on the table. And I am so so tired of politicians parading education as the silver bullet.

"Have you any idea how lucky you are that we got to you before you got on that plane?"

I think the German police officer was right. If you got arrested on US soil, (your side of) the story could have been very, very different.

Turned it off years ago. Thank goodness.

So the constant cry by the government for better STEM programs is just a sham? It should be just renamed to TEM.

While economic development are very important, I hope Mr. Modi will not bend over backward for business interests just to return the favor. Excessive corporate tax cuts and environmental damage all set back the lives of the "lay people".

In my case, my new number (for my android phone) is associated with someone else's iPhone. I could not de-authorize that person's iMessage token. I handpicked that number but had to give it up thanks to iMessage's implementation.

This happened to me when I got my android phone with a new number. When my friends with iPhones texted me, the text always shows up as iMessage and I would never receive it.

The thing is, I have not owned ANY smartphone before this one. My guess was the previous owner of this number had an iPhone and registered for iMessage service. iMessage route sms through its own server it never reached my carrier's network. I tried to get help from Apple store technician, but since I am not an apple customer, past or present, employee did not see a need to help.

Problem is I really liked that number. After 2 months of struggle I gave up and changed to a new number.

I will admit I never liked Apple and do my best to purge iProducts from my life. But I guess you just cannot avoid being screwed, anyway.

I really enjoys the mindless strolling the article talks about. Assuming most people work 9-5, you can only take such walks in the morning or at night. Unfortunately, taking a solitary walk in my (US) city at those times is simply not safe and goes against a multitude of general safety tips.

The biggest problem is the dearth of other strollers. In addition to the lack of a pedestrian culture, US does not much of a concept of "communal life". When I travelled abroad (Asia and Africa, not sure about Europe), I noticed that there are much more people of all ages just lingering around the street/public spaces during the day and at night. They are just hanging out. In contrast American social scene centers around private spaces and networks. Lingering in public space seems out of place and such "idleness" is generally associated with unemployment and other undesirable qualities.

Does an ad-free, data-collection free and paid subscription based version of Facebook has any chance in the market?

I am very dismayed at news that Facebook acquired Moves. That's one less app I will be using on my phone. However I have to stop to think is this just a knee-jerk reaction?

Most of my friends, when I talk to them about how much information is being collected by FB/GOOGLE, just do not care all that much. Responses range from "I got nothing to hide from anybody" to "I think targeted ad is just fine". At that point I don't know what to say. Since in my case I just have a visceral hate toward company who attempt to collect all data about myself. Is it actually that bad?

So does this mean I should change my first name? My first name is one syllable and it does not involve anything like tongue clicking or rolling. But many people still find it hard to say. Name starts with a J and end with N and I think people sabotage themselves by always trying to fit a "John" in there.