I'd argue that Microsoft is the opposite case to Facebook. I can remember when people paid *extra* at the time of the Great Windows Changeover to get a laptop with Windows XP rather than suffer a laptop infected with Vista.

Perhaps she likes a little verisimilitude in her writing. I enjoy that in fiction.

The sperm bank, maybe.

@avclub-21cb1137b6aab4de4328a8c698770071:disqus : Take a pill. Take several pills. This isn't worth the venom you pour into it.

@avclub-da518aecddbf5c94588f53562012c452:disqus : I've always found that to be one of Lewis's most fascinating theological moments:

Not flying won't save you from plane crashes. This happened in Moscow:
http://www.youtube.com/watc…

If 100 women rely solely on condoms for one year to prevent pregnancy, 18 will become pregnant by the end of the year, either by misuse or failure-to-use.

"The same way I occasionally send text messages to his phone number, even though I'm sure somebody else has it now…" That is the saddest thing I've read all week. I'm sorry for your loss, belated and trite though that may be.

@hem: Make some friends in Somalia. You'll be amazed how many die young. I don't mean that in an I'm-immune-to-their-suffering way. It's just that people die young around the world at rates far higher than America. Tragic though your experience is, your sample of friends is not statistically significant.

@avclub-9bd49c93a34e2aa722142ca8820954d1:disqus : I'd say that "Fatherland" is worth a read. It's a very dubious reading of history, since it makes it seem like Germans are generally unaware of what happened to the Jews, but it's still a decent book nonetheless.

Compared to Japan, no. Compared to Amtrak, yes.

The problem is in the way Slytherin is written. Supposedly, it's the house for people who want power, influence, fame, and the like. That describes a shit-ton of very successful people. Politicians (not the most beloved example, I know, but still), actors, lawyers, and CEOs would all skew Slytherin, or at least that's…

Actually, given all the eating of death, I'd say that Voldemort was more like Wizard Idi Amin, but whiter.

@avclub-ab60729bcbd8293eb5f31e5077c29049:disqus : They're the sane (relatively) Newtown Truthers, even though they're batshit insane. The really unpleasant ones are the ones who believe that Obama ordered his goons to kill the children and plant the weapons, and the whole thing was the work of some sort of FBI/ATF/CIA…

@avclub-b8645aab12b6ba5e561fccefbf46cc0c:disqus I once watched one of the 9/11 Truther films (I refuse to call them documentaries). One of many, many points that annoyed the hell out of me was the claim that the hole was so much smaller than a Boeing 757-200, because a 757 is 44.5 feet tall, and the hole wasn't that…

I respect you immensely, @avclub-c1fe85b855c6d045b827f74a1e2c3fd7:disqus , but I think you're taking it one step too far.

That is almost exactly the post I was planning to write. Beaten to the punchline by a boner.

Every time something wrong in the world, I miss Peter Jennings. He could call upon so much background, so many experiences, and stay calm through all of it while making sense of confusing information.

72 Virginians.

Here's what I like to point out to anyone who expresses sympathy with 9/11 Truthers (not the Truthers themselves, as they're beyond help):