Which is why, except for Henry Kissinger, it sucks to be an academic. (On the plus side, I can visit Europe without fear of arrest.)

Upper East Side? This sounds like the sort of shit that happens in Florida, or Texas, or the Developing World (sorry, that was redundant).

In two years, there'll be a lot of Airs out there, but yes, the Macbooks are going strong. I've been a PC user since MSDOS 1.0, and never owned an Apple until I got an air, with Parallels, in case I need it. And it blows my mind how good this machine is. So I think that Apple has, and will, get a lot of converts.

Sales tax included? Even shipping to a non-tax state will jack that past $1000. And, in any case, buying a new computer is like buying a house, where you drop big coin on apps, accessories, etc. instead of furniture.

Doubt it. I just last week got my mitts on a shiny new Air (not the new new Air, alas) because of the many, many deficiencies of my iPad. But I gotta say that the iPad/Air combination, for work on the road, is amazing. But I can't believe that the iPad killed any real computer. Crappy netbooks? Oh, definitely.

Sounds like a netbook without a keyboard. Which is fine if it's a good netbook. My Eee PC? Not a good netbook, until I freaked out, put Ubuntu on it, and it now fully rawks. What about boot-up time? Hmmm. See, you have me torn on this. But I just got an Air, so the Air/iPad combination is just so killer, why would I…

As a guy, with a spouse, I can say with a high degree of confidence that licking my wife's elbow would be boring for me, and really bizarre for her. I think I'll stick with my worship of the Body Part That Must Not Be Named. Maybe worship isn't the right word. Oh, and she laughs at these ads, so I am stoked to show…

Yes, and whoever whips out the "what a litigious asshole" myth is one of those folks who believe that (1) someone really got a billion dollars or something for dumping hot coffee on her own parts (wrong, and the settlement was reduced), and (2) when they get wronged, their lawsuit is clearly not lame, because "I'm not…

No, 'cause I haven't either. Because I don't go looking for trouble.

And a scared populace is an orthographically challenged populace. If we spell all our words wrong, the terrorists have already won.

You'd have a better argument if they had NEVER caught someone with weapons on their body. There, I fixed it for you.

And do you also want it to soften your hands while you do the dishes? Control the weather? (Handy for windsurfing.) GPS?

I agree, but you'd be surprised at how much you have to flog stuff like this in the media before it really sinks in. A few stories on KTLA or in the LAT ain't gonna do it.

This is rather close to what a rather well known sociologist, Dennis Mileti, said in the LA Times today. Except he didn't use terms like "massive freakout" and "publicize the shit out of an upcoming event." Maybe he should have.

Or the city, county, and state governments. Oh, that's right, they're busily sucking the feds' teat, and are as utterly helpless as babies. And yet, States Rights! #federalism #fail

Yes, and those new lanes usually come to capacity in a matter of weeks, if not months. On Thursday, the shiny new wide lines on I-40 between Durham and Raleigh were a parking lot. Just after being widened. Props to Delta for flying over the freeway so I could check out the traffic.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting this. It's time to rise up against all these "OMG! Germs!" studies that pop up like—well, like fecal coliform at playground. This would be a problem if there was *any* evidence of excess morbidity or mortality from playing at these playplaces. My sense is that the food at…

You win the day. Maybe the month.

Brilliant. My wife and I love to watch CSI for the video zoom and photo "enhancements." Absurdly funny.