Geoff Randall- I'm assuming you meant 2009, not 2008. If only it were that soon.

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(a) Microsoft won't give refunds because they are Microsoft. And the product was out for a resonably long time before the price cut

(b) Apple has gotten a lot of free advertising out of the early adopters (I can't tell you how many people have played with my iphone, but it is a lot, including many complete strangers). Those of us who adopt early (this is my third time buying an apple product on day 1) know the risks involved. But we trust Apple because they have a habit of making solid products and taking good care of their customers when things do go wrong so it isn't as risking as early adopting is with other companies. But a 33% price cut after 2 months isn't the way Apple normally does business and felt like a slap in the face to a lot of us.

(c) yes, Steve Jobs is smart. By giving 100$ store credit Apple will certainly have many customers come in and spend more than 100$. But a lot of us, myself included, will probably purchase things we were already intending to purchase and may purchase things that we had decided not to purchase b/c we were angry at Apple.

The law to keep adults from talking on hand held cell phones was passed/signed in California last year. See e.g. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/09/15/BAG75L6BJC1.DTL&type=politics It doesn't take effect until 2008.

Right after my senior year of undergrad I bought a new computer. I put the contents of my old one on an external harddrive, sold the old one and never got around to transferring everything to the new computer. I also never backed up the harddrive. I went to access it a few months later and as soon as it powered on it stared making awful noises. It had my entire undergrad (docs, pics, etc etc) on it. I sent it to a data recovery service, they said it would cost 1000$ and it was worth it to me. They called back two days later and told me they were unable to save anything (no charge). So it was all gone.

I was distraught. I understand. And mine didn't even involve the awful invasion that yours did. So I started making a list of everything that was missing. In a cruel twist of fate, picasa on my new computer had all the thumbnails from my pictures, but not the pictures themselves. Then I started emailing everyone. I managed to get back a lot of pictures. I got pictures I didn't know existed. My senior thesis advisor still had my thesis and emailed it back to me. But the best part of all was that I reconnected with people I hadn't talked to in a while. Sometimes instead of pictures, I got stories. "Hey I don't have pictures from that night, but remember..." All that reminded me what someone on this thread already said, the things you lost aren't you, they don't define you. They were a record of your life, but that record still exists inside you and the people you have shared your life with. So I guess two things helped me:

1. getting back what I could

2. reconnecting with the important people in my life

3. remembering that the things I lost were only a record of my hard work and wonderful memories, not the hard work and wonderful memories themselves

Straight into the savings account. Does that mean I'm not patriotic?

as a former gymnast I must say that much of this depends on the gym and the coaches. I moved around quite a bit as a child and every gym was different. Some gyms were wonderful but others were truly terrible. At one gym, the girls were in tears almost every night and the coach required the girls to wear only leotards (not leotards and spandex shorts as many other gymnasts wear) so that they could better monitor the girls' weight. Another gym told me (at 5'1 100 pounds of pure muscle- no eating disorder here!) that I had to lose 20 pounds to train with their team. But in both cases, I walked away when I realized the situation wasn't right for me and my parents were supportive. But the two gyms I spent the most years at were truly homes away from home. The time I spent there taught me lessons that have helped me achieve success and survive failure ever since. I am so thankful for the wonderful coaches and teammates I had through my ten years as a gymnast.

As an aside, I saw more disordered eating on my high school cross country, track and field and soccer teams than I ever saw as a gymnast. Like everything else in life, there is no perfect sport, no perfect coach and no perfect athlete. I don't want to discount the things that happened to Jennifer Sey because I know first hand those gyms/coaches do exist. Stories like hers are a valuable reminder that we must instill the strength in our children to know what is right and what is wrong and how to walk away when necessary.

The article you link to does NOT have the comments made by the head of the Russian space agency.

This one does:

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080419/soyuz_landing_080419/20080419?hub=SciTech