Now you're claiming that Netflix "won't let you leave" because you can't download all the reviews you've written to your convenience? Excuse me, but what website in the world will do that for you? It's not as if Netflix is the only site in existence that carries reviews written by readers. There are countless sites where visitors write reviews; I've never seen one that does what you apparently expect Netflix to do for you.

How long did it take you to think up this problem? Because it sounds to me like you couldn't find any criticism more substantial than this to lob at Netflix, which is a pretty good, original business model. If this is the worst you can do, you've clearly got no case at all.

As to trading Netflix for Blockbuster, I will simply add to the growing chorus here: Bitch, please!

Manjoo displays a set of assumptions that I find very often among techie types, and which invalidate his analysis, in my opinion.

First of all, he assumes that everyone either has a computer or has access to one, and that therefore knowledge of maps or geography is unnecessary. Just like most people whose livelihoods, and lives, revolve around high-end technology, Manjoo can't imagine that there are literally millions of people who actually don't have these things, and thus have to rely on their BRAINS to store knowledge, instead of a plastic box.

Second, again like most techies, he makes the assumption that things like the Internet are now a permanent part of culture, and thus (again) there is no need to hang onto "outdated" methods like knowing what the Earth's continents actually look like and how they relate to the boundaries we mark - and like to shuffle around - for ourselves. Again, this is faulty reasoning. Who says these technical gewgaws are going to be around forever? If the rather dire warnings of imminent cultural collapse are to be believed, we may have as little as another 50 years of flickering screens standing in for personal knowledge, experience and brain power. So the art of reading maps may well be something we should be actively teaching, just like myriad other arts that are falling by the wayside. Things like figuring sums with a pencil and paper, reading an analog clock, even such simplicities as making monetary change are things that fewer and fewer folks even seem to be aware of, let alone are able to do with ease. (Let's not get into things like growing your own food or making your own furniture.)

It's very cute to wave your hand at things like this and shrug "What's the big deal?" But Manjoo really ought to know better. The less you use your brain without the aid of toys, the more you give over your capacity to think to machines that will think for you, the worse off humanity will be in the long run. No civiliation ever prospered via encouraging their members to be as stupid as possible.

That's the cartoon that got censored?

Why??

It's not as if Breathed made that up. Those things have been around for at least a couple of years now. How is it objectionable to point it out? It's not like it's a deep dark initiate's secret or anything.

I don't understand this at all.

Sounds like someone's got Daddy problems.

Why not just pull out one single troop a year from now, maybe, if Gen. Petreaus thinks things are going well?

So how many soldiers would we be pulling out each year, then? Because I imagine a writer as precise and erudite as you, Glenn, wouldn't be falling into that recently egregious error of using the word as if it meant one soldier. Because I'm sure your vocabulary extends to understanding that "troop" means a group of soldiers, not a single man, and that using it that way betrays sloppiness not just of writing, but of thought. Right, Glenn?

Because otherwise, that sentence is just sad. I expect better of you, man.

Don't sound so surprised that the British military would be involved. Some years ago, an engineer I knew told me about an international design contest that asked structural engineers from around the world to work on bra design. Apparently it's a very trying endeavor, as the variables can make the job a headache. (Seems one of the major problems is how to support the weight with so few usable anchor points. Or something.) It was considered quite a challenge by the people that worked on it. Unfortunately I never did find out what the outcome was.

So I'd say it's probably military engineers that are pitching on the design aspects. It'll be interesting to see what they come up with.