0xC3

Hmmm... interesting use of a domain hack.

mega.co.nz = "mega conz"

I wouldn't trust leaving my data on his server much more than asking him to watch a box of ding dongs for me.

Without a doubt it's true that Apple's support services fail on many levels. When corporations lose sight of innovation and mainly focus energy on profits these things are inevitable. I've dealt with many such issues and can relate to the frustrations you have experienced. I personally try and solve every such problem myself; an absolute last resort would be having to get 'help' from someone else before expiring all other possibilities.

As far as your screen issues are concerned, It's quite common – and not specific to your particular display. I have a Cinema Display which does the exact same thing, and I've basically become immune to really noticing it much anymore. When I first became aware of it I tried just about everything to resolve the 'problem'. I was able to find a way to clear ghosting almost completely, and it's as simple as running a particular screensaver for the extended periods of time you're not using your system. The name of it is "LCD Scrub", and although I was skeptical it really does work. It doesn't get rid of the ghosting instantly, so you have to leave it running quite a while before you see any results. Good luck!

My Mac Pro running 10.8 has some issues such as applications with blank icons, pixelated icons, etc. I was told to boot into safe mode (which I tried about 5x) and it hangs at about 1/4 into it.

It seems pretty silly to include a "safe mode" that won't even allow someone to use it. I always end up holding the power switch in for a few seconds until I reboot into normal mode, which apparently includes having blank/pixelated icons :-/

If it does change the way we speak then illiteracy rates will likely increase. Take for example words that can be pronounced multiple ways and have two different meanings. I have yet to hear Siri correctly pronounce the word "record" in the context of something that recalls or relates past events.

My thoughts exactly. Those who soley rely on technology alone really should try using their own brain once in a while.