Wouldn't this expose another vulnerability for a platform that is becoming increasingly popular to exploit? There have been a lot of articles recently about the many security holes in smartphones, and I'm not sure I'd want to give someone the ability to break into my wallet along with my phone.

Anyone notice that Stephen Colbert has apparently already adopted an exoplanet-bearing star? Perhaps its the future site of the Colbert Nation. http://whitedwarf.org/palebluedot/planets.html

Heard of Sintel? http://www.sintel.org/

I hate Apple. That being said, I received a Macbook as a surprise going to college present after my old Sager died. I've had it for 4 years now, and its going pretty strong. The HDD died and I decided to put an SSD in, and a battery died after 4 years of use, other than that, everything has worked like a champ. Plus, every time I take it in those "Geniuses" replace my keyboard (free because of a recall a few years ago). Now it's a frankenmac single booting Arch Linux, and I have to say, I'm pretty attached to it.

90% seems a bit optimistic, but with the dropping prices and improving performance of SSD technology and more energy efficient batteries/hardware, I could see the netbook become a small, rugged moderately disposable form of computing. I will definitely get one once my current computer dies because I love the Linux-friendly hardware and low cost.

and see if this will happen: from TFA: "It might also be possible for thousands of tiny computers made of plasmodia to live on our skin and carry out routine tasks freeing up our brain for other things." Enter the reign of the moldborgs.

Next they can ban those annoying spam text messages.

The idea made a lot sense when it came to the part about these synthetic trees being more cost effective than retrofitting an old coal fire plant. It's ambitious, and sounds promising. However I do wonder what can be done with the liquid CO2 produced. Also, these aren't nearly as pretty as real trees.

http://lionsdenadult.com/ Meat sauce optional.

Point taken. I guess it's hard to visualize how a videogame could provide insight into those areas without engaging in mindless glorification. (Man, that sounded prudish) Perhaps that's precisely what the article is talking about, the medium needs room to breathe and evolve into something more meaningful.

On some level I guess it's kind of sad that violence and sex seem to be the only two themes that will allow games to mature as an art form. That being said, why shouldn't videogames be protected as freedom of speech just like other forms of media? Ultimately it should be up to the consumer (or the consumer's parents) what they choose to purchase and use.

Yeah, I'm thinking skinless porn appeals to quite a different subset of the public than naked porn. And yes, this did degenerate to porn already.

Let's get some real people up there! Our unmanned rovers have given us a lot of valuable scientific data, but our space program needs some new life breathed into it. The days of the Shuttle are numbered, and technology such as ion rockets seems very promising.

I recommend quite a few. Ptolemy's Almagest is the first really unified mathematical theory of the motions of the heavens. Kepler's Epitome of Copernican Astronomy cleans up Copernicus' theory and gives us the first really usable heliocentric theory. If you're interested in biology I suggest Harvey's Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals. Apollonius' Conics is a beautiful work of ancient geometry and works under the same rules as Euclid's Elements. Descartes' Geometry opens with the solution of problems that Apollonius could not solve. Vitruvius' Ten Books on Architecture give a great summary of classical architechture and applications of ancient mathematics. Most of these works are difficult. The Euclidean system has been left behind for the Cartesian one, so it seems very strange. Euclid takes some getting used to, but it's undeniably beautiful, and gives you the context for modern mathematics and science. But don't forget, it all starts with Euclid and Aristotle :)