I realize it's time to move on, but I'm still happily running several prosumer audio cards that will probably see their end with my next hardware cycle. Gina, Layla, Darla... farewell. -- Using "Fail" as a one-word rejection of something is unoriginal and idiotic. Real douchebags add "Epic" to it.

Epic Fail D00d.

I have XBMC running on an Acer Aspire Revo nettop as well as on an original Xbox with a Windows MCE remote. The interface looks pretty and the hardware has HDMI output. I've got the HD cables for my Xbox though and we use the Xbox more often because it does everything I need it to without extra complications. Sure, I could use a different remote and change somethings to simplify it. The Xbox though appears to load XBMC more quickly although I've never actually timed it. It is also really nice to be able to play the old Xbox games and things through an emulator occasionally. My nettop will soon be repurposed as I am content with my Xbox XBMC and have no need for all the fancy new features other than keeping the Google Video and other plugins updated to work.

The insurance companies in a car accident can fight over fault endlessly because the accident has already happened. If you're comparing to car accidents this is more like a bridge failing causing a car accident; traffic then continues to plunge in to a ravine while everyone argues over who is at fault and how to fix the problem. It started as an accident but the finger pointing and arguments over the amount of oil are not.

I'm not sure the difficulty in representing a blind, deaf or mute person in statue can be used as a premise in your argument even if the conclusion may be correct.

My 2 years is up on the 18th. I wasn't going to get a 3GS knowing that Apple will release a new phone in June because everyone "knows" that and I was waiting to see what the latest Android phones were. Seeing the prototype made me definitely want one. I hate the stupid rocker back on my 3G. I initially was happy to see some info and the news made me incredibly excited about the new product. I have tickets purchased for a trip to San Francisco the first week of June and was hoping that, even though a slim chance, they'd release it in early June and I could pick one up at the SF Apple store.

I'm no Apple fanboi but brand loyalty can be important to me. I've got an ancient Creative Zen Xtra and a 2 foot plastic lawn penguin with OSUOSL.org stickers on it at my desk.

But after all of this I've decided that Apple is a bunch of evil "appholes" even though I love (*LOVE*) my 3G and agree that Hogan and Chen's acts were definitely unethical and likely criminal. I even agree with Apple's stance on Flash and wish Flash would Die Die Die.. but Apple's heavy handedness in this case and the morality police attitude regarding Apps makes me sick and I'll be switching to Android. I think other people are feeling the same way but all of this will only be a small forgettable blip of Apple history to the general public. The 4G will be successful as Apple is a master of branding and creating an image of themselves that even as they become the next Microsoft they become the evil of Hello Kitty or Barney not the Gates Borg.

Except for band allocations and licensing. Even if you operate as a 'pirate' you have to rely upon repeaters, which even if you set up illegal repeaters you've got to worry about access to a suitable location. For DX you've got to worry about sun spot cycles and/or the time of day and ionosphere conditions. Even if everything is in YOUR favor, you've still got to rely upon someone at the other end having access to equipment to receive and/or transmit back. I'm lucky enough to live near a Ham Radio Outlet where I can deal with a bunch of attitude because I'm a ham under 50 years old. Before moving to this state the nearest brick and mortar was this same HRO, over 1000 miles away from where I lived. I can walk a few hundred yards from almost anywhere to a convenience store, Wal-mart, etc. and buy a pay as you go cell phone for $50 USD and talk to my parents who have a cell phone and are currently volunteering at a clinic in rural Romania.

For those that don't follow graffiti news, Banksy articles are appearing in media all over the world right now as his pieces (or imitations of the original, Blek le Rat , and Banksy style) appear as promotion for his movie Exit Through The Gift Shop

Banksy pieces showing up in San Francisco
Banksy in Seattle
Banksy feud with King Robbo

From TFA: "A calculation by town accountant Trudy Brazil indicated that 136 votes are two-thirds of 206 total votes, said Town Clerk Cynthia Slade." Sadly, their city directory still lists her as town accountant.

If you put up Matt and Trey's info someone may attempt to kill them. Sure, all the geeks in the world can probably figure out what Al-Amrikee had for breakfast this morning or post some distasteful pictures of them on 4chan, but other than a bunch of anonymous phone calls and general harassment I don't see much happening. We're geeks, not lunatics wanting to kill people over something, no matter how angered, even if many of us are well armed lunatics. That is the difference between a terrorist and a geek.

Apparently I haven't been watching enough Discovery channel as I've never heard of this type of fox procreation before. Does a Firefox come Ubuntu when you Google it or only when you get it to Yahoo?

A large number of the parts ARE shipped halfway around the world and the cost to ship a complete vehicle likely isn't much more if more expensive. The reason Toyota has a large number of factories in the US (which employ UAW union workers) is because it was a lot cheaper to produce vehicles in the US and Canada and not pay huge tariffs. There is a lot of information on this decision by Toyota in Episode 403 of This American Life.

FA is a troll and the article likely would not have been published if it wasn't a UK news outlet and didn't include a jab at NASA. NASA funds Spacegrant Consortiums doing high altitude balloon research at several US universities. The one I worked on was very similar except we had a license amateur radio operator so we could legally use an APRS system for tracking the balloon. Back then where was no CHDK to use for a cheap Canon camera so camera was controlled by a 555 timer circuit wired to the shutter button. The highest cost was the helium when you figure in the cost of storing large tanks of compressed gas. Our system was slightly more expensive because the payload usually also contained a logging system that stored additional sensor data like temperature and pressure.

His security question should have asked where he was born. A huge portion of the population of the US still can't figure that out :)

This is why every woman I've ever met hates Monty Python but most males I meet understand that Monty Python, at least in a sense, is the original.