I realize that a lot of the grammar hounds will wince at the phrase "unilaterally capable of assuring mutual destruction"...This phrase is a contraction of "By itself, able to make both itself and its opponent be certain that both it, and its opponent, can be simultaneously destroyed; and also able to make both itself and its opponent be certain that the destruction of one cannot follow without the destruction of the other"... just thought I'd clear that up.

Bruha:

If and when we end up fighting a "real" war, by which I assume you mean a war against a superpower with near-comparable strength to the United States, there are a couple of factors to keep in mind:
1) Each power is unilaterally capable of assuring mutual destruction of the other, should the conflict escalate to atomic-biological-chemical (ABC) levels.
2) Should the loser be pushed to hard by losing, they will escalate the conflict. See 1) above.
3) This means that at best, any such conflict will consist of minor skirmishes, preferably through third parties, such as Iraq.
4) Please refer to this hypothetical situation which simulates what a "real" war might be like.

In order for unmanned, remote control aircraft to fully replace manned aircraft 3 things have to happen:

*Reaction time for the remote pilot must equal or exceed that of an in-the-air pilot.
*Data the remote pilot has access to must equal or exceed that of an in-the-air pilot.
*Counter-counter measures must ensure that the remote pilot is always in control of the craft.

In order for self-guided robotic aircraft to replace live pilots the following must happen:

*Reaction speed must equal or exceed that of human pilots.
*Appropriateness of reaction must equal or exceed that of human pilots.
*Counter-counter measures must ensure that the robot cannot act against its creator body (IE, it can neither be subverted, nor rebel).

A while ago I was responsible for disposing of a number of old computers and CRT's in California. Both my boss and I had a strong preference for donating it to charitable causes, but as it turns out, I had a significant amount of trouble *giving* the stuff away, to *anyone*, for free--they simply didn't want it. Even the charitable organization I contacted didn't want it. Finally we wound up getting rid of them when someone else in the company held a yard sale and was able to sell them.

My advice is to volunteer for stuff. Something. Anything, even if it's not directly related to your major. Take an internship course even if *that's* not directly related to your major. Get help making your resume -- the same person, with a good resume, will stand out a lot more than the same person with a bad resume. Work part-time in school. Better yet, start your own business. As you said, computers pretty much always need fixing, and 95% of the population can't fix them when they break. Having been laid off for Christmas, of course, I'm looking at doing the same things. Best of luck!

They could...IF that weren't blackmail.

So, how many countersuits would it take to wipe RIAA off the face of the planet?

You are confusing standards and ideals. There is a difference. Standards of behavior are met all the time. Sometimes you can actually find checklists of 'standard behavior'; things like etiquette guidelines and domain rules. It's also a sliding scale; your standard of behavior with your girlfriend is likely different than your standard of behavior with your boss.

Ideals of behavior are different; while people meet standards of behavior easily, no one really meets their ideals. This is a good thing and there's no shame in it. If we met our ideals the only direction we could go is downhill.

Of course our ideals are unrealistic; that's why they're ideals. If we realize that our ideals are unrealistic...we should still try to meet that ideal anyway.

Yes, and clearly, the government joining forces with major corporations to help censor the internet is going to revolutionize the way we see the internet--the parts of it we see, anyway.

An opt-in internet blacklist/whitelist isn't really the domain of the government. In other words, I don't want to pay my tax dollars into a program that lets some noob feel good about what porn sites they visit.