My neighbors' wi-fi access point provides internet access for me without me having to pay for TV or landline access, like you said. I don't even have to pay for the internet, which I actually use!

I recommend everyone switch to this kind of ISP.

I would shop that way in New York. I very much dislike being in a city where it's so far from place to place, so very very dirty, and unsafe.

Hell, going to New York in VR might be the most pleasurable trip I've ever taken there. I wouldn't get mugged like last time, frozen bloody solid like the time before, or lost on the metro system like the time before that.

An analogy is a lot like a tangerine, in that you have to break through the tough outer rind of legitimacy before you get to the juicy center and realize that an analogy can never serve as real evidence in support of anything.

I swear to God, this one guy in a philosophy class I was in was telling some girl about the limits of science, and how there are just so many things we don't know for sure.... he goes:

"Take water for example" ::air quotes with his fingers and sarcastic voice:: "H Two Oh?" ::exasperated superiority:: "We don't know that!"

I spent an entire fifty minute lecture secretly pointing a laser pointer at his genitals, doing my part for the human race.

Everyone else seems to be pretty skeptical of the usefulness of "Virtual World" technology, but I think it could revolutionize consulting.

I could show people competing alternatives for recommendations on how to restructure their physical operations, like "in scenario one we have your checkout lanes over here, just past the cheeses... contrast that with scenario two, where we have them flanked by bakery counters...".

Also, has anyone considered how excellent this could be for porn?

So I guess it's a way of saying that you're not confident you could pay to win a legal battle against a large established company who goes patent trolling?

Nice. Now being inventive is effectively taxed by the presence of bigger fish. Way to go, patent law.

Indeed true. Also, terrorists don't win unless you allow them to influence your policymaking process. So stop telling us to give up rights.

(I got my views on terrorism from Laura Roslin)

Not particularly, no. I don't really mind the government maintaining a DNA database.

I would like it if they shared the data with the NIH, and I think that work on mapping the human genome is so very important that we can't trust private enterprise to explore all of the possible directions in which it could be taken.

I mean, what is the government going to do with my DNA? Clone me? Invade my privacy by finding out what diseases I'm vulnerable to?

I reject arguments that innocent people have nothing to fear from invasions of privacy, but objections to this don't even seem to be based on one of those.

Honestly, if I were Google, I would only be trying to buy Yahoo for Flickr, which seems extremely synergistic with Google's current offerings.

Yahoo's search tech is archaic and inferior, Yahoo's e-mail is not up to par with GMail, and most Yahoo site features are irrelevant and poorly executed on their site.

Both sites have a daily reach of about 30%, maybe they just want to make Yahoo.com redirect straight to Google. That would be good for a laugh and some ad revenue.

I wouldn't really call a Google + Yahoo collaboration a monopoly. There are still plenty of search engines out there, and nothing about using Google or Yahoo (or any of their numerous holdings) prevents people from easily switching to other sites' services, or dividing their time between multiple sites. It's not like either Google or Yahoo provide a unique, patented service that others can't imitate - it seems to me to be a matter of time before someone perfects a suite of online utilities/applications that work together well enough to steal giant portions of Google's market share. Google may have an advantage from the outset, but I don't think its insurmountable even assuming no market-altering technological advances.

I'm sure antitrust has more purpose than just "prevent monopoly" but Google does not seem like an appropriate target for antitrust suits, even if they do acquire Yahoo.

The weekly videos are a step in the right direction. But I was hoping to see more frequent communications from a variety of different faces on the transition team, talking about their progress and the work they're doing.

I just want to see open and honest government, and a three minute communique every week doesn't really do that for me. I liked the press conference Monday, but I feel like I want to be able to see more. I want my government to finally be accountable!