Well, you never do know.

Axe-murdering, for example, might benefit from this innovation. I am not sure about the mechanics of axe-murdering, but I do imagine that this could be applied beneficially to the purpose with some modification of technique.

Of course, axe-murderers are probably not likely to "refine" their technique before employing it, but you never know.

Anyone with a modicum of hand-skill will loosen their grip at the strike-moment, alleviating rotational forces on the wrist, while still maintaining lateral control of the handle. Pretty simple.

I live in a beach community, which attracts the homeless for its nice weather and numerous tourists.

A few years ago, I watched a visiting friend's mother give a fiver to a "homeless" couple, living in a park with an ocean view.

I stepped in and berated the homeless woman for having a cell phone that she deigned to stop talking on while she accepted the pity-money, after which she went back to the phone. It was quite a scene, and I did my best to impress upon this visitor that she should not "feed the bears."

I also get tired of seeing their dirty laundry on the sidewalk. This occurs when they get a new, free, donated set of clothing from some charity. Not even an effort to put them in the trash can 10 feet away!!!

Homelessness, a symptom of the squeeze on the middle class, is indeed a problem. But why should the homeless get to live in a beach paradise for free, while I pay extra taxes for social services, recycling collection (which they thieve from), and so on? It's not right.

The Economist
Harper's Magazine
The Atlantic
Lapham's Quarterly
Foreign Affairs

Well, I said 15 years ago — and I'll say it again — Anyone who is in the business of selling media containers is in for trouble.

Media containers = CDs, books, magazines, newspapers, and so on. Manufacturing and distribution are costs that have been trending toward zero since the early 90's.

And, just to reply: a rose is a rose, etc. Sure. Theft is stealing a physical object — book or a CD. Those are really media containers that come with a limited license to use. I don't think you'd want to see any of my food after I have "consumed" it.

I don't consume content. No one does.

If something is "consumed," it is no longer there after consumption.

Viewing content, whether over the air or internet, is not "consuming." Viewing, subscribing, or using — maybe — but consuming, it is not.

Similarly, "stealing" something (an MP3 or CD) means that IT IS NOT THERE AFTER THE ACTION. It may be copyright infringement, or fair use, but is is definitely NOT stealing.

Actually, quite a bit of the phenomenon of big-oil hoovering up renewable energy patents is a tactic to lock up the technologies (patents are good for 20 years).

Mark commenter up!

The decisions of established institutions are indeed made based upon time-scales longer than the individual participants' life-spans.

A faculty community willing to back a position that will ultimately bear its fruit after they are dead is to be respected, or at least soberly considered.

Gavin Scott: Horgan has been going on about stuff like this for years. He wrote a book in 1997 called "The End of Science" which I read and thought was completely ridiculous. ...

I agree completely about the nay-sayer making a career of it, and yours is about the only post in-thread to make this specific point, versus the numerous historical anti-examples of "It's all been discovered" types of quotes of the type frequently noted to precede scientific revolutions..

All commenters should be aware that the "Nat. Geo. attribution of the OP is misleading. That is the typical abbreviation for Nature Geoscience, a scientific journal. The linked article was printed in National Geographic , a middle-low-brow rag, aimed at the masses. It is a magazine not known, ever, for anything more rigorous, or higher, than "general interest."

It is a picture-book magazine with simple articles. It has no business pretending to discuss big ideas.

A workable solution is to buy a second machine, install Linux and two networking cards. Let the XP-based system only connect to the Linux box, and to only allow file transfer to and from the Linux box from the XP box.

I know many labs with multi-million dollar pieces of equipment that have no drivers or software above XP. One can give their IT department the option of buying a new milti-million dollar instrument due to their imposed restrictions, or they can turn their head on the above solution. Or, just don't tell them.

Technically, the XP box above is not "on the network."

A relevant fact that I've seen nowhere is whether this video, and its ideas, were ever made publicly available, or whether Apple knew of the work.

There have been instances of near-simultaneous patenting of the same, or nearly the same, inventions. That does not seem to be the case here, where the parties involved appear to have abandoned good work (whether or not it's anticipatory prior art).

As a fun side point, the video also demonstrates Microsoft's long history of dismissing good ideas or trending technologies, like that "internet" thing and "web browsers," only to have to buy their way into the market a couple of years after everyone else.

I want a BMW X6 M. 550 HP V-8 w/500 ft-lb of torque in a mid-size. Yet, despite this ridiculous amount of power, BMW felt the need to pipe in engine noise through the stereo system. Do they think we're all that dumb?

IANAL, but that's gotta be defamation of character.

They claim accidental error by a worker. OK, maybe that's true. But that person has a manager, and that manager has a boss, and so on. And someone surely "proofed" the segment before it aired — all media organizations, if they have any sense, do that.

We should blame the victims. It's a whole lot cheaper.

Someone, please tell me the difference between a "food" and a "drug."

I'll wait.

Also, who begins a scientific journal article's abstract with an adverb? And then fails to describe the new work until the last sentence of the paragraph?