I had a jailbroken iPhone with a mouse app, and believe it or not it was quite handy. To set up a keyboard *and* mouse, and to be able to click on icons and screen areas when necessary was quite handy as it gave a certain amount more precision than my meaty sausages. There are many programs where the touchy-feely thing is extremely good, but when one needs to be precise, such as selecting text etc., the mouse is a real help.

I only use distros you've never heard of.
                                                                                          - Hipster Geek

I find that it really does have business uses. In our IT department we take one with us as we do our rounds and have instant access to our personal email, web and internal system documentation and knowledgebases, and even our workstations' desktops if necessary. We can also check on the service desk queue to see if there are any service calls in our current location if we're out and about to more efficiently deal with issues.

On the domestic front there's no end to the possibilities. I have apps to control my home theatre system, stream media to the iPad whilst relaxing in bed or on the couch, read books with interactive content, games of course, and... you name it. Also, some apps are actually more fun and cool on the iPad than their desktop versions, Google Earth being a good example. Using one's fingers to manipulate the planet is as close to playing god as most people are going to get.

All of this in a package which is far more convenient, lightweight, and with greater battery life than a typical laptop; not to mention the fact that most of the apps are vastly cheaper than desktop versions, and sometimes free.

Oh, and lest we forget, these are very rugged devices. I've tested mine in an environment that's tougher than that used for stressing military hardware: kids. And not a scratch. Give a kid a netbook and I guarantee the hinges will be utterly destroyed in minutes.

One thing I do have an issue with is that Anonymous actually uses the word 'fag' in a derogatory context whilst replying to WBC's challenge to them. It's a bit bizarre really...

Hmm, you raise a good point I didn't consider. Whilst, under this system, a candidate preferred by the ordinary people may get into power, he or she may not have the support of the legislators, or themselves be a good or strong enough personality to rally the legislators to enact legislation which they were put in place to do.

Indeed this could be the end of political parties, which would be most welcome.

That's the best summary of Ballmer's tenure I've read yet. He's not a techie, so he's always reacting to trends instead of taking a chance to set new ones. And those products which actually do push the envelope often get short shrift.

Contrast that with Steve Jobs who, whilst not a techie himself, is tech-savvy enough that he can dictate a major change in the computing landscape and stick with it.

That opens a huge can of philosophical worms. But from my observation, evil is usually ascribed to those actions which push forward evolution. To wit, when a particular ethnic group decides to attempt the elimination of another, we go to great lengths to prevent that (or at least we do it when it's politically or economically advantageous to us). However that very ethnic rivalry is the keystone of evolution, and has made man as strong and dominant as he is today.

That said, man has become intelligent and self-aware enough that I believe that sort of behavior can be deprecated from our bag of instincts, as shown by such horrors as the Holocaust and events in Rwanda some years ago. I could go on, but I think you all get the drift.

I have strong feelings about this. As a consultant who often has to backup the data from the hard drives of home users, I've noticed that, because of the ability of modern digital cameras to store sometimes hundreds of pictures, the user will invariably take dozens of pictures of the *exact same bloody thing*. Such as their kid playing with a puppy: you only need one or two; you do not need to take so many that you could create a stop-motion movie of the event. If you want video of the action, take a video, but for Gord's sake just take one or two photos that *really matter* and be done with it. There, you will instantly save hard drive space.

Sorry for the rant, it it gets really boring backing up the picture folders which hold vast quantities of redundant photos, but which the user insists they cannot live without.

It's the aging aspect which is relevant here. I would think that as a person ages they will need more care and will contribute less to the colony, and eventually becomes the equivalent of a child as regards consumption of time, food and other resources. In fact there is a point at which the last of the colonists will become unable to care for both themselves and the already aged and some very tough decisions will have to be made; essentially they will have to opt for euthanasia.

None of the above should stop a mission composed of a team of well-qualified personnel who are fully aware of the consequences of their situation (and while we're at it, let's send The Situation as well!), but the aging aspect is just another scenario to consider.

And after expunging all un-Germ^H^H^H^HAmerican art from society we can move on to getting rid of those people who we find to be untermensch.

Thank you Amazon for getting the ball rolling :-)

The problem is that, no matter how untrue they may be, accusations of sexual crimes leave an almost unremoveable stain on the accused. Sometimes an allegation is as good as a conviction, and if the Mysterious World Powers(tm) are out to cast doubt on the character of their target, a sex crime is probably the easiest way to do it.

I remember being told about the security measures that a private software contractor encountered when working on a top secret installation. He said that he was stripped of literally anything not necessary for the job (got to keep his clothes on though thankfully), had to keep hands above deck at all times and absolutely *no* means of recording *anything*, analog or digital, were permitted. Very interesting to talk to this chap.

I'm not a hacker (and have yet to play one on TV), but my understanding is that Stuxnet is very specifically targeted at those particular systems, which I understand don't run standard desktop OSes, so the likelyhood of infection outside of Iran's facilities is minimal apparently.

Seriously, both she and Glen Beck are possibly the ultimate trolls, who live to provoke the masses. Witness the number of comments in this topic - this is *exactly* what she wants to see. To her it's not the contents of the replies to her remarks that matters, it's the quantity. She no doubt gets a certain sexual thrill knowing that she caused well over a thousand people to pitch in with their opinions.

In truth what she is doing doesn't really require a great deal of talent or brains, just the desire to do it. However it's particularly effective during times of uncertainty and unrest. Very simply, one needs to affirm people's insecurities about the current situation, get them good and angry about it, and then position yourself as the only one who can save them from this malaise. Allow me to officially Godwin this discussion by positing that Adolf Hitler himself was perhaps the greatest troll of all times by this standard.