Well, strictly strictly speaking, the cloud doesn't have to be remote at all. Here is the NIST definition of the cloud, which we use to avoid cloudy wording when it comes to clouds. It doesn't even contain the word remote. It speaks only of availabilty, scalability and the likes.

It's OK as long you're not seen by two cameras at the same time.

Maybe it has to do with the way the discovery of quantum mechanics totally changed science (at least physics). I once read an anecdote about Max Planck. When he started studying physics, his professor told him: "It is nice that you are interested in science, young man, but unfortunately you are a bit late. We have uncovered almost everything. All we need to do is fill the last little corners here and there. So there won't be much interesting left for you." (quoted from my memory..) He couldn't have been more wrong.

Since then, physics as a whole has acquired a more humble stance. From "we know it all" to "we are slowly learning". I think that most physicists share this view, which shows also in the motto on my Exploratorium mug: Where the right answer is a question.

Maybe other fields of science still need to make this discovery by themselves.

I used to disassemble the BASIC interpreter for fun. My favourite part was the one which executes a BASIC command. It pushes the address of the subroutine minus one on the stack, and then calls it with RTS (return from subroutine). Poor man's indexed jump.

Precisely on the topic of technical enhancements for humans in sports is the novel "Limbo" by Bernard Wolfe from 1952. Well worth a read. It starts with small enhancements for small advantages in sport competitions. In the end of the novel, as far as I can recall, it was highly fashionable (even for couch potatoes) to replace every limb, and those who preferred to keep their bodies unchanged were so old-skool. I remember that it was quite disturbing when I read it.

I found the book in a drawer when they gave me a desk at the university. Thanks to the unknown donator.

There are two issues with voter registration: First, it creates an obstacle to voting. If voting requires 2 steps, fewer people will vote. Second, (if I understood this correctly; forgive me if I didn't, I don't live in the US) you must publicly register for a party. In other words, voting is not secret. Secret elections areis a prerequisite for democracy). Here in Germany everybody is registered anyway. You might find this problematic for some reason or the other, but at least it ensures that everybody is registered to vote excatly once.

Another thing which disturbs me about the US presidential elections is the winner-takes-all system for a state's members of the electoral committee. This essentially ensures that democrats and republicans remain the only parties, because it makes it hard for a smaller party to win even a small number of seats in the electoral committee. In some cases, running for president even helps the political opponent: In 2000, the votes cast for Ralph Nader who is (arguably) politically closer to the democrats, made Al Gore (arguably) lose Florida, which led to GW Bush's victory.

That's pretty obvious. Maybe it wasn't intended as such, but it is quite convenient for the existing political class. I never understood why there is no broad movement against this in the US.

It did happen to both of them in South Africa.

Not quite. They were both called Händel :P

kW/h on slashdot's front page. What's wrong with this world?

DON'T mention his name!

And BTW, magic IS real, it's just applied maths, see e.g. Charles Stross: The Atrocity Archives.

Smoking pot can get you into that state, even if you are usually perfectly rational. (Except that you don't remember much of it the next day.) Maybe religious people are naturally stoned.

Indeed, and I am honestly grateful. We were full of shit back then, and it is invaluable that someone (a lot of people actually) went through hell to beat it out of us. (Talking to my grandparents I learned that it took a generation to appreciate it.)

It is nice, too, that we were given a second chance (in terms of Marshall vs. Morgenthau plan).

I am totally stunned by the fact that it is possible at all for employers do this in the US.

If it happened here in Germany, everyone would be outraged, and the company would be knee-deep in trouble. It would be in the news front pages and on prime-time TV. The employer's reputation would be damaged for a long time. IANAL but I am sure this level of threatening someone's privacy is a criminal offense here.

We went through all the pros and cons of storing cord blood when our kids were born. Finally we decided against it. It looked too much like a rip-off. We felt that the companies that offered services make a big business out of people's fears. IIRC, it's highly unlikely that your kid will be in a condition to benefit from its stem cells. There was no public service at that time in Germany or I would have considered donating it.

Incidentally, we tried it last weekend, after my wife read about it on the web. We called it Darkness Experiment, because the kids love experiments. We did it only 2 days, and with somewhat stricter rules (no electricity at all except fridge/dishwasher/laundry and answering phone calls). Initially my kids wanted to kill me but eventually we played board games under candle light and even *gasp* talked. It was really quite nice, some kind of togetherness which is not usually there. And we all agreed to repeat it some day, but not too soon :-)

Touché.

Maybe we can meet in the middle and blame being an aspie AND video games. I guess they (the games) precisely hit the trigger which makes susceptible people go bezerk.