Pushing asteroids into geosynchronous orbit would be a good way to mine it as well. It would also make for a great weapons system.

Not in the internet age they can't. Do you not read aggregaters like digg? If you post something that isn't yours the internet community busts your ass for it quick and then points people to the original source. Notoriety from what you create should be enforced and people should feel morally compelled to support original artists, but copyright which places fines on user level infringer's isn't right either. Business level infringement is a different story and could possibly still be kept and enforced. Suing Coca-cola for using your song in an advertisement is different than joe fan listening to your song on youtube.

At least the French are friendly to Nuclear Power. Bonjour, Comment êtes-vous?

Whats a Sony? I've got an X-box 360, DS and a Dell. What do I need a Sony for?

Better solution, get rid of copyright entirely. Society is producing content at to fast a clip for it to be necessary any more. You produce a work and by the end of the week someone has already produced a derivative work. All this copyright stuff does is slow down progress.

If you are worried about how content creators get paid then you haven't thought about it long enough. Content as a service, that is the new model. If you can't sell your content as a service to customers or businesses then the other option is merchandising, make a physical good that can be confiscated for trademark violations and earn your money off of that.

Actually I was thinking the opposite, I like my RTS interface. Why not just use it?

I don't know why schools still teach cursive. My children are learning it, but I believe it to be a waist of time. For the rest of their lives writing anything of length greater than a form will be typed on a computer. For anything else they will need to print legibly for forms. Part of my engineering schooling was drafting courses. Learning to draft characters so they are uniform and legible is a valuable skill, learning cursive, not so much. Good print penmanship is still important.

Best story on NPR in a while. "FUCK YOU" by Cee Lo Green. Man I wanted them to have played it without censorship. I don't login to youtube so I had to find it someplace else, found it here. Would liked to have linked to Youtube directly, but they want you to login to view it.

Just don't write fiction about child molestation and you're fine, even the US has its limits on free speech.

Angry Birds?

Actually I've started pocketing my DS at work to get in a little DQ9 during my bathroom breaks.

Really? The US isn't a theocratic, totalitarian, oppressive, surveillance state much worse than Iran? You could have fooled me. We have millions in the US prison system most of whom are there for non-violent drug crimes. We have police at nearly every street corner who harass you for not conforming to social norms. We have a vocal religious group that controls at least part of our government at all times forcing inane laws like blue laws on everyone else. You may find moral superiority over the types of persecution in Iran, but the US isn't any better, they just persecute you for different things. OH, and if you're accused of assisting terrorists you can be put in jail indefinitely without trial and without representation even as a US citizen. Then there is the Patriot act... The list goes on an on. NYC and not letting them build the Muslim community center for more examples of the theocracy in the US, and the inability to do fetal stem cell research. On and on it goes, you may think Iran is worse, but that is only because you aren't one of the persecuted groups in the US.

You do not have to follow bad rules. You do have to live by the consequences of not following a bad rule, but you should never obey a bad rule or law. You should disobey it fervently and work to get it corrected. As long as you can live with the consequences that may come your way from disobeying it, be it fines or even jail time.

Where would we be if we didn't constantly challenge bad laws through civil disobedience? Well for starters we wouldn't be able to drink alcohol, some of us would still be forced to sit on the back of the bus, and we'd still be ruled by the British. Oh and we'd line up in colored uniforms in strait lines shooting at each other...

People who obey rules just because it is a rule are a problem. Always question the rules and why the rule is needed, you may find that many rules aren't needed once you explain the reason behind it.

Damn, then the Chinese have an even better weapon. "COAL"

Finding a proof for P=NP or P!=NP?

In one case encryption can be proven secure, in the other we loose encryption but gain efficiency. What would be better for humanity going forward, being able to solve box packing problems instantly or having nearly perfectly secure communication?

One of the best political posts in a long time and I don't have a single mod point to give you...