My new start-up, Jupiter Zero, will soon replace Mars Zero in the news anyhow

(Actually, this is probably what's going to happen...)

The scene: two years from now:
Me: TV- turn on and switch to "The X-factor: pro-wrestling special"
TV: I'm sorry ...Dave, I can't allow that to happen.

Just hope that the TVs don't learn to lipread,,,,

And I don't know why either. I still enjoy a good novel (Charles Frazier/Susannah Clarke...) and read a bunch of Dickens about a year ago (try 'em out! There's a reason why they're called 'classics'. And what's more, they're free...).

But I read some computing subjects, some Astronomy subjects, some philosophy (I guess you call it - Sam Harris?). Whatever turns my crank.

One of the joys of being older is that you can read what you want - and by and large you know what you like. I joined a book club to avoid getting stuck in a rut... that's a danger...

I, for one, welcome our new Intelligent Omnipotent Toaster overlords.

Now, pass me a waffle.

Say 'Curiosity' tracks down a weird-looking fossil on the rocks of Mars.

We'd look inwards to see what this means to us as a species. We're not alone. We're not special. Where there's one there be hundreds. Thousands. Will they be friendly. Will we be friendly? Can we hide? Can we opt out? What will they think like? Will they be smarter than us? Suppose they are, what can we do?

Sort of like the thoughts that go through the mind of an ex-only child when mum and dad come back from the hospital with a little bundle....

and that's enough 'Fermi' to worry about today.

[ducks]

Wouldn't any programmer worth their salt identify themselves in the comments, or (if not) be logged as the last guy in that code on such-and-such a date, while working on such-and-such a patch number? (E,.g 'kittenman was here, 1/Jan/15, fixing Steve's crap').

But I hope my code is easily recognizable. I'm proud of it. It may not be the smartest, slickest, quickest there is, but it's mine. And it works.

[Citation needed]. Though I suspect if there weren't spies among 'em when they were interned, there were when they were released.

There's also the 'Trent Affair'. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T... . The US stopped a British ship mid-Atlantic to take off a couple of confederate politicians. That got pretty heated, until Lincoln handled the incident (read the article...).

Nicely put and totally agree. I watched the originals when they came out, watch the reruns. I didn't bother with the rest (Next Generation, etc) as we'd done all that before.

I'm sorry, I've got the Swedish dub and translates back to English as Fat, Aryan moon bats. This fits in with that Nazi vampire episode - the one that's only ever screened at Fan meetings.

I remember it! McCoy pondered that he might have been a ghost (or whatever -- someone other than himself) since the first time he was teleported. Spock's final comment was that he'd have no way to test the argument one way or the other, so any answer was irrelevant.

Go on, ask me a hard one...

80085 ?

Exciting indeed. Wasn't there a case a few years back of someone finding a lost book of Aristotle that had been recycled as a prayer book? Paper wasn't cheap in those days. I wonder how many more finds like that are out there...

One lump or two?

Also handy for any horses you care to meet.