The methods used on such shows are hokey at best. If they were serious in the slightest they would have redundant, different-brand pieces of equipment at each location to cross-match their all their evidence (especially "EVPs"). They would never reuse any media, especially analog media (magnetic audio tapes anyone?). They would put new media through some kind of special scrub to ensure there are no pre-existing artifacts. Every piece of electronic equipment would be surrounded by an individual, redundantly grounded Faraday cage. They would give up on the temperature sensing all together because until they can hermetically seal and thermally isolate the building (per The First Law, good luck with that) it means there's a draft or A/C vent nearby. They would let the EMF readings be further evidence they should be using Faraday cages. And they would stop claiming bugs and random pieces of dust are "orbs", give me a break. Lastly they would get the hell out of the place so their compromised psyche can stop feeling "touched" and yielding no real data.

Then again, if they did these things they probably wouldn't have much, if anything, to put on TV to sell commercials.

You could've anyway. If anyone on this site is caught in a crime via their browsing history we're confiscating their geek license.

He is, however, a very naughty boy.

The lesson here is simple: don't call the police, just get rid of the body.

How many thieves let others know where they'll be going?

I already have a 2 TB RAID0 in the internal bays of my case, and have only used a third of it over the past year and a half. A substantial chunk of that amount was copied from my previous machine (0.5 TB RAID0 there, and again extra 5.25 bays). Others have suggested more ports, but my motherboard supports 12 USB ports out of the box and I find I don't have need of that many much less any more. The toaster suggested by a poster above is more along the unusual/creative lines I was thinking. I don't think I'd use one of those, it'd be messy and a cooling nightmare. :)

Cheers,
-The submitter.

According to this that block of IPs traces to Batavia, Ohio. I'm about 90 degree (30 minute drive) around the beltway from there if you find you need another pair of hands.

Would you have known about the $10 off any $40 order if it wasn't on the front page? ;)

Article reading FTW!

Gamepads are fine, for certain games. Mortal Kombat-type fighters and platformers come to mind. Contrast to Wii Tennis with a Wiimote or an FPS with a mouse and keyboard. You have to pick the right tool for the job: if the challenge of a game is the disconnect between the player and the character being controlled the game will be frustrating rather than fun.

Babbage! Babbage understood the tech support horrors he had unleashed with his analytical engine:

On two occasions I have been asked, – "Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" In one case a member of the Upper, and in the other a member of the Lower House put this question. I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.

Back around '04 I wrote some programming tutorials for a Wiki (gpwiki.org). These included example source files. About once a year I get an email from someone in Iran seeking clarifications or help. Am(Was?) I (or the Wiki) running afoul of US export laws?