I know you're joking, but ... the best find was a bottle of cherry liquor that my great-grandmother set to ferment in a cask (somewhere between the 20's and 60's), and that my grandmother found while cleaning up the basement and bottled.

Probably only aged in the cask for ~30-60 years (depending on when she actually casked it), but knowing the people involved made it priceless.

(we remembered my grandmother finding the cask and filtering/bottling it, but didn't know there was any left :) )

Substitute Jiu-Jitsu or Karate for Judo (not sure Judo does much work on Joint locks/breaks, versus throws, which may be less useful in truly tight quarters), and I'd agree with you.

Heck, they can even chem-snif/x-ran my bags if they really want to, and make me walk through a magnetometer and drink from any liquid I'm bringing on board (if they really feel a need), but the ridiculous level of pseudo security we have reached is mind-boggling.

And yet, sadly, they don't.

I thought they were going to start using Bi-Planes again?

To federal standards.

Try reading A State of Disobedience.

Interesting depiction of a second U.S. Civil War.

Not sure how things stand now (between the redeployment of National Guard troops, and other things), but it sure makes for an interesting read of one way things could play out.

Heck, when we were cleaning out my grandparents house we found a jar of honey that had to be at least 30-40 years old (pre-zipcode in address and no barcode, but a "recognizable" brand name).

We cracked it open and enjoyed it with some similar vintage alcohols (also found during the cleaning), on some (newly bought) crackers, as part of our "good-bye meal" after we finished emptying everything else.

Really? I think "Boy, I'm glad I bought that disc for $8 and could watch it at home with my wife, eating the food/drink of my choice, on the timetable of our choosing, instead of paying $25 to watch it in a theater, and then being gouged for Soda/Popcorn/Snacks."

I was thinking the same thing. I bought a Samsung 32" for ~$1200 in 2006, and (so far) its been running fine. The TV I have to set the bar on for comparison was an old TV w/remote (wireless), that my parents had that was bought in the early 80's and lasted ~20 years (surviving two moves).

I haven't had any problem with it, but I know it was right before Sumsung became popular, so maybe as demand increased, quality dropped?

They added it back in on later models.

... and me without my mod points.

I've actually been amazed at the picture quality since I've ditched cable (~2.5 years and counting).
It took a bit of time to figure out how to position the antenna, but the signals are MUCH clearer than I ever got via TWC. Not sure what they are actually transmitting the signals at, but I can tell you they aren't compressing the heck out of them like the Cable Companies do (used to?).

Throw in a TiVo Premier (w/Lifetime service) and Hulu+, and the wife is very happy watching Hulu, recording shows, and switching around between the two built in tuners.

All through one HDMI cable between the TiVo and the TV, an Ethernet cable into the TiVo for network connectivity, a coax cable for Over-The-Air signals, and power for both boxes. Even set up the TiVo remote to power the TV on/off and raise/lower the volume, and change inputs if I want to switch to play Blu-Ray/DVD/Games (and yes, it keeps the settings through battery changes).

Who says it has to be difficult?

I know you said rhetorical, so you probably know the answer, but:

Sure, burning it in one place for power generation would probably be a more efficient use of the "disposable cash", assuming that is the problem they are trying to solve. In this case though the problem is: "We have these poor people who are freezing in the winter." and someone else noticed "Hey, we're going to burn this used money we took out of circulation. If we can process it a little more, maybe we can give it away to the poor and kill two birds with one 1,000 Euro brick."

Doesn't make it the MOST efficient way of doing things, just a better use of the resources they had available.

To make everyone happy, those who disapprove of the solution can complain that "They just keep throwing money at the problem and expect it to go away".

I mostly agree that Samsung (and the like) are doing real hardware innovation, but I think Apple's innovation is more a matter of actually creating a computer "Appliance" that people use and feel comfortable with, in the same way as a toaster over.

Yeah, sure, if you care about the exact temperature, or want to play with convection oven circulating speeds, they won't expose all the controls you want, but if you find it all intimidating, and just want to hit a button marked "Toast" and have the oven do its job, then you might like it (especially if its "stylish").

Not saying I agree with all the lockdown, but their modus-operandi of making things "appliance-like" while bucking most geeks feelings about it, are MUCH MUCH better aligned with what the vast majority of users want.

Heck, my mother-in-law recently got an iPhone. For the first time since she got a cell phone (at least 15-20 years), she's now picking up voice mails, making text messages, and taking pictures (still hasn't learned how to attach them to Messages yet). Not saying she Couldn't have learned on any other phone, but she hadn't yet.

(note: I think all of these lawsuits are ridiculous, but I also think Apple has done a fair amount of innovating in putting together a cohesive product that IS more than just the sum of its parts)

Watched the video. Not sure how much energy it takes to process the currency into briquets, but it is certainly one of the most innovative "Recycling" programs I've seen, and from the looks of it, one that actually benefits all parties involved (Central Bank gets to destroy old currency, Poor get free fuel).

Citation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_conversion#Islam_2

Bad people will always use religion to justify their actions. To deny that they are happening helps no one. To accept that they are happening, and need to change is a step on the road to tolerance.

I do not believe that the majority of Islam's current followers do not want violence or to oppress those who do not agree with them (so long as THEY aren't trying to impose their views on them), however so long as the Vocal Minority of people willing to pervert or subvert religion (whatever that religion) in pursuit of their own goals is all that people see in the media, their view of that religion will BE perverted and subverted.

This happened in the 80's/90's with the Evangelical movement when preacher after preacher kept showing up in tabloid and scandal after scandal. It happened in the 90's/00's with the Catholic religion when the main thing people saw in the news was the abuse of underage parishioners by clergy. We're see ing it now in the 00's/10's with Islam where the radical Imams and their followers. Hopefully the non-radical element will gain strength, support, and a larger voice.