This is a common problem with ancient religious texts as often they are fragmented, scattered, and in some cases the bits exists in different parts of the world. A type of recognition tech was used to help piece together parts of the dead sea scrolls:

http://www.livescience.com/16620-digitized-cairo-genizah-texts.html

I recall copying some of the original texts myself, and frankly, I'm surprised they lasted as long as they did in the earthenware jars we made for them.

:) Completely deserved.

You're not allow to go into space if you still think a food tray is relevant.

Looks awesome, but it seems like it is only a matter of time before something fails on the communication end of things and the suit rips an arm or leg off or beats the operator senseless. I'll be watching for the youtube video.

That said, I plan to live to a very VERY old age and wear one of these to help me get around. They didn't mention the elderly as a possible target market, but I can see it.

Seriously, it is true when they say that "All the money in the world can't buy an ounce of class." If these thugs had any, they'd get a Conquest Vehicle like the Knight XV. It's put together on a Freightliner chassis and fore and aft night vision is standard. This thing makes a hummer look like a toy.

I've been in this IT business full-time for 22 years. Both as an employee and as a contractor. My experience has been that the number of meetings I am asked to attend is directly proportional to my pay.

I had 19 meetings last week. Somewhere between 15 and 22 is a typical week for me. And not a week goes by that I don't wish I could give up the money and go back to some quiet uninterrupted hacking. But I'm afraid that I'm not as sharp as I used to be. And the golden handcuffs are very strong.

Bottom line: If you're a geek, and you're happy, don't let them suck you into responsibility. Biggest mistake I ever made was cutting my hair. If I had to do it all over again, I'd stay the socially inept technical genius. Fuck them. Money isn't everything.

Understood - in terms of accounts you are correct. But my point is that with a typical daily maximum of simultaneous users, 15k represents about 33%. In other words, 1 out of every 3 ships you encounter is being piloted by a machine (at the best of times).

As for your assertion that it is players the world over that are accounting for the 15k on-line number, I was in the same boat as you. My play time was typically between 4am EST and 7am (on either side of DT). It wasn't very often that I ran into another human being while playing. Sure, maybe nobody wanted to speak English with me. And maybe they were really good about running back and forth from the asteroids to the stations, or from the stations to the planets. Was your experience different?

I don't envy CCP's position on this. Most of those macros are not owned by "gold farmers", they are owned by real players who use macros to get ahead in the game. If you kill them off you're going to lose those accounts and then some. If you don't kill them off then people who don't cheat are always at a disadvantage.

Have you ever used macros in the game?

And how much of that as a direct or indirect result of the use of macros? There are 15,000 users on-line all the time in Eve. Moments after DT they are back. They're bots. And CCP can't afford to get rid of them.

Swear to me that neither you nor your corp benefit by macros. You can't. Even if your corp has a strict policy about it (which is probably doesn't) you can't say for sure that some of your members are cheating, nor can you say that outside organizations that you rely on for resources aren't cheating.

Eve is a simulation. It's fun in the same way that Sim City is fun. But to the point of TFA -- Eve is dying a slow death because while a Sim City MMO may seem like a good idea over a few beers, the challenges of implementing that genre in an MMO are high. Too high for the likes of CCP. At some point they've realized that and are pumping their money into other projects and giving their Eve user base only small expansions and bug fixes.

What will eventually happen to Eve and/or CCP? Probably not much (I don't think CCP is leveraged). But you may eventually find that you're flying around in a universe where the bots outnumber the players and you'll come to the realization that you're not actually playing an MMO anymore...

"If you have a 'smart meter' it is collecting data that can reveal when you wake up, when you leave for work and come home, when you go on vacation and when you take a shower" No, my "smart" meter has been combined with TOU (Time of Use) billing, so naturally I installed 7 day programmable timers on everything. My ground source heat pump only comes on at night and brings the temperature up on my radiant floor heating system. My AC only comes on and cools the house when it is cheap to do so. My hot water tank heats up at night and provides me with enough hot water for the day. My dishwasher comes on in the middle of the night as well. If they are gleaning any statistics from watching my energy usage, they might as well be using the slashdot poll results as well.

Good point. I warrant that the Slashdot crowd probably uses a cell phone in this manner less frequently than the general public. May be a good topic for a poll.

Does anyone actually hold a cell phone up to their head anymore? I certainly did from the early 1990s to about 2005 or so. But now? Using it in the car where I am is illegal so I've got a hands-free there. Often when I am travelling I will communicate via e-mail or text message (because they are the cheaper options). And when I am at my desk I use Skype more than anything else for both chat and calls (so I can still have both hands free for taking notes). I can't remember the last time I used my cell phone in the traditional sense (holding it up to my head for a call).

I have two teenagers both with cell phones and I haven't seen either one of them actually on a "phone call" in years. I rather suspect the practice is coming to and end for the next generation anyway.

Honestly, how much of our current problems would go away if we just stopped buying the cheapest crap we can find? Trade imbalances? Global pollution? Landfill? We really have to get away from the whole "I want it right now, and I want it cheap, and I don't care how crappy it is if it just makes me happy for a few minutes." Here is an idea: Do some research. Buy a quality product that will last you the rest of your life instead of one you have to throw away next week. And if you can't afford it right now? Save up until you have the money for it. Trust me. You'll appreciate it more.

Monitor the results.