Actually... I think it is a checkpoint. Road goes in, road comes out.

I'm most interested in this double curve structure... 40.510163,93.236783 It is associated with a modest solar array. If you follow the roads, there is a very remote structure several miles in a nearby in line straight with, but offset from the concave structure. Antenna?

For pic programming, I was very pleased with this USB kit. http://www.electronickits.com/kit/complete/prog/ck1708.htm It looks like they sell similar assembled units now. http://www.electronickits.com/kit/complete/prog/ck1710.htm

Hear hear! I come here for tech news and discussion. The more general news material, especially political material, finds its way onto Slashdot, the less I feel compelled to bother with a visit. Knock it off.

Excellent point. The instant video site redesign was the first element of the customer service fail trifecta at Netflix. First, they pissed off their instant customers with a redesign that, at best made it hard to use their site, and at best appeared to be a veiled attempt at controlling what we watch by hiding a considerable portion of the content. Next, they pissed off their entire customer base, especially DVD users, by raising prices suddenly, excessively, and with a snide explanation that further inflamed emotions. Finally, they pissed off the joint DVD instant customers with the incontinence of Quickster. Then they made everyone think they were idiots by backpedalling. None of these factors individually led me to cancel my account, but taken together I felt alienated enough to pull the plug and try out Amazon Prime* for a while instead. If Netflix cleans up their act I might come back after six months, but somehow I don't expect they to clean up their act. *Not that I don't have beef with Amazon, I do over their Kindle update policies, they just piss me off a lot less right now. Here's hoping for an Apple streaming monthly plan. I never thought I'd say it but they piss me off the least lately.

My home PC boots Windows 7 faster than the POST/SATA boot sequence, with an SSD and ample memory. My work computer takes about two minutes to get from login to Vista desktop, another two to five minutes to clear scripts, security logins, A/V start, two different alert systems (one phased ut but active) and about a half dozen utility loads to the task bar. Plus, all our storage and apps are on the network, and we used a jury-rigged Word template system, so loading Word takes another minutes or two. Generally speaking, the first 10 minutes of my day are wasted waiting for my computer to login, and another two to three at the end of the day to verify it restarted, otherwise I'll get a nastygram from IT.

Meh. I ran Windows 95 on a i386sx notebook for several years, with 10 megs of ram and a compressed hard disk, so I'm not really impressed. The floppy install took most of the day, and the boot time was almost a full battery charge towards the end of my run with the computer, but once it was running it was surprisingly functional, despite the 5/10/20mhz variable frequency processor setting.

Let me get this straight...a party where mostly liberals are signing up so far is centrist...because they say so? And they are viable...because TFA says so? Anybody else see the problem here?

I can see two scenarios where they might increase taxes. First, many communities are suggesting that roundabouts *replace* existing intersections. In other words, they want to take a serviceable, but perhaps somewhat more dangerous, intersection and replace it, which obviously entails spending money you otherwise might not have spent. Second, I strongly suspect the initial installation costs on a roundabout are higher than just a standard four-way stop. There is more pavement, more complicated grading (you don't see many slanted roundabouts), and a slightly larger footprint (meaning more land to acquire, especially relevant in populated areas) compared to a four-way stop. I'm generally opposed to replacing busy lighted intersections with roundabouts, especially ones with multiple lanes of traffic on each road, as has occurred in some populated areas, like in Towson, Maryland. However, a simple intersection of two two-lane roads in a quiet area is an excellent spot for a roundabout, particular near highway off-ramps. I've seen these well-executed in many areas, including in Maryland. I'd argue that replacing a serviceable interchange for no reason other than to add a roundabout would be a waste of money, with the offset of improvements in car safety technology we've had over the last few decades, but that it might make good financial and safety sense if the road already requires work.

I doubt I'll ever be able to forgive them for over a decade of "You've got questions? We've got cellphones!" treatment, and I'm not sure I need to, since all of the major mail order component companies sell online and are probably faster than finding the time to drag my butt to RadioShack. I suppose the only reason I've EVER needed them is when I was short something simple in a project and needed it yesterday, and most of the time when that has happened they didn't have it anyway. What really killed it for me wasn't that they stopped adequately stocking DIY parts, most at least carry some, but was instead the awful customer service. They never knew where anything was, and even checking out something simple meant waiting for the completion of the cell phone contract in front of you, so buying a pack of resisters for a few bucks took a half hour.

Well, at least for those of us stuck with Comcast, I suppose the advertising crammed into the guide might play a role.

One key example I can come up with was the external folding keyboard for the Dell Axim X5 I bought as an "upgrade" from a Handspring Visor I was using for note taking in undergrad. The input delay was so bad that you could type several paragraphs before they would appear in the device. Totally destroyed the device for me, and I ended up going back to paper, as the Handspring was no longer in my possession. Not to focus on Dell, but my Inspiron 8000 had a similar problem, too. I got it as a desktop replacement when I started college, it had one of those early GeForce 2 GO chipsets, so it was capable of playing a game or two. Sadly, there was an odd latency to the internal keyboard that evaporated with an external, just bad enough to make FPS games essentially unplayable.

Me too. Almost all of it is "enhancement" related. Started about two months ago, steady rate, similar message. Every year or so this seems to happen. The last group to get through en masse were the random letter and misspelling ones. I'm somewhat surprised these are getting through, since they are not well disguised.

However, standard convention when buying toys for children of siblings is to buy something as obnoxiously loud and repetitive as possible. In which case, Tickle-me-Elmo and firecrackers would be appropriate. ;)

Absolutely! As long as you don't step on one, they are the best toys in the world.