You're attempting to split hairs, but you're not doing a good job.

Definitions for tank:

merriam-webster.com: an enclosed heavily armed and armored combat vehicle that moves on tracks

dictionary.reference.com: an armored, self-propelled combat vehicle, armed with cannon and machine guns and moving on a caterpillar tread.

thefreedictionary.com: An enclosed, heavily armored combat vehicle that is armed with cannon and machine guns and moves on continuous tracks.

The weaponry is part of the definition in all cases, otherwise it's just an armored vehicle. But all that still dodges the question of why the machine gun and cannon (and nuclear weapons) are not "arms" per the 2nd amendment. This is especially thorny for those who believe the main purpose of the 2nd is for the people to be a credible threat to the government.

I originally thought this way, but I read the following and it made me think there might be a point to it afterall: http://thepietythatliesbetween.blogspot.com/2013/02/assault-weapons-as-symbols.html

Basically: While "assault rifles" are usually functionally identical to hunting rifles they are symbols of something else, and symbols are very powerful things and have definite effects on us. Regulating something for "symbolic" reasons isn't necessarily a bad idea, although it might be legally suspect in some jurisdictions (like the entire US). It's a good read.

And what if he/she is European (or Asian, or South American, or pretty much anything but US Libertarian) and doesn't share your opinion as to the role of government?

That is one interpretation of the 2nd amendment, but by no means the only one. There is quite a spirited debate over what the intention of that was and whether it should apply to tanks, grenades, land mines and nuclear weapons just as much as it does to guns.

LOTRO sees a little bit of RP on the servers that encourage it. Much of it tends to revolve around the in-game music system, which is one of it's more unique features.

Because in most cases the "purchasing decider" is actually an over-worked network admin with a real job to do who desperately wishes they could spend 30-60 getting familiar with something.

I see at least one possible benefit to insects. Most food-borne illness (at least in US) comes from under-cooked meat or cross-contamination, which is basically just under-cooked meat that gets on your veggies. With the smaller mass of insects it should be much easier to make sure they are cooked completely.

That's kinda why the article focuses so much on methane hydrates. I don't like the environmental impact but as a petroleum reserve it's a massive game changer. Consider this from page 3:

"Estimates of the global supply of methane hydrate range from the equivalent of 100 times more than Americaâ(TM)s current annual energy consumption to 3 million times more."

There are a lot of different qualities one can look for in an energy storage device. Petroleum products have one of the highest energy densities that is very easy to extract (until we get Mr. Fusion from Back to the Future). In many cases losing the mass of the storage device when we can no longer get energy out of it is a good thing (any vehicle). Of course, converting that mass to pollution of some type is a bad thing.

Rechargability is also "good" in many cases, but not all. Different scenarios result in different priorities for what "good" is. Petroleum products do win some of those. I'd just like to see the environmental costs factored in better.

If you make any effort to include the externalities of petroleum production in your cost then renewables already win. From what I've seen including just the current annual healthcare costs incurred due to petroleum production tips the scales in favor of renewables.

Ignoring theses costs isn't going to make them go away either, despite many peoples valiant effort to do so.

I certainly hope people are taking that into account (as well as payment processing fees) when setting their targets. If they don't take that into account then they don't have much business sense and I wouldn't want to fund such people. I have seen projects with expense breakdowns showing they have factored that in.

I'm a bit disappointed in kickstarter over this as well. They're clearly doing quite well and really don't seem to be doing much to make their site better for either backers or starters.

My method is to click on the category at the bottom of the page (or click Discover at top and then the category) and then to click "see more popular projects" below the "Popular this week" section. That's the only way I know to see everything, but you still can't sort/filter in any way.

My impression is definitely that kickstarter itself is just a bunch of lazy bums sitting back while their clients are frequently risking everything for their big dream. From occasions when I read their blog and other communication it seems to me that they think way to much of themselves too. If possible I prefer to back at IndieGoGo because they don't seem to have quite the delusions of grandeur that KS has. I'm tempted to go straight through Paypal for projects that set up that option, but I'm not a big fan of them either.

The last update said they'll start shipping on March 28th. That's still the first quarter of the year so I don't think it's too big a stretch to call that early 2013.

If you check you'll note that on the original kickstarter (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ouya/ouya-a-new-kind-of-video-game-console) March 2013 was the estimated delivery date for physical consoles. I'm incredibly amazed that they're actually hitting that. I expect every kickstarter to deliver at least one quarter behind the estimated date and probably add another quarter each time they double their original goal.

If you're favorite kickstarter is farther behind than you would like I have good news for you: SimCity shipped on time!

The only song there I even recognize is Hey Jude, and it doesn't ever get stuck in my head.

I don't think any of those have the same power as TV show themes do. I can get anything from the Facts of Life to Thundercats to the Knight Rider theme stuck easier than anything else, as well as several Phineas and Ferb songs.

I'm not sure that even those can compete with the dark power unleashed by Friday's announcement of the remastered Duck Tales game. Odds are good that was an evil plot to study the effects of getting the same song stuck in millions of peoples heads at the same time.

Just about any resistance bands are workable. Grab any of the hundreds of options like this (first hit at walmart.com) http://www.walmart.com/ip/Gold-s-Gym-Long-Resistance-Tube/12167856

At an absolute minimum you can sit on it, grab the handles and stretch. I just loop the handles over the armrests on my chair and am quite capable of forgetting its there for months at a time.