I'm trying to, asshole. Why do you think I'm asking a question?

Toy trains are a much better long term investment. People have been trading them since Lionel started producing them, and today's manufacturers understand that limited editions can sell new for huge margins as long as they keep them truly limited, with documentation to back up how many are made, etc. That's the key. The only way the secondary sales market will survive is if the manufacturers get their piece of the action too. I don't see where Lego is really doing that, except for the crazy-expensive kits that are just for show in the stores.

It's a lot like the art market, where signed numbered prints are the only ones that have any value. There's nothing stopping artists from cranking out millions of prints, but they understand that the secondary market wants scarcity.

From what I understand of the process, astronomers measure the drop in light as a planet passes between a star and us to determine its size and distance from said star. So what happens in the case of an Earth like planet with an advanced civilization, or perhaps if there is a lot of volcanic activity? Wouldn't that alter the expected result, and screw up their calculations?

Isn't the reason Mars doesn't have much of an atmosphere because it doesn't have a magnetic field to deflect solar wind?

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast31jan_1/

"Today we have 'impossible' Star Trek tech in our pockets. "

We have a fairly believable simulation of star trek in our pockets. But communicators didn't need any infrastructure to span thousands of miles, even through solid rock. We've got a long way to go before that happens.

All you guys who are sitting in university labs, toiling away at yet another flexible, printable, super-cheap solar panel technology need to get out and actually bring something to market. I don't care who you work with (keep in mind British Petroleum is one of the largest producers of solar panels), how it's done, in fact none of the details impress me at this point. Just get something out the frickin' door! I'll celebrate when I can buy a roll of your solar panel material at the Home Depot (or at sparkfun.com) and spend the weekend screwing it to the side of my house. Until then, you don't have anything interesting. I've been hearing about these things for the last 20 years and we're still using expensive and fragile monocrystalline panels.

Oh, and you guys in the tech media: Stop promoting science experiments as the next big breakthrough. It's getting old. If they have something truly revolutionary it's news. Otherwise you're just wasting electricity.

Bump keys can be used to unlock just about any door, and yet crime statistics remain in line and have even been dropping in many parts of the world since the Internet has raised their profile in recent years.

This would be more interesting if someone were droning my neighborhood, but some of the hacks took days, not minutes to perform (and as others pointed out, affects individual receivers, not the entire system). Hardly a James Bond villain level of manipulation.

Fiat money grows exponentially. I'd rather it grow on trees. http://wiki.mises.org/wiki/Criticism_of_fractional_reserve_banking

We haven't increased the size of the House of Representatives since the 1930s, but the size of the population has grown 3X since then. The House is supposed to grow (and shrink) with population, yet it has not for nearly 100 years. Are we to believe we have the same level of representation as our great grandparents? Just try to get your Representative on the phone, for example. You might be able to reach him if you have a campaign check, but even that's doubtful these days.

Why is this relevant to the conversation? Because $435 million is a drop in the bucket for most companies, while you'll likely never see your Representative in person, let alone sit down with him/her and voice your opinion. The corporations don't care about who or which party gets elected, just so they remember who cut them the million dollar donation.

But imagine if there were 1000 or more Representatives. Now how easy would it be for corps to buy the Congress? Yes, a lot of the activity would just switch over to the Senate, but both houses have to agree to get legislation passed.

I bought an LCD projector a few years ago after my trusty old 25" studio monitor died. I considered DLP at the time, but they gave me a headache. Bulb prices quickly went from expensive (over $100) to dirt cheap (less than $40) for my Sony, so I have to think they all came down in price over the years.

But with more devices wanting HDMI inputs and wanting a bigger 1080p display this year I decided to upgrade to a 50" plasma. Didn't even consider a projector, mostly due to problems with black levels and washout in bright rooms. The difference is astounding, although I'm sure a lot of it is just due to evolutionary progress overall. However if I were going much larger than 55" I would consider a projection system. Many of them can be set up for RP if you have a box and mirror available.

Ham radio operators track down interference all the time. We also make a game of it, called foxhunting.

Cable companies also hunt down breaks in the cable using similar techniques.

Once these guys get the attention of the network operator, they'll be found quickly.

Little creature of love
With two arms and two legs
From a shop called Ikea
Now they cover the bed

We are creatures of love, we are creatures of love
We are creatures, creatures of love
We are creatures, creatures of love
From the toaster oven, a life is born
We are creatures of love, we are creatures of love

Crowdsourcing is the combination of your uncle borrowing money from your dad for his latest "hair-brained scheme" and a chain letter.

Exactly. Why not take all this effort to crowdsource when they could just throw their backing to Jolla's MeeGo project or Ubuntu tablet edition? I mean, more power to them, but I don't think re-inventing the wheel again is going to be all that productive.

But that 2-3% is invisible to the customer. The only time I've seen any effort to point that out is with the few-and-far between gas stations that offer a cash discount. The only problem with them is that they tend to have a higher price to begin with.