Imagine GTA with hundreds of players per map, divided into gangs.

Such a thing exists: APB. It flopped at launch and was acquired by another MMORPG company with an eye towards re-launching as a freemium game.

Thanks for pointing out that comment. As I thought, it points to Lvl3 being disingenuous and attempting to exploit NetNeut proponents to do their dirty work.

Precisely. All the Network Neutrality pushers are being played for suckers by Level 3. It's dirty pool on their part -- they're trying to get a better price in a market that was previously covered by "gentlemen's agreements" between ISPs and are attempting to incite a NetNeut flashmob in order to get their pricing.

Penny Arcade coined a term for this: bullshot.

Still as relevant today as it was in 2005.

I have used it extensively with a geographically disperse group of friends and I, at least, will be sad to see it go. It was superior to IM, IRC, etc., in one single respect:

It allowed for full-historied asynchronous conversations.

The core functionality was akin to IM, but with the capability to drop in and out at will. We would take turns starting the Wave of the day and encapsulate a rolling "conversation" each day, with folks contributing jokes, interesting links, YouTube videos, etc., at their leisure, and (here's the best part) everyone could get caught up immediately simply by reading through the history.

I would not have connected with these friends in the same way had we simply had a group IM room, or an IRC channel, or a forum. Forum posts feel too "heavy" for the transient nature of many of the observations we had, while IMs are too easy to misplace and take out of chronological order. Wave's threading alleviated the latter and the former.

What really made it hard, though, was the lack of a coherent export process. There were some Waves we wanted to save for posterity's sake but, until very recently, it's been a nightmare to get the data out.

*shrug* I know it wasn't for everyone, but my friends and I will surely miss it.

Steamworks is coming to the PS3, as per VALVe themselves, so there's hope. And Portal 2 will be playable across platforms, meaning you can play on your PS3 and then fire it up on your PC or Mac and start right where you left off.

Professor: "I'm sorry, Fry, but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all."

Fry: "Oh. What's it called now?"

Professor: "Urectum. Here, let me locate it for you."

It's from a .au site -- perhaps "glacial" means "arctic" or "frigid" in Native Aussie English?

Just a guess.

Technically, since Harry Reid DID say precisely that after Grayson entered Congress, your statement is true.

To wit:

"Instead of joining us on the right side of history, all the Republicans can come up with is, 'slow down, stop everything, let's start over.' If you think you've heard these same excuses before, you're right," Reid said Monday. "When this country belatedly recognized the wrongs of slavery, there were those who dug in their heels and said 'slow down, it's too early, things aren't bad enough.'"

He continued: "When women spoke up for the right to speak up, they wanted to vote, some insisted they simply, slow down, there will be a better day to do that, today isn't quite right.

"When this body was on the verge of guaranteeing equal civil rights to everyone regardless of the color of their skin, some senators resorted to the same filibuster threats that we hear today."

Ahhh, but the habitable planets in said big place are rather few in number and thus all the more valuable.

SPOILERS FOR THOSE THAT HAVEN'T READ STEPHENSON'S "ANATHEM"

I'm surprised no one has brought up Neal Stephenson's "Anathem" yet. True, the Geometers vs. Arbreans is (initially) a space-based weapons platform vs. ground-based targets affair, but there's a ton of discussion of orbits, etc. that make for very interesting (and compelling) reading.

Forgive me, El Guapo. I know that I, Jefe, do not have your superior intellect and education. But could it be that once again, you are angry at something else, and are looking to take it out on me?

Uhh, and the Pre is sold by Sprint, thus nuking your point (from orbit).

Saw it tonight, enjoyed it thoroughly, although I don't remember there being quite as much Junior Doctor Manhattan in the comic book. Seemed like the rest of the audience thought the excess of electric blue ding-a-lings was a bit unseemly/disquieting.

I recall someone intoning somewhere up behind me "Unlimited power over all the matter in the universe and he can't even spring for some boxer briefs?"