We'd been warned to skip the first season, so we started with the start of season 2, and quickly understood why, since it seemed like they were scrapping whatever old storylines they had and started over. But we couldn't stomach more than 4 or 5 episodes. We might give it another chance at some point.

Honestly, Season 1 of TNG was nearly as painful, but it had a few terrific actors (Stewart, Spiner, and Burton) that kept it afloat. B5 (or what we saw of it) didn't even have that.

There's a big difference between a company fighting back by making the hacked item obsolete, and the company claiming that what you did is illegal and going after you in court. Companies are welcome to do whatever they want to try and design and market their products in such a way that they can only be used in the way the company wishes - the government doing it for them is not cool.

I'm not necessarily in the market for a "netbook," but I'm very very much in the market for a touchscreen/tablet Mac. I have a friend with a tablet PC and I would LOVE the freedom to switch between typing, writing, and drawing at will. I've been wanting that for a very long time. I've definitely considered saving up the extra $1000 for a ModBook, but I'd prefer a solution straight from Apple. Though, it looks like the modbooks have gotten a little bit cheaper than last time I looked...

Ok, you keep telling yourself that none of the people you buy for think that there is any difference at all between receiving a gift card or receiving cash, just because that's how you feel. Don't bother to ask them their preferences, and if you do, be sure to dismiss them quickly and easily. Remember, gift-giving is all about the giver.

How on earth would that help this problem?? Paramount losing the copyright on TOS would have absolutely no impact whatsoever on their ability to create a new star trek series. Whoever owns the copyright on, say, Starsky & Hutch losing it would not have prevented the S&H movie being made - in fact, it just would have made it EVEN EASIER for any studio to grab it, without paying anyone a licensing fee!

A copyright ending does not mean that the original author/owner can no longer create things based on the original material - it just means that when other people made derivative stuff, they don't have to pay that person. It would make it easier to rehash old ideas, not harder.

Given how difficult it seemed to be to even get into Starfleet Academy when Wesley was trying to get in, it would be a show about the four or five most brilliant teenagers in the entire universe and that's it.

Seriously, on rewatching TNG, it seems completely impossible that hundreds of Enterprise crewmembers made it through the Academy when it takes Wesley several tries to get in, and at one point seems to be competing with other child prodigies for one spot.

But assuming they have no problem throwing out that bit of bad writing, I think that would be a really cool show.

I disagree. In the past couple of years, my husband and I have been Netflixing all of TNG, as well as BSG (though we're caught up now) and, for a couple weeks, Babylon 5. We agree that while TNG was a very good show once it hit its stride in season 3, a bit more continuity would have made it really great. In fact, we're noticing the bits of continuity that we never noticed when it was on and we were in jr high (like Worf's several-season dealing-with-the-empire arc), and that alone is making the series even better for us. We love BSG for its serialness, and Babylon 5 we appreciated the serial nature but couldn't get past how bad each individual episode was.

And there is definitely a happy medium to be found between "cliffhanger at the end of every episode" and "everything tied up with a neat little bow." To leave sci-fi, Scrubs strikes this balance very nicely. There are a lot of multi-episode arcs (often found in the subplots), and continuity in general is something that happens consistently rather than once a season, but the actual main plot line of each episode is almost always resolved at the end. You get actual character development over time, unlike many traditional sitcoms, but you can also watch a single episode and be satisfied at the end.

why give somebody the equivalent of cash that can only be used at one store and which becomes worthless if that store declares bankruptcy, when you could just as easily give them cash, or a money order, or a check, or any number of other instruments that could be redeemed anywhere.

Maybe because they'd prefer to get a gift card? When I get cash, I feel like I need to put it in savings, use it responsibly, etc etc. A gift card to a restaurant or store I like to buy fun stuff in is permission to have fun with it. If you're giving them a gift with the intention of them having fun, a gift card says that clearly. Of course, not everyone feels the same way I do, but part of the point of giving one gift over another is knowing which one the receiver would like most to receive, rather than just which one you'd rather give...

Mark Twain was born in Missouri - what other steps did he need to take to become a citizen?

Exactly which part of my post are you calling bollocks and think you're arguing against?

And when you're pressed for time and stop at that fast food place, it's somehow faster and more convenient to grab a burger over a grilled chicken sandwich? Soda over water or unsweetened tea? Believe it or not, most fast food places have plenty of healthy offerings these days. I'm not saying that absolutely no willpower or thought is involved whatsoever, but claiming that it's not 100% under your control or that it takes some kind of special amount of discipline to eat a generally-healthy diet is just making excuses for poor choices. It takes discipline to follow a strict diet, yes, but a healthy diet doesn't have to be strict. It just has to involve making good choices more often than bad ones.

"Diet" is not the same thing as "going on a diet." "Diet" is everything you eat, and it can definitely do more than make you thin. There are many ways of eating that will make you healthier but have no effect on your weight, because there are many very healthy foods that are also high in calories.

Frankly there is only so much of your 'diet' you can control without a lot of discipline.

What? Why, is someone else shoving food down your throat? If you are an adult, you have 100% control over your diet and whether or not it is healthy. "A lot of discipline" my ass - if you are choosing to not eat healthily, that's completely up to you. It doesn't take any "discipline" to not eat fast food more than once a week, or to buy lots of fruits and veggies and no chips when you go to the store. Eating healthily doesn't mean restricting your calories and counting every gram of fat and fiber perfectly - it just means choosing good things more often than bad things, and it's 100% under your control.

Yes, exercise is very important. But all the exercise in the world won't lower your cholesterol if you're eating tons of cheese and hamburger and no fiber. You need both sides of the equation, and opening your post with a claim that diet is less under your control and requires more discipline than exercise is just silly. If anything, getting out and doing the exercise requires more discipline - you've got to buy food no matter what. You don't have to be reminded to go do that, you just run out of food and have to buy some. Once you're there, you make the decision to buy healthy food or not-healthy food. Exercise, you actually have to remember to set aside the time to do it - but that's still 100% under your control.

I agree with this. I just recently got an HDTV, and I'm excited to get the cable to hook my laptop up to it so I can finally watch the TV shows I download on a nice screen while sitting on my couch. I watch my favorite shows broadcast when I can, but the internet sure is a nice backup so that my schedule doesn't have to be a complete slave to a few shows in the evening.

Most stations are doubling (or more) the power of their digital signal once they drop the analog signal - but of course, thanks to Congress, in many places that won't happen for a while. But once it does this should at least be less of a problem for most people. I can't get digital CBS right now, despite living right within the Chicago city limits. They admit right on their webpage that most people won't be able to get it without an outdoor antenna til June.