Will we have to tip the robot, and if so, how? Does it accept batteries?

Actually, 137% of Americans believe the total percentage of Americans in America is 300%, not 100%.

A training platform with e-learning, collaboration, student management and virtual community tools. Its first version came out in 1998. Wonder if they'll go back in time and sue us.

Let me see, here's the list of stuf gimp is still missing: Native CMYK work and output - crucial for print ability to add spot channels (again, for print - used for special dyes and lamination) native 16 bit per channel support - crucial fro digital imaging and some esoteric tasks Clipping layers - use one layer to mask another vector masks on raster layers Layer groups - introduced in latest beta Layer effects - shadow, glow, storke - that change in real time according to layer data vector layers (not paths - layers with vector data filled with color/pattern/gradient) adjustment layers - layers that do non-destructive editing smart objects - add external files as layers, scale them while keeping the original data single, do-it-all transform tool strong text tools (being addressed currently in gimp) automatic layer boundary management that's just off the top of my head, and I'm not even talking about interface, just functionality! I know both gimp and photoshop inside and out, know where every command is on both - Photoshop is so much ahead of Gimp it's absurd to even discuss both in the same article. Comparing Gimp and PS on simple tasks such as overlaying a couple of images is like taking a Lamborghini Gallardo out to the local corner store and back at 25mph and then claiming it performs just as well as your used Toyota Yaris.

I mean, it's like totally unfair that PC manufacturers pulled the rug from under the typewriter business. I propose a tax on... let's see... yes! deodorants! and, uhhm, pipe wrenches! to save the typewriter business. And the monk scribes that used to copy books before that horrid man Gutenberg took their jobs away, they deserve some recompense. Let's tax... exotic pets.

and witnessed the experiment myself! If you don't believe me, just ask my good friend Chiron the centaur. He saw it too.

Large cast of characters with no single protagonist, non linear storytelling, several parallel story lines which cross in interesting ways - it was all there in Pulp fiction. And it's not like pulp fiction was unique in any of this - multiple storylines exist in almost every Robert Altman film, and non-linear storytelling with flashbacks goes at least as far back as 1941 and Citizen Kane. And that's just in film! In literature these things had been done literally centuries ago.

That's only relevant in short stories. Novels are different and are always more complex.

Okay, so it's rocket powered, so what? ?Rockets are not the best type of engines for atmospheric flight. Consider the Rocket pack's 30 seconds of flight time vs. the jet pack's half hour. Here's the relevant sound bite: "The planes carry enough fuel for a total of two minutes of thrust. So, once real racing begins, the winning pilot will likely be the one who most effectively manages the plane's energy under such constraints". Oh, how exhilarating! And don't forget they don't actually race each other - that would be too unsafe. Each racer has its own virtual track. Forget about Nascar-style collisions! I like space technology and airplanes, but this is just pathetic.

And the Blue Windshield of Death will actually cause your death.

There are no aliens in "Foundation". None at all. Just humans. Emerich got a case of the me-too's, that's all.

What FOSS tools should I use for this?

Google's post states that the target of most of the hacking they intercepted are chinese dissidents and human rights activist. Corporate espionage is bad, yes, my heart goes to all those executives whose companies will lose $$$s, but there are more important issues at stake, the lives and freedoms of people who want to be free.

DRM is a copy-protection scheme, which is only natural when you are attempting to sell anything that can be easily duplicated. But DRM is a technology designed to enforce a legal concept. Currently, it is used to enforce the idea of "license to read". But it doesn't have to! DRM can be used even when the rights state that the digital copy is owned by the reader. If there is some legal problem with this, the law can be changed. But it has nothing to do with DRM itself. I believe DRM should allow one to transfer their digital copy (of anything), free of charge, to other people, for a limited period of time (loaning) or indefinitely (selling or giving away). DRM should also be compatible across all vendors and the DRM scheme should be taken out of vendors and into the hands of an independent body of some sort. Once such a scheme is in place, I will happily buy DRM'd books.

I'm with the people who don't think DRM is necessarily evil. Remember: Lulu is a *print-on-demand* outfit. You want a non-DRM'd version of a book? buy the print version and do whatever you want with it. I don't see why we should force writers to give their work in a format that can be duplicated too easily. If you write technical manuals, software guides, that sort of thing... you're in a market where piracy is very, very strong, to the point you may never make any money on your book, while it may be pirated by thousands or tens of thousands of users. Just look a the book section on Pirate Bay. Yes, I would have preferred if there was some global DRM scheme which was vendor-agnostic and internationally maintained by some non-affiliated organization, so we'd have some assurances our DRM'd media isn't going to just go away one day. But all the arguments I hear against DRM are about the specific implementation, not the idea in general. The idea is... well... necessary if you want people to bother writing professionally.