I agree, it seems to me that if NASA quite whining about tiny budgets and actually started working on cutting edge projects, a la Apollo, they might drum up some public and maybe some private enthusiasm and thus some more cash.

Why are they just just rehashing the same missions with different names and vehicles?

I normally don't like Dell products, but they do make a nice slim no frills keyboard with almost all of the features you desire. In fact, I'm using one of them right now.
http://www.npkdesign.com/projects/HomeOffice/Dell/Dell_keyboard_1.jpg

Does any one have any insight on the legality of using the file sharing network itself to catch the "offenders"

To me it seems like a type of entrapment, which is not a valid way for law enforcement to gather evidence. I realize that the user did put the file out there in a share folder, but there is no evidence of distributing except to MediaSentry, who then informs their client of the offense.

perhaps my real question here is, how can the RIAA grant selected immunity to MediaSentry to "pirate" their product? Also, how can the file downloaded by MediaSentry be considered an illegal share if permission was granted to them to gather it by any means?

As a fellow Minnesotan, balmy 50 degree days in the spring make the -50 degree days in the winter worth it.

With little formal CS education, I rely a lot on my supply of books such as PERL in a nutshell. Although my favorite reference books are my various Math books from college, they have been extra helpful out side of classes.

My assumption would be that there are points built into the cable where you can exchange out bad segments for new segments.

And then whom ever owns the copy right to Gilligan's Island will misread the headline and sue them for using the under sea cable to download episodes of Gilligan's Island

I would have to agree, I hate the way they always seem to appear right where I need to interact with the program I am using. Or if you accidentally move your mouse over it, they stay on screen for ever thinking you are actually paying attention to them.

I think if I remember right Bliz reverts to a more traditional download source if the P2P is not working for some reason, but it takes for ever.

Your rationalization of COBOL being Islam are incorrect. Islam is actually the youngest of the three major Abrahamic religions, the others being Judaism and Christianity. In fact, those three religions act like a Russian nesting doll, each containing the fundamentals of the previous iterations and adding new ideas. So the statement that COBOL has been around a long time would imply that it would be Judaism instead of Islam. To be fair though, I don't know nearly enough about COBOL to make a more accurate pick.

I agree that there is nothing inherently evil about silverlight, its really nothing but a competitor to flash. The only thing I would be concerned about is that MS pressures developers into using silverlight and then cripples its use on non MS platforms once it gains decent market share.