There's a cross-platform port for duke3d. You don't need an emulator.

That depends. If I recall correctly, the port was originally being held up by legal issues surrounding the PhysX engine. Technically, the port could have been fairly simple.

What's interesting is that this angle of cloud computing has already been covered a couple years ago when RMS first raised these concerns. The answer is still the same: "cloud" does not necessarily mean "non-free."

I'd say probably opportunism. They come to him with donations, big ones. Then he goes back to them when relevant laws come up, to get their preferred stance. Then he gets more donations for his next campaign. It is odd, I will admit, that Big Content has that much stake in VT. But if he's on the committee, then it's not too shocking that they would seek him out.

Facebook was made by people still in college. I'm and sure it wasn't highly secure, and probably still isn't. But we'll never know will we?

I'm not an expert on the Android platform, but here's my take. Apps downloaded via the Android Market are tied to your Google account. That way, you can move between devices and not have to re-purchase any paid ones, or have to deal with the headaches of re-downloading freebies. So, in that way, you could say that Android has a backdoor to Google.

That said, you can install apps from non-Market sources by simply checking a box in the Settings. Install the app from any other avenue besides the Market, and Google can do naught. The issue about this app is that it was distributed through the Market, which is its own trusted source.

Is the buyer really going to come back and demand a refund when it doesn't work?

Probably not, but reputation must be worth something in criminal enterprises. Giving out a bunch of bogus products kills the word-of-mouth.

And what real benefit are these, anyway? Well, all the criminal has to do is sell off the account for less than the game costs up-front. They make pure profit and people willing to buy stolen games get a discount. Steam accounts could probably be quite lucrative, for instance.

Google collected broadcast data by accident, but as yet has not violated my privacy.

Says who? Google?

It all revolves around the question: how much do you trust Google? If one is operating on the assumptions that a) this isn't the end-all of Google's illicit data-mining, and b) that not all (if any) of it is accidental, there's a strong precedent to be set here. At least, in the public's hands, an independent audit is possible.

I'd say we should be more concerned about the crap private companies can pull (a problem we can't solve) with the crap that governments pull (a problem we can solve, in theory).

Everything in your list can be accomplished by unmanned exploration, except for the effects of microgravity and astronaut jobs. We'd generate even more (useful) jobs if we focused an R&D effort on replacing our archaic technology.

What do we gain from manned space flight that we wouldn't gain, in a far cheaper way, from unmanned missions?

Meh, not really. If something comes from both sides, saying it comes from "the left" is still a true statement. Just an incomplete picture.

Errr, refresh my memory, when did small town Texas become a left-wing haven?

Trying to make a partisan issue out of a nonpartisan one only muddies the water.

Sounds like a Trial of Grievance is due...

Beyond the engineering effort to make wider support happen, there's the question of what HTML5 will use as its VIDEO element. If nobody claims support for Theora, it won't wind up being the standard. So, it's not a bad thing, but this is MS trying to exert its influence over the debate.