In this case, I personally believe that she was discriminated against by the jury, because she was a Native American. She was tried many many miles from where she lived and worked, and did not have a jury of her peers.

1. She wasn't "convicted" of anything; this wasn't a criminal case. She was found liable for copyright infringement by making copies through downloading, thus violating the record companies' exclusive reproduction rights.
2. She was also sued for "distributing" and "making available for distributing", but the judge threw out the "making available for distributing" claim, and there was no evidence offered of the "distributing" claim.

So yes, the only thing she was found liable for was downloading.

1. Capitol is but one of the plaintiffs.
2. The RIAA was in fact running the case, with the aid of the record company plaintiffs.
3. Capitol is a record company, not a music publisher.
4. The case was about the recordings of several different companies.

She was sued for downloading, distributing, and making available for distribution.

1. No evidence of distribution was ever offered.

2. The court held that "making available for distribution" is not actionable.

3. So the only thing for which she was found liable was downloading.

IS this site referenced even from NASA's JPL? I don't think so. It's got a friggin' hostgator.com DNS. NASA doesn't use hostgator, do they? You've all been duped

This is complete and utter crap. The notion that we'll be completely self sufficient is nothing but a pipe dream. Particularly the part about it happening by 2017 - a mere 4 years away. Do these idiots think all auto manufacturers can retool all cars to run on shale gas? That's a completely different set of complex hydrocarbons than what makes gasoline. More over, as the Oil Drum points out, the energy return on energy invested in shale gas is very poor. Furthermore, the amount of waste water generated and fresh water needed is staggering and we'll have a massive ground-water pollution problem to deal with. Getting the shale gas is only profitable when the price is high. If shale gas drilling goes wild and everybody does it, like the good capitalists Americans are, then the price goes down and it ain't worth spit any more. Also, if production of shale gas goes high, then middle eastern oil prices drop, making that an attractive option, thereby causing the price of shale oil to drop. The idiots dreaming this garbage up are stuck in microeconomics. The world doesn't work like that, and the self-sufficiency argument is thrown out the window when exposed to the light of day of macroeconomics and globalization.

As an American citizen living in South Korea I'm amazed sometimes at the level of education these people force on their young. It's insane. And it doesn't seem to produce smarter people. This article is proof of that. The MPG tests are done by the car companies - by following the EPA guidelines. Apparently the Korean engineers couldn't figure out the guidelines and do the tests correctly. I see this kind of thing everyday here - a million book smart people that can recite facts but can't solve a problem to save their ass. How many rocket launch attempts have they failed and still can't get a satellite up? Whatever you do, America, don't follow Korea's example on education.

As a guy who took a few wrong turns in his career (software engineer -> software sales -> computer/math teacher) I'm inspired by all the older folks still out there making money and making good software. I'm looking forward to getting back into programming and design. I've been doing a boatload of new stuff, mostly Java/Android and am hoping to get hired by a company who wants someone with skills regardless of their age. I'm 52 now (but look 35 and could kick the crap out of a lot of 20-somethings) It's really good to see the older software folks. I hope finding a hiring manager who appreciates older folks is just as easy.

...and, of course, Tim Allen easily simulated Shatner's Kirk. No way could he have pulled off Stewart's Picard.

He'd have had an easier time pulling off Mulgrew's Janeway than Picard, for that matter... :-/

borrowing a book is not a good analogy. They sold a movie viewing, to people who otherwise would not have viewed it without the subtitles

They didn't charge more for the subtitled movie, but the movie was made available to more viewers because of the subtitling. Did they make more money from the movie because it was shown to people who otherwise would not have watched it without subtitles? Most likely they made money.

I would never say it's too late to learn something new. I'm 52 and taught myself Android programming and now have several app out and my resume is getting lots of attention. I might add that I hadn't programmed professionally for several years in between the Android apps and my previous programming job. Computers are all about learning and staying current. Embrace the madness.

Thanks to all for the comments, both the serious and helpful ones and the fun ones. I think I have all the data I need - America's telecom systems are just as jacked up as they were when I left (sigh).

Did that. Had it configured. But my Samsung Galaxy was still sending packets to Korea