Awesome... Totally Awesome!

Disagree. If you set up a lounge for legal drinking and you notice that there are a lot of people bringing illegal drugs into the place, and your place is set up in such a way that the drugs can be distributed in the same way and just as freely as the alcohol, then what you are doing falls under the category of "aiding and abetting". If it can be proven you have knowledge of the illegal doings and you have made no attempt to stop them or get the authorities involved to stop them, then you are at fault.

In addition to the Pirate Bay allowing the illegal drugs, they also named their lounge "The Drug Trading Lounge"

-- I'd smurf that in a heartbeat

They turned it into a reality TV show with all sorts of hidden cameras and microphones placed everywhere.

And while it's great that they've asked for Europeans volunteers, there would be a lot more drama if you threw one or two American 20-somethings into the mix.

-- So where do I sign up?

Performing any new activity creates stress, because the brain wants to follow its existing neural pathways to accomplish a set of behavior. This is where the phrase "you can't teach an old dog a new trick" expression comes from. After a short time of performing the repetitive behavior, as a way to overcome the stress, the brain will start to create new neural pathways which strengthen with additional repetition. This behavior is not unique to internet searches and it surprises me that it is news-worthy.

I've noticed since I've been on facebook that the number of emails I get per day has gone down. Facebook is very useful for sharing thoughts and information with friends and family, when the importance of someone seeing your message isn't a priority. If it's a friend or family member and the message is important I'll either use FB mail or regular email, though I feel regular email is more reliable and its more likely that someone will check their email before their FB page.

Though I find myself using regular email less and less, its still the best way to send/receive attachments as well as to get periodic notifications, newsletters, ads, etc.

For immediate communication and for short question/answer engagements, so typical in a work environment, IM works the best. But there's no gaurantee I'll be right there to get the message. The same goes for SMS messaging.

But if I really want to communicate with someone right away where I want confirmation of my message and the priority of the message is high... and call me old fashioned if you wish... I use the phone. The best thing about phone calls is that you get the message across, and you know the recipient receives the message if you are there talking to them face to face. Even though you might not get the response you need right away, you usually come away with getting a commitment to the response right away.

The ultimate recipe for P-791 defense.... the Lawn Chair mounted Weather Balloon Defense System.

2 Dozen helium filled weather balloons
1 lawn chair
1 car battery
1 room fan converted to run on battery power (navigation)
1 shotgun (descent control) (optional)
1 RPG
1 120 lb Afghani militant

--
"There is always an elegant solution. If you believe that, you will find it."

I doubt Afghani militants would have access to one... but I'd imagine a strong laser of some sort would be able to burn a hole through the hull.

--
Silly Rabbit, Trix are for prostitutes.

but until they create a COMFORTABLE set of glasses that can rest on my face, there's no fricken way I'm buying into any of it!

Would 10% of $200 million make you happy?

I always had the feeling I was being watched!

If you eat less foods with anti-oxidants, eat more junk foods, and stress yourself out to the max... all in turn creating more free-radicals... will you glow brighter?

-- Everything is, nothing is as it seems.

I've been teaching Eclipse Plug-in and RCP development to US Military and Defense organizations and contractors, as well as for the Australian government, for the past 3 years.

As long as the open source product can be proven as a secure technology, I don't see why the government wouldn't adopt it, especially if there are little to no licensing fees for its use.

If you fly frequently and participate in your preferred airlines frequent flier program, once you earn a certain number of mileage credits, you usually get a preferred status which allows you to go through (often-times) shorter lines with first-class and other preferred members. No need to shell out an extra $200. Also now that the majority of the population is aware of what needs to be done when going through airport security, I've found that even the regular lines move along somewhat quickly.
--
Sh!t happens. Then you wipe yourself.

When I pay my electric and gas bills, I pay based on the quantity that I use. But with my water bill on the other hand, I pay a flat fee for the first X gallons and then an additional fee for each y gallons I use over x.

My guess is that if ISPs become utilities they'll charge bandwidth like my water company. Average users get the flat rate, power users get increased rates. If I were a cable or FIOS company that provided media content in addition to internet access, this is how I would want my customers to be billed... especially considering that I'm losing money by having those large bandwidth users drop their content service as they can find the same thing on the internet at my expense.

Based on that I don't think I like the idea of ISPs becoming utility companies.

until they know enough to make tornados into thrill rides, it's of no interest to me, IMHO.