Looks like everybody is playing games to boost scores or readers. I wonder if that works for me , out damn spot.

This kind of stuff is done by everybody. I was forced to go to COMDEX once and marketing wanted something to draw people at the show and so somebody :) created a " matching tweak" because they looked in the competitors code and saw a cheat. I have seen some really good bench mark cheats and what I saw most at COMDEX was engineers upset because somebody else's cheat was so flagrant and over the top that it reflected poorly on the credibility of their cheating.
YMMV pretty much says it.

Something funny is right, but the people who are doing it are the only one who know the plan. I was wondering about what the heck is going on in web hosting and was going to post an article about that. I just got a new host for $10 a year and I see GoDaddy is doing a $1.99 special and is this companies consolidating by running others into the ground? There is a game of monopoly going on and I just hope I don't land on Boardwalk.
As far as the build out of bandwidth , there is much more going on there than meets the eye as it serves two purposes and one is bad and the other one is not good.

from TFS

You can get rice that cooks itself and you too! In soviet America , rice cooks you!

Couldn't have said it better. That was an interesting novella.

The vibration trick seems a bit of a stretch to be useful, but it does fall into a class of things like you said. There are so many holes in the technology created by accident or on purpose that it is a wonder that anything is secure. I was at a COMDEX once a long time ago and was chatting with an engineer ( a friend ) that worked for a modem company about my companies dial up customer service sytem and complaining that it hung up on customers some times. He asked me for my dial up number and I provided it. I assumed he was going to see if it hung up on him. He proceeded to enter a long string of characters and took control of our modem, went into configuration and changed a parameter that set a hang up delay on inactivity. It fixed the problem, but that was creepy. Obviously that was long ago before the internet, but I have never trusted any system since then unless it was open source and open hardware, and even then I am not sure because I have seen spooks at the chip fab and I am sure they weren't there to get coffee.
I watched some videos from DEFCON and became even more certain that we live in a silicon dioxide house and it is subject to fracture on impact, so it would be advisable to avoid conflict with projectiles.

I have used Red Hat for commercial systems and yes there are many good examples of community supported software that function. I know that progress has been made. My opinion is that the overarching problem can't be solved with the same approach.
I can't stay off the Kikuyu as it is invasive and is now taking over my lawn too.

There is no doubt that free software has done enormous good and I use it, support it, write it and publish it. I thank you for the reference to Loongson as I was unaware of this. My issue is with the future and it is all well and good to get to the castle gates with pitchforks but once you have taken the castle you must have a plan that maintains the ideals. There are other technologies that can help maintain personal freedom like 3D printing or personal energy systems. I suppose one advantage that free software has over other systems is that it hasn't created 17 trillion dollars in debt to achieve its position. IMHO the next step in personal freedom and choice comes from having resources to implement ideals. That is why I have begun implementing a structure that distributes technology that will ( if my physics is correct ) allow the personal manufacture of electronics, energy systems, 3D printers, biological maintenance systems, and all of the other parts that make a complete sustainable system of personal choice. It has taken me decades to get to this point and I have established a web site that will distribute the knowledge so that it can be applied and extended.
Sustainable Sytems ( 3 days old now )

The free software principle is sound but the implementation leaves something to be desired. The issue as I see it is one of resources and the ability effect change. Without a complete plan to deal with the pressures outside the scope of free software it is sand castles and it ignores the larger issues which are integral in maintaining any advance made. It is more a statement that describes a vector direction without the means to generate force toward the goal.
Stallman offers no solution to the core problem which is that any system must be able to be at least self supporting or generate more energy than it consumes to be effective and grow. The principle of shared technology works better if you start with the ability to collect and apply energy.
An army marches on its stomach and a general that calls you to battle without a plan to feed the troops is just asking you to bring what food you have and join them in a battle against opposition that is well provisioned and has first considered that they must eat if they are to continue to fight.
Car analogy: great map, great engine, no gas.

You had me at --> client side.

You are absolutely right. On top of this , in order to access a game, use a convenience, buy a rug, check their email, answer their phone, people always agree to a contract (TOS) they never read which allows them the right to do this. It is a process like spam, xss, hacking, cracking, and many other things that come with a complex anonymous communication network between people that includes sociopaths. People who live in glass fiber shouldn't throw stone packets.
It seems from a technical standpoint there is no real solution to this problem without abandoning the entire structure. It is a runaway technological process and like any chain reactions, it grows exponentially. Who ever knows whether a bot is really controlled by a human anymore, I can see that it is possible to fabricate an evolving system and if it had no centralized requirement, it could become more powerful than any company or nation. It is life imitating art and I know it is a common joke, but saying you welcome your new bot net overlord will not stop the Terminator from infiltrating the SCADA and ordering copies of itself using your credit card.

Didn't you see what happened to the Tardigrades that escaped from the ISS? They have formed a group called the Spacer's Guild. They are rad hard, can live in vacuum and can be their own space ship. Now that I think of it, that might be an interesting space station, very organic punk.

Just because they are toads doesn't mean other people aren't too. It is difficult to judge either behavior if it is done in secret. If the NSA records everything then they must be storing child porn on their computers and if there is one in their midst who is " wrong minded" then their computers should be confiscated and we need to search and see who had what access to information and how they used it. Think of the children.
If possession is the only measure, they are guilty and they need to prove that they were not having bad thoughts.
But then I read the barn this morning and it said "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others" and now I feel better. All is well that ends Orwell.

I am sure the fox will hire a chicken to guard the hen house.

You are correct, I was confused about a story I read here about Office on iPad. When I checked it seems there are far more options than even I was aware, like iWork, QuickOffice, DocsToGo and others.

It really -is- a story because it isn't monopolistic by design. I saw a show on public tv about stocks and the broker was saying how Microsoft was still in a good position because they had Office software that was completely inoperable in other platforms which forces you to buy Windows. That surprised me because they are planning Office on Apple, Android and Libre Office is usable as a replacement ( you see I didn't say compatible ). It seems that even brokers don't understand that Microsoft must eventually compete on a less slanted playfield in order to survive and I don't think they can do that without completely cleaning house ( beyond Ballmer ) and bringing in outside management from a company like Coke or Pepsi that understands a competitive market.