That could be. Being long past draft age, I don't pay those aspects much attention. But the last time I heard of someone actually registering was when the draft was still active.

At present, Bing's map function is ***MUCH*** faster than Google's, tho it uses older and often-foggier sat imagery. Google search has become so largely-useless that anyone who can produce better results (and return to respecting "exact search" including punctuation) has an opportunity here.

I think we actually had fewer crap results back when they weren't trying to eliminate spam results at all. Now the crap is evidently custom-tailored to take advantage of Google.

Yellow pages was not only paid advertisements, but far too expensive for any but the most well-heeled of pranksters. That 2x2 ad in a major market cost around $1200/month, last I asked. A one-line bolded listing was $200/mo.

Of course there were free yellow-pages clone directories, but you get what you pay for in print, too. Mainly, it was a waste of air to get the listing, because apparently no one troubles to consult these third party directories in the first place.

They're still worth the investment under certain circumstances.

The first one is the obvious one. The onboard sound fails or there is a problem with it. In my case I had to buy a cheap card since for some reason, the onboard sound wasn't compatible with Windows. It would play sound, but the line-input and the mic-inputs wouldn't work at all. At least under Windows. Under Ubuntu it worked fine, but the drivers from the manufacturer's website were rejected by Windows and the built-in ones only ran the sound output to the speakers.

Since I needed it to all work (was using a chat program when I was playing WoW), I had to buy an inexpensive sound card and disable the onboard to fix the problem.

The second one is also obvious. If you're doing something with audio on a professional level. Things like mixing or sound processing.

The third is a little less obvious and one of the reason that I want a high-end card. Since I don't buy Cable Television, I have a media-PC running things. It's the hub for Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, as well as my Blu-Ray/DVD player. Since it's the hub of my multimedia system, I want it to run through some decent speakers and get reasonable sound. Since I'm in the IT industry, I can get a set of 7.1 speakers and a Creative Labs card for less than I could get a decent surround system at Walmart, Target or Best Buy.

"Selective Service had to know where to get young men should the draft ever get reinstated. And yes, female US citizens are not subject to this at all."

I don't know a single young man who has ever registered, let alone reported their current whereabouts. Presumably it's not strongly enforced (if at all) so long as there are plenty of volunteers.

As to part two of the quote, I'll believe the goal is equality (rather than just power) when the feminazis start agitating for gender equality in the draft (when and if it's ever reinstated).

Actually, I started off generally believing in GW and AGW, but the evidence presented for AGW (not to mention GW) has itself changed my mind.

It doesn't help your case that the word "denier" is used exactly as is the word "heretic".

That was exactly my thought. If his work is used to influence public policy, then everything related to his work should be public, including any relevant emails.

"I don't claim Obama is not an American. I'm just saying that the White House, for reasons of its own, has put up a faked document."

That's pretty much my view. I don't know one way or the other what his legal status is, tho I know of no reason to disbelieve the Hawaii statement of information accuracy. What we do have is an image that was unquestionably altered (as anyone with experience editing compressed or layered images could instantly see), rather than a pristine copy. I lost interest after that and if anything else came to light, it's missed me.

And the one big reason it matters is because you can't prosecute a non-citizen for treason, in the event.

As to the rest of this thread, looks like you've encountered the slashdot equivalent of the UFF. :(

The trouble is, we may in the future discover that the sequenced DNA does not suffice. Or that there's an error. If we don't have reference material, we can't fix any such errors, or even discover them in the first place.

This is kinda like deciding a project is no longer needed, so instead of archiving it, you compile one last binary, then destroy all the source code.

I wonder if any of the milder diseases we see are actually attenuated or mutated smallpox, still in the wild.

Well, I've got my smallpox vax scar... nowadays that's how you ID an old fogie!

Considering all the other stuff Dubai has built, how does this mall rate more than a passing mention?

Perhaps more to the point,

http://apps.microsoft.com/wind...

tells us to "Get Windows 8.1 to run this app"

Grace Hopper?

That's an interesting insight. I suppose the logic is that you don't want to plug it into the wall to prove it's a working device, because OMG that might utilize the higher current to set off a bomb. (I see no reason why internal batteries couldn't do the same job, with a lot more control at that, but, TSA logic.)

I wonder how they'd respond to my laptop, which is old enough that the battery is entirely dead, and it's not worth spending $150 to replace a battery in a laptop now worth about $50. It works fine when plugged into the wall, and not at all otherwise. (When I do drag it around, I also take an extension cord.)

Thanks to the plea bargain system, the conviction rate already hovers in the 96% range, at least for the jurisdictions I know about (Los Angeles County for one).