Whatever happened to the avid discussions concerning Vote Swapping and Instant Runoff Voting? I liked when those topics were on the forefront because they gave me more hope than any of the candidates for fixing the seemingly impenetrable wall of muffled cries between the citizens' desires and the ruling bodies.

I don't ever want to vote against. I want to vote for.

[Sad face here]

I know, right? I was trying to think like it was Jeopardy: - "Quik?" "Bosco?" "Ovaltine?" "SyrupSearch?"

I don't get the bashing of OnLive. I like the voyeuristic aspect of watching others play, which can be pretty awesome and funny at times.

I started on a 2.4 or 2.6 GHz P4 and it rendered pretty well with lags only between severe frame differences.

I also keep a look out for sales, and can pick up a game for under $5, like Assassin's Creed II, plenty of casual games, and Just Cause II (maybe 7.50 for the sale). I think I spent $10-15 on Borderlands GOTY.

I know I have maybe 3 years to play it if they survive that long, and it kind of irks me that there's no provision for mods or ever getting my save games out of the service. But I was surprised at how playable the service is, and how good it looks considering the streaming. I'd say for a 720p picture it's about 75% of the detail of a local render. I can put up with the occasional disco, lag, fuzz, timejumps, and digital audio crapping out because the tech really is neat and it brings a bunch of games to me that I never would have even thought to buy before perusing the catalog.

I agree that pricing any item close to retail is out of the question for leasing a game through this medium, because the cons outweigh the keen factor and convenience here.

Still, $10 for all you can play still seems like an awesome deal, but I never bit because I tend to play in bursts.
So I like the service and believe that it does have a place and can survive for a while, but I still play a bunch of stuff locally.

I'm still waiting to get the Bluetooth controller so I can test it out w/ Android tablets. It looks like a nice piece of gear, but it's $50 from what I remember.

Did Cory Doctorow sneak in to write this article?

Anyway, here's the more likely scenario:
(sorry I have to work, so no time to post a full set of paragraphs...)

I wake up to my BetchaCant (TM) alarm clock jabbing me in the small of my foot with three evenly-spaced syringes, and I momentarily wonder if I should think about regretting my Woot! Reborn! Again! (TM) impulse purchase. I try to get out of range of the needles, but it's no use, and I am forced to vacate the bed.

I slide bleary-eyed over to the sink and turn my UpSpurt (TM) faucet to face me and hit the "5 second" button for a delightful splash of tap water to head. Yum! They've obviously been improving the piquant chlorine aftertaste.

I then make my way to the kitchen and grab my latest Twinkie (TM) on the end of my rotating stockpile. This one should be just about cured to perfection after 15 years... It's just too bad I'll have to wait that long for the ones at the other end to get this good.

I try to find where I left my NyloSpandoGoretexdexnex (TM) girdle to compress my gut and create the artificial pecs that I know and love. There it is, left on the footstool of my original Aims (TM) lounge chair that I had ordered from Design for People who Aren't Sure (TM).

My implant buzzes behind my left eye socket to remind me of something--I have no idea what. I grab my glasses but since I forgot to recharge them, the blinking red light won't stop and threatens to trigger my epilepsy again. I coax the screen on for one last display before dying, and I understand that the task I have given myself is my daily reminder to order a replacement Twinkie (TM) for the end of the line. I clear the synthetic GM tobacco ashes from the table and, after waking my table up, look up the address of the convenience store next door. After an hour, I was able to navigate their miserably designed shop page and order a case. Bloody hell, shipping's gone up. Well, it should be here in about 3 or 4 days. I have enough to last until then.

Twinkies (TM).

I forgot what I was going to do next. Maybe head back to bed? Whatever--time to face this exciting day! But later. Or should I bathe? What time is it? Did I pay that bill? Where's my MultiPass? Maybe I should quit.

That's "sum-dum-MAHS."

XP will receive security updates until April 8, 2014.
Windows 7 until January 14, 2020.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/products/lifecycle

Why use XP? Think about the Enterprise, with hundreds or thousands of machines in different departments. Applications that have not been updated to work with later tech, such as JInitiator (requires Jedi hacking to work on x64), websites that may only work with IE 6 or 7, in-house batch files / scripts, compatibility with older servers, and so on.

Training isn't much where I'm at - people can barely report what OS they work on ("Do you see the word 'Start' at the lower-left, or a circle?") and most just clickity-click on whatever app they need to run. Outlook, Office, and IE are more like an OS to them.

Sometimes it is just as simple as plopping the new OS on, USMT, map the drives, and done. But in a varied environment it gets somewhat hairier, with infinite support calls. Better to wait either until the 3rd parties catch up or until you can implement workarounds and research fixes and alternatives.

SlashFiction is the next anticipated site launch regarding the untapped world of literature. Reviews, promos, specials... What? No, we like the name & we're sticking to it!

Are there any "can't miss" or useful apps / games / utilities that aren't available elsewhere on the net? I have a 2006 HTC Wizard (came with WM 5, XDA'd to 6.5) that was a sturdy little computer for years, now a backup phone. But I remember getting one customizing program or util that was only available on the market, as the author's site had vanished and archive.org was no help. So I'm wondering if any users can recommend any Good Things that we should archive for posterity.

"Yes, an electronic brain," said Frankie, "a simple one would suffice."

"A simple one!" wailed Arthur.

"Yeah," said Zaphod with a sudden evil grin, "you'd just have to program it to say 'What?' and 'I don't understand.' and 'Where's the tea?' --- who'd know the difference?"

"What?" cried Arthur, backing away still further.

"See what I mean?" said Zaphod and howled with pain because of something that Trillian did at that moment.

"I'd notice the difference," said Arthur.

"No you wouldn't," said Frankie mouse, "you'd be programmed not to."

[Thank you forever D. Adams.]

Furthering this line, it's too bad the Sanctuary TV show ran very weird with "The Adjuster" and IMO squandered a rich concept with pantomime plots and cardboard characters...

Here are a few more likely candidates for the use of such a super-weapon:

"The Accountant" in a 3-piece navy blue suit with black spats and shiny patent leather shoes. Gadget pens galore and a HUD in '50s style astro-man Ray-Ban prescription spectacles. Ultra-tech (TM) crime-fighting 10-key adding machine back at the office. Secret identity is a common unkempt thug.

"The Auditor," able to detect the finest discrepancies in figures, measurements, weights, language, or amounts. The detectives detecting.

"Coach." Woe to the "player" he calls off the field with his debilitating Ampli-Sonic (TM) whistle attached to a whiplash lanyard. Airjet track shoes let him run laps around evildoers and shout inspirational insults about their lack of motivation and worthiness to be on his field. Good Game!

Unfinished ideas- The Manager (or Super PHB), The PollTaker / SurveyMan, and The Activist.

I know, man, what's to rethink? Just swat 'em or shock 'em and be done with it, fer Crissakes.

Let's rethink the nature of mosquitos next. You think 'em and I'll smack 'um.

Thank you parent and GP both for the Stylish tips, and yes, I dress badly. I used the parent's style and added the header section from the GP. On my ancient laptop (TP 240x, 800 x 600, running Zenwalk) which I am perfectly fine with most days, forcibly disabling the floaters allows me to read an entire line of a comment without horizontal scrolling. I mean, it's bad enough that I have to scroll on Woot!, but ./?

Plus, screen space was down by 1/6 on the left and 1/5 at the top, with some added greyspace margins. Plus, as others have noted and also a problem for me with Slash 2.0, the rude "3-line cover-up" by the header for every page-down is gone. Now I just need to install Stylish and the custom style on all the other FF installations at home and work. 5 copies? Six? Can't forget the VMs...

I'm not a big fan of floaters. They feel invasive, and if I wanted to use search or login, etc. I would only need to hit [home] and click. There's no convenience to a bar constantly passively asking "Would you like to search? How about logging in? Are you sure you don't want to search? Well, I'll just sit here and block some text if you change your mind..."

I was going to get ugly in this paragraph, asking for YTMND backgrounds, animated cursors and Flash menus, but I won't stoop that low. Nope.

I do not mind changes, nor am I a-feared of the new. It does get irritating to have to take countermeasures to retain the same level of usability / readability that I had yesterday, and wonder if it will break in the future... If good intentions were hand grenades, we could ride our pink ponies into the sunset... But they're not.

I shall latch on to your groundbreaking post and handily suggest:

Danny Dunn - That one with the flying robot camera dragonfly, just wow.

Adam Strange - Interdimensional Man About Space, Scientist from Earth--he even comes back to earth every now and again.

And for real people, but larger than life, check out Jack Horkheimer, R.I.P., an amazing and enthusiastic unapologetic total nerd who definitely found his niche.

All of Andrej Bauer's SOMADS had achieved sentience and distinct personality profiles 10 years before this at the SAME UNIVERSITY. They were fed a steady diet of Usenet and Objectivist and Existential philosophy, and as such were able to interact not only with humans, but each other, leading to some elucidating exchanges that could not help but further the art and science of artificial intelligence design.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/andrej/www/quadratic.html

http://randomfoo.net/junk/200402/xalton.forum2000.org/matrix/forum_hof_questions.html