Copyright protection is automatic. You don't have to file for it. Anything you write that is an original work is protected automatically, even one-off comments on a technology news site.

Patents are where I see a potential for saving public domain. Many, perhaps most, Slashdot users here will disagree with me, but I don't think code should automatically qualify as speech, nor should most code enjoy copyright protection. Most code is more analogous to a machine than to literary text or visual art. Machines, when broken down to their lowest components, machines are devises that use energy to transform matter into different forms. Code is a construct that uses energy to transform data into other forms of data. Code can be art, like a painting or a sculpture, and it can be used to convey information and ideas, like a book or a play. But by and large, most code is written to do a job, like cellphone firmware, or to be a tool, like a web browser or a word processor. Code like this should not be copyrighted, but it should be patentable, just like the machines they are.

Here is where patent law has failed us. Software patent applications should, by law, include full source code or at least psudo-code. If you look up the patent information for any physical machine, you could follow those designs to reproduce that machine. Not so with software patents, which are notoriously vague.

Moreover, if a piece of software is protected under patent, it should not get the benefit of copyright protection, or vice-verse.

802.11a is not really a problem. It runs as fast as g out of the box, and the 5GHz band has about 6 times the bandwidth available in the 2.4GHz band. The industry needs to bite the bullet and jump to 5GHz support for new devices that need high throughput, and use 2.4GHz for slower devices that need range over throughput.

Except for RAM, the vast majority of PC users will never fully max out their machine. They won't even get close to what the CPU can do. Even 10 years ago when someone asked me what kind of PC they should buy, I would tell them to buy the oldest machine they can find with twice as much memory as they think they need -- because in my experience, lots of RAM contributes more to the longevity of a machine than loads of CPU.

I disagree in one respect - cache counts. From my experience, the main-line Intel CPUs typically have two to three years longer useful life than Intel's budget cripple-ware CPUs.

I think Vista's real problem was that MS let PC manufacturers slap it on underpowered hardware. I used to get Vista laptops in with 2GB of RAM and integrated video, but they came from the manufacturer with all of the Aero Glass glitzy features turned on. The users would complain constantly about how slow they were. I'd upgrade them to 4GB and turn off Aero, and they were suddenly very nice machines.

There are no transaction fees, either for you or for the businesses you patronize. If you want to support local businesses, use cash.

It is too simple. If everyone had solar panels the power companies would go broke, unless they jacked up their connection fees. But, that would unfairly impact people who can't afford to put solar panes on their roofs. It would be better if power companies bought the power from homeowners at wholesale costs during peak production hours and sold them power at normal retail prices when the sun is down. Net-metering, like the system you describe, is codified in many state's laws, including Hawaii, but I don't think it will be sustainable as solar panels become more common.

I'm guessing they use a saw. (Or some reasonable facsimile thereof)

Home ammunition production is a solved problem. Take your pick http://www.midwayusa.com/find?dimensionids=11521

"Don't have FiOS in your area yet" doesn't apply because Verizon halted FiOS expansion almost 4 years ago. If you can't get FiOS to your house now you likely never will get it. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2361919,00.asp

AT&T has virtually halted U-Verse expansion as well http://stopthecap.com/2012/02/08/at-atts-rural-broadband-solution-we-dont-have-one/

The future of high-bandwidth Internet access in America is not bright.

Not so. English is not so orderly.

conversely
känvrsl,knvrsl/
adverb
adverb: conversely

        1.
        introducing a statement or idea that reverses one that has just been made or referred to.
        "he would have preferred his wife not to work, although conversely he was also proud of what she did"

converse
verb
verb: converse; 3rd person present: converses; past tense: conversed; past participle: conversed; gerund or present participle: conversing
knvrs/

        1.
        engage in conversation.
        "he fell in beside her and they began to converse amicably"
        synonyms: talk, speak, chat, have a conversation, discourse, communicate; More
        informalchew the fat, jaw, visit, shoot the breeze;
        formalconfabulate
        "they conversed in low voices"

Oh, it's not going in that end, Mr. Lightbody.

This implies that we should be teaching boys and girls math, science, and language skills separately up until high-school. I have to wonder how many girls get discouraged from perusing STEM classes simply because they compare their early math performance to their male classmates and decide that they are no good at math. Similarly, how much better off would boys be if we taught and tested them separately in reading and writing so they would not compare themselves to their female classmates?

It is legal in Ohio, and there is case law supporting the legality.
http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/4511.27
http://www.mountvernonnews.com/local/12/02/03/passing-on-right-legal-in-some-situations

Generally, I suspect that the prohibition against passing on the right refers to passing other vehicles on two lane roads.

True story... a few months ago while leaving work I found a squirrel lying in the middle of the drive, next to a can of RedBull, stone dead. The squirrel was not crushed or show any outward signs of blunt force trauma. http://www.flickr.com/photos/trmoore/10271229984/

Because cable operators didn't have the guts to fight back. No, they just capitulated.