The judge's observation concerning the potential loss of choice for farmers and consumers is actually the more relevant issue. Even if the modifications are perfectly safe in every case, if the crop stands a strong chance of cross contaminating other farmer's fields Monsanto has proven themselves more than willing and capable of claiming ownership of any hybrids of their patented organisms.

So I have fewer problems with the GENETIC manipulations than I do the LEGAL manipulations.

That kind of demonstrates what the problem is. "Fake" chiropracty is...what? If you manipulate the back in any physical way then some would call that Chiropractic treatment, so even a light massage may count. Everyone says it is bogus because there are no studies, but if you can't do a study how can you say it ISN'T better than drugs or surgery? Back surgery doesn't have any double blind studies to prove it works either, but because they can point to scientific reasons for doing the procedure it is considered legitimate.
I would bet money that a decent massage would give more short term relief from pain than a placebo drug, and there a plenty of subjective follow-up studies that show people with "similar" back problems are "happier"(whatever that means) with the outcomes they get from Chiropractic care than "comparable" recipients of back surgery. Anyone who feels the need to say *citation needed* can just google chiropratic versus back surgery and you will find a bunch of articles... on chiropractic sites. But to be fair a lot of the people who say it is bunk are back surgeons so the bias cuts both ways.

Double blind studies compared to what exactly? It can't be compared to surgery, and drugs are generally not a treatment for a lot of things that involve the spine.

If you are talking about nut jobs that recommend chiropractic treatment of colds, asthma, etc. then I can see your point. But for non-specific lower back pain I'm not sure what you could study it against.

Linux predictions always depend on Microsoft bungling the response to a new threat. If MS had stuck with its plans to mothball XP Linux would be considerably more common on Netbooks and there would be more active interest from manufactures in support a Linux version for their machines the way the currently do for Windows. As it was MS did what they had to do to give customers a familiar Microsoft product to choose over Linux.

People will most often choose familiar products if they can, switching to something that is different but "just as good" ,or even better, isn't worth it to most people unless they are really unhappy with what they have.

The key is that Linux keeps creating more challenges for MS, forcing them to lower prices, increase performance and think of what the customers really want. Without the competitive threats Linux poses, Microsoft would normally charge more for bloated products that are upgraded when Microsoft WANTS you to upgrade. It's not their fault, that is what a complacent monopoly does. They should thank Linux, it has saved them from 2 or 3 really stupid moves.

Have you noticed how Linux is used as a club to bring Microsoft around in so many situations? Governments threaten to switch to Linux/a large discount offer from Microsoft appears. MS tries to kill XP sales, Linux notebooks appear/XP sales are extended and a leaner replacement for Vista gets fast tracked. If ARM finds some manufacturers who are willing to create and sell ARM based devices that are not too expensive and outperform comparable X86/64 devices I think the "no ARM version of Windows" would disappear.

X86 compatibility is holding everyone, including MS and Intel, back. Intel wanted to kill it with Itanium but the momentum was too much. I think Intel had an ulterior motive (too many x86 licensees to compete with them) but I think they still know they could do better, and in many ways the competition has if you just judge processor performance, price, and efficiency without regard to software base.

She knew she couldn't do what had to be done as the Governor so she resigned in order to put together a rag tag group of misfits with the skills necessary to save the world.

One Family, One helicopter, One Mission.

Coming this summer! The Palins Hunt in...

Die Nature Die!

A better example would be if you took a bunch of public domain audio recording from old wax tube recordings that had been cleaned up by audio engineers to remove hisses and pops. Can the audio engineers claim copyright on the cleaned up versions? I don't know the answer, but it is a closer analogy because a different performance of a public domain work clearly adds creative value. Does good lighting and color accuracy equal artistic merit?

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that the Comp Sci curriculum would include any of those things. I was just replying to the GP's assertion that

"Real computer science students...are smart enough to pick up Unix as they work through the CS course"

If they graduated then I would guess that would qualify them as "real" and neither of the people I refer to were smart enough to pick up fairly basic things (installing IIS is a few mouse clicks) much less smart enough to pick up Unix.

that they didn't really care so much about how fast people drive their cars once devices like this eliminate the income they got from speeding tickets.

The big key is that this device is dependent on a GPS. It would be easy to design a system that limits the speed of a car, but making it depend on a GPS means they will have records of distances and times travelled, as well as the roads used. This kind of information will allow them to seamlessly charge tolls, access charges and peak travel time disincentives. Speeding is small potatoes compared to those new sources of revenue.

I have worked with people who have a Master's in Comp Sci and can barely install IIS. I had to draw pictures to explain host headers. Installing Linux would give them a stroke.

I think the degree was from the University of Illinois for those who are curious, but I am not sure.

I also worked with someone who had a Bachelor's degree in Comp Sci from the University of Cincinnati who almost found DOS batch files that zipped up and password protected a directory full of files indistinguishable from magic.