I'll second this suggestion. I've been using Gog for a few months now and have had an excellent experience.

I suppose you've not heard of the phrase 'the living bible'? It was annoyingly shoved in my face, while I was growing up. I attended lutheran, methodist, presbyterian, church of christ, and baptist churches where I experienced the aforesaid language used. I'd agree that catholics absolutely do not espouse what I said. At least, at the few of their churches I've been to. I have a few catholic friends who have suggested the possiblity of such, but, I somehow doubt that their leaders would encourage that type of thought.

Too, I haven't been to a church in over 10 years, and I am no longer interested in christianity, so I can't really claim to know what's going on these days. I was, however, raised in a christian environment till I was about 19. And I actually believed it, too.

It's my experience that each church is a microreligion in and of itself, with its own rituals and celebrations. In my later teenage years several friends and I attended a few dozen local churches of vairous denominations, to better understand christianity. The fundamentals (Jesus, sins, the priest having the divine power, martyrdom) remains the same, but how they control you is up to their interpretation. And I intend no offense in saying this. I view each religion as a guideline-- as a path to walk in life with complete with guard rails and construction signs. Most churches weren't arrogant enough to say that their path was the only right one. They would just quote the familiar 'Jesus is the only way to heaven,' until you were black and blue with it. If you asked them to talk about the legitimacy of the bible, which, when I was growing up, was aflame with revelations that the books weren't written for some 70-200 years after their apparent writer's death, they would, overwhelmingly, state that the holy spirit moved the writers of the new testament to write the books. That the bible, as it is today, is perfect, and as it was intended. That despite many cultural, environmental, governmental, etc. changes, that the rules still applied-- if in a different manner of their choice. Those that accepted that it may be flawed, and even taught its other translations, still found ways to encompass the lessons as they felt was right. And this was the case in most churches that I visited.

And, to bring back my original point-- after studying these different christian denominations for years, I found it all to be highly convenient.

Actually, many Christians are taught that the bible is a living thing, that changes and adopts to culture and society so as to always give us the meaning god truly intended. Many churches also teach that we all get from the bible that which we need at that time, allowing for our interpretation of the writing to change as we want/need.

Mighty convenient, if you ask me.

My mom, who knows nothing about technology, went into a Best Buy looking for a new 'DVD' player. She wanted the 'upgrade to DVD, whatever that is,' and she asked them for help figuring out which one she should get. She didn't want the high end one, and that's all she knew.

What she didn't know, and what the sales associate failed to inform her of, was that 6 months earlier BluRay had squashed HDDVD's. So next time I went to her house, and she asked me to set up her brand new HDDVD player, I just about went berserk. I should have asked where she bought it from before telling her why I was so angry. I suppose she thought I'd kill someone.

In hindsight, it's probably good she didn't tell me. I have a hard time stomaching any place that would take advantage of an old woman.

I have a couple friends who... acquired some of the professional imaging and video software. They used to play with it as a hobby. They then went to school, and are now working-- one designing movies, the other games. They even admit that they probably would never have gotten to where they are without that. The schools that they ended up going to asked them to exhibit some of their work.

It's Ragnarok:

A ship journeys from the east, Muspell's people are coming,
over the waves, and Loki steers
There are the monstrous brood with all the raveners,
The brother of Byleist is in company with them.

Alright, not really. But I do take this as a sign my imagination still works.

Exactly why I made the statement-- with the cost of fossil fuels rising, the need growing, and the supply diminishing (somewhat), most countries have the foresight to realize that they are not the long term solution. It is also expensive to sustain their use if you're not the country producing them. So I believe Japan, at least, will have the highest motivation to create such an alternate energy. Without the safety net of nuclear energy to protect them, they'll have little choice otherwise.

I'm with you, though-- I doubt it'll happen in my lifetime. But, I didn't expect people to quit using nuclear energy in my lifetime, either. There's nothing like disaster and the threat of imminent collapse to spur breathroughs.

It's a shame, really. I'd love to see Japan eventually replacing the old reactors with the newer, safer ones. Especially in the more stable areas. I realize there's still a lot of hysteria in that area, still, but reason and logic could quell their fear. I think most people at with at least a modicum understanding of tech-- and most that I know, I've gathered from this site and the links provided-- realize the benefits newer reactors offer over the old.

Even so, if there are two nations with a history and will capable of innovating new tech for energy, it's Japan and Germany. I wish them the best in the effort. Who knows, the whole world might benefit from the research. Can you imagine a world not handicapped by the need for fossil fuels? Many oppressive regimes would lose the foundation on which they stand.

As I see it, you're the only one referring to it as 'free' music. Most of the rest of us see it as just music-- and, arguably, art. Art which, while already created, was kept in a vault for the sake of corporate profit. The artist didn't profit from it, his estate did-- and they were already paid. And the company would have waited until 'experts' tell them that such music would have been at most value. Then, they would slowly drip out small albums at exorbitant (IMHO) costs.

So while I understand the need for corporations to make profit-- and, while I understand your general, apparent disdain for piracy-- the gp did have a point. Sociey-- that being, human beings and our culture-- are quite a bit more 'wealthy' because of it. At least, if the priates ever intend to release the music without extorting it in some way, or hoarding it. Heh.

If Sony were smart, they'd come out with their music before the hackers torrent them. Then again, as this happened a year ago, and Sony still hasn't released the files, it seems to me that they have no interest in that idea. I'm glad someone out there is enjoying the music.

For the first 19 years, here.

I guess I'll have to buy a real doorstop, instead of relegating the most recent yellowbook that honor. With the money I'd save, I could afford one of those really fancy 'stops.

Yeah. When it does happen in the US, I'd have a perfect reason to finally rid myself of this cell phone addiction.

/lookatthebrightside

Have to correct a mistake-- the filter bottles aren't for filtering bacteria. But they're still a good way to have decent tasting water in countries you know have a solid purification system. I generally bring the straw and plastic bottle in my back pack. Never get any questions.

You can bring empty bottles and fill them up once past security. It's not well known, of course, and TSA has done nothing to suggest that as an idea. My girlfriend got through security on New Years with no issue. If you're worried about bacteria, there are several filter bottles and straws available for fairly cheap. Just bring an ordinary plastic bottle, with the straw.

It would pay for itself after two or three trips, and the filter will last quite a while.

That being said, aside from the whole thing being a joke, it's a shame TSA doesn't offer you suggestions to make your flight more enjoyable. Instead, they shy away from any form of convenience and stick to their controlling factors.

Actually, I'd rather have a racist president than one ignorant of technology. At least, if he was racist, nothing he could possibly do in that regard would get through congress. Of course, I am white (I believe the technical term is pasty), so from where I stand, controlling and restricting the use and freedoms of the internet and other devices seems like a far bigger deal. I happen to feel that, these days, those that are racist are in the minority and often come off looking worse, because of it. But yes, a lot about him bothers me. I'm with you in hoping for some truly solid republican candidate. Sadly, they've chased away two of my three preferred runners. Ron Paul is all that's left-- and he's greatly considered a 'nutjob'.

When Gingrich dove head first into the presidential race, my dad was all aglow about him. "Finally, a president that knows how to work the system to get stuff done!" And I looked into it, and he was absolutely right. And thus, I won't be voting for Gingrich. It's not that he's not a good politician-- he's a very good politician. But that's what's bad about him. I don't want another system president. The problem with our government (and country) are the systems, and until they're broken and remade/reworked, we're going to continue to spiral downward. The fact that the democrats are doing this shows just how retarded and corrupt that system has become. It also shows how ignorant Gingrich is to technology. If he was serious about his presidency he would have at least reserved that domain-- though I don't just blame him, but his campaign manager. Gingrich does show that he has a 'good ole boy' mentality in this fail, however. Still, any manager these days should know how important the internet is to gathering any data about a candidate. There's really no excuse-- the second I was brought in to consider managing a campaign I would have locked up every newt/gangrich/dot/whatever domain I could find.