As the product requires less and less physical storage (IE: CD, DVD and etc.), We will see the Music and Movie industries attempting to charge us by the byte and not for the media that carries it. I can see why they are going after anyone who shares their product over the Internet as it's a medium and not their Intellectual Property.

Want to listen to the radio? That will be $xx.xx per minute. Your radio will report how long you've been listening and where you've been listening and what you've been listening to. How will you know what station to listen to? By each station allowing you to listen to them for a few minutes and "tease" you into listening to them for a fee.

The Internet is bringing on big changes in the way that we amuse ourselves. If we can put all of our entertainment choices on a mobile removable media device after directly downloading it from the net, how will the entertainment companies be able to charge us multiple times for it?

This is the endgame of all endgames. The entertainment industry has seen the future as far back as the introduction of MP3. You no longer have to go into a brick and mortar building to purchase a physical medium that holds their product while they hold the "copyright" to the product itself.

I can't wait for the proliferation of microphones in public places to catch you whistling a popular tune and charge you a royalty fee for it. ;-)

/sarcasm on
I think that was a TV show from the 50's to the 60's about a kid called Theodore that was nicknamed "Beiber". Something like "Leave it to Beiber", eh? /sarcasm off

Mod this person up! The music business is all about price models and cost per unit. Nowhere is there any genuine concern for the consumer's tastes, likes or desires. This is a market powered by dollar bottom line and not artistry in any way, shape or form.

When was the last big superstar group? Bon Jovi, wasn't it? They rode around in a frickin' jumbo jet, fer chissakes! And when their music lost favor, where were they then? Right now I'm listening to Duke Ellington and am amazed at the variety of style that that man could come up with in his head and on a train with just a pencil and a blank scored sheet of music. No way in hell would the music conglomerates even think of signing on such talent in this day and age!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSA_warrantless_surveillance_controversy

The NSA has been tasked with the domestic spying on America's own citizens by executive order. While I don't understand how said agency can decipher all the communications that criss-cross American territory on top of all the data that goes through satellites, cable, fiber to foreign destinations on top of all that, is beyond me.

http://insidecharmcity.com/2007/06/25/nsa-power-supply-problems-continue/

Perhaps, this explains all the recent power hits we've been experiencing here in MD lately...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Susana_Field_Laboratory

Umm, err... Yes, sodium cooled reactors are perfectly safe. Just look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monju_Nuclear_Power_Plant.

Perfectly safe, using liquid metal...

(Yeah, I'm cherry picking here but I really hate the fact that I had to dig deep to find that there are several incidents around the world concerning liquid metal cooled nuclear power plants and the fact that the mainstream "green" media chooses to ignore them.)

Perhaps some kind and statistical person here would crunch the numbers and show the statistics of liquid metal vs water cooled reactors as far as incidents go? I'm thinking that the 1959 incident at SSFL introduced more rads than the 3 mile island incident of the 70's as an example.

I must disagree. The ability to squelch the internet is but a stepping stone for fascist oppression and has a definite appeal for the Security Theater that is DHS.

Those who would give up essential liberty -- yadada yadada yadada...

Please do NOT get me started on Maryland/Virginia drivers! They all suck -- the exhaust that you're putting out. It must make them feel superior or something (I really don't know). With 4 lanes of available freeway, they just (MUST!) have to pull in front of you despite the fact that there's miles of nothing behind you. After that, they hit the brakes every 15 feet while they get high on the exhaust fumes of the driver that WAS in front of you. Add that to the "I'm getting off on this exit and I have to slow down to 35 MPH in order to do so" mentality and I really wonder why there isn't more fatalities via violent means on I-95...

http://www.warbirdphotographs.com/ATC/german_cross.gif

Should they ban the plus sign then?

Aloha Oe,
Aloha Oe,
E ke onaona noho ika lipo
A fond embrace,
a hoi ae au,
Until we meet again.

Just let the warm beaches and waves wash over your body as your freedoms slowly drift out to sea...

Will we ever be able to get past the bullsh*t and take back our freedoms? Writ of Habeas Corpus ring any bells? No? It's been missing since the Bush Jr. occupancy...

slmgr -rearm

Pardon my humor:

General "Buck" Turgidson: Mr. President, we must not allow a mineshaft gap!

Replace "mineshaft" with "cyber". Violla! A new cold war with lots of funding! Such a deal!

Hasta la Vista baby.

My house in NC was broken into at least 3 times. They cut the phone wires, they broke 3 doors worth of locks. I lost my washer and dryer, all my garden equipment, all of the records, tapes, CDs, computer equipment, stereo equipment and they even took a cheap wall clock and couch!

The damage that they did to my house was in the thousands. The material things that they took were in the tens of thousands. Insurance didn't cover but a fraction of it. I'm not angry.

What they did take was 20 years of memories and my awards and achievements for serving America as a member of the United States Air Force. That is what really hurt. For twenty years I defended the rights of Americans to freely worship, demonstrate, practice liberty and all the little things that make up America, only to have petty thieves steal the few mementos that I had for all my efforts.

I wish I could have been there to greet them as they broke down the door a second time with my 12 gauge (they took that too), cocked and loaded with 00 buckshot. To hell with them! I pray that there is a deity and he has a special hell for those people that destroyed my property, robbed me of my material possessions, caused me unwarranted mental anguish and took from me my piece of mind and belief that all humans are equal.

Those people aren't human, those inhuman bastards are lower than dirt, they're scum, there is no justification for their very existence. When I hear about how others stood their ground, or utilized castle law, I cheer.

You may mod me down now, thanks!

Whilst visiting my father after he suffered a brain aneurysm (he could only speak in his native Lithuanian) and sitting on the bed next to him, the nurse got angry with me as I was sitting on the unused bed next to him. "Every time you sit on that bed, we have to change the sheets" said she, I wondered just what it was that she was angry about (this was 1998). Apparently, my buttocks passed a dangerous MRSA to the bed every time I sat on it. How Was I to know?