[...] yet whenever the Lumia handsets are reviewed in the mainstream press they are often highly praised.

References?

Let us not forget the invaluable .museum, which every museum in the world flocked to, freeing up valuable .com and .org space!

And by 'squatter' you mean 'facade':

From http://icannwiki.com/index.php/Donuts:

In June 5, 2012, Donuts announced that the company submitted applications for 307 generic top level domain names (gTLD) with different character sets to ICANN's New gTLD Program and secured $100 million capital from multi-billion dollar private equity and venture funds. [2]

[...]

The company signed a strategic partnership with Demand Media in pursuit of certain gTLDs. According to a press statement, under the agreement, Demand Media has the right to acquire some of the approved gTLDs applied for by Donuts. [6] Furthermore, Demand Media Europe Limited, will serve back-end registry service provider for Donuts. The registry provider is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Demand Media.[7]

From http://icannwiki.com/index.php/Demand_Media:

Demand owns eNom, the world's second largest domain registrar. Recently, Demand and eNom came under fire from ICANN, as Internet security group HostExploit reported that eNom is host to an unusually large number of malicious websites and is a preferred domain name registrar for pharmaceutical spammers.[4]

Anyone get .swirlingthedrain yet? Do the morons at ICANN understand the train wreck they're steering the internet toward, or have they simply been bought out?

The problem with texting and driving isn't the texting; it's the driving. NPR had a guest on the other week who made the point that the upcoming generation is going to see driving as a huge waste of time and likely let their cars fall by the wayside in favor of mass transit.

Just because the last couple of generations of Americans have had it ingrained in our psyche that car ownership is the epitome of our identity, doesn't mean that every generation will drink that Kool-Aid. Their Kool-Aid is always-on, always-connected, and much more interesting than staring at someone else's bumper stickers in stop-and-go traffic for a couple of hours every day.

The way things are going, buying Angry Birds on every new platform is going to be the "buy the White Album again" of the app generation.

Who decides what is 'suspicious'?

The really insidious part is this:

[...] help the police apprehend criminals based on foreknowledge [...]

If they haven't committed a crime yet, they're not yet a criminal. Period.

Wait, I take that back; the NSA will set the FBI up with an Xbox and Forza Motorsport and tell them they're driving around the 'net in virtual Corvettes, just like in Tom Clancy's Net Force.

Who cares? They're about 30 years too late to the punch compared to the NSA. Their entire office is going to be staffed by a single ticker-tape machine being sent whatever the NSA deems useful to the FBI.

It's more than a bit concerning that the most flexible, agile, and innovative part of the economy is the military.

Any one else think we need CARPA - the Civilian Advanced Research Project Agency? Preferably one that has nothing to do with the government.

Frack those fracking frackers!

The price for freedom is safety and security.

The catch, of course, is that safety and security are just illusions anyway. They can be promised to you but never delivered.

Honestly, unless you're willing to shell out the $$ for a pro-level printer and paper, it's cheaper to use an online service. I would avoid the Walmarts and Costcos, though I'm sure their service is fine, but I personally use and recommend White House Custom Color (www.whcc.com). Get on their mailing list for occasional discounts. Haven't done anything in bulk with them, though.

[...] what certainty do pledgers have that the game that they have paid for will ever see the light of day?

None. None at all. And that's the beauty of it. Kickstarter is the ultimate expression of capitalist society. All risk, unknown reward. If you want someone to pitch in for your idea, you have to return the favor. We weren't meant to all be worker drones, but rather to be free to make a living as our own entity. It takes a set of brass ones to stick yourself out there, and it lights a fire under your butt to get a response like "Hell yeah! Do it! I'll throw in $10 just to see you TRY."

FTA:

The U.S. contribution to ITER would also grow by $73 million, to $178 million. That amount is $28 million higher than the request.

[...]

To help pay for the fusion increases, the committee made major cuts to DOE's Basic Energy Sciences account, which funds studies in an array of fields, including chemistry, geosciences, and biology. That account would get $1.7 billion, $36.9 million below this year's level and $142.5 million below the Administration's request. The bulk of the savings would come from canceling or delaying construction projects.

[...]

Research into fossil and nuclear energy, meanwhile, would grow. The bill includes $554 million—$207 million above last year's level—for development of coal, natural gas, oil, and other fossil energy technologies. It also includes $765 million for nuclear energy research.

So in other words, ITER fusion (tokamak) and old school crap fossil fuel are getting a boost at the expense of forward-looking science research, which got majorly AXED.

Is this a good thing at all? I tend to agree with the few who think that the Tokamak research is a distraction, keeping funds away from other forms of fusion research that are more viable.

From the ITER wikipedia page:

A number of fusion researchers working on non-tokamak systems, such as Robert Bussard and Eric Lerner, have been critical of ITER for diverting funding that they believe could be used for their potentially more reasonable and/or cost effective fusion power plant designs.[34][35] Criticisms levied often revolve around claims of the unwillingness by ITER researchers to face up to potential problems (both technical and economic).[34]

R. Daneel Olivaw you insensitive clod! Don't you know he controls everything from his base on the moon!?!