That's probably a ClearQAM signal that he is receiving. Most HDTVs in North America have dual-standard 8VSB/QAM64 tuners so they can receive both broadcast and cable channels. No CableCard required.

It's more likely that it's a mix of that and analog. In Las Vegas at least, Cox makes all channels below 100 available as unencrypted analog video, receivable by pretty much every TV built since the '40s or so. Local channels (including the subchannels many of them have offered since the digital transition) are also available in unencrypted digital form. It works out to probably somewhere around 70-80 channels, with maybe a half-dozen in HD, a dozen or so in digital SD, and the balance in analog SD.

I cut off TV service about a year ago, switching to data-only service. They've not bothered blocking these channels, so they're still available. My TVs are set up to tune them in, but I can't remember the last time I watched something that wasn't streamed from across the Internet or played back from the file server on my LAN.

The military and corporate planes have had rear facing passenger seats for ages. It certainly doesn't affect babies being carried in rear facing car seats. There's all kinds of safety reasons why this is a good idea, but I can't find anything substantial to back up your claim.

I've flown on 737s with rear-facing seats. Southwest used to have them...last time I recall seeing them was in the mid-'90s:

http://www.blogsouthwest.com/flashback-fridays-southwest-airlines%E2%80%99-interiors-over-years/

They blame changed safety regs, strangely enough:

When Southwest introduced the 737-700 in January 1998, new federal safety regulations doomed the lounge areas. No rear-facing seats could meet this new safety requirement, and the -700s were delivered with all forward facing seating. Lounges in the -300s and -500s were phased out, and only the -200 retained lounges until they were retired at the start of 2005.

Bill-denomination is something that's interested me for awhile actually; it seems from my limited view of time like in the United States, the $20 has been the standard bill for 30+ years.

As far back as I can remember, $20 has been the denomination dispensed by nearly all ATMs. A handful of ATMs might mix in $50 or $100 bills for larger total amounts (Wells Fargo has some that do $20s and $50s, but most of theirs still just do $20s), and there were some ATMs outside the student union that used to dispense $5 bills (this was at UNLV in the early '90s), but most of the time, you'll get $20s.

I don't know how right handed people do it, but as lefty, I wear my watch on my left hand

You're doing it wrong. :-) You put your watch on the non-writing wrist. I'm right-handed, and I've always worn watches on the left. If I wore them on the right, the wristband would've scraped against the paper or the desk as I was writing.

Then again, who needs a watch anymore when your cellphone shows network-synchronized time that never needs adjustment?

Most who remember the TV show 6 million dollar man, that was footage of a DynaSoar's unsuccessful landing

Nope...that footage was of two experimental lifting-body aircraft from Northrop, the HL-10 and M2-F2. The crash footage was of the M2-F2. Earlier in the credits, the HL-10 is shown being dropped from a B-52.

shouldn't require waiting for a new Linux kernel to ship

FTFY. Even the most ardent Stallmanites don't usually try to claim credit for the kernel.

There are already too many humans on this planet. We are a virus that is wiping out life and resources at a faster rate than they can be replenished.

If you really believe this nonsense, why haven't you done your part and killed yourself already?

Coward.

That's not how it works in America. Only citizens take that risk of actually being punished for a crime. Government agencies are free to do what they want...

...until we decide that they aren't, and take action to stop this abuse of the public trust.

Sure, it can also cook dogs unit they're hot.

The community-organizer-in-chief is intrigued by your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

Frequently the bank forces the user to use exploitable means just to communicate with the bank.

IE6+ActiveX required, anyone?

If your bank requires you to use that steaming pile of fail, why haven't you left yet?

Wells Fargo used to throw up warnings when you used a browser they hadn't yet evaluated, but I think the rapid-release schedule taken by most browser vendors put a stop to that. Even then, it was just a warning...it didn't affect functionality.

Dammit, I was going to go with "Popplers"

Already taken.

If you told me someone was selling draft beer supplies (or whatever this crap is), my first assumption would be that it was for bars and taverns, not for home use. Thanks for taking time to point out the obvious.

I take it you don't know any homebrewers, then. Kegging is a hell of a lot easier than bottling. That said, the usual insurance against a keg running out is...wait for it...having a second keg on tap. Cheap and low-tech.

The Republicans have blocked every good treatment so far so why should we expect their kind to allow this?

Choke on the barbed cock of Satan, asshole.

My wife just died of breast cancer this week -- she did not live to be 40 -- so articles and research like this give me hope that, when our child grows up, cancer will not be something that takes people's lives away from them so quickly and so young.

Mine passed a year ago last Saturday of uterine cancer; she was 33. You're probably feeling absolutely gutted right about now. Things will improve slowly, but they will improve. Just yesterday, I was looking through photos for something to illustrate a fundraising page for a run benefiting cancer research. I got a bit choked up on an engagement photo, but that only served to tell me that was the picture to use. Those kinds of things will most likely keep happening for a long time to come...probably forever, at some level. They'll come along less frequently, though, and mostly around things like birthdays and anniversaries. Keeping busy—with work, friends, hobbies, etc.—might help; it seems to have helped me out, at least.

Your suggestion assumes all American kids have either 1.) A library within walking distance, 2.) Access to transportation.

The schools they attend have libraries, don't they? If they're not within walking distance, there's a bus that will take them there. For ~9 months of the year, your "problem" is sorted.