The surprise twist ending is when we end up with an authoritarian regime because too many people just sighed and said, "this is news?" any time something that should outrage us happened.

I think that's a little backwards. We have used math to model the universe. The universe is just the universe. It's an impediment to thinking when you mistake the model for the reality.

Not sure about a movie, but it IS a line from a Firesign Theatre piece. :-)

Sounds like a cool idea to me, but it seems a bit like a cosmic joke that we would in a way be reverting to a past we had here on earth by living in caves. The symbolism is nice, though; starting over in a new environment.

"At some point you sometimes simply have to live with a certain level of risk..."

The problem is, the risk isn't yours. It's on the people whose private data you've leaked to the world. This just happened to me. My former employer (of about 8 years ago) had his laptop stolen while on location. Names, SSN's and who knows what else from former employees were all on that laptop. No encryption I assume. I got an email of warning but I'm too angry to make contact for more information.

They may say he's in jail for crimes against humanity, but what he's really in jail for is pissing off the US.

No, the US is an oligarchy.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/d...
http://www.washingtontimes.com...

"By comparison the US notes have a very short life expectancy and hence are some of the most expensive to maintain currencies in the world."

Yes, but they don't smell as bad when CEOs use $100 bills to light their cigars.

Then perhaps I could just get one of these at the Oculus Thrift Store. Better resolution.

http://www.amazon.com/Holmes-S...

The Tubes are made of people.

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

I think you will actually need three pints. And four packets of peanuts.

Who cares? As long as it's written in coffeescript I'm in.

"...get a constitutional convention by having non-corrupt state-level politicians pass an amendment."

Clearly you haven't been paying attention. State level races are as bad as national level when it comes to money as influence.

"So we're going to elect some politicians that promise to do something different? Where have I heard that before? (Every 2-6 years)"

Your gutless resignation isn't doing any good. Lessig has a great idea and he understands just how fundamentally broken the system is. He is fighting the system from within the system, something I didn't think was possible, but it's a really worthy goal. Be part of an attempted solution. Go donate. (And yes, I have. Twice.)

This is something called a low-density supersonic decelerator. It's probably a bit different from anything else that has been happening "for the last 50 years." It's meant to allow a parachute to work effectively in the low-density atmosphere of Mars for spacecraft that are too heavy for conventional parachutes or the bouncing type of landing that was used for the Mars Exploration Rovers.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/n...

"I'm not sure that the FAA has the authority to regulate the quadcopter in the first place..."

Maybe not quadracopters, but they definitely have the authority to regulate airspace. And regulation of quadracopters is probably coming, in much the same way as every little device that transmits radio waves is regulated now.