Although its not the primary reason I use VPN, I'll admit it...yeah, BBC, I live in the US and I use it to watch your programming. Because US factual and documentary programming sucks. And BBC America is a fucking joke. Just to name a few off the top of my head, if a BBC program has David Attenborough, Monty Don, or Fred Dibnah in it, I'll watch it. Even if its a show about watching paint dry. So instead of trying to find ways to lock out people like me, why don't you turn it in to a money making opportunity...shut up, take my money, and sell me a TV license.

According to Science News, anywhere from 365 million to 990 million birds die each year in the United States from crashing in to windows. Science News also reports studies that show 1.3 to 4 Billion birds die each year in the US because of cats. Compared to those numbers, power generation facility deaths are not even a blip.

Then by your statement, I would ask the same thing of people who run only Linux or OSX and swear they've never had a virus or malware. Don't tell me all Linux users check the source code, apply updates regularly, read their log files, etc etc. Because I've been in this rodeo long enough to know that the average Linux or OSX user pays as little attention to things like that as the average Windows user.

Unread email never touches my machines. I read email via the web. Anything I want to save is then invited on to my machine. Ad servers used by sites like CNN and The Weather Channel are blocked in my HOSTS. Anything that requires a 3rd party extension to run inside Chrome requires my explicit permission to start. And those are things even a total n00b can do.

Oh, and here's the number one way I tell people to avoid spam and malware. I **NEVER** **EVER** install browser toolbars. In fact, when someone calls me to have me fix their machines after they've been infected with something, I automatically charge an addition $20 for every browser toolbar I find. If I've cleaned their machines before and warned them about toolbars, the additional charge goes up to $40 per toolbar.

And if I've caught a virus or malware somewhere, then it never did anything nor did it ever "phone home", cause me problems, encrypt my files, delete my files, screw up my display, increase my bandwidth, etc and so on. And I have yet to see an actual virus or malwar that had the intended purpose to do absolutely nothing.

The most important piece of equipment for computer security is the one positioned between the chair and the keyboard. Learn to not click on stupid shit and its entirely possible to remain virus and malware free. I don't run AV software and I've never had a virus or malware on any Windows machine that I didn't purposely infect to see what happens (I work in IT, I'm expected to know that kind of stuff, so I have a machine specifically for the purpose of infecting :) ). And I run Windows almost all the time on my main daily-user machines (I run Linux on a couple of personal servers.) My just-barely-computer-literate 76 year old mother also does not run AV software, and has never had a virus or malware...and various flavors of Windows is all she's ever used.

Yes, Microsoft needs to do a better job on security. But saying its a Windows problem is a polite way of saying 90 percent of computer users are too embarrassed to take responsibility for their own stupidity.

Yep, that's exactly what I do. I know exactly what's going on with my data, and if its insecure, I know its my own dang fault.

>everyone in calif is required to have auto insurance, so THAT's a total non-argument about ride-sharing.

"Required to have auto insurance" is very different from "actually has auto insurance". The roads are filled with uninsured drivers. Also, just because they have personal insurance does not mean they have commercial insurance, and personal insurance will not cover your (or your friend's) ass if your friend is using his vehicle commercially.

So yes, contrary to your thinking, proper insurance is indeed an argument. And Uber, etc, are not offering a "ride sharing service". They are taking "Paid taxi service" and adding "ordered by phone app" to the description. If it quacks like a duck...

Electricity for the machines is not free. And supercomputers take a lot of that. Unless you have free electricity, bitcoin is at the point where its almost impossible to mine it and break even in less than 9 months to a year or so.

Thanks for the URL...wish I had mod points this week. That wooshing noise you just heard was me running 'wget' :)

Until such time as the iSEC audits turn up an actual problem, I'll keep using 7.1a as usual.

So, is Greenwald gonna share any of the money with Snowden, or is he just going to laugh all the way to the bank while Snowden rots in Russia.

We've had untrained monkeys in the US for President and Vice President for the last 13 years. And they've been used in Congress longer than that.

From the summary: "The prospects for the climate fund are uncertain in a Republican-controlled House".

There's no uncertainty about it. Anyone with five or more brain cells to rub together can tell you that this will never pass in the House. In fact, I doubt it will even get out of committee to be debated on the floor, much less come up for a House vote.

But...if he did not register the copyrighted photos, he can only go for actual damages. He cannot get anything "punitive".

You might be making a joke. But I'll step up and admit that when I first saw "gTar", that's exactly what I thought it would be.