At least down here in Brasil people are already obliged to leave their cellphones during the tests, just common sense really. Also, any eletronic device like PMPs, earpieces, even wristwatches.

The real problem with statistical approaches is that they don't prove one has cheated. So unless it is only used as a way to start an investigation to gather proofs - such as, contacting the cellphone operator and seeing if there was any calls to/from the cellphone during the test, AND if they can also prove the cellphone was in the test area - there is no legal way someone should be punished for being a point outside the line.

The question is, I don't like to have yet another service tied up to a Google account, for two reasons; first, I am afraid my account may be suspended - happened already - and then I lose my bookmarks as well - which were real handy when Google screwed up my account. Secondly, I have and use more than one account and don't want my bookmarks to be tied up to one. To make things worse, I use three browsers (Firefox, Chrome, and Safari) so a browser specific bookmarking tool won't do it. Any other suggestions?

The SD card in WP7 devices is NOT user serviceable. MS uses SD cards as a cheap alternative to other kinds of storage solutions. To exchange the SD card, you have to tore open the phone. People have been trying to replace the provided card to get more space, that's it. So I see it as no big deal that the OS thrashes it, since it was never intended to leave the phone anyway. That said, I wouldn't buy a WP7 phone for other reasons: it copied the iOS model by Apple by the book - specially the silly restrictions (no multitasking to 3rd party apps, tie-in to a proprietary app, no fscking copy-and-paste, etc.).

Your use of the word "rights" puzzle me. Shouldn't the right to mine them belong to the Afghan people/government? Or do you consider Afghan some sort of extension of US territory since you have a large military force there? If so, then the "right" belongs to whoever can exercise more power, and so if China somehow got it it's because they deserve it.

I do have an account af Facebook but I really don't use it much. But if is is like anything round here, there may be lots of people who have lots of friends that they don't really know - I for sure know I have an awful lot of friends requests from people I've never seen. It is quite hard if you have a thousand of friends to track them all. So you go to sleep one night and the next morning you wake up to find out you've been added to a hate-speech, or a pro-taleban group, a neo-nazi group (which is actually a criminal offense in some countries) or something like that. It is an inherently flawed concept. Of course you may always argue you never actually joined that group, but we live in a world where appearances count more than evidence.

You know the story of the frog in the cauldron, right? If you put a live one in a cauldron with boiling water, he will leap out as soon as he touches the water. But if you put it there and slowly heat up the water, he won't notice until it is too late. Guess what the content owners are doing to the consumers.

First, the "emulation" of 3D was way better than Doom. Not true 3D as Quake, of course, but it was so good as to not be noticeable. Secondly, you could interact with in ways that most games these days won't let you. You could brake things, drink water, take a piss, give strippers money, and all these seemed natural. Third, there was a likeable (or hateable, but it was fun anyways, that's undeniable) character. And then, even if the story wasn't stellar, there was some story, and level design was ingenious. Besides, it was fun to play, and to hear to one-liners and watch the pop-references.

I don't know if this deserves a "whoosh". But I read the :P as:

1. go to wikipedia

2. copy and paste the sources listed in the article

3. ???

4. Profit!

Blindly using citations found in Wikipedia, or any other place, is not a good way of doing research. The citations may be bogus, or plainly unreliable. Of course, a lot of researchers actually do this, perhaps just not from Wikipedia.

It wasn't, but AFAIK Apple was the first and is still the only one to use it. So it is a way of using a non proprietary standard that still achieves the same goal as a market lock-in tool. Apple has done this many times - mini display port, mini DVI, recessed jack on original iPhone, etc.

Portal is not difficult by any means. People who have no experience with FPSs may get disoriented at first, but, beyond that, all the initial chambers are really, really easy. Just the last two chambers provide some kind of real challenge. But I think that actually adds, rather than detracts, to the gameplay. The "rythym" of the game is just right as it is, it blends the right amount of curiosity about the puzzles with an excellent story. They complement each other nicely. Portal is one of my favorite games of all times. High hopes for Portal 2.

Well, I guess every country - and in the USA, possibly each state, has its own laws, but I've never seen a traffic law with acceleration limits. Your car may be very silent, so you might accelerate a lot and still don't break any regulations.

And about (1), I don't think you are right. Speed is the rate that space varies with time. A speed rate, therefore, is not speed, but something else, by definition, either acceleration or something else like the rate speed varies with position of the sun, the beats in the car stereo, or whatever. Just because everyone says it wrong, it doesn't make it right.

Copyright protected works cannot work by "free market capitalism" rules (and free market is an abstraction, BTW). Each copyright owner has a monopoly on his own copyrighted work, whereas free market is based on competition. I can only get a Harry Potter book written by Rowling, and whoever happens to be her publisher. There is no possibility of competition. Similarly, I can only get a game from its publisher/developer. There may be other similar games, and there is competition in that sense, but this is indirect competition. You can't replicate the exact experience you get with a piece of software with another. Copyright and patents create state-approved monopolies. The idea is that the incentive to explore your own monopolie would drive innovation forward. So there are no valid comparisons with the (mythical, anyway) free-market that are valid in this case.

I'd like to draw attention to two provisions of the proposed law that are much more important, IMHO: Art. 46, I, explicity allows one copy by any means for private, non-commercial use. Art 46, II, explicity allows format-shifting for private and non-commercial use.

I just found the original project, as we call it. It is up for public scrutiny. It can still be changed when the voting happens. For brazilians, or people from abroad who'd like to take a look at it, here is the original address: http://www.cultura.gov.br/consultadireitoautoral/lei-961098-consolidada/ . The sad fact is that most people simply don't know or care about this proposed law here, and so it might be changed given enough pressure from media lobbyists. Hope it doesn't.

From sugar cane, you mean. In fact we have problems when the sugar price goes up in the international markets and it pays more to produce sugar from cane than ethanol. Ethanol prices goes up and they end up higher than petrol.

back on topic, I've seen nothing in the media here in Brazil regarding this. I'd like to know if this is a proposal or if has been approved already.