Maybe in the next movie, Superman (or "LL") could put in an order for condoms made out of this material. After all, it would certainly solve a lot of problems.

I've been looking at LinuxMCE for my own home system. It looks like a really good fit for what you want: Media, touchscreen controls, multiple outputs. Plus, it's a thin-client system, so once you decide on a terminal setup, you can repeat ad nauseum.

I would also point out that this may be a good setup for the expansion you're alluding to. For example, you could set up different accounts for either different works or different artists. Log all the terminals in one room to the account under that artist, and you could have the media for all the different pieces queued up on the menu.

Hmmm..if you ever had a Salvador Dali exhibit, you could have some Dark Side of the Moon playing on the sound system...

Ouch! The dreaded "Offtopic" moderation...perhaps I should elaborate:

Others have already pointed out the "blackhats just got a new weapon" scenario, so I thought another possible (mis)use would be to patch software to which we do not have the source code.

• Commonly used software w/o source code? Windows and DRM systems. Check.
• Commonly used systems that inhibit user's systems? WGA and DRM. Check.
• Software that rewrites/patches binaries without source? Clearwater. Check.
• Obvious non-software response by corporations whose systems are getting hacked? DMCA letters...either to the Clearwater developers or anyone who distributes such a patch.

Just my inflation-adjusted 2 cents...

So how long before someone uses this to "patch" DRM and/or Windows Genuine Advantage? They interfere with my computer's functions, cause software/systems to fail out of nowhere, and are an unwanted inclusion in many programs. Yep--sounds like bugs to me!

Which means it won't be long before patches are available. Cue the angry horde of DMCA attorneys....

And they didn't even bring in "statistics"....guess that would have been too much of a giveaway...

I agree that an ideal backup solution would be something along the lines of Cheyenne Mountain's basement--with armies of mole-men transcribing the data onto titanium slabs. (Mole men are secure, because all you need to keep them in check is a couple of big sun lamps!)

But, I would say that the old Meatloaf song would make a good compromise to your 3 criteria: "Two out of Three Ain't Bad." In my particular case, I had a medical customer who needed reasonably up-to-date backups of everything...worst case scenario being the building burned down. So, with that in mind, I ended up using rdiff-backup over ssh to our own servers. Reasoning as follows:

• Periodic checks were done by me and my staff at varying hours...check.
• Off-site backup...check. Customer could reasonably get up and running with a big check, a trip to Walmart, and about 12-24 hours of coffee for me and my folks.
• Users were complete "Users", as in, did not know, care, or desire to learn how things worked--they just "should."

Because of that last item, relying on them to perform an off-line backup, take the data to an off-site facility, and remember to bring them back in in the morning for another cycle was out of the question. Also, I was being paid well, but not well enough to make the trip every single day to personally conduct the work myself...or pay a minion to do it.

(Funny how a doctor will by a brand new Escalade for show, then scrimp on paying for extra work and extra security...probably not the only industry that way...)

Overall, it worked great. Problems were identified quickly, never lost any data over 3-1/2 years of servicing the contract, and went through 3 various upgrades and major replacements without any data lost.

This isn't to promote online-offsite backups, just to say that there are times where we all compromise....and as for my backups, they were periodic, off-site, and offline...and included the customer's data...just less frequent snapshots.

Exactly what I did with an EMR that I built for a client: I used OpenOffice and another OSS API to produce custom documents on the fly: Medical records, records requests, discharge letters, etc.

Even better, they could be updated just like any other OO document. "Hey, we need the discharge letter to include this information." "No problem". Open-->Type changes-->Save. Done.

The actual cost was about 10 hours of my time finding the other OSS system and integrating it with our health records system. Even at $100/hour (way above what I charge), it would've been worth 2 full copies of MS Office...and it does exactly what I want it to do.

...sorry, I mentioned "pager" as a real world alarm, then panned the idea--I meant "pager" as in "Mr. Jones, please check the server logs..."

I know I'm late to the party, but I haven't seen anyone bring this one up yet: Real-world alarm/notification capability (pager, buzzer, a machine that goes bing, something like that)

My reasoning: I run a small IT business with various support contracts. I, and probably quite a few others, can't afford to pay someone to sit at a monitor and watch a screen (or a bunch of screens) whilst tied to a desk.

Most of the monitoring solutions (Nagios, others) are capable of off-site notification, but it's the "last yard" that's the problem--how to tell someone, even a non-techy, there's a problem so he can call in the cavalry. Despite Verizon's "largest 3G network" claim, a lot of my clients and workers in Silicon Holler don't have cell coverage...so SMS, pagers, etc. aren't all that reliable. But we do have office staff who could be around to listen for an alarm, and we have a solid internet connection...so calling for help via the network is viable, but not paying someone to be otherwise unproductive because they can't go anywhere else.

I even started developing my own ATMEGA based solution...still working on it, and I think it's completely doable. If I ever get it up and running, I'll publish the plans, code, and scripts/software under GPL and let someone else worry about the marketing.

Here, here. As someone else who works with digital forensics, I agree--it's a "touchy mistress" that has been abused all to hell in the RIAA cases. As a casual observer to the whole *IAA thing, it looks as if they were pushing sloppy, shoddy work on the court as an airtight case...and it's catching up with them.

Since the standard practices of digital forensics are fairly common, accepted, and (to techies) obvious, you would think that they would take the time to do the job right, push through those cases that cemented their reputation as solid litigators; their reputations would have preceded them, and they could have had a few big-time early successes to browbeat future defendants.

Instead, my horseback opinion is that they decided to go for quantity over quality. Judges and defendants rolled over under a wave of "techie-stuff", because it sounded good. But Media Sentry (or whatever they are calling themselves now, or whomever the RIAA is using), kept getting caught doing short-cut work, and the plaintiffs kept running with it (probably knowing it was crap.

Now, everyone is getting comfortable with terms like "forensic copying," "hashes", "ip addresses", and "p2p software." And those previous cases are looking weaker and weaker.

Sorry for the rant; as someone who works in the evidence field (and takes pride in doing it right--not fast or biased), I applaud NewYorkCountryLawyer's work on this, and I'm glad a lot of bad courtroom maneuvering is getting exposed.

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Australia's Secret Internet Filter: Your one-stop shopping for porn!

More of style:

• Android's Dream, by Scalzi: Lots of sub plots that tie together, but it starts out with a human ambassador giving the ruling alien ambassador a heart attack by letting off chemically-altered farts. (The aliens communicate largely by sense of smell, so he gets pissed when he smells "Your wife is screwing around on you and everyone knows it!") Also, the overarching background is an Illuminati-like religion that has two internal factions. One believes that the religion is absolutely fake, and that making the "prophecies" come true proves there is no God. The other faction believes that, despite its origins, the prophecies are inspired by God, and making the prophecies come true proves there is a God. Both sides are manipulating some alien internal politics to prove their point.
• All the Way to the Gallows by David Drake: A collection of stories (some sci-fi, some fantasy, some a mix) that make fun of sci-fi, religion, fantasy plots, cultural relativism, and a host of other set pieces of literature...
• Terry Pratchett: Pretty much the entire Discworld universe (politics, religion, magic, fantasy, etc. all taken to an illogical extreme.) The Bromeliad Trilogy, wherein what we would call Gnomes are actually tiny little aliens who've forgotten where they come from. Some believe that the department store they live in is actually the entire world...until they meet others from Outside. Then there's Good Omens which kind of shames the whole Armageddon/Ragnarok thing.
• Bolo!, a collection of Bolo stories by David Weber, does a pretty good job (imho) of working off the idealist morality of the Bolos with their human creators/operators. And Path of the Fury is pretty good at playing out the "what-if" of a Greek Fury in a sci-fi future.
• A. Lee Martinez does some good fantasy-meets-reality with his books. The Automatic Detective is about an evil genius's killer robot who just wants to be a regular citizen. Too Many Curses follows the Evil Wizard's housekeeper after the Master is eaten by his latest demon. In the Company of Ogres is, among other things, about a military soldier who never stays dead...not matter how many times people have tried. Gil's All-Fright Diner follows a couple of buddies, one of which is a vampire and the other a werewolf. The vampire falls in love with a ghost...which makes things a little..."interesting."

(Wow! I have way too much time on my hands.)

My apologies for not conducting the flame war in proper fashion, you rat bastard. :-)

I don't know enough about the authors' backgrounds to say that HE influenced them; more along the lines that, to me, they are able to pull off the same style.

I'd say this is turning into the Wesley-Iniago sword fight in Princess Bride than a real GNAA-type flame war...

Harlan Ellison contribution flame war in 3...2....1...

I'll bite: One of the best parts of Ellison's writing, to me, is how he uses hyperbole, jokes, and extreme situations to get his point across. Repent, Harlequin! is probably one of the best examples. There's also A Boy and His Dog, Jeffty Is Five, a parody I can't recall about the whole "mysterious shop that sells cursed objects", and a host of others.

Terry Pratchett, David Drake, David Weber, A. Lee Martinez, John Scalzi, and a host of other modern writers are in the same vein.

Other old-time Scifi writers did the same thing, but Ellison made it fun...and it stuck with you (or at least, me) a lot longer.

If someone really wanted to mess with them, make an auto click system that pipes through Tor somehow...causing the IP addresses to appear to come from all over the world.

I'm sure there are some technical issues, but it would make more work for Google.