This is pretty much the smartest remark i have seen in this whole discussion. I can understand why do we have to push our framework of life onto everybody else that seems to 'not conform'. Its almost as if we need everybody to buy into our way of thinking to convince ourselves that we are all fine.
This reminds me of a quote from my favorite philosopher J Krishnamurti:
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
A comment about shale oil & canada's tar sands (has been discussed quite extensively on the oil drum, PO discussion site). Even if the govt ban is lifted and the price of oil hovers above $120/bl still the big problem with these 'non-traditional' sources is a concept called EROEI which is basically the net energy gain over the amount spend extracting the energy source. So basically, the EROEI for traditional oil has been in range of 100:1 to 20:1. for these sources it is quite low (i think 5:1 at best) which will certainly sustain present economic model of the world.
BTW the would you care to guess the net energy for corn ethanol
Media is not the reflection of what people want its a reflection of what people (as unconscious as they are) would buy into
If one just looks at an issue from 2 opposing viewpoints you will find every issue can be broken into pieces that that will be leaning to one side or other. The key to demagoguery is to miss the pieces that don't fit the point you are making.
The problem is here really is that YOU (as in the public) does not really have a more nuanced & insightful source of opinions plus they don't have time to do this research as they have preferences (American idol??).
Sony has a competing video rental service with Play-station network. I'd bet Sony has been fighting this tooth and nail till netflix decided to give em the finger and do it the BD-Live route.
But you see in the end nflx will come out as winner as with this solution they have covered much larger (future) install base than just the ps3s.
OK OK before you mod me down hear me out.
This can be used to provide some really good coverage of ski sports if you mount a camera on it. Imagine the kind of angles this can follow if this was one of the 'fellow skiers'.
I think ESPN or winter Olympics coverage folks can definitely make good use of this technology in situations where human beings cannot be present with a reasonably decent photography equipment.
Real Programmers don't eat quiche. They eat Twinkies and Szechwan food.