We'll have self-driving, autonomous cars a generation before flying cars, if not more. The safety logistics and traffic considerations make public use of flying cars extraordinarily unlikely, sadly. The only thing I believe will speed the process is the discovery of technology like practical anti-gravity that allows easy resolution of the other issues involved.

Exactly right. Using hashi (chopsticks) to pick up normal maki sushi is like someone here using a fork for french fries.

I looked into this a number of years ago when I was dealing in old maps. The best way to digitize them by far is a large format drum scanner.

Well said. RS232 is an important, effective, and reliable system for interconnects. Proven, time-tested, yada yada yada. Yes, sometimes theres confusion over baud rate,, word and bits, and parity, but those are minor compared to the pain in the ass that is USB with drivers, conflicts, length, etc. The biggest problem with RS232 is the confusion over DCE and DTE so one always has to have null modem adapters handy.

At least you youngsters don't have to deal with 25-pin RS232 or secondary channel communications. Hell, it's rare to see even hardware flow control anymore of either type, or bizarre comm settings like 7E2. Pretty much everyone defaults to 8N1, 9600, and no flow control with the option to up the speed in the device config.

of course, anyone entering college should already have those skill sets.

I've tried, and I just can't keep the columns straight when programming RPG with a proportional font. Anyone got any tips?

I was a early subscriber to OMNI (I still have the first few issues somewhere in storage). I loved it, and there were many things in it the encouraged me in science and was more accessible than Scientific American (which I subscribed to concurrently). It also led me on all sorts of incredible tangents for intellectual exploration. Basically, in many ways for me it was replaced by the Internet.

I would call Mondo 2000 the better example (versus Heavy Metal) of a more frivolous version of OMNI - tackling similar themes but with reckless and entertaining abandon.

It's well-known fact (tm) that the smaller artists don't make a penny from the royalties. Only the biggest acts are able to extract their royalties from BMI/ASCAP/etc. Bono is speaking out of self-interest and self-interest alone.

That doesn't excuse or justify piracy - but if you do care about the smaller artists then purchase music directly from them. Any markup on recordings will far exceed what they get as a royalty.

http://www.woodpecker.com/writing/essays/royalty-politics.html

Do you want your home automated and have a working & stable system, or do you want your house to be another mish mash of hardware and software hacks? If the latter, by all means, go with an open-source DIY solution. In the long run, you'll have a much more satisfying, braggable, stable, wife-pleasing, supportable and low-maintenance system if you go with Crestron. I'm a long time hacker and Unix guy (I started on Unix in 1981) and generally love DIY approaches to things, but I'm also a designer and programming of Crestron systems - they are stable, reliable platforms. I've done Crestron systems that have worked flawlessly for years at a time, and only have to be touched because DirecTV changes receivers, or the DVD gets upgraded. I've seen Crestron systems that were installed in the mid-80's that are still going strong (a luxury hotel in South Beach uses a vintage Crestron system for their hotel and lobby lighting system). If you value your time at all, the upfront cost of a Crestron system is really not bad.