This is just theoretical but were anything to happen to President Obama, VP Biden would step in. I wouldn't mind a President who drops and F bomb now and then to be honest.

Agreed, the robotic missions are doing very well on Mars and on their future landing sites I expect some pretty cool data coming back.

While in the U.S. I regularly see people using iPhones with screens that are severaly cracked. This is right near MIT's campus for god sake. All you need is a heat gun and some spodging tools and you can replace the screen on them.

The thing is for years they've always said it was the mom and pops that didn't want to upgrade. But the gear is fairly inexpensive to begin with. It's just in most places that still use the old swipe method it's the BANK that owns the gear and leases it to the merchant.

So of course the banks will charge extortionate rates for said card swipe terminals.

But nothing really prevents the really big merchants from telling the bank to stuff their machine. So I'd expect that might see the first use of chip and PIN. It's just for some time cards will have both the magnetic stripe and the chip because all merchants will take their sweet time converting.

But MasterCard and VISA are going one better - they're pushing liability onto the merchants now. So it may happen sooner than later that the upgrades take place.

Is that they also want the cars to be able to communicate with each other. And how much do you want to bet that these communication systems will be tied into the non-secured CAN bus on the car? Yeah - one scenario I can imagine is your car going rogue and telling all other cars to pull aside. That would be fun on the highway.

An Android 4.1.2 that allows me to encrypt the entire storage on the phone. So it's nothing new.

I've always had a fascination with bio-chem. Got my InfoSci degree but toying with going back on a chem track.

Get it's pound of flesh. Here in RI they charge an extra 1% on prepared meals. One of these days I can see Chinese food places and pizza parlors just delivering raw ingredients to the customer.

Better yet - overnight parking permits are $100 per year. Except where I live it's so fucking dense the house across from me has THREE cars parked on my side of the street. Good thing I don't have a car. And when I do finally give in and buy a car again I'll just make my own permit. Not many security features built in and I doubt the cops checking overnight are gonna call the code in.

This is like QAM? I recall back in the late 1980's some AM broadcasters had played around with Quadrature Amplitude Modulation. In essence twisting the phase of the carrier around to get channeling, etc.

I think you miss the point. Incumbent utility providers would love to jack up your heat or AC setting to increase their revenue.

Indeed - the U.S. Navy still has a pretty big presence in Scotland. It's how I ended up with a half brother there.

I don't so much think they don't care but that corporate interests in Congress have threatened to cut their funding if they move ISP's into common carrier status.

The phone I carry is running Android Jelly Bean. Retailed for $49.

Is telomerase antagonists. The key to all cancers is that the cells use a substance called telomerase to rebuild the telomeres each time the cell divides. In essence it makes the cells immortal. But block telomerase and the cell just undergoes apoptosis after so many divisions.

Well of course and let me tell you that both VHF and UHF suffer the line of sight problem.

But you're right - I've pulled in 20 or 30 stations with a piece of 8 to 10 foot long wire from my first floor place. Just insert it into the center pin where the cable F connector would normally go.

And those of us in Urban environments tend to get better service that way anyhow.