Now I know why I get all the funny looks when I take my horseless carriage into the service station and tell them its broken down.

While I'll be the first to admit I hate paying $60 for a game (and usually wait for the price to fall), I don't see how you can make quality games for $0.99. Angry Birds is something I play while waiting for my food to arrive. It passes the time. Dead Space is something I play because its damn fun. No way you'll get a Dead Space quality game for that cheap and there are much better uses for a plasma screen than flinging birds at pigs.

While the odds for the particular machine aren't listed, there's usually a sign that says something to the effect of "94% payback." That means that in general, if you play a variety of machines, the machines will slowly take your money. You're pretty much paying for your free drinks and entertainment (what's entertaining about pulling a lever, I'm not sure, but to each their own). I've noticed some of these newer casinos, such as the one in Maryland, offer much lower payback, so they take your money faster.

For poker and blackjack, odds can be looked up in a book (assuming the casino is honest). The house has no advantage in cheating with poker as you play against other people they they take a rake. Blackjack depends on your skill--play basic strategy correctly and the house has slightly better odds than you. Start counting and you now have the advantage (until you are asked to leave). Craps is the only game that gives you 50/50 odds just for playing it right (but good luck playing it right as there are so many rules and side bets--I suck at it). I'm not sure about roulette...I do know they use the extra spaces on the wheel to gain an advantage, but have really never played it. Seems too random to me.

First time I was in Vegas, I had spent the previous week memorizing a book on black jack strategy and card counting. My dad took the easy route and just xeroxed the cheat sheet out of it. Anyway, we sit down at a table at a major casino on the strip and my dad asks if he can use his cheat sheet. The dealer looks it over and says, "Sure, stick to this and you'll be fine." After a very short time, I was down about $15 and my dad even more. My dad wanted to keep playing and win some money back so I cashed out and stood back to watch the play. After a few more hands I put together what was going on. I leaned over and whispered, "this deck is missing face cards." My dad realizes we're being cheated and nearly knocks his chair over getting out of it as fast as possible and leaves the casino. At that point the dealer is looking at me and the pit boss is looking over, so I figure I'll be asked to leave anyway, inform the dealer that I think they're cheating and leave.

About a day later we're riding a bus and talking to the driver about what casinos to go to and my dad mentions the black jack incident and the bus driver says, "Oh, didn't you see the sign that said Spanish Blackjack. You don't want to play those tables because they remove all the 10s."

Moral of this story is that its very easy for a casino to cheat you. The dealer knew full well that my dad would have to adapter his play because of the missing cards, but told him to follow his cheat sheet and never mentioned we were playing Spanish Blackjack.

In an ironic twist, they stockpiled plutonium in case someone's DeLorean got stuck 30 years in the past. They did get a waiver for it, though.

I disagree. I think he's using the Streisand Effect to his advantage. I'd never heard of this site before reading this article. In the whole vein of no publicity is bad publicity, he gets his name out there, gets clicks, profits. Why pay for advertising when you can just act like a douchbag and sue someone? Hopefully it backfires and nobody clicks on his site, but I think enough people will be curious enough that he'll get what he wanted out of this.

Collecting licensing fees can be a bit sticky, though.

Or preserve you for some future culture to dig you out and make your city a museum in a couple thousand years. Win/win.

...Dr. Wile E. Coyote was quoted as saying, "This will be a great scientific breakthrough...and we should reach lava about the time that damn bird is scheduled to run through. Nothing could go wrong this time!" The project's main sponsor, Acme Drilling Co., could not be reached for contact.

Remind me at what point in the story the poison Apple comes into play.

Why do you laugh your ass off? Its good to know I'm not expected to tip when I visit Austrailia, but the idea of a tip is that I'm rewarding you for good service and I expect you to pocket the money. Whether or not a tip is customary shouldn't the basic principal. There is some tip sharing among waiters/bartenders, etc, but it doesn't go to the restaurant.

touche. This is why I'm not in marketing.

You work for Apple? And how does that work in this case:

Avira--ask about free bricking!

Magic, how else?

Four billion seems like a lot, but I really have no concept of how much it is unless its put into perspective. I did a quick search and didn't find much so I'll just pull numbers out of the air...if a spectrum normally costs, say $40 billion, and they got it for $4 billion, its still a lot of money to the average person, but dirt cheap for the company.