I work for a rather large agency... our initial numbers are coming back at 3X the cost to "consolidate".. So any savings for power, space, etc are trumped by those "for-profit" contractors running the data centers. At this point it almost looks like it was a plan to put money in someone's pocket, not save anything since the "big-boys" are getting all of the work.

There is a new company trying to break into the market (cannot seem to find their site at the moment due to mother firewall)... I have an Indiana Jones (2006) (12k new, 6k restored) and a Dr Who (1994) in *my* basement. USED pinballs (Adams Family, Lord of the Rings, etc.) can cost upwards of 6k. If you are fortunate enough to live in the Baltimore / DC area, Baltimore has the National Pinball Museum (www.nationalpinballmuseum.org). They have converted their machines to card readers (think Dave & Busters) and you can buy a card for around 12.00 for unlimited play for 2hrs (or longer on special occassions). They have pins from 50s and up, all playable and keep them all in impeccable condition. My local guy, (Purcellville Pinball and Slots) buys used machines and rehabs them for sale (including the LED light upgrades, protectors, etc), as well as access to parts (some of which are hard to come by). There are active tournaments here in the DC Metro area every few weeks.. so in some places, it is still alive and well!!

there has to be some physiological activities to take place before they defecate. why don't they monitor the animal and find out the signals that are occurring. Then they might at least have an opportunity to react to it. Like maybe a Bluetooth transponder that summons a little poop bot ....I'm just sayin'

Yeah, me too.. The wifey and I are going on a 50th Birthday Celebration Cruise (my 50th not hers), and of course we need to "look good". A recent visit from a mid-western (Ohio) friend and his wife who has lost 300lbs using Advocare... Of course the wifey says, IT WORKS! So we dive in... Now, I am not here to extol the virtues of "Programs" as it is an MLM with very little upside and a TON of proprietary (and expensive) supplements that "have not been evaluated by the FDA".. Being the supportive husband, I have embarked on the "Lifestyle Change" with her. I have lost 8lbs in 9 days, she has lost 4... Being a lowcarber for the last 10 years (lost 85lbs), that has ALWAYS worked for me and my doctor approved it... (and from reading some of the comments), I am carb sensitive.. A thorough evaluation of this program has yielded a couple of interesting facts.. 1. Food intake is strictly regulated - meaning PORTION CONTROL. 1/2 cup of this, etc... 2. The program removes all intake of white sugar, white flour, soda, coffee) - effectively low carb or at least low glycemic.. 3. No liquids other than water or their "spark drink"....(the sugar free spark drink is essentially a derivative of any energy drink with a whopping 120mgs of caffeine), While the supplements and drinks are pure sales and marketing, the one realization is this.. while we have been low carbing, we weren't loosing weight (although we weren't gaining either).. however, when you actually see 4oz of meat on a plate with 1/2c of veggies, it is minuscule in comparison to what we WERE eating.. So we are back to: intake vs usage... A hard pill to swallow, but in reality, we just eat TOO MUCH. Period. And I am sure many of us would raise the roof in a restaurant if we were served accurate portion sizes based upon our body size. SO that leaves us with one obvious choice - Paleo - the all natural, fresh food, clean eating, low carb approach to eating.. Of course, who knows what ailment we will end up with next considering all of the chemicals used to GROW food..

Douglas Adams. HitchHikers Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy...interesting, funny and lightweight reading (if you are a geek, that is)

I was a 24yr old sailor on the USS Koelsch (FF1043).. I happened to see the lauch on the mess decks TV (we were off the coast of Jacksonville doing remedial engineering ops since we failed our last OPPE). It was a snowy picture, since it was antenna reception from off the coast, but I remember seeing it happen. Six hours later we were enroute to Cape Canaveral. The SAR Helos were flying the area and dropping smoke floats into the sea where they identified floating debris. We launched our small boats (Captain's Gig and whaleboat) to recover the flotsam. Over a period of 18 hours, we collected 2500lbs of the wreckage. The entire skin of the shuttle was honeycomb aluminum and floated, as did the cermaic tiles. Some of the pieces we recovered were larger than 4 X 8 sheets of plywood. We stored it all in our hanger bay. Quite a collection of stuff. And yes, we DID take a ceramic tile and test it out with an acetylene torch. Problem was, no one would touch it while it was glowing, but it WAS touchable, we ultimately found out. Then, under cover of darkness at 3am, we moored at Cape Canaveral and silently unloaded everything under the watchful eye of guys in white labcoats and blue hardhats. Fast forward to 2001. I was an invited guest of NASA for STS 103 when my software (Emergency De-Orbit Program) was making its maiden flight into space. Peace be with them all.