So the chips in the phones are actually chips off of a Blue Stone?

That's confusing what the general population believes with what a population of scientists believe. Are scientists in general better than others? No. But in general they're much better at science.

...is that there's not much sense of proportionality. When we here of a driver who was measured at .21 most of us think that's a much worse hazard than a .08, yet it's usually treated the same. A new standard of .05? Ok, but leave .08 and penalties where they are and have a lesser charge, DWPI (P=possibly), and lesser penalty for those between .05 and .08.

Then sell me a car that can safely drive me home.

The destruction was intentional by some authorities still looking for McAfee. Now they'll charge him with the human sacrifices that occurred two millenia ago.

Good description of a copyrightable item. A set of instructions (in the DNA). Patents never should have been granted for instructions, software or otherwise. That's why copyright exists.

Agreed. But this didn't happen overnight. Rules were slowly bent (mangled, really) for the big guys over many years into the twisted mess referred to as precedent we have today. Most of us wouldn't think that original patent law could have spawned this kind of behavior, where a set of instructions, whether genetic or machine code, could be patented. That all of the Supreme Court justices skipped the opportunity to rule against the plaintiff based on what a patent can cover—that's the real tragedy.

Such was the case with the snack machine at the office. Every 100th person gets the item and their money returned. Hardly anyone knew about it. The first time it happened to me, I thought it was a defect. Then I noticed a scrolling message where the amount deposited would display that said "EVERY 100TH SELECTION NO COST" or some such, along with some other scrolling garbage. Nobody had bothered to read it because most of the time the other garbage was scrolling by, and only a few letters could be displayed, so there was never enough visible at a glance to understand. The price wasn't bad, either. But they changed vendors, and the new one had 1) high prices, 2) no "winners", and 3) a very solid mount on the floor and wall that kept you from getting your candy loose by jarring it when it hung up on the screw on the way out.

Absolutely. The only reason for not taking advantage of the publicity that way would be that they have the same shortsightedness of the MAFIAA, not the MAFIA. Casinos must belong to a nastier bunch than they used to.

IF cars had 4-point belts worn tightly or with auto-tensioning, front airbags might not help (but side bags still would, unless you're going to wear a helmet). Otherwise, yes, they definitely help when factory belts are worn properly. I would have agreed with you a decade ago, but there's just too much evidence to the contrary. The real travesty was allowing motorized belts to qualify as passive protection for a few years. Horrible devices they were.

"Drive your car and keep your mouth shut." Amen. Driving around with a hand clapped against the head isn't apparently as big a problem as driving around totally engaged in a conversation (including with someone in the car).

I think it's been demonstrated that "shatterproof" safety glass windshields are no safer in crashes than tempered glass, though either are much better than the murderous shards from the stuff before. However, I'd choose the safety glass due to all the junk falling off/out of trucks, as I'd expect it to resist penetration a little better.

You know what's really a great safety device? Those yellow signs stating "Baby on Board".

Cool. So if we sue Congress for having inaccurate representatives, will they stop representing us? Oh wait, never mind...

Interesting. My '03 TL factory nav system uses a DVD. It's slow to calculate new routes, but it works as well as when new (fingers crossed). I had always thought it would be nice to have flash instead, but I guess not. I bought a new disc once to update the maps, but they were still more than 3 years out of date. It hardly makes sense to get a factory or dealer-installed nav system when aftermarket units are cheaper to buy, reliable, and easier and cheaper to update. AND can be taken along to use in rental cars, avoiding the nav rental charge and having to learn a different interface.

I generally agree, but manufacturers ignore some obvious issues forever, as long as they never occur until the warranty has expired and won't trigger a recall.

Please don't underrate the Cavalier's underpinnings. The J-body was one of the best, most space efficient, stiffest (sedan variants, not hatches and convertibles) platforms well into the 1990s, and was the best part of the Cavalier, not the worst. Most cheap cars today are based on much crappier chassis, regardless of when they were designed. Unfortunately, most of the base and even upscale J variants had very poorly spec'd springs and shocks, which defeats any goodness underneath.

I'm getting pretty sick of everyone shoving specific job stuff into undergraduate programs (this has gone out of control lately in my home state, to the extent that the new Governor has been caught agreeing with some local nutcases that some liberal arts programs should not be part of the state university system just because they don't obviously lead to jobs). We have a place for job-related courses. It's called Community College. I've noticed that some folks with bachelor's degrees have been taking very specific job-related courses at local community colleges and successfully applying those new skills. There's still a little stigma about attending CC after having 4 year degrees, but hopefully that's going away, because it's absolutely the right place for it. I'm only intimately familiar with the CCs in NC and VA, so maybe that doesn't fly so well elsewhere, you tell me. Please stop trashing universities with the "Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!" chants.

Heh... I spoke that from memory, not having seen the full story, apparently. Shame on me. But more shame on all you zombies who'll do anything to avoid being embarrassed in public. Hide your faces. Pieces gonna fall on you.

This is very much like the guy who figured out the algorithm for the Press Your Luck TV game show machine. He just kept winning, while the PYL people realized something was going wrong for them. But they graciously handed over the winnings and redesigned the machine. PYL greatly benefitted just from the publicity about the show in general, not to mention royalties from replaying that episode of the game repeatedly for years to come. The casinos should pay up, then extract whatever they can get out of the manufacturer. I'm not surprised that they're pursuing the players, since their policy is to attack anyone doing anything defined as cheating by them. But 1) that doesn't mean the prosecutors have to do what the casinos want, and 2) that's a short-sighted policy. It would be smarter for the casinos to repair/replace the machines and keep quiet. Word would get around, and most likely there'd be an increase in revenue as people try to find bugs. Monitor the machines and quickly fix any bugs found. The end result will be more revenue, not less.

And yes, Cotton Thaggard was wrongly convicted (civil charge). The bank that pressed the issue likely netted less profit in the following years due to bad publicity.