Wait, I take that back; the NSA will set the FBI up with an Xbox and Forza Motorsport and tell them they're driving around the 'net in virtual Corvettes, just like in Tom Clancy's Net Force.

Who cares? They're about 30 years too late to the punch compared to the NSA. Their entire office is going to be staffed by a single ticker-tape machine being sent whatever the NSA deems useful to the FBI.

It's more than a bit concerning that the most flexible, agile, and innovative part of the economy is the military.

Any one else think we need CARPA - the Civilian Advanced Research Project Agency? Preferably one that has nothing to do with the government.

Frack those fracking frackers!

The price for freedom is safety and security.

The catch, of course, is that safety and security are just illusions anyway. They can be promised to you but never delivered.

Honestly, unless you're willing to shell out the $$ for a pro-level printer and paper, it's cheaper to use an online service. I would avoid the Walmarts and Costcos, though I'm sure their service is fine, but I personally use and recommend White House Custom Color (www.whcc.com). Get on their mailing list for occasional discounts. Haven't done anything in bulk with them, though.

[...] what certainty do pledgers have that the game that they have paid for will ever see the light of day?

None. None at all. And that's the beauty of it. Kickstarter is the ultimate expression of capitalist society. All risk, unknown reward. If you want someone to pitch in for your idea, you have to return the favor. We weren't meant to all be worker drones, but rather to be free to make a living as our own entity. It takes a set of brass ones to stick yourself out there, and it lights a fire under your butt to get a response like "Hell yeah! Do it! I'll throw in $10 just to see you TRY."

FTA:

The U.S. contribution to ITER would also grow by $73 million, to $178 million. That amount is $28 million higher than the request.

[...]

To help pay for the fusion increases, the committee made major cuts to DOE's Basic Energy Sciences account, which funds studies in an array of fields, including chemistry, geosciences, and biology. That account would get $1.7 billion, $36.9 million below this year's level and $142.5 million below the Administration's request. The bulk of the savings would come from canceling or delaying construction projects.

[...]

Research into fossil and nuclear energy, meanwhile, would grow. The bill includes $554 million—$207 million above last year's level—for development of coal, natural gas, oil, and other fossil energy technologies. It also includes $765 million for nuclear energy research.

So in other words, ITER fusion (tokamak) and old school crap fossil fuel are getting a boost at the expense of forward-looking science research, which got majorly AXED.

Is this a good thing at all? I tend to agree with the few who think that the Tokamak research is a distraction, keeping funds away from other forms of fusion research that are more viable.

From the ITER wikipedia page:

A number of fusion researchers working on non-tokamak systems, such as Robert Bussard and Eric Lerner, have been critical of ITER for diverting funding that they believe could be used for their potentially more reasonable and/or cost effective fusion power plant designs.[34][35] Criticisms levied often revolve around claims of the unwillingness by ITER researchers to face up to potential problems (both technical and economic).[34]

R. Daneel Olivaw you insensitive clod! Don't you know he controls everything from his base on the moon!?!

Are they completely ignorant of the ubiquity of cameras today? Forget the fact that most of those cameras are attached to something that can easily upload images to the world at large.

This deserves a flash-mob style constant bombardment of images from the Olympics being uploaded during the games. Even if we get bored to tears of the sheer volume of Olympics photos uploaded, just overwhelm them with the obviousness of their own stupidity.