You say this hot on the heels of the report of 60TB HDDs by 2016.

HDDs aren't going anywhere. I think the near-term future is hybrid systems like Intel's Smart Response becoming more advanced and commonplace--moving the files (and/or entire operating system) that you actually use onto the SSD while keeping the big stuff on the HDD.

No, it's not. In Indiana, we had a company--Magnequench--that manufactured high-powered magnets required for advanced US missiles. For whatever reason, US regulators let a Chinese company buy it under the promise that they would keep the factory running. What a surprise, the Chinese shut down Indiana manufacturing facilities and moved operations to China. This happened several years ago, and it's hardly the only case of this happening. We are hanging ourselves for short-term profits.

Doesn't NASA already have a great idea for a Mars exploration mission? ARES?

Taxing storage under the assumption that you're going to use it for piracy is ridiculous. This is like police departments taxing car drivers for the miles they drive under the "reasonable" assumption that you're going to be using your car for reckless and/or drunk driving.

Beating/killing reporters that are making successful companies or politicians look bad is the standard operating procedure in China. It doesn't just happen sometimes, it happens all the time. If you are arguing that it doesn't happen, or is just random, isolated incidents, it shows that you are completely ignorant of how bad the situation is in China. Go ask any Hong Konger how frequently Hong Kong reporters or beaten. Hell, just go ask any Chinese person how frequently Mainland reporters are beaten, tortured, or killed. Everybody knows it happens like every American knows that corporations bribe our politicians frequently. A quick Google search comes up with 8.8 million results for "China reporter beaten." China is not at the bottom of the Press Freedom Index for nothing. Chinese society and the common man does not like it, but there is little they can do about it but document it on social networks.

What do you call it when the Chinese government forces foreign companies that sell products there to make their products there; then forces the foreign company to make a joint 49%-51% venture where the Chinese company has the 51% share and automatically owns all IP rights that are developed for that manufacturing; then uses free government "loans" to fund a startup Chinese company whose IP was either procured from the 49%-51% rule or stolen by a senior factory engineer at the foreign company's Chinese factory; then pumps state money into that Chinese company so that they can manufacture essentially for free; then aggressively exports that product around the globe as an alternative to the foreign company's product which it was originally stolen from?

I guess you would call that "free trade," and you would call steep tariffs on those products by the US "protectionism."

I don't think that this doesn't happen anymore due to lack of demand... I'd love to be able to go to the movies and see old classics on the big screen, and I'd love even more to be able to go and watch TV on the big screen. Sunday Night Football on an IMAX with 7.1 surround? Heck yeah!

I get the sneaking suspicion, however, that there is a lot of movie/tv industry money blocking the way of this happening, though. Also, nobody is going to pay $15 for tickets to an old movie.

How can this woman be charged with contempt? Is there precedent in law to ignore the Fifth Amendment?

Even if all emissions stop today, the Earth will continue warming for another half-century, or so.

Certainly anthropogenic is not something to worry about today, much like running out of oil is not something to worry about today. But if you continue to procrastinate, it may come back and bite you in the ass in the long-term.

And anyways, humans are adaptable. I'm much more worried about ocean acidification.

If people started to be evaluated by banks by the people they associate with, even online, it would create a caste system. There really would be an untouchables class that nobody wants to associate themselves with, and there would also be a superior class that people think of as better than the common people.