Drat! From the headline, I thought this mission was kicking off a new wave of music in the spirit of the Flaming Lips.

Yes, it was difficult to immigrate to the U.S. 100 years ago, but for some more than others. There are pieces of history that don't get a lot of airtime in grade school or high school history, such as the Page Act and the Chinese Exclusion Act. Many more followed within the last century, including the Immigartion Act of 1924. Within the context of all of the immigration restrictions that the U.S. government has put in place throughout its history against groups popularly stereotyped as carriers of disease, of low moral character, and lazy, the current immigration debate looks to me like just one more iteration of us vs them xenophobia in the U.S.

As I understand it, before DDT was banned in the U.S., it's main effect on bird reproduction was a result of its being sprayed outside in massive quantities to kill teh bugz. Today, the rest of the world (where it's not banned) has different protocols; turns out small amounts in a room, for example, keeps the room mosquito free. And no one thinks massive outdoor spraying makes sense anymore. Maybe a reaction of "let's use this tool more wisely" would've done just as well at preserving wild birds as the "it's evil, let's ban it" reaction did. And we'd have, y'know, a useful tool available too.

Or it will be forced to innovate and create a system that hasn't existed before, to go with technologies and distribution methods that haven't existed before. A broken business model might destroy an industry, but only in the process of creating room for a new, more relevant model to rise from its ashes.

I've been writing fiction for pleasure for years, and recently started a concerted push to finish something and present it to the world. I've had to step back and recognize that my notions about publishing were outdated - even 2 years ago, things were different. My current approach is, as a previous poster noted, that I'm writing for the privilege of getting to share my thoughts with the world. I've also seen the virtual tip jar work in specific situations, and right now I'm most interested in pursuing a model where 1) I do the marketing, making the book available digitally for free, or as a print on demand for cost, and 2) including in the book a note to the effect of "if you're enjoying this, please visit $WEBSITE and throw something in the tip jar." Is it naive? I don't know. But it seems like trusting in readers' good natures is where I land when I pivot 180 degrees from the DRM and sue mentality.

Apple sells high end products. Apple's target audience is people who will pay more for aesthetics, and for a bottom liner on troubleshooting. Apple's less concerned with selling more products than selling more expensive products. A single digit market share isn't a problem with this model, because Apple's skimming the cream off the market, and leaving PC manufacturers to compete on price with very slim margins.

This reminds me of the introduction to Samuel R. Delany's The Motion of Light in Water, where he talks about his admittedly faulty memory colliding with a biographer's researched facts. He concludes a long explanation with "...the wrong sentence still feels to me righter than the right one."

No, this technology isn't appropriate for financial transactions. But anywhere that randomness could open the door to unexpected results that shed new light on something, I think this could be pretty exciting.

The major carriers pre-empted the legislation by switching to prorated ETFs. For example, my last Verizon contract had a $175 ETF, which decreased by $5 for each month you're in the contract. Still a considerable hit even if you're only a few months from the end. Just enough to keep congress at bay, I guess.

It is a pretty awesome poem by Elizabeth Bishop

Yeah, but at least Microsoft is never going to raise their prices simply because their mother stopped giving them free sugar...