I worked at JPL for a few years (pre 9/11). It was a congenial environment. I got my badge with no hassles; I certainly sympathize with the present plight of my former colleagues and wish them good luck, and may they win if the case goes to the US Supreme Court.

I certainly hope the Obama administration will scale back Bush-era excesses. They have harmed us much more than terrorism ever could.

Incidentally, back then I was tickled to find out that the code we were writing for NASA spacecrafts was in the public domain -- anybody could request a copy. May I assume it is no longer so?! :)

Well, there IS a difference. When you appeal from a decision you may be limited as to what issues you may raise, and indeed there are rules, with good reason, about matters not brought up at trial level. This, however, is not an appeal, it is a new trial, and it seems standard trial procedure ought to apply. I did not see any support for the RIAA position in their motion document, the only authority they quote is a... request for judicial notice, which even to me (not an expert like NYCL) seems kinda laughable.

> knowing that things will simmer down in October

Ah. October 1, 1993 never comes :(

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternal_September

Cowboy Neal for Internet czar!

Remarkably, all those miraculous Tibetan tea ads aiming to cleanse my toxins or make my sex drive soar never quite make it out of the throw-away email account I used when responding to Real Age. As for my Facebook account -- whoever guesses the ONE item about me therein contained that is NOT false wins, well... an ampule of essence of a rare African forest flower guaranteed to enliven your ear lobes.

After the Big Bang... comes the Big Cigarette.

Broadband-for-all... in order to Spy-on-all.

Let me add some personal insights to the (admittedly well-thought-out) OP account and try to point out a few complementary facts.

It so happens I have never used TPB, but I have been employing torrents to some extent, and P2P much more so (the "clean" kind: soulseek). The RIAA need not worry [smile]: out of my 10000+ tracks hardly any appear in their Top lists (and, may I add, the majority of what I have downloaded I already own, on CDs and LPs, so it was mainly a matter of convenience). I do, however, have quite a bit of material from new, indie bands and performers, that I met and I happened to like. Some of them I encountered through MySpace, last.fm, vampirefreaks and related sites. And yes, when I find something I like I do buy it, to support the artist and do my bit to ensure more future releases. I prefer models of support where my money goes to the artist and not to the advertisement/distribution network of a large corporation.

Over the years I have met a lot of people in such music scenes -- from all walks of life (and from 4 of the 5 continents). Not all do as I do, of course -- but consider: There are quite a few among them who have just about enough for life's basic necessities. They wouldn't go out and buy CDs one way or another. The day may come, though, when their fortunes improve, and they do start buying... especially if they can do so at a reasonable cost, and not one inflated by hype, pomp and circumstance. Some bands already provide this approach.

It seems to me the large music companies will find the erosion of their stranglehold increasing, and inevitably so. Recording used to need a studio; nowadays a PC is enough. Distribution and advertisement used to require an elaborate (and expensive) edifice; nowadays the realities of the Internet dictate otherwise. Said companies find themselves progressively denuded, more and more so left holding an emptying bag. It reminds me of Eco's comment in a different setting: stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus.

Your observation re inappropriate use of Quantum Mechanics is of course correct (witness BTW the ubiquitous use of "quantum leap" whereas in most cases just "leap" is appropriate.) I do hope though that the authors are not necessarily claiming that QM is at work here -- but only that the mathematical model of QM is, or may be, useful in describing what is going on. After all the idea of superimposing amplitudes rather than adding probabilities is just a bit of mathematics. And so is a certain property of the Fourier transform... which has achieved unending notoriety once it was cast in a quantum setting and given the name "Heisenberg Uncertainty Relation".

"DO NOT TOUCH"

Never mind, Seven. You can get dressed now.

I have been using my T-Mobile BlackBerry as a tethered modem for years. Not only is it allowed, there is no extra charge for it -- tethering is included in the $20 per month I pay for regular Internet access by the device.

Huh... go look in Europe now. Many of the newspapers are organs of political parties.

The first step of the eventual demise of Microsoft, as given by an ancient prophecy:

I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown

And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.

And on the pedestal these words appear:

`My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:

Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,

The lone and level sands stretch far away.

[Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1818]