It's not the "peer to peer lending" you need to worry about, it's the capitalist "free market", which is always eager to squeeze you for every last dime, and screw the people who can't afford it.

It wouldn't surprise me in the least if the publishing industry really was actively trying to dismantle public libraries. Open competition is a good thing, but within limits. This trend towards draconian control over all forms of media is a serious threat. Libraries were created so people who otherwise lacked the means could still have access to study materials and literature.

There needs to be a reasonable amount of control over how the market works, and that control should be geared toward limiting corporate greed, not enabling it. We can not and should not allow only the markets to have total control of themselves. If you do, you end up with situations like the housing crisis and subsequent recession we're dealing with now. Obviously, media companies getting their way won't cause an economic catastrophe like the housing crisis, it will do something on the same scale of cluster fuck: remove a person's ability to actually own media.

If the publishing industry (and media companies in general) gets their way, the Kindle's DRM will seem like a dream in comparison. I'm sure the publishing industry (and media companies in general) would love to have a device that required a constant connection to their servers to view content so they could actively monitor the contents of that device and remotely brick any that appear to have compromised content. The same goes for game, music, television and movie companies. It'll no longer be "your" game/movie/book/music, it'll be "your temporary and revocable at any time, these terms may change without notice usage agreement" for the corporation's game/move/book/music.

History disagrees with you. You can look up the numerous lynchings in the south and Rodney King for starters. History is rife with examples of police officers violating all kinds of laws and getting off free and clear.

Yes, that's how it works in theory. The reality, however, it's quite different. Take your house example. If the government really wanted your land, they'd first try to buy it from you. If that failed, they'd try to exploit local ordinances, say by claiming your house is in violation of some kind of building code and shall be condemned in x days unless corrected. Should that fail, they may try to get a new ordinance passed that isn't easily fixed, or use harassment by local law enforcement, etc until you get fed up and leave. And if all else fails, they can claim Imminent Domain, which indeed gives them the right to simply take your house, quite legally and without compensation.

Of course that's a gross generalization, and it leaves out the fact that in most cases, it's not the government itself abusing the system, it's corporations who have immense sway in all levels of politics. And recently the state I live in has experienced just that.

A couple years ago a power company submitted permits for two coal-fired power plants to be built near a local town. The permits were rejected citing pollution concerns for the town and the surrounding land. The rejection was appealed, a public referendum was held and again the permit was denied. It seems the people didn't want a bunch of coal pollution near their homes, even if it meant new jobs in the area.

So what happened? Rather than change the type of power plant or find a new location, the power company appealed to state lawmakers, who sent through legislation that basically made it illegal to deny a permit based on environmental concerns. The direct representatives of the population decided to ignore the public and instead serve the corporation's interests.

Maybe that's okay to you, but to me that's the law being reshaped to fit the whims of the highest bidder, not to reflect the desires of the people. And this is not an isolated incident, it's standard practice. So again I ask, if you have the power to make the laws, when will you ever be above the law?

Too bad you can't fix stupid.

Brilliant? I think the fact he applied the Drake equation to measure his dating prospects gives far more insight to his girl problems than whatever results he got. Most women don't like to be analyzed and quantified. Women probably find the guy insufferable.

This has bad and far-reaching implications. Just yesterday NPR ran a story about how Monsanto is like the Microsoft of the seed industry because the vast majority of farmers are using seeds with the round-up ready gene and they have complete proprietary control over those seeds (farmers aren't even allowed to harvest seeds from the existing crop and replant them, they have to buy new seed from Monsanto every new crop). And the gene isn't limited to corn; it's being inserted into as many types of crops it can be put into (the NPR story notes soybeans). Who knows how long it'll take to figure out how many other crops with the round-up ready gene have this side-effect, or how fast/well Monsanto's PR department will downplay the studies' results.

Got a point... People who talk on the phone with those earbud headsets already look crazy if you can't see the headset. What are we supposed to think of people waving their arms about for no apparent reason or waggling their fingers at their phones like they're a magician? "Abra-cadabra! Call my mom."

That's why it's terrible? And here I thought it was because they're parading lab animals around like it's one of MSN's 'fashion flub' pieces.

There seems to be a flaw in your logic here. The part where the government is not above the law is a fallacy, and completely contradicts the rest of your statement. Saying they're not above the law implies accountability. And I agree that the government can do pretty much whatever it wants so long as they make a law allowing it first. But let me ask you, if you have the power to make the laws, when are you ever going to be above them?

I'm pretty sure that's because motion blur wasn't much utilized until after Doom. If anything the first games to really use it would have been racing games. And if I recall correctly, the original Ridge Racer even noted it as a feature.

That, and they want to be able to have near-absolute control of content again. A new and improved Internet where the DRM is built right in, and the poor, huddled masses of big business doesn't have to be afraid of piracy or charging for content anymore.

I believe he's referring to the total building height, as opposed to the building height that's above ground. In which case he may be right, although I don't recall the sub-levels of a building ever being factored in when measuring its height so it's a moot point.

I can't. I live less than five minutes from city limits of my state's capital city and I can't get broadband. I've called every cable and DSL provider in the city and not one is willing to extend the line out to me, even when I've offered to pay for laying the line (and at over $1 per foot, that's a hell of a commitment on my part). If they do this, then there'd better be some 'Ma Bell' like condition that whoever asks for the cable can get it.

No, physical brain size does not directly correlate to intelligence. It used to be that rival scientists had their brains preserved and then measured to see who was smarter, then realized this was about as accurate as phrenology. What IS important size-wise is the body:brain ratio, as it's been repeatedly shown that the larger this ratio is, the higher the average intelligence of the species. But this only works on a species level, not individuals. It's primarily the brain's structure and the amount of resources the body devotes to brain function that determines its real ability.

But really, if these guys were so smart, why are they extinct? Our little, dumb human brains managed to figure it out, so...?

I sure hope that's where this is heading. Now that they have the basics, they need to start shrinking it down to human size and partnering with researchers who do mind-machine interfaces. And of course the power issue. But it's amazing to think that in perhaps one or two more generations people might be able to get a fully articulated replacement arm and hand.