Sounds like a fantastic feature for them to remove a few years down the road when a security hole allowing all homebrew and custom firmware is discovered!

Might I recommend Freespace and/or Freespace 2? Sounds like they might be exactly what you're looking for, and with the Freespace 2 Source Code Project the graphics have gotten a very nice upgrade (though both those games still looked good years after their initial release).

Fixed for accuracy.

I like cargo shorts. Excellent way to carry around my iPod, my iPhone, and my iPad. If only apple made iShorts and iBoxers I'd be living the dream...

My point was more about bias than legality, just because something is illegal doesn't mean we should trust any old person or company to talk about it, especially through our government and without disclosure that there is a conflict of interest. This one may have been fine, but I dislike the fact that it sets a precedent. I find it pretty easy to imagine future ones branding people who are for IP reform, or even removing IP laws altogether, but who respect the law as is, being defamed due to biased PSAs. If the government finds it ok to place seeds of distrust in the general populace toward groups of political activists who happen to want something big media (or big oil or big or small anything for that matter) doesn't...well, we're already too close to that for my comfort. I really don't want to see what things will look like if we go all the way.

But I do agree with your final point. That's a "WTF" that I think everyone can get behind.

What if the PSA stated, or even implied, that "fast food" *flashes McD's sign* isn't that bad for you *flashes images of skinny people at line at McD's* and you should eat it more often *flashes image of McD's drive through*, would you have an issue? Note, I have not seen the PSA, but if it included the ludicrously inflated "financial damage due to piracy" statistics the media companies like to drop, could you see why some people would think that this is an issue?

Definitely for the best in my opinion, and not just because of writing quality, the new design, or anything like that. They've just lost their "oomph." Early on, they were terrifying, seeing them pop up suddenly made my heart sink, wondering how they would get through the situation. Now that the Doctor has plowed through them countless times, in increasingly absurd numbers, they just don't evoke that reaction anymore. "I am the last Dalek!" *dead* "We are the last of the Dalek fleet!" *dead* "We are the last five Daleks!" *dead* "We are all the Daleks ever!" *dead* "We are the last five Daleks! (again!)" *dead*

And, at least for me, the same is true of the cybermen. To be fair, I wasn't a huge fan of them as an enemy in the first place, but they definitely feel stale to me now. I'd love to see the return of some of the enemies used only a couple times, or something new and unique. The weeping angels were just fantastic. They were unique, dangerous without being pegged as "THE WORST THING THAT THE DOCTOR HAS EVER FACED!!!!11", and, perhaps most importantly, used sparingly. Maybe one more episode of them this season, perhaps with a nice twist on the theme, amidst some one-shot challenges, and perhaps even a brand new recurring foe.

You forgot Hannah Montana.

If only there were a setting to allow sideloading. One that's disabled by default to protect unsavvy users, but is easily enabled by people who know what they're doing/willing to accept the risks. Oh, hey, look! There it is! "Unknown Sources: Allow installation of non-market applications."

Good to know that the iphone has a similar setting, that was a good move on Apple's part. Oh, wait, it doesn't? You have to exploit security holes to enable sideloading? Huh. How about that.

Then risk it. If people are only buying the games because they can't viably pirate them, then your games are crappy enough that the platform should die.

I'd rather they actually planned ahead so he could be present for the bill signing. It's not like this need for renewal snuck up on them. I mean, I'm sure they've all read the whole Act and are aware of the various deadlines...right?

Well, if Sony hadn't so royally screwed up it's security on the PS3 and the PSN, Nintendo wouldn't have felt the need to lock down their newest system this hard! They learned that the only way to stop people from hacking their consoles is to cause the consoles TO CATCH FIRE AND EXPLODE if you do something wrong. But they realized that might end badly, so they went with the next best option and just decided to brick the things. Sony, on the other hand, is trying to perfect localized disintegration technology for the PS4 so they can just vaporize it the moment it hears the words "Linux" or "GeoHot."

Does your mortgage deduction really bring you below a 10% tax rate? I'm skeptical, but truly curious. I'm looking into buying my first house, and looking at mortgage info compared to what I've paid in taxes previous years, I can't imagine that deduction bringing my taxes that low unless my mortgage was WELL beyond what I should be able to afford (which, granted, I was offered. Here I was wondering if I could really afford a $120k mortgage, and the mortgage company offers me $175k).

I do find your definition of "grossly unfair" a bit interesting, as I would consider a flat tax applied to everyone regardless of status or class of any type to be the fairest such a tax possibly could be. That said, in the interest of kindness (which is different from "fairness"), I probably wouldn't object to a tax break for people whom taxes would bring below a "living wage" or something like that.

What? As a student I can get 3DSMax for 90% off? That's an awesome deal! I think I'll go buy it ri- oh. It's still $350. Well then.

That said, there are ways to get the software legally for free as a student. I know plenty of people who have done that when it was available and I'm still kicking myself for not taking advantage of it while I was still in college.

So let me ask you this. I used Pro-Engineer in college, an excellent 3D Cad program that costs something like $6000-8000 per license. Even the student version is several hundred if I were still in school. I've been out of college for over a year and my current job does not require me to use 3D Cad at all, but the jobs I'm aiming for once I have some experience will. How can I legally keep myself in practice on any CAD software I'm not currently using at work (I only use 2D AutoCAD at work)? I certainly can't afford to drop months worth of income on a piece of software for purely personal use(and I don't have enough money in the bank even if I stupidly decided to try), and messing with getting a friend still in college to get the Academic license and handing it off to me is just as morally borderline as pirating in my mind, not to mention a lot more complicated. So what do I do to keep my skills up-to-date and competitive without becoming a criminal in some form or another?

Human drama is fine in moderation. Human drama drawn out over a full 40 minute episode and completely overshadowing why people wanted to watch the show in the first place, is not. Hence why I lost interest in House and CSI, amongst others.