How far away are we from the scenario where the Chinese Communist Party drums up rhetoric that the USA is an external existential threat to China and sells the idea to its rising middle class that the USA must and can be defeated by being outspent and by having its economy shattered - like the USA did to Russia with the Cold War?

And, yes, I probably look as crazy as I sound.

I realize that Atlanta summers are hot and all, but when cars start combusting just because of the season, I think you've crossed a line where it no longer matters what's causing climate change.

I am surprised that anyone, including the Tea Party members themselves, believed that the Federal Government would negotiate with terrorists.

So, are you saying I should upgrade from 23 to 40 channels on my CB? I was wondering if I should just go for something with upper and lower sidebands. :)

Please explain to me what is a "naturalized FL native". Does it have anything to do with hanging chads?

Personal bankruptcy in the US is chapters 7 and 13. You have to be very poor to file chapter 7, which eliminates debt. Otherwise, you are force in to chapter 13, which is a payback plan. Either way, bankruptcy is certainly not restricted to the wealthy. More precisely, the wealthy are restricted (for obvious reasons) from personal bankruptcy, not the other way around. The chapter 11 that you mentioned is for businesses and corporations only.

The problem right now is that people are literally too broke to file bankruptcy - they can't afford the court costs.

Obvious typ-o, but I feel compelled to make stupid jokes.

"300,000 6.8' screens"

My 60" TV isn't even 6'.

On a 6.8' eReader, you'd only have to turn the page once every hour or so depending on how fast you read.

Doesn't that come to over 386 miles of screen?

Put simply, multi-processing is not multi-threading

I had lots of fun with that in the early 90's. The first time I used the tool, I created a virus with no payload - just replicating and... accidentally unleashed it on my employers network. Fortunately, being the only admin, I cleaned it up before anyone noticed - not that they would anyway. Still, thanks for the memory. And, my kids would never find such a thing on my computers! They have yet to break my encryption.

8080A, Z-80, or 6502. When you've been 8-bit hacked, you stay hacked!

You and your new-fangled 16 bit processors. At least use an 8086, or even better, a moto 68k!

And, don't knock false teeth. Where else do you think I have my portable wifi hotspot installed?

I'll start this off by pointing out that I never get mod points when I need them.

I'd like some help from you so that the citizens of the United States of America can have their government back from the corporations. Stop buying products and services from, and stop working for American OR international corporations. Short of armed revolution, denying the corporations their tribute and slaves is the only way to break their grip.

You are on the right track with your assertion, but you are being naive thinking that (1) only Americans are controlled by corporations, and (2) the problem is with only American corporations. Every citizen in the world that buys a coca-cola when they are thirsty has been controlled by these multi-national corporations. Why else would you believe that sugar water quenches thirst?

My 2 cents: If you are using an FXO card, then VM is a no-go. These cards require full attention from the PCI bus in order to operate properly. In particular, I use Digium's TDM800P with Echo Cancellation. There might be other cards out there that are better designed, but I am unaware of them.

However, if you are going straight VOIP using a SIP/IAX trunk and SIP phones, a VM will work just fine so long as you have adequate and stable (perferably redundant) internet access, and your network is properly subnetted or VLAN'd, with a healthy dose of QOS.

But, here's the real reason to not run your phone system on a VM: maintenance. Losing your phone system whenever you have to maintain the hypervisor sucks. So, keep your PBX on dedicated hardware so the only reason to ever bring it down is if there is something actually wrong with the phone system.

Oh yeah, if you are going to use Asterisk, learn dialplans etc and don't use Trixbox, AsteriskNow! or any other Asterisk-based distros. Roll your own and you will be rewarded - even if you have to initially hire a consultant to get your first dialplan. I've started using Debian Wheezy as a base for Asterisk installs. Its nice to have everything all ready for you in the repositories, and at the moment, Asterisk 1.8 LTS with DAHDI and dkms make updates a breeze.

P.S. Please excuse anything stupid - I'm in the middle of a chemo treatment and apparently, my polarity has been reversed.

I got a Volcano with the solid valve kit for xmas from my wife (she truly loves me) and I use it almost exclusively. But sometimes, the situation just calls for a rice paper. I also picked up a Magic Flight Launch Box which is great for on-the-go situations... which are occurring less and less as the months progress.

Thanks for the tip though - I've been spreading the word on vaporizers as well.

Cannabis, of course, is ALWAYS an option :)