For some, the web isn't even ".com," it's whatever name they type in the address bar sans TLD. I had a user complain that she couldn't access Google. She edited the URL already in the address bar to read "http://www.google" and didn't know why she was getting the 404. (I guess there's a browser which will append a ".com" without using a specific keystroke?)

With other users getting to Google from their Yahoo home page by searching for "google" and clicking on the first link, I wouldn't bet on gTLDs going too far with the user base. It will probably only be a cash cow for ICANN and the major search engines.

And yet my local paper (News & Messenger, Prince William VA) has published front-page articles explicitly stating "According to Wikipedia" and directly quoting the wiki article. Clearly the academic bounds on Wiki use have not made their way into the world of journalism.

My university's website still links to Ruckus for "Music--Free and Legal Downloading" and we just had a whole bunch of copyright "awareness" posters put up in our computer labs that I think mention Ruckus.

Of course, every time I heard their name, my first thought was always "Are they still around?" If it wasn't clear before, the music labels don't care about anyone other than themselves, given the sudden shutdown.

Um, your two choices are really one. Blackboard bought out WebCT, so Blackboard pretty much owns the "Learning Management System" market.

And yes, it's a crappy system. Our university lost Bb service for an entire week -- during exams, no less -- because Bb allowed a corrupted database to be backed up so far back that when no one could download or upload files, Bb and their Oracle consultants had no choice but to rebuild. Not to mention the lack of communication from Bb on when they were taking down the system to fix the problem; they would say "We won't touch the system from 9am to 5pm" and promptly take it down at 1pm to try a new fix, without any advance warning.

WebCT wasn't a great system, but at least it worked and wasn't resource-intensive. Bb runs these painfully-slow Java applets that waste their time pinging the home server, require the Java applet to upload files (you can upload by HTML form but it still needs the Java applet to get to the upload page), and Bb will break if you try to use multiple tabs or if your browser crashes. It's too bad Bb did end-of-life on WebCT, but of course it makes perfect business sense to Bb.

These problems have pissed off so many faculty members that it might be forcing the administration to reconsider the Bb contract. So yes, I agree, it's administration and faculty that drive IT decisions, not IT.

False on Windows systems. You can enable remote logins on null-password accounts through Local Security Policy.

Take a look at the 10-K and you'll find at least one risk factor which applies to Jobs (CEO):

The Company's success depends largely on its ability to attract and retain key personnel.
Much of the Company's future success depends on the continued service and availability of skilled personnel, including its CEO, its executive team and key employees in technical, marketing and staff positions. (p. 21, FY 2008 10-K)

IANASL (securities lawyer) but I find it relevant that the CEO is separated from the term "executive team." To compare, the similar risk factor in Microsoft's 10-K does not even specify specific employees.

When college students and faculty come to my desk and ask how do they save or print their document in Word 2007, that's a pretty clear indication that the Word UI is complex and complicated.

The legal explanation as provided by the U.S. Treasury:

Q: I thought that United States currency was legal tender for all debts. Some businesses or governmental agencies say that they will only accept checks, money orders or credit cards as payment, and others will only accept currency notes in denominations of $20 or smaller. Isn't this illegal?

A: The pertinent portion of law that applies to your question is the Coinage Act of 1965, specifically Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, entitled "Legal tender," which states: "United States coins and currency (including Federal reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public charges, taxes, and dues." This statute means that all United States money as identified above are a valid and legal offer of payment for debts when tendered to a creditor. There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as for payment for goods and/or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless there is a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition, movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a matter of policy.

It's called a "poor man's copyright," it involves only copyright, not patents, and it's a myth. The U.S. Copyright Office has a note on this. Don't waste your money, especially with the cost of Registered Mail these days.

As for the original submitter, he's likely safe as long as a "substantial" amount of University resources aren't used, and if there isn't an existing contract between him and the University (work-study, faculty/TA, or regular employee) covering intellectual property. My school has a similar policy. And what I found on the SUU site turned up this:

In the Southern Utah University Student Handbook, for instance, you will find the [...] Intellectual Property Policy.

Which seems to be listed here.

cops in unmarked cars might start targeting areas where newly publicized photo radar cameras have been placed and pulling over speeders and checking their plates

Thus negating the point of putting up said cameras.

Maybe the state legislatures and city councils should consider the novel idea of not figuring traffic fine revenue into their budgets and not hiring private companies to do the police department's work.

It's the same for USPS package services (anything above First-Class Mail). You have to generate a zone chart from your originating ZIP Code before determining shipping rates. Priority is based on zone and weight or, in some cases, zone and size. Parcel Post is based on zone and weight, but some ZIP codes that are major hubs offer cheaper "Intra-BMC" rates.

You laugh, but older contract offices still get their software updates, including price changes, via mail.

On 3.5" floppy.

The terminals still use green-text monitors.

The zones are clearly marked but determining which zone you are shipping to is not. They are based on distance from the originating ZIP Code so the application must use Postal Explorer to generate the zone chart ahead of time. (For now, it happens to be working.) And in the case of non-flat-rate Priority Mail, there's a huge price difference between zone 4 (zone and weight only) and zone 5 (zone and weight *OR* zone and size).

Real ID makes sense when it comes to standardizing how DMV records need to be entered/stored, and detecting multiple IDs for one person. Searching one database accurately with erroneous data is hard enough; searching multiple databases, each with their own inaccuracies, for data not stored in the same format is even harder. And how many reasons are there for maintaining multiple state IDs?

Frankly, he should have asked them to dismiss it from federal court on Constitutional grounds (you can't sue in federal court for matters of less than $20 per the Constitution

The way I'm reading the 7th amendment, the $20 clause only seems to apply to protection of the right to a jury trial -- i.e. the court must give the option of a trial by jury in common law suits involving more than $20.