So the only "fighting robot" actually mentioned is still an X or experimental prototype. Yeah this is great informative reporting right here. Do people really watch this crap? Are these same people actually allowed to vote? Democracy is doomed, rule by the stupid masses, what a fantastic idea. -W

I used to think a Kindle was an overpriced single-trick pony. Then Amazon sold it for $100 and change, now I take it everywhere, home, gym, plane. People will buy IPads because they are cool, sexy, easy to use, and useful. People don't care how much they cost. For non Apple tablets, they just have to be cheap enough for people to say, "why not", and then they will buy them. I don't understand why the other manufacturers don't "get it" yet. They can't compete at anything close to Apple's price. -W

I've a feeling it has a lot to do with weight. Invent a light enough feather analog and a way of anchoring it with control for each feather, and you might be onto something. From the documentation on the website, "SmartBird has a total weight of around 400 grams and a wingspan of 2 metres". If you can duplicate that once you invent your lightweight feather system, you're onto something. -W

We don't have a power crisis, we don't have peak food, peak oil, or peak facebook views. We have peak people. Radioactive water is a solution, not a problem. -W

Now geeks can get socially acceptable plastic surgery.

This is true, however most off-the-shelf computer motherboards run at various DC voltages, and this still requires conversion (which means more power lost through heat). This is why companies like Google that run server farms that equate to nothing more then thousands of motherboards zip tied to wire racks had component manufacturers make boards that only run on 1 voltage (24VDC I believe). I think that the concept is sound, but it does require a degree of standardization that only exists in custom orders currently. -W

I'm pretty sure Cassini launched despite the insane Luddites. People bitch about everything, when you start listening, you're just a bitchmagnet. -W

Maybe all the enemies will just start using subsonic rounds, like a .45 I wonder how often this is going to get squads to simply start tracking eachother, doesn't seem to be any provisions for friendly fire. -W

As someone who's played guitar most of my life, and had some success at it, I can say it's also very frustrating trying to play the "balding middle-aged male version of dance dance revolution" that is guitar hero or rock band. Frankly I suck at the game, and I'm looking forward to a game that I may actually be better at and involves a bit more then twiddling my digits in reaction to various lights much akin to a lab rat in an experiment. -W

Stand back and imagine a moment. . . a nuclear power plant designed to withstand a mighty 8.2 earthquake built right next to the ocean. . . um, oh no tsunami? How is the tsunami supposed to be something the plant was not designed for? Sure, there is some good engineering here, but piss poor planing and 0 forsight. -W

Sprint owns 51% of Clearwire. All of the "4G" services Sprint offers use the Clearwire network. Keep in mind that this is WiMax, and not really 4G, but because they sold it before 4G was a standard, they can continue to advertise as such. Rumors are of a deal between Sprint, T-Mobile, and Clearwire regarding 4G, so I suspect something significant to come of this soon, probably for the worse (for the consumer) and for the better for the beleaguered business deal.

His writing infuriates me. I love the story, I love the depth, and I love how complex it is. What drives me crazy is that he will go on to describe a single meal over the course of 20 pages, yet he will kill off a main character in a few random sentences. The man clearly loves his food. -W

Last I heard, Cheney and Rumsfeld are still at large. If the government isn't going to do anything about the people responsible for crashing passenger jets into buildings in NYC, why the fuck would they care about an RC plane?

To just use the domestic pipelines we have to deliver gasoline instead? The infrastructure is already there. I see two ways this could work: We could use slugs (like the kind used to clean the pipelines, but hallow) as canisters, or, even better (since this is the US), just replace the gasoline with high-fructose corn syrup and then it could just be processed into whatever fab crap the plebes are eating at the time when it comes out the other end?