...is a laser?

Suggestion: "Linux is an operating system that you are free to modify and give away. Because of this freedom, it's in use by a wide range of people, from hobbyists to universities to Fortune 500 companies. Major computer companies like IBM and Oracle also build products and services around Linux."

A bit of observation and recommendation: I'm just wrapping up a semester teaching World Literature which, in its short span, attempted to cover stories and poems from various times and cultures. Since many in the class seemed inclined to fantasy, I decided to throw in Gaiman ("Snow, Glass, Apples") in the same class as I was teaching Gabriel Garcia-Marquez ("A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings") While the class seemed quite taken with the Gaiman story at first, we actually found more to discuss with Marquez. The Gaiman story seemed pretty straightforward (and on subsequent rereading, had several unexplained plot points), the Garcia-Marquez had more depth. I like to think the class enjoyed the Marquez story more (though the Gaiman story was all right.)

Anyhow, bearing this in mind, I respectfully submit my own list:

1. Ray Bradbury ("All Summer in a Day" struck me the most)
2. Stanislaw Lem (check out "Microworlds" for his dissection of scifi -- one thing that struck me about Lem was his focus on the evolution of language)
3. Kurt Vonnegut,Jr. (obligatory, almost)
4. Iain M. Banks
5. Jorge Luis Borges
6. Ursula K. Le Guin ("The Dispossessed")
7. Richard Matheson ("I Am Legend")
8. Walter Tevis ("The Man Who Fell to Earth" and "Mockingbird")
9. Walter M. Miller Jr. ("A Canticle for Leibowitz", plus several great short stories)

It has happened. H5N1 avian influenza outbreaks in the mid-2000's come to mind. It's just that you have longer latency via airplanes compared to fibre-optics, but oh, they'll get there.

All your base are belong to us! Kidding aside, I agree with you about capturing the spirit. Apart from the adventure game (which I think you imply), there's also the tactical combat game. (For me, the best Star Trek tactical combat game was Starfleet.) Are adventure games and tactical combat games candidates for blockbuster hits? Not likely. But I would like to see them in smaller, casual games.

...this one got a smile out of me.

Add to that the fact that most gaming magazines (at least the ones I read five years ago) tend to be atrociously snarky whose writers suffer from an excess of personality. Not fun to read at all.

Facts are the enemy of the truth!

Try http://ngoinabox.org/, They offer four versions, but the most apropos is their Base Edition, with more detailed info here http://base.ngoinabox.org./ For donation tracking, the component they use is CiviCRM - http://civicrm.org/.

Maybe a "FIRST POST" comment should automatically be attached to every article?

And here I was thinking Rorschach. :-D

At the thirteenth installment? Doesn't seem so final at all.