And you're suggesting they shouldn't be forcibly relocated to some sort of leper island?

This is what really blew my mind. When people started asking for his birth certificate, it seemed perfectly reasonable to me, because I had always assumed that it was standard practice. Why is it that I have to present multiple forms of ID, my social security number, large amounts of contact info, and admit to any felonies just to get a job bagging groceries, but the person running for the highest office of one of the most powerful countries in the world does not have to produce a birth certificate to prove that they fulfill two of the basic requirements of holding the position (natural born citizenship and at least 35 years old)? Sure, you'll always have conspiracy nuts, but it seems like much of this would have been avoided if the candidates for President had to prove they fulfilled the requirements, just like every other person applying for a job in this country.

Absolutely. The people skilled enough to hack in general are not pirates. They want homebrew, a powerful development platform, etc. Linux on the PS3 gave them that. Then, once that was removed, they hacked the HECK out of the PS3 to get it back, and then the less skilled pirate hackers took what they did and finished the job, allowing piracy that likely never would have happened (or at least taken nearly until the end of the console's life-cycle) had they just left the feature there.

No choice? Huh, I could have SWORN there could be other options like "Patch the vulnerability without screwing their customers." You know, a REASONABLE response.

Maybe you should read it as well? GeoHot maybe kinda sorta found a bug, or something, that might, maybe, someday, somehow allow him to access the graphics hardware on the PS3 via OtherOS, which might, eventually, somehow, some way allow them to run pirated games via OtherOS. That was it. That's all. Nothing more. Nothing less. SCEA vs. GeoHot was about GeoHot publishing some sort of encryption key that allowed people to hack GameOS, and he did this MONTHS after OtherOS had been removed.

Yup. Because not using something you paid for is TOTALLY a legit reason for the person you bought it from taking it back. I hope you use that fire extinguisher within a few years of buying it, otherwise when you need it, you might just find that Home Depot took it back.

You guys, too?! Man, and I thought the colonies declared independence so we didn't have to follow your rules...

That's the big "if," isn't it? But considering there's quite a bit of good writing that's cheap or free, and quite a bit of crap writing that's $10+, I don't see price as an indication of quality.

Plus, a good book is valuable enough to me that I'm willing to waste some hours on a few duds on the chance I'll find a good one.

The stuff I had to read in my Modern American Lit class in high school begs to differ.

And, honestly, even if I do find huge amounts of crap from self-published people, that still isn't going to make me look for a publisher's mark. The degree of badness may vary, but I imagine if I got a hundred random recently published fantasy books (my favorite genre), I would put down just as many out of boredom or irritation. Especially when you look at this ridiculous obsession with hunk vampires going on right now.

So...if I never looked for one before, why would I start now? Because you tend to find the good, cheap ebooks tend to have one? I have read far too much trash that has not only been published, but published and highly praised to give a crap about a publisher's mark.

I did say Fantasy, not Sci-Fi, but I know what you mean. So, I suppose I can expand the question. Anything at all worth reading on there?

I have never in my life looked for a publisher's mark to determine if a book is good. I read the back, and with the advent of the internet, I read reviews. So, if I saw an independently published book with an interesting description but no reviews for 99 cents, I'd probably grab it because 1) I want to support self publishing and the end of the old publisher business model and 2) because, for 99 cents, so what if it's bad? I can find that much on my bedroom floor. I pay that much for a freaking cookie sometimes, and a good book lasts a lot longer than a cookie.

You mean like this girl? http://www.novelr.com/2011/02/27/rich-indie-writer

How about they...say...print fewer physical copies, then? If the number of print copies you sell is going down, don't keep printing the same quantity and then raise the price of ebooks to compensate for your bad business decision. Besides, as has been demonstrated multiple times, when you can set the price really low, doing so can get you a lot of money as it enters "impulse buy" range.

Interesting site. Anything in particular on there you'd recommend to a fan of classic fantasy (or fantasy of any type, really)?