~shrugs~ No problem. There are things others do that annoy me too. But I will say that most of my life is full of non-trivial things. Sometimes, I need to talk about something completely useless, pointless, and irrelevant (like a Yahoo/Facebook social experiment) to remind myself that not everything in life needs to be important. It's OK to do something whimsical once in awhile. I find that a little frivolity goes a long way in making me a more bearable and less wound-up person. So, there you have it. It takes all kinds I guess.

I actually signed up for it because I'm like that and it turns out you have to provide the information you want to share and you have to send a message to a Facebook friend you think might get you closer to the end target. You do have to let the Yahoo app have access to your basic information on Facebook to sign up for it. If you want to be a target you have to let the app have more access to your information and provide some additional details. So basically, I doubt this will go anywhere specifically because it's not automatic or in the background. It takes actual intentional steps on the part of the participants.

Actually, according to a NASHP study http://www.allhealth.org/briefingmaterials/nashp-medicaidreimbursement-1277.pdf - "Dentists cite three primary reasons for their low participation in state Medicaid programs: low reimbursement rates, burdensome administrative requirements, and problematic patient behaviors." So, it's not that doctors will leave the profession. High overhead costs and low reimbursement rates simply cause them to choose to not serve that population. Your doctor friends likely think that the reimbursements will go up, and they may. However, I doubt it will be as much as they think, or need, to provide good service. Low reimbursement rates cause an "assembly line" kind of medical service. I am for medicaid and medicare. However, I believe expanding it beyond those who absolutely "need" it and incorporating more middle class income families will cause the service to degrade beyond what it is now because the government can't afford to increase the numbers served and keep the quality at the same levels. But, we'll see what happens.

Would they consider a Hoverbike, perhaps? http://www.hover-bike.com/index.html

I'm a Canadian living in Cincinnati and drove home to Edmonton, AB for a few weeks. I called my local cellular provider (Cincinnati Bell) and asked them for an international data roaming feature to be added to my account. There were multiple data caps available. I went for the mid-range and paid $30 per month for, I think, about 5 GB. It was turned on over the phone immediately and I turned it off when I got home by calling them up and telling them to turn it off. I also recommend getting international voice roaming if you are going to do that. Otherwise you can get hit with serious roaming charges just for making or receiving a call Internationally. I figured not a bad expense for the convenience. Hopefully your current cellular provider offers something similar.

... and that's not likely to change any time soon. So far as I know, there isn't any way to mine for them without doing some pretty significant ecological damage to region where you mine. China has gotten away with it by pretty much ignoring the health hazards to the workers and the surrounding area. That's not as likely to fly in the U.S. This also brings up the dramatic drop in cost predicted. Seeing as how China pretty much controls the market, we can't predict future prices without asking them what they intend to charge us in the future. We're just changing one foreign dependence for another.

Not necessarily. See this Wiki article for some recent examples http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_radio_emergency_communications. The main thing is that even in the U.S. it's possible to lose cell phone and land line communications over large swaths of territory quickly depending on the emergency. Amateur radio operators have groups who intentionally train to step up with equipment and their own expertise to fill the communication void that can be created when the main forms of communication go down. You can also check out ARES at http://ares.org/ for more information. Emergency trained ham operators also often have training in severe weather spotting (tornado, etc) and basic first aid training. Those interested often participate in training on how to coordinate large amounts of communication and large numbers of different groups effectively with the ability to pass priority information faster than updates. All in all, when things are rough, these folks quickly and quietly step up, help get the job done, and then go back to their own (not their parents' :P) basement.

I would think that Slashdot could tell me how many polls I took last year. I can't remember that far back and wasn't intentionally tracking. But I was always logged in. Can't Slashdot tell me how many polls I took? And what my answers were? Personally, I think that could be some might fine entertainment value right there!

What do you mean? 640K should be enough for anybody! ~ducks~

I came up to 10285 for 2009. I almost made it in the lower category. I blame the big ol' Dell Poweredge server I used to run. I retired it when I calculated the cost of the electricity I was using and realized it cost more in electricity to run it than to pay GoDaddy for hosting the services it was providing plus a small local NAS. I suspect this year I'll fall into the lower range (if I can get the kids to shut down their PC when they're done for the day).

I guess I never fully understood what the physical effects of Slashdotting are. So, is it really a question of the number of web servers and how much data their NICs can handle? What is it, exactly, that brings the site down? Obviously some hosts are able to withstand a slashdotting. Do you know what makes the difference?

Looks like InfoWorld failed the Geek IQ test... Question 1. How much bandwidth do you need to avoid getting slashdotted?

You mean like this?... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZSEf_4F3jk

~ROFL~ You nearly made me spit my coffee. Thanks for the fun wake-up!