One other fact nobody has mentioned is that by flying this over people, PETA is also violating several provisions of the code of conduct established b the Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) intended to help keep the public safe. Model helicopters in the $4K range are no-joke dangerous if they hit someone. This sort of activity (especially using a helicopter to harass people) puts at risk the rights of geeks everywhere to build and fly model aircraft, by encouraging legislators and bureaucrats to pass new laws and regulations.

AMA code

If any of the PETA people doing this are AMA members, I hope they have their memberships revoked...

Which version comes with the see-through side panels and LED-lit motor fan? Oh, and don't forget those cold cathode UV lights!

Actually it sounds more like fidonet. Store and forward networking just like early infrastructure that let email from dial up bbs nodes eventually reach a destination.

He used to be a good scientist. He's become too enthralled with himself since the Pluto debacle. Now he seems more into being a celebrity, and envisions himself as the next Carl Sagan... even planning to film a new Cosmos series. And a purple Cadillac? And a role in a Superman comic book? Please.

And there's got to be some joke in there about deciding Krypton isn't a planet. After all, one of the more valid criticisms of the definition his camp came up with for defining a planet was that it wasn't particularly suited to classifying exoplanets (planets not in our solar system).

I'm torn between thinking you need to be modded up and feeling like Lucas lost claim to Star Wars when he got his studio's films crossed and put Roger Rabbit in Episode 1 (just renamed Jar Jar Binks).

So, would that be the US, that invented the Internet (TCP/IP, Ethernet, BGP, etc.) or Switzerland/CERN that invented the Web?

Leaving it for a while as a lifeboat might be an idea for the future, but it might not be a bad idea either to go ahead and let it return its first time out, as a test.

Plus, it's not like it's returning empty. I gather they're using it to ship some stuff back, and I expect they'd rather go ahead and get it landed.

Thanks, this is actually pretty informative. I had actually been thinking over the implications of a first to file system in the sense of truly first to file, without prior art being considered... and taking out a patent on "a process of generating heat by igniting combustible materials" (read: inventing fire) was starting to sound appealling.

I was in the process of thinking up arguments for defending the invention on grounds that wasn't obvious (whole generations of early man probably lived without it) and that nobody had yet filed a claim on it, when I read your post.

Mine was good for a high school AP comp sci class in the 80s. We had a lab of IBM PC/2s, linked by Ethernet, but no Internet.

Subject matter was taught in Pascal: searching and sorting algorithms (everything from bubble to various trees to radix), data structures (arrays but then progressing to linked lists, trees, balanced trees... probably hit peak at sparse matrices.) All in all, a really good program, mainly because we had a good teacher who knew his stuff. It set me up pretty well for a CS degree in college.

Sounds like a Charles Stross novel. Did someone rob a bank in the game, too?

One argument is that since there's now a computer in everything, a modern intro to computers class should probably be diversified to cover a lot more than using a PC. It could almost be an "intro to modern life" class. Some topics for the syllabus might be:

Setting up a home network, including a FIOS/DSL router or a cable modem and a Tivo/DVR with a a cable card. Options for mobile computing/e-mail. Password strategies. Controlling what you share on social networks. Transferring files around between PC/smart phone/tablet/digital camera/etc. Keeping an offsite backup of important data. etc. etc.

Yeah, if it were "per second," they'd be better off calling it ~1%C.

Good attempt, but a Mindstorms version would be a lot better. Heck, even a book with plans for a Mindstorms version would be cool.