what is going to be remembered about the 20th century?

nuclear weapons
going into orbit
information networks

the overhead AC in the test lab froze over the weekend, the ice then melted, the drip pan overflowed (the ceiling tiles got soaked, dripped, and then broke). the workstation underneath suffered the water torture for a couple hours and then the video cards shorted.

that Monday was spent filling out reams of paperwork. still hasn't been replaced, still a hole in the ceiling.

Billy Thorpe - Children of the Sun
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_18?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=children+of+the+sun+billy+thorpe&x=0&y=0&sprefix=children+of+the+su

simple, clear plots, non stop action, sophomoric romance - the John Carter novels are ready made scripts! i remember being in middle school thinking 'this would be an awesome movie!'

and now, with the technology to realize the fantastic settings .... what could possibly go wrong?

a 'conspiracy' that 90% of the group being discussed participate in would be 'the majority culture'
60% is 'a mandate' 30% is 'a political party'

Excellent point, and further I agree with the political sentiment I (would like to) sense implied ...

Having said that ... hitting flying objects and blowing them up is cool!
Maybe letting the military play with these toys and the wrinkly contractors pocket a few bills yields a technology that might be useful at some indeterminate future point?
Has that ever happened before? Maybe more importantly ... can the US afford that now?
Speaking sentimentally (my father was military turned wrinkly contractor) ... is this the kind of program in a fuzzy area that can be justified as R&D, is politically possible, maybe has possible 'soft power' dividends, keeps the engineers and rocket scientists working & production lines running ... does that pass the smell test?

well ... the statement
"The range of topics covered here is very wide and I don't know abc of several things discussed here"
makes you 'wise' in the Socratic sense, negating the description "stupid"

unfortunately, the location of this discussion reinforces the second descriptor

This is true, but the key difference is that people aren't mucking about with the latest installation of their airbag, and criminals aren't gaining access to peoples' cars without their knowledge and tampering with the airbag; in other words, if the airbag fails it's very likely the manufacturer's fault, they exercise almost total control over the system in the vast majority of cars.

Contrast this to computer security problems, which are sometimes the fault of the security provider (in this case Microsoft) but just as often (if not more often) is the result of user interference (people misunderstanding how the security system works or disabling security altogether) and malicious intent.

The real culprit isn't Microsoft, but the people who write malware; for some reason we don't spend much time blaming the criminal and we heap all our discontent on Microsoft. Maybe because they're the easy target here. At any rate, hopefully this shows why a lawsuit against Microsoft is illogical; they do not have sufficient control over the situation to prosecute them.

Forza is to Gran Turismo as Road and Track is to Top Gear.

Forza is about cars. Gran Turismo is about driving. Until i see crazy shit like the Model T, crazy 60's racers, and the DeLorean in Forza, no sale. Gran Turismo is a love letter to the car. Forza's a book report.

I think those 40 miles are travelled with a 16 KWh battery pack - so, you should compare the cost of 16 kWh of electricity against about a gallon of gas.

> Complete lack of reliance on mail provider and ISP is the only way to be sure.

You, my good sir, are wrong. The only way to be sure is obviously nuking the entire site from the orbit.

thanks for the reminders
I have to check gmail to see if my last comment was modded up and I was beginning to think that I traded my knowledge and skills for money in a fair exchange, instead of being grateful to my feudal liege for bare sustenance.

modify this a little ...

"If they can [come up with a barely plausible scenario] that you [gave away/sold] [a burner/a modem/access to website/cool hardware hack/a torrent/whatever] to a person you [have no idea whether they might] use [to violate copyright/exercise fair use] then yes, you [should] be charged with a crime.
[Who cares if] there are so many legitimate uses for [a burner/a modem/access to website/cool hardware hack/a torrent/whatever], the [media] lobby is so powerful, [it doesn't matter that it's] nearly impossible to prove beyond reasonable doubt that you thought whoever you were selling a [a burner/a modem/access to website/cool hardware hack/a torrent/whatever] to was going to use it for non-illegal means, [access to a burner/a modem/access to website/cool hardware hack/a torrent/whatever must be prevented at all costs]."

just sayin'

IMHO, the problem with the "stranglehold the Republican and Democratic parties have on the machinery of government" is the result of corporate influence on those parties ...
"We need to limit federal legislation of states and depend upon each state to make the decisions ... "

when some corporations have revenue (and sometimes profits) greater than entire nations (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/business/worldbusiness/01iht-exxon.4.9679416.html), state budgets (http://www.nasbo.org/Publications/PDFs/FSSpring2009.pdf), and global influence, the various state gov'ts will be immune to this ... how?

I thought Chula Vista was San Ysidro's tony northern suburb ...