It's actually a series of TUBES.

I used to work at a health clinic doing IT stuff. They were all on a piss-poor electronic health record system so I was pretty busy helping the doctors with navigating the system for them. On occasion, a doc would come into my office with an "urgent" problem that I needed to fix, which I would quickly remedy (usually). Before they left though, I'd say "Hey, wait a minute, now it's my turn. My foot hurts when I do X." And an impromptu medical consult would ensue, answering all my questions! Now THAT was a fair trade system.

The warning for this "WEC" device reminds me of an old SNL skit:

* Warning: Pregnant women, the elderly, and children under 10 should avoid prolonged exposure to Happy Fun Ball.
* Caution: Happy Fun Ball may suddenly accelerate to dangerous speeds.
* Happy Fun Ball contains a liquid core, which, if exposed due to rupture, should not be touched, inhaled, or looked at.
* Do not use Happy Fun Ball on concrete.
* Discontinue use of Happy Fun Ball if any of the following occurs:
o itching
o vertigo
o dizziness
o tingling in extremities
o loss of balance or coordination
o slurred speech
o temporary blindness
o profuse sweating
o heart palpitations
* If Happy Fun Ball begins to smoke, get away immediately. Seek shelter and cover head.
* Happy Fun Ball may stick to certain types of skin.
* When not in use, Happy Fun Ball should be returned to its special container and kept under refrigeration. Failure to do so relieves the makers of Happy Fun Ball, Wacky Products Incorporated, and its parent company, Global Chemical Unlimited, of any and all liability.
* Ingredients of Happy Fun Ball include an unknown glowing green substance which fell to Earth, presumably from outer space.
* Happy Fun Ball has been shipped to our troops in Saudi Arabia and is being dropped by our warplanes on Iraq.
* Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.
* Happy Fun Ball comes with a lifetime warranty.

I see what you are saying. But at least in theory, optical media such as CD/DVD, etc *should be* much cheaper than anything like a disk drive by virtue of the material components used alone. A DVD is largely plastic, whereas a disk has electronics and finely tuned mechanics and is much more complex; the media AND the drive for that media are all-in-one whereas with DVD, you have one drive for any number of media.

Ya, I'm not sure where we are going wrong there either...

It's +5 Funny, because it's true!

(Thanks for that GENIUS comment, btw. *ROFL* Seriously!)

Soon, the human race will never again need to have a sense of direction, thanks to our GPS-and-wifi-triangulation-capable overlords!

:/

I've noticed over the last few years a growing trend toward host-based detection systems, like the McAfee product line for example.The US government or at least the DoD is really jumping on this band wagon.

Any thoughts about this approach?

Okay dammit, who the hell tags every story with the word "mars" in it, with the tag "getyourasstomars"...

Because I laugh my ass off every time I see it :D Totally underrated movie!

For the uninitiated: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53ARrp7x4bQ

We're lazy.

Next!

"I'm convinced we can clean up the Internet in 10 years..."

Disconnect from the 'Net every computer running Windows operating systems. Hell, we can have this place spic-n-span overnight!

Well, depends on what you mean by "civilian network." However, a few interesting points emerge in the context of this discussion;

1) Ham (amateur) radio is still the best bet, "when all else fails" way to communicate in case all hell breaks loose, i.e., the "tubes" go down, or some such event. Ham radio will still be able to get the message through. Give me an HF transceiver, a decent antenna, a deep cycle battery and a few solar panels and I'll be able to make contact with SOMEONE, so long as a nuke did not go off down the block. Most every other means of non-local communication involves a system in some form; POTS, the aforementioned "tubes," cellular phone networks, satallites, etc, whereas HF radio is point to point, leaving the only vulnerability frequency jamming, which is difficult at best, or an unforeseen catastrophic solar event.

So such a "network" is possible and plausible, except for the following political reason;

2) Ham (amateur) radio is allocated and ultimately regulated by the government. A few regulations that would hinder a "civilian network" are a) you must have a valid FCC license to transmit, b) information transmitted on an amateur band must be in the clear (no encryption allowed).

So, it's entirely possible and would be cool as hell to have such a network, it's not possible if from a regulatory standpoint.

------

Perhaps a MUCH BETTER solution would be to create a private organization that collects "donations" which is then used to put up a few birds... then "philanthropists" could use equipment similar to Hughes Net to obtain Internet (and even MORE interesting INTRAnet) via these satellites. An autonomous and private Intranet... with multiple downlink sites, perhaps in other countries, over various ISP's.. that would be friggin' BRILLIANT!! -p

when you pry it from my cold dead hands!"

> Ok, this is many things but it is not a troll. Must we go through this every time a new set of idiots starts to get mod points?

You have cleverly replied to yourself as AC complaining of the moderation... then replied to your AC reply. Nicely done!

And for the record, I agree wholeheartedly with all of your posts... a story about petrified wood an the first comment referencing hot grits gets modded troll!? What is /. coming to...

... and THAT is why the venerable VW bus will always be known in my circle as a "Terrorist Van".

MOD PARENT UP! So true...