I live in South Florida, where it can rain several times a day, yet it feels as though none of this water is captured for consumption or usage elsewhere, and the news is always reporting Lake Okeechobee to be at perpetually low levels. I recently visited some midwestern US states during the current drought and thought if we could somehow reroute this seeming overabundance of rainfall northward, it could be put to some use. My mind wandered to some sort of large water pipe system, possibly built over (above) the swampland, with artificial trees branching skyward to aid in capturing rainfall and submitting it to the system, which would eventually empty into a reservoir. Slashdot, what ideas can we crowdsource, or are there already solutions in place that the general public knows nothing of?

As a computer programmer, I've been tasked by my family to "fix" their computers. The one swamped with virii from browsing the wrong websites, the one with the legit copy of Windows that failed Windows Genuine Advantage, the one who never upgraded his o/s but wants "the wireless", etc. The Tweaking Companion has been an invaluable tool to me, and after any cleanup and upgrades (software and firmware), and any user-specific requests, I give my users Firefox with Adblock Plus (Google Chrome is also an option), and OpenOffice if they don't already use a MS Office suite. Now we have clean and working computers, are there any other applications I should be installing, or tasks I should follow?

I'm asking about free (non-shareware), legal applications, entertaining, useful, and non-complicated. Moving them off Windows is not an option.

I am a programmer at a very large corporate company where I have a number of usernames and passwords. I have a user for the company intranet web experience, the company mainframe, my department's LAN and e-mail system, and a number of other usernames and passwords for various other items (the OLD e-mail system to access systems that haven't been ported to the NEW system yet, the dev, test and production databases, our department's wiki, my Flexible Spending Account through the company, access to our health and benefits division, etc.).

It's a lot to keep track of. *to be continued*

Check it out: Wii Wish : Rocket Jockey

I've recently purchased a Wii to replace my aging GameCube (over a PS3 or 360, though one of those will become an option once I upgrade to an HDTV - I'm not a technology snob). I am quite impressed with the Wiimote control scheme. It makes Wii Sports a lot of fun (the non-gaming wife played bowling till 2:30 AM), and using it in Rayman like a light gun is quite intuitive. Excite Truck is a little shaky, but otherwise the Wiimote brings up a number of application possibilities previously unavailable.

The Wii's Virtual Console (VC) - a repository for buying classic games - is interesting, but I realize most of what's been released to the VC is available elsewhere (ROMs, collections, etc.) To me it doesn't make sense to buy VC games, and none (so far) seem to have Wii-exclusive content.

I'd like to see adaptations or remakes of older popular games with proper Wiimote (and Nunchuk) control added. For example, using the Wiimote scheme for the PC classic "Rocket Jockey", or even "Jet Moto" would be a natual fit.

What obscure games would you like to see adapted?

For the last few years, I've given comics books to kids for Halloween. Ain't it Cool News even published my guide for doing so. I wonder what other geeks give people for Halloween; CDs with free PC games on them? Cheapass Games packs? Heroclix?

From the article:

I have given out comics from my house for the last 4 years, and only once has a child complained. Most of the time I get happy kids who start requesting certain heroes like the X-Men or Batman or Spider-Man. Once I handed a kid a recent, slightly-bent, issue of JLA and his eyes lit up and he proclaimed, "Cool! Old-fashioned comic books!" I didn't know whether to smile or take it back and kick him off of my porch. I let him keep it. You'll get that sometimes. Don't let them make you feel too old.