If this is what they are spending their time doing - and more importantly that they feel this is acceptable - then they no longer serve any contributory, useful purpose and must be shut down. In fact all such organizations should be shut down.

Mars Robot May Drown Life It Was Sent To Find.

Researchers now believe that throttling, smothering, and using a machete is the safest way to discover if there is indeed life on Mars.

Also in the news - Why do aliens hate us so much?

Agreed. First thing I do as well. My computer at work was recently reset several times within a 2 week period and I had to continuously keep changing my settings to turn off folder grouping, menu grouping etc. Why was any of that ever a good idea?! I watch my co-worker - who is pretty computer illiterate - struggling due in part to these stupid settings on a daily basis and it begs the question - who was this ever meant for?

Mozilla - for the love of all that is right with the world don't change it. If you're gonna change something how about reworking the code so that Firefox isn't such a resource pig.

I disagree on the basis that one's own upbringing and state of mind are what affect a person's general psychosis - the video game or porn or romantic comedy will be viewed through that lens and assessed accordingly. There is no "probably-small destructive effect" of external media. External entertainment is not the cause even in the slightest. It may augment a person's psychological path in a particular direction but
then so would events that would seem completely innocuous to everyone else because it has to pass through their lens of understanding of the world. A lens that was built up and put into place long before they ever encountered porn, video games, or even romantic comedies.

On a personal note some of the most peace loving people I have ever encountered play some of the most violent games and watch some of the most violent movies available. And you know what? As they assess this external media it merely reaffirms their commitment to peace. But then after watching Bed of Roses I've considered a rampage through a few flower shops....

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Give peace a chance

This author is about as useful as a republican. Pin the blame on something or someone easy and which preferably can't fight back instead of looking at the larger issue. He can't possibly comprehend that all of the bland crap that has been coming out of the studios for the last couple of decades is due to a multitude of factors including but not limited to: the overwhelming power of consolidated music companies that have had far too much discretion on the issue of what music is allowed to make it to the marketplace, an industry with too much focus on quantity over quality, and an increasingly compliant public with little or no range in cultural understanding or concern.

Music is an art form but it is also an invention. Musicians merely use the tools available to them (from graphite drumsticks, to nylon strings, to our tonal system) to continue creating. What musicians do with new technology when it comes along it and the level of quality that they achieve is entirely up to them. And for the record metronomes have been around for a few hundred years.

Before there were even clicktracks and recordings musicians were expected to keep perfect time. There's no excuse. I went to university to study classical guitar and the first thing we were required to buy was a metronome. The beat is the basis on which the rest of the music is built. If it isn't strong then the music will fall. Of course rubato has its place but if a drummer can't accomplish the most simple, fundamental aspect of their job by making a perfectly timed beat sound natural and strong, then he/she needs to go back into the basement and keep practicing - or just change careers. And that goes for all musicians. Clicktracks are merely a tool to ensure everyone and everything is on the same page. And if a drummer "can't" work with one then once again get back in the basement.

I once worked with a drummer who had been playing for over 25 years yet we were spending weeks rehearsing the same couple of tunes, waiting for him to finally get it straight (4/4 rock - nothing overly complicated). It wasn't until we tried recording and we found out that he couldn't even work with a clicktrack that we fully realized how mediocre and hopeless he actually was. The signs were all there but he was friend so this was a hard admission to come to.

If you can't write good interesting solid tunes don't blame the tools available. And more importantly stop using technology as a scapegoat for human folly!

PhreezeVi

"if a family has a lot of books in their house, they are probably are reasonably wealthy"

I realize that you have a possible disclaimer in using using the word "probably" but I don't think it's accurate. I doubt my story is all that unique. I grew up very poor but we always had quite a number of books around. So I started on those and then when we moved near a library I spent most of my free time either at this new treasure trove or at home reading the piles of books that I checked out. It wasn't long before the librarians knew my library card number off by heart.

In other words - poverty had very little to do with my obsession with reading. I still didn't do very well in school mind you. Mostly due to the fact that I found most of it pointless. Once again, nothing to do with lack of money.

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PhreezeVi

Where facts are few, experts are many.
    - Donald R. Gannon

Why is it possible that the RIAA can even "ask" to not have the case tried in full view of the public? I find it extraordinary that we allow any of our national processes not related to sensitive national matters, or personal matters (rape trials etc.) to occur behind closed doors. How is it that these people so easily forget who they work for?

Any trial dealing with business (and most importantly businesses that can lobby governments and have new laws enacted) should be 100% transparent and broadcast so that the public can stay informed. The judicial system, along with every other section of government, belongs to the people and it is ultimately the people who have to live with the decisions made. Not to mention pay for them.

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PhreezeVi

Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.
    - George Bernard Shaw

Actually guys hold up. All Apple did was take advantage of the part of the patent law that says that you can patent an improvement of any process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter. So by slapping some best guess software on an invention thatâ(TM)s been around since 1974 â" namely the touch screen â" they get to patent and control the market by standing on the shoulders of those that came before.

Solution? Improve on their idea just enough to slip through this rather large loophole in the patenting process (and survive Appleâ(TM)s armada of lawyers). Or have the patent laws changed so as to end these ridiculous abuses. In reality it should have been their code that they were able to patent but instead they are able to choke out the competition through this little loophole based on incremental change.

There is still hope for the advancement of technology even in the face of this old and painfully outdated system of patenting.

I have never played a demo that was actually the same as the full game. They show you the best parts to suck you in and get you to purchase it. So slap your hard-earned cash down for what should be an awesome game, get it home, and within a few hours discover that the full game is rather pathetic. I seem to be a slow learner because I got caught by this one more than once. And guess what? Now that you've payed for it, opened it and gasp! played it, you can't take it back. So you're stuck with it. The trade in value is pretty much worthless as well.

I find that if download a game, play through it and discover it actually HAS REPLAY VALUE then I will purchase the game because it deserves my money.

The sheer volume of junky, buggy, useless cop-outs in the video game world is astonishing. And yet consumers continue to fall for the idea that the demo is going to be the same as the full game. If they want to avoid piracy trying making something worth replaying, and thus worth buying. If you only play through a game once it wasn't worth the disc it was burned on.

-Phreezevi

This is a great breakdown of all costs involved: http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/magazine/16-01/ff_byrne?currentPage=all

I saw this story on the local news last evening (Nova Scotia, Canada if it's all relevant) and the story spin was more about a 6 year old who didn't want to miss school and managed to drive the car 10 miles. Which was pretty darned interesting. In the last sentence of the story they mentioned that he learned to drive from a video game. They didn't even say which game. Apparently our local news service didn't feel the need to scapegoat the game. All that being said I do agree that no children should be playing GTA period. I like the game personally but it is NOT appropriate for kids. So how he got the game and played it often enough to derive any sort of skill-set from it I think should have the focus of any articles that seek to place the blame on the game itself. And I might add that I took off with the car twice in 1980 when I was 3 years old and for the record I never even encountered a video game of any sort nor would I for at least 3 more years.

The fact is that you are proving my point. All I did was google "serial killer profile" and I got the "Caucasian male ages 18 to 32" bit on several hits. You are absolutely right about the fact that this is a common mis-perception thoroughly promoted by the media etc. This is another form of racial profiling that as you have pointed out actually does nothing to help and in fact I'm sure hinders investigations with useless assumptions. Assuming since an obviously Muslim family are in fact terrorists because they made mention of the plane's engines is just as troublesome. And for the record I am very familiar with the wide range of peoples who fall under the umbrella of "Caucasion". What I need to work on is my /sarcasm tag.

This is racial profiling pure and simple. The irony is that any one of the Caucasian males between the ages 18 and 32 on the plane could very well have had a series of dead teenage girls buried in their back yard...