Nuclear power has nothing to do with the topic? The dawn of the nuclear age is the topic. Perhaps I am alone in seeing the irony in the story.

Incandescently stupid attempt at cloaking the usual climate alarmism in a layer of pseudo-science. And the propagandists who bring us this nonsense have it exactly backward - nuclear power could be the key to minimizing man's negative impact on the environment, if blinkered greens would allow it.

Don't hold your breath waiting for an alternative to Comcast, as they are most likely paying a fee to your building owner for the privilege of being the sole provider of service to your complex. A pittance for Comcast, and a no-brainer incentive to keep competitive build-outs at bay.

Yep, it was pure, unadulterated laissez-faire capitalism that got us into our modern telecoms mess. Not a government subsidy or market-distorting policy to be found. Good thing that our well-informed, honest bureaucrats will wield the fine scalpel of government to make it right, like they did in 1996.

... with Microsoft aspiring to become one as well. And?

I've had a gaming PC connected to my HDTV for some time now, running both XBMC and Steam. If Valve will just release their 10-foot interface (now we know why they've been working on it), I think I'm all set. A Q9400 and a HD5850, with an SSD underneath, basically runs everything out there at 1080p quite nicely.

Yeah, my first reaction to the headline was "Who gives a shit where the surgeon was born?". I have to wonder how this fact, insignificant with respect to the rest of the story, was promoted to the title. "World Ends Today, Starting With Spain" - who cares where it starts?

As does smug, self-congratulatory solipsism.

It's far more accurate to say that as a result of the 2000 election, hundreds of thousands of people didn't die. Check the figures for Saddam's historical murder rate vs. the civilian casualties during the war and subsequent occupation before you start accusing our leaders or our electorate of killing people. I doubt you'd care to argue that because of the 1940 election, hundreds of thousands of people died, right?

In the upcoming game Fallout: New Vegas, I believe that a heliostat-like death ray is available to the player. Who knew that Real Life: Now Vegas already had this?

Actually, you only need to shell out for one of the $100 adapters if you're planning on using DVI to connect all of your monitors. You can connect 2x DVI and 1xVGA using a $25 passive adapter. VGA is sub-optimal, I know, but that's what I did. I can keep the remaining $75 and put it toward another 5850 card, which will solve the DVI problem and give me CrossFireX performance.

This is exactly what I did, and have not had a tech support headache since. Yes, there's a price premium, but the Mac is a perfect solution for a low-tech user. Anyone who actually needs the advantages of a Windows machine (more software, hardcore gaming, etc.) is probably also technical enough to know not to click on malware sites, to know how to install drivers, etc. For the rest, a simple and safe Mac environment is optimal.

"Possible areas of interest will be topics of the environment, energy conservation, war, social issues, and others." Environment, energy conservation? It's been 20 years since I was in high school, so I'm pretty out of touch with the modern educational climate, but are these topics now the primary lens through which everything else is studied? If so, that's pretty weak.

Adding to the excellent selections already offered:

• "Alas, Babylon" by Pat Frank: yes, it's a bit dated, but offers a compelling view of life after a nuclear war, and covers interesting topics of societal breakdown, rediscovery of pre-modern techniques for survival, etc. I think it was pretty popular on high school reading lists during the Cold War.
• "Inherit the Stars" by James Hogan: a fascinating portrayal of how the scientific method is applied to understand new discoveries, and a great page-turner to boot
• "The Sword of Shannara" by Terry Brooks: infinitely more readable than the Lord of the Rings series from which it borrows heavily, this is an exemplary entry in the fantasy canon. Probably too long a read for a high school class, though.

Ever since the Amiga OS popularized multitasking, everybody thinks they can do it.

Naked? Better be early Elvis then, not late Elvis.