My understanding is that the UK doesn't have a law against causing/contributing to copyright infringement, so they sued him for "defrauding the music industry." But since all he did was host the tracker, while the users did all the actual sharing, it would appear that there wasn't really any UK law that they could nail him with. The case for The Pirate Bay is definitely similar, but TPB was in Sweden. I don't know if their laws are really all that different or if it's just that their courts are more happy to pin blame on someone, but things like this are different from country to country (for now).

I initially read that headline as "32 exaplanets" and thought "Holy Jesus, how on earth did they find that many planets?!?" It makes a lot more sense now...

Heh, I definitely got a little gung-ho there. When typing "SEC", I felt there was something wrong there, but my brain decided not to pursue it any further. You're absolutely right that it's the FTC; that was a brain fart on my part. As for wired vs airwaves, I think I could make my point a little more clear. It's not that they have no mandate to control wired communications, however, it seems to me that their ability to control CONTENT and what's actually sent (rather than the more basic control over HOW it's sent) only extends to those things that are broadcast over the airwaves. This seems like stepping way over the line for them to decide how companies serve content (even if I agree with their decision).

I'm not sure that the FCC is really the "good guys" here. They're doing the right thing, so it may be a triumph of "good over evil" (hyperbole a bit, but whatever), but I'm not sure I would say the good guys are winning. The FCC should NOT have authority over broadband companies, because their purpose is to control the airwaves. Every step they take into other domains is a step in the wrong direction. If anything, taking care of net neutrality should be something the SEC has domain over, because right now it's more of an antitrust problem than anything else. As long as it's a 2- or 3-party game, Comcast can get away with things like overcharging and dropping packets. Don't get me wrong; I'm definitely glad to see the FCC step up and be ready to put the smackdown on violators of net neutrality. I hope Comcast loses their case, because it's a good precedent to set for net neutrality. However, we should be wary of setting a precedent where the FCC gets more power over the Internet and how people do and don't use it in the United States. It seems good now, but if we decide they have the power to make decisions, what happens when they decide "maybe a little LESS neutrality would be better"? I really think this is an area where the government should be focusing on helping competition enter the market, rather than just smacking the hands of the few companies that hold a near-monopoly on broadband right now.

Yes, VLC has a bad habit of only using its own codecs (even when "Use System Codecs" is selected), so if they don't cover what you need, or there are better ones out there, you're not taking advantage of that.

My preference is for MPC, particularly the one bundled with the CCCP (cccp-project.net). MPC works wonderfully for pretty much everything, and what it lacks in interface is more than made up for in features. And the CCCP version is customized to run as smoothly as possible with the codecs it comes with (plus, if there's anyone I trust with getting the most out of my videos, it's the geeks of the anime encoding community behind the CCCP).

I'm gonna hafta half-agree here. Maybe not with the whole "complete insanity" part, but for god's sake... this shit is REALLY annoying at this point. It's April 2nd somewhere; let's just call it a day on the stupid April Fools BS.

We all wish. April 1st is the only thing in the world that makes me miss pre-internet days. Back then, April Fools Day was limited to jokes within the realm of "They removed 'gullible' from the dictionary." Now it's just a huge waste of time, with false news and dumb gimmicks all day long. I really hope the Internet, in its entirety, grows out of this soon.

This is absolutely made for Scarlett Johansson. She could play the part well, she has experience playing a noirish character from something that was not originally live action thanks to The Spirit, and she has all of the requisite... y'know... "physical properties."

Actually, if you're learning Linux at work, that would be your company's time being wasted. No matter what OS, one would assume that your work computer is free to you. So, instead of paying a licensing fee for Windows, your company is paying your wage while you learn Linux on the clock. Oh, also... it's a joke.

Let's not forget the famous linux axiom: "Linux is only free if your time is worthless."

I'm not sure how stupid you think kids are, but whether or not they understand HOW large something is, they understand that a world that is 6000 years old couldn't have harbored animals 65 million years ago. It's just a matter of knowing one number is bigger than the other.
Also, feel free to grab a dictionary, and check out subtle differences between "argument" and "example." "Troll" might be a good one too (perhaps webopedia might be more helpful for that one...).