I'm really dismayed by the number of comments asking about this on the NYT side. AFAICT, it's a botnet attack, so cutting the power to Cyberbunker would do squat. (Besides, any decent datacenter has a big-ass generator. And these guys, running an evil datacenter? Probably three big-ass generators.)

I do naively wonder what would happen if everyone firewalled against Cyberbunker's provider, A2B.

Tuition, fees, student loan interest, books, supplies, software, eating out because of school . With both of us in school, those expenses easily outstrip mortgage, utilities, cars, food -- basically any single category other than taxes.

I carried an Olympus with a 12x zoom for several years. It was great for outdoor shots, landscapes, nature close-ups, and nighttime city photography with a tripod or a lot of patience. It was absolute balls for events involving people; it was super slow, plus the lens seemed to block a lot of light so that candids were almost always blurry.

For the kind of everyday P&S use that the OP seems to be asking about, I've been much happier with my tiny image-stabilized Powershot. Mine's an Elph model, so it fits in just about any pocket. I haven't mastered its manual mode, and I suspect that it isn't worth the effort -- but this camera has been a heck of a lot more *fun* than the Olympus. I don't plan on going the ultra-zoom route ever again -- I'm fine with having one tiny simple camera and a separate serious-ass camera that I only haul out for personal projects.

I've never been to LA. What makes the 110 harrowing?

Are you kidding? That feature is a MASSIVE plus for me. I flip back and forth between audio and text editions whenever I can easily obtain both formats, because I *want* to read but I also like for my 45-to-180-minute school commute to be good for more than just working on my death wish.

Yeah, I recognize that the Kindle isn't going to speak in the mellifluous tones of an audiobook presenter, but it's preferable to (a) the tedium of figuring out what page/minute I'm on this time and (b) paying twice or getting an interlibrary loan. (I know, I know, libraries are awesome and all, but my local branch holds more urban outdoorsmen than books.)

I'm still not sure if or when I'll get the device, but Read-to-me definitely bumped the buyometer forward by more ticks than any other feature.