Already being used by many educational institutes - specifically higher ed: https://shibboleth.net/

I started playing WoW on day 7. I just canceled my account this February. I still enjoy the game, but in the last several years, I've gotten married (which affected playing time slightly), and in January had a baby - which completely killed all available playing time. I wasn't going to pay to not play a game I didn't have time for any more. Now, my games consist of facebook games, because I can play for 5,10,15 minutes and drop it and take care of the baby - not possible in WoW. Maybe when my daughter doesn't need as much attention, and I don't need to sleep every chance I get, I'll re-join, but until then, I'm one of those non-subscribers.

I suspect that I'm not the only person who's gone through several life stages over the last several years, and well, that's what happens.

According to Wikipedia there are already quite a few projects doing DbC:

Do we really need an entirely new one? If none of those are sufficient, why not build on top of and improve an existing project? Starting over is not always a good thing...

As another needlephobe - I've found that you can ask all you want for capillary puncture, the docs just tell you they can't do it that way and to suck it up and act like an adult. Until I got pregnant, I had a double dose of Xanax or valium to get me to submit to a blood draw. They don't like giving those drugs to pregnant women, so my care providers and I have a "plan" for my issue. It really does make me feel better just knowing that my midwives are aware of my issues and are willing to work with me. Find a provider that is willing to work with you and whatever coping mechanisms you need - whether that's an anti-anxiety drug or a trusted friend.

I have a gold engagement ring, and the jeweler refused to set the diamond in gold, so it's in a platinum setting that's bonded to the gold somehow. Up close it looks a little weird, but it's difficult to tell that the setting is not yellow gold.

You are correct, sir! Or at least very close as far as I'm concerned. The actual reference is to the mailbox at the closing of Zork, when after finding all the treasure, you return to West of House and see the mailbox from the intro to complete the adventure. Ah, one of my favorite childhood memories.

Check out the Gmail Help Center for the answer

From the linked answer: The Gmail Team is currently testing a new feature called 'Gmail Clips,' which provides users access to news, blogs, and other information within their Gmail accounts, using RSS/Atom feeds. Currently, a small number of randomly selected users are testing the feature, but it may become more widely available in the future.

Sounds like "Gmail Clips" would be somewhat different than what I saw of Google Reader.

On another note, I don't believe that the slow (non-existant?) response times from Google Reader are from a slashdotting. Turns out, I was looking at it before the post on /. and it was slow then. Perhaps digg.com readers contributed? Who knows. Anyway, it was slow to begin with. Give them a few days to notice their web logs and I'm sure they'll beef up the load balancing in front of reader.