...that the nuclear waste dumps we're planning will remain secure - not just for a few generations but for the millenia promised. What could ever happen in the future that we can't anticipate today?

OK, it was a deleted scene. And I think it involved actual orbital reentry in just a jumpsuit. Still, I suspect that if this guy survives, he will eventually end up attempting something like that. Does Virgin Galactic sell one-way tickets?

I must admit, hearing of the demise of CompuServe is like hearing an obit of a celebrity you didn't know was still alive. I haven't thought of CIS in years, though - along with the Source, it was my "gateway drug" from BBS to commercial services. It's too bad AOL can't donate all the CIS IP to someplace like the Internet Archive, to preserve it - sort of like an online Colonial Williamsburg (grin). CompuServe, now that I'm reminded of you, I miss you. Time to break out the old Dead Kennedy's & Sex Pistols LPs & wax nostalgic for"morning in America"

Then again so did Acela. The reality underwhelms. The only thing Acela had in common with REAL high speed rail was the completion time & final pricetag. I don't doubt that such a project is doable, however I'd be stunned if the political (porkbarrel) process allows it to be done right. It doesn't mean we shouldn't try, but we must keep a close eye on it to prevent it from becoming another "Big Dig"

They're just going for the lowest common denominator. I don't mourn the death of the R rated superhero movie so much as I mourn the loss of complicated stories intricately told - ie movies for adult minds. Why drift slowly toward the bottom? Why not just embrace the impact zone & simply release Telletubbies The Motion Picture?

...and maybe schoolboards.... Of course these people probably suck at math too, so those stats give them no idea how deep in the guano we are. :/

If the Interstate Pneumatics V6 standard had been widely adopted, compatibility would not have been an issue, and we'd be living in a very different world today. I'm imagining something like Terry Gilliam's Brazil.

...and hoping against hope that another competitor in the market helps bring down these draconian "incidental" charges. Then again, looking at the companies behind the WiMax rollout, I'm not optimistic.

Is there any service that doesn't trump sat radio in a single aspect? Probably not. But I'm with the others here who see value to the service. The footprint of sat radio is in a league of it's own, and while it has it's own reception issues - especially in the hilly northeast US - it's not as if there aren't signal issues with any other wireless service. Satellite radio as we know it may be doomed. Sirius/XM has a business model that defies explanation, and WorldSpace has it's own troubles. That doesn't mean that a digital broadcast service with a continental footprint doesn't have a place in our modern media mix, just that the Sirius/XM radio model probably isn't it. fwiw, I've been an XM subscriber since around 2000 & I have no immediate plans to cancel... even though I probably spend more time listening online when I have access to a broadband connection. I'm hopeful that whatever private equity group picks up Sirius/XM (& maybe worldspace) assets & infrastructure at the inevitable bankruptcy firesale can come up with a practical business model and a way to woo back the installed hardware base - much of which is probably idle & unsubscribed.

I see lots of pro and cons with this. Children who grow up with virtual grandparents will have a barebones facsimile of the real deal - at least until someone comes up with the "pull my finger" USB attachment. It probably won't be too long until tele-grandma can be replaced by a smart avatar, giving mom & dad a pass on having "the talk" with toddlers. The only question will be who gets to program the personality of "gramps-headroom"? AARP may end up being the Association of Artificially Rendered Predecessors.

...just askin'