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One of this big draws of the Kindle Fire is that has Amazon Silk built in. Although Slashdot denizens might have qualms with that technology, there's no doubt that Amazon can offer a smoother browsing experience than Barnes & Noble's device.

It is not that simple. People do what is interesting to them. If all they are interested in is money then they will not stick with STEM anyway. http://www.amazon.com/Facts-Dangerous-Half-Truths-Total-Nonsense/dp/1591398622/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320685917&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Surprising-Truth-About-Motivates/dp/1594484805/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320685949&sr=1-1

It is not that simple. People do what is interesting to them. If all they are interested in is money then they will not stick with STEM anyway. http://www.amazon.com/Facts-Dangerous-Half-Truths-Total-Nonsense/dp/1591398622/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320685917&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Surprising-Truth-About-Motivates/dp/1594484805/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320685949&sr=1-1

We still dont have affordable video conference phones.

How cheap do you need? I have this Grandstream on my desk at work, and it does h.264 over SIP and Skype with a full-duplex speakerphone for $180. Runs Linux internally.

You mean the port that means you always need a special cable? The port that proves that Apple's profit is way more important than user friendliness?

You mean the special cable that is so ubiquitous that it costs 50 cents? Heck, push the boat out and get the $1.50 one....

Hopefully your micro-USB chargers are the sensible sort with a full-size USB socket built into the adapter (like the Apple chargers) so you can also use them to charge older mini-USB devices as well as iDevices.

90% of my day job is a bunch of engineers standing around scratching our heads trying to brainstorm ways to figure out what the hell is going on with our system. We don't even know what it is doing, let along being able to tell it what to do.

Oh, you work for Microsoft?

No I work in a place where our internal library has a copy of I sing the body electronic and we all laugh about it knowingly.

Amazon's S3/AWS services can have apps compatible with HIPAA/PCI if the application writer wants to go through the effort, so yes, they do have that much control.

http://aws.amazon.com/security/

http://aws.amazon.com/s3/

Amazon's S3/AWS services can have apps compatible with HIPAA/PCI if the application writer wants to go through the effort, so yes, they do have that much control.

http://aws.amazon.com/security/

http://aws.amazon.com/s3/

Note: She is an adult and recovering from the abuse. However, she was born with ataxic cerebral palsy. I don't know how bad it is, but it may preclude her from many occupations. Apparently she is pretty smart and plays the piano well. Ataxic cerebral palsy usually affects muscular coordination, and the symptoms (poor balance, shakiness, poor coordination) last a lifetime and may get worse in old age.

There is no reason to discuss why she needed her family's support, if she needed her family's support, if it was justified to withdraw the support or anything else because we don't know enough facts, and it's none of our business.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=thinker's+toolbox&x=0&y=0

Agreed. e-books should be significantly cheaper than the printed versions for all the reasons you mentioned.

In some cases, when the books are popular the e-books are MORE than the cheap mass market paperbacks.

Kindle E book at $29.99 was at $35.96 last week grrrrr http://www.amazon.com/George-Martins-Thrones-4-Book-ebook/dp/B004JN1D2I/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1320526616&sr=8-8

Paperback at $21.03 http://www.amazon.com/George-Martins-Thrones-4-Book-Boxed/dp/0345529057/ref=tmm_mmp_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1320526616&sr=8-8

I see greedy people.

On another note, I love my Nook Color. I have a nook color that is hacked with ManualNooter and it is a sweet little android tablet + e-book reader for all B&N books, Kindle Books, E-pubs(library), Calibre, google books, really anything. It has a micro SD card reader so I can store 32GB of stuff on there like movies, more books, music etc.

The Fire will be locked down pretty hard, No micro SD, Nook Color wins hands down IMHO.

Agreed. e-books should be significantly cheaper than the printed versions for all the reasons you mentioned.

In some cases, when the books are popular the e-books are MORE than the cheap mass market paperbacks.

Kindle E book at $29.99 was at $35.96 last week grrrrr http://www.amazon.com/George-Martins-Thrones-4-Book-ebook/dp/B004JN1D2I/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1320526616&sr=8-8

Paperback at $21.03 http://www.amazon.com/George-Martins-Thrones-4-Book-Boxed/dp/0345529057/ref=tmm_mmp_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1320526616&sr=8-8

I see greedy people.

On another note, I love my Nook Color. I have a nook color that is hacked with ManualNooter and it is a sweet little android tablet + e-book reader for all B&N books, Kindle Books, E-pubs(library), Calibre, google books, really anything. It has a micro SD card reader so I can store 32GB of stuff on there like movies, more books, music etc.

The Fire will be locked down pretty hard, No micro SD, Nook Color wins hands down IMHO.

These days, the Kindle supports the same library system that the Nook does. Public Library Books for Kindle
Personally, I strongly dislike the way the support was implemented on both of them. They could both use an Overdrive app built into the device to make it easy and accessible to average users. But they do both work (my g/f has a nook and I've got a kindle, so I've tried both).

• scrabble
• sudoku
• minesweeper
• mahjong
• a lot of silly games
• calculator
• calendar

IMO, the other replies to this are full of crap. Not only are these apps possible and useful, but they already exist.

One I would personally like to find ("find", because it'd surprise me if it didn't exist already) is a better music player. The one that's built in basically has no GUI. I'd love for one to be integrated so it could popup a mini gui on the top of the page with a menu press. I'd also love to see micro sd card support in one of the e-ink models, and more file format support (I don't care much about PDF myself, but adding support for non-drm'd epub would save me a lot of calibre time).

• scrabble
• sudoku
• minesweeper
• mahjong
• a lot of silly games
• calculator
• calendar

IMO, the other replies to this are full of crap. Not only are these apps possible and useful, but they already exist.

One I would personally like to find ("find", because it'd surprise me if it didn't exist already) is a better music player. The one that's built in basically has no GUI. I'd love for one to be integrated so it could popup a mini gui on the top of the page with a menu press. I'd also love to see micro sd card support in one of the e-ink models, and more file format support (I don't care much about PDF myself, but adding support for non-drm'd epub would save me a lot of calibre time).

Although to be fair, you can do all of those things with the latest Android tablets too. And I fear answering the question "which tablet should I get for my elderly relative" with "any of the best selling tablets" might be less helpful.

I wonder idly at the OPs "not too expensive" comment. An iPad is far from cheap (and all the other high-end tablets are no better). I mean you can get a Dell Streak or BlackBerry Playbook for not very much, but I doubt anyone would recommend it.

One slightly different suggestion might be to go with a Kindle or a Nook. Both are dirt cheap compared to other tablets, both are very easy to use, and (aside from the obvious reading content), both the Kindle and the Nook Colour have games and other apps. A Kindle is only $139, and the Nook Colour is only $249 (I don't think the basic Nook has "app" content).
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?ie=UTF8&keywords=kindle%20games&tag=kindlegames-20&index=digital-text&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/nookcolor-apps/379002750

Really? The iMac is reaching end of release cycle, so isn't at its peak of value, but...

27" iMac built from scratch (prices from newegg):
27" 2560x1440 S-IPS monitor including camera: $999 (from apple, 1099 if you buy it from dell)

Of course it is $814.99 if you buy it from Amazon. This is H-IPS vs S-IPS but from what I read, it is essentially the same thing.

I've been following the announcements of the Kindle Fire and I'm sort of wondering if Amazon is abandoning what was so good about the platform, namely electronic ink. One has always been able to read a book off the LCD screen of one's smartphone or notebook, but the Kindle was a pleasurable experience because e-ink really is easier on the eyes. If the Kindle is going LCD, then it's just like any other tablet out there.

Here you go, 4GB USB drive. A whopping $2.48 worth of pocket change.

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Cruzer-Flash-Drive-SDCZ36-004G-A11/dp/B001T9EYFI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320472244&sr=8-1

If you're that concerned, take it out of the package, put Ubuntu Linux on it, and then throw it away immediately like it's a message to Inspector Gadget.

Any system that has been made since circa 2001 (i.e. the past 10 years) has been able to boot from USB.

Ubuntu 11's system requirements are as such:

* 1 GHz CPU (x86 processor (Pentium 4 or better))
* 1 GiB RAM (system memory)
* 15 GB of hard-drive space

By Pentium 4 or better, that likely means it requires SSE2 instructions, which means Athlon 64 is the minimum on the AMD side. 1GB of RAM is hard to find or get on 2001-2002 P4's as well due to the use of RDRAM. So you're basically looking at 2003-era systems as a minimum to run Ubuntu.

But finding an 8 year old or better system as a hand-me-down, at a yard sale, or even by dumpster diving isn't difficult at all. Never really has been. Most systems like that will actually still work once the typical spyware-infested XP install is removed.

Considering a brand new 4GB USB flash drive is a whopping $2.47 on Amazon (or $5 at Walgreen's) it's not that big of a deal to get one of those either.

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Cruzer-Flash-Drive-SDCZ36-004G/dp/B001XURP7W/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1320470296&sr=1-3

Ubuntu made the right choice by dumping what is now an arbitrary 700MB limit. I'm sure plenty of people also "saw the light" of Linux on 1.44MB floppies in the late 90's as well, but it's almost 2012, and both eras are over now.

TLDR Ubuntu requires 2003-era systems to begin with. 4GB USB drives are $2.47 these days. No big deal.

When you are looking back that far into our history you can't assume anyone knew what they were talking about with any degree of scientific knowledge.

If you agree with me that it's all a collection of folk-tales, then that much is obvious. It is likewise obvious that whatever the authors had to say about the world may or may not have been appropriate to theirs, but listening to them for advice on our problems today - well, you could just as well read some old greek philosopher, or Indian tales, or chinese legends, or basically anything else. There is not reason whatsoever to attribute this specific book any special value.

Now, if you insist that it's the enlightened word of an almighty and omniscient being - well, in that case I can expect not just some, but a superior degree of knowledge.

Evolutionists don't have all of the answers either you know.

Oh, I know. Science is a limes function. It never reaches the whole truth, but it gets progressively closer. Dawkins actually has some very good illustrations of how "wrong" science is. Quantum physics, for example, is hotly debated and a whole lot of stuff is far from settled. But its predictions are so accurate that the typical quantum mechanical measurement is comparable to measuring the distance between New York and San Franzisco to the millimeter.

You should keep that in mind when you say "science doesn't have all the answers". No, it doesn't. But the margin of error or the amount of uncertainty is often on that scale.

And remember, with evolution; this is all completely random... It's like flipping a coin a million times and having it land heads up each time. One mistake and you're back to square one.

You've just proven that you don't understand the first thing about evolution. The very point about evolution is that it is not completely random. It's past midnight here, I'm too tired to explain it, go read a book. Seven Clues to the Origin of Life: A Scientific Detective Story (Canto) has a good explanation of the evolution of the cellular system and in chapter 8 even an explicit debunking of your point.

You can believe what you want, but when two options are possible, it's usually the simpler one that's accurate.

No, it is the simpler one of those who fit the facts. Ockhams razor requires the theories to be comparable in their other qualities.

You cannot disprove God any more than I can prove Him.

No, but a world without a god is the simpler theory than a world with a god that made it look like a world without a god. ;-)

Amazon has actually had this feature for a while: Loaning a Kindle Book

Also, when the loan period is up the lendee gets a link to buy a copy of the eBook from the Amazon store, so publishers might see an increase in sales, especially if the loaned book is the first of a series or something.

Gee, $1M could sure buy a lot of these: http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Operated-Tennis-Racket-Shaped/dp/B003U55W6Y

Those things are awesome! I've been using one for years and keep meaning to modify it to be shaped like a lightsaber-- in a room with a few mosquitos in it it's a lot like the "luke learns the lightsaber" scene in Star Wars.

Not quite.

http://www.amazon.com/Cosmic-Jackpot-Universe-Just-Right/dp/0618592261

Burying your head in the sand doesn't make the problem go away. Why do you think people like the multiverse idea? To get around the theistic implications of the fine-tuning.

Guess what? I'm sorry lots of you don't like the theistic implications. Tough.

When this news was published on another news for nerds site (Slashdot is quite slow these days), several commenters brought up Vernor Vinge's novel A Fire upon the Deep . In that far-future musing on the growth of civilizations and technological singularities, Vinge had the Milky Way galaxy divided into various zones which limited how complex technology could be. At the centre, even the simplest machines would fall apart. Further out, electronics and other 20th-century devices worked, but nanotechnology was less effective. Any race moving to the outskirts of the galaxy reached technological progress undreamed of elsewhere.

Vinge made it clear that the Zones were the artificial creation of an ancient advanced race, not the natural result of physics. This news is thought-provoking in that the constants for life and perhaps technology change naturally throughout the universe. It's not just science catching up with science-fiction, but rather science anticipating something generally unexpected., though didn't Poul Anderson write a story of changing laws of physics too?

Perhaps this a few years too late for you - but here goes ;)

I hear you on the Pauline doctrine...and more. In fact (having significantly revised my faith over the last 10 years - roughly age 30 onwards), I now can see a significant distinction between the 'hellenistic' portion of the NT (typically John & Paul) vs the classic jewish Matt, Mark and basically Luke (though He's greek - he's not pushing a strong hellenistic agenda, remaining more pragmatic than philosophical). By hellenstic I do mean pushing a lot of platonic philosophy (Christ is the Logos and the Logos was in the beginning etc etc; Presumably Logos was part of John's attempt to woo the platonics - but essentially breaking stuff as he goes about it. I'd recommend reading some of Eusebius to understand where John is coming from re Logos - but I'd also recommend reading him as he buttresses his early church history with a lot of other external material and is generally well regarded.

Maybe a bit easier - I'd also/instead recommend the following podcasts by Michael Patton - particularly the early ones too. I don't agree with everything theologically - but found the intellectual honesty to be very high there and significant concepts expounded - all of which is sadly lacking generally. Put it this way - I wish my parents had grown up on that ;)

Sorry - I'm just going to dump some stuff as it comes - but I can't emphasis how critical these realisations have been to me - and if I hadn't come across them - I could imagine going the the severe doubts that you've grappled with without relief.

1/ Paul (and generally the Christian church today) - overplays the spiritual/mystical aspect (yes - a throw back to the platonics/stoics concept that spiritual=good, flesh=bad - which is actually in sharp contradiction to God generally & the OT - but just highlights the reality that Paul/John were products of the culture they were in). Not bad per se - but not theologically accurate I believe. This causes a significant derailment in the commonly preached theology of today.

2/ Our (western) culture is strongly weighted / generally all about innocence-guilt - which is one of the many things from the Greek/Roman culture we inherited. Middle-Eastern culture was based more around Honour and Shame - and I suggest that rather seeing that type of culture as backwards - realise that our innocence-guilt culture may not really work in an ancient world that's dominated by feuding tribes/cities/nations - that doesn't have a police force that can turn up on your doorstep minutes later after dialling 911/000 or an overarching judicial body to enforce our 'inalienable' rights. The judicial system often consisted of your neighbours/village. Christ spoke to a culture that understood and praticed honour and shame as a daily necessity for survival - and group survival at that. While simple innocence & guilt played a part - to see what a lot of the 'that doesn't make sense' parables are about - there is no way around the need to understand the middle-eastern culture at the time. Yes - I can recommend a book Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes . e.g.: The parable of the 'faithful' servants who invested their money for return in contrast to the 'unfaithful' one who buried it - make no sense on face value - but the meaning lies in that the servants transacted business in the master's name - a master that wasn't all that popular - and who may not be returning (as he's gone off to secure his position with his soverign - just as had happened with the jews some years before with Herod heading off in a simliar manner), so the servants that transacted his business while he was away - did have faith (i.e. actually were faithful to him as they thr

Gee, $1M could sure buy a lot of these: http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Operated-Tennis-Racket-Shaped/dp/B003U55W6Y

And Mr Gates could certainly strong arm a much better price out of the supplier, or just buy the manufacturer.

Now he just needs to set up this racket racket with Racket before Slashdot posts a Hadoop dupe.

Gee, $1M could sure buy a lot of these: http://www.amazon.com/Battery-Operated-Tennis-Racket-Shaped/dp/B003U55W6Y

And Mr Gates could certainly strong arm a much better price out of the supplier, or just buy the manufacturer.

The downside is that once in your hand, you cannot remove the racket, and are forced to buy upgrades.

"A Tennis Racket Bug Zapper For Every Child!"

Obligatory link to Plastic Fantastic.

Jesus said, “There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury. At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores.
“Finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and his soul went to the place of the dead. There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side.

“The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’

“But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’

“Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’

“But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’

“The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’

“But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen even if someone rises from the dead.’”

A few quick notes:

• As mentioned in this story, a common theme in the Bible is that seeing miraculous signs and wonders does not produce real, lasting faith. As much as people want to think seeing a giant hand wave from the sky and say "Hey, it's God!" would make them believers, biblically when God does that, it never results in lasting faith. (That said, I believe there is a lot of very solid historical evidence and proof about the trustworthiness of the Bible and Jesus Christ's resurrection, which is the crucial tie between "Is there a God?" and "Why the Christian God?". There are several books that document these, eg Case For Resurrection, etc.
• What's described in this passage is not the lasting eternal Heaven and Hell popular culture thinks about. What's described is just a temporary place. Christians believe when Jesus returns again, both Heaven and Earth will pass away and be recreated (without evil). It isn't a heaven of clouds and harps and people with wings. Jesus promises an eternal life on a new Earth with real physical bodies. It's described as a real physical city and presumably we do things we would normally do in a city- go to work, to the park, build spaceships, etc. (just kidding, I don't really know what we do in the city)
• Heaven (well, the recreated world) is going to be a "great place" because we're in perfect relationship with God. Faith passes away (1 Cor 13) and we're in God's presence.
• Christians do not believe they're going to Heaven because they're better people than those going to Hell. They believe everyone has earned their way into Hell. A single sin is a huge offense to God's perfection. However God has given humanity a way out of Hell by punishing his son, Jesus,

This report begs to differ with your assessment.

Ignorance frequently leads to astonishment. I assume you work in the nuk-u-lar industry. Want to know more about the history of subterfuge in the atomic power industry? Read We Almost Lost Detroit. Many well meaning people thought nuclear power was safe. To quote Sinclair Lewis: It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.

That pattern of thought, combined with a general corporate mindset of privatizing profits and socializing losses, is what led to the Fukushima nuclear disaster . Yes - when you have TV images of reactor containment buildings blowing up one after the other, that's pretty much a disaster.

According to Richard Clarke, a former National Security advisor, and Special Advisor to the President on cybersecurity and cyberterrorism, it's not that China has extraordinary capabilities for cyber attack. It's the US that has essentially no defense. The US is the country with the highest penetration of the Internet in infrastructure (power grid, defense contractors, etc), often run with systems not designed to be exposed to the Internet itself. There is currently no government plan to defend against any attack. Contrary to that China has strong defenses and it can shut itself down from the rest of the internet, to prevent major infrastractural disruption. It's all in here:

http://www.amazon.com/Cyber-War-Threat-National-Security/dp/0061962244/

You could just Google "AWS EBS cost" and confirm for yourself... but here.. I'll give you the direct link. http://aws.amazon.com/ebs/ (Hint: Its at the bottom under projecting costs.)

There are a lot of little things, but on this topic you can read between the lines of pharmacology and neuroscience textbooks and learn a lot about how illicit compounds work by seeing the effects of their legal analogues and comparing/contrasting. I find CNS and autonomic drugs fascinating, personally, and being an anesthesiologist means I can actually watch them work. It's pretty remarkable. (And no, I never, ever stick my hand in the cookie jar. Great way to get fired, lose your medical license, and end up dead.)

Those books were written by a bunch of guys like Kary Mullis. If you find the idea at all interesting, it's worth picking up a copy of the book Making PCR just to read his stories from being a grad student in biochemistry in the late 60s/early 70s. I won't spoil the stories, except to say that you can imagine what kind of compounds they spent their evenings and weekends synthesizing. You might also pick up a copy of A Primer of Drug Action by Robert Julien (no link because Amazon has a few different editions with wildly varying prices - my copy is probably 15 years old). It's easily understandable for the interested layman.

Thanks for your comment, it is a good description of what my wife has been realizing for the last 5 years as she has been educating herself on this issue for a long time. Getting diagnosed with cancer is a horrible thing to happen to anyone but just as bad is getting a false positive and the emotional and physical damage that occurs. This happens more often than people realize. A really good book to read is:
Should I be Tested for Cancer:
http://www.amazon.com/Should-Be-Tested-Cancer-Maybe/dp/0520248368/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320095200&sr=8-1

Ugh, tell me about it. I was helping a friend sell his books at a comic convention in Chicago. His booth was across a booth that had famous superheroes redone as zombies. My guess is that no less than 1/4 of artist's alley was linked to zombies in one way or another.

The unfortunate part is that his book, The Golden Kingdom: Z, makes people assume it shares something with this book about zombies, World War Z

The Z in "The Golden Kingdom" has *nothing* to do with zombies, but from what I saw, two unfortunate things were happening:

1. Zombie fans asked about the book and were disappointed when they discovered it wasn't a zombie book.
2. People that really don't care for zombies avoided the book & didn't even discover what it was really about.

Ugh, tell me about it. I was helping a friend sell his books at a comic convention in Chicago. His booth was across a booth that had famous superheroes redone as zombies. My guess is that no less than 1/4 of artist's alley was linked to zombies in one way or another.

The unfortunate part is that his book, The Golden Kingdom: Z, makes people assume it shares something with this book about zombies, World War Z

The Z in "The Golden Kingdom" has *nothing* to do with zombies, but from what I saw, two unfortunate things were happening:

1. Zombie fans asked about the book and were disappointed when they discovered it wasn't a zombie book.
2. People that really don't care for zombies avoided the book & didn't even discover what it was really about.

This is more functional and portable - no stylus required. Steve Jobs hated styluses...

the iThing side of the connector is pretty much irrelevant since the business end that actually interfaces with anything else is standard USB/Firewire. This isn't some expensive cable that you must buy for half the price of the phone/iPod. It literally costs a buck and a few pennies.

http://www.amazon.com/Data-Cable-iPhone-iPod-White/dp/B002CCUWKM/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319934472&sr=1-1

Pick up a book called El Sicario if you want the answer to those question directly from someone who once was an assassin for one of the cartels in Juarez. It's a fascinating and quick read. (Disclaimer: I am neither a drug kingpin nor a former cartel assassin.)

Seriously, I'm a huge Android fan but... I'd take an iPod Nano wristwatch over these any day: cheaper, better battery life, and easy to use

Does this count as irrefutable proof that $500 is more than most people are willing to spend for a tablet, but $100-200 is perfectly reasonable? Perhaps not irrefutable, but still, maybe some other tech companies will take notice.

I wonder if any other companies will notice?

OK, any good suggestions on how to RESIST ?
Preferably all the while giving the impression that you're not a troublemaker.

Too bad Loompanics folded. I'm pretty sure Amazon would cave pretty quick if the FEDs asked for a list of people buying this author.

A little curious as to where you are getting "a couple hundred dollars".

http://www.amazon.com/NEC-1560M-BK-LCD-Monitor-Black/dp/B00008456C/ref=sr_1_26?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319821022&sr=1-26 - $40

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Desktop-MK120-keyboard-920-002565/dp/B003NREDC8/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319820838&sr=1-1 - Logitech keyboard and mouse combo for $17, I'm sure with a bit of digging around you can get a cheaper mouse / keyboard.

This is how I can rack up a couple hundred dollars on a keyboard, mouse and monitor.
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Programmable-Gaming-Keyboard-Display/dp/B001NXDBI6/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_3 - $146
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G13-Programmable-Gameboard-Display/dp/B001NEK2GE/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_4 - $57.37
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G500-Programmable-Gaming-Mouse/dp/B002J9GDXI/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_2 - $60
or
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Gaming-Mouse-G700/dp/B003VAM32E/ref=pd_bxgy_e_text_b - $75 (if you want a wireless mouse).
- http://www.amazon.com/NEC-LCD2490WUXi2-BK-Widescreen-LCD-Monitor/dp/B002C9KAO8/ref=sr_1_32?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319821839&sr=1-32 - $746 (I decided to stay in a reasonable range, this is just a 24 inch).

A little curious as to where you are getting "a couple hundred dollars".

http://www.amazon.com/NEC-1560M-BK-LCD-Monitor-Black/dp/B00008456C/ref=sr_1_26?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319821022&sr=1-26 - $40

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Desktop-MK120-keyboard-920-002565/dp/B003NREDC8/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319820838&sr=1-1 - Logitech keyboard and mouse combo for $17, I'm sure with a bit of digging around you can get a cheaper mouse / keyboard.

This is how I can rack up a couple hundred dollars on a keyboard, mouse and monitor.
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Programmable-Gaming-Keyboard-Display/dp/B001NXDBI6/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_3 - $146
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G13-Programmable-Gameboard-Display/dp/B001NEK2GE/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_4 - $57.37
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G500-Programmable-Gaming-Mouse/dp/B002J9GDXI/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_2 - $60
or
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Gaming-Mouse-G700/dp/B003VAM32E/ref=pd_bxgy_e_text_b - $75 (if you want a wireless mouse).
- http://www.amazon.com/NEC-LCD2490WUXi2-BK-Widescreen-LCD-Monitor/dp/B002C9KAO8/ref=sr_1_32?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319821839&sr=1-32 - $746 (I decided to stay in a reasonable range, this is just a 24 inch).

A little curious as to where you are getting "a couple hundred dollars".

http://www.amazon.com/NEC-1560M-BK-LCD-Monitor-Black/dp/B00008456C/ref=sr_1_26?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319821022&sr=1-26 - $40

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Desktop-MK120-keyboard-920-002565/dp/B003NREDC8/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319820838&sr=1-1 - Logitech keyboard and mouse combo for $17, I'm sure with a bit of digging around you can get a cheaper mouse / keyboard.

This is how I can rack up a couple hundred dollars on a keyboard, mouse and monitor.
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Programmable-Gaming-Keyboard-Display/dp/B001NXDBI6/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_3 - $146
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G13-Programmable-Gameboard-Display/dp/B001NEK2GE/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_4 - $57.37
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G500-Programmable-Gaming-Mouse/dp/B002J9GDXI/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_2 - $60
or
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Gaming-Mouse-G700/dp/B003VAM32E/ref=pd_bxgy_e_text_b - $75 (if you want a wireless mouse).
- http://www.amazon.com/NEC-LCD2490WUXi2-BK-Widescreen-LCD-Monitor/dp/B002C9KAO8/ref=sr_1_32?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319821839&sr=1-32 - $746 (I decided to stay in a reasonable range, this is just a 24 inch).

A little curious as to where you are getting "a couple hundred dollars".

http://www.amazon.com/NEC-1560M-BK-LCD-Monitor-Black/dp/B00008456C/ref=sr_1_26?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319821022&sr=1-26 - $40

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Desktop-MK120-keyboard-920-002565/dp/B003NREDC8/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319820838&sr=1-1 - Logitech keyboard and mouse combo for $17, I'm sure with a bit of digging around you can get a cheaper mouse / keyboard.

This is how I can rack up a couple hundred dollars on a keyboard, mouse and monitor.
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Programmable-Gaming-Keyboard-Display/dp/B001NXDBI6/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_3 - $146
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G13-Programmable-Gameboard-Display/dp/B001NEK2GE/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_4 - $57.37
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G500-Programmable-Gaming-Mouse/dp/B002J9GDXI/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_2 - $60
or
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Gaming-Mouse-G700/dp/B003VAM32E/ref=pd_bxgy_e_text_b - $75 (if you want a wireless mouse).
- http://www.amazon.com/NEC-LCD2490WUXi2-BK-Widescreen-LCD-Monitor/dp/B002C9KAO8/ref=sr_1_32?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319821839&sr=1-32 - $746 (I decided to stay in a reasonable range, this is just a 24 inch).

A little curious as to where you are getting "a couple hundred dollars".

http://www.amazon.com/NEC-1560M-BK-LCD-Monitor-Black/dp/B00008456C/ref=sr_1_26?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319821022&sr=1-26 - $40

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Desktop-MK120-keyboard-920-002565/dp/B003NREDC8/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319820838&sr=1-1 - Logitech keyboard and mouse combo for $17, I'm sure with a bit of digging around you can get a cheaper mouse / keyboard.

This is how I can rack up a couple hundred dollars on a keyboard, mouse and monitor.
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Programmable-Gaming-Keyboard-Display/dp/B001NXDBI6/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_3 - $146
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G13-Programmable-Gameboard-Display/dp/B001NEK2GE/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_4 - $57.37
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G500-Programmable-Gaming-Mouse/dp/B002J9GDXI/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_2 - $60
or
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Gaming-Mouse-G700/dp/B003VAM32E/ref=pd_bxgy_e_text_b - $75 (if you want a wireless mouse).
- http://www.amazon.com/NEC-LCD2490WUXi2-BK-Widescreen-LCD-Monitor/dp/B002C9KAO8/ref=sr_1_32?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319821839&sr=1-32 - $746 (I decided to stay in a reasonable range, this is just a 24 inch).

A little curious as to where you are getting "a couple hundred dollars".

http://www.amazon.com/NEC-1560M-BK-LCD-Monitor-Black/dp/B00008456C/ref=sr_1_26?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319821022&sr=1-26 - $40

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Desktop-MK120-keyboard-920-002565/dp/B003NREDC8/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319820838&sr=1-1 - Logitech keyboard and mouse combo for $17, I'm sure with a bit of digging around you can get a cheaper mouse / keyboard.

This is how I can rack up a couple hundred dollars on a keyboard, mouse and monitor.
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Programmable-Gaming-Keyboard-Display/dp/B001NXDBI6/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_3 - $146
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G13-Programmable-Gameboard-Display/dp/B001NEK2GE/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_4 - $57.37
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G500-Programmable-Gaming-Mouse/dp/B002J9GDXI/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_2 - $60
or
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Gaming-Mouse-G700/dp/B003VAM32E/ref=pd_bxgy_e_text_b - $75 (if you want a wireless mouse).
- http://www.amazon.com/NEC-LCD2490WUXi2-BK-Widescreen-LCD-Monitor/dp/B002C9KAO8/ref=sr_1_32?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319821839&sr=1-32 - $746 (I decided to stay in a reasonable range, this is just a 24 inch).

A little curious as to where you are getting "a couple hundred dollars".

http://www.amazon.com/NEC-1560M-BK-LCD-Monitor-Black/dp/B00008456C/ref=sr_1_26?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319821022&sr=1-26 - $40

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Desktop-MK120-keyboard-920-002565/dp/B003NREDC8/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319820838&sr=1-1 - Logitech keyboard and mouse combo for $17, I'm sure with a bit of digging around you can get a cheaper mouse / keyboard.

This is how I can rack up a couple hundred dollars on a keyboard, mouse and monitor.
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Programmable-Gaming-Keyboard-Display/dp/B001NXDBI6/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_3 - $146
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G13-Programmable-Gameboard-Display/dp/B001NEK2GE/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_4 - $57.37
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-G500-Programmable-Gaming-Mouse/dp/B002J9GDXI/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_2 - $60
or
- http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Gaming-Mouse-G700/dp/B003VAM32E/ref=pd_bxgy_e_text_b - $75 (if you want a wireless mouse).
- http://www.amazon.com/NEC-LCD2490WUXi2-BK-Widescreen-LCD-Monitor/dp/B002C9KAO8/ref=sr_1_32?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1319821839&sr=1-32 - $746 (I decided to stay in a reasonable range, this is just a 24 inch).

There are electric poles to my parent's house, but that hits two major problems:

* Hanging anything on a power pole costs $1 per month. Multiply that by the number of poles it would take, and that's $30 a month just by itself.

* Even if I did that, no one else on my main road has DSL either.

Right now I'm looking at creating a wireless bridge to my house. Airlive sells a 2 watt Wifi Router for $70

http://www.flyteccomputers.com/details.cfm?wid=1270&wb=N.Power&wre=1

and TP-Link sells a 24 DBi Wifi dish antenna for $48.

http://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-NT-TL-ANT2424B-2-4G-24dBi/dp/B003CFATOW/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1319760719&sr=8-7

So that's $236 before S/H, and I'll probably need to buy a couple more pairs of the dish antennas (and poles to mount them on) to serve as passive repeaters.