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Hooray! I was hoping to find some reference to that book or either of the theories it is built upon: David Bohm's Holographic Universe theory, based on his reflections on quantum mechanics, essentially stating (IIRC and highly simplified) that a non-local hidden variable must exist and following that to a conclusion that space, time, matter, the entire universe is an unbroken whole that we conscious beings artificially divide; and Karl Pribam's Holonomic Brain Model, stating (IIRC and highly simplified) that our consciousness arises from the interference patterns created by brainwaves, and that the idea of functions of consciousness being tied to certain areas of the brain (language, memory, etc.) is faulty.

On Pribam's side there are some interesting experiments that include removing the brains of salamanders and putting them back in backwards, upside down, even sliced'n'diced, only to have the salamander act normally when brought back from sedation. The Holographic Universe is the best book I have come across for information on Pribam's development of the model, and the section that details his findings is indeed captivating as drinkypoo wrote.

The Holographic Universe is definitely an interesting book though it tends toward the mystical (ESP, auras, time travel, etc.) the further you read. I myself am somewhat inclined in that direction, or at least keep an open mind, but I believe the average Slashdotter will dismiss the whole thing out of hand. For those of you who are interested in Bohm's theory more than Pribam's (or like to impale your brains on advanced physics), I'd recommend David Bohm's Wholeness and the Implicate Order. This book has none of the mystical implications of the Talbot book and lays out Bohm's theory much more fully, if you can understand it (I certainly couldn't once he started using the symbols presumably known to QM wizards). It is rather uneven, being very dry in some parts and very math-heavy in others, so watch out. I would personally prefer a book written for a more general audience, but his theory has been ignored for 50 years. Maybe I'll get my wish if the experiments in the article continue to point in his direction.

http://www.amazon.com/Holographic-Universe-Michael-Talbot/dp/0060922583 Michael Talbot wrote this book years ago. Others have had this theory since 1980-1985. Of course, if it is a hologram, those who created it might want you to read this comment. LOL! THe book itself was written in 1992.

It's actually a challenging and inspiring read. The holographic principles of interference fields present an incredible perspective on the world we live in. It touches on spirituality, string theory, and quantum physics as well as good old material science.
MUST READ!
Amazon Link Here

There is a book called The Holographic Universe and it is quite well-written and interesting.

You can also read more here and at Wikipedia.

Modern physics is full of mind-blowing theories... Interesting times indeed!

You can easily get a pretty good projector (5000-9000 lumens) in the $6000 range. That's chickenshit money for even the smallest schools (contrary to pleadings of poverty, most schools actually get big bucks in technology grants for computers and related equipment). Most 5000 lumen models (like the NEC NP4000) can be had for under $4000.

Police have boundaries and borders. The internet, alas, does not.

Well that's correct... for a while. As in any "new territory", there's a time for anarchy and (maybe) chaos, free-for-all and stuff. During that period, it's jungle law. Lots of wounded, and a few winners.

Then of course comes the Reaction, and the Usual Powers settle in. This book explains it pretty well.

I'd like to know when those four moons are _very_ close together, and preferably not in front of or behind Jupiter as seen from Earth.

Never. The inner 3 are a Laplace relationship, and are never close together. So, among other implications, the arrangement shown at the end of 2001 A Space Odyssey cannot happen.

I highly recommend Murrary and Dermott if you are interested in the physics of this.

has a 45min battery life instead of about 6 times that number (on rechargable AAs)

From the amazon review: "As noted, it does run on rechargeable batteries, but they'll last far less than the advertised two hours." Even Nomad didn't advertise that the Jukebox lasted longer than 2 hours. Compared that to the max 10hr of an iPod (realistically 5 hrs under constant use).

or that it can't be used as a portable harddrive

Could the original Nomad (6GB) be used as a portable HD? Yes or No. The answer is No. For some people that is a missing feature.

it has terrible interface.

Was it hard to navigate the thousands of songs on a Nomad? For most people the number buttons that they'd have to push meant it was harder to use. How about syncing? On a USB 1.1, syncing could take a while.

Let's compare how one adds songs to the playlist. On the Jukebox, you go to an album or track and push "Add to queue". On the ipod... you wait four generations until this is possible, and then look up the feature on about.com.

On-the-Go playlists only affect the songs you want to add from your iPod. To add songs to your other iPod playlists, use iTunes and the playlist functions there. And you're saying that one feature makes up for everything else?

First off, depending on what state you're pulled over in, the consequences of refusing the test are worse than your first dui arrest. Second, prosecutors are now using the fact that you refused the test against you as proof that you were intoxicated. If you have no had prior DUI arrests, you should almost always take the test.

I recommend everyone at least determine beforehand how they will react when pulled over by police for suspicion of drunk driving. On the spot decisions are hard to make when an Officer is shining his flashlight in your face. State law varies, but check out "The Criminal Law Handbook" 10th ed., p. 536, under What Will Happen to me if I refuse to take a blood alcohol test. Amazon Page Link.

Some relevant snippets (typing by hand.. forgive my snipping and mistakes. Emphasis is mine):

In many states, the law assumes that as a condition of obtaining a driver's license, drivers consent to alcohol or drug testing... Such laws are called "implied consent" laws... failure to cooperate typically results in the loss of driving privileges for a specified amount of time, regardless of what happens in the underlying DUI case. Often, a license suspension for failure to take the test is as long as (or longer than) what results from a DUI conviction (to eliminate any incentive not to take the test). In addition, a refusal may increase a defendant's ultimate jail time if that defendant is convicted.... Activities like giving blood and performing field sobriety tests are considered nontestimonial, and there is no constitutional right to refuse them. And evidence that a defendant refused the test can be admitted against the defendant in court as evidence of a guilty state of mind. ... Almost always, if a driver has never before been convicted of DUI, it makes sense to take the test, even if the defendant is drunk. However, for second or subsequent offenses, the decision is not quite so simple. Sometimes the penalty for a second offense may be so severe that it makes tactical sense to refuse the test

Myself, I think, for a first offense, I'd probably just insist on a blood test. Your average ER is so backed up, who knows how long it would take them to give you a blood test for DUI when people in the waiting room are literally dying. IANAL and this is not legal advice.

I have a new found love of Amazon. I kinda doubt I'll find one with a listing saying "This will ensure your half broken electronics never turn on again." :)

The issue is that Windows is easy to get started with, and there isn't a lot to learn. Simple GUIs for everything, and you wouldn't know about any advanced features unless you looked them up and knew what you were doing.

Linux is about productivity first. Linux is easy to use, but not completely obvious. With the power to begin any complicated task just a click or keyword away, it can feel like being dropped into an ocean and being asked to swim. The most extreme example of this type of design where productivity is valued over obviousness or 'intuitiveness' is Blender3D. Blender is a F***ING nightmare to figure a damn thing out. I used 3D studio max and poked around and was modeling simple buildings and funny creatures in a matter of hours. Blender I was just like WTF!?! and by the time I figured out how to draw a simple cube, I gave up. Last summer, I thought I would give it another go after watching Elephant Dreams. I figured, ok, of they can do this, I must be able to do better than a box. I thought: What would be the pragmatic way of going about this. Hmm.. Read the damn documentation maybe? The first thing the documentation covered was that the GUI ia intentionally designed a very particular way and they are NOT going to change it. While it requires a lot of memorization, once you 'get it', it will enable you to model faster than ever. Despite not knowing how to do anything, the GUI didn't seem so 'stupid' anymore. If every little detail was very well thought out, then I needed to give it a chance. I jumped on youtube and did a search for "Blender tutorial". MANY results. I picked a series and followed along. While the controls were not obvious in any way, they were easy to remember and simple to use. Every few videos or so, I would try to figure something out on my own, but usually with complete failure. But continuing with the videos, each 20 minute segment was showing me whole new aspects of what could be done. I got to give credit where credit is due. super3boy did a pretty good job. The videos were a bit on the crude side, and the examples were really simple and drawn out, but considering how effective he was in assisting me with my learning, it was perfect. I even showed a friend that had never even much used a computer but to check email, and within a week we were making beautiful scenes, fun simple games, and such. Water, fireworks, explosives taking out buildings, whatever came to mind could be put together right away as the thoughts unfolded. It wasn't like having to think of one part then work through it and then think about the next part after the first part was done.

Anyway, the point is, Linux can be over whelming. I know many people are interested in Linux, but watch people who are comfortable with it, and it all just looks like magic. I have been using Linux for several years now, and I still see people do clever things that appear "magical". Maybe that is why Macs are so popular. I don't think there is anything I have ever seen done on a mac that couldn't be copied by a monkey. Maybe that is the appeal. One simple way to do certain things that people want to do with their computer that make them look cool. But while mac is much like a "choose your own adventure" novel, Linux can feel like pencil and paper, but give it a little time and energy, it is more like Harold's Purple Crayon.

I can understand that some people just want the choose your own adventure. I get that. But Linux enables your computer to be a tool, and as with any complex piece of machinery, the novice needs a teacher. Just because its complex and there is much to learn doesn't mean there is anything wrong with the machine. It means people need help. This is why I feel the Linux community is so strong. It is necessary for people to share their knowledge. It requires upstream developers to hang out in their own irc channel. It requires LOTS of third party documentation to a

Why don't you buy a book on QT?

http://www.amazon.com/C-GUI-Programming-Qt-4/dp/0131872494

http://www.amazon.com/Book-Qt-Art-Building-Applications/dp/1593271476

http://www.amazon.com/Foundations-Development-Experts-Voice-Source/dp/1590598318

And the QT reference docs are well organized in my experience.

Why don't you buy a book on QT?

http://www.amazon.com/C-GUI-Programming-Qt-4/dp/0131872494

http://www.amazon.com/Book-Qt-Art-Building-Applications/dp/1593271476

http://www.amazon.com/Foundations-Development-Experts-Voice-Source/dp/1590598318

And the QT reference docs are well organized in my experience.

Why don't you buy a book on QT?

http://www.amazon.com/C-GUI-Programming-Qt-4/dp/0131872494

http://www.amazon.com/Book-Qt-Art-Building-Applications/dp/1593271476

http://www.amazon.com/Foundations-Development-Experts-Voice-Source/dp/1590598318

And the QT reference docs are well organized in my experience.

While growing up, my father imparted something of a passion for astronomy, and I remember being thrilled by a glance through his homebrew Dobsonian reflector. However, light pollution really takes any wonder out of gazing up at the heavens with a naked eye. I've been to some fairly remote places on Earth, such as central Kazakhstan and Western Sahara, but even there local authorities have put up enough lighting to seriously dim the skies. I can't imagine how glorious things must have been a century ago.

It's a pity few even realize what a problem light pollution is. If you want to really appreciate the stars, consider looking at something like Bob Mizon's Light Pollution: Responses and Remedies . But in the face of apathy from officials, there's no much hope for improvement.

I used the Crayon Physics demo to try Johnny Lee's whiteboard hack. I was primarily interested in the whiteboard hack and wanted something interesting running so I could watch different people using the IR pen I had built to see what limitations it had. The game drew enough people into it that they completely forgot about how they were interacting with it that I figured the hack as a win.

fwiw, I used a key ring led to house the IR Led and battery. It took about 5 minutes to swap the white light led with an IR led. My cell phone could see the IR led light up which told me I had done that part of the hack right later on when I had problems with a Broadcom Bluetooth driver.

Sounds like you all need to go out and buy the latest copy of the Profanisaurus, subtitled "The Magna Farta". This is the "World's Sweariest Dictionary" compiled by Viz magazine with over 10,000 rude words and phrases.

Should give you plenty of new phrases to use in your protest letters - many of which will not be understood by those in power unless they too resort to looking them up!

Plus this is one of those books which is guaranteed to make you laugh out loud - much like this new law.

My first mp3 player, which is still kicking around in drawer or a closeted box, was a Creative Nomad II MG. $250 for 64 mb and $100 for a 128 mb mmc card -- $350 total. For that, I got a player with controls that were so awkwardly placed on the sides that even after a year of steady use, I had to actually look at it to change songs -- it was ridiculously easy to delete songs instead of skip them. The screen was extra small too.

Several years later I picked up a refurbed ipod for half the price with 15 gb of storage and controls I could use without looking at them. I recently got an 80 gb model, refurb, for half the price of my Creative, and the controls are even better than my old 15 gb model -- as long as I'm not searching through my library, I can control it "eyes-free" effortlessly and without thinking about it. Now, I'm sure most players don't have controls as dreadful as my Creative, but the fact the ipod is easy to use is not some kind of reality distortion event. The ipod is objectively better designed because I can adjust the volume and skip songs without looking at it. With the Nomad, anytime you pressed a button without looking I risked random outcomes up to and including song deletion. Reality distortion would be thinking that the Nomad was better than an ipod.

And I sure hope that someone, Noam Chomsky or someone else, will write a book that explains to the public what the two Bushes have done during all these years, as eloquently as in The Culture of Terrorism.

Now, if you are going to try Bush and company, then I'd say that almost every single American president of the 20th century must be dragged into court as well, except the newly elected Obama (but we'll see).

Disclosure: I was the survivor of a country that was devastated as a result of the terrorist foreign policies of the USA. Our extended, very well-off family of 60 persons were reduced to less than 7 after four years of war, famine, epidemic outbreak, torture, mass killing, ... Talking about silkworm in an earlier article, you'd be lucky if you had that to eat. I have eaten all those things that would make the majority of ./ers scream of horror by just mentioning them.

I recently interviewed security researcher Michael Collins for Beautiful Teams (a book I'm finishing for O'Reilly) about work he'd done at CERT working on SiLK, a collection of traffic analysis tools. From talking to him, it sounds like this is an enormously difficult problem to solve. His work involved modeling "normalcy" as a baseline to detect anomalies using an enormous amount of data spit out of edge routers. When I asked, "So your goal was to look at the data from routers, and just by looking at the gigabytes of daily data from router logs you can detect successful and unsuccessful attempts at intrusion?", he said, "That's the Holy Grail." (We'll be printing the whole interview, if you're curious to see it.) TFA was light on details -- if they managed to make some headway towards solving this problem, that would be amazing. But from what we talked about, it sounds like simply finding anomalies after the fact using a huge amount of data turns out to be enormously difficult. Doing it in real time seems ... well, let's just say that I'm skeptical.

Some confusion exists about the status of these spelling variants. The argument is sometimes heard that they represent etymologically distinct words, and that gantlet is the only correct choice--or at least the preferable one--in the common phrase run the ga(u)ntlet. This argument is mistaken.

Then it goes on to describe why.

Given that the OED hasn't found a distinct difference between the two and that MW's linguists agree with the OED, I think you're wrong and being an incorrect prescriptivist.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FI73MA/
# Top U.S. newspapers including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post; top magazines including TIME, Atlantic Monthly, and Forbes--all auto-delivered wirelessly.
# Top international newspapers from France, Germany, and Ireland; Le Monde, Frankfurter Allgemeine, and The Irish Times--all auto-delivered wirelessly.
# More than 1000 top blogs from the worlds of business, technology, sports, entertainment, and politics, including BoingBoing, Slashdot, TechCrunch, ESPN's Bill Simmons, The Onion, Michelle Malkin, and The Huffington Post--all updated wirelessly throughout the day.

OK, I am a lawyer, but this is not legal advice.

About 30 years ago I applied for a job as an attorney with a Fortune 100 company. They liked me but said I had to take a psychological test to qualify for the job. They wanted me to go take it the same day but I told them I couldn't do it until two days later.

In the meantime, I went to the public library and read William Whyte's book, "The Organization Man." http://www.amazon.com/Organization-Man-William-H-Whyte/dp/0812218191/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231883226&sr=1-1 At the end of the book is an appendix on "How to Cheat on Personality Tests." Very helpful. In fact, I think the test described in the book was the very same one I took.

So what happened? I didn't hear from them for just over a year. Then they called and wanted to hire me. By that time I had taken another job far away and didn't look back.

But why is violent crime going down all throughout the western world? Gaming have risen by probably thousands of percent and still violent crime is decreasing.

The answer is politically-incorrect regardless of your political stance.

Actually popular literature suggests that constricting, not stretching, your anus is the key to "good-bying depression".

That is, indeed, how Strauss manages to distance himself from the unsavory characters in the book - but that didn't stop him from continuing to cash in on the cottage industry he helped to create. I interpret the ending to be the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down in a most delightful way.

Stephen King's The Stand.

My current reading, Flare ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/067172133X ), contains a scenario remarkably similar to that dipped into in the article.

What's the point of this post? I'm simply saying the article speaks the truth.

For more information, you can find the Table of Contents, FAQ and a few other case studies at my site.

The Third edition of the book just came out. I think Amazon just got their copies from the printer.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=futurama&x=0&y=0

I recommend Windows System Programming by Hart if you want to get a feeling for it. It's arguably a better (and certainly more modern) API than the classic UNIX set. I mean, fork() is a pretty weird way to create a new process, if you think about it.

This is _not_ an endorsement of the entire Windows OS, which has miles-deep layers of cruft and crap on top -- just talking about the kernel and core system services.

The Arab population living in "refugee camps" were generally not sent there by the Israeli, quite the contrary, in the lead-up to the 1948 war Golda Meir traveled all over trying to stop the Arabs from leaving. The Arab population (Palestinians as they call themselves today) fled the area because they were told to do so by the Arab military command leading up to the 1948 war.

That is a misleading characterization of what occurred. While what you say about the Arab countries is true, Israel also forcibly expelled and threatened a great deal of them. Read your Benny Morris.

Saying no is key to keeping your sanity.

And saying "no" is not something that geeks enjoy, because it takes a certain ability to withstand emotional games that geeks aren't good at. A common reason that geeks (including me) are attracted to scientific and technical endeavors is that we're socially a bit obtuse and aren't good at getting other people to appreciate us. We yearn for objective and scrupulously fair evaluation. We don't want to argue about our performance; we want it to speak for ourselves. It's even better to be alone with the computer: the computer is scrupulously fair.

We try to excuse ourselves from normal social maneuvering and rely entirely on our intelligence, competence, and ultimately, our good work. Unfortunately, that doesn't work when dealing with people who are angry, fearful, and willing to trample other people. And who isn't willing to trample on the lowly IT geek? Who isn't angry and fearful in an IT crisis?

When a geek encounters aggression, unfair accusations, and outrageous demands, his response to the social stress is to withdraw (leaving the accusations unchallenged) and fall back on his technical skills (by working overtime to fix the problem.)

The geek might try to stick up for himself by using facts and logic, but his aggressor will just become more aggressive and insulting. The aggressor understands the audience (bystanders and management) better than the geek and is able to snow them with indignation and misrepresentation, leaving the geek feeling shamed, embarrassed, and sorry that he stuck up for himself. What is his refuge? Demonstrating his ability with a scrupulously fair audience: the computer. So he works overtime to fix things for the guy who just abused him.

I've never worked an IT job, but I've experienced this as a software developer for a very small company. I no longer work there, and they still pay me a retainer and frequent consulting fees because they haven't managed to entirely replace me :-) Line up a better job and QUIT! Easier said than done, I know. Good luck to everyone stuck in that position. Read a few books like this one, work on sticking up for yourself, and keep it cool.

See also: http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1087077&cid=26401769

What you are describing is the effects of a lack of self esteem. The computer is fair in the way that a human being is unfair. Computers have no malice and no desire to see others suffer or submit. Nerds withdraw as a "third way" when the other two are "stand up for yourself" and "cower".

It took me a long, long time to understand this. I learned all of the wrong lessons about social interaction when I was younger. Diving into IT was a way for me to cope with the wrong lessons I learned and the destroyed self esteem that resulted from it. I can't tell you how awesome it feels to walk into a party of strangers and turn on my personality and own the room, making everyone laugh and look up to me even if I'm the shortest guy in the room. Making 200 computers bend to my will gives a rush, but a rush that is one one-millionth the feeling of making 50 people look up to me. That's real power.

I've installed Windows 7 32-bit Pre-Pre-Release (build 7000 for inquiring minds) on my gaming machine and it works surprisingly well. Ventrilo took a bit of fiddling to work right, but other than that it worked better out of the box than XP Service Pack 3 does. It didn't need any extra drivers, although it did prompt me to update the Graphics card driver, which it happily did automatically.

Then the trouble started.

Since I had several firefox tabs open, I opted to put the computer into Hibernation for the night so I could continue with them this morning. It obliged surprisingly quickly and shut off the system power. Fans went off, case lights went off, and the USB devices lost power. The system was off. Off I Tell you!

I went to bed. While reading Paris in the 20th Century by Jules Verne, almost an hour after I had shut off the machine, quietly returned to life! I thought that some bump or vibration or some minuscule cosmic ray had activated the case button and quickly dismissed it as some one-off odd event. I went back to reading about Le Grande Entrepôt.

About a chapter later, I don't know how much time had passed, the beast roared back to life with the ferocity of all fans at one hundred percent and the squeal of the system speaker! Twice in one night was too much for coincidence. I put the machine into hibernation once again, unplugged the power supply and resigned myself that if it came back to life once more, I would call a priest for an exorcism. (which would be quite a phone call, considering that I do not frequent churches)

Tonight, I will be sleeping with a copy of dBaN by my side.

Saying no is key to keeping your sanity.

And saying "no" is not something that geeks enjoy, because it takes a certain ability to withstand emotional games that geeks aren't good at. A common reason that geeks (including me) are attracted to scientific and technical endeavors is that we're socially a bit obtuse and aren't good at getting other people to appreciate us. We yearn for objective and scrupulously fair evaluation. We don't want to argue about our performance; we want it to speak for ourselves. It's even better to be alone with the computer: the computer is scrupulously fair.

We try to excuse ourselves from normal social maneuvering and rely entirely on our intelligence, competence, and ultimately, our good work. Unfortunately, that doesn't work when dealing with people who are angry, fearful, and willing to trample other people. And who isn't willing to trample on the lowly IT geek? Who isn't angry and fearful in an IT crisis?

When a geek encounters aggression, unfair accusations, and outrageous demands, his response to the social stress is to withdraw (leaving the accusations unchallenged) and fall back on his technical skills (by working overtime to fix the problem.)

The geek might try to stick up for himself by using facts and logic, but his aggressor will just become more aggressive and insulting. The aggressor understands the audience (bystanders and management) better than the geek and is able to snow them with indignation and misrepresentation, leaving the geek feeling shamed, embarrassed, and sorry that he stuck up for himself. What is his refuge? Demonstrating his ability with a scrupulously fair audience: the computer. So he works overtime to fix things for the guy who just abused him.

I've never worked an IT job, but I've experienced this as a software developer for a very small company. I no longer work there, and they still pay me a retainer and frequent consulting fees because they haven't managed to entirely replace me :-) Line up a better job and QUIT! Easier said than done, I know. Good luck to everyone stuck in that position. Read a few books like this one, work on sticking up for yourself, and keep it cool.

I just got done reading Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art and would recommend it if you are looking for more information on that area. However, more than anything else, individual task estimates seem to come down to two things: how well the specs are written, and how long it took you to do a similar task in the past. Until you have done something before, it is hard to say how long it will take for you to do it.

I actually have to agree with one of the other poster's comments about how you shouldn't be getting chewed out as well. Interns are expected to be a bit slower than other, experienced employees because they are interns. The individual supervising you should have been giving you helpful advice instead of chewing you out.

http://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Eyewitnesses-Gospels-Eyewitness-Testimony/dp/0802831621

For starters.

There are over 3000 recorded (cover) versions of "Yesterday". I doubt even "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" or Beethoven's 9th comes close.

Yeah, you're probably right.

*Disclaimer: I'm a big Beatles fan, but I had to take issue with that statement.

So, I say, cut these people some slack. Go buy a OLPC, and see what all the talk is about.

Ironically, this is probably the crux of the problem. I can't just go out and buy and OLPC, I have to go through some hokey G1G1 dance at amazon, oops wait, it ended Dec 31, too late, sorry...

Please note: The Give One Get One program ended on Dec 31st. The link on this page is a donation only and provides a laptop to a child in a developing country. You will not receive a laptop.

That's hard to cut someone some slack about since it's spitting distance to something like ooh your not part of the "club" you can't invest in this Madoff fund even though I know you really want to, but if you can wait just a little while, an opportuntity might come up later where you can invest, but you can't ask any questions...

That kind of crap just doesn't pass the smell test with me...

"with at least the potential for 8 hours of battery life"

Every laptop I ever owned clamied similar, and usually turned itself off after around the 2 hours 45 minutes mark.

I've only had laptops from 2 companies, Gateway and now Apple. My Gateway's batter lasted 2 maybe 3 hours. However my 17" MacBook Pro's battery last maybe 4 hours. However that's without running the optical, DVD/CD, drive.

But what amazes me, is that the battery is non-removable, so if it shorts or has some other problem, back to the approved iMac store for Joe Fanboi, and another whopping bill for service.

That's something I was disappointed about, however the batteries are supposed to last a few years, longer than most people have their laptop before replacing it. And other companies are stepping in to offer extended power supplies. The iPhone also has a non-removal batteries yet companies are offering battery extenders like Kensington, Mophie, and Richard Solo.

Falcon

"with at least the potential for 8 hours of battery life"

Every laptop I ever owned clamied similar, and usually turned itself off after around the 2 hours 45 minutes mark.

I've only had laptops from 2 companies, Gateway and now Apple. My Gateway's batter lasted 2 maybe 3 hours. However my 17" MacBook Pro's battery last maybe 4 hours. However that's without running the optical, DVD/CD, drive.

But what amazes me, is that the battery is non-removable, so if it shorts or has some other problem, back to the approved iMac store for Joe Fanboi, and another whopping bill for service.

That's something I was disappointed about, however the batteries are supposed to last a few years, longer than most people have their laptop before replacing it. And other companies are stepping in to offer extended power supplies. The iPhone also has a non-removal batteries yet companies are offering battery extenders like Kensington, Mophie, and Richard Solo.

Falcon

Wrong - Sugar has ZERO nutritional value. Many unsaturated fats like those from nuts, flaxseeds, and fish oils contain very beneficial fatty acids that your body can use. http://www.docshop.com/2008/08/12/fat-vs-sugar-which-is-worse/ http://www.amazon.com/Fat-Appreciation-Misunderstood-Ingredient-Recipes/dp/1580089356/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231375166&sr=8-1

using pretty art to highlight "pollution" seems incongruous. shouldn't it be more intriguing and a little repulsive?

... I wonder how these technologies compare like-for-like... Folks complain about 'power hungry' LCDs, and I'm like "WTF?!".. Find me a 65" CRT and compare it against that 65" LCD, not a 65" LCD vs 32" CRT..

Anyway, I bet all you California tree-botherers will be sorry when we get Snowball Earth..

here is a link to a Sony Bravia 32 inch TV on Amazon I don't know if it's a good TV, I don't know if it's a bad TV. It's a TV, chosen somewhat at random
The technical description is as follows:

16:9 HD 720p Resolution (1366 x 768 ) LCD Panel
HDMI Input
HD Component Input
PC Input
ATSC /NTSC tuner with QAM

If you expand the technical details, you'll find

Power
Power Requirements: AC 120V 60Hz
Power Consumption (in Standby): Less than 1W
AC Stay Off: Yes
Regulation and Standard Compliance:
Energy Star® Compliant: Yes
VESA® Hole Spacing Compatible: Yes
VESA® Hole Pitch: 200 x 200 mm

How much power is consumed during operation? I don't know.

The manual, however offers a clue

Power consumption in use: 155 W.

But I had to go beyond the product literature, beyond what amazon offered me to find this little figure-- which might be high, it might be low.

Multiply this research process by 20 or 30 models and a customer starts to question their "responsibility" to the environment-- which means that the aggregate effect of "environmentally responsible television buyers" becomes rather small.

Even a labeling requirement would be helpful.

what good is an iPhone if you run out of toilet paper? 3G won't help you there.

Sure it will! Just order some toilet paper online.

So how does one label an SD card

With one of these. Should have thought that was obvious...

You are NOT keeping up.

http://www.amazon.com/iRobot-Gutter-Cleaning-Robot-120/dp/B000WL4QAW/

look at the Maher Arar case where a Canadian was intercepted at JFK international, rendered to Syria by the CIA and tortured in Syria.

The "best" part of that story (not mentioned in the article, but gone over in detail in Jane Mayer's The Dark Side), is that the guy was totally innocent of any involvement in terrorisim. So why did the US government pick him up?

Well...it turns out that another suspect who was being tortured happened to know the guy, and threw his name up to his torturers to make them stop for little while.

Doesn't it just make you proud to be an American?