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For slightly more in-depth reviews, see, e.g.:

Comics in Context #66: A Christmas Potpourri (starts about halfway down the page)

Mild Mannered Reviews - Specials

blogcritics

and for a list of additional 'It sucked!'/'I liked it!' comments: Comic Book Resources

This could be called "PC Next" - see this review of the XBox 360 for some notes I hope PC Gaming prices drop

To disable the automatic repair follow these instructions; worked very well for me in Mac OS X with both Acrobat 6 and 7.

And ex-RIAA chief Hilary Rosen was sent to Iraq to write their intellectual property laws.
At least it kept her from writing laws here.

The BBC is planning to offer a TV on demand service over the internet blogcritics.org article.

They are working to introduce a service where the last 7 days of shows are available for download in a similar fasion to their online radio player.

Additionally they are hoping to introduce a service where archive content is also available for download, featuring old shows that no longer have the same broadcast restrictions as recent content.

TV on demand is already available through networks such as HomeChoice which offer both recent archive (spaced, black books etc..) content and some of the shows broadcast in the last 7 days (from EastEnders to 'The Sky At Night'), all provided over a ADSL/LLU network.

To me, all this suggest that the BBC is looking to embrace the new delivery technologies now available. I wouldn't be surpried if they found articles like this Guardian piece to be encouraging, in indiating the public's desire to adopt more flexible viewing choices.

I guess I don't have any problems with criminals being tracked, it would probably be a better alternative for high flight risk accused, than the imprisonment they are forced on at the moment. (So what if they aren't actually convicted of a crime yet...) I think the real question is , What happens when all of us are criminals?

No person acting under color of law shall . . . deny the right of any individual to vote in any election because of an error or omission on any record or paper relating to any application, registration, or other act requisite to voting, if such error or omission is not material in determining whether such individual is qualified under State law to vote in such election.

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2004/10/05/153124. php

Blackwell's solution to the pesky problem of people wanting to vote is to institute the most draconian state election laws possible. It makes me wonder if it's possible to have a truely fair election here in my home state.

Happily planning to vote for Badnarik, the Libertarian... I mean, the "OTHER PARTY" candidate. ;)

Assuming, of course, that my polling place hasn't changed, I can find the new one if it has, and that I can get there before it closes.

http://www.lp.org/lpnews/0402/ohio_lawsuit.html

Fourth, of course the criticisms about Kerry are about what he says, because he hasn't done anything. Kerry himself rarely talks about what he has done (except in Vietnam), because there's nothing there of interest.

Further, I don't know how you can consider what Bush has done in Iraq a substantive issue

but the fact that Kerry has completely reversed his position on Iraq is not (e.g., the invasion was "the right decision" in May 2003, but now it is "the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time").

Actually, conservatives are being very careful not to question anybody's patriotism, the Democrats keep accusing them of it.

I'm conservative. I've never questioned anybody's patriotism.

I mean, come on. Allawi accused of being a US puppet by a guy who wants the office of President, where he'd likely work with him in rebuilding his country? HELLO? Alienating important allies in the Middle East before he even gets in office? What's John Kerry smoking?

That one's as rich as authorizing use of force in Iraq, but voting against funding for the guys on the ground.

I find the adaptive filter in Mail to be as goog as a Baysian filter - in fact it's supposed to be a superior adaptive algorithm to bayesian filtering. But it you really want to run a bayseian filter with OS X as well, you can.

My sister works for a movie theater in California. She gets sneak peaks to certain movies. I was reading over one of the forms necessary to get in. It pretty much said that by attending the preview, you consent to a full search of your person and belongings.
I don't want to be searched just to see a movie. Why should I concede my privacy with metal detectors and cavity searches to see a horrible film?
They thought bad movies hurt sales, wait until people start texting that theaters are searching people on friday nights.

Or does their online shop yield to different standards than the brick and mortar shops? waif me, my friend.

something Orrin Hatch would have thought up

You are basically correct... but only if you properly qualify your statement, as follows:

"And they have never had a history of being racists... except when they're being blatantly racist."

See THIS LINK for one such example, in which even Nichelle Nickels (Lt. Uhura from Star Trek) found herself discriminated against and had to leave town because the local Salt Lake hotels would not rent a room to a BLACK PERSON.

Mormons aren't racist... and the Earth is flat.

Don't forget Utopia, the plan to hook up fiber optic cable to hundreds of thousands of Utah homes. http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/11/18/083344. php.

Dartmouth just recently stopped billing students for long distance calls because administering billing was more expensive than the total charges... no doubt this VoIP initiative will help them save on total campus phone bills without overburdening the network. Dartmouth has been pretty chill about P2P-- they allowed a home-grown P2P program to be used for awhile. I'm pretty sure that even back in the heady days of Napster, they never totally banned its use, but rather metered Napster bandwidth. Regardless, they've recently upgraded network capacity to connect hubs with gigabit ethernet, and don't anticipate VoIP being a bandwidth burden.

Clearly, Cary Sherman will be the new chief. The press release is all there. Rosen said: "The Board will be conducting a formal search for my replacement over the next several months and we are confident of a smooth transition. I believe that the RIAA staff is simply the best in the business and I am proud of the team we have built. "Cary Sherman will remain in his current position as RIAA President and the Board and I have asked him to serve on the search committee," concluded Rosen. Why even bother to point out he's on the search committee unless he'll head it up? After all, Dick Cheney headed up Bush II vice presidential committee during the 2000 election. Here's the appropriate links: Picture of Smiling Sherman Interview with Mr. Sherman and the /. comments on said interview Looks like Mr. Sherman will as head of the RIAA will not lead to anything different at the RIAA, except, perhaps many more tesosterone induced lawsuits.

Egad, this woman does like this book. No fewer than 13 reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 (repeated here and here), 14?.

My first thought was the Denise M. Clark was a shill, but if she is, she's incompetant. By using the same name over and over, it becomes easy to track her down. My next thought was that she was a UFO nut trying to spread the word. Possible, but she has reviewed many other books.

My new theory is that she's desperately trying for fame through the unlikely technique of publishing reviews on as many sites as possible. (Check out her web page, "The on-line home of author/reviewer Denise M. Clark". Either that, or she's a space alien here to prepare us for use as slaves and food for her hideous grey masters. If it's the former, she's wasting our time. If it's the latter, I suppose that would could as news for nerds.

In this interview with the President of the RIAA he spouts the party line.

Eric Olsen: How are you actually going to overcome the "fair use" doctrine? It's already a fact that "archival" copies are allowed, so why is "space shifting" not archival and thus "fair use"?

Cary Sherman: ... It is not a fact that "archival" copies are allowed. Copyright law specifically allows certain kinds of archival copies of software, but not of music, movies, books or anything else. In fact, in the Texaco case, the court held that making archival copies of scientific papers was not a fair use. As for space shifting, I don't think any court has actually held that it's a fair use. And a couple have specifically ruled that it isn't.

Now compare and contrast with Orrin Hatch questioning Hilary Rosen in the Senate- here:

''Can I make a copy of a CD that I buy and put it into a car?'' asked Hatch. When Rosen hemmed and hawed, Hatch muttered, ''The answer is yes.''

"Of course record companies want to embrace the technology for greater profits. That's what they've done before, and that's what they want to do again. How to do it isn't so clear or easy, however...[Later]...record companies have been working very hard at getting music on the Internet legally. That happens to be difficult - because you need the permission of the songwriters and music publishers, and in many cases the artists as well, and those clearances aren't easy to get. (Everyone is nervous about piracy, and trying to figure out how much revenue they should earn, and what the business model is going to be, etc.) And then there are the technical infrastructures that have to be built to account for downloads and streams and pay royalties to rightsowners; the security for the content; and so on. It's a lot easier to do it illegally (just post it, don't worry about security, and don't pay anybody anything); doing it legally takes time...[Later]...The technology in this area keeps changing, and improving. You mention Enhanced CDs. As it happens, lots of consumers have had trouble with Enhanced CDs, because they may not play on all devices. So every time you mess with computer technology, there are unexpected effects."

This WMP DRM business is a good example of what he was talking about. They have a difficult work to do if they want to embrace DRM and customers at the same time. Problems like this are unfortunate and (I believe) unacceptable, but are a natural consequence of what they're trying to do. I'd rather the music industry collapse from within, personally, but I'm not sure if that will happen.