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Yep, and the "Olympic Movement" is given special rights under US Laws

It used to be that hosting olympic events was a money-maker for the cities involved. However recently data shows that towns that host Olympics are actually losing out. I don't agree with "special privileges" for anyone, but it's understandable to see how they can happen where there is a source of income for the state. But when the state is trying to "protect" something that is actually costing tax payer dollars, it's time to repeal laws (or repeal the damned state).

FWIW, when Colorado won the competition to host the 1976 Winter Olympics and then turned it down we did so because of the cost. It became obvious that it was an enormous money-loser for the state and almost everyone in the state except for a very few people who stood to get rich, so we voted to tell the Olympics to go somewhere else. It's not clear to me that it's *ever* been a money-maker for the cities involved, just for the few rich people who stand to get richer yet.

Of course, it's the same thing with levying sales taxes to build a football stadium, which pours money into the pockets of the team owners, and we stupidly voted for that. Maybe the Olympics was enough more money that it crossed some sort of threshhold, or maybe football's just more popular here.

...

The big problem is really obvious. It's the quality of teachers. And it's not that the teachers are bad per se, it's that they're unmotivated to do better. Teacher's unions make it so that you get paid on years on the job and tenure, not how well you teach. Decoupling rewards with results in this way has been the single worst decision in education in this country.

Look at most charter schools. They flourish. Why? Because the teachers are motivated to teach well, not just do well until they get to tenure status.

Unions are NOT the problem. The unions in Europe are incredibly strong, probably much stronger than any teachers unions in the U.S. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/feb/01/speakout-american-teachers-unions-the-fatal-flaw/ Why don't we put the blame on teacher training and certification instead. How else can you explain how 16% of U.S. science teachers are creationists? http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13930-16-of-us-science-teachers-are-creationists.html

To back this up, there have been substantial job cuts at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory twice in its history. The first time was when Reagan cut the staff by about 50%, and Bush, Jr. cut about 10% in 2005. Considering that NREL is one of the centers of expertise of photovoltaics in the world, and often hold the record for efficiency for photovoltaics it does look pretty suspicious.

No they weren't, and the CEO's dealing were a separate event.
But you do ahead an use you confirmation bias to blindly see and follow non existent patterns.

Yeah, sure.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5719566,00.html

The contracts Qwest was locked out of were the contracts to move/route phone lines to central locations to make it easier to tap.

So, GovNet was only for CALEA? Gee, that's not what Richard Clarke said when he announced it.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5719566,00.html

In fact, the CEO's dealing were completely separate from this and the jury did not buy his excuses when the evidence was laid on the table.

Funny, he never had a chance to present the evidence in the first place. Why is it that you think a jury even heard it, much less didn't buy it?

http://m.rockymountainnews.com/news/2009/Feb/25/court-reinstates-nacchios-insider-trading-convicti/

The contracts Qwest was locked out of were the contracts to move/route phone lines to central locations to make it easier to tap.

So, GovNet was only for CALEA? Gee, that's not what Richard Clarke said when he announced it.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5719566,00.html

In fact, the CEO's dealing were completely separate from this and the jury did not buy his excuses when the evidence was laid on the table.

Funny, he never had a chance to present the evidence in the first place. Why is it that you think a jury even heard it, much less didn't buy it?

http://m.rockymountainnews.com/news/2009/Feb/25/court-reinstates-nacchios-insider-trading-convicti/

Oil companies have no business in that space anyway - so good riddance.

However, Shell have developed a system of extracting high quality oil from shale, concentrated in the Green Hills area of Colorado, using a technique which is very environmentally friendly. That deposit alone contains several billions of barrels of oil, and is economic at $35 a barrel.

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_4051709,00.html

We won't be running out of oil this century - that's for sure.

Well, there's the lap dances, rock concerts, and golf tournaments, but really, if no one cares about the pitfalls of 30:1 leverage, who cares about these puny details.

I wonder if the military will have any problems getting their quotas filled in the coming years, they are paying jobs after all.

Probably not.

There's a difference between a statue and a picture of real tits.

Along with the sibling post by AC, some people might disagree.

There was another study in Virginia that showed that while fatalities decreased (right angle crashes), total accidents increased significantly after putting in red-light cameras, and this effect did not diminish over time. Source: thenewspaper.com. I'm sure you'll find a similar refutation of the Texas study; it is still too soon to see that.

There was another study from the Univ. of South Florida with similar results.

In short, traffic cameras show no statistical improvement in accident rate, and in some cases show no improvement in injury rate, either. By contrast, yellow light studies consistently show a significant improvement, and have never been shown to cause any increase in accidents.

Here are five more studies on the subject.

As for comparisons with yellow light cameras, I'm having a hard time digging those up, but here's a story about an experiment on one particularly bad intersection in Fort Collins. Here's a study on all-red intervals that is also relevant here. Either way, it should be clear that if studies show red light enforcement increases the number of accidents and yellow light timing changes decrease it, it doesn't take a genius to know that photo enforcement is not a good solution to the problem.

I can't believe no one's mentioned Craigslist. Classified ads have always been the bedrock of newspaper revenue, and Craigslist along with all the online real estate tools have destroyed it. The worst part is the right wing likes to blame it on the "liberal media," believing that in their fantasy world that "objective" - that is, right wing - journalism would be profitable.

You're serious??? You would give kids jail time for an administrative prank? For $40? That's sick. Just plain sick. With these kinds of opinions, no wonder we have these kinds of laws.

Costing someone a $40 ticket goes way beyond a "prank". A prank is a practical joke you pull on your friends, and you all laugh about it afterward. This is economic vandalism.

Jail time would be unlikely (hell, you can steal a car and not get jail time if you're a first offender), but I'd certainly advocate some sort of required community service. Maybe 16 hours of picking up trash alongside a road will encourage someone to think a bit more about the consequences of bad choices. We can get creative in the sentencing too.

The Kirlin family runs one of the world's the largest chains of Hallmark cards and gifts franchises (Kirlin's Hallmark stores, based out of Quincy, Illinois). Two sons of founder Dale Kirlin Sr. (Dale Jr. and Gary) went into the family business.

The other son, Don Kirlin, pursued an aviation career with the US Navy and Us Airways before he started Red Air which is a company also based out of Quincy, IL. Don has lived in Quincy, in Boulder, Colorado, and also in Kyrgyzstan while working on acquiring a former Soviet fighter.

Red Air operates a fleet of Mig, Alpha, and Vodochody fighter aircraft in training maneuvers with US and Canadian fighter groups. Their former USAF and US Navy flight instructors flying foreign-built fighters make for a much more realistic training scenario than simulators or flying US aircraft against other US aircraft.

If you have the cash, the licenses, and the desire then check out his foreign fighter and trainer sales business, Air USA. Weapons systems are not included, of course.

Don's also the man behind the World Free Fall Convention, which brought visitors from every state and 70 foreign countries to Quincy, IL and Rantoul, IL for 17 years and featured during that time over 600,000 jumps. Jump platforms included everything from a B-17 bomber to the Family Channel blimp. Even a Super Constellation and a Boeing 727 have been featured.

So if you really want to talk about privately held air power, Oracle and Google take a back seat to the black sheep son of a greeting card and gift store magnate.

"The problem with that thinking is that people are stuck on the concept of physically showing up to vote. As most states have some form of absentee voting system many of these fraudulent registrations can lead to actual votes.

There have already been reported cases of dead people voting through absentee ballots both federally and in the primaries."

Links? I mean, there should be tons of court activity if people were voting on behalf of dead people, at least after the fact. This seems like an over-generalization, sort of like the idea that everyone on any sort of state assistance is a "welfare queen", even though the vast majority of people on assistance are not gaming or abusing it.

The question becomes, are you okay with disenfranchising thousands of people on the *possibility* that a small minority may actually cast an extra vote in error? Sounds like the idea of killing social benefits because some people *may* be abusing the system. The last election that was "stolen" wasn't due to voter fraud, but rather due to throwing ballots out en masse, understaffing polls in densely populated areas, etc.

If you pay people to register people to vote, a few of them are going to game the system (as was said earlier in the thread) for money. It doesn't mean that "teh democrats are going to steal the election!" Silently purging voter rolls, on the other hand, might do some damage, even if it's apparently unintentional.

The federal government has always done more than that. In the case of drugs in general, you're fooling yourself if you believe that the effects are going to just stay in the state which legalizes.

So you mean that before the 18th amendment, the federal government had jurisdiction on what kinds of drugs and alcohol could be sold within a state? I don't know about you, but since 1919 isn't "forever" in my book.

Basically because the harm of not doing is far less than the possible harm of doing in most cases.

You are in favor of banning behaviors that might be harmful to themselves? Why then would cigarettes be legal, which we know causes cancer and is highly addictive, and marijuana be a class 1 narcotic? Marijuana actually has some medical benefits.

You would also be in favor of outlawing grills (carcinogens in the food, the propane), ATVs, motorcycles, driving, smoking, alcohol, etc?

Sorry, I would rather decide for myself what I want to do, rather than have the government tell me.

I mean just look at fireworks as an example, those frequently cross state lines or leave reservations. If the feds weren't allowed to regulate that it would be a huge nightmare for your average person to figure out what combination of policies would be in force.

Sweet, so I can't drive from Denver to Wyoming to get fireworks that are illegal in Colorado?
Like any kind of firework that leave the ground, which is illegal in Colorado?

and then offer up speculation instead of answers to the questions.

I'm sorry, I guess the jurisdiction for an entity incorporated under New York law might be New Mexico, or maybe even Albania. I guess the Russian Duma was responsible for the law and a Boy Scout chapter in Ohio is responsible for its enforcement.

This is a standard liberal tactic, divert attention with a bunch of inane questions. As far as the law, why don't you try the state of New York web site? As far as the by-laws, why don't you try the NRA? Given the earlier questions you asked maybe you didn't realize those are good places to find the information you want. How about the timely coverage of what happened from the Rocky Mountain News.

What's important in that situation are two things: 1) the NRA bent over backwards after Columbine, and 2) Moore completely misrepresented what happened, giving the viewer a completely opposite perspective from what really happened.

I see you're still avoiding Nader and the Saudi family. I wonder why. Have you run out of diversions for those?

Did you find out that Moore and Gore were indeed in Michigan around the same time, so you can't vilify Heston over it? But you can't admit Moore was being dishonest about that, can you?

How about the misrepresented Bush speech, where Moore made him look like a greedy plutocrat, but it was at a hospital charity fundraiser? Yes, Moore of course didn't include the part of the clip that showed Gore was there too. That wouldn't fit with the deceptive picture he's trying to paint for the viewer.

Face it: Moore lies. There is no way around that.

Where's the second chances for those hurt by illegal actions? Qwest told the feds to screw themselves if they didn't have a warrant. This cost Qwest a 2 billion dollar Pentagon contract. We should feel sorry and give a pass to major players in the legalized monopoly which is the telecommunications industry?

A second chance would be to claim in a trial that it wasn't their fault, it was the suits. Then if the telcos lost some lawsuit, sue the suits who asked them to knowingly break the law for whatever damages they've incurred.

When Pelosi said impeachment was off the table I guess she meant the Dems were to give complete and utter immunity to any legal problems the white house may have been at the heart of.

You can...until you do so at one of the primary conventions and do it outside of the little, barbed-wire box they put you into. Then you end up in a warehouse full of cages.

Rocky Mountain News. February 9, 2007

        What is known for certain is that Jamaal Bonner died completely unarmed. And that he is alleged to have sold a policewoman a $60 rock of crack cocaine.

        Remember, too, that everything Jamaal Bonner did up until the time officers burst into the room was videotaped, available for courtroom viewing. His killing, his family was told, was not. Imagine that.

CBS 4 Denver. September 5, 2006

          Police taped much of the Top Star Motel shooting where Jamaal Bonner, 20, sold crack cocaine to an undercover officer who lured him to a second floor motel room.

          When the SWAT team burst in, police turned off the tape and officers killed the unarmed Bonner who they said they thought was armed.

Synopsis: the perimeter around a plot of "oil shale land" is deep drilled, the holes are filled with water, and then frozen, to form a vertical ice dam surrounding the plot.

The center area is also drilled, and the deep rock there is then heated over the course of a year or two. At some point the hydrocarbons literally boil up to the surface and can be recovered (the land is drilled, but not mined). The ice dam keeps the hydrocarbons from contaminating the ground water.

Shell has been working on this for a while, and I believe they have now proven this technology on a test plot or two located on the oil shale lands in western Colorado. At some point the cost of "pumped oil" will rise high enough that this option then becomes competitive on even on a small scale. After that, it should take off as the economies of scale increasingly kick in.

This article suggests it might already be commercially viable (at a price of $30/barrel):

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_4051709,00.html

The US should be in the catbird seat if it works--I believe the worlds largest deposits of oil shale lie entirely within US borders. We'll benefit the most too by making a general shift over to diesel engines (rather than gasoline engines), because of the nature of those oil shale hydrocarbons, but I don't see that as much of an issue. People are still buying new cars as their old ones wear out.

Let's use the net to draft legislation as well! Senator Chris Romer of CO has proposed the idea of using a wiki as a way to have the people input their ideas into legislation:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jan/29/skiers-might-get-become-citizen-lawmakers/

I think it's a great idea. To me it's one of the greatest ideas for implementing true democracy that I've ever seen.

Many planes also have multiple sets of doors, so that would speed it up even more in exchange for a modest investment in jet ways.

United Airlines is trying this at Denver Airport:
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_4303305

Not going too well so far:
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_5558605
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5454789,00.html

That's not fair. The Republicans have plenty of sex.

You realize that your power company doesn't hook up the wind turbines to your house directly, right? You're paying extra to support the extra cost that it takes to do wind generation, not to have the power directly routed to you. The power from wind generators goes to the grid, just like all other sources of power.

The Premier/Diebold machines were "conditionally certified," and the Secretary of State's office is going to provide a list of things they have to do to be recertified. That list is supposed to be available on the department's website, but it wasn't there when I last checked this afternoon.

See http://www.denver.rockymountainnews.com/documents/2007/2007-12/20071217/20071217premier.pdf, which is a copy of the letter to Premier from the SoS.M

Those machines were the only ones to receive this rating--everything else mentioned in the report, including Boulder's optical scan machines that they've been using for years, were decertified with no path to reinstatement outside of the courts.

This isn't about securing elections. This is about getting the whole state, particularly the metro counties where electronic counting was used, on Diebold machines.

...to major.

let's take a quick stroll down memoryhole lane shall we?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/23/sentient_worlds/

http://www.simulexinc.com/

just who do you think has all that info in a tight little package? a simulation with that many nodes running a very sophisticated 'world environment'.

right now on the front page of Drudge Report' 11/05/2007 2050 pst
http://tinyurl.com/2ghvhm 'Poll finds nearly 80 percent of U.S. adults go online'

let's add a few more bits to the mix (no pun intended ;) )

ATT invents surveillance programming language
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/10/att-invents-pro.html

Qwest exec not allowed to reveal classified documents in court re:civilian intercepts w/o warrant
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/tech/article/0,2777,DRMN_23910_5719566,00.html

an interesting summary statement.
http://cryptogon.com/?p=877

please pass the tinfoil, and yes, my html skills are few. however, like the slashdotter far above said 'we all have our skill sets'.

Here's the print link to the article (resize window to get ridda blue sidebar). Who says you need firefox to cut out the ads? I'm in agreement with the above. This doesn't sound as much like retaliation as it does "You don't scratch mine I don't scratch yours." All that it comes down to is that "the contract didn't materialize." Is that considered retaliation?

You have it lucky. Here in the Denver area there is no real digital OTA due to a bunch of NIMBYs who have blocked construction of a new broadcast tower http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5312731,00.html And the local cable provider (comcast) will not sell basic cable either.

I have no desire to defend Islam.... My interest is only in defending Muslims.

... saying "Islam tries to get you killed for disagreeing" muddies the actual situation, and creates resentment among moderate Muslims.

There is nothing Islamic about beating women.

[4.34] Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great.

Now, imagine your most dumbest, most back-water Virginia or Georgia redneck, time-wrap him back a hundred years, reduce his level of education and income by an order of magnitude, and you have the sort of dumb Bengali villager that is willing to whip a women because some mufti told him to. Do you honestly believe you even need to bring Islam into the discussion to explain the behavior?

It downsized. (See also this)

The thing is, it's no longer what it was. It's now invitation-only, and much smaller. It's changed so much that it's fundamentally not what it was.

• An Iron Curtain is Descending on US
  
  
• Cheney: Water torture is OK
  
  
• Bush administration says detainee shouldn't be able to tell attorney how he was tortured in secret CIA prison
  
  
• The United States is now prosecuting suspected terrorists on the basis of their intentions, not just their actions
  
  
• Man arrested for saying "I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible"
  
  
• Civil Liberties Advocates' Worst Fears Realized with Patriot Act Scandal
  
  
• Activist, anti-Bush lawyer "falls to death at hotel
  
  
• Abuse and Torture by U.S. troops
  
  
• plenty more, regretfully...
  
  

• An Iron Curtain is Descending on US
  
  
• Cheney: Water torture is OK
  
  
• Bush administration says detainee shouldn't be able to tell attorney how he was tortured in secret CIA prison
  
  
• The United States is now prosecuting suspected terrorists on the basis of their intentions, not just their actions
  
  
• Man arrested for saying "I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible"
  
  
• Letter to the editor prompts visit from Secret Service
  
  
• Activist, anti-Bush lawyer "falls to death at hotel
  
  
• Abuse and Torture by U.S. troops
  
  
• plenty more, regretfully...
  
  

Here are a couple links about it.

Note that Alberta Tar Sands operations are essentially bitumin->liquids.

Sounds good, Mr. 'I own Alberta'.

But Mr. 'I own Colorado' has some competition for you.

Supposedly, the dems will be pushing similar laws that Colorado just enacted (I found it interesting that a republican leaning paper feels that brakes on corrupt congressmen is not needed). If so, then it will help to stop the corruption. Of course, I suspect that lopeholes will be left, but we will see.

Well, it appears that Zubrin is pushing for us to go onto Mars. The nice thing about all this, is that Zubrin and the mars society probably will convince some billionare (or 2) to invest in sending us to Mars. In doing so, much of the same tech that goes to the moon will work on mars and vs.-versa.

Careful. If you said that to Dick Cheney, you could be arrested. Apparently, the first amendment does not apply if you are speaking to a Republican Vice President in a public setting and expressing your anger at the Republican Vice President's mishandling of our nation's resources. I guess Newt has a point about helping the terrorists.

For those who think expressing profanity publicly should get you handcuffed by government officers wielding M-16s, do you also think saying "I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible" warrants an arrest by the United States government's Secret Service?

For Libertarians who think Republicans are on your side, wake up! You are being used. These sick fucks are shredding the Constitution before our very eyes.

I'm surprised I don't see a link to the original story yet, so here it is:

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/10/24/122153/98

From the story:

--AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl, --AZ-01: Rick Renzi, --AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth, --CA-04: John Doolittle, --CA-11: Richard Pombo, --CA-50: Brian Bilbray, --CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave, --CO-05: Doug Lamborn, --CO-07: Rick O'Donnell, --CT-04: Christopher Shays, --FL-13: Vernon Buchanan, --FL-16: Joe Negron, --FL-22: Clay Shaw, --ID-01: Bill Sali, --IL-06: Peter Roskam, --IL-10: Mark Kirk, --IL-14: Dennis Hastert, --IN-02: Chris Chocola, --IN-08: John Hostettler, --IA-01: Mike Whalen, --KS-02: Jim Ryun, --KY-03: Anne Northup, --KY-04: Geoff Davis, --MD-Sen: Michael Steele, --MN-01: Gil Gutknecht, --MN-06: Michele Bachmann, --MO-Sen: Jim Talent, --MT-Sen: Conrad Burns, --NV-03: Jon Porter, --NH-02: Charlie Bass, --NJ-07: Mike Ferguson, --NM-01: Heather Wilson, --NY-03: Peter King, --NY-20: John Sweeney, --NY-26: Tom Reynolds, --NY-29:

--AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl --AZ-01: Rick Renzi --AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth --CA-04: John Doolittle --CA-11: Richard Pombo --CA-50: Brian Bilbray --CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave --CO-05: Doug Lamborn --CO-07: Rick O'Donnell --CT-04: Christopher Shays --FL-13: Vernon Buchanan --FL-16: Joe Negron --FL-22: Clay Shaw --ID-01: Bill Sali --IL-06: Peter Roskam --IL-10: Mark Kirk --IL-14: Dennis Hastert --IN-02: Chris Chocola --IN-08: John Hostettler --IA-01: Mike Whalen --KS-02: Jim Ryun --KY-03: Anne Northup --KY-04: Geoff Davis --MD-Sen: Michael Steele --MN-01: Gil Gutknecht --MN-06: Michele Bachmann --MO-Sen: Jim Talent --MT-Sen: Conrad Burns --NV-03: Jon Porter --NH-02: Charlie Bass --NJ-07: Mike Ferguson --NM-01: Heather Wilson --NY-03: Peter King --NY-20: John Sweeney --NY-26: Tom Reynolds --NY-29: Randy Kuhl --NC-08: Robin Hayes --NC-11: Charles Taylor --OH-01:

Some articles to think about in the upcoming election:

Jon Kyl Rick Renzi J.D. Hayworth John Doolittle Richard Pombo Brian Bilbray Marilyn Musgrave Doug Lamborn Rick O'Donnell Christopher Shays Vernon Buchanan Joe Negron Clay Shaw Bill Sali Peter Roskam Mark Kirk Dennis Hastert Chris Chocola John Hostettler Mike Whalen Jim Ryun Anne Northup Geoff Davis Michael Steele Gil Gutknecht Michele Bachmann Jim Talent Conrad Burns Jon Porter Charlie Bass Mike Ferguson Heather Wilson Peter King John Sweeney Tom Reynolds Randy Kuhl Robin Hayes Charles Taylor Steve Chabot Jean Schmidt Deborah Pryce

I can say "Fuck Bush" all I want.

Sure. But you can't tell the administration that their policy is reprehensible, or joke that the army has run out of low lying fruit, or discuss possible ways for terrorists to attack us. Without accusations of treason or actual arrest, anyways.

Hope you're feeling safer with a government that would rather arrest teenagers than do anything to actually protect the government against terrorists.

Maybe you missed this:

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/articl e/0,1299,DRMN_15_5039230,00.html

I know, one isolated incident, but still, it can happen.

The article is rather confusingly written, surprising for National G.

A better one (IMHO) can be found here, and mentions that that Raymond et al's paper is in the current issue of Science .

There's also a summary in Science Now .

The PSP isn't being marketed enough and that pisses off EA. I know this is outdated, but it still counts as criticism: first weekend sales were slow. Back in December, no one cared about the PSP. More recently, people do not seem to know what to do with the PSP.

Wii is a stupid and weird name that is just a marketing gimmick and really is stupid in case you missed the first article. Developers aren't 'getting' the Wii.

On the flipside of your reasoning, let's take a look at the systems that you highlight as receiving bad press:

The XBox360 will have the most market share past the presidential election. The XBox360 is being sold for much less money than it costs to make it so I don't see how you can complain about the price. The XBox360 is also mostly backwards-compatible. The 360 has also redefined the market and what it means to be a console.

The PS3 will dominate market share through the midterm elections after the presidential election (I'm a poli-sci major, I think in terms of U.S. elections). The PS3 is region free for gaming. The PS3 might max out the FPS available on even nice TVs and has amazing NVIDIA graphics and is going to be upgradable. The PS3 is backwards compatible for games and memory cards.

In other words, the innovation is being praised, but expensive boxes that don't appear to have any substantial innovation are not. I don't think it's a matter of nerds will complain about anything. It's more a matter that nerds have little to praise at the moment. But generally, yes, there are still things being found to be "praiseworthy".

For any innovation there will be geeks who praise it and insult it. I will be insulted if I praise Linux or Microsoft, /. or Digg. Granted there are things that are constant sources of criticism (/. mod system, RIAA, SCO, RIAA, BSA, RIAA, RIAA, etc.) but they are the exception rather than the rule.

This concludes the most time and research intesive post I have ever written. If I weren't at work right now I would feel like I had wasted my time.

In the days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, First Data Corp. and its Western Union unit volunteered itself for the U.S. government's war on terror.

FBI agents happily turned the Greenwood Village-based company into a "deadly weapon" to fight terrorism, according to a new book by Pulitzer Prize winner Ron Suskind.

At the same time, however, the Bush administration used First Data to create a "vast search-and-seizure machine" that sifted through millions of Americans' credit-card purchases and wire transfers, unbeknownst to congressional overseers or the secret court designed to rule on matters of domestic surveillance, Suskind reported.

I'm guessing the early-adopter-tech-savvy demographic that would buy this gadget probably push the number into double-digits. Too bad. Sounds like it actually could be promising and at a decent rate, until you add the cost of a landline/VOIP service. And running a phone cable to the TV. Then we're back in the NetFlix/Blockbuster price/convenience range.

There's an excellent and thoughtful interview with the game's creator available online. Before dismissing the game out of hand, one should read it.

Oops, I posted too quickly.

Here is the interview with the survivor.

Here is the interview with the creator of the game.

Work NEVER killed anyone

Two words: Yeah and right.