#4 - Better publicity that way.

Unsurprisingly, #3's definitions are sufficiently full of vague terms that they can be used to deny evolution no matter what evidence is presented.

#20 - Doubtful. I'm sure that along with the terrible DRM came a terrible EULA that "purchasers" agreed to, a EULA that probably boils down to "you didn't purchase anything except the limited right to play this music in a limited fashion and only for as long as we say you can."

That cover is terrifying. It's an embodiment of so much of what people dislike about elective cosmetic surgery.

I'm not interested until I can make one say, in a childish lilting voice, "Are you still there?"

@5: But the patent exists, and regardless of the satellite owner's other actions, this terrible patent allows Boeing to try to exercise leverage over unrelated business matters, making it a losing situation either way for the sat owner on the basis of a patent that shouldn't have been granted in the first place. That makes it an even better example of how broken the patent situation is in the US. I'm not defending the complaining company, but the issues transcend their business ploys.

In the lab they have it hooked up to an external power supply, I'd think. There is a cable visible leading up to the moving gantry when they show the indoor course.

The kick made me wince, too, but seeing it recover so gracefully was pretty cool.

So for two years, not only did she not leave the bathroom, but she didn't even MOVE while she was on the seat and it welded to her? That's not possible. She didn't fall asleep? She didn't get a muscle ache and stretch her legs? She never stood up? I just fail to see how a human being can be unrestrained but completely immobile for that long. There's something bogus about the story, there's got to be.

What sort of rights do CRAFT contributors retain for themselves, if any? This seems like an important question for Tina Marrin. I hate to see a generous, creative person ripped off by a clearly not-so-creative, for-profit designer. All monetary matters aside, Marrin should ask for a public apology and attribution.

#36 Lok1, I think you're missing the point. Everyone reads online. But not *novels*. There's a huge difference in the experience of reading a blog versus reading a novel. Most importantly, most website reading is actually skimming (or scanning, whichever term you prefer), which is markedly different than the way people read novels. High-concentration reading from a computer screen isn't comfortable.

There are many other similarly good reasons not to want to read novels online, but they're all pretty obvious and I wonder if you're just trying to be contrarian anyway.

Calling this a crass marketing attempt, and not an honest gift to interested readers/fans, is correct. You can't download the book, there's no format choice, lousy zoom options, slow loading of pages. There is no way that I can find to even bookmark a page! They released a massive book in a very limited "beta" proprietary browser. Clearly they don't want you to actually read the book online, and this has to be intentional given the limitations they've knowingly put on it. But at the same time, they know that the headlines, like Cory's own on this post, will be in their favor by being incorrect (again, you cannot download this book). And I bet that's what they care about, getting credit for something that they aren't really offering.

Now, Tor is getting it right with their weekly ebooks. Easy to use, multiple formats, use your own program of choice... you get the picture. It's a REAL, honest attempt to use free books to drive sales (and web site visits, in their case).

The extra bits from 16- and 32-bit graphics never get the credit they deserve! They make visible pixels too! Those first 8 bits hog the spotlight and the headlines every time.

OK, so that 1936 Olympics picture in the post is a hell of a zinger ("you know who ELSE the British didn't allow criticism of"). And suppressing free speech is bad. But the pic is way over the top, isn't it? Using it to equate the Chinese govt and the Nazis, and the British govt's approach to each, is too much.

Picture aside, I'm very glad to hear from the first commenter that the contract will be changed. There's too much politics in sports as it is.

LeadTek has always loved putting those wizards and sorceresses and the like on their boxes.

Just noting that the comments that were deleted from this thread were no different than the criticism that has appeared subsequently. Heck, my comment was about how much space this bad sponsorship took up in the post and how unnecessary the Mobile Post and map link were (meaning that the MS ad deal had in fact directly influenced content of a post). I said that the map link, which doesn't work for a lot of non-MS-using folks, was totally superfluous and would never have appeared in BB absent the sponsorship. That was worthy of a deletion?

I simply don't understand the decisions being made by BB about this. So defensive, so PR-style, it's disappointing.

Takuan #16: True enough, though past history on the legality of filming police actions is, if memory serves, pretty spotty. It's certainly not clear legal territory. Especially in these days when saying "it's illegal because we need it to be illegal to fight terrorism" is all the reason some LEOs and judges need. Sigh.

Takuan, sadly, some might indeed try to arrest everyone.

TNH, I respect you and what you do for BB, but... some of your responses to comments here are coming across as rather nasty. I don't understand why they're written that way... some are basically personal attacks. I'm sure you're fed up with the criticism, but I think it's making the already-bad situation with the MS-sponsored posts worse.

A lot of BB is ad-heavy and has been for a long time. That's not a good argument for adding MORE ads, and ads at the top and bottom of an otherwise normal BB post. Would Mark or other BB posters really have added a giant Microsoft map link to any post if MS weren't paying big bucks? No, they probably wouldn't have. That right there blows Mark's PR-style defense of the ads out of the water. MS sponsorship DID affect the content, and in ways that, as far as I can tell, hasn't happened at BB before.

Why is there a sudden need by BB to expand advertising even further, anyway? Just need more money? Has running BB gotten more expensive? I mean, BBtv has its own sponsors, which is fine, so that can't be costing much, can it?

"An online vid is worth $1200" to the WRITERS. Clearly the studios consider them to be worth a great deal more.

Electronics "began to flow through checkpoints like the booze was flowing on Bourbon Street"... does that strike anyone else as a somewhat inappropriate comparison? It also seems forced, like they're trying *really hard* to be casual and fun bureaucrats.

Considering that real bullets can go through regular house walls pretty easily, you sure don't want to let anyone with bad aim use this setup.

Of course, I do wonder why anyone at all would want this in a part of their home where disguising it as furniture would be helpful. If you must shoot guns in your house, wouldn't you want to do it in, say, the basement? Or heck, the garage. But not the living areas!

That's an expensive piece of hardware considering how lame the free and paid subscription options are. That business model seems rather unattractive from a consumer's point of view. Counting "song skips" and watching ads (unless I pay even more money!) on a limited number of channels certainly isn't an inducement to stop using a old fashioned portable radio, mp3 player, or even a portable satellite radio device with a subscription.

#13: Er, yeah. You got me! That page with a hierarchy of men of intermingled colors and cultures, all labeled "race types," is clearly an innocent, unbiased attempt at education that we should respect. Sure. You seem to be arguing that I have no right to call a spade a spade.

Buying from the listing at the Amazon link in the post is a BAD IDEA because you will be ripped off. Really, that Amazon link should be removed or replaced with a reasonable seller. It's $45 from that Amazon partner (Toyzz), but $18.50 from the official site and (after a quick search) similar prices from other Amazon partners.

Has Ellis had some unpleasant personal dealing with Dubai authorities in the past? Or do you think he's just going on what he's heard about them in the past? I understand coming to the defense of a friend, but Ellis' anger seems rather specific and intense.

"Is 2008 better or worse than 1906?" ... What? We're certainly better at not putting half-assed, confused, racist, sexist depictions/descriptions of "race types" into textbooks. Sure, it's still a somewhat murky and tense subject, but Herzog's rhetorical question is silly.

I came to post essentially what Takuan did in #5. Good on you! And I too hope that Pratchett, and all other Alzheimer's sufferers, find an effective therapy/cure. It's a terrible thing to see someone go through.

I'm genuinely a bit perplexed by the "penetrate the skin" thing... I doubt they mean that it just heats up the skin and then the heat radiates through to the skull and then to brain. Because they wouldn't need IR to do that effectively. Wouldn't certain frequencies of IR potentially have real penetrative power through skin/bone? It just wouldn't be IR frequencies we're most familiar with in daily life, like remote controls.

Ah, I miss my mini-painting and collecting days. It was BattleTech minis for me. I've got a couple boxes full of all my mini stuff hanging around, planning to pull them out when I have more space... and time... and money because I will inevitably end up buying more. I was never very good at it, really, but I didn't care because they were MY creations. I did buy a few very nicely painted and decaled minis of my favorite Mechs, though.

Oh, and Ral Partha is now Iron Wind Metals.

For those of you who enjoy sci-fi, there's a great novel that's somewhat relevant to this discussion: Celestial Matters by Richard Garfinkle. The notion of bodily humours made me think of it. Sadly out of print, but well worth digging for. It's based on the premise that what the ancient Greeks and Chinese believed about the universe and the body were actually true. It's billed as "a novel of alternate science." It's hard sf, if the science in question is crystal spheres, humours, alchemy, xi, and all sorts of other things that are today viewed as quaint primitive beliefs. The characters also commune with and are inspired by various gods (like, for real). Yes, I know it sounds like it could be utter trash, but Garfinkle builds a great and poignant action story out of all this. It all hangs together wonderfully - the story couldn't happen without the alt science.

Anyway, it might be a nice break from all this modern science and belief! =)

Well, Skep is perhaps being too pedantic in his/her defense of skepticism, but I must admit I prefer that to a similar defense of quackery. And I am giving extra credit for the oblique Head-On joke in #23. (As long as I'm not wrong about the forehead having the thinnest skin of the body.)

Anyway, the fact is that even the basic claims made in the ads for these pads simply don't make sense. And that's enough to put the burden of proof on the believers. Note I didn't say the burden is on the sellers, because I'm sure they will dodge any attempt to force proof out of them. Which should be another big clue about their quackery. The ads draw on nuggets of truth, half-truths, common misunderstandings, and old wives' tales to be just believable enough to sucker in those who don't stop to apply a bit of common sense (directly to forehead).

Are we supposed to believe that kid in the photo did the drawing on the TV?! He's a freakin' Etch-a-Sketch prodigy if so!

And "lifting the pen" is SO cheating! Hehe.

I assume that bcsizemo is specifically referring to the Ishkur guide's statement that there is no such thing as "electronica." But Ishkur goes on to say in the guide that there IS such a thing as "electronic music" and is the same stuff that "electronica" is supposed to represent, so I didn't understand his point. Unless the term "electronica" is uncool or unhip for those who consider themselves real electronic music afficionados? They seem like synonyms to me.

In any event, what other sites for good CC-licensed electronica/electronic music would you folks recommend?

It's an interesting album... not really my cup of tea with the vocal processing and the choppy effects, but I can appreciate the artistry. There are definitely a couple tracks here I enjoyed ("Wake Me Up" and "Sounds Like a New #3") and will certainly listen to again. And for me the timing of new, engaging electronica that's DRM-free is particularly enlightening -- I was just struggling this morning with iTunes refusing to let me play some songs on this laptop because I didn't have an Internet connection to verify the license. And these were tracks that had been FREE from iTunes! So the only music I had on this machine was unavailable. It made me realize, yet again, that DRM is nothing but a hassle that inconveniences everyone and devalues the music it's supposed to protect. And made me glad I've avoided paying money for any DRM'ed music.

The pathetic, defeated (and ironic) "No problem" at the end was the best part IMHO. But it's all hilarious.

#67: Enough is known about Scientology's origins, goals, methods, teachings, etc that there should be considerable doubt that it deserves special status as a religion. So mocking Scientology isn't anything like mocking a mainstream (dare I say "real") religion. Face it, it works more like a money-making scheme than a real religion, because nothing in Scientology comes free. And at its core, it's based on a science fiction story (*literally*) that they desperately want hidden from public knowledge, along with basically everything else about the organization.

I do feel for the everyday "believer" in Scientology - the ones who aren't movie stars. I know I called them suckers earlier, but that doesn't mean I think they should suffer at the hands of a pseudo-religion that is mainly trying to take their money, not save their souls.

Man, if I developed a "neural accelerator" pill, I'd be gunning for a Nobel, not marketing to gamers! Wait, you mean it's just a bunch of stimulants and supplements in an expensive bottle? Oh, carry on then. Any fool who buys this deserves to be parted from their money.

#7: I'd guess it would be internal marketing. Probably shown to sucker... err, converts to encourage them to buy more courses, tapes, counseling sessions, etc. Gotta keep the money rolling in, since that was Hubbard's goal for the "religion" in the first place.