Neerner, I think I agree with you regarding the devaluation of the product based on file sharing.
Isn't that the premise in the Star Trek Universe? You have technology (replicators) that can make anything you want out of feed stock. So nothing has much worth and that's why they don't need money. We'll always have a place for musical artists and writers, but how much value will be placed on their products? Maybe about as much value as we place on the free TV shows we watch (as we Tivo though the ads). I'm looking forward to the culture shock in the paper publishing world. College text books are being file-shared and that trend will continue to grow. Why buy the 100 dollar chem text when you can read it off your "slate" for free? My logical conclusion is that if you get used to file sharing text books, it's not a huge jump for your brain to say "all books." I could be very wrong.

Mark, have you read Neal Stephanson's Cryptonomiacon? The passage describing one of the character's Cap'n Crunch eating ritual is classic. The roof of my mouth hurts just thinking about it. I loved "cartoon morning" as a kid.

#17 said, "...but in other genres, such as reference books, there is nothing but FAIL. In music this is total FAIL and most of my friends who spent their 20s in bands have suffered serious and irreversible financial hardship for doing so..."

I was talking to a pal of mine who plays for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. I asked him if he bought his music or if the internet had changed things. He told me that he hadn’t bought a piece of music in years because he either copies stuff that he gets from music libraries, or the web. Now, this guy makes a nice living, but it’s playing music, not writing it and then trying to sell it. As for cookbooks: I have my few bibles on the shelf, but I’ve pretty much moved to online recipes. I've gave away over 100 cook books last year.

Cory Doctorow, you seem to be such an idealist at times. I guess that’s why you have a following, including myself. But do you really think that there will be a consistent population of people that will pay you (or anyone else) for a product that can be had for free. And I’m not disagreeing with you. I hope it’s true that there will always be people that will pay writers to write. But, there are many examples to be found in the market place where the availability of Free wins out over that which has to be paid for. It does seem to be human nature to expedite the gathering and ownership process (validation by virtue of possession) . At the current rate of online free download availability, how long will it take for the digital culture to expect that everyone’s book will be free online and that paying for it will be a matter of choice? I think lots of people count on paper books being there to buy in the future, but I’m thinking that this young culture may abandon paper as easily as we abandoned vinyl and then plastic (music). At that point a tip jar might be a good idea.

I don't want paper books to go away, really I don't. But I try to be a good little SF writer/reader, and the future looks bleak for paper. Let's hope not.

Most people probably don’t realize that collisions of this sort happen all the time. Our atmosphere is bombarded by highly energetic cosmic particles (rays)every day. As far as I know, we don’t have a cloud of black holes surrounding the Earth. I’m looking forward to results that indicate the Higgs Boson. It would be very useful to have that bit of the TOE moved along.

I have that same robot standing next to me. Fun stuff. Any robot collectors in here? (I do not count Transformers as robots.)

I remember sitting in a chemistry class when I was 14 reading that first Star Wars Mad. I was given a week of detention for doing so. It must have been this same time of year too.

Stawberryfrog, of course you're right. I thought of that as soon as I started to think about it. That book was a little difficult to follow at times.

Seeing how well the original four legged version worked (not), I think the two legged one is even more likely to trip and fall. Just give the damn think anti-G fields and be happy that it can float!

I think a Bohemian would be the first to say that "Bohemia" is a state of mind, not a bit of of real estate. When Bohemians get together they can create a new Bohemia, as short-lived as it might be. As soon as you try to preserve it and keep it as it was, you have nothing but the past, and an artifical past at that. Detroit is ripe for a grand new Bohemian experiment.

Back to Charles Stross: If a terrorist organization gets its dirtly little hands on a quantum cruncher and a few back bone access codes, they'll be able to get into almost any data base and invent entire histories for whomever they please. Or delete anyone they please. The future is about digital Security, or the lack thereof. Do you know what's really running on your cell phone right now? The info wars have already started.

Rossindetroit, if you're there, stop by Affirmations (Nine mile, just down the street from Woodward) and take a look. It's our great new LGBT center.

I love the shoes, but is there a matching purse?

Very cool. I just listened to My Life in the bush of Ghosts the other day to see how it's stood up. Not bad.

What can I say? I'm an addict and proud of it. And this is why I learned to fight better than most: so if someone picks on me, I can beat the living daylights out of them. And have. Let's see what Obama does about Don't Ask, Don't Tell. He'll be speaking to the Brothers and Sisters down the road from me this evening (Beautiful Ferndale, Michigan), and I might actually show up to hear what he has to say.

Semper Fi!

Strawberryfrog, I don't think so. One of the characters in Halting State had a virtual sister and niece, a sim family that continued to "live" after the originals had been killed in a car crash.

If you want a new identity you can buy one. There are people who do that for a living. A digitial society makes inventing alternate histories rather easy.

Two steps forward, one step back. Hard storage of backup data is still required. We're going to have to figure out something better than tape or we're going to have to give up the notion of having hard records. Either that or keep a hardened facility deep under the lunar surface.

Reminds me of Snow Crash. Who knows, maybe they are really in touch with something that is beyond words.

I've used sff.net's critters group in the past, and this seems similar. Getting feed back from readers can be good and bad. In regard to the Ebay post, perhaps learning how to edit from an editor would be a good investment of time and money for a writer. It helped me. I guess. You have to impress the right editor, and that's the problem. I always seem to impress the wrong editor.

I found Shooting War online and instantly loved it. If you liked Generation Kill, you'll probably like this. It's very well done.

I'll be there, so I'll look it up. The tickets are priced a bit high, don't you think?

Fleet Foxes! I just bought their stuff yesterday. I really like a few of the tracks. And thanks for the heads up, I'll mark that site as toxic.

I have a news flash: the Pentagon already has one. They just don't know how to use it yet. Any "news" to the contrary is mis-direction, and weak at that.

The smell alone would kill you. Some people should not cook.

Sarah Palin is about as good a character as I could write for a crazy Republican White House story. Thank Eris, she is the perfect "covert" chaos element. The IOT's Deployment Section has outdone themselves. Shake it up baby. Just like Starbuck.

I wondered about the use of that word too, but seeing that English is dynamic, I didn't want to diss someone's use in an unfamiliar way. I guess it might mean "getting human comfort" from something that looks like a life-sucking slug from Epsilon Gamma Hydra-4! If they are already here, we are doomed.

I agree with the Moderator in as much as this kind of “recruiting the public” method of law enforcement is pointless. The overwhelming amount of garbage that has to be trudged through (think of a slush pile after just one week), is unprocessable by humans. Helping the police by turning into a brown shirt is not the answer

Now if it only gave a good bj...

Boing X, are you being dense on purpose? No, it's not a teen site, but many adults, myself included, can enjoy a YA novel from time to time. It's very nice to feel those young things again, to remember what it's like going through the agony of teenage identity crisis. The bad ol'days! But fun too. So read Little Brother and love it. Or read Dune, since Paul is a major character and he is a YA.

I guess I have to be impressed with someone that would be interested enough in spoken language to theorize about something as far out as a 1000 years. There must be a breakdown into smaller unites, perhaps in 100 year chunks. English in America has stood up to a lot of presures, but still, once it's written and rules of grammer are made less flexible by codification, then stability might be expected longer than 1000. Latin held up, and although there are differences between old and new Latin, they are minor. How long has Hebrew been spoken in its present form? Aside from new words being added for new things.

I think Moby calls himself a Christian artist. And I do think I can hear it in most of his stuff. I do enjoy him and he puts on a real fun concert.

Death Cult Culture. Some things are best left undisturbed.

Why, is she a middle-Anglish expert? Pre-1500s, right?

Landowner, I agree. I'm so over lazy people not cleaning up after their dogs.

She cracks me up. The best thing about the site is the comments people make.

Old people can be funny at times. The brain fails and they can do some pretty wierd stuff. Dear god, where's my diamondplex nanoweb brain augment!

I'll defend YAs if you want. Where should I start? My fav YA's helped make me who I am. I can't imagine growing up without the YA books I read. For one thing, they were some of the only "friends" I had at times.

Takuan, where? KFC spicy cat wings? Yummo.

#24, how do we know that dark energy even exists? All we have is a weirdo theory and no way to test it. I think the Death Star's beam is a hyper-space conduit and once it finds the center of gravity (planet's core) it opens a wormhole into a real star, thus allowing an explosion that blows the planet up. How's that for sf bs?

Takuan, did you eat the runts of the litter? How fun! I'd like to find someone to eat two of mine. My twin is cool, even if he won't sleep with me anymore : )

#5 said, "My understanding was that human waste was relatively high in heavy metals..."

Maybe I should cut back on my intake of lead paint chips and cadmium batteries?

Takuan, you aren't supposed to hate the other (in Christianity), but rather you should love them as you love your brother. You are allowed to hate the sin, apart from the sinner. Christianity when done right teaches about the Mystical Other, the spirit of love and peace and all that good stuff.

Of course I know how the Hated Other usually finds its way into everything. We even have the Hated Other/s in BoingBoing. But I stive to be one with my BoingBoing Brethren, loveing them as I would love any other node in the hive mind. I will now partake in the Sacrament and eat a small piece of a page from Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. Peace be with you.

Very pencilish. Wouldn't we call the artist a "sculptor"? It seems the 'tress' is now out of vogue.

Takuan said, "I always end up using very simple, short words. Damn hard finding the right ones."

I agree. Some posts: too many words.

#14, you might try looking in any Federation star ship warp core. Geez!

Makfrei, an increase in estrogen can depress testosterone production. I have not read anything that says wheat can increase estrogen, although I'm not saying it can't happen in some cases (allergies can cause many odd effects).

#7 said, "It was a study of how normal people act when put in positions of power in extreme situations. It showed how normal people can become tyrants or abusers when put in horrible situations."

Stanley Milgram, experiments done in 61 and 62. http://www.new-life.net/milgram.htm

#35, I would say it's okay to do so.

#24, watch that tofu; enough of it will raise your estrogen levels. That’s because there is an estrogen analog in soy beans. Now, if part of your diet contains a testosterone analog, the same thing can happen. Eat enough bullocks and something might happen. And why is it that I find cows so alluring…?

The Moderator said, "Any time you find a good one, do please feel free to pass it on to me against future need."

I now have another goal in life: I will add to the chaser bin at BoingBoing. Who says the American dream is dead?!

Moderator, I want a new puppy just to teach it how to do that! That would be so fun. Thanks :)

#16, The verdict is still out regarding the long term use of many things. The fact is, testosterone is being perscribed more and more as part of male hormone replacement therapy. That therapy seems to work very well (ten years of data show some issues, such as increased risk of prostate enlargement). What you said about excercise stimulating the production of testosterone has not been shown with clinical data (although it might be true in some cases). Actually, most data suggest that when the hormones start to drop, nothing short of replacement therapy works. One can stimulate the production of testosterone with DHEA and several other testosterone precursors, but then you're looking at only a very small increase.

Do you eat egg whites or use whey? I don't meet many vegitarian body builders, although I'm sure they must be out there.

"I have no problem with language evolving --- that's simply a fact of life."

Less is more. The first sentence said it all.

#14, Ah, I didn't click through and now that I have I think you're right. I've seen stuff like that, but it was poison ivy that had become infected. The picture on the front page IS mild compared to the other. Yuk! And just when I was about to grab a cold piece of pizza for a snack.

The only way a laser could make a planet blow up is if the beam was made of antimatter, and then it wouldn’t be a laser, but something like an anti-proton beam. Better we just use photon torpedoes.

It’s kind of obvious isn’t it? Anyone who’s spent time with the O.E.D. knows that English is very dynamic. For anyone who is interested in a short book regarding the OED, read The Professor and the Madman, by Simon Winchester. It’s very interesting. If C.D. hasn’t read it I would wager he would like it quite a bit.

Yo, non-gym-rat dawgs, I’m very familiar with the effects of steroids, and this example of acne is not horrific. This is mild and being exacerbated by the fact that this guy’s pumped up and his capillaries are filled with blood, making every pore and irritation stand out. AND, it’s often the process of waxing off hair or (gods forbid) shaving that causes horrible acne on the chest. That said, if you want to look like the hulk or some uber-male, I think it’s up to you, and that anabolic steroids should be available to those who want them. I have never used them myself.

Barfing up one's own guts--it's funny in claymation. Or at least I thought so. But I wouldn't want to see the real thing.

Bonnie, what are you doing with them? If Random House's pit-bulls had their heads on straight instead of up their arses, I would think they would understand that a writer who is a bit of a trouble maker (aside from pedophilia), is probably a very good thing. Cory D. is a Geek bad-boy, a bit of a trouble maker; young readers can really get into his rebel yell. Seriously, I can too, and I'm not young. Tor is very lucky to have him.

Jenna, I just went to Amazon to see who is publising Judy Blume's Are you there God, it's me, Margaret. I thought is was odd that I got a message saying that the book was temperarily not available.

Fig said, "... Of course I am not saying Cory's book should only be read by 21 and over..."

Then perhaps you should learn how to make an analogy. Do you want to compare Cory's book to booze or don't you? As for what my sister does or does not know: I had a cool uncle that let me read Rolling Stone when I was ten. I remember reading about sex, drugs and rock music. My mother wouldn't have liked that either. Tough shit. Now, go give your brain a good washing.

#26, are you saying that Cory's book should be read only by people 21 or over? Are you saying I did something illegal? You're a funny person. You make me laugh.

Takuan, now you're talking! Plug me in, I'm ready to feed my new AI overlords.

Ugly Canuck, speaking in science fiction terms, I see the future of humanity where the old cultures just all blend into one big happy transhuman collective. We will absorb them and add their uniqueness to our own.

#4, or use a molecular filter that ensures the ice crystals will be very small. Just like Ben and Jerry's.

#19, I gave a copy of Little Brother to my 12 yr old nephew (signed by Cory with a little note just to him!) He's smart and ready. I want to make him into a wolf, not a lamb. And he LOVED it! And I told him to hide it from his mother. I'm the fun uncle.

Lord Xenu, the Empire is our friend (unless you want to end up working in the spice mines of Kessel!) Now shut up, look at the pretty star destroyer and wave.

Ugly Canuck said, "Tibet and China separate nations?" Not according to the Chinese.

Takuan, you do realize that historically Tibet has been viewed by the Chinese to be part of China? Right or wrong that's what they say. How would I feel if my country was invaded? I'd probably try to get a job with the invaders. Because I'm smart enough to A) know that I can't fight China, and B) I can work better from the inside. It's all about infiltration, dude. Besides, if you can't beat them, Join them. Better red than dead...I embrace the collective in all its forms and sometimes that means just moving with the stream and not fighting against it.

Hokono, I meant Eight, not Five. I have a strange relationship with numbers and sometimes they get mixed up. I love the theory and some of it makes good sense, at least to me.

Water is a mineral? It's a molecule, a substance and the unversal solvent, but a mineral? I've never heard that. Although, under extremely high presure hydrogen can act as a metal, but that doesn't make it one: liquid metalic hydrogen. And I do love Rocky Road ice cream.

Like I've said, the publishers (some of them?) seem to be the problem. What a load of crap. If you want to write a YA novel and then your rep has been damaged via your own actions, who's going to prove damages? The publisher? Does this mean dragging the author into court and proving that he/she is now unworthy to be a writer.

Cap. tim, do you think you have found anything of "spiritual" significance while using LSD? I've read accounts, and some of it does sound profound.

"Links to up-to-date, reputable news sources are, naturally, most welcome."

How are you defining "reputable"? Fox?

Takuan, so that makes you a Blasphemer? You talk like you know the Truth? Is that your Kharma?

The Feds: DEA/FDA show no indication of including LSD for any form of therapy. I agree that it has been shown to have great potential with regrad to re-imprint therapy. With the right therapist, 5th circuit therapy might be able to open up a whole new reality for a lot of people. I've never tried LSD, so I don't know for sure.

#49, Good story. Once again Cultural/Moral relativism shows us its many faces. Living in the gray area isn’t always great, but it’s about the only kind of reality that seems to make much sense--to me.

#3, I think the full DS is great and all, but the one under construction has all the interesting side details and little ships working around. Why not two, one full and one being built? put the full one out by the Moon.

Couldn't they just shoot it?

Takuan, should the US "give back" Hawaii? Because there is a Free Hawaii movement, you know? It's home grown, so maybe you could muster some passion for a battle that's a little closer. And I hear parts of CA that want to spit the state into Nocal and Socal. That sounds like a good idea too. Everybody should have their independence. We should all be our own country and our own king. Then everything will be better, right?

Takuan worry about being right in your next incarnation. For now, in this life, you will have to be happy being a rug weaver. It's your kharma. Now that's the Tibetian Truth. Is that the kind of Truth you buy into? Communism seems liberal by comparison.

Yet another happy cat from Chernobyl.

#1 Yes it can. Oh that made my day! So cool. I want to see that for real. I've seen the Blue Angels over the bay, but a star destroyer is so much more impressive. I wish we had a Death Star franchise in orbit; I could look at that for hours.

Yet another happy child from Chernobyl

Takuan, they are as free as any of use to make a limited number of choices. Remember, total freedom = chaos. And the level of chaos we can deal with is limited. Systems of Order (look at how order is helped in the BoingBoinganism)do not always allow for every kind of behavior. We all have our ideals, and China may not share ours. And I don't like a lot of things about America and China and Britian and France and Russia...

Moderator, what's this about streak-free Windex and bacon? Glasses are on now...never mind.

You know some of us actually live in the garage, not the basement! Fools.

Pixel wins. Very good.

I'm almost at the point where I think we just deserve this sort of thing. Americans have given the feds too much power and now some of us are sorry about it. But, it's very hard to take something back once you've given it. We're going to have to hope that all TSA agents are preplaced by smart robots. And make them happy and cute.

America is guilty of cultural genocide. US automotive towns are withering away while Americans buy cars made by outsiders. We kill an entire part of our culture because we can. Now that's freedom for you.

Tibet will be totally transformed by the collective, just like we all will. Don't fight the big C, love it, welcome it, invite it in. You'll be happier then, I promise.

Sure, those kids are smiling now, but wait until the "biscuits" suck onto their face and implant them with an alien embryo :(

Tumble, very good perspective shot.

I read it. So I get to ask a question, right?C.D. is visionary and seems to think the internet/s will continue to grow and humans will become more integrated with technology. More and more of our culture is going to be digital.

Rider, please don't question core group values. We not only expect artists to self-promote here in the BoingBoinganism, but we promote it. You see, if the art can make just one more person aware of the Tibet issue, then the artist has done something good and important and maybe cool and illegal all at the same time. We of the collective are allowed to question the rules of other collectives. That's what collectives do, dude. Yo, bitches, our hivemind is better than yours, because we have steampunk! And stuff.

"but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who were tortured..."

I respect some things about McCain, but that doesn't mean I buy into his vision of or for America. He is a product of his generation and as such is most likely limited by some very hard-to-change mindsets. His pro-life nut-talk should make people listen closely. So, white, rich, America, whose daughter gets to have a back-alley abortion after the Supremes go extra neo-con? So, should we go to war with China to save all those murdered fetuses? Doesn't good ol'fashioned-family-values America go to war to stop genocide? If America becomes crazy pro-life legislated, the government will have to judge all other governments that allow abortion to be guilty of genocide. The Government won't allow ust to travel to these places. We'll be trapped like lemmings. Trapped I say!

Too much coffee.

Gosh, he did seem rather charming and did seem well-trained. I've had some real assholes tear through my stuff, especially in Amsterdam. I just look the other way and let them feel important for a few minutes. It's all they have. Really, if it's a true violation and you don't want to put up with it, fine. Otherwise just be polite and do as the nice robot says. You must do as the collective says.

They are robots,
doing a job.
We like robots
They are robots,
just doing their job...

Think the country's hurting now? Just think what McPain can do for us. Someone with a Dark Ages mentality is dissing D&D? How funny.

Bigfoot is REAL! I have proof. Real, scientific proof. Bigfoot is currently the mayor of Detroit. Yo, thug life rules! Dawgs.

Buddy66, I'd love to be a Vicky, but only if it's as throw-back as The Diamond Age version: All nice and nano-tricked-out, but up-tight and classist. This clock does not look Victorian to me in any way, shape or form.

For those who haven't read Stephenson's Baroque, it's a bit of work but really great. The details are wonderful. The blog looks like a very nice node in the infosphere.

If I were held in a room and told I couldn't pee, the first thing I would do is go into the corner and do just that. These stories disgust me. The Republicans have given us the TSA. More Boarder Patrol. More DEA. Welcome to America, the land of lemmings. "But how did it happen?" We'll ask as we are gathered up and fed to the open pit of a Final Solution Resort, our bodies ground into paste which will be used as fish farm food.

Free Tibet by all means (except violent means). After studying Tibetan Buddhism, and reading the accounts of several prominent cultural anthropologists, I’m not so sure living under the “guidance” of the Tibetan monks has been such a great thing for the Tibetans. They have been held back by a theocracy. We may dislike thug empires, but China is determined to move into the future as a unified culture. Resistance is futile.

Buddy66: I think the web serves the fuctions you stated. It's also helped open up people who would otherwise be cut off. So, social networking has increased but that has come with less expectations of privacy. If you're going to post your pic for anyone to see, are you really worried about street cameras watching you? Dear Gawd, it's when the cameras STOP watching you that you really feel their pain.

Samsam, ha ha. I'm sure C.D. does not mind to hear that he likes art that may fall into several catagories at the same time. So it's Beau Arts-Crafts, 70's hippi-back-to-nature design school. If some calls their stuff Steam Punk, who am I to say it's not? More to point, I'd like to know what does make it steam punk, just so I can know. If I'm going to be a member of the Outer Hive Mind Transition Zone, I have to get good data.

Okay, C.D., you talked me into it. But you have to dance with me (laughs to himself, probably frightens Doctorow).

#25, this generation is the most reactionary in what regard? Poor impulse control? Bad frustration response? A bewildering sense of entitlement? Where is this generation protesting the war? Which campus is really tearing it up over the current administration’s horrifically bad forecasting skills, in almost every sector? Has there been a young march on DC while I wasn’t looking? Please, if you want reactionary, study our civil war. Or more to current history, the Viet nam War. Are you ready to go to war over something?

If the war on drugs ended, how many DEA agents would be out of a job? This govenrment has helped to strenghthen another layer of the police state. The money should all go into treatment programs for those who use drugs and who want treatment, or who don't use drugs and who want treatment. Prohibition creates a black market. That's not a complex or discredited theory. It's so sad that the feds are as stupid as they are. And it's so sad that we put up with it.

I thought the first one was an ad for one of the popular free porn sites where people just send in their vid clips of intimate behavior.

Cory and everyone else who’s worried about public surveillance, I’m afraid that the current trend among young people is to be less private, not more. I know it’s good to worry about intrusive government, but the privacy issue seems to be going the way of the buggy whip. Kids and adults post everything on their facebook page. Everyone wants a 1000 friends and to be made famous with Utube or Xtube productions. Everyone is blogging and spilling their guts about the intimate details of their lives. People walk about talking so loud that we can all hear. Where is the great cultural need for more privacy? Maybe it’s because I’m used to San Fran and Amsterdam and Dublin and the young people in these towns seem completely content to live in a public where they can be watched. They like to be watched. They want exposure. They all want to get their fifteen minutes of fame.

That was great fun. The feds are worried about terrorists. I'm now afraid of trees, since they seem to cause their more than their fair share of trouble.

YA is a sales tool. That segment of the publishing market has seen its rise and fall and now it’s hot off of a Harry Potter high and this new vampire series for girls. So, you write a YA and tap a market. Maybe it’s easier to write YA because so many sf writers seem to use wish fulfillment as source material. Being young again is a common fantasy.

As soon as I saw this clock I liked it. But I would never have labeled it Steam Punk. It’s more Belle Arts, or Arts and Crafts. It’s about technology and nature coming together, don’t you think? And I normally think of Steam Punk as less organic, even with its use of wood. This looks like something an Elf would make, powered by magic gem or trapped fairly.

I wonder how the US will respond if this reform takes place? Industry and government?

I’m currently reading Nieall Ferguson’s Empire, The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power. It a very nice history and packed with details. Rome is often referred to as a well understood example of Empire Building, along with New World powers like America. By all historic accounts, the building of America has been very tame when compared to other real empires.

Jflex, dude, the place comes with ads. Get over it. Move to the next story of interest. Unless you want to do like I'm doing right now: preaching. "Thought shall not diss the BoingBoing." Don't resist little guy, it only hurts more when you fight it. Your rebirth in the collective will be liberating...I love BoingBoing. We all Love BoingBoing...

I’m sure these issues won’t go away anytime soon. It boils down to a very basic component to our psychology: the territorial circuit. Some artists are going to create work of art and they want you to look at it/listen to it, and love it and buy a copy of it, but it can’t ever become so imbedded in your consciousness that it becomes part of who you are. This is worse than a copyright issue, this is Mind taxation.

Ah, the good ol'days: little house on the dust bowl.

Stroughly, if you don’t want to read about Cory or his work, when you see a headline that doesn’t interest you, just move on. This place is a product that’s being presented free of charge. If you don’t like it, go to something else. Besides, if you were a writer and your fans were sending you stuff that reminds them of your cover art, what's wrong with sharing it?

What country is this? We seem to have too many issues with home-grown thugs and hardly need to seek them out in other places. It's a problem that can only be solved with AI. We have shown ourselves to be a most untrustworthy species, prone to fits of barbaric, horrible behavior. Maybe a machine mind can baby-sit us.

Moderator (TNH), that was a wonderful image, decribed very nicely. Michigan has had some fastastically showy storms this season.

Where are all the good cracker/hacker revolutionaries when you need them? Won't someone get into that system and make sure that list is forever useless? And don't try to delete anything, just add data generated from the white pages across the United States. Put so many names on the list that the list crashes in on itself. Just a thought.

I hope his family contacted the ACLU while this was happening. Very sad indeed. Does our military fight to protect this sort of cruelty? Obama better start filling his mega-enema bag, because DC is in need of a rightious purging.

Junk can be stripped down to its raw state and heat-dumped somewhere. It's a huge waste. Electrons and photons are being wasted. They could be assimilated by more intrusive systems oversite-ware.

Stupidjerk, my satori is not dependant on tradition. My satori is real in of itself and would only be limited by a firmly entreched mindset. The sort of mindset that can result from following a tradtion in a way that prevents growth through change. No change, no growth.

Moderator (TNH),

I have a dislike of dystopian futures as a setting, generally. I love Dune, but I don’t see that as dystopian, since I only ever really related to the Ixians. I like Greg Egan's answers to many of our problems.

I think you would have been massively impressed with the lightening show I saw over Green Bay a few nights back (if Tesla coils are cool). It was like fire works moving slowly over the dark bay, but the reflections off the water where so bright they illuminated the whole underside of the storm clouds and the inky water spout that was forming. Very creepy water tornado at night! And the thunder sounded out against the hard surface of the Niagara Escarpment and echoed like kettle drums for nearly an hour. Flash and boom…boom…boom… Storm fans everywhere would have been impressed.

Alexx, I think the Attorney General of Michigan (Mike Cox (( the publically confessed adulterer))said that traffic cam vid was not going to pass the evidence test. I have no idea why.

Antinous, why are you baiting her?! I know why. You crack me up.

I'll do anything to work my tantric. It makes my kundalini feel sooo goood.

So what are they endorsing? They want to turn down a free promotion? Are they big endorsers of pot decriminalization? Do they endorse drug re-hab centers? So a writer wants to use this stuff in her modern book and they say no to some of it. That's good that they don't want to endorse reading. Vampires become like this, sucking off the last few drops of life even with the sun threatening to come over the horizon. They gave this music to their fans. If we want to have crazy characters do nothing but mutter GD lyrics, it's open season. They wanted counter culture, well her it is. Get a publisher with a spine and have them go to court for you. There are battles to be won.

Oh my gosh...Cory and I agree on this. This is so nice. If Down and Out isn't about the evolution of the species via trans-humanist-post-scarcity utopian technology, I don't know what is.

I’m sorry, but I had an editor at Asimov’s tell me as much. You want me to give you his name so you can tell him in public that he's wrong? The futures problems are often caused by some form of technological hubris or another. That’s the plot device. The next step is to deal with it and within that frame work you build your story. Halting State is not about defeatism. I've read it and it's about dealing with security. Ian M. Banks would not disagree at all! Yes, technology causes problems, but the general core values of Banks’ universe (Culture) is that technology is the only path that takes organic life forward in evolution. That path can be combined with human sensibilities and sensitivities, but it’s a path of technology nonetheless. Tell me one book that has it all end horribly with out any redemption or salvation through man’s ingenuity and most-probable use of technology?

I have one like this. It was a gift. I used to wear it when I did yoga because it was fun. But now I won't, because now I know what it's truly about. Thanks for that Satori, Stupidjerk. What a great name.

Before long we are going to expect that Public Record/s will be able to help us with anything that has happened in public. Any crime, conflict, whatever. It's going to be an expected oversite just like we expect great cell phone service everywhere. "What do you mean my dog pooped on Ms. Crabtree's law? Check with Public Oversite; their records will show I just let Rocko lift his leg on her roses. There was no pooping at all!"

Jack, don't you know the first rule of journalism: Bad = News, Good = Snooze. It's better to grab people with a maybe-true headline that will drawn you in. And often people respond with more interest when the headline has some Bad in it. "Mal-ware" is a perfect example.

Antinous, since when have you turned down an opportunity to watch a good witch burning or just a simple hanging? The wicked are here to serve as entertainment.

Quick, cut out its brain before the memory patterns degrade to useless mush! It's brain might be more advanced than ours. I've gotta think it smells real bad.

Antinous said, "For all of you who seems so gleefully excited about ticketing scofflaws. If it's so serious, why don't we throw people in jail for the night instead of fining them?"

Yes, I'm sure that would help. Aren't you usually more logical than this?

Shouldn't Hassan I Sabbah have a shirt that says I smoke Hash?

Noen, I think that's really the point of hard sf, or even softer: fixing problems or at least trying to with the help of technology. As tired as that may seem, that's pretty much the grist of it. Perhaps you think stone knives and bear skins would work better?

#16 Are you saying that if another artist, like Cory Doctorow, wanted to start each of his chapters of his new book with some of your lyrics, that you wouldn't be happy? Who are you? Are you selling lots of music? The book would be a huge ad for you. You couldn't afford that kind of ad space in a big publication. That amounts to thousands of pages of ads! How could you not want that? Besides, it would be an honor to have another artist use your music as their muse and make it part of their art. It's all about money, isn't it? What if the book was free and there was no money to be made?

I think it looks like a tricked-out super-bad Borg ship leaving its space hanger. In which case it's sculpture interpreted as space architecture/ship design.

SDJ, I think so. That would be the kind of thing that happens in a Diamond Age world. It's pretty obvious to me that the world isn't far from being recorded full time by someone. I think it's going to be a life expectation for kids born today (like Cory's baby), to wear some device that will record their life so they can what...? Have enough data to use as a back-up memory for a brain implant? And at that point the athorites will just expect your brain wear to narc on you if you've been bad. We'll end up being our own brown shirts. How Ironic.

As long as the fiction is possitive, and allows for technology to answer many of our current problems, then I'd be cool with it. Possitive thinking gets you possitive results. Stinkin thinkin gets you nothin.

It reminds me of HAL 9000. We aren't going to discriminate against our AI brothers just because they have a single big eye, are we?

Two day ago a van ran a red light at an intersection I was moving through. I swerved and came within inches of hitting another car. I think I would have been killed even with the side airbag, as the van was traveling about 40 MPH. I wish there had been cams there. I would have liked to have been able to call the police in that city and tell them the time of the incident. I would like to know that someone who came very close to killing or maiming me might get in trouble. These cams don’t help bust innocent people.

Once you’ve made your millions off of your Art and that art has become part of the common culture, then people should be able to freely quote from that art and even make some money doing so. Right? Personally, I’d be quite happy if someone used my song lyrics in a book. Chances are very good that many of the readers will have never heard these songs and may go out and listen to the music after reading the quotes. It sounds like great free advertising to me.

Cory, is that better?

All those pops and hisses may add a feeling of "old" but it's just noise and is not information that can be used. The music is the important part, not the damage to the original record. I'm all for the transcription process, but if you're going to take all that time to do so, you might as well clean the sound up. And if you really want to, you can add your pops and clicks.

I think it will be interesting when the cameras are simply too small to been seen and can move freely. You know, like little spiders, or birds or whatever. That would solve the problem of crime moving out of the CCTV’s field of vision. Then what?

Four Naught, how do you really feel (snark snark)? And how big was the house? I mean, did the sq footage somehow make it into the conversation?

It sounds too young for me. I'm still an Oakanfold kinda guy.

Oh, so --that's-- what happened. Okay, now it all makes sense.

This is completely idiotic. Maybe the person who took the photos was the subject of the photo who was using a remote flash. Whatever, if this is true the idiots as Walmart should be beaten. I’ve never stepped in one and this sounds like a perfect reason not to.

Takuan, if only the Bullshit Detector could give good results for anything other than hard science. And even then it's a little off. For instance, there is a new-ish idea that the speed of light is not (C) but (V) as in Variable. Now, if that's true our current understanding of the Universe is in question. God may in fact have adjusted the speed limit just for kicks.

I know nothing of what Jeff teaches. But I would think that a great place to start is with kids learning history. The history of China or Japan or where ever. Because those places in times past (and present) seem as alien as anything I've ever read in sf/f. Add some technology that's borrowed from Star Trek and you've got a whole "new" universe.

Takuan, don't buy it, I have it as a file to share with you! A young man in Norway that I know was kind enough to scan it. You probably would have just signed it out of the library anyway. Besides, Stross makes too much money! Just kidding. I bought it. Because I want to help kill more trees. I want more CO2 in the air. More papper equals more CO2. One more thing to feel guilty about. Maybe I'll go burn something at my alter of American Indulgence. We buy too many books in this country. We are Greedy, greedy people! Don't the publishers love us for being greedy about books? More book greed is good for publishers. And for people who own stock in companies that own publishing houses.

JG, we'll have to wait for whatever happens. As we always have. Granted, we can make things happen faster when we have a pretty firm goal in mind (such as getting to the Moon), but generally our economic process is organic and is just as likely to evolve based on irrational human desire as it is on human rational speculation. Wealth is power, after all, and you can't expect people to give up their power. As a species we are very inclined to understand the pecking order. Most of the really powerful people enjoy being on top. Go figure. If it's not money that makes and keeps people powerful then it will be something else.

I've seen the clear ones that have a glitter field. They add sparkle to your eyes. Like fairy dust.

Takuan, have you read Stross's Saturn's Children? I think he can tune into Heinlein's spirit--with some sort of occult machine, no doubt.

They tasted like cat food...but in a good way.

"Depriving you of sales, and therefore money, is not stealing, because you had no entitlement to the sales in the first place."

You have the right to sell your product. After the publisher buys it let the publisher worry about copyright. If you're a writer you need to sell your product to a real publisher. Validation via the pro-ranks is very important in writing. You can self-publish, but at that point you might as well just put it up on the web and let people download it for free and then do a Print On Demand deal through Amazon if they want the paper. Cory is right: the publisher does the promoting. Without pro sales you'll just be a fan writer, or something like that.

So some nerds can tell you how to screw with a Medico key and it’s a good thing. After all, they’ve pointed out a weakness in a security system. So, after 9-11 all sorts of people (some really smart people) started pointing out how you could improve security at airports. Now, if Medico was the Federal Government we would want them to fix the vulnerabilities. If we expect a private company to do so, I think we’d expect our paid officials to do as much. But now we have all these security “fixes” and it’s pissing off everyone. What is the right fix for a plethora of theoretical security holes. You basically have to tell people that there will be less hassles at the airport but that their chances of dying in a terrorist attack may also go up. Because, in theory, that statement could be true. What we really need to do is to define what level of security we want to live with and make sure the government responds accordingly. But, no one will be allowed to point any fingers at the feds the next time a plane is used as a weapon. It might never happen, but if it does we can’t expect that anything other than insane security precautions could have stopped it.

And once of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Is that really true?

It's good when someone will point out a flaw in the weakness of a system. Sometimes. It's not like everyone who uses those locks is going to run out and change them. Sometimes telling people how easy it is to copy something is a two-edged sword.

I enjoy some of Baxter's stuff. But I would think that most writers would want their work to be included in the audio list so more people would get be expossed to the piece. Everone knows that a writer needs expossure! Maybe he's like me and figures that a good actor/reader can bring a story to life, and a not-so-great actor/reader can kill a story. Just murder it! Like what's-his-face did with Wicked. And a good actor takes money, and maybe his publisher didn't want to pay.

How would we define civilizations such as the Roman Empire or Imperial China or perhaps the Egyptians? Granted, there were different qualities to these civilizations with regard to specifics, but one thing they all held in common was that ownership and control of assets was controlled by a minority. Rome held on for a good long time, as did the Chinese as well as Egyptian dynastic system. I guess that’s an argument for the limitation of ownership by just a very few. And it depends on how you want to define a civilization’s successes. The idea of everyone owning their own home is a nice, rather modern concept, and it’s part of many people’s reality. But that expectation, that social norm if you will, has led to an huge financial debacle.

What kind of security is preventing a WiFi hack? Something like a password, or perhaps terrabyte encryption? It all seems very "Preventitive Measure-ish". The Feds love to hire the best of the worst. Who wants to work for the NSA?

It was a book done with spirit in mind, so it worked for me as that. More of an Homage. I love that cover art.

In Michigan we let malls die, slowly and painfully while we build newer, better ones in what was formerly green space or farmland. It's like heaven on Earth.

148 said, "Exactly. How on earth can we compete with them stone-cold sober Chinese factory workers when we're sitting around baked, making love and listening to Phish??? "

Some people drink and smoke weed and are very productive. Actors, writers, artists, landscapers, my lawyer...

“Oh honey, that would be perfect in the baby’s room.” A great place to hide a nanny-cam: in back of the eyeball.

#90 said, "Yes, this is class war. And I'm just a kid- I can't believe that I gotta worry about this kind of shit!"

Just a kid? When do you think your awarness will be ready to absorb the truth? Obviously you're already there, so don't use your age as some sort of excuse. I'm just middle aged, but I don't want to deal with it either! Nobody does, and that's the problem.

A while back Starbucks filed a suit against a Michigan coffee shop because they used a green circle in their logo. So, Starbucks claimed that this would confuse people (because we’re all fooled by that sort of thing in MI). There was not a Starbucks in that town, so there was no way to say that business was taken through deception. But the shop’s owners changed their sign because it was less costly than having to hire a lawyer to defend against the mega-greedy-mega-company. And that’s just another reason not to support Starbucks.

Kay, I found myself saying the same thing. Which I know in not the right response. I mean, I should not want to kill someone. But if they shot my dog right in front of me I think I would kill them.

It's only ten in the morning, yet it looks so good.

How could anyone shoot those nice dogs? I'm sickened by this. If someone shot my dog...This is soo horrible. This is what a manupulated culture allows, one that's bought into the fed bullshit War on Drugs.

Cory said, “Piracy is definitely a problem where it is part of a general trend toward disreputable law. In general, there's a certain amount of piracy that just represents law that hasn’t caught up with technology.”

I’m not clear about this issue, but I'm not allowed to talk about it any more. Unless Antinous wants to explain it to me. Please Aunti-Antinous...?

Detroit is a city of vampires. Some of them just suck as much as they can. Did I mention the mayor? His mother? His family and friends? Gawd they all suck!

Madhatter said, "...that you don't respect that difference very much. Maybe you just don't see the difference for what it is?"

What is the difference? Respect is not the right word. "Understand" is the right word, and as I've said, I'm trying. And as Antinous said this is new, innovative stuff (for some of us). New mind sets can take time to learn. At least I'm spending time thinking about it, trying to figure it out.

Antinous said, "Other people will try doing what Cory is doing now, but they'll try it in ten years..."

That's why I said ground floor. It's pretty new. First floor if you must.

"Your view is predicated on the notion that a strategy could last for a long time, maybe decades."

I don't think so. I see this an emerging strategem in what might be a quickly transoforming market. Stability for ten years? That's for bonds. Call it what you like, but stategy works for me. But seeing how publishing is using a very old model (in general), I'll have to assume at this point that rather large portions of the industry will fight change and slow the process down. Don't you think that's reasonable when considering who controls the industry? And don't we have to project loss due to theft in the formula? I could see theft of DMR-free e-books eating up all the savinging that could be realized by not using paper. There is no way to really judge this other than by looking at other segments of the market, such as music. But the comparison is of limited value at the current time.

Antinous, very good!

Antinous, I’m a broker. I do risk assessment every day. So, what you’re telling me (and thank you for taking the time to do so), is that Cory is on the ground floor of an investment strategy that he (and others)has decided is worthy. But you’re also telling me that it’s new and there is risk involved. Risk implies unknowns. I guess I’m always looking for Unknowns and how they will affect the market. Cory’s a great, young, writer, but I’m a very good young-ish investor--I’ve made a lot of wealthy people even wealthier. I do have the ability to evaluate any business strategy as long as I have good numbers and understand the specific market applications. So maybe I’m guilty of seeing problems where none exist.

In perpetuity if they so desire.

Greglondon said, "OK, imagine your explaing that quadruple bypass to heart surgeon, and then imagine that you briefly mention why using leeches to remove "bad blood" is a useful technique in recovery."

You know, Greg, they still use leaches in recovery. Not for heart surgery, of course.

I was thinking of a specific issue regarding the rights of the author/estate in perpetuity because I don’t think I’d personally want to give up the rights to any of my work. What if we can eventually upload ourselves into a digital domain? Should I give up my rights to my digital intellectual property, especially if I’m a digital being that has been granted full “human” rights? So if I live of a thousand years and hold the copyright to a 960 year old book, so what? Is my continued ownership and control of that copyright hurting anyone else? It’s science fiction, but that doesn’t mean it wont’ be a real issue eventually. Also, there are some endowed foundations that I’m familiar with that hold copyrights, and the sales of those books still feed the endowment. By the way, Canada’s tax system makes setting up a charitable foundation unattractive. That’s why there are so few privatly established philanthropic foundations in Canada.

Antinous, can I send any questions I have to you via email? Please? I think I'm frustrated because I don't understand. You know, it's one of those conflicts: I'm a Cory Doctorow fan and I want to know this stuff. But accepting a new theory that hasn't been tested for long is not what Cory would promote. He's an advocate of the scientific method, after all. He wouldn't respect me at all if I was just going to suck up any new idea. The fact that he advocates some pretty new stuff means he's already proved to himself that these ideas are valid. I'd like to think so to, but I'm neither the Thinker or the Prover and so it's a lot harder for me.

I do keep up with a lot of what gets said outside of BoingBoing. There are a lot of people who don't agree with this new marketing idea. And what is the answer regarding the issue of people stealing DMR-free digital books? If the past and present are any indication, then the future will have even more theft. Everyone knows digital crime is increasing, every day, day in and day out. I'm sorry if that consideration seems too unrealistic, or stupid. But if you don't look to see how an idea can fail, you're not really condisering it well enoungh.

I'll drop it now. But you know what, unlike a lot of other ass holes here, I'll admit to it and say I'm sorry. So here it goes: I'm sorry for picking on issues or asking stupid questions or being flip. I'm sorry I don't understand how all this DMR-free-free stuff works yet.

I wouldn’t have to set many straw men on fire if you move from the hypotheses stage of this marketing strategy to the facts portion. I realize there are a lot of writers out there that don’t agree with your ideas. That wasn’t too hard to discover either. In fact, I think there are probably more that disagree with you than agree. So you think it’s a good idea to give a bit of writing away and hope that will get people to buy a book. That seems to have been proved in limited examples. I’m just wondering why it isn’t happening faster. If it’s such a great idea why aren’t all publishers (at least of genre fiction) standing up and saying how great it is? Am I supposes to agree with the majority or with you? And if I’m going to agree with the "Give It Away culture of books," I want to be able to see where that’s headed.

You’re a sf writer, C.D., so what happens when the desire to make a living comes into conflict with people’s increased expectations that what you’re providing them should be free? Not just an occasional short, but all of it? Just like people expect to get free music and free news and free medical care? How are you going to make a living book selling if the technological trends lead to wide-spread use digital book readers? What if everyone just assumes they can download a book for free? Perhaps I’m thinking too far ahead, but that’s how markets are evaluated for long term investment.

I used the example of the internet stock bubble to illustrate the idea that sometimes ideas can make money in the short term, but in the end they fail. Only time will tell.

Shades of the Diamond Age.

#17, that's the first thing I thought too: "Oh listen to that, just like all the other computers on TV and the movies--they all make noises every time something pops up." Does anyone like that?

Greg Bear! So many great books! I've read Queen of Angles at least eight times. So many ideas in one book and so much literary experimentation. Everyone stand up and clap for the Bear!

Destructor66, I agree. All I have to say is dream on (which is good): dream of all that bandwidth, because you'll need it.

Information does not equal power. Controlling information equals power. Government knows this.

It's all about "branding" the name. For instance, I came here for Doctorow's words, but I like other stuff as well. But if I found out Doctorow wasn't writing his own stuff I'd feel lied to.

I really started with Podkanye of Mars. It didn’t strike me as a commentary on Earth, but really just about Podkanye’s adventure. Maybe it was unfocused, it's been about 35 years since I read it.

And who says Detroit's a mess? How do you play croquet on cement floor? Doesn't the ball go about half a mile?

How nice, congrats on being able to give your work away. There was a time, not too long ago, when a talented author such as yourself could expect to be paid for his shorts. Isn’t there a zine you can give your work too? Are you a lost lead for Tor? They want to draw people in, give them some free stuff, and promote traffic so they can use the data some how. Such as generating ad revenue. Telling us this on BoingBoing will add to that traffic, of course. Can Tor give any sales figures on their writers whose work has been given away and whose book sales numbers have increased? I might expect them to tell you that number. So, if Cory’s book sales go up 15% after a free short is released, I could see doing it often enough. If this model of Giving it away for Free really works, why wouldn’t every other Publisher quickly jump on the band wagon? You know like people jumped on when internet stocks were really hot and perceived value was nothing like actual value. As for Creative Commons usage: as long as you don’t expect all authors to invite other people to mess with their stuff, then its fine. Allowing people to use your art as they see fit in no way invalidates the rights of those who wish to remain in control of what is theirs. In perpetuity if they so desire.

I've always wanted a huge Tesla Coil too. Are we really talking about the thing with eletricity or was that code?

I want a Tesla Coil big enough to fill the sky with lightening! It will require its own fushion reactor, but so what!?

I say kill them all now. I saw Planet of the Apes, so I have a good reason for wanting to prevent a very nasty future! Seriously, it could happen. It's like global warming: we need to act now to prevent a very bad future. Where killer apes have turned us into their slaves!

I hope the irony is clear.

Noen, there is no "fair game" with regard to criticizing BoingBoing content. This is Cory's (and the others') blog and if they don't like it they can edit out. You know that. One has to think that C.D's values are mature enough to only want this sort of watch because its price makes it a crazy-fun fantasy. Like the Jet I want to own but won't ever buy. Sometimes it's just fun to want.

"the Supreme Court has ruled before that there cannot be an assumption or implied waiver of sovereign immunity. It has to be explicit in legislation."

The idea of the State or Feds being beyond the reach of the law is supported by the fact that it happens. It does get legislated, but it’s usually an assumption in many cases without specific legislation. One also has to consider how National Security is defined and enforced. This will depend on the Supreme Court, and a more conservative S.C. may enable the Feds to cover almost anything they need to if they can argue well for it. There would then be no need for specific legislation per se. How the Feds are able to influence what becomes law, or how law is enforced is the great Sausage Factory of Politics.

#5, not only does Buddhism teach this, but also psychology (specific and general), Plato or even some schools of magic (occult type). The subjective world is a cooperative creation in part; sometimes we agree to see things as others would like us to because we are inclined towards the consensus reality. I think I’m inclined to distrust consensus reality because I’ve been trained to be a good scientist. Reminds me of a great book: Prometheus Rising, by the late Great Robert Anton Wilson.

C.D., you should be more cautious in how you promote civil disobedience. You are not a citizen of the U.K. (if I’m not mistaken), and if you piss off the authorities enough you’re going to find yourself back in Canada. And if you are on a U.K. "unwelcome list" guess who else is going to keep you out?

Chkurt, as a C.D. Fanatic I can tell you that you're not fan enough if you don't buy more than ten percent of your dawg's work. Dude, it's a twenty dollar book, so pony up already. You know, he has a kid to feed now. Besides, he wants a watch that costs half a mega buck, so help him out already.

Cory Doctorow, I hope you make tens of millions so that you can indulge your every materialistic, fetishistic whim. But if you ever tell anyone that you blew a wad on a wrist gadget like this, for the posted price, you would never live it down.

#2 said, "There's a rich history of copyright law being secondary to national need..."

Yes there is. Let me tell you how it works: When I was in the military the work we did was for the military, ergo owned by the Government of the United States of America. If I had designed a faulty system that had a “bomb” in it, I would not only expect to be charged with a crime, I'd expect to be "retired".

"# Sustainable Life: The American lifestyle is unsustainable."

It’s very fashionable to blather on about how America’s life style is unsustainable. It was also impossible to fly, or go to the Moon, or any number of other things. “Our” lifestyle doesn’t have to end, it can be sustained with innovation. The Bitchun Society doesn’t have to be just a stupid fiction, it can be real if we work for it. And Americans, more than any other culture, know how to work towards a goal and achieve their dreams. Besides, if we can’t innovate, we’ll take what we need. Resistance is futile!

I find it so odd that I’ll be thinking of something “odd” and then I see it on BoingBoing that day. So, I was just thinking (about an hour ago) that it was time that Greg Bear came out with a new one. Coincidence doesn’t have to mean anything, and yet it can still feel important. I guess I need to go buy the book. Thanks for the good news.

I welcome our new implanted surveillance cameras! All Hail our micro-observing overlords. (Coming soon: spin-cams. Do you know where your electrons are right now?)

Macisaguy, fashion statements. Like the frames and the unshaven mug. Cory is the Dawg rebel. Or something like that.

Etawat said, "Sorry US citizens but you will not be receiving any of my tourist money for a good while yet."

Oh well, maybe you can go spend all the big bucks in that bastian of Freedom--Great Britian!

I live near the border with Canada and even have Canadian friends (I don't let my parents know that)! I've never had a problem on the border. But I'm all for tighter borders. As an American I realize that many people (most good but some bad) want to come to visit my country. Lots of people actually want to move here! Imagine that. Sorry if it's harder to do so, but we have our reasons. Let's hope we can continue to improve the security process so that it won't take so much time. Better safe than sorry. And if you don't like America, then please, do yourself a favor and don't come here. Even if it's to sign books. Really.

Oh gosh, what if they see the screenplay I’m working on and steal my ideas! If you think you’ve got risky data, don’t carry it. And our borders will only tighter so get used to it. Mhains, you can not sign for all of Canada. When Canada becomes a superpower, let us know, then maybe we'll care what you have to say. We aren't stroming the Capitol for lots of reasons. I'm sure you can figure a few of those out on your own. (Dude, it's August and it's hot and humid in DC. My hair would frizz!)

Coresect, Record companies produce, package, promote, distribute. Just as publishers do (replace produce with edit). If you don’t think there is any benefit to the kind of promotion a record company can accomplish then maybe you would be better off without them. We have readily transitioned to a digital music culture where distribution cost i