I can believe no has mentioned F.E.A.R. That game has lots of shock moments, with things jumping out at you, but the scariest moments were down right "6th Sense" scary. That little girl was absolutely creepy.

I've been reading SF since I found Starman Jones and it's like in my school library as a teen. Thanks for the link, I know, "books on tape" and it's ilk have been available for years, but since I love reading so much I haven't tried an audio book -other than my wife reading while I drive while on vacation. I'll give Brin's, "The Crystal Sphere" a go. Thanks again for what sounds like a great SF resource.

Please insert "tip" between the words the and accordingly. Thank you.

I've always heard that 15% is the proper amount to tip. I'm a good tipper though, I usually start at 15% and pay up or down according to how good a job the waiter did. I've found that tipping well at a restaurant you frequent will often get you a free drink or appetizer. Of course when that happens I always increase the amount of the accordingly.

@JODAMILLER,

Hi, the wikipedia article you linked to says the term "2nd world" has largely fallen out of use since the end of the Cold War. So I think now it's safe to use it to refer to a country that has been upgraded from dirt poor to merely poor. So let it be written.

I hate the comments you always see saying something like, "There too many people with no health care and worse not enough to eat and substandard education for this kind of criminal waste of money to be happening." Now I admit, something needs to be done about all that, but are we really to put everything on hold until all of the 3rd world countries are turned into 2nd world countries?

One of my coworkers recently visited China. She said the areas they were allowed to visit were beautiful, but she was nervous because her group was constantly followed by government escorts, who steered them away from certain areas.

"Today in my ongoing series of..."
On Flickr it says, uploaded on September 14, 2007. Thats some terrible lag ya got there.

So many of you are so quick to assume that the man was an injured innocent victim that was tasered by a bullying cop, why is that? I work around police officers often and just as in any job, the less paperwork they have to write, the better. Why would they want to create more work for themselves by purposely turning a calm accident scene into one in which they have to taser and detain someone? That scenario simply does not compute.

I'd be willing to bet that after the autopsy's final results are released and the investigation is complete, the man will be proven to have a medical condition that was the main cause of his death and the officer was attempting to put a halt to a possible violent confrontation.

@REMMELT,

The reason I mentioned heart disease is because the article emphasized that the man that died was healthy, according to his father. You have to realize the taser must have been tested countless times before it was allowed to be sold to the public and especially for it to be used by law enforcement. My point was that the man most likely died because he had an undiagnosed heart condition and was in a very stressful situation, not because he was tasered (tased?).

As far as blaming someone, I blame the uncooperative man. You're supposed to do what the police orders you to do in an emergency situation, such as an automobile accident. It just sucked for him that he died.

Here's an interesting FACT for you. There are, on average, 90 deaths caused by lightening strikes every year in the US. That's a LOT more than deaths supposedly caused by the tasers used by our law enforcement officers. Sure, one is an act of God, the other by man, but I think this puts things in a better prospective.

Personally. I think they should ditch the tasers and go back to pepper spraying violent, or uncooperative people, either one though is tons better than the billy clubs and flash lights they used to use. Also, I'm sure that, as in this case, all deaths related to taser use are thoroughly investigated and anyone found to be guilty of improper use of the devise is reprimanded, fired and/or punished criminally.

@JRUCIFER,

"The situation would have been a lot LESS stressful had he not been TASERED" -You're absolutely right there, assuming that the man was merely being "uncooperative," in a non aggressive/violent manner. If so, the police officers were indeed misusing the device and should be held accountable. Bt, y knw wht hppns whn y ssm.

Cnsdrng th bvsly bsd wy n whch ths rtcl ws wrttn, dbt f fllw p wld b md f n tpsy th mn s fnd t hv ny prxstng hrt prblms. In my line of work I meet a surprising number of people in their late twenties/early thirties that have coronary blockages due to a genetic predisposition towards heart disease. Recently I met a 24 year old male having a MI. His cholesterol was over 700.

If you read carefully, you'll see that it was the father that said the uncooperative man was healthy. He should have said his son had no known health problems. Also family members of people that die while in custody of the police are never usually not a reliable source when it comes to having unbiased information about the deceased, or the situation in which they died. Common sense should tell you that if the man had an undiagnosed heart problem, a stressful situation like the one in which he was involved could cause him to have a fatal heart attack or arrhythmia.

I have no doubt that there are some bully police officers that use their taser inappropriately, but in ANY profession you have bad apples. The taser has been tested and used for years (decades?) and has been determined to be a much more effective and safe way to control a violent person than having to try to control them than by manual force. Of course, I, not being an authority hater, am much more likely to believe years of testing and use reports than the families of thugs and the thugs themselves.

"In the United States, more than 290 people have died since June 2001 after being struck by police Tasers, according to the human rights group Amnesty International. It said in October that only 25 of the 290 were armed, and none had firearms."

In 7 years, only 290 deaths related to tasers? I'd be willing to bet that the numbers are much higher for people detained by having several police officers jump on the violent individual to control them than by tasers.

"Human rights group Amnesty International" Read- anti authority, anti American and in the US, anti "the Man."