My network's open. It's convenient for me and my guests--dead easy to get online--and I've never noticed the slightest degradation in performance from any neighbors borrowing the signal. This may mean none of my neighbors has ever done so; I don't know. I also don't care.

But mistakes aren't some magical state of being that grants you infallibility.

Best. Blog. Comment. Ever.

No, no no no, he's outside, looking in.

This is all good to know, but aren't RFID chips extremely small? Where exactly is the spot that has to be hit with the hammer? Can you find the chip just by looking for it?

A few years ago I read about a coffee-and-doughnut stand in New York City that had an adjacent table with a pile of quarters on it so people could make their own change.

I imagine they probably lost a little bit of money that way, but probably made some too, from people deciding not to bother to pick up their quarters. Not to mention the savings in time of not having to work a cash register and count out change on every transaction.

If I may indulge myself in a bit of pedantry, Laika's name wasn't Laika; it was Kudryavka. Laika is the Russian name of her breed, but to call her that would be like naming a beagle Beagle. But somehow or other, instead of just being "a laika" or "the laika", after she went to space she was known as simply "Laika".

Come to think of it, though, the Russian language doesn't use articles like "a" and "the", so I guess that makes sense. Maybe some scientist told a reporter, "Ve sent laika into orbit," and the reporter misunderstood. It's as good a theory as any...

Well, I know Giles didn't have a problem with this when he was running the library at Sunnydale High.

Wait. You're saying he built this robot for the express purpose of killing him? That's kind of unusual. Normally, a killer robot is supposed to turn on you, so you can gasp out "No... no... I created you!!" with your last breath.

As for the rubbish bin, I don't know if that's the robot or not, but if it is, then I certainly hope he programmed it to say "EX TER MIN ATE". Leave that bit out, the job's only half done.

I predict public urination is going to abruptly become a bigger problem in Finland than roadside toilet-vandalism was.

It seems to me that this all overlooks the really important question. If our reality is just a computer application of some sort, then we need to figure out what kind of application it is.

My vote: screen saver.

Oo! My hand is on boingboing! Thanks Cory!

Does the book mention that her name wasn't "Laika"? It was Kudryavka; Laika is the name of her breed.

I only recently learned this from an old space-geek friend of mine, who suggested that the problem might have arisen from the absence of definite articles in the Russian language. (Russian scientist: "Ve put laika into space!" Western reporters: *scribble scribble scribble*) Hey, it's a theory.