@Moonrising I assumed the lack of tracks was from the astronaut disturbing the soil around there while working on the buggy. There are other pictures with tracks around the buggy.

But then it makes sense. It is much easier to move it with a big crane inside a small soundstage than for the people playing like they are on the moon to just push it into place. That or install a motor on it and save money on the effects when they make it look like it is driving.

And of course it is on YouTube. Why wouldn't it be?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl1CwJ8FAYE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7PHtNq0Hq8

I have Comcast. It has some good peek speeds out here and if I am downloading from a fast enough source (or as with the Kubuntu bittorrent I have going right now) I hit close to the maximum speeds.

But when you factor in the number of times when the connection is dead, that drops the average pretty hard.

My local Comcast office has no air conditioning, it is decorated with the flair of a downtown DMV, there is bullet resistant glass between you and the teller, and whenever I need to get my modem replaced they pass it through a protective drawer.

I would switch to Bellsouth (now part of the new AT&T), but they are even more incompetent. I had to hook up my own phone service because they kept tying into old alarm phone cables that terminated 6 inches away from the box. 15 minutes with some needle nose pliers and I had everything rewired properly.

This is so far down in the comment stream that it is going to be generally useless, but that fits in with most of my life so here goes.

@ #13 Nick D And what's with the quotation marks around "progressives" and "liberals."? If someone identifies themselves that way, respect that.

I was referring to labels used to separate people. just as people labeling themselves as "progressives" call "born-agains" bigots, people who call themselves "born-agains" consider some "progressives" to be bigots. A "born-again" would likely consider a "progressive" to dead in sin while a "progressive" would likely consider a "born-again" to be regressive.

And you can use a term like "born-again" in an insulting way to a Christian just like a conservative Christian would call you "liberal" as an insult. Just because someone proudly calls themself a "nigger" does not mean you aren't a jerk for then calling them that derisively.

Richard Dawkins is small minded. He is just as bigoted and trapped in himself as the worst of the "pound you over the head with a big King James Bible" Christians are.

@ #5 mycophage As I see it, the problem with welcoming collaboration with evangelicals per se (as opposed to 'religious people'; let's take a moment and reflect on the definitions of these terms before proceeding) is that their belief system will, in the end, lead them to attempt to convert the nonbeliever.

And the problem with them working with you is that in the end you will try to convert them. You are, per se, the same type of person you condemn.

@ #16 bricology Many atheists, such as I, assert that humanity is doomed if we continue to allow the religious strife that has caused so much harm througout recorded history, to continue to exist.

I assert that religion, nationalism, tribalism, and even secularist belief systems are not typically the primary cause of that strife. They are typically just rallying cries made by power hungry leaders who would have used anything to consolidate their power. They just picked the most convenient. The most heinous regimes of the the 20th century we either secularist or outright atheist. Atheism and secularism did not make them bad, they were just tools at hand.

@ all For the record, I am agnostic in many areas of religion, science, and sociology. I don't believe you can know as much about any of these areas as many people claim they do. I will end up arguing back to center on most topics. I am intolerant of extremes.

The problem that many Christians have with people they refer to as "liberals" is that the people who call themselves "progressives" are seen as bigots.

Yes, bigots.

Devout Christians who are committed to the Word of God, those derisively referred to by bigotted "progressives" as "born-agains" or Fundamentalists (even "Fundies"), do honestly believe in the same things progressives do. They just believe for different reasons and with different solutions.

I believe that if "progressives" would just give up the bigotry and hatred (including cutting out the Tooth Fairy and Santa Clause references or anything that small minded idiot Richard Dawkins writes) then many of the stated goals of "progressives" would be more effectively reached.

Just yesterday I had Devo songs stuck in my head and I was almost prepared to dig my VHS copy of The Truth About De-Evolution out of storage. It has been 8 years since I last watched it, so it could be buried deep.

Mashable had a link to a mashed up version of the anti-piracy video parodied here mixed with content from a Strawberry Shortcake video it was seen on.
Scary Strawberry Shortcake Warning

Thanks for the IT Crowd updates, it was a long year and a half waiting for it to return.