I live in the US, and I have to agree: if you aren't prepared for the switchover, it's entirely your own fault at this point. The switchover has been advertised -- ad nauseum -- for the past few years, and the coupon program makes the total cost of the switchover only about $10 per television, since the tax payers are subsidizing $40 per converter box.

We have satellite TV (Dish Network) for our day-to-day TV-watching, but I still got the coupons and ordered two converter boxes, just so that we can use one of them on the little portable TV we keep around in case of major emergencies (and have another box as a spare). For the less-than-$20 it cost me (postage included), it would have been silly not to do so.

Anyone who still isn't ready for the switch deserves what they get -- nothing!

Just flip the switch, already!

"the canisters probably actually contain hydrogen in its liquid form"

Not likely, as I don't see a bunch of insulation surrounding them (liquid hydrogen is one of the coldest cryogens).

It's much more likely that the hydrogen gas is adsorbed under pressure onto the surface of some material within the tank, and is released back by the pressure reduction as some of the gas is drawn from the tank as it's used.

First you get down on your knees, Fiddle with your rosaries, Bow your head with great respect,

And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!

Do whatever steps you want if, You have cleared them with the pontiff. Everybody say his own, Kyrie Eleison,

Doin' the Vatican Rag.

Get in line in that processional, Step into that small confessional, There, the guy who's got religion'll Tell you if your sin's original.

If it is, try playin' it safer, Drink the wine and chew the wafer,

Two, four, six, eight, Time to transubstantiate!

So get down upon your knees, Fiddle with your rosaries, Bow your head with great respect,

And genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!

Make a cross on your abdomen, When in Rome, do like a Roman,

Ave Maria, Gee, it's good to see ya,

Gettin' ecstatic and Sorta dramatic and Doin' the Vatican Rag!

"I think we've cracked the code of the smartphone flip," Balsillie said this morning. "It was considered uncrackable before."

I guess Balsillie has never heard of the Palm Treo 180, 270, or 300, then....

"WGA's goal is not to punish the people who purchase these programs; they, of all people are the most victimized," wrote Alex Kochis, WGA senior product manager in the WGA blog. "The goal is to give these people a tool to let them know they have been victimized and can do something about it."

It's refreshing to hear someone at Microsoft admit this, for once.

Now, if we can only convince Microsoft to *stop* victimizing people, we'll have really got somewhere.

I'm curious, and hope someone who knows can answer: what are the legal rules about acting upon information received in the form of spam emails?

In other words, as a random spamee, if I get a "pump-n-dump" spam in my in-box, recognize it as such, and then short-sell whatever company had been advertised, is doing so illegal?

Is receiving "information" as spam considered "public disclosure", even though the "information" I'm actually gaining is simply the knowledge that someone else (unknown to me) is running a scam involving a particular company's stock?

I know it's illegal to use non-public information about a company to profit from anticipated changes in a stock's price, and I know that it's also illegal to orchestrate changes in a stock's price by fraudulent means, especially with the intention of profiting from said resultant change. However, I'm not clear on whether or not there would be anything either morally wrong or illegal with profiting by taking notice of the fact that someone else appeared to be running a mass-emailing pump-and-dump scam, and anticipating the resultant stock price swings on my own.

I think it comes down to whether or not mass-emailed pump-n-dump spams count as "public" disclosure of the fact that someone's running such a scam involving that company.

Of course, I'm not a lawyer, and none of my speculations should be construed as legal advice....

- Rick

Everyone here seems to be making the same silly assumption: who says she only has one PC?