and (9) my wages, earning, savings, etc... cannot be garnished at will by governing/crediting/banking parties as they see fit.

Mr. Anderson, we here at Microsoft would like to hire you. But, your purchasing history indicates you buy exclusively Apple products. We just don't see a place in the company for someone who supports the competition.

wonder what the surcharge charge/penalty fee is for overriding the setting?

Bone-shattering force is still applied to victim/target. The shirt may become rigid, but something has to absorb the force applied. Kind of like an extreme concussion to the head i'm thinking... your skull is fine but your brain is mush. Bullets purpose still achieves goal, now just less mess.

Except when your wife keeps wondering why your computer gets nothing but porn ads whenever she borrows it!

My future plan is to avoid the power grid and use solar to power items around the house that don't need the grid. Say an AC window unit that could run during the day on solar to supplement my central AC unit, etc... Stuff like this can be achieved as a DIY project.

By temperament and voter registration, I'm a Republican; however, I voted for (and hope for) an Obama win because the path the government has taken over the last 7-8 years has saddened and disgusted me. I'm glad he won.
Sadly, the only way to reverse the path the government has taken the last 7-8 years is to somehow go back and erase 9/11. The economy artificially ran smoothly after the hit for so long. It had to eventually stumble. Now that we have Obama (D), the economy can crumble until it hits Carter period lows. Give him another year and it will be there.

I think you missed my point. There were excellent groups throughout the 90's. There are excellent groups today and there will be tomorrow.

I'm directly talking about the RIAA group of crap. The stuff you immediately hear when you turn on your radio** going to/coming from work, etc... You hear one good song and an hour later you have heard the same song at least four times. I remember a time (not all that long ago) when the stuff you heard on the radio was just a teaser to the really good stuff on an album/CD. It made you want to give the CD a try and when you heard the CD, you definitely wanted to go to the concert. The reverse is true at present... you hear a song on the radio, and it is basically the only song on the album/CD and the rest is complete crap/filler.

One hears a song 3-4 times an hour on the radio for a couple days and having been burned many times before actually buying the CD, opt out completely from the cycle... A) you aviod buying the CD and move on, B) you pirate a copy on the outside chance some of it may be good, C)you listen to other samples (at your favorite online music store)and just buy the songs that sound like they might be worth it. From the article, most folks seem to at least be taking option C, keeping the RIAA afloat for now. I choose D) checking out the local and internet scene for new, independent music... supporting them (the actual artist) where I can, etc...

radio side note: my 1-hour daily commute is entertained by CD music mostly and some talk radio. I do have a radio playing in the lab at work (hence my comments on hearing the same songs 4-times an hour)

"The industry should have been the first out the gate with mp3's, giving the customers what they wanted and not what the record industry wanted to sell them."

What the industry should have done in the first place is provide music customers actually wanted to buy. I have continued to buy CDs over the years, just not RIAA crap. (How many CD's did you buy in the late 90's that was complete crap besides the one song they played on the radio 3-times an hour?)

I buy non-DRM independent label stuff from the "local" artist scene around the U.S. and World. I can listen to their stuff live or on the net, heck sometimes even download the entire album... If it is good, I'll buy the actual CD quality hardcopy. Or at least support them by grabbing a t-shirt or other item off their site, etc...

How long before the RIAA want's a piece of the bailout too? (had to stick that in there. )