Three big flaws in your argument here even at a casual glance:-

1) The proto-Americans had the advantage of an ocean between them and the people they were rebelling against, and the advantage of being on home territory against an enemy who had generally never even been to the rebels' continent. The situation would have been radically different if the American rebels were living in Clapham.

2) It's not "Us Americans" who rebelled at all - you personally had nothing at all to do with it - so it's rather precious of you to advocate that others risk their lives to do something that I suspect you have never done yourself.

3) The modern USA is exactly the sort of imperialist superpower that England was back then.

Overall, the pretense that modern Americans are some kind of ninja rebel outfit who would overthrow their government at the first sign of totalitarianism isn't helping anyone, especially when you sit in your comfy chair behind your (no doubt very rebellious) warrior keyboard and advocate that others risk their lives.

OK, I'll bite. What level of interconnectivity "should" consoles be doing? Or what level would actually impress you, if that's a more appropriate question?

Yes... and this is hardly the first time recently that Sony have erred on the side of openness. The PS3 uses a standard laptop hard drive (even replaceable by the user without breaking warranty), standard USB keyboards and gamepads, standard USB mass storage driver, standard bluetooth for headsets and even (at least on the original models) had card reader slots for a wide range of standard memory cards. It's the most open interconnected console ever.

Compare it to the Micro$oft XBox 360 and it's practically the posterboy of openness.

Sony did a bad bad thing for a long time, but they are *really* cleaning their act up now. Time for them to get some positive karma for it, eh?

You seem to be suggesting that the actions of people in the same country of the poster's grandparents (not even necessarily any direct relation) before he/she was born remove their right to hold a decent moral or ethical opinion or admonish others for their lack of decency.

I guess all citizens of the USA will have to shut the fuck up for about 100 years if you're going to take that attitude, based on the shameful and morally bankrupt actions of George W Bush and his supporters.

Or you could stop being ridiculous, stop making Ad Hominem attacks, and discuss the actual point that the gp was making, which had the advantages of being reasonable, infomative, insightful and well-expressed.

What you're experiencing is called "Cognitive Dissonance".

Instead of falling prey to this character-compromising logical fallacy, why not write to the newspaper and ask them for their sources (although these are probably Stone and Parker themselves)?

eeeBuntu on mine and I'm *very* happy with it. EasyPeasy sounds very similar and I also hear great things about it.

The marvel in this story is that both the accountant and general manager made a sane, rational, non-FUDded decision. I think that's a credit to the Gendarmerie and possibly the French national attitude - I can't see that happening here in the UK.

Fantastic post, mod this guy up to 11. Well said sir.

You're quite right, I should have said "This is why I avoid discussions as to why I became a vegetarian face-to-face, with people whose feelings I care about as opposed to random idiots on the internet who enjoy taking offence at anything."

"And woe to the poor bastard that kills my dog: I've got a piece of piano wire with their name on it. It will not go well for them."

I'm with you on this. I feel fortunate that nobody has ever hurt one of my pets, as "he maimed my cat" is not usually a good legal defense for attempted murder.

"I've never understood why it's acceptable to make jokes about, say, killing my cat, as though it's so funny. I'm sure that most people that have met people that don't like cats/dogs know what I'm talking about. If I were to joke about killing their children, I imagine they wouldn't be as amused."

It's easy to extend this logic as a prime argument for vegetarianism. I don't expect I'd get many laughs out of asking meat-eaters whether they'd eat human children, although in context this is an entirely reasonable question. This is why I avoid discussions as to why I became a vegetarian.

That would have a certain form of symmetry, I suppose. Personally, I trust Ridley Scott, who seems to make his Sci-Fi films out of purest awesome.

2 things:-

"Everybody knew. You knew. I knew. We all knew."

1) You're exaggerating. KDE is (supposed/trying to) reach a bigger audience than just a bunch of hardcore techies. Therefore the front page of kde.org, slashdot, tech forums are irrelevant - it's like releasing a new car for open sale and noting on the manufacturer's website and in car enthusiast magazines that it misses many features you've come to expect from this range and is really for pro drivers only. That's fine for those guys, but the average punter is screwed.

Which brings me to my second point:-

2) The big problem - why the hell was 4.1 in Kubuntu 8.10? This was the real horrific wallbanger and everyone involved in that decision should be ashamed. Kubuntu is far too high-profile and average-joe (or, again is trying to be) to be running experimental tech. This is what really damaged KDE IMO.

...that *could* actually make a great movie, but more importantly would get more people to read the book (which is my introductory Sci-Fi text I kept waving a fantasy types who dismiss Sci-Fi as "not their thing").

The TV series (after 1.5 seasons) was very far from shitty - it was better than anything bar the first 70 minutes or so of the only Highlander film. In other words, the TV series is really damn good.