Frankly, if every non-dairy producing cow croaked, I wouldn't be saddened by the loss.

The United States is considering renewing its stockpiles of nuclear weapons. As far as any civilian knows, we haven't built a nuclear weapon since 1989 and have not tested one since 1992.

Proponents of the idea claim we will need to "rely on the capability to build future bombs for deterrence" rather than the aging stockpiles of weapons created during the Cold War.

Of course, dissenters are worried that by creating new nuclear warheads we will cause nuclear proliferation to increase. Questions such as "Why can Iran not build its own nuclear weapons?" will arise.

Nuclear weapon stockpiles should not increase - they should decrease. The potential damage of disposing the weapons is a cost to great to bear. Frankly, their very existence is a bane.

Read about it here.

Don't die.

Old people are smelly.

The NRO lends their voice in defense of video games. Adam Thierer writes that violent "M" rated games, such as Grand Theft Auto, are not too prevalent only ranking 13% of all rated video games. Recently compiled ratings show "over 80 percent of the most popular games were rated either 'E' or 'T.'"

He also points out the weakness to the correlation between video games and violence: "Even as video-game use among youths has increased ... juvenile murder, rape, robbery, and assault are all down significantly."

Unfortunately, the term "game" is always associated with childish connotations. Only children play games - adults grow out of them. This may have been true in the past, but it has changed. The average game player is 25+ years in age, which may make them childlike, but it certainly doesn't make them children.

Senators, keep your grubby hands off of my video games.

Don't die.

Have a tic tac - they're good for you.

The MPAA has finally begun to wake from its slumber and joined the digital age. Today, you can download movies from studios like LionsGate, MGM, Sony, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal, and Warner Brothers. Yes, King Kong can be yours without the need to get up and travel to your local movie retailer.

Unfotunately, it isn't all peaches and cream. First, there is the cost, which is way too high. Second, there are the DRM restrictions.

The cost to download King Kong is a whopping $26.99 from Movielink. I can travel to Target, which is right down the street, and pick up the movie for $19.99. The DVD has special features - the downloaded one does not. I'm getting less for my money if I buy the downloaded version. This is the same mistake eBooks made years ago, and it has nearly halted the sell and distribution of electronic books. Lastly, the quality of the movie is not near as good as a DVD. In fact, Paul Thurrott of Connected Home Media points out illegal downloads "generally exceeded the quality of the legal downloads." The illegal downloads also don't have the next issue: DRM.

Of course, there are DRM restrictions. You can only have the movie on up to three computers at a time. Want to burn it to a DVD for storage purposes? Too bad. You can't. When will major content providers learn: DRM stinks.

My prediction: this service is only going to be rarely used. Paying $26.99 for a movie I can buy at the store for less is absolutely ridiculous. Then, to tell me it has no features, below DVD-quality, and DRM restrictions is a slap in the face.

Don't die.

Benjamin Franklin built a computer out of a peanut -- a peanut!

The Sony root kit fiasco has opened up another debate: what about the over-protective and draconian DRM measures in some of our favorite PC video games?

According to Kotaku "Christopher [Spence] has filed a $5M class action lawsuit against Ubisoft for using Starforce DRM in their games." Starforce is a known cause of various Windows instabilities and has been even rumored to damage CD drives.

In related news, Stardock, the creators of Galactic Civilizations II, has butted heads against Starforce. GC II's license allows for an unlimited number of installs on an unlimited number of machines as long as only one install is in use at a time. Starforce, seeking to prove themselves a necessary evil, linked to a site offering illegal bittorrent downloads of the popular game.

Despite the pirating, GC II was on EBGames top selling list. In ten days, it outsold its previous installment. According to Stardock, companies shouldn't be "about eliminating piracy" but "about increasing sales. It's about trying to make sure that people who would buy your product buy it instead of steal it." To do this, Stardock makes their product "easy for users to buy and make full use of [their] product ... legitimately."

Until next time, don't die.

America, the (once) brave.

Fear knows no bounds. On April 1st, five teenage girls dropped off seventeen packages around their neighborhood which looked suspiciously similar (read exactly) like the Super Mario Brothers question cubes. Their intent was to play a RL version of what was most likely their favorite video game of all time. Unfortunately instead of having a bit of fun, they are facing what could become criminal charges. Exactly what the charges will be (terrorism?) is yet to be determined.

You've gotta love it. Read about the foolishness yourself if you so dare.

Don't die.