The EFF has a great example of how people fear what they don't understand. This one is amazing. How many of us have ever used an operating system that was "a black screen with white font which he uses prompt commands on" before?

EVERYONE. All of the popular PC operating systems have this functionality. How do they know he didn't just have a command prompt up in windows maximized to full screen? I just don't understand how this type of insanity continues to be perpetrated within the court system. Blatantly invalid technical details seemingly run rampant.

I think any law activity (warrants, trials, etc.) that includes anything with this much technical detail should be reviewed by someone with at least a slight inkling of what the jargon means. This abuse would have been caught almost immediately if the officer or judge had any training as to what they were attempting to do in this arena.

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This may be the ugliest vehicle I've ever seen.  If there was any wonder why GM is on the brink of bankruptcy, here may be part of the answer.  Aside from the ungainly aesthetics, the size appears to be just "wrong" on a number of fronts.  Too big for the sidewalk while being small enough to be a death trap on the road, and no storage space for your stuff.  Sign me up!

Here's the part where I would normally say "Surely this would be useful in some places!" and yes, there is one I can think of...a daily rental vehicle for people just visiting an area.  However, there are already cheaper small-scale transportation alternatives to this PUMA (is this the acronym for EVERYTHING now?) thing, and most of them include you not looking like a complete tool.  You could:

• walk
• run
• take a cab
• ride a bicycle
• ride a moped
• ride a scooter
• ride a motorcycle
• ride a skateboard
• ride a REAL Segway
• get a full-on used car for less $

I guess I just don't see a big market for this thing even if it weren't hideous.  Am I missing something here?  Is GM overcompensating for the fact that nobody want's SUV's anymore and they've gone off the deep end in the other direction?

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This is how not to do tech gifts.

1) Don't give the Prime Minister DVD's (for the wrong region even)
2) Don't give an iPod to the Queen.

START DOING BETTER. Thanks!

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