I second the suggestion that you contact Picasa (or Google in fact as they are the owners of Picasa) directly. This seems like a clear case of a breach of their Program Policy.
posted to Ask Metafilter by electricinca at 9:49 AM on July 31, 2008

Having said that I have tried in vain for the past 15 minutes to find a contact email address for Picasa Support so I hope someone else has uncovered a way of contacting them.
posted to Ask Metafilter by electricinca at 10:09 AM on July 31, 2008

SolarBuzz might be a good place to start, it's an industry portal that has links to news articles and information about companies involved in solar energy.

Also Wired regularly has articles about solar energy although these often fall more towards the speculative end of things than you might like. http://www.wired.com/search?... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by electricinca at 5:48 AM on July 28, 2008

A scientific paper found via the Wired.com search I linked to above.
Solar thermal electricity as the primary replacement for coal and oil in U.S. generation and transportation.
posted to Ask Metafilter by electricinca at 5:53 AM on July 28, 2008

You'd pretty nearly stumped me with the no Asimov coda to your question until I recalled the Culture series of books by Iain M. Banks.

Whilst not featuring robots in the traditional Asimov idea The Culture does have two forms of AIs, drones which are about as intelligent as humans and kind of physically resemble floating footballs and superintelligent AIs known as Minds most of whom are massive starships but occasionally have other physical forms.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by electricinca at 4:11 PM on July 19, 2008

Do not whatever you do start with Watchmen. Thankfully the movie is still several months off as you probably should read it before you see the movie but in order to really appreciate why it is considered one of Moore's masterworks you need to have learned the language of comics and the conventions of typical superhero comics.

I'd recommend reading Watchmen after having read Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by electricinca at 11:19 AM on July 19, 2008

I'm tempted to say just quit your job and start writing. What's the worst that can happen? If writing isn't as fulfilling as you'd hoped you can always go back and become a programmer again. It's always a lot easier returning to a prior career than making a career change.

Alternatively try to limit your actual time at the office so that you get more time at home that you can devote to writing. Ease your boss into thinking of you as an employee that is more productive as... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by electricinca at 7:32 AM on June 30, 2008

You pretty much seem to know the answer to this by the sound of things anyway.

Most of your collection is probably worth less than the paper it's printed on. But you probably knew that anyway. If it is your own collection then you should instinctively know whether a given comic is worth anything i.e. First appearance of the New Teen Titans. It is unlikely that you have any hidden gems.

I would recommend Comicspriceguide.com... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by electricinca at 6:42 AM on June 30, 2008 marked best answer

A friend of mine swears that the unlikely combination of Marmite and honey works great in sandwiches but so far I've been too disgusted by the thought of it to actually try it for myself.
posted to Ask Metafilter by electricinca at 5:52 AM on June 22, 2008

Your advisor is correct in financial terms but for your own piece of mind it might be better not to take their advice if doing so will make you anxious.

You sound risk averse and investing in your next house is risk free. You would however as other people have explained in this thread be able to get a better return on your investment by not doing that.
posted to Ask Metafilter by electricinca at 1:33 PM on June 19, 2008

Or that a buffalo should buffalo a buffalo, and should those buffalo be natives of Buffalo, New York then I pity that poor German.

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
posted to Ask Metafilter by electricinca at 9:52 AM on June 3, 2008

I think Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics throws up some interesting conundrums.

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Would... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by electricinca at 5:07 AM on May 12, 2008

Also what if there were still some non-zombie humans left? w

Would the robots be forced to choose saving the lives of a few humans by killing many zombies, or would the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few and they would sacrifice the few live humans to the zombie hordes.
posted to Ask Metafilter by electricinca at 5:11 AM on May 12, 2008

Another counter-example here.

Cotterill is thought to be the first player in recent history in England to be jailed for an offence on the pitch.

First in recent history! Or I'm too lazy to actually do some research to find any previous examples of convictions for on the pitch incidents but I know there's been some.

My favourite bit from Duncan Ferguson's wikipedia page is the section dealing with the... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by electricinca at 4:36 AM on November 28, 2007

I would second the notion that it was by Richard Scarry. Perhaps A Day at the Airport.
posted to Ask Metafilter by electricinca at 2:50 PM on November 23, 2007

This is spooky as a while back I found an old photograph of myself and my brother reading a book and I vaguely remembered it and wondered what it was called.

Turns out it was Trumpets in Grumpetland!

So thanks Glow Bucket for posting your question and helping me find the answer to a question that I'd forgotten I even had. And like dhartung I'm pretty sure I had a Richard Scarry book with a Sikorsky-like helicopter in it with all the parts labeled.
posted to Ask Metafilter by electricinca at 2:47 PM on November 25, 2007

I believe GoDaddy is a decent webhost although I don't use them myself.

If as you say your business is super small and you are looking for an inexpensive solution then I would argue that getting an SSL certificate and a merchant account is not your best option.

I use PayPal for my own small business and they offer a shopping cart too that you can easily integrate into your website. They also in my opinion offer a secondary benefit of consumer... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by electricinca at 8:00 AM on October 11, 2007

I'd agree with anildash, ask him what he wants to do and support him in achieving that. Help him find his path and don't fret if it's not the one you believe or expect him to be on.

I was similarly directionless at your son's age and also the brightest kid that my father knew but I got pressured into going to university. I ended up getting a degree in electrical engineering and then got a job selling tickets at a cinema upon graduation to the disappointment of my old man.... [more]
posted to Ask Metafilter by electricinca at 2:03 PM on October 2, 2007