Uh…no? I have to enter my Pin, every time. And I live in NY!
Know what’s a bad idea? Digital radio. Before too long, there will be no analog radio, it will all be digital. Everyone will have to buy a new receiver to get it. I’ve heard the demos, and it sounds terrible. They have to compress the audio stream to such a small bitrate that you can hear the compression algorithm at work. It’s not as bad as early RealAudio, but it’s definitely worse than anything that comes out of your current FM receiver. The frequency response is limited by the low bitrate. You won’t get 20-20 KHz response anymore. This might not affect people who grew up with 128 kbps mp3s, but I can see the day coming when the question gets asked, “Do you remember when radio sounded great?”
Water may be a non-renewable resources, but when you burn hydrogen, guess what you get back? Water! The whole idea is that hydrogen is like an extremely efficient battery - you pump energy into water to get hydrogen and oxygen, store the hydrogen for later use, combine the hydrogen with oxygen, and you get the water back, plus the energy you dumped in.
Currently, it’s true that the energy going into the production of hydrogen will be coming from fossil fuels, but nuclear could be used just as easily, if the industry got its act together (and the environmental lobby stopped opposing progress).
And of course, once nuclear fusion eventually makes it, we’ll have a clean, highly efficient, high-output source of power that even the most wacko tree-hugging nutjob couldn’t find any excuse to whine about.
That’s how debit cards work around here. You can use them as credit or debit in most stores. Credit you sign, debit you put in your pin.
Annamika, does your debit card have a credit card logo on it (like Visa or MC?)
fishbicycle, let me introduce you to the glorious fidelity that is Amplitude Modulation (AM) radio. Oops, a storm, a bit of atomospheric ionization, your neighbor blowdrying her hair? What a lovely bit of white noise this is! 
That said, I agree, the current satellite digital radio standards are crap. Perhaps if G3 ever takes off in this country we’ll have a good network with high bandwidth. But then, [crotchety old man]with the stuff the kids listen to these days it don’t really matter, noways[/crotchety old man].
Stranger
The big difference is that a debit card takes money from my account. Fraud protection on debit cards can take ninety days to get the money back to me during which time my real bills go unpaid or my checks bounce. Then if there is a “dispute” over the charges the process can drag out even longer.
My credit card is attached to the bank’s money. (hence the name “credit”) so when the account is hijacked the bank is out the thousands of dollars and my poor checking account is safe. Since I pay my card balance every month this becomes a free service protecting the rest of my money.
My credit card number was stolen once, I think it was from a gas station. It’s amazing the things they can charge on it without my signature. Western Union sent 990 dollars to Azerbaijan, ISP’s all over the country opened up accounts for “me.” I’m glad that stuff didn’t come from my checking account.
Video phones. I don’t think your standard idea of a video phone will ever catch on for the following reasons.
- Who wants to get dressed to answer the phone?
- You shouldn’t ever have to preface a phone call with “Sorry, the place is a mess.”
- In a bar with a cameraphone, you’d actually have to hit the deck and hide from the camera if you didn’t want someone to know if you’re there.
Also, many health clubs now ban all cellphones from the premises, because they’ve been having problems with people surreptitiously filming other people in the locker room or showers, and then posting the pictures or videos to porn sites.
RFID tags implanted into you thumb - The other morning, public radio was interviewing a guy that had had an RFID tag implanted in the webbing of his thumb. He was planning on setting up his front door to recognize when he grabbed the handle. Or the lights and heat when he walked into the room. His dreams included a keyboard and mouse that would recognize you and only let you onto the computer. I’m waiting for the day that that sucker migrates from his hand to his elbow. Not sure how he is going to open the door then.
Pet cloning - Someone just spent $30k US to have a cat cloned. Honey, I can find a much better use of $30k.