Khyber writes "I'm doing a little personal research into a project that tracks what changes get made to your system every time you install a program. I know there are ways of checking through Windows Restore Points, but that's not what I'm trying to do. Instead, I'm going to start with an absolutely fresh Windows XP install, take a full snapshot of the entire installation on the hard drive, and burn that to a DVD (somewhat like a backup disc with an entire snapshot of my hard drive's current contents.) With every program I install, I'm going to take another snapshot, burn to DVD, and repeat the process until I have recreated every step taken to get to my current system state (all programs installed on a separate hard drive, all registry entries etc on the OS drive, with only snapshots of the OS drive being recorded.) The purpose for all of this I'm not legally allowed to talk about, due to confidentiality requirements. Does anybody know of such a program, preferably freeware, that will accomplish my objective, and are there tools that can be used to compare the difference in drive images?"

An anonymous reader writes "The real estate bubble is long gone. Oil prices are sliding down. Are we in an education bubble? The author of Beating the College Bubble says so. He's written a short, simple guide to avoiding the crushing college debt that he thinks is about to bankrupt all of us. Just as easy loans encouraged people to dream big and buy a McMansion, big college loans are tempting students with too much Comp Lit and Frat Parties. When they graduate, the debt is so hefty that the students are stuck living in their parents' basement for 10 years until they've paid it all off. I can tell you from personal experience that there's some real truth to the hangover. The beer headache is gone after a week, but the monthly payments just keep going." Read below for the rest of cdog40's review

Brian D. writes "I've recently begun working with a group that sends books to prisoners in federal and state prisons. We try to match their requests as well as we can. One request that we consistently have trouble filling is for computer books. This is not for lack of books, but because the prisoners' requests tend to be vague and their computer resources are obviously severely limited. Keep in mind that we send prisoners all types of books — from gardening and landscaping to cooking and sailing — about topics they don't have the resources to experiment with. With basically one shelf devoted to books on computing, what types of books should I tell them we should keep? What are the best types of books to send a prisoner who requests a book on 'computer repair?'"

CurtMonash writes "Barack Obama promised to appoint the United States' first Chief Technology Officer. Naturally, the blogosphere is full of discussion as to who that should be. I favor American Management Systems founder and former IRS Commissioner Charles Rossotti. Richard Koman thinks it should be one of the better state CTOs. John Doerr, going in a different direction, thinks it should be his partner Bill Joy. We can bandy names back and forth all month, but first a more fundamental question needs to be answered: What do we need most — a get-things-done CIO (Chief Information Officer), or a more visionary true CTO? I think it's a CIO, and based on his campaign statements it appears Obama agrees. Management of government IT is a huge, generally unsolved problem, and we need somebody deeply experienced to have a fighting chance. Of course, that doesn't preclude recruiting a visionary CTO in addition, but the highest priority is a CIO. What do you think?"

Geek Satire writes "Voting works only if you believe your vote gets counted accurately. The 2008 US elections have avoided many well-known problems of the 2004 and 2000 elections, but many problems remain. O'Reilly News interviewed Dr. Barbara Simons, advisor to the Federal Election Assistance Commission, to review electronic voting in the 2008 US elections, discussing the physical security of storing and maintaining election machines, the move from electronic back to paper ballots, and why open source voting machines don't necessarily solve problems of bugs, backdoors, and audits."

Usually persistence is an admirable quality. There comes a time however when you reach that fine line between endeavoring to persevere, and drunk dialing your ex-girlfriend. The mail this week is from people who don't know when to say when. You have to admire their determination and feel a little bit bad that they don't have anything else to do. Read below to see how many times someone can click send in a day.

The New York Times reports that Craigslist has reached an agreement with 40 state attorneys general to tame its notoriously unruly "erotic services" listings. Clever diplomacy: according to the article, Craigslist "said that it will charge erotic services vendors a small fee for each ad — about $10, Mr. Buckmaster said — and require that they use a credit card for the payment. It will donate the money to charities that combat child exploitation and human trafficking. This, theoretically, will let the company confirm not just a phone number but also an identity." I hope they work on cleaning the weird spammers from the ordinary personal ads, too.

Smivs writes "Bletchley Park, the home to the allied codebreakers during WWII, and a major computing heritage centre, has been given a financial lifeline, reports the BBC. The grant of £330,000 will be used to undertake urgent roof works as the rooms of the Grade II-listed mansion, replete with painted ceilings, timber panelling, and ornate plasterwork, are at risk because the roof has been patched rather than renovated so many times during the 130 years of the mansion's history. The donation follows efforts to highlight the dilapidated state of the huts and other buildings at Bletchley. Discussions are also in progress on a further three-year, £600,000 funding programme for the historic site. 'Bletchley Park played a fundamental role in the Allies winning the Second World War and is of great importance to the history of Europe,' said Dr Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage."

jddeluxe writes "In an article in today's NY Times, John Doerr of Kleiner-Perkins proffered up Bill Joy's name when queried by Barack Obama for a recommendation for the position of Chief Technology Officer of the Unites States which Obama has promised to create and that the country is overdue to have. I think that's a brilliant idea, and while you're at it, have the FCC report to him as well, why don't you?" If Bill is unavailable, I'll throw my hat in the ring, although I'm holding out for Secretary of Tubes.

Gamasutra has a summary written by Dan Kline of Crystal Dynamics for this year's Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE) Conference held at Stanford University. They discussed why AI capabilities have not scaled with CPU speed, balancing MMO economies and game mechanics, procedural dialogue, and many other topics. Kline also wrote in more detail about the conference at his blog. "... Rabin put forth his own challenge for the future: Despite all this, why is AI still allowed to suck? Because, in his view, sharp AI is just not required for many games, and game designers frequently don't get what AI can do. That was his challenge for this AIIDE — to show others the potential, and necessity, of game AI, to find the problems that designers are trying to tackle, and solve them."

to the OKLAHOMA SECRETARY OF STATEā€™S HOMEPAGE on the World Wide Web. ... working to revolutionize the way you do business with ... information obtained from the web site does so at his or ...

Do your records tell me if a business is reputable? The Secretary of State's office does not record complaints against businesses or investigate businesses, nor do we have ...

Montana does not register voters by party) County Election Office Contact Information ... Secretary of State Brad Johnson provides a daily digest of current affairs news stories around ...

What Does a Corporate Secretary Do? So just what does a Corporate Secretary* do, anyway? ... By reviewing state statutes and corporate by-laws, from which the powers and ...

What is a correction statement, and what does it do? A correction statement is a document filed with the Secretary of State by a debtor disputing the validity of a recorded UCC ...

... on registered charities in Kansas) Trademark/Service-Mark Search (view information for a Trademark/Service-Mark on file with the Secretary of State) Note: The state of Kansas does not ...

The Secretary of State is one of five constitutional officers ... Conform does not mean identical. Below are examples of ... How do I get an ID? Are there exemptions? More ...

What Does the Office of the Chief of Protocol Do? 1. Plan and execute detailed programs for foreign ... presentation of their credentials to the President and the Secretary of State

How do I check name availability? The Secretary of State does NOT provide a name availability service. You can check name availability by: Requesting a name be reserved by ...

Do I need to file this with the Secretary of State? What happens if I don't comply with NRS 80.190? Does a foreign corporation have obligations other than NRS 80.190 in order to ...

2. Who was Monroe doctrine ... 1. The secretary of state is essentially the nation's chief diplomat, negotiator, and representative to other nations (aside from the President).

Do your records tell me if a business is reputable? The Secretary of State's office does not record complaints against businesses or investigate businesses, nor do we have ...

Minnesota Secretary of State Student Site ... Blueberries (fresh, dried, or frozenā€”Do not thaw or rehydrate) 1 c. White ...

Montana does not register voters by party) County Election Office Contact Information ... Secretary of State Brad Johnson provides a daily digest of current affairs news stories around ...

What is a correction statement, and what does it do? A correction statement is a document filed with the Secretary of State by a debtor disputing the validity of a recorded UCC ...

The former Secretary of State, chairman of the Joint Chiefs and retired general, who is a life-long Republican, endorsed the Illinois senator on Sunday's "Meet The Press" show on ...

What Does a Corporate Secretary Do? So just what does a Corporate Secretary* do, anyway? ... By reviewing state statutes and corporate by-laws, from which the powers and ...

Do I need to file this with the Secretary of State? What happens if I don't comply with NRS 80.190? Does a foreign corporation have obligations other than NRS 80.190 in order to ...

... on registered charities in Kansas) Trademark/Service-Mark Search (view information for a Trademark/Service-Mark on file with the Secretary of State) Note: The state of Kansas does not ...

What Does the Office of the Chief of Protocol Do? 1. Plan and execute detailed programs for foreign ... presentation of their credentials to the President and the Secretary of State