DVD+R and DVD-R

There really shouldn't be a difference in a player that says it "supports" both, but DAMN there's a difference.  My particular VCR->DVD recorder definitely prefers +R.  -R hung it twice after the recording was done just trying to get to the state where it could finalize it.  So from now on I record the master in +R and then make -R copies on my dvd-burner that handles that format better.

Speaking of which, dashrippington : which format does your stuff prefer?  I've cut a master of that video we talked about and it looks fine so I'm ready to make a copy to bring this weekend.

Poles still treated like dirt by Americans, in spite of ourselves?

Janusz Reiter - The Visa Barrier - washingtonpost.com:

Congress's recent changes to American visa laws will be of little comfort to people in Central Europe who wish to travel to this country. Citizens of these countries will continue to undergo visa application procedures whose rules they do not understand and which they consider to be anachronistic, unjust and even humiliating.

The editorial, written by the Polish Ambassador to the U.S., goes on to talk about how Poland is one of America's strongest allies in the Iraq and Afghan conflics and that it really doesn't make any sense to treat them as non-allies diplomatically.  He also hints (but doesn't state it outright) that it may be subtle remnants of old stereotypes coming in to play.

Seriously, Congress, do we have to treat Eastern and Central Europeans as if they wanted to be occupied by the Soviets for 40 years?