Oh poor misguided mike, he just doesnt understand the real world, and clings to his tired old beliefs, insulting people that disagree with him 
(see how lame and unproductive those kinds statements like that are?)
I guess you forgot(or you chose to ignore that...) that I had mentioned that Im running 2 cubes 24/7 and I have a 3rd that I run occasionally, and that they have been running for months (since the beginning of november I think.) If you dont like the 2 as a small sample size, consider that each cube has 192 LEDs maybe that size is big enough for you?
This cube isnt really my design, I found it on the internet while struggling to get my other cubes working (which by the way, are still unfinished, and not working, but yet these cubes are running strong, so one advantage to this design is that its working now, not some mysterious point in the future. This design has some advantages over other designs, its easier to build, has less parts which means less places for mistakes. Those may be unimportant to you, but to someone that wants to program an LED cube, it is important.
It may turn out that it takes 5 years before this cube fails, a cube with resistors may only last 1 year more, or it may last 10 years more, but one thing we know, they will all fail eventually, resistors will likely delay it, but can not prevent it.
Regarding dimming, clearly there is no way I will have expensive equipment to try to view any damage, the closest I can get is optical magnification, which may not be good enough, but what I do have is a fat sack of LEDs and I can compare the brightness of a new LED to one that has been running for months.
Where do you get resistors for less than one cent each? I get them cheap on the internet, and they are 2-5 cents each, in packs of 100 or more. LEDs arent very expensive either. My whole cube and arduino costs about $25 each, its a fairly inexpensive test.
It may turn out that I can extend the life of the cube with a few resistors, but as it is, its looking pretty good without them.
The reason casino owners and lotteries make money is because people are greedy, not uninformed.