The problem when using SMS/Twitter slang is that it is inexact and imprecise. If you are writing a formal or technical document, then you need the precision that is lost with any form of slang (modern or otherwise). This is a problem that many students do not comprehend. If someone is marking your term paper, the marker will generally not tweet you a question and give you the opportunity to tweet back a clarification. What you submitted the first time is what you get graded on. Having said that, I have no problem with informal (but respectful) conversation in a classroom setting where we can ask for and receive clarification when needed. Different people have different ideas of what is respectful and being able to adapt to that is part of getting on in a professional workplace. However, if you are submitting a progress report, a term paper, or some other document that will be read by others at an arbitrary time outside of your control, you had better learn to write clearly and concisely in the language of your institution. Short version: slang is for immediate communications, proper spelling and grammar are for the record.

These people already distrust anything science. They likely didn't get the point in high school and have been training their resistance to critical thinking and evidence based reasoning ever since. All that this will do is start a bunch of human rights complaints. The government would probably have better luck forcing all non-vaccinated kids into one school for the parentally challenged.

Well, it works out to just under 2 furlongs per hour. (about 1.78955 furlongs/hour) How's that?

Do you honestly think that homeopathy is not a big industry?

A significant portion of that $1.13 billion is actually coming from Nfld. and Lab. as a result of a really stupid set of deals negotiated around Churchill Falls back in the 1960's. Quebec never seems to remember that they are screwing Nfld. and Lab. out of millions every year. So, really, those electrons should be speaking Newfy.

The most common thing that I see in chemistry is that online resources are used to post powerpoint slides for first year courses. This is mostly done as a concession to placate students who complain that they can't follow the lecture if they don't have something to follow. Fair enough I suppose. The problem comes when students then go to study for exams and think that a few collections of what amounts to flash-cards are sufficient to study from and are shocked when not a single question on the exam ever appeared in lecture (though all of the concepts were there, and all of the concepts were explained in even more detail in the textbook).

An alternative perspective is that the research faculty want the hopeless cases to realize as soon as possible that their niche is not in the subject that the professor teaches, and are teaching primarily to the better students. Why do you think med. schools in North America still want students to jump through the hoop of first year chemistry? Is it because every MD out there needs to know how to titrate? Or is it because if you can't even learn something as trivial as titration, the med. schools know that your chances of safely learning about surgery, anaesthetics, and prescription medication (including doses) are almost zero.

Just to clarify for the AC, system 76 sells/ships laptops, desktops, and servers with Ubuntu. If you are a linux user or feel like you might be ready to take the plunge, this is a good place to start. At least their systems are fully linux compatible. Even if you don't like ubuntu and have some other pet distribution, it has a better chance of working on one of these than if you get a windows laptop and flush the hard drive to install linux. Bonus: no windows tax, and no money to MS (except for possible hidden patent trolling on hardware or firmware).

So, can this also bust DRM schemes like the system in bd+?

Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll was kind of a fun read ... compares to Cryptonomicon the way The Hobbit compares to LOTR.

You seem to be suggesting that there is some sort of double standard. So tell me, when was the last time that you heard of Google sending their armed law enforcement agents to a private residence to arrest someone? We hold corporations and governments to different standards because they have different powers and different duties. Part of the duties of a government are to protect the rights of citizens and individuals (often from corporations). This sort of legislation betrays the trust that we are supposed to be able to have for our government.

In some cases (like my dad or old boss) it would have to morph into one giant key positioned under the index finger of the right hand and magically map to the correct letter for each key press.

Will it stay on after the zombie apocalypse? Stupid context, but seriously, if the smart grid is going to be able to talk to my fridge and potentially let some hacker melt my icecream, that means it will have a lot of complexity to it. With that level of complexity (and invested time/money) it damn well better stay on for a bit if it has to be left unattended.

yes, but Basil is faulty

Yeah ... Star Control 2 was an awesome game.