Yes I do. I'm not sure what I wrote that led you to think that I thought otherwise...

---Alex

I don't know about Android or the iDevices, but for Macs you do not need an Apple ID. Yes, it does prompt you during the OS install, but you can skip that screen. Now, if you want to use their App Store for anything other than OS updates, then you do need an ID.

---Alex

I'm definetely not an expert on this, but I think it's a combination of a lot of things. Cities were using too much water for utilities and no returning it, then there are some climate concerns, but I think the biggie (both from an actual cause, and political view) is the St. Clair River.

---Alex

Do you mean record lows or highs? Because the way it's written seems to indicate you think they're at record highs, and that is not the case at all. I am originally from Wisconsin, and dropping lake levels has been a concern for a long time and this year saw a record low for Lake Michigan. The states surrounding the lakes have been actively trying to protect and increase the lake levels, since they had been dropping for so long. Many states (read: the southwest) wanted to run a pipeline from the Great Lakes in order that Arizona can have green grass in their front yards. All of the Great Lake states (and eventually the feds) signed the Great Lakes Compact in order to protect the lakes. In effect, it requires that all water removed from the lakes must be returned.

Dropping lake levels has a significant economic impact on shipping in the midwest - measured in the billions of dollars (too lazy to find a citation for this, but I've read more than a few reports on this over the years).

As for the rest of your post, yes sea level are rising, but I think a 3 foot rise in sea levels in the short term is not terribly likely. The seas are rising, this is a problem, but I don't think it serves anyone to overstate the problem. A cm or two is a big enough problem as it is. 3 ft in the short term would be nothing short of catastrophic. Calm down, focus on the problem, readjust to the new data, and contribute to the conversation productively with your newfound context.

---Alex

I have been looking (albeit halfheartedly) for an alternative to Slashdot for quite some time. I know everyone likes to say that the "old days" were indeed the "good ol' days", and then someone counters that the "old days" weren't that good and everyone gives it their +1 Insightful while nodding sagely. But I have been coming to ./ for over 8 years now, and I do feel that the tone is different now. I'm not saying that every article and comment was a platter full of Unicorn meat cooked to perfection on a jelly bean grill, but the overall experience and community was superior to what we have today.

Aside from the state of comments, the last part of this gentle rant is against the editors. The incredibly poor level of editing has gotten to a point where it is simply insulting. Millions of people visit this site daily. The editors post about 20 summaries that are 1 paragraph long each, and they can't be bothered to proofread it for obvious spelling and grammar mistakes? Moving past basic English skills, there are still the dupes, asinine headlines that end in a question mark, feature links that don't go to the source, and inflammatory headlines written for clicks alone. Headlines and summaries set the tone, and discussion (often) follows that tone. If the editors take their jobs seriously and start writing for an audience of adults rather than appealing to rabid adolescent partisans, then perhaps this site will turn around. Here's hoping. Until then, I will keep searching, and will give Hacker News (as suggested by trancemission) a fair shake.

---Alex

This article is without merit and doesn't say much at all, though my favorite part is description of the "quote" he attributes to Jobs:

... and then just makes up the rest.

And not to rag on the author too much, but this "About Chris" profile simply makes me cringe.

From a guy with such tech "fluency," I expect a bit more.

---Alex

UIUC runs their own power plant, and I used to live in an apartment on campus not too far from it. That thing put off so much steam that every morning fog was rolling across the street in front of where I lived. If I remember correctly, they also use the steam to heat a lot of the buildings on campus as well, via steam tunnels under the streets. They leak a lot, so there were always a few places you could stop on the sidewalk to warm yourself up before walking the rest of the way to class. Most of this was on the older side of campus. I'm sure most UIUC Slashdot readers spent more of their time north of Green street in the engineering quad where everything is a lot newer ;-).

---Alex

Charity Watch (aka American Institute of Philanthropy) has been doing this for years and does a damn good job of it. You can subscribe to their ratings guide and always have it on hand if you're interested.

---Alex

Well, in theory, Netflix is eventually coming to Linux courtesy of their efforts to get it working in Chrome.

That being said, I'll believe it when I see it.

---Alex

There's an interesting fiction book called Jennifer Government by Max Berry that explores just that: a distopian, completely capitalist world. Overall it's a book that had the potential to be truly amazing, and ended up somewhere in the vicinity of good instead. Still, a worthwhile read.

---Alex

I have no idea what she is researching, but there may be problems with patient data, etc.

---Alex

If I may make a suggestion: why block perfectly valid words like clitoris, cunnilingus, vagina, penis, anus, anal, fellatio, ejaculate, etc? I assume you do teach sex-ed at your school. Will kids taking these classes not be allowed to discuss these topics via email? Not to mention the sheer amount of well respected literature which includes these terms (and many other listed above)

In my opinion, filtering using a word list is a bad way to go to begin with. Instead, teach the kids to use proper judgment and good taste; that will be far more effective than any word list. However, if using a word list is a foregone conclusion, then I think blocking the proper and technical terms of genitalia is a huge mistake. It sends a message that our sexuality and our genitalia are something to be ashamed of and basically says that the school district's view on sexuality is negative. This is hardly the lesson kids should be learning. People need to be comfortable with their bodies and in control, not told it is a taboo and any discussion of it will be censored.

I wish your district the best of luck with this roll out. I used to work in K-12 IT, so I know just how insane and irrational "protective" parents can be.

---Alex

SparkleShare may be what you're looking for. I've had my eye on it for awhile, but I havn't used it yet.

---Alex