This is what happens when there is no competition in this industry, reliance on a single provider can cripple you if there is no alternative. It boggles my mind that we trust private for-profit corporations to design and administer tests.

Since there isn't much hope of a government testing center solution, perhaps an alliance of professionals should agree on a set of standards. Those standards would be open and would allow institutions to bid the work out to multiple contractors. When you have one contractor, such as pearson, without any competition, you know they won the monolopy game.

It is amazing to see how people can handle so many advertisements. I always block ads and scripts from running, simply because I can't trust the advertising networks. They have shown repeatedly that they are willing to push malware. I also install a Host's file which does a good job at blocking ad's (I don't buy a platform that I can't install at least that).

To understand what gets modded up on Slashdot, you have to see what's in the bandwagon that everyone has hopped onto. If it isn't in the bandwagon, then your criticisms will get modded up.

Bandwagon: Google, Android, Linux, GCC, Windows 7

Not in Bandwagon: Apple, iOS, Windows 8, CLANG, Nook, Yahoo, Bing, Windows Phone, Apple OS etc..

So my comments like: "I'd rather trust a dirty whore with telling me the truth, than to trust Google's advertising platforms such as GMail, Google Search, Google Calendar, Andriod." Is modded down, even though Google is an advertising company who's profit is derived from selling your private information.

What will happen to purchased encrypted ebooks if Kobo close up shop?

If it smells like a fish, and tastes like a fish... Why else would a eink reader, that no one has heard about, get so many stories?

It sounds like a good marketing strategy IMO. The only problem is that it would almost be impossible for anyone to unseat Amazon's Kindle from the #1 spot because Amazon has apps for not only Kindle, but the iOS and Android platforms.

I myself would never buy an Amazon eBook because you don't really own it, as they showed when they deleted everyone's 1984 copy. Good luck deleting my physical copy asshat's!

Google has shown that they will take away the free services they offer at any time, or even increase the advertising in them to make them almost unusable to some (such as Google Maps).

What Microsoft learned is that you are still going to be profitable if your platform is the major one that people use. Google's free services are really good, but if you choose to use them, you prevent a better alternative from appearing. Since Google supports CISPA, that alone should make you ban all Google products.

Are there Eskimo's left that stick to their past diet?

From the book "Fat of the Land", published in the 1950's, the author gave me the impression that the Eskimo culture was increasingly being influenced by the American/European diets. I assumed that by now, the majority of Eskimo's would consume more carbs and less fat, than before. I may be mistaken though.

Microsoft knows better than you whats good for you, apparently.

Bear liver can be poisonous, just because it has too high of a concentration of vitamins.

Yes you are right, Eskimo's really enjoyed the fat of the animal, in combination with the muscle. You would die if you tried to just live off of the muscle. Fully cooking meat destroys some of the vitamins in it, so its better to eat it not fully cooked (pink on the inside). Eskimo's ate what we would call a high fat diet, consisting of about 70-80% fat.

A diet of seal fat and slightly boiled seal muscle will save you from scurvy :)

Your assumption about unrefined foods is incorrect, Look up the teeth of the Indians and Eskimo's before they were "civilized". From what I've read, eating a meat diet, or one that included some vegetables, didn't have cavities. Cavities seem to be associated with the consumption of sugar and starches.

To avoid cavities, eat a meat diet. Eskimo's had 0 cavities on a pure meat diet, without brushing their teeth (no scurvy either).

If you don't mind me asking, what are you doing instead of software development?

When Sony's console launches, it won't have the capability. But I can easily imagine that they will include it in some mandatory patch, cause that's how Sony rolls.

Yes, that's why Microsoft and Adobe have freely available pirated versions. They would rather you be dependent on their product, than for you to use something else.