First of all, if you follow the Kickstarter link, I think you could figure it out. Second, this is Slashdot. It has a lot of topics that not everybody knows about. If you can't figure out Ctrl+T, Ctrl+L, Tab, "Reading Rainbow", Enter, you're going to have a hard time making it through just about any article. On the front right now are several topics people might not know about that do not have a Wikipedia link: hydraulic power steering, trademark infringement, sleep, Donald Sterling. I daresay more /. readers are familiar with LeVar Burton than with Donald Sterling (and if they're not, they need to turn in their geek card to the nearest person with a penguin or light saber on their desk).

As an active member of my son's school's PTO, I find it infuriating how many of the really good programs are funded 100% through PTO fundraisers. Every field trip, First in Math, Accelerated Reader, the entire science lab, most of the computers, even a portion of the substitute teaching budget. And of course the money raised in the fundraisers come from primarily the parents and businesses in the area. If I were in a less affluent part of the school district, that would mean my child would probably not have access to these programs. In fact, in the district we are down to only two or three of the schools participating in First in Math, and all of the schools have dropped AR.

I don't know what the answer is. I suppose higher property tax would go a long way to leveling some of the disparity, but unfortunately a lot of the money would get wasted at the district level [citation needed]. At least with the PTO taking care of this stuff, we know where all the money goes. But it's not like our PTO is going to turn around and hand over 20% of our budget to some underperforming school where we don't know the principal or teachers.

It's a conundrum. If you don't give underperforming schools more money, how can they improve? If you do, how do you keep schools from gaming the system? How do you make sure the money goes to improving the education of the children?

Whether you're vaccinated is different than if you actually have a disease. So it's not really the same thing. But, don't hookers in Nevada have something like this already? (Definitely not googling "nevada prostitute registry" at work)

um... you're doing it wrong.

ROTFLMFAO

That interpretation of a wife's duty is not terribly uncommon. Some even argue that I Corinthians 7:5 is a biblical mandate to both the husband and wife to never deny their partner sex. If that's the case, the most chaste wives are also the most sinful. Ahhh the irony.

Of course on the opposite side of the spectrum are those wackos that think all sex is rape, and that all porn stars are being taken advantage of.

Really? Because I don't know what mine would be. And I have thought about it. Some days I feel like I could live without sight as long as I had my limbs. Other times I think I'd be OK in a wheelchair. Then there are days when my inner cheap bastard comes out and says "do whatever's cheapest!" I'm not about to judge somebody who decides either way. This is one of those "unless you've walked a mile in their shoes" sort of situations.

Hell, I don't even know what I will want for dinner tomorrow night.

Good thing I'm no lawyer, looks like I completely misunderstood the scope of this law. I hope you get modded up. But these guys I was dealing with apparently didn't know the law either. This was a mid-sized 125hp unit to run a plant, don't remember the price, but it had to be well into five figures.

IR sells some standard lubricant in a fancy bottle with their logo on it. The local rep tried to charge us 9 grand for an oil change that should have cost half that. I told them to go pound sand, and had a competitor do the service instead. IR's local service guy got fired shortly thereafter.

But as for a 3D printer... It walks the line between consumer good and intermediate good. I really don't know how a court would decide, but it would be worth the fight. Is a 2D printer considered a final good? It can arguably be used to "make" newsletters or photographic prints. So, it's arguably an intermediate good, right? Like I said, not a lawyer. :-)

On a good note, the guys at Generac (since you mentioned Home Depot) consider their backup gens to be consumer goods, and completely respected my rights to buy a replacement battery from any vendor. They did offer a replacement, but were not pushy about it.

Joshua Steimle just wrote a mind-boggling anti-neutrality article at Forbes. It's a perfect example of the hypocrisy you're talking about. He whines about government intervention = BAD, but then completely ignores the fact that bigass monopolies acting against the public interest is also bad. It is not "free market" when companies are given government subsidies (AKA tax breaks), rights of way, and spectrum licenses. You didn't hear radio stations talking about "free market" back during the pirate radio days, now did you?

Honestly, I wouldn't have any problem with non-neutral networks if there was competition. Those of us who cared would flock to net neutral competitors, or competitors whose QOS favored our packets of choice. Let's face it, this is an area that just cries out for a natural monopoly. And just about every economist agrees that natural monopolies must be heavily regulated to function in the public's best interest.

IANAL, but wouldn't this be prohibited by the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act? Ingersoll-Rand try to pull that crap on me with an oil change on an air compressor. Once they knew I knew my rights, they got real apologetic real quick.

15 USC S2302

That's just idiotic. I've heard of these remote control companies, but their operator should have been trained in the basic failure modes of HVAC equipment. Most heaters have a failsafe mechanism. If for some reason the heating element shorts to ground (or the burner kicks on) the circulation fan will blow to prevent the thing from catching on fire. Happened at my office one summer. A single phase of the 480V element had shorted, and the vent fan kicked on. None of us could figure figure it out until we cracked it open to take a look. (Same unit had a relay fuse closed due to condensation in the control box a few years later. Might be time for an upgrade.)

Eight? I only knew of three when I voted for her*, but whatever. I don't really understand why pushing for constitutional amendments automatically makes someone a lunatic. It is not the most practical or probable solution to a problem. Unfortunately once the Supreme Court has weighed in on something like "money is speech," then it if the people want to change it, pretty much the only option is a change to the constitution. Seems like enough people on the left and right agree with this basic theory.

*I work for a company that directly benefits from pipeline construction, so it was not a decision made lightly.

The Lego short film called "The Empire Strikes Out" is hilarious. The Yoda Chronicles amusing, also are. There's also the youtube video "The Fastest and Funniest LEGO Star Wars Story." Definitely worth checking out.