Yes, I for one am completely perplexed by this new found fascination with photographing your own kids. It's so strange.

Truth. Any extra resources in the public school system - which let's face it, there are no "extra" resources in our current public school system - are devoted to bringing those on the opposite end of the spectrum up to grade level. There are very few programs and opportunities to advance a gifted child within the system.

Public schooling in the US is not for gifted children. Your only viable options are home or private schooling. The child's opportunities for learning and enrichment are only going to be as good as the resources and involvement the parent can provide.

And here I thought we were talking about a Jimmy Buffett concert.

Yup, and we as a society should have zero tolerance for drunk drivers, just as we should have zero tolerance for public smoking (which even by conservative estimates contributes to twice as many premature deaths per year in the US).

Your right to enjoy your vice stops where it impacts the health or life of another individual.

Booze, of course. That said, nobody ever got cirrhosis of the liver by sitting next to me at the bar.

Where did you go to school?

My "CS" University experience was quite different from yours, with four different emphasis tracks students could choose from - software engineering, computational theory, operating systems/hardware, and databases.

Yes, "programming" is a major component of all of those, but a proper computer science foundation will teach underlying fundamentals that a student could then apply equally well to most any skilled job in IT, from software engineering to systems administration. My computer science education was far from just "programming", and I'm thankful for it every day.

Sounds like your current solution - "category" based filtering at the border combined with a strong company policy - is already more than adequate to cover most potential liability to the company.

The rest of your question sounds like you're using this legislation as an excuse to implement some downright draconian and invasive "productivity enforcement" measures that have nothing to do with the stated problem.

... or maybe an "industry certification".

You will not receive a Bachelor's degree in the United States from an accredited university without somehow completing or receiving credit for general education requirements. You can argue the merits of this until you're blue in the face, but a bachelor's degree is generally _defined_ to be a well-rounded educational experience that consists of approximately four credit-years of instruction.

Even if the GE requirements were waived, you'd have a hell of a time coming up with 4 credit-years worth of instruction in your chosen field only - and "I don't want to" isn't going to fly as a valid reason for not meeting the minimum credit requirements to graduate.

Welcome to the real world.

If she went to an Apple store "recently", she most certainly didn't decide she wanted a 24", as they haven't sold one new since early 2009.

Sadly no. We made a conscious choice to move to a rural area to be closer to family and raise kids away from the city. There are certainly trade-offs with that, one of them being a longish commute for the schmuck who makes a living in enterprise IT. Not much "enterprise" close to home...

It's long in miles but low on stress - I pass more tractors than cars most mornings. I'd prefer this over 10 miles in gridlocked traffic.

I see great overlap between this statement and proposed Net Neutrality regulation. One could argue that ensuring Comcast or any other ISP doesn't "step all over" my clear and unobstructed path to various Internet destinations ("channels") is much the same as doing it for the public airwaves.

The question to answer is whether or not we want to treat the Internet as a shared public resource like we do radio spectrum or a free-for-all controlled by government endorsed regional monopolies.

Do you drive a taxi or something? That might be hard to do from home.

I have a rather long commute of 110 miles per day.

110 * 5 days/week * 48 weeks per year / 30mpg * $4/gal == $3200/year.

If you drive twice as far, I feel sorry for you. If you're driving something that gets 15mpg, or paying US$8/gal for gas, you're doing it wrong.

What is the most likely reaction of an average iPad user encountering a slow app?

1) WTF why is my brand new $500 toy so slow and sucky!

or

2) Boy, the javascript rendering on this bad boy is severely lacking, I wonder why that is?

For a company so clearly centered on the "user experience", it's certainly in their best interest for ALL apps to run smoothly and as fast as possible - be them "real" apps or "web" apps. How many iPad users do you think could actually tell the difference between the two in the first place? I'm all for a good Apple is Evil conspiracy - but this one stinks.

I run a large (4M+ post, 20k+ member) forum and inevitably receive requests from members every so often asking if their username, including all of their posts, can be deleted. To date my answer has been a resounding "no", with the primary reason being that removing one voice from a thread often results in a garbled mess that compromises the integrity of the archive. Much of the content is technical, so removing every third post because someone changed their mind can make the entire conversation worthless.

IMO once you've participated in a conversation in a public forum - electronic or otherwise - the decision to redact it is no longer yours alone to make.

Does your proposed theme park have a business plan that shows it could attract a significant number of patrons from the tri-state area and make a positive impact on the economy, thereby meeting at least the basic criteria for tourism development dollars?