The Acer Iconia A500 is too fat (13.3mm) and weighs more than an iPad, but otherwise:
1280x800 display
10 hour battery life
$399.99 at Staples

It also has:
hdmi 1080p / Dolby Mobile output
full-size USB so you can hook up standard keyboards, hard drives, etc.
microSD card slot
wifi, bluetooth, dual core, cameras, etc, etc.

Those figures appear to be "actual dollars" uncorrected for inflation. So you're technically correct, but if you want to compare years, the Wikipedia graph is a more accurate way to look at it. And it's not just Wikipedia. Other sources which have corrected for inflation look the same.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/story/Government-Debt-Graphic/39255812/1
http://www.supportingevidence.com/Government/fed_debt_over_time.html

This site looks at the debt in a lot of different ways: http://www.marktaw.com/culture_and_media/TheNationalDebt.html

A quick check of Wikipedia says different: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_public_debt
In straight dollar terms, the national debt started dropping after WWII (Truman) and kept decreasing until about 1975. As a percentage of GDP, it decreased year on year until it went up slightly under Ford. After decreasing during Carter's term, it began to climb after Reagan was elected and continued to climb under GHW Bush. During Clinton's term, the curve was reversed and the debt began decreasing again. Since 2000 it has been back on an upward climb.

I remember the jungle gym of my elementary playground. Looking at it from today's perspective, it was a frickin' deathtrap. Basically a 4x4 cube of metal bars, probably about 12-15 feet high. It's hard to imagine anyone surviving climbing in it; one slip and you're done for. Then again, in the seven years I went there (K-6), I don't think anyone got so much as a bruise. You had to respect that thing or die.

Wow, that was fast! Thanks!

phbrown, gmail, 'nuff said

Many thanks!

It would be nice to be able to whitelist something like "safesearch.google.com", where safesearch is always selected by default. And safesearch.youtube.com, of course. Not that it would block everything objectionable for kids, but it would help. Better than having to configure safesearch on every machine in a school, for instance...

Kidding about what? When this kind of technology becomes affordable, and it will, you might need someone (ie, a nurse) to describe the visible symptoms and translate the patient's complaints to the Digital Doctor (tm). If need be, the DD will review digitized x-rays, cat scans or mri's and then come up with a diagnosis and treatment that is probably at least as good as a doctor and will be less expensive.

Sometimes I think I'd actually like something like this if it can do a better job than a human. At the local clinic, the doctors and nurses seem utterly clueless unless there's a broken bone sticking out or something obvious like that.

We're not hating, we're just asking them to make this sacrifice for the greater good. They will be remembered as martyrs.

FTFY

"I can steal her money and spend it on groceries..."

FTFY

Except for stuff I need to keep for taxes (which are filed in a folder named "Income Tax"), I run everything through an easy-to-use, one-way-encryption device I got at WalMart. Once the bag containing the encrypted paper gets full, it goes to the recycling center.

Seriously though, I used to keep filing cabinets full of this stuff and finally realized that I never, ever needed something that I couldn't get another copy from the source. Big trip to the recycling center and life is simpler.

is the new height at which it sets the bar for an epic fail.

The problem in Japan is that the rods in question are in cooling ponds with no coolant. They are outside the containment (ie, not in the reactor). The power company itself said yesterday that "The possibility of re-criticality is not zero". You're probably right in that they'll most likely get water back into the ponds and things will settle down. Keep your fingers crossed. There are three ponds in this state and the engineers don't seem to know if the ponds are even able to hold water after the earthquake.

...prolific...
I believe you mean they are "ubiquitous".

A Langston Field will protect you from the heat and radiation, at least for a while...