I think in this case there is some implied confidentiality given to the student. Maybe she didnt name names (I did not RTFA), but perhaps the identity could have been inferred by those in the class or their parents.

Frankly though, if i were a school administrator, trying to keep students in school, or attract more students to the school, i would argue that she is damaging the public image of the institution and thus financially harming it.

Sorry - not familiar with that term. Are you saying no one can hear you choke the chicken?

From the NASA article, according to Carl Pilcher, this was already thought possible: "Until now a life form using arsenic as a building block was only theoretical, but now we know such life exists in Mono Lake."

Kind of like the tea party folks eh?

Oh yeah, never mind.

Probably that is the easiest bet. However, some alien somewhere would have had to come up with the concept on their own.

Instead of waiting for it to come to us, why dont we ignore the naysayers and keep plugging away with scientific research fueled by imaginative science fiction? Thats what brought us from the dark ages to today in pretty short time (cosmically speaking).

Agreed, my favorite scene was Argonath, which looked way better on screen then it ever could in my head.

I think most of the appropriate criticism lies in the character depictions. I'm not sure that humanized and angry Elves or a bumbling dwarf is what Tolkien had in mind. Its hard for me to watch as Elrond gets worked up and emotional about things, or when Gimli plays a part in dick and fart jokes.

However, the films remain in my library and get watched as they are still pretty amazing. Its hard to believe that Hollywood could do any better then this.

And:

Hundreds of deaths in the past 40 years doesnt sound like a really big problem.

My son has spent a lot of time in hospitals, he had a broviac catheter (venous) and during his frequent and long stays this has never been a problem. As a layman it was painfully obvious which tube went where.

A much larger issue, in my mind, was actually receiving the proper meds in the proper dose.

Here in Ohio we have a joke: The newsman says to the farmer who won the lottery, "so what are you going to do with all that money you won?"

The farmer says "Keep farming until its all gone.".

I dont get what these two fictionally opposed statements have in common.