Most of this teaches responsibility with money. Lost/spent your lunch money on the way to school? Bout 1pm you'll realize you should have been more careful.

It should be criminal to base next years funding on what was spent last year and little else. This needs to be fixed before any of these depts are going to address the other side of it (spending in order to have access in the future to similar funds). I've seen some downright insane wastes as a result of end of year surpluses.

Back in high school I bought a laptop at a garage sale that turned out to be chock full of qbasic code and the PDS compiler. One of the programs allowed you to net send but specify the "from" computername. This was of course used only for kind and gentle purposes at the time, but before posting this I googled around to see how this was possible. Anyone got a clue? :) I seriously doubt I still have the code 14 years later.

They are (mostly) bonds, not loans. They mature when they mature, you can't call them in whenever you like. There is a real risk that china will become more reluctant to lend in the future though.

I think you should contact the EFF about this issue.

Only them. And flattr, anyway. Still. 90% (I think flattr takes 10%) is better than the nothing they appear to be getting now?

It's actually not a diode, but rather new battery contacts that only make contact with either the positive or negative connection at either end (but not both). Simple, nothing new required but wiring and these new connectors, and nothing to get in the way of the function of the device. I'm actually mildly impressed.

Well, when you put it that way... :) It tends to be enough for us, either way. There's a good bit of content! It might not be what you thought you were looking for, but that doesn't mean it's bad either.

We dumped cable long ago. We have a netflix account, netflix online access for whats on there, which isn't tons, but it's not bad... as well as hulu for what they've got (lots of very current TV content). Presently get about 20 channels (or more? I'm not that sure) over the air. It's enough for us and the kids to have stuff to watch when it matters, and little enough that we don't spend days each week watching TV :) I might well sign up for this if it expands the library a bit, but it depends. Sounds like it could be a bargain compared to other options.

Yes, but it's not a big deal since you can just store it outside year round. Lower electrical and storage costs make up for slow sales.

I have one, I love it. Never use a touchpad, never use an external mouse, and even have an IBM travel keyboard very much like the one reviewed for my desktop.

Or maybe we do, in conjunction with raised speed limits on roads where such things are suitable. That would make me happy.

But you'll only be able to read them while online.

I was hit on the passenger side by an elderly fellow who claimed at the time of the accident he hit the wrong pedal and went through a stop sign. It happens :)
Not long after, he tried to blame it on me. His insurance people came out, took a look at the car, took a look at the photos I'd taken after the incident, and I never heard about it again.