in any case, freedom of speech is an american phenomenon and is not automatic in much of europe.

u know that Hamas and their peers in Gaza are an islamist extremist movement who's stated goal is to destroy Israel and then take over the rest of the world.

if they were jews or christians they wouldn't be wielding guns. or at least not attempting to kill infidel civilians all the time.

With the web and bloggers and such, i feel like there are no great surprises yet. It's all stuff that is either 1) already know or 2) an iteration of existing tech. nothing revolutionary.

Sounds about right. There at least several million just in the West Bank and Gaza alone and double that in Syria and Egypt.

typical muslims. they seem happy to kill and murder anyone who insults them or their beliefs. they also seem so happy to die themselves. if only they would value life like the rest of the world.

there's also a nice market for broken stuff these days via ebay...so often people don't fix stuff themselves but they allow others to do so.

you can sell your broken laptop, game system, phone, etc via ebay and recoup some value that can be used to buy a new one.

It's not that we don't know how to shoe horses, it's just that horses are so cheap these days what when their shoes break off, it's cheaper to toss the horse off a cliff and buy a new horse that has newer, more secure shoes on it.

My Nintendo 3DS XL recently broke when it dropped and the screen cracked. I was able to get a new screen on line for $30, thinking I'd spend an hour or two and replace the screen but it has become a huge hassle which has taken 4+ hrs and $10+ in new tools and it's still incomplete. I'd say I have a 50% chance of fixing it at all.

Lesson learned is I should have sold it on ebay as is for $50 and bought a new one for $150. It didn't pay to try to fix.

wish they would have written "improve health/wellness" rather than diet exercise.

i'd like to better deal with some health issues and chronic conditions that extend beyond diet and exercise.

Really? I thought it was really funny. Most of my friends rented it on release day, and most of them thought it was at least kinda funny. No one thought it was bad.

Companies should be free to hire cyber mercenaries to decimate their attackers. Maybe that's what's going on here? Or maybe they're getting a little US Mil support.

I saw an old lady try to board with knitting needles! She was clearly hoping to make an Afghan in mid-flight.

You're really making a supporting argument here. Punishment like time outs and spankings, etc. are exactly the types of things that lead to the kids you observe in your college job. Kids that are afraid to fail. That need their parent's approval/blessing for everything.

Challenging your kid to work through their issues, to think critically, to resolve their frustrations, to redirect their energy, to do all the kinds of things the article is getting at...are exactly the things needed to produce the kinds of students you would like to see.

Don't know why so many people on slashdot are misunderstanding the gist of this article as sheltering or babying kids and instead are in favor of making kids suffer for the sake of suffering. Perhaps these are people who suffered so much as kids themselves and are defending this as a way to justify their own upbringing?

Really has nothing to do with kids running wild. Perhaps you're not a parent?

Think about it from a business perspective. How do you get the most out of your employees? What makes a good manager? Punishments will only get you so far and will generate lots of problems with retention and performance in the long run. Positive reinforcement, recognition, freedom of choice and exploration, etc., well set expectations, well set milestones, etc will lead to real success long term.

You guys fail to see the point here. Perhaps you're not parents. Perhaps your bad parents of the type described in the summary.

The point is that there are ways of engaging kids to address the core reasons for their acting out and/or to redirect their energy into something positive. Really has nothing to do with spoiling or coddling or calling everyone a winner. It's the same behavior that any good manager at work should exhibit, rather than just declaring that there will be punishments for all until moral improves.