1) I think pretty much every country is guilty of this "it came from here" thing; it's simple national chauvinism. Some more than others - Russia, US, France, India, and China all spring to mind as particularly prone.

2) your last point is true; if anyone bothered to RTFA, he says essentially that it depends on your standard of evidence, really: if you're looking for the vaguest possible standard, then it probably was 'discovered' in Ancient Egypt. If you're ok with a partial standard, then India looks strong. If you want a clear elucidation of the theorem with reference to geometry specifically, then it's China. Basically, his only point is that it really is obviously much older than Pythagoras. He's not at all "cheerleading" for the Indian interpretation at all.

"Permanent" means "until the next congress sees fit to rewrite the law, which could be tomorrow, really, but likely means at least 2 years or more likely until the next party takes control of congress".

It's like when your mom says "you are permanently banned from X"...it really just means until some time passes and she changes her mind.

Well, I guess if it works in one context....

http://armorgames.com/play/289...

Honestly, starting the first lines, I was already planning to "counter" you with the fact that homogenization was the sort of necessary foundation for mass schooling, and while the model may be recognized to be over-simplistic today (what we have today is largely the same as the public school system invented by Fred the Great in the 18th century) it's still sensible to build an educational system primarily for the 95% (or 90%, or even 65%) of the population that it does serve, than the build it for the marginal group that doesn't.

But then you went on in a totally different direction than I'd expected, and made a number of insightful and cogent points. So thanks, good post, and never mind what I was going to say. :\

...perhaps it's more subtle generally than some sort of "pop-psych" binary choice?

Seriously, people, are Slashdot articles really nothing more than clickbait any more?

Perhaps building your career around a model that assumes that someone will simply give you money to do what you want is a foolish choice? Is it unsurprising in a country that is trillions of dollars in debt, that there seems to be less interest in continuing to do that?

There's however a reasonably successful model close to that, where they give you money to do what THEY want - it's called a JOB. Of course, then there are things like expectations and consequences if you don't, usually stopping the flow of money.

"Next up on Slashdot: complaining about the corporatization of science!"

You know, maybe next we should just put them all in camps, concentrate them, so they're away from "decent" people. And then, perhaps, make them wear something so we all know who they are, like a pink triangle or something?

Of course, these are all just temporary measures; I'm sure we'll ultimately come up with a better Final Solution...

Follow the money.
Who benefits if we offer free 13-14th grade education to teens? Community colleges, who'll need to expand significantly, hiring more teachers, expanding schools, etc.
And ultimately? It means more jobs/$ for teachers....the one demographic that votes more consistently Democrat than even black Americans.

Yes, I'm sure this is all about making sure kids get an education.

...for Whitehouse.gov as a platform to spur/enact popular initiatives?
0 for 15,000?

Do I believe that 5000 internet dorks signing a petition should compel action from the government? Not at all.
Do I believe that having such a forum should be useful to a government to see what things are 'catching the public's attention'? Sure.
Do I believe that Whitehouse.gov petition site was *mainly* meant as an anodyne to Obama supporters to make them *feel* connected when in effect it is actually meaningless? Absolutely. I believe the actual record of initiatives that came from this proves my point over what, 7 years?

Nostalgia + Audiophiles = sales.
Both of those groups are notorious for a) having lots of $, and b) spending it stupidly.

You had me and then you lost me.
To talk about the chilling effect of ubiquitous surveillance is one thing.
To conflate that with the experience of someone who knowingly, willingly leaked classified military information during a war is entirely another. Traitors should still be shot.

If the "older generation" can fix stuff and the younger one can't, then why am I constantly fixing my parents' computer when it goes wonky?

Oh, wait, you're talking about a world filled with mechanical gadgets where "fixing" is the gross replacement of some broken part. Personally, I live in a world chock-full of pre-assembled crap that's not built to ever BE repaired, just replaced along it's planned obsolescence track.

Except that allows Congress a quarter of a million years to procrastinate, so that's just about perfect for them.

...the NSA will know the USSC ruling before they announce it.

"Given that the course of hypersonic research has acknowledged both of these concerns, why have several countries started testing the weapons?"

I guess my answer would be "all of human history"?

Only the categorically naive wouldn't understand why someone wouldn't research a new, more efficacious weapon.

I guess it's a good sign of how utterly benign our world must be that people can exist with such sentiment.