His example was a female student who couldn't work in group which was otherwise all males.

That is sexism, she is sexist. I had a female CS major in my class, she was pretty much the only female is most of the classes. She didn't care if some of the men were "awkward", she had no trouble in the class or the major for that matter.

I myself have been in groups at work (and at school) where I was the only male. I was able to work just fine, because I don't have any trouble with women and treat them professional as they do me.

Beware anyone who claims to have trouble if they are the only one of some self-identified group and uses that as an excuse for not being able to work.

drone operators would only need to glue razorblades on the tips of the rotors

Which would Only affect the entry aerodynamic stability of the craft, making it just as likely it would slit the operators throat on launch as it would be to slice through anything, or be controllable at all...

Step 1) Doesn't want Google observing them.
Step 2) buys Android tablet, wholly controlled by Google.

If you were going to root it anyway why not buy an iPad and jailbreak it? Nothing preinstalled even talks to Google without you setting it up, so you're already off to a better start.

Every Android update is going to fight to collect information about you. I don't see why you would buy into a system that by default will do exactly what you do not want.

The U.S. may have had an embargo with Cuba, the rest of the world did not. Consider just Canada alone, from which Cuba could have had any technology they wished.

So what do people imagine will change with the U.S. embargo lifted? Change has to come from Cuban leadership, if at all..

What is very telling is that the cuban community in Florida is really, really angry we are lifting the embargo - because all it does is empower the people that made Cuba what it is today.

Obama can close guantamo. He can't transfer prisoners. He can't get them trials on american soil.

Congress didn't stop the closing of that base the govenors did by refusing transfer requests.

You complain about anecdotes, then pull that out of your ass?

This isn't true. Marco Arment for example bought a Mac Pro, then traded it in a year later to get an iMac. Clearly he could afford the Pac Pro, but the year later iMac offered a better display, without compromising the speed.
http://www.marco.org/2014/10/1...

You are more likely to be accidently or intentionally shot in the US than be a victim of a terrorist. over 10,000 people are shot each year in the US. you are hundreds if not thousands of times more likely to be killed in a car accident. you are more likely to win the lotto. Yet you would happily trade your freedom to prevent that 1 in a couple of hundred million chance of dying? the gun lobby and cars are infinitely more dangerous to your young daughter

If a terrorist in this day and age is dumb enough to use open communication channels then he was likely going to get caught anyway. Seriously anyone that actually wants to secure their conversations can do so with very little effort in a manner that the government can never hope to decrypt and it would not require the support of Telco's or government approval or rely on any particular product. I am far more afraid of what the government would do with unfettered access to peoples information than I am of any terrorist.

More likely google is struggling hard to justify being duped out of 400 million

That seems like a really good idea, sorry I have no mode points to promote.

Is Feng Shui deadly?

If you angle a mirror wrong it will FUCK UP someone walking into the space.

Not to mention that just one of the precepts of Feng Shui is that you not sit with your back to any openings in a room. They say it's for "good energy" but really it's so you can gun down every motherfucker that comes for you before they even see your face.

The question is not whether D-Day was right, but whether it's right for 15 year olds to be fighting in wars. Any wars. It's not.

So you are claiming that all people are rational?

Enough are that it's not a problem in technical jobs. IN TECHNICAL JOBS.

As evidence there was a study a while back in PNA

I've seen the studies, they DO NOT APPLY TO TECHNICAL JOBS.

Yes they are VERY different. I totally believe that's an issue for other areas of the business. But from what I've seen the problem i reduced to inconsequential in the technical field - for one thing initial resumes are pulled by skills required, there's not a vagueness that allows for more arbitrary selection. For a second thing, once the technical people get the resumes to sort through, as I said they are way more inclined just to be looking at skills they need...

With the exception that these days there's so much angst around hiring women that if a woman's resume is encountered in that sorting list, she would be pretty much sure to be called in for an interview. Technical women are actually in a really good position these days in terms of getting interviews - now liking the culture once they start working at a place, that's a different matter. But all that's under discussion here is the hiring process.

Even that's a stupid idea. A one-time pad is trivial to construct, can be used without any special software, and can not be cracked unless you manage to steal the key. If all you need to communicate is something short (e.g. time and location of target) then you can just post the encrypted thing in the middle of some random spam on a site like Slashdot that doesn't delete spam posts, just hides them.

Then there are techniques like linguistic steganography, that hide messages in things like misplaced apostrophes and misspelled words. Automatic detection of them is basically impossible, because they look exactly like the random permutations people use to get past spam filters. You can permute the 'BSD is dying' copypasta troll, for example, in such a way that it hides a message but doesn't perturb the readability of the text and no one will notice (most people won't read it at all), but it will make it pass through Slashdot's simple spam filters. How do you ban that?