Are you serious about that 8.5% figure? The annual interest rate is 8.5%? That is about 6 times higher than my student loans and about 3 times higher than my apartment loans. Do you really have to take loans at loan sharks to pay for tuition. With that kind of interest you'd be a fool to choose to study.

Actually it is called "guilt by association" also known as Reductio ad Hitlerum :). People come up with dog Latin phrases all the time.

There is no need to nitpick. The phrase copying error is commonly used to describe the process in which dna changes structure over generations. An error is a mistake.

I see no problem with isp level filtering as long as it is opt-in. I'd image many parents would gladly pay extra to have the isp filter out some of the naughtiness from the internet connection their children uses. If some parents want to minimize the chances their children will be exposed to goatse and other even more deranged porn fetishes that is their right. It could also be much more efficient than client-side filtering at the end point which is only effective if the parent is more technically savvy than their child which is not always the case. However, it should be opt-in, not opt-out. And it doesn't need to be government mandated - the "free market" should be able to solve it by itself. Lots of concerned parents would freely purchase isp filtering if it was available as a product and everyone could be happy.

Can any math pro explain what practical uses solving nonlinear least squares equations have? The Wikipedia page is to high-brow for me. :)

To make it easier for humans to anthropomorpize them. Robots are supposed to serve the same tasks as ordinary people so it makes sense to let them have human features to make it easier for humans to interact with them.

Untrue. Lt Cmdr Data was a male android capable of intercourse with a woman and "fully functional." Dr Soong who created him and his android siblings always intended for them to serve as his sons. Androids can have gender determinations just as they can have other animalistic attributes.

I call "citation needed" on that one. It would be breaking news if new research showed that prion diseases were that widespread. It is not something a conspiracy among scientists could silence.

And shooting idiots like you in the brain can stop you from reproducing. Doesn't mean it is ethical or even legal.

Is that a rhetorical question? The answer is because that is the way the law (DMCA) is written.

Actually, Sweden is even worse with only 12% female graduates in computer science related degrees. The situation is similar in all the Nordic countries. Those countries also happen to have the highest gender equality rating in the world (discounting some feminist crazies who believe the situation for women in Sweden is just as bad as in Afghanistan). It actually seems that the more freedom women get, the more inclined they are to choose gender stereotyped careers. Maybe on average more men prefer technology and more women prefer nursing? What's so inherently bad about that?

But I really think that statement should be qualified with "bloodiest, most devastating conflict involving only Americans." The Indian genocide, World War II, Vietnam War and possibly even the Iraq Wars were deadlier. Non-American causalties should also be counted in body counts.

Good for you. I had access to a computer at age seven and I'm now a software developer. Ask anyone else on slashdot who seem to be good at technology and you'll find that they had computers in their lives at a very early age. There seem to be some anecdotal connection between being exposed to technology at a young age and excelling at it as an adult. Not everyone who grew up with a c64 became a Linus Torvalds but there are no Linus Torvaldses who did not have access to a c64 (or equivalent home computer).

Installation and maintenance of the database firewall isn't cheap either. A sensible company has to consider the probability of a successful SQL injection attack times the amount of damage caused versus the monthly cost of running the firewall.

This is not news for nerds - this is news for fags. Who gives a shit about random hollywood celebrities anyway.