Dont know where you get your numbers from.

USA Today: In 2009-10, average published tuition and fees for in-state students at public flagship universities in the U.S. are $8,353, compared to $7,797 at all public doctorate-granting universities and $7,020 at all public four-year institutions:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-10-20-college-costs_N.htm

Annual in-state commuter student tuition at state schools in my area

Delaware - about 11,500. http://www.udel.edu/admissions/finance/
NJ Rutgers - $12,755. http://admissions.rutgers.edu/Costs/TuitionAndFees.aspx
NY SUNY - $14,750. http://www.suny.edu/student/paying_tuition.cfm
Pennsylvania - 15,000 - 17,500. http://tuition.psu.edu/tuitiondynamic/rates.aspx?location=up

So many questions, so few answers. I'll help you with the first ones

I'm standing on a road.
It's made of asphalt, largely a petroleum product
It was built to facilitate the movement of people and goods from point A to point B
It was paid for by the taxpayers who wanted it and who's lives would be a lot harder without it.

It is just silly to consider a road a subsidy, graft, or handout to a particular industry sector. Try riding your bike to get to work through miles of mud.

My compliments to you on a great response. My faith in slashdotters is somewhat renewed.

This is nonsense. The article brings to light some battery risks people and even auto manufacturers may not be aware of. I just read a book called 'Bottled Lighting' which is about the development and use of lithium batteries and how important they are to modern technology. But early on they found the batteries had serious risk of fire, including thermal runaway conditions. The risk has been mitigated by new developments and careful manufacturing. Check the book out at the library. It may surprise you to find out that Exxon was a lithium battery pioneer.

But I don't recall in the book or the press any discussion of the danger associated with a battery that has suffered a minor puncture. It is something to consider that might lead to a requirement to replace batteries after a crash, or some technical ability to detect physical damage.

To just dismiss it so lightly is just ignorant.

I work at a major wall street bank. We used to be heavily Sparc/Solaris/C++. Over time the Intel platforms became much faster and much cheaper than the Sparc ones. There was some early concerns about reliability but it was not warranted. The boxes are so fast now we are almost exclusively using virtual linux boxes too.

We are doing a lot of Java these days. The JVM's are much improved. It is very easy to write large heavily multithreaded Java apps to replace the our large C++ distributed systems. The Java development, build, debug, and deployment tools are great.

One can spend time arguing the merits of C++ vs Java. The reality is in most cases the C++ development time is slower, and the coding patterns used do not produce code that is faster than Java. C++ development and deployment across different platforms is a pain.

I think your comment really highlights what is wrong with the legal system. This is a completely frivolous lawsuit. You would never even consider filing a lawsuit over something like this if you thought you could be on the hook for the legal costs.

ATT had a promotion where they were giving away a free phone. No one claimed they didn't deliver on their promise.

The state charges sales tax on this transaction. Some people were unpleasantly surprised by this, just like when some people found out that some states charge tax on the money they got in the 'cash for clunkers' program.

In both cases, if you don't like taxes, complain to your government.

The most distracted driving I do is driving while parenting. If they make it illegal I won't have to do it any more.

Good luck with your daughter. I can relate, my oldest was diagnosed with emotional issues almost 4 years ago. It's been a difficult time for him and for the family.

Verizon Wireless offers parental safeguards for about $5/line/month. With this you can define texting and calling restrictions that may meet your needs.

This is complete nonsense. You couldn't raise a poodle, never mind a child. It would be road kill in a week.

I think all responders to an article that starts with "If you're parenting skills aren't up to snuff" should indicate how many kids they have and their ages.

Before I was a parent I thought I was an expert too. Only after do you realize that being a kid isn't the same as raising one.

I have four, ranging from age 4 to 15+. As a parent I welcome any help I can get.

I agree with you. I have never understood why we consider it ok to run schools via the laws of the jungle. Students don't even have a choice to not go or to change schools. Were an adult subjected to any such behavior at work they would expect it to be stopped immediately or they would sue.

Immigration raids benefit legal workers: http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/immigration/1929-immigration-raids-benefit-legal-workers Seems when a company can't get slave labor they are willing to pay more for legal workers. How unsurprising.