"So academia is just like the rest of the world, then."

Not exactly. The reports in academia are much more long-winded.

I purchased my first ebook reader just 8 days ago, (Sony PRS-T1 for $50) and installed calibre (0.9.18 is the version currently in the ubuntu repository) this morning, and I am very impressed with this piece of software, but a little intimidated by the interface, so I will look forward to testing out this new version.

The original reason for limited-edition prints wasn't driven by marketing. The stone or wood block would physically degrade with each print, and after a certain number of runs, the drop in quality was clearly visible (why earlier editions tend to be worth more)

With digital reproduction, this just isn't a factor any more, and limiting the production run is pure marketing; creating an artificial scarcity to inflate the price.

Most of this announcement is just empty art jargon; the elite paying lip service to their vision of the unwashed masses, framing things so the academics won't slam them too harshly, while still walking away with bags of money.

D'ho! looks like I got my "micro" and "milli" prefixes mixed up. Thanks for the correction.

(using 40uSv as a flight from NYC to LA from the XKCD chard as a refrence point)

"A puddle of the contaminated water was emitting 100 millisieverts an hour of radiation"
Wow! that's slightly more radiation than you'd get from a flight over the ocean! Let's all freak out!

"In addition up to 300 tonnes a day of contaminated water is leaking from reactors buildings into the sea"
So...how contaminated is this water? the same as the puddles? More? Less? What is it contaminated by?

More like a broke billionaire who still spends like their wealth will never end.

The Wiring platform (from which Arduino is a fork of) is a great option for getting started.

http://wiring.org.co/

Code wise, It's about 99% the same as Arduino, so all the libraries and code you can find out there is usable, (you just have to tweak the pin numbers)
You can program Arduino boards, wiring boards, AND Atmel chips with the wiring software.
The Wiring S board is slightly cheaper.

And, best of all, the help system is just a lot of commented out descriptions above the code - and it links to a schematic so you know EXACTLY what to build to make the code in the example work.

It's not that factory jobs are for stupid people, it's that factory jobs are boring as hell.

Given the chance, I would (and do) earn half as much doing something that I enjoy far more.

Perhaps you should try selling service or support on top of free software, instead of re-inventing the wheel each time?

"Open Source" is often called "Open Sores" for a reason.

As more countries adopt English as a second language, they are adopting not our convoluted ambiguous mess of a language, but a simplified, neater version of the language that is more suited for clearly expressing technical instructions - eg. close (not open) vs. close (adjacent too)

Unlike languages like French or Korean which have centralized linguistics planning authorities to determine what is and is not correct, English is more of an "anything goes" system where lexiconographers look at what words we use and how we use them, *then* put them in the dictionary.
When 1 billion Chinese, 1 Billion Indians and 1 Billion Africans all start using a standardized "Simple English" over the 350 million of us who speak what we think of as "real English", (and the 70-odd million who speak that odd variant of the language over in Britain) one side will have to make a change, and numbers aren't on our side.

Whenever I ship something big to the US, I make a point to attach a note to the outside of the crate warning them about the Robertson screws, and informing them that for their convenience, I have included a pack of Robertson bits inside the crate.

That sounds like something that will require a lot of work, and will require hiring a lot of people to do that work.
If only there was an unemployment problem in America...

Is there a video game he is particularly fond of?

Games that are easy to hack and mod are a great start - they are tweaking something they already love. I wasted many hours of my elementary school days tweaking the rules.ini file to make command and conquer's AI a more capable opponent. That lead to scripting one player levels in an attempt to make my own campaign. That lead to...nothing at all....but it might be a start.

The tools available today seem a lot more complex, but also a lot more open than they were when I was young.

Good luck.

I've never used medicinal marijuana (or other prescription pain killers) first hand, but the general consensus I get from people who have is that when they are in genuine pain, the substances make them feel better. When the substances start making them feel high instead of better, they know they are on the road to recovery and can cut back the dosage until it hurts again.

Considering how overdosing on marijuana is impossible in practice, I don't see the lack of precision in dose measurements is a problem. Even if marijuana use turned out to be completely useless medically, it is harmless enough that it's use as a placebo should not be infringed upon.

Does this work backwards?

Does this mean that a 3db reduction in volume won't really be noticeably quieter, but would make the music about 8 times less damaging to my ears?