I never did look into how LEDs are made (hey, I just buy and put them to use) and that it is a "cottage industry." And LEDs are made in open air facilities instead of clean rooms. I can start my own LED factory but unlike the author I don't have a basement.

PBS program on Einstein mentioned images and calculations from 1919 eclipse was doubtful. Some claimed it did not show bending of light (star positions still where they should be) but others said, "not so fast." It was 1922 which William Campbell got beautiful images of stars around the eclipsed sun, observed 92 stars observed positions from where they should be. Campbell's first telegram was to Albert saying these images and calculations definitely support his theories. Of course it was not easy for Campbell, his first solar eclipse expedition in 1914 went bust at outbreak of WWI, and following attempts in later years were not good. It was 1922 which Campbell got great images while everyone else (and there were several) either got weathered out or had poor techniques. Another fascinating talked about in this PBS program was after WWI Germans were hated by Brits, French, Americans but Einstein was very welcomed and was a huge "rock star" where all these people wanted to meet him, get autographs, get pic taken with him. Even though virtually all don't understand theory of relativity.

I rather they put innovation into compelling stories and documentaries for stuff to be shown on TVs. With good programs I could care less what kind of TV I'm looking at.

for a moment there I thought they was bringing back the CRT!

back in the days "man-rated" meant the ICBM was modified to not shake the man apart in pogo oscillations and speed the capsule up to 17,500 mph.

what about training to secure your finances i.e. retirement funds from Wall Street predators?

not sure why this was modded down (currently at -1) but really considering first B52 flight was more than 60 years ago. Think of US entering Vietnam on massive scale like it did in 1965 with weapon systems from 1905, that doesn't include aircraft. Army Signal Corps bought first US military aircraft from Wright Bros in 1909.

I had (still have) problems with Dazzler video-to-usb. After long campaign to get video to work but never can get audio feed. Customer support is useless so that leaves the forums, which most are bankrupt. Most of posts are people with same problems, most solutions are copy/paste from same post from whereever (which does not address problem). But all these forums you gotta register with account name and password.

There used to be usenet where anyone can post and read, and since it was not technically sophisticated, you can't really copy/paste same crap over and over (you had to type your writings like a typewriter). This was also before the marketeers and spammers overran everything. sob!

Interesting essay, my elementary math books are all gone. I still have my elementary algebra book but I've not seen latest books used in today's public schools. I have my great grandfather's textbook he used to when he taught high school math (I need to try some of those exercises!)

I wonder after the turbulent 1960s, there has been a systematic process to dumb down general population and repress anyone that seriously challenges The System.

Getting back to math, it seems there's all kinds of new methods such as the New Math or Core Math or whatever. To me, math is math. We start with arithmetic (these are like learning basic dance steps i.e. basic waltz box of forward, side, together, back, side, together), then move into algebra and trig (moving the waltz on line of dance), then calculus because that's where the action is (dance analogy of add sway and style to the waltz, accentuating the musicality and beat management by phrasing to the music). And if you really got the urge go for the researcher/PhD/mathematician (open pro competition dancer) where you define new concepts.

There was an article "Children Can Learn Calculus" and it was mentioned all endless timed tests (teachers call them "drill and kill") given throughout K-12 like the military where soldiers given several repeating small tasks as a form of punishment.

so do I, and every major bank including ones I don't have accounts with! with all kidding aside some of these spoof sites are pretty impressive, until you see what domain they actually point to. Scary thing is many people don't at bottom of window to see what URL (or worse the browser has this option turned off).

though risking karma getting into this fray, I must ask why LATER? If ebay knows problem occurred, they should send out notice immediately instead letting the forums run wild (if I see lots of stuff on forums but nothing from ebay then I would think it is a hoax. There's lots of similar crap on forums). Not all ebay users read slashdot, cnet, reddit, or ebayinc.

Does that mean they have to build levees around Kennedy Space Center? There was a news report that talked about impact at KSC with rising sea levels. yikes.

When people are convicted of crimes, they are to be punished. Tickets are that document of infraction (crime punishable by fine). More severe punishments are misdemeanors and felonies (punishable by fines and/or free lodging at the slammer). So when governments use tickets as revenue sources, something has gone wrong in judicial process (yes, so what else new?).

I remember when ONE MILLION DOLLARS was a lot of money.