I did exactly this one year back when I was in my late teens (too old to trick or treat, but young enough to have fun still). Sitting on the roof all night was fun, and those moments when you get it right and scare the crap out of them make it all worth it. People simply do not generally look up....

This... for me anyway. 5 lines on VZ is actually less than prepay. BUT we dont have data. So, when contract is up in December we will definitely look at straight talk or another MVNO. Our son already bought himself a used iPhone and switched to straight talk. He loves it.

Except that if you only print occasionally the ink heads clog or dry up, requiring a ink-wasting cleaning cycle or replacement... A cheap laser, even a cheap color laser, is so much better a choice for anything but photo printing. Decent color lasers can be had for $200 on sale sometimes. Really decent ones for $300.

My grandfather was in WWII, in Germany, and actually spent time in a POW camp (and escaped). He went in to the army 6'1" and 225, came out of the camp weighing 92 lbs. He hardly ever would speak about the things he saw, I only got little tidbits out over the years, until one day in 2000. We were on the deck with the whole family, nice day, etc, and I just asked about the war. He started with some basic stories and talked for over an hour. Everyone listened to him. I heard stuff I never thought anyone would want to see much less live. True atrocities by any measure. When he was done he just said "Phew. You know, I haven't talked about any of that in 50 years. It kinda feels good to get it out.". That was the only time he ever talked about it, even to my grandmother. I think that was the case with a lot of guys from WWII. I'm so glad I was there that day.

And to add to all the others on here who said so - thanks for doing what you did and standing up for what you believe in a very elegant way. I wish I had seen you do that.

You can easily buy REALLY GOOD lcd monitors in whatever size you can imagine. I install them in office conference rooms all the time, generally large samsung in the 42-60" range. These are designed as transportation and information displays, and are very rugged and last a long time. You just won't find them in your local walmart or best buy. And they won't cost $399 on sale either...

http://www.samsung.com/us/business/commercial-display-solutions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqh54rSzheg

Oh, god, you just gotta watch Ginger BAKEr... in this live film. I can just smell the dope smoke from my monitor...

And you can thank the mostly over-the-top EPA requirements for that. There is absolutely no GOOD reason why they should not be sold here, the only reason is the huge expense of getting each model EPA certified. I know for a fact that 90+% of the driving population does not remember or give a crap about the shitty 1970's failed GM diesel cars. We all know that there are good, reliable diesels available in the rest of the world - PLEASE get with the program USA and accept the Euro certifications as "equivalent" in the US.

Hell, they BUILD diesel models HERE IN THE US that you can not buy. Export only. Id love a nice little 2.0 diesel Jeep. Cant buy it here....

Looks like the slashdot effect is in full force already...

Sorry, Ive been a bit out of the robotics loop lately, but holey freaking crap. If that isnt "uncanny valley" freaky, I dont know what is. It seems we really will see something resembling 100% humanoid robots in my lifetime. Tethered or not (think factory worker, hazmat, or ... military...) this is amazingly cool (creepy).

Wish I had Mod points... Bit how to implement this in regards to teaching? Again, what are the metrics? Its simple to measure a gear/bearing/physical tolerance. How do you measure teaching? But I do agree, Total Quality as an overarching goal, even a mantra or culture, would go a long way. The Japanese have a culture that melds very well with this philosophy, in the US not so much...

I have to say, time and again, its pretty cool shit to see the breadth of people who hang out on Slashdot... Here's a story about a woman at the freaking SOUTH POLE and we have people posting who actually know her. AND someone chimes in from another one of the most isolated places on the planet. Its just cool in so many ways. (technology - the fact that anyone can read Slashdot from apparently anywhere... and then the fact that they do...) Hey, anyone on the ISS want to chime in?

This is a really neat idea... I think you should probably submit it to Google and/or Facebook. Wouldnt it be possible to write an app that would do this? I mean, yes youd have to somehow have access to the FB/G+ data, but in a possibly generic way? Like your code determines the "anitpode" characteristics, and queries FB/G+ for some matches, which you anonomize and display to choose from somehow?

Pretty cool idea, I gotta say....

I have to agree.The most impressive thing I ever heard in my entire life was in 1988. A set of K-horns at a very very high-end audio place (that sold mainly pianos, and very high end audio gear). They had them in a listening room with two huge monoblock amps, and a very high end preamp and CD player. They played Phil Collins, "I wish it would rain down". I swear to god it sounded like he was standing RIGHT THERE singing. The two guys that were with me still, to this day, agree that was the most impressive thing we've ever heard audio-equipment-wise. This place also sold magnaplanars and Ohm, Paradigm, B&O etc. Sadly this place finally went out of business last year... Sad indeed. People just dont care for quality like they used to. Give me my old Klipsch over most of the new junk at chain stores anyday.

To the other points - figure the inflation adjusted cost of some of the "mid range" gear from the 70's and 80's, and you can still get good gear for THAT price. Its just that people dont want to pay $2K for a set of speakers anymore. They want to pay $500 for an entire home theater (7.1) setup. Heck, my old Infinity's cost over $1K a pair in 1989 and they are definitely just mid-range for that time. (Although, with new surrounds last year they are still really kickin...)

Yes, this. I have watched the educational system from the inside locally for the past 10+ years, and this is a big part (only a part) of the issue. If we are talking about an implosion and ground-up rebuild, please make this a central theme of the redesign. Sorry, everyone is NOT equal - in ability, or in what they like, find interesting, or want to do with their life. Should everyone have ample opportunity to PROVE they are motivated? Yes. Should everyone be automatically "equal" so that we have to dumb-down (or at least slow down) the material for the other 80%? No. Please.

Kids should be allowed to fail. Plain and simple. We need to go back to teaching (and enforcing) that motivation leads to success. The current system just reinforces the "safety net" mentality that has pervaded society at large. No need to achieve, someone (Uncle Sam usually) will "save me". No, really its ME and the other achievers "Saving you" at our own expense.

Kids need to be challenged. Some kids need extra help, or slower pace. These things are generally mutually exclusive in the classroom. (on an ongoing basis anyway, not a single example)