I don't know if there's anything you can do to stop them from tracking you when you're using their browser. If you're using a different browser though, you can avoid having your search queries associated with your gmail account by using a different country's google for the searches. I stay logged into my gmail all the time, and I use google.co.uk for all my searches.

That is very true. Search engine queries are a suprisingly subtle exercise in language. I never really appreciated this until I tried searching for something in a different language. I have a reasonably good command of that language, and yet I could not form a decent query to save my life.

I love classes where the professors use power point. Those professors almost always post the presentations online, and that completely eliminates the need to show up for class.

Personally, I have a hard time paying attention to most professors talk for an hour, and I also find it inefficient. It feels like a waste of time to listen to the professor explain something out loud when I can just read it to myself in 1/2 the time. It also seems inefficient to spend time watching the professor write things that are already written in the text book. I appreciate the guidance and motivation that professors provide, but most of my actual learning comes from my textbooks and online resources.

I understand that different people have different styles of learning, and that many (or even most) people value lectures. Using power point and posting the slides online is a way for professors to accomodate both kinds of students. Students like me can still benefit from the knowledge of the professor without having to listen to a lecture, and students who want to listen to a lecture still have that option.

One of the author's main complaints seems to be that power-point lectures move too fast, but I would complain that traditional lectures move too slow. It's just a matter of different learning styles, and not all of your professors' teaching styles will match your particular learning style. That's just part of life.

Now, professors who use power-point badly are, of course, not very helpful, but that has nothing to do with power-point. Some professors just aren't the best teachers.

If that genetic link is legitimate, then shouldn't that get him a longer sentence?

Prison has two purposes: removing dangerous people from society until they are no longer a threat, and deterring future crimes. If this guy really is genetically prone to violence, that would make him more dangerous, and it would presumably take longer to determine that he is not a threat to others. The reduced sentence would also give him less incentive to overcome his aggression the next time he's thinking about committing a crime. It's completely backwards.

Also, reducing the sentence for him might even encourage further crimes by others, whether or not the genetic science is sound. It could give some sense of justification to somebody who's about to commit a crime. For example, just as I'm deciding whether or not to kill somebody, I might think, "It's not my fault I have genes linked to aggression. Hell, they'll even reduce my sentence for it," and then go through with it.

Now when I illegaly download the newest DVD screeners, I can do it with a clear conscience knowing that I'm not congesting the network!

Seriously though, this is a good thing. I don't know why the story is tagged "your rights online"

There's no purpose for it.
They should stop teaching cursive in schools, and start teaching typing instead.

They let you "return" the online version for a full refund within 14 days if you haven't accessed more than 20% of the book.

Personally, I've never needed more than just the homework problems for a few chapters, and that's easily less than 20%

Anyway at some point they might catch on, so this should be a last resort. Check out the torrent sites first.

It's been 4 semesters since I decided I wasn't going to be scammed anymore, and it feels great.

This is basically just a useless semantics argument.

Especially in the case of the Esc key, the size doesn't really matter. My fingers know that Esc is the upper-leftmost button. If my finger feels another button further left or further up, I know there's a problem. The Esc key could be half the size, and it wouldn't make a bit of a difference.

I can understand changing the Delete key though, because it's so close to the enormous Enter key*. Anytime you're trying to press "delete," "enter" is probably the last key in the world that you want to press. I can't count how many times I've been talking to somebody on AIM/MSN, typed something I didn't actually want to say, then accidentally pressed "return" instead of "delete"

*I use a Mac

Smart people. Wouldn't that be awesome?

why is this tagged !gonnahappen?
The "open source" part is a little silly, but the "anybody can use technology in inovative ways to harm others" part is very reasonable

Seriously. Think about any world leader/other person in the world. If you didn't care about getting caught, don't you think you could engineer something to make them wind up dead?
given the resources available today (especially the internet), it's not that far-fetched

From what I have read, it is just about anybody that is being sued by the RIAA. You don't have to be downloading music, you don't have to own a computer, you don't have to know how to use a computer, and heck... you don't even have to be alive to get sued. (and be forced to settle. Or, in cases where the RIAA has no evidence, at least have your day ruined.)

And furthermore, the law does not support the RIAA's methods. They have been specifically ordered to stop abusing the system by grouping all their "John Doe" suits together, yet they blatantly ignore those orders.

That is the problem with the RIAA lawyers being in the DOJ.