Hate to boost Microsoft on Slashdot, but I've been taking notes on a tablet (Toshiba M200 Portege) in class using Microsoft OneNote 2010 (the beta) running on Windows 7. There's some great features in OneNote and, while there's definitely a few kinks to work out, at its base it's a pen and paper and you can take the same notes as you would on a regular notebook, and sort it all out later. The full-screen mode makes it really non-distracting, and a pretty great solutions. The fact that trying to use Windows 7 with a pen is annoying and somewhat slower than with a keyboard and mouse breaks off the distraction factor. Ignoring the fact that the M200 has some serious flaws and is a relatively underpowered machine. Plus, if someone forgets notes, I can send them a quick PDF of the day's lecture with two clicks. Makes me kind of a popular guy.

Really? In the engineering education I've been exposed to (I'm in a Canadian engineering program right now) they heavily play up the importance of eliminating bias and groupthink to find the "best" option. There's an immense stress on the idea that there is no "right" option, and that even the option you choose to be right has to be properly sourced and cited with a fully documented process, so you are accountable for your decisions. In fact, that accountability is an immense part of the "professional" part of the education, and I'd argue that's why engineers wouldn't make good extremists; they'd be looking for the kind of backup that just isn't there with some religious beliefs.

Add that to the fact that hackers and nerds, more so than other groups I've seen, tend to be more questioning of traditional religions than the average person - and it's not just me who notices.

This is a VERY important point, if I had points I'd mod you straight to the top.

This isn't an issue of privacy, or having something to hide or being a criminal; this is about control. This is a private corporation saying they have the authority to take away my right to control what I disclose to people, I'm saying they don't. When you blog about a restaurant you go to, sign up for last.fm and let the world know your favourite song is "Jesus, Take the Wheel", or set your Facebook information to "Looking for: Men" when you're male, you are opting in to something; it is your choice to tell people that. Disclosure is, and should always be, opt-in...that's the only thing that makes sense. If this was all verbally disclosed, you'd be opting-in by opening your mouth in the first place. There's no situation in which your mouth would be open and sound coming out by default, with you having the "opt-out" option to close it.

I thought there was a decent chunk of children's literature about how talking behind people's backs is mean, how if you know a secret, something bad about someone, then you shouldn't tell it to everyone because it's wrong. Did Eric Schmidt miss that part of Kindergarten? How is this different?

I believe it's more accurate than you'd think, having been praised by several physicians and neuroscientists as a "close to perfect" representation of anterograde amnesia.

Informative, thanks. I'll check it out when I upgrade.

That's VERY true, I've seen "Waiting for analytics.google.com" in the status bar one too many times for Steve Souders, performance guru, to complain about something like this. He keeps flopping back and forth between coming off as genuinely interested in the well-being of the internet, and boosting another Google service...although they're free services, and Google's been excellent about data liberation, so I don't quite know what I'm complaining about.

That's a very good point, it's a known fact non-citizens and illegal immigrants don't get sick or need help in any way. Those damn cyborg immigrants, not only are they stealing our jobs, parking their cars on their lawns and fucking our wives behind our backs, but they're also immune to pain and disease! It's just unfair.

Actually, no one can call themselves an "engineer" without applying for a license with the necessary professional organization. There are organizations which accredit software engineers, though it's not a requirement, but if you're a company that is worried about that, don't hire someone who isn't accredited.

[citation needed]

Honestly, I hate the elitist attitude of people who don't like pop music. Some people really, honestly like Britney Spears, the Spice Girls, whatever overproduced musical group happens to come along. Go to any average club night or party and tell me if you don't see the crowd go absolutely crazy when "Wannabe" comes on. Not (necessarily) because it's been overhyped, but because people actually like it. The attitude that we're in the middle of a paradigm shift and that we're about to enter music's Age of Aquarius is wrong every time. Things will change, but music you don't like won't just go away.

I wish there was a new mod category so this could be rated "+5 Zing". Hit it right on the head. I say the same thing to people who think we shouldn't have to pay to support mentally disabled people with special schooling. We made the decision long ago to help each other out, we can't just pick and choose now, unfortunately plenty of people don't understand that.

Ahhh, I've heard of this "Mitochondrial Eve".

I like the "memorialized" version of the page. How bad do you think it would be for someone to look through pictures of the recently deceased, go back to the profile and see all kinds of "Hey man, haven't seen you in a while...where've you been?" posts... I just hope there's no "Like" option for the change.