Clearly, Apple is trying to get rid of Linux as a competitor by melting the homes of penguins everywhere. Of course, they're not taking BSD into account...

I'm tired of school administrations being so petty that they think a student disliking them is a reason to suspend or otherwise "punish" students. It's one thing to punish someone for interrupting class by insulting a teacher outright, but entirely different and downright immature to say that they are not entitled to express themselves at home. Between this and the recent spying laptops scandal, whatever happened to being "for the children", rather than "anything so the f#!kers sit still in class"? If they're so worried about not being liked, why punish them arbitrarily?

I certainly hope they get lawyer fees repaid, because this behavior is outright unacceptable. Having the power to unilaterally grant or deny education to these kids based on whether or not they "like" you, is power that is apparently being abused. The "Vegan" sweater case is a nice example, but I'd imagine most of you TL;DR'd the hybrid TFA/summary, so here's the link: http://libertarianrock.com/1999/09/vegan-student-may-seek-new-judge/

I fear a world where education is taken or given away on the whims of a single official.

I believe the point is that this revolution is how that will be achieved, rather than through raw optimization. The closer we get to ideal parts, the more likely it is that my cell phone battery can actually handle playing something heavier than Snake for a few days, rather than a couple of hours tops. I'm looking forward to see how quickly this technology progresses, and not just because I am wishing my netbook could be playing TF2 now, instead of just posting on Slashdot while ignoring this circuit analysis presentation.

And a related ramble from a current CS student's point of view...

These students aren't cheating because of pressure, or because they don't get support. They are cheating because they want a degree to get a job to get paid, without actually doing real work.

In my last programming class, which was a simple structure and algorithm introduction, there were groups of students that shared code on every assignment. Was there not enough support? The only time I'd emailed the professor, he spent fifteen minutes helping me at two in the morning, far beyond what anyone would expect. Was there too much pressure? The computer science requirements here meant they were taking maybe five courses per semester, which were largely just "fluff" sorts of general education requirement courses. A lot of courses didn't even have homework, or an exam tougher than a few multiple choice questions. Most people that showed up to class didn't do anything more than fill the chairs.

Not to seem like a pessimist, but students now are lazy, not strained. I know so many students that will gladly beg the instructor for extensions and extra credit at any opportunity, because they spent the weekend playing Call of Duty instead of doing the homework.

If it works better, people will use it.

Most of my friends transitioned from Livejournals to Myspace when they realized "hey, we can cover the page in obnoxious toys I like", and similarly switched again to Facebook when they realized they could actually read the pages and keep in touch much more easily. If Google adds something game-changing(Perhaps they'll market it as "sign in once and get email, youtube, networking, news, IM, voice, and office programs all at once, fluidly, with easy access if you use our phone"), then they can get the backing.

Laziness only prevents those who might join late with no clear-cut advantage.

If you powered an electric chair off of a cell phone battery, I think the prisoner would die of boredom before they could recharge the first dozen "failures".

What, you guys didn't get yours yet?

From TFA. I don't think it's really necessary to explain why his sampling methods were ridiculous, but it easily casts a fair amount of doubt on most aspects of the study. I would guess at more if I could find the original study in question, but IANAD, either.

The parent speaks the truth. One day at my campus, I walked by an entire crowd of mimes. That same week, the aged president of the university whizzed by me in a go-kart, cheering. Not too much later, a man in a top hat and lab coat, astride a five foot tall bicycle with a mounted fire extinguisher, rode past. I could go on, because these are everyday things here. We even have a handful of unicyclists, so I don't know if I'd notice one dressed as a clown.

Easy come, easy go, will you let me go?