No more Cheetos-fingers when a friend asks for computer help and you don't insist on using your own mouse/keyboard... *shudders* Though orange cheddar powder is always one of the better "mystery coatings".

One quick thing I really liked about the parent is that they considered themselves a 2,500 calories/day kind of guy, whereas many people think 2,000 calories/day is standard. Cutting calories definitely works for most people(Rule of thumb: 3.5k calories = 1 lb), but a lot of people don't realize that they can differ from the 2000/day standard by quite a large margin. There are two main factors in determining the number of calories you should consume in a day: basal metabolic rate(BMR), and your level of exercise. You can search for some online calculators to give estimates of these, but the best method would be to find out what kind of diet(as in eating habits, not the cessation of eating) maintains your current weight steadily, and assume +/- some number, say 250. There's always wiggle room.

Just as a comparison, if someone tries to cut their diet down to 1500/day as the parent did, they may have very little change(if their metabolism burns at less than 2000/day on average), or they may be putting themselves at risk for malnutrition AND kick their metabolism into a much lower gear(if they're closer to 4-5k/day). And like it's been suggested, one of the hugely easy ways to cut down on unnecessary intake is to cut out raw sugars like soda or candy. An average banana will have about 100 calories in it, whereas a smaller chocolate bar will have 200 or more. Not to mention, the higher spike in blood sugar from the quickly digested chocolate will leave you much hungrier an hour later!

Of course, YMMV. Everyone is different, and pushing your intake far in either direction will get reducing gains and widely varied effects.

I think it's a nice idea, especially given the iPhone's history with natural water vapor voiding the warranty. While it won't do much for the iPhone itself, it'll be nice to know the bundled iRover will keep its warranty until it finds a body of liquid water.

I'm not one for fancy figures or exact units, so I'm going to guess my caloric intake at roughly 5.0 handfuls of calories in the past day.

Delicious, honey-glazed calories...

I apologize for "trolling" by trying to explain a typo, but since it seems like I get interpreted harshly otherwise: I originally intended "HD", rather than "HDMI", and just mixed up the terms I was using, in part due to the cloud of buzzwords.

I realize nobody is going to read this; I just wanted to clear it up for the record, instead of silently accepting two karma hits and several accusations of trolling as a result of two extra letters.

I think you're confusing buzzwords with technical terms. Buzzwords can be used to enhance the intelligence of a statement regardless of grammatical context or intended meaning! HDMI! EVDO! Capacitive touch screen! Snapdragon!

Also: Two hours sleep. Your pick.

Estimated battery life: The amount of time it takes YouTube to load that shiny new HDMI video for you.

I use Rankines, you insensitive clod! Or as I like to call them, Fahrenkelvins... It's an easy enough scale to remember, given that if it's 550R outside it's t-shirt weather, and if it's anything else... why would you want to leave the house, anyway?

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".