I was a great fan of paleontology as a child. I was in awe of the creatures and the dedicated scientists that discovered them. Now, not so much.

After many decades of exploration and documentation of discoveries, how much useful information has been uncovered? These new discoveries are mildly interesting to an adult.

Biology in the past, as biology today is not built upon awesome organisms that prey on giant creatures; it is far more about microscopic organisms. These often determine the fate of the glamorous plants and animals, and are far more important.

As an adult, I'd like to learn about the less visibly impressive creatures that truly formed the world we have now. Funding for the study of ancient amoeba, fungi and bacteria may be hard to find, but should honest research take second fiddle to spectacular showmanship?

"so he can 'pray for them', on the other hand"

So, um, what is he doing with the first hand?

[good analysis from parent]

Western Civilization was built upon an education system that was intended to prepare students for life. They were instructed in the Arts and Sciences (such as they were then) and the skills to succeed in their environment. Philosophy and analytic thinking were prized.

It may be the Industrial Age that brought about our current thinking about education. Early on, there was still emphasis upon languages, history, philosophy; but more and more education came to be about training people to feed industrial needs.

Now there is little pretense of preparing a generation to appreciate art, language, culture... Colleges require a smattering of these but it's clearly about job preparation.

The parent article says "I think the industry needs some sort of advanced trade schools..." and that is exactly right. High school students can choose a 'career college' and learn programming, medicine or structural engineering etc, or they can choose a 'liberal college' that teaches them about the world in which they will live- Culture, history, all the arts... These people will become the thoughtful advisers to corporations and government, teachers of younger people, and guides to the people in their own community who lack a broad education. Their motto will be

"Violent video game consumption was strongly correlated with declines in youth violence."

This correlates with the number of youths playing violent games in Mom's basement. If they don't leave home, the crime rate drops. Furthermore, being loaded with chips, Twinkies & soda leaves them less able to rise from their desks and commit crimes. Damage to sight & hearing, along with 'trigger twitch' further diminishes their energetic output in crime.

This isn't really a plus for society. Medical care for those gamers who reach adulthood will tax the rest of us heavily. A Kickstarter campaign is proposed for: Think of the Children! It is proposed that by encouraging the kids to masturbate to online porn, they will be cured of their tendency to violence. A parallel campaign will preach: Make Love, not War!

" One of the things that we've already learned from such images"

TFA suggests that this is a unique image from a new telescope. Are you saying that there are others? Who is this 'we' you are referring to? You say 'according to our models'- are you saying that you are one of the scientists involved? You seem to be suggesting that I should have been able to understand all this from looking at the picture, and yet you have not said how this new image will inform myself and other slashdot readers of anything.

Have you even looked at the image or are you just copying the text of the article?

...mind blowing, powerful, my friends, mother-of-all, dazzling, awesome, astounded, revolutionize...
Or is it more like something in your spam folder?

That is an amazing telescope but unfortunately to my eyes the pictures are not informative. Perhaps tomorrow some details will be highlighted to show ordinary folks what the excitement is about.

Geezers will remember the race between USSR & USA to develop 'mind control' technology through much of the last century. America got a late start and rushed to catch up to the decades old Soviet research. Similar to the 'space race' but less publicized. [It is said that-] This research ended in 2003. You may find interesting information with a search for the MKUltra program. Traditional media tend not to report such things but here are some links:
http://www.news.com.au/technol...
https://sites.google.com/site/...

"Personally I find a fair proportion of jazz a turgid cacophony."

Don't let your own shortcomings limit your children as well. If you don't like Picasso are you suggesting that your children should be expected to do the same? Expose them to the best stimuli available, whether or not you like it. Let them decide. Music, and jazz in particular, seems to have a powerful positive influence on the developing mind. Many forms of art are rooted in mathematics.

Speak roughly to your little boy
and beat him when he sneezes
he only does it to annoy
because he knows it teases.
[ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D... ]

Every child should read Alice in Wonderland. It's not easy reading, but they will get it. It presents a complex world that is not easy for young Alice, but she has pluck and forges ahead. It is an adventure that requires courage and confidence and a tremendous example for young people- boys and girls.

Challenge your children. Give them Poe, Swift, R.L. Stevenson, quality scifi, etc. Give them fine music & jazz, fine art and the opportunity to create art, give them geography, history, dinosaurs and bioscience. Don't numb their brains with superhero TV & games.

There is more to education than job training. There is life. Give them a head start. Love them.

"usable by ordinary people"

We would have had encrypted communications long ago if PGP, etc were usable by ordinary people. The Scorecard is a good start in evaluating the security of different systems, but there is no effort whatsoever to evaluate usability.

I'm not suggesting that this is the case at this early point in the investigation; but an industry insider who personally studies every airline 'incident' informs me that the months of investigation almost always conclude that 'pilot error' was the cause.

He has found evidence, buried in 5000 pages of dull analysis, that in fact many crashes were due to errors in design or manufacturing. So why blame the pilot? Well, for one thing the pilot is dead and can't testify in most cases. For another, admitting mechanical flaws or design failures can be very expensive for some of the parties involved. Keep in mind that every government regulatory agency exists to serve the industry that they 'regulate' and not so much the public interest.

We arrange all our 'special' purchases over a secure p>p network and pay in bitcoin.

Ah yes, a romantic tale of courage, determination and pathos. The intrepid blonde adventuress and her stunningly handsome navigator forced down on a desolate island, doomed to a slow death of hunger and thirst. And yet with only hours to live, a romance can bloom among the giant crabs and tropical breezes... Hollywood- are you on this?

"widely discussed over the last century"

I must have missed all that discussion. I didn't miss the death of ZPG (Zero Population Growth) during the time of the right wing christian uprising in the USA. I didn't miss the secret requirement that if a foreign country wanted aid from the US, they had to suppress any information about birth control given to their people. I didn't miss the angry shouting every time someone suggested things like free condoms at universities etc. And the ongoing fuss over abortion...

But I did miss your assertion that everyone knows that population is the problem. Please tell me more.

No discussion of climate management or any other earthly problem is complete without first understanding the effect of 7 billion humans- mostly underfed, sick and unproductive. How many have to die horribly each day before someone notices? How many children are born with a life expectancy of less than one year, to a mother who can't even feed herself? Is family planning ever going to be taught and enabled in the underprivileged corners of earth? Fix these problems and everything else will improve.