"I've had the very same problem for years now. I get exclusively results that other people got, who searched something vaguely similar."

I used to love alta vista and web-crawler waybackwhen(tm). They provided MATCHES, not what they THOUGHT I wanted to see.

That said -- the internet is several orders of magnitude larger than it was in the mid 90's. I'm unsure if similar search engines would be useful if they didn't try to figure out what you WANT to see rather than what you ASK to see.

Oh, will you two just shut up and kiss already?

"Fines like this are a calculated cost of doing business, to be sure, but they are also an important part of punishment theatre. Companies of this size negotiate fine amounts and punishments as forms of appeasement when caught with their hands in the cookie jar. "

We need to stop blaming the evil corporations. Let there be shame. When stuff like this becomes public people should jump carriers. Let THAT get factored in to the cost of doing business.

If we're too lazy to jump to another carrier then it's our own damn fault we need to deal with this.

Can't you just side-load KODI? I have it installed on my fire-stick and that's how I got it on there. I didn't know it was in their app store.

You are effectively correct. About the only things that will change the corruption would be those willing to put themselves at risk to expose it and the masses unwillingness to accept corruption when it is exposed.

Most larger install bases have extended post EOL support though I'm unsure if 2003 will receive this extended support. We started migrating away from that years ago when most of our vendors stopped supporting it.

There may be a lot of legacy apps that require 2003. Best bet is to get them on a VM and lock them up behind a firewall just permitting access needed and nothing more. We have a number of XP VMs for just that purpose.

"Maybe the Germans have collectively decided that the cost of the education is trivial compared to the long term gains of keeping some highly educated people around, or having its own citizens be educated."

Maybe Germans would re-think that decision if they had to pay a realistic sum for their own civil defense rather than rely on the US and NATO.

"Maybe, gasp, it's possible to both make profits and take care of your people -- and that it isn't an either/or proposition."

Pick two:

o Make Profits
o Take Care of Your People
o Protect your People

And the soon to be laid-off workers want their severance package.

We don't have Plato's original manuscripts. Those copies have sure come in handy. We don't have Caesers' De Bella Gallico, yet those copies are nice. I can list hundreds of examples.

Don't underestimate the importance of copies.

Well, when *I* went to school it was "IBM Selectric" and "Print Shop". Not the software "print shop", but a big room with a bunch of machines and lots and lots of movable type.

Yes, whatever they learn will be wrong by the time they get out in into the work force but part of learning is learning how to LEARN, if that makes sense...

Maybe that's why *THEY* were mean and rude!

Humans have been living in concrete in NYC for over 100 years. They seem to enjoy it.

Then again -- maybe that's why New Yorkers are so mean and rude...

Honestly, I was thinking the same thing. Then I watched it.

It was much more fascinating than I expected. It not only captured Neptune/moons as it crossed the field of view -- it also captured Neptune retrograde.

While I never went beyond basic astronomy classes in college, when I was younger I was very interested in astronomy. I was a member of The Planetary Society when I was 10. I actually met Carl Sagan once (because of my young age and membership). I had a telescope which I spent hours seeing what I can see in my light-polluted skies. I made a "flip book" of nightly sketches of Jupiter and it's moons which when "flipped" showed the moons orbiting Jupiter.

When I watched this I was suddenly 10 years old again and excited about astronomy. If this isn't the definition of "nerdy news" I can't help you.

"To get rid of tenure, teacher pay would need to be increased."

When you toss in the value of their benefits, many are incredibly well paid. Want them to have more pay? Have them pay for some of their health insurance. Have them contribute to their own pensions.

"Apparently you did not benefit from education as much as you think you did..."

Aren't you cute. Can't or wont really address anything I said so you pick out two minor errors (a typo and a failure to fully edit a sentence I had changed mid way). I bet you feel grand.

"Explaining that is so simple:"
Really? You have an interesting definition of simple.

"1. Parents either don't have the skills or the time to assist their kids in succeeding."
Bluntly, then they shouldn't have kids -- but I don't think that's the issue. It's very difficult for a diligent single parent to 'assist their kids in succeeding', never mind one who's more apathetic.

"2. Less resources in inner-city schools."
The problem wasn't as as terrible in the past -- when they had less resources. Maybe there was less single parent households?

"3. Poor attitudes towards learning amongst the kids (see item 1)."
Yes -- and see my response to item 1.

"4. Poor teachers: Because teachers in these inner-city areas do not get paid more than their colleagues in good districts, only the worst teachers will teach there. Also, as a teacher, where pay is determined by test results, would you work in an area where the dice are stacked against you (see items 1, 2 and 3 above)?"
Alot of it is based on union tenure in many districts. Also, some districts are just too large (LAUSD, for example) and should be broken up.

The fact is that more an more we as a society are abdicating parental responsibility. Schools have become "food" programs where kids get 2 of their meals a day. Many are open over the summer just to provide food. If the answer is to feed kids where the parents CANT then I think we're scratching the surface of what the real issue is... Maybe we need discuss taking kids away from parents who cant or wont provide for their kids vs. the alternative of raising an ever increasing population of people who cannot or will not take care of themselves and bring in to the world children whom they are not equipped to provide adequate care.