= = = which allows them to choose when to patch, presumably after the plebs have beta-tested them. = = =

Besides ordinary business concerns about stability and continuity, if you are running in a regulated environment (e.g. biotech) you are prohibited by law from installing those patches until your validation group has tested them.

sPh

Teachers' unions have been under brutal attack for over 30 years now and there are today very few teachers with "strong" union protection left. Cf Wisconsin. Some - although not a large percentage - of K-12 school districts have a concept called 'tenure' which is often confused with elite university tenure but in the K-12 world generally means "can't be fired without the firing party following HR procedures and going through an appeal process". Which doesn't mean much in the end either.

sPh

= = = [Nation V] does not have jurisdiction over the spy agencies of foreign countries, which means that they can't charge [nation S's intelligence agency] with a crime.

Quite a few spies who have been jailed and/or executed will be surprised to learn that.

Nation S will undoubtedly refuse to honor extradition agreements with Nation V for prosecution of S's spies, even if V is an ally, but V is certainly entitled to arrest, prosecute, and punish spies of all nations caught within its borders (and if the theories of John Yoo and Alberto Gonzales are accepted, V is entitled to abduct or just murder S's agents anywhere in the world outside V's own borders).

Somewhat.

sPh

The optical sight / analog computer fire control system on the Iowa class battleships was reputed to be very effective against aircraft.

sPh

NASA's current plan it to cover a sufficient amount of the object with a different colored cloth (white or black as the case may be) and let the solar sail effect do the work. So a 30% off coupon to Bed Bath & Beyond would do the trick; even with the discount the manager and staff should get a nice bonus for selling 250,000 white sheets in one day.

sPh

The entire world isn't the US/Japan/EU. While most airlines outside that region who operate 787s run tight operations (Ethiopian for example is often mentioned as very well-run with a strong safety culture), there are a few who do not.

That said, in the few instances where less organized airlines have managed to acquired 787s they are probably being shut down 2-3 times/week much less every 9 months.

sPh

The first time I was on a new plane where the pilots did that at the gate to "fix a computer glitch" (~1998) I was utterly terrified.

sPh

= = = Massachusetts is particularly diligent to make sure they get a cut when cash changes hands.= = =

There's a term for that. Wait a minute, ... got it. The term is "the law".

sPH

Re the Upton Sinclair quote: I'm pretty sure (don't have time to dig through the library at the moment) that earthquakes from well injection were known in California in the 1920s (when Sinclair had a small interest in the oil boom there, hence Oil! [later "There Will Be Blood"]).

sPh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_Party_%28epithet%29
Use of the term has been a point of contention within the Republican Party. In 1984, when a delegate of the Republican platform committee asked unanimous consent to change a platform amendment to read the Democrat Party instead of Democratic Party, New York Representative Jack Kemp objected, saying that would be "an insult to our Democratic friends" and the committee dropped the proposal.[2] In 1996, the wording throughout the Republican party platform was changed from "Democratic Party" to "Democrat Party": Republican leaders "explained they wanted to make the subtle point that the Democratic Party had become elitist".[19] A proposal to use the term again in the August 2008 Republican Platform for similar reasons was voted down with leaders choosing to use "Democratic Party". "We probably should use what the actual name is," said Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, the panel's chairman. "At least in writing."

Yeah, Jack Kemp and Haley Barbour, flaming libruls both. Got it. Nice try though.

"Democrat Party" is a slur, originally developed by Jesse Helms and later picked up and expanded upon by Karl Rove, intended to take away from Democrats - that is, members of the Democratic Party, the right to choose their own name.

As Theon can tell you having an entity that is attempting to obtain dominance over you impose a name not of your choosing is not a good thing. Members of the Democratic Party have been pretty vigilant about this since George W. Bush started doing it regularly. Hard right wing radicals don't like to be called out on their attempts though for some weird reason.

sPh

What's a "Democrat Party"? Whig, Republican, Bull Moose, and Democratic are some major US political parties that come to mind but I don't recall a "Democrat Party" from the history textbooks.

sPh

= = = Women make less than men over their careers because they have babies, = = =

Last time I checked, the vast majority of people in the US who have babies are married. It takes two to have a baby, and care of the child is both parents' responsibility. So you're basically saying that men in the tech industry shirk their childrearing responsibilities too.

= = = Then men and women hit their 50s. Kids are out of the house and on their own. Men starting taking months at a time off for prostate cancer and heart surgery, while women are hitting their stride at work. And yet oddly the salaries and titles of the 50-something men are never reduced to match their lower productivity. What a meritocracy! = = =

Ouch.