I don't think they really use 'Tovarish' anymore......

Who exactly would have asked?

True point.

All the farmers in California are digging deeper/bigger wells. So they feel ok for the next few years. Of course it drains the aquifer, but no one seems to care about that, for some reason.

I kind of feel like every story is sensationalized so much, whether a celebrity tweet or a war in Iraq, that people have trouble remembering what a true crisis is like. It's just another story, I need to water my lawn and the water still comes out of the hose.

Sad thing is Los Angeles is right there on the ocean......they have plenty of water if they would just purify it instead of stealing it from half of the rest of the country.

I'm in favor of more research, but we already have several different departments that are researching that. The DoE is a department that has suffered from scope creep, they are in charge of unrelated things like genomics research. I'm in favor of genomics research, but once again, it's not really something you'd expect to see in the DoE.

I wouldn't even bother. No matter how valid a point you make the Kool-Aid Drinkers will never agree with you, and just continue quoting their gospel and insisting it's "fact", not politics. I know: I've been there many times.

Yes, it's so unfair to be blamed for monumentally poor management of a project.

I rather doubt Bush was stupid as the Left made him out to be. And I rather doubt Obama is as smart as the Left wants him to be.

What I can tell you, is that as bad as GWB was (awful), he at least tried to pretend to do his job, while Obama seems to be going from Fundraiser to Vacation to Fundraiser to Golf to HipHop to Basketball, while the world is burning around him.

Rome is burning, and he is the new Nero.

"At-Risk Schools" is bullshit misnomer. These schools get ALL sorts of extra money other schools don't. Let me tell you, money is not the issue, the issue with "At-RisK" is the parents of the kids who are "At-Risk". These people are lower educated because many (most?) do not value education. They are lower Economic, because they are lower educated. And because they are lower economic, they don't see a way (even if you tell them) out of their situation. I am not going to say they are lazy, because many of them do very hard labor work.

The issue is, they would rather spend what little (if any) extra money they have on things that do no provide opportunity for their families. The families who figure it out, are out of poverty in one generation, maybe two. IF you want to fix "At-Risk" schools, you'll have to start with the Parents.

Actually there is. I refer to you Google Classroom (using Google Apps for Education). http://classroom.google.com/

This provides interactive access to the students up to 24 hours every day. The teacher gives feedback and the student receives it immediately, regardless of whether or not they are in class at the time. With Hangouts a "sick" student can be in class, and participate without having to infect classmates with Virus of the year. And so on.

What is a waste of money, is spending it on is old style industrial education items like "Chalk and blackboards", 35 MM movies/VHS', and Books that are obsoleted every time Pearson and Congress comes up with the latest greatest version of Education (e,g. NCLB, Common Core). Imagine being able to get Creative Commons Licensed material/media/books that are Free and edited on the fly to conform to every Jurisdiction's lame-ass requirements, which ultimately will leave politics out of education (once it shows how silly it a lot of it really is). Tie in Khan Academy, and MIT courseware and ..... and you have EDUCATION that goes through PhD level work available ... for free ... for anyone.

I foresee the time when we dump Industrial Education and start providing kids all the education they can handle at any age and quit trying to pigeon hole them into "age" segregated classes, and start putting them into online sessions with educational peers.

And at $200 ea. Chromebooks offer even the lowest income people a chance to own technology that can help bridge the education gap. $200 buys one, maybe two textbooks these days, something school districts have to do every year or two. Are they as capable as a Laptop? Probably not, but they are usable for 85% of what kids need in school.

To be honest, I don't know whether or not to feel sorry for your kids, or you. Here we live in an age where the world is at your fingertips and you spouting off like it is a pure scam. Kind of hypocritical of you being on /. (using a computer and all) don't you think?

Because Every Student Needs AutoCAD and Photoshop!

Well that and yes, you can do Photoshop and AutoCAD on Chrombooks, via VDI infrastructure like VMWare View Desktops, like we are. It isn't as nice as $1500 specialized workstations and 22" monitors but it works in a pinch (and at home). So, you have VDI for remote work, a Lab full or real Computers for classwork, and not spend a shit ton of money on laptops that are used 85% of the time as IM and Typing stations.

Spending money is easy when it isn't yours.

Hand me the circle you say "exists". :-)

You explore that shit.

I dig girls.

Define a circle.

Do circles exist in reality, or only in mathematical models?

What do engineering artifacts, as approximations of circles, bear in relation to "real" circles?

Are infinities actual, or are they mathematical descriptions for mental extrapolations based in observed phenomena?

Do mathematical models display consistency with real, observable phenomena or with any mental extrapolation? Which one is more "real"? Why?

Mathematics can only describe the set of perceptions, IMHO. When they describe unperceived "realities" they enter the realm of fictions or metaphysics.