>"This isn't Kindergarten. Nobody is there to hold your hand. Just because you paid for the class doesn't mean that anybody owes you a passing grade. If you can't be bothered to pay attention to class, or don't think it's important, or just don't like the professor, then _you_ get to deal with that. If you can't, then you're going to fail."

THIS, EXACTLY. I taught college Linux/Unix classes part-time for three years (that is all I could tolerate) and after the very first semester it was obvious how I would intro the following classes. So this was my day one speech from that point after (roughly):

"This is college, not high school and not elementary school. I don't care if you don't complete assignments, nor do I care why. I don't care if you come to class or not. I don't care if you ask questions or not. I don't care if you sleep in class. As long as you are not disruptive to others in class, you can do anything you want during non-testing periods... you are all adults and are paying a lot of money to be here. I will do my very best to help you succeed in this class, if you want that help. I will try to make the material interesting and fun, too. But if you goof-off, don't pay attention, don't study, and don't complete assignments, it is highly likely you will fail this class. And that would be a shame."

Amazingly, quite a few students seemed surprised.... and usually those were the ones that later did poorly.

>It seems like no matter what they use in diet drinks, all of them have a pretty horrific aftertaste that I get after just one sip.

You have not tried Sucralose, then, because it tastes closer to sugar than just about anything else. But it wouldn't surprise me if you haven't tasted anything else, because 99+% of non-sugar sodas available use aspartame.

Up until now, the ONLY national soda that has used sucralose (and has for many years now) is RC (Diet Rite). I am glad to see Pepsi changing.

Like you, I drink mostly water, but I do have a Diet Rite maybe once a day. Oh, and Diet Rite also has no sodium and no caffeine.

Michelle Slaughter
Earl Gallows
Trigger Winchester
Otis Hangem
Billy Bob Guilty

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And yet sucralose also doesn't rot teeth, also tastes just like sugar, isn't dangerous to pets, doesn't cost much, has no calories, is stable at all normal temps, and doesn't pose a danger to phenylketonurics. Up until now, the ONLY national soda that has used it (and has for many years now) is RC (Diet Rite). I am glad to see Pepsi changing.

Monkfruit and stevia are both more natural and promising, but they don't taste like sugar (especially not stevia).

>"[watch/body]Alongside the company's new frontiers, like the car and the home,"

Oh yes, Apple, save us. Because somehow Apple is or will be first and/or most innovative in those spaces just like the concept of the smartwatch they just invented, or the larger phone screen, or pull-down notifications, or touch screens, or auto-updating apps, or handwriting recognition, or all-in-one computers, or windowing! Or whatever the media wants to currently declare Apple created.

I love how when it involves Apple, somehow history is always re-written. And yes, I will scream the next time someone asks me, again, if my 8-month-old Moto 360 I wear every day is "the new Apple watch!!!!!" Funny how almost nobody noticed it until recently.

OK, I am in pain from laughing so hard!

Some of my favs include:

* Effortify! "Share your favorite efforts and discover new ones." http://tiffzhang.com/startup/?...

* Sprayit! "Spray like never before." http://tiffzhang.com/startup/?...

and

* Insectify! "The evolution of the insect" http://tiffzhang.com/startup/?...

They were going to include one, but they were unable to complete it by the launch date.

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How's that waiting working out for you?

and one trying to refuse to make a sandwich.

>"Why would view a program intended to help girls as a put-down on men?"

And here is your answer:

We are in a class and I am a teacher. I give candy to all the girls, not because they did anything good. But give nothing to the boys, and not because they did anything bad. Have I rewarded the girls, or have I punished the boys?

Substitute any other situation or groups into that situation and ask the same question.

Sometimes in life, you don't need academic research to point out the obvious. Sorry, had to say it.

That's odd, when I went through the screening and they mis-entered me into the scanner as female, it didn't report any anomaly.

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>"How does helping the several states fund public education not "provide for the [...] general Welfare"?"

Using that logic, the Federal Government can do pretty much *anything* it wants. I don't think that is/was the intent.

Indeed. But the Fed has no right to do that. Education funding with or even without stings attached is still contrary to the Constitution. The States should collect the money they need for education and then it remains in their respective States.

Medicare and Social Security also have no basis in the Constitution, either and should be State programs (if they must exist).

Interstate roads is a bit different, since they really are between states and really are commerce.

Please show me in the Constitution where the Federal government has the power to impose laws about education.

Oh yeah, there is this:

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."