the US DoED has almost nothing to do with curriculum

That has been true in the past, however through Race to the Top Fund, the Race to the Top Assessment Program, and conditional NCLB waiver guidance (the âoeConditional NCLB Waiver Planâ), US DoE has created a system of discretionary grants and waivers that herds state education authorities into accepting elementary and secondary school standards and assessments favored by the Department.

The transition time from the computer giving up to the user having to take control is always going to mean this is impossible.

I can think of several recent airplane crashes that occurred because pilots tried to take back control from the auto-pilot or auto-landing system without full situational awareness.

Just FYI Fire deaths in New York City hit lowest number on record.

The question is what is the typical "working set" of Internet prefixes for Internet routers at any time? Is it 100% of the Internet? Is it 50%? Is it 10%? I suspect it is something like 10% (but don't have any numbers).

When an unmatched prefix is seen by the router, it sends the packet to the SDN controller for inspection, the SDN controller sets up the flows for that prefix on the router TCAM. It is like a cache, and only needs to happen once per flow. SDN flow setups take on the order of 1ms.

BTW, tell me that BGP doesn't have problems?

There already is an SDN-enabled Internet Exchange Point.

SDN-based routing systems would be even easier to defend against DDoS because of the ability for SDN controllers to rapidly set up firewall rules on the Internet router (which might actually be a switch, or a fabric of switches, or a set of distributed switches).

With SDN, an infinite number of prefixes can be stored on the SDN controller, and the Internet router only needs to load prefixes into the router TCAM when there is actually a flow needed for that prefix.

I do not trust nuclear power that is run for profit.

Uh, was Chernobyl run for profit?

You can drive from Baltimore to DC and back without noticing that you have a flat tire?

Actually I have done precisely that, but it was a rear tire on a front-wheel drive. Only noticed a problem when listening to AM radio and hearing a "click-click-click" when going at low speeds. That was the nail in my tire hitting the road and shorting out the static building up from the tire rubbing.

Indian Constitution Article 21: "Protection of life and personal liberty. No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law."

Note that the phrase "due process" is not in the Indian Constitution. For more information on why it was replaced with "according to procedure", see this reference.

In what way? Is private enterprise disallowed? Do workers own the means of production?

There is a big difference between France which rates "Moderately Unfree" on the Index of Economic Freedom and say Denmark which ranks "Mostly Free".

In France there is far more labor regulation and price controls. France also puts far more regulation on mergers & acquisitions, especially foreign ones. France also maintains a large number of state owned enterprises with stakes in telecommunications, media, aerospace, automobile, and other industries.

Of course France is also nothing like Belarus with Soviet-era state ownership of land and government-controlled collective farming.

I am a citizen of a third world country myself (India)

India is a socialist country. It is much less socialist since the 1980's and the beginning of economic reform of the "permit raj", but it is still rated "Mostly Unfree" on the Index of Economic Freedom.

We will see if Mr. Modi can continue the free market reforms.

From the article, it sounds like CVUSD isn't an independent organization.

CVUSD is an independent organization. It put "Measure X" on the ballot in 2012 to raise $41 million for iPads. 66% voted "Yes".

CVUSD board members are elected, including Juanita Duarte, a three-term board member who is facing trial on charges of embezzlement, and Anna Lisa Vargas, a soft-spoken freshman board member who was targeted by a recall effort last year.

CVUSD is also laying off 147 workers including pre-school teachers to avoid bankruptcy.

Given iPads are like $400-500 each

A used iPad1 can be had for $100-$150.

Of course, I'd be more up for purchasing these if the particular school district did a randomized test of their effectiveness.

The majority of those on board were Chinese... Basically Russia's only ally in this whole mess. Things are about to get very interesting.

In the era before Sina Weibo, the Chinese Communist Party had no problem sacrificing Chinese people for political objectives. Keep in mind that the Chinese have their own potential breakaway areas, and are loath to agree that the global world should have any say in domestic affairs. We'll have to see whether that has changed with the Interwebzors...

Or in 2001 when the Ukraine military accidentally shot down a Russian airliner.

The "People's Republic of Austin" as it is derisively called here is the most "progressive" city in Texas

Yeah, the state income tax rate in Texas is 0.0%. Oh my, quite progressive.

In Silicon Valley, for earnings between $49,774.00 and $254,250, you'll pay 9.3% income tax, and highest earners pay 12.3%.

You can carry an unregistered, concealed firearm in Austin. You can't in San Jose, and you'll need to register your handgun there as well (so it can be confiscated later :)