I intended that as tongue in cheek. As I said in a different thread, my (vaccinated) daughter was homeschooled through most of grade school, (due to a difference of opinion between her doctors, who diagnosed her as severely dyslexic, and her teachers, who diagnosed her as ADD and prescribed Ritalin) and she later interviewed and got accepted into a somewhat exclusive high school.

Other members of my family (who happen to live in California -- I live in a different state) were very vocal in their disapproval of my decision to homeschool, saying that "everyone knows homeschooled kids don't have any social skills or any education and they're a burden on society". (Apparently there's a pamphlet I didn't get.) To which I say, anything can be done badly. The trick is to do it well.

> You do know that thimerosal has been out of all vaccines used in the US and Canada since the early 1990's right? [emphasis mine]

Apparently not. If you have evidence to the contrary, here's your chance to update a wiki entry.

Europe has also done a much more thorough job of banning Thimerosal (a preservative containing mercury) in vaccines, an area where the US is still behind. Just sayin'.

It can work, if done intelligently. My daughter was educated in a homeschool consortium for most of grade school, and then applied and was accepted into a private high school. A consortium works by having each parent teach the subject they're qualified to teach. I'm pretty good at math and have teaching experience, but that job (math teacher) was already taken, by a retired nuclear engineer who also had teaching experience, so I ended up being IT for the classrooms instead.

Side note, you might be surprised by the number of teacher's children who are homeschooled.

The issue in my case was, the doctors (many doctors over many expensive months of diagnosis) concluded that daughter was severely dyslexic and would never read past a 5th grade level. On the other hand, the school had diagnosed her as ADD and insisted I put her on Ritalin. We could not come to an agreement, and I decided (exercising the parental prerogative that so many people in this thread revile) to believe the doctors rather than the teachers, (I'm funny that way) and pulled her out of school.

As far as vaccines go, I don't have much to contribute except that daughter got all her childhood shots including the (new at the time) chicken pox vaccine (because it didn't exist when I was growing up, and i got chicken pox in my 20's, and it was really messy) and she got chicken pox anyway.

I did turn down the gardasil vaccine, after much research. Which I won't bore you with here. Either you're familiar with the controversy, or you can read up on it yourself. Feel free to call me an anti-vaxxer.

Others have pointed out that vaccines are madated by law in Europe much more strictly than (most places) in the US. That's true. It's also true that Europe was much quicker at banning Thimerosal (a preservative containing mercury) in vaccines, an area where the US is still behind.

This has the same problem as any exclusively biometric technique -- the user can be compelled to give up their "password" merely by being physically present. "Something you have" can be taken, even if it's your still-living (for now) carcass. "Something you have" should always be supplemented with "something you know".

The summary rightly brings up privacy concerns but I'd also be concerned about the security of the transmitted data. Like RFID, the information can easily be snooped, and would have to be appropriately encrypted to be useful as credentials.

> Last Wednesday, the legislation stalled in the Senate Education Committee as lawmakers said they were concerned that too many students would be forced into home schooling.

Or even worse, that they found that they liked it. The problem with making something a condition of participating in a government institution is the risk that significant numbers will discover they do fine without it.

too late for Randy Pausch.

Well, Lucas has been known to go back and futz with his films, so I guess there's always a small chance.

You've pointed out two things: (a) that technology really *does* trickle down. Technology that only the rich could afford does eventually become available to the poor, either through commodity pricing or the used market. (b) The single most expensive part of a hybrid (and potentially the most polluting to create and dispose) is the battery. Both good points.

Not at all, just making an observation that "having a small carbon footprint", as a practical matter, is something practiced more by the affluent, who can better afford it. The poor, who are greater in number, tend to live further away from work and drive older, less efficient cars. It's hardly a secret.

Mind you, I'm sure that higher efficiency transportation will eventually trickle down.

Enh maybe. I'd say that really pandering to the audience would have Jar jar, mistaking it for a fruit, swallow a grenade early in Attack of the Clones. "Urrr, meesa feel" BOOM!

But that may not have garnered a PG rating.

From now on, sticking with cars made before this stupid concept went into effect.

Why... does it have to be Voyager...

More specifically, make them commute two hours to work every day in older gas guzzling vehicles because none of them can afford Priuses. Because you have to be well off to afford to get good gas mileage. Or live close to your work.

I dunno, I read it as George doing a "jar jar binks" [1] on his neighbors. You don't like the idea of a studio on my ranch? Ok, how about LOW INCOME HOUSING? How do you like THEM apples?

[1] Referencing reports that Lucas specifically retaliated against fans' dislike of Jar Jar in the first film by giving him increased time in the subsequent films.