So what is wrong with establishing the definition as Criteria 1, Criteria 2, Criteria 3,etc., etc. or objects currently classified as planets? It's not like there aren't other classifications that we ignore if we choose to. We also are in no danger of some intelligent life from another solar system dropping by and saying "What? How is that a planet? It doesn't meet your own criteria!"

Yes, if there had been a large explosion, even if it was not combustion, that amount of earth moving would have been measurable by seismic instruments thousands of miles away. Quarry explosions have been known to display as earthquakes as large as 2.7 on the Richter scale and felt for hundreds of miles, and those would pale in comparison to the amount of earth movement involved in the Siberian craters. It is much more likely that they escaping gas just gradually caused sinkholes, which would still create seismic events, but would be more likely many smaller ones and probably would not pick up on instruments unless they were within 100 miles.

Oh, you must not live in the United States where the insurance must cover people with pre-existing conditions. I have not had insurance through my company for years. Well, I did, but not my family. They paid for my coverage. However, it was much cheaper to insure my family on the open market rather than through the employer plan. People seem to have got it in their head that they have to be tied to a company in order to receive health insurance. This has never been the case. Outside coverage has always been available, and it is often cheaper other than whatever part the company covers. These days a lot of companies "offer" an "excellent benefit plan", but when you look at it, you pay 100% of the premium. How is that an "Offer"? You could get the same outside, probably for less money, and not be tied to a particular employer.

And if they tied that education to a job at Microsoft, they would come out ahead, even if they paid industry standard wages.

Shatner is not getting slim. HTH. HAND.

The tobacco companies don't get people hooked. As required by law, they are not allowed to advertise and must fund anti-smoking legislation. There are also numerous other anti-smoking lobbies which constantly bombard everyone with the message that smoking is deadly. In light of all of this, there is only one person that can be held responsible for starting smoking, and that is the person theirself.

Optionally, we can inundate everybody's daily lives with constant reminders of the health hazards of smoking, including the second hand smoke deaths, breathing through stoma and hundreds of other daily images of how horrible smoking is. Then NOBODY will ever even CONSIDER smoking./sarcasm.

The money for paying for sick leave comes from the extra 10% that the company gets every year when they raise the prices of their product to beat inflation, but then do not give raises or cost of living increases to the employees.

This is true in most industries, even tech. Most companies have changed their policy from the base two weeks vacation plus you call in sick when you are sick to two weeks paid time off including sick leave. They did not offer employees any additional remuneration when they took away their sick leave. Also, they still want to know in advance when you are going to use a PTO day, as if you know what days you are going to be sick.

Mine broke yesterday afternoon. If I go to my page, I can't see my individual comments anymore unless I manually add "\comments" to the url. Completely broken. Is this the "new" broken slashdot beta to replace the old broken slashdot beta?

It would be much faster for me to ride a bike than to take the bus to my last place of work. Going by the bus schedule, I literally would have to spend 7+ hours a day either on the bus or walking to or from the bus stop. The closest stop to my house is about 2 miles and the closest to work is also about 2 miles, but the route does not go direct and I would have to transfer downtown and wait for an outgoing bus. In order to get to work by 9, I would have to take the earliest possible bus, which would necessitate leaving my house at 5:30 am. In order to take the last bus, which would get me home by 7:30 pm, I would have to leave work no later than 4:45 pm. Obviously, this would be unacceptable to my (now former) employer, as that would leave less than 8 hours for working and they expect us to put in at least 10-12 hours per day.
Biking the 18 miles, on the other hand would take maybe 1.5 hours in either direction, so it would be more than twice as fast as the bus. The disadvantage being that it would be dark for at least part of the trip most of the year. It is also mostly highway, so by bike I would have to find an alternate route. By car, it is about 20 minutes, so about 5 times faster than the bike, and about 10 times faster than the bus.

No, Ellen Pao looks pretty hot to me. But then, I've always been partial to Asians. Just ask my Korean wife. Ellen Pompeo doesn't really push my buttons.

First of all, the comment you quoted was not mine. Second, the percentage of female CEOs has doubled in the last 10 years. This is not a small change. My question is whether this is due to somebody finally recognizing the merit of certain women, or whether some companies are just trying to create the illusion of being socially progressive and hiring women over men for the position.

I don't have a problem with being seen naked. Society has a problem with seeing me naked.

I wouldn't say doing it once (at least the suit, have no idea or evidence about the affairs) represents a "history". If she sues Reddit next, then I would call it a history. Also, the information I see says that it was not a harassment suit, but a gender discrimination suit. Hard to claim gender discrimination when they make her a CEO. Although I would suspect a guy could probably make a good claim (that would be thrown out because discriminating against males is okay) that Reddit is just hopping on the bandwagon of female CEOs and are thus illegally discriminating based on gender.
Now, if she is really getting involved in affairs with employees, I might go get me a job at Reddit. She's one hot CEO. I'll get my wife's permission first, or course.