Maybe one could reply to their request for money stating that you charge $1,000 per minute of your time when it comes to responding to legal inquiries and that they now owe you $10,000 for services rendered (i.e. you reading and responding to their request).

A number of years ago the question was whether or not to use Flash. Flash may have become more ubiquitous since then but those arguments are still relevant. Do you favor pop/sizzle over accessibility/compatibility. Should you have valid reasons to go with pop/sizzle, then the question becomes one of Flash or Silverlight.

My hope is that HTML5 will render the pop/sizzle question meaningless as you could have sufficient pop/sizzle with something that is both accessible and compatible.

As it stands, if you need something richer than HTML/JavaScript, then you would want to go with the toolset that you know or that is easiest for you to learn with your current skillset. Microsoft developers would likely be better off with Silverlight. Everyone else...?

Aside: What is it about certain I.T. types? Dubious brilliance in one tiny area of the (I.T.) world leads them to believe that they'd be logical experts in wholly different fields.

Logic can be applied to any field. And IT folks are typically very logical. If we didn't work with computers, we would probably be mechanics, doctors, or lawyers.

At least accept the fact that kids will often act like kids. The article is dead right in that some kids are more likely to misbehave than others due to a variety of factors including age, sex, life experience, and physical problems like ADHD.

Sarcasm doesn't convey well in written text...

Everyone knows (2) equals -2, so the answer is...

4 + 3 + 2 = ( ) + 2
=> 4 + 3 + 2 = (x) + 2 (solve for x)
=> 9 = (x) + 2
=> 9 = (-7) + 2
=> 9 = 7 + 2
=> 9 = 9

I can't wait for my daughter to argue math with me because the schools are teaching her in a confusing manner. I agree with the "solve for x" guy - why reinvent the standard for equation formatting.

In terms of equality...

math = mathematics

The abbreviation of mathematics to math must surely be linked to efficiency and/or laziness, but either way it makes more sense to abbreviate to the shorter math and not maths.

In third grade I wrote a BASIC program that rendered a flying saucer landing. The assignment was to draw a static picture with pixel output. That experience probably guided me to my current profession. I didn't own a computer until the 90's so I would not have gotten that experience any other way.

It would be a shame if they weren't still exposing children to programming in school.

Of course, I did get a similar "how do things work" experience by disassembling Omega Supreme and a number of other toys. :)

I believe the general intent was to discourage another tyranny like the one they were rebelling against. Without weapons, the original revolution would have been quite short and unsuccessful. I'd be surprised if the revolutionary leaders didn't mention that, at least implicitly.

The consequences are the same whether the cause is mankind, natural forces, or some alien kid's science project.

To put it in Slashdot terms... let's say you have an application hosted on a third-party server and that application starts showing signs of performance problems as usage increases. You don't know much about the third-party server, you can't control it, and support is non-existent.

Don't you think your solution would be dependent on what you think the problem is? Is the app poorly written or is there another app interfering with yours? Is there a hardware problem or does the junk data need to be cleaned out? Maybe there are just too many users...

I wish the scientists and skeptics alike would get beyond any political agendas and simply state it like it is. Yes, global climate change is real and there is evidence to support a warming trend. Yes, man's activities have an impact on the climate but climate change is a given regardless.

Once they get that out of the way we can start talking about ways to respond to the climate change in a rational manner (without the knee-jerk reactions to seeing one's political position being attacked).

I don't see any good coming from denying global climate change OR from claiming that we can control the climate by eliminating pollution.

"If this continues, you will not see a single person their who has a degree above a high school diploma."

Sounds like a realistic path towards achieving the vision in Idiocracy...

I don't think the problem is necessarily people disagreeing with facts. It is people disagreeing with conclusions that might be based on facts. If you take any controversial position you will find that both sides are usually able to pull facts that support their conclusions and discredit the opposition.

So, who is responsible for fixing the ad plates when they break? If the mechanism fails, is the automobile owner expected to take the initiative to bring the vehicle in for repairs? Is the government going to cover the cost of repairs? I imagine this ad mechanism will be highly prone to failure as people will be tempted to disable the mechanism (whether that be on their own cars or the cars of strangers). Now if the government of California offered incentives for the ad plates that might change things...