I don't mean to be malicious, but does anybody else find it funny that somebody would find an opt-out provision for a /class action/ waiver to be meaningful?

1) Microcontroller programming is the new BASIC. Buttons and lights are infinitely more compelling than magical and confusing text input and output.
2) Motors and sensors are highly enabling for aspiring makers.
3) It's a huge win for a kid to recognize a modern computer in within a proper taxonomy –as a powerful yet degenerate class of electronic device.

Rather than relying on the 80's BASIC experience, you can actually do better for your kid by buying the SparkFun Inventor's Kit, and helping him through every step of the tutorial. $100.

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11022

To program the microcontroller, you can use a cheap, standard netbook, which will also help the kid in school.

I find it weird that Thomas Biskup thinks he can reenergize ADOM without derailing his fledging sequel. But I've enjoyed many hours of ADOM gameplay, and if he wants money to fulfill a personal dream, I'll certainly pitch some cash his way.

When it comes to industry questions, I find myself going to Quora first.
http://www.quora.com/Hearing-Aids/Are-hearing-aid-manufacturers-price-gouging

"Tushar Katira, Industry Pro" knocking one /. talking point:

There is neither an expensive FDA approval process (except for hearing implants) nor are there IP related obstacles.

Affirming another:

As long as governments and insurance companies continue to cover the (high) costs, there is no incentive or reason for hearing aid companies to reduce prices and margins (as Andrew pointed out).

And a silver lining:

The iPhone does have all the components of a high quality hearing aid: A good mic, DSP amplifier, programmability. There are good output transducers available. There are some good apps for amplification and better ones are on the way.

One problem with using your iPhone as a hearing aid is the necessity of "cords / wires / cables". The current bluetooth headsets have a lot of latency delay resulting in the the sound and the movement of lips being out of sync. The new Bluetooth standard and other wireless devices will solve this very soon.

A disproportionate response to astroturfing is actually a fairly pragmatic solution to the problem.

A story about anti-black racism is an opportunity to call attention harmful, pervasive attitudes, which are relevant because power is... well, white. It's an important function. If you think giving equal time to anti-white racism is a step towards parity, then you've clearly failed to understand how incredibly far our society is from parity for blacks, and you're part of the God damned problem.

You think anti-white racism is any less harmful?

Yes! Obviously! That's the whole point.

It's not about whether a given activity or anecdote is racist. It's about the cumulative effect of these anecdotes on the daily lives of people. By and large, small business owners are white. HR decision makeres are white. The powerful social clubs are white. Angel investors are white. VC investors are white. The political machinery in your state is probably white. Your neighborhood watch is probably white. Your shrink is white. Your doctor is white. Your game designers are white. Except for a few localized situations, you're probably not going to be seriously adversely impacted by anti-white racism.

A story about anti-black racism is an opportunity to call attention harmful, pervasive attitudes, which are relevant because power is... well, white. It's an important function. If you think giving equal time to anti-white racism is a step towards parity, then you've clearly failed to understand how incredibly far our society is from parity for blacks, and you're part of the God damned problem.

There is no ethical smartphone.

Given your statement, I think you'd appreciate Coyne's approach. It's self-admittedly pugnacious. He declares there's no room for dialog, only destructive monologuing. At first, the social signaling and negative attitudes are off-putting, but by the end, his signaling seems to successfully in-group the audience and ostracize the theologians. It's kind of fascinating.

That's kind of doable now with (what is colloquially referred to as) HTML5. I know you're referring to the atrocity of running the actual convolution with browser JavaScript engines, but as it stands, you can specify the convolution filter in ECMAScript and pass it off to WebGL. The early part of this video has a pretty cool demo.

http://www.google.com/events/io/2010/sessions/gwt-html5.html

We already have the tools to do everything you described. The real problems are:

Educating users -- a lot of people are not aware of anything other than the web
Getting the tools into the countries like China

No, mrogers is right.

People who think we already have the tools don't understand the problem well enough. Broad-based education is an end, not a means. If it is a mandatory means (God help us), then we need tools to get us there.

As an important semantic point, if the scheme that gets us to our goals isn't already in motion, then we don't have the tools yet. To think otherwise is to confuse collective behavior with volition.

The ability to commit suicide is a hedge against slavery. The ability to say "no" (a relatively recent innovation in history) is a hedge against shitty "contracts."

The ability to coordinate with like-minded people on a large scale in economic, social, and political dimensions is a hedge against the limited set of opportunities afforded to us by traditional capital, consolidated media, and mere voting.

Shirky's right. Improved, sophisticated, unstifled collaboration that allows people to raise their heads out of the prepackaged trough of opportunity is of primary importance today, to be prioritized even above addressing problems of government control over media talking points.