See that's the thing telecommuters forget. You are still AT work, just in your home. The kids should have still been in daycare and she still could be doing business just fine. She could enjoy the coffee being two feet away, listening to the radio without headphones, etc... and still got things done.

At my company we have a very liberal work at home when needed policy. Most of the time it is due to family or other needs to be home (e.g. deliveries, repairs) so a drop in output is expected a little. However, people also use it to get stuff done without distractions of fellow employees (the curse of subject matter experts) which is a bonus to us. For my team who is permanently remote, I have to work much harder to ensure they are being successful. Touching base often, making sure we connect at a more personal level, having times they do come in the office for events, and never, ever canceling one-on-one meetings. You never get that back and don't have the luxury of catching them in the hall.

I find that if I don't have specific things to do, then I'm less productive at home. It is too easy to get distracted by other things like putting the dishes away. I'm a manager now, but I think that's why software people do succeed more at telecommuting. They can be hyper-focused on specific things, they have tangible deliverables to get done and don't let go of a problem until they solve it. I love software developers!

I like the philosophy. She obviously knows that dad/mom will not come down hard unless something really bad happens and would probably feel terrible if she went beyond the "norm" for behavior. Good parenting isn't always correcting mistakes and keeping them in a gilded cage.

I'm curious why you don't have a talk with her and say something like, "I know studying can be taxing and if you need a little break head on over to the mall" without letting her know you are already aware this happens. Would probably take some stress off her about sneaking around and, if you did call her, feeling pressure to lie to you...which then does start eroding trust.

You'll be fine as long as you keep listening to Manna's instructions or enjoy the good life in the Terrafoam housing.

I know one family that is a counter anecdote: mine. My girls probably watched more TV and used the computer more than you might think was appropriate based on the statement above. They are bright, well-behaved, productive, and have pretty good grades in school .

The catch? They enjoyed shows about WW II, science, technology (how many "How It's Made" are there anyway?) and the like. On the computer, they spent time creating pictures, researching strange topics, or playing with a 3D rendering program they downloaded...and yes Facebook and Zero Punctuation.

I think much of the issue with new media is what kind of interests they have when watching TV. If favorite show is "iCarly", "House wives of..." or wrestling then I see much of the problem with TV. However, as we techys know, all TV isn't created equal. Personally, Disney channel is a problem :)

Sounds all too familiar to those living in the Chicago area. While the tollways were being updated to new open-road tolling (i.e. you don't need to stop at a booth), everyone was told that those who had an iPass (the electronic toll device) would receive a discount. Of course the discount turned into: those with iPass pay the same (high) cost as before and everyone using cash pays double.

I use to work in manufacturing (wrote machine vision algorithms back then...fun stuff) and the cost can be very competitive with overseas. The key is design for manufacturing and automating as much as possible.

Labor isn't your highest expense when you have high-speed chip shooting lines and automated assembly processes. For a high volume builder such as Apple, the economies of scale work in it's favor too. Low volume manufacturing needs a board house to do the work otherwise capital equipment goes under utilized. That's not Apple or Google's problem.

I'm sure Apple and everyone's designs fit in the designed for manufacturability category so why not assemble in the states. Invest the capital on equipment and put some assemblers back to work!

I know having a lack of locally sourced parts (they are all over seas now, right?) will make it hard, but I would love to see leading brands bring manufacturing back to the states. For Apple, this would be a blessing in minimizing knock-offs and leaks anyway and a little less margin isn't going to put them out of business.

Maybe they can call the show "Junk Drawer Wars"

I always thought it was a combination of cultural expectations and the fact people aren't open to explore the tastes that are foreign to them. I like deep fried potatoes with vinegar, mayo, gravy, mustard, and ketchup. Sure each flavor combination is different, but if someone truly gives it a chance...who knows what you like!

Of course, it is possible that a deep fried potato taste good with everything.

I think many people who are pushing the agenda to allow hackintosh companies want cheap hardware with the cheap high-quality Apple OSX. However, OSX is inexpensive (relatively) because it is an upgrade and is tied to the HW sale. If the law changes, we will all get the wonderful benefit of paying MS level retail prices for OSX and wonderful DRM and activation. I wouldn't be surprised if we even see the same ridiculous price structure we see from MS today instead of the simple one-size for all.

The story behind the Enigma and how the codes were cracked are fascinating. I fell in love with the machine and the concept of rotors, symmetric encode/decode, and how the circuit and mechanical systems worked.

I was so into it that I wrote a simple free simulator for the iPhone that faithfully simulated a set of rotors and include quirks in behavior. It is old and not full featured (one set of rotors, no plug board, etc) but was a labor of love! Someone also has a full featured one for sale in the store now and there are numerous simulators on the net.

There is a paper based Enigma that is an excellent tool for teaching students about this historical device. If you are a WW2 buff, the Enigma is a must on your research list.

Sorry if sounded like I was disagreeing. Indeed it would be good if they were able to keep prices similar due to saving on infrastructure (e.g. warehouse cheaper than storefront). I think part of true added cost is the "pickers" employed to package orders and people are accustomed to delivery charges so they can pass the cost along.

Maybe as more players come in (and not the Webvan kind who could not control their zeal for growth) price will go down. Can alway hope!