Your comment gets my vote for the most insightful one presented.

The whole issue strikes me as:
"You should remove your wife's panties before you drop her off on the corner to turn tricks."

Well , yes, I guess that would make it easier for her to turn tricks, but why am I having my wife turn tricks in the first place?!?!?

This whole subject seems to be begging the question.

Where the 8,000 came from, was the original poster saying that it was 500 billion years old, with mass extinctions every 62 million, which equaled 130 events. The 8,000 was a sarcastic comment regarding the incorrect maths.

I fully understand the current known facts, and the maths.

I was just curious where the 500 billion number came from that 'MichaelDavidCrawford' was making sarcastic replies to.

Start with this comment to clear up your confusion.

Why 500 billion? Where does that number come from?

That's what started this whole mess...that linked(above) comment. 'wjcofkc' is the one that provided the 500 billion number, 'MichaelDavidCrawford' commented sarcastically about the 8,000 events to point out the math error, and then I joined in trying to find out where 'wjofkc' was getting the 500 billion number from, then you tried correcting me without knowing what started this(my guess).

Nothing more than the natural confusion when entering an ongooing conversation without the context of the 'root' of the conversation. Happens to me all the time! :-)

If I remember correctly, the beta was not going 'live' until the end of March, or beginning of April.

I for one, was hoping it was an elaborate April Fools joke on /.'s part.

You have to admit, this one would go down in history as bigger than the year we were subjected to 'OMG...PONIES!!!'

I don't really expect /. beta to be an April Fool, unfortuneately.

Yeah, I feel 'sucker-punched' by this as well.

All of those lying, conniving scoundrals that call themselves scientists have been trying to convince me for years that the universe was only 14 1/2 billion years old.

Man, I feel old now....

Hey wait, maybe this explains the universe expanding....it's trying to catch up with the new info. Yeah, that's gotta be it. ;-)

I think you need to recheck your math.

500 billion divided by 62 million equals 8,064.5, so I don't understand where the 130 number is coming from.

Even if you were thinking 'million' as you typed billion, 130 still makes no sense, as 500 million divided by 62 million equals 8.

Best current estimates on the age of the universe are much smaller than 500 billion, more like 14-15 billion.

Where does the 500 billion come from?

BTW, other than the maths, you made an interesting comment. :-)

That's HOW I keep track of my blood pressure, you insensitive clod!

All lame jokes aside, the volume and pitch of my tinnitus changes with my BP changes.

If it's louder than normal, and higher pitched than normal, it's usually a sign I have forgotten to take my BP med.'s.

How very true, but I had two similar experiences recently.

Several years ago(2-3?), ZZ Top was in town for a show.
Myself, the wife, and stepdaughter all went.
The two gals had a great time, and enjoyed the show.
Me? Well, I spent approximately 3/4 the show trying to figure out what I was hearing, occasional clear bits would shine through the muddy noise, and I could ID the song.

I just chalked it up to some weird mixing and/or accoustic envoirment.(outdoors)

Then later that same year, Ozzie Osbourne was playing close by.
I treated my stepdaughter to the concert for her birthday.
This show was indoors, and again the very same thing happened.

I guess my dodgey hearing had detereriated more than I had realized, and I came to the regretful conclusion that live shows are not worth it anymore fore me. ;-(

No.

Kids these days...*sigh.

Chuck Taylor's couldn't hold one of the PF Flyers shoestrings!

PF Flyers even came with a 'Magic Ring' that done encoding and decoding...Johnny Quest would never lie to me.

LOL!
That's a fascinating read.

A 4 hour filight to the sun(at night, to avoid being burned up!), landed and collected sunspot samples to bring back for the Supreme Leader, and back home by 9:00 P.M. in bed for school the next day...all by a 17 year old boy/astronaut.

Truly remarkable!

The best our youth(USA) can do is cost their fathers $80,000 by posting crap on facebook...sad, really. ;-)

Because they are run as an 'educational institution' mindset, instead of a 'for profit corp.' mindset.

Yes, that is a broad generalization, but applicable for this discussion. (there will always be exceptions, in other words)

'mc6809e' is just projecting his views on the discussion, not that he/she is looking at the whole picture.

No kidding.
I was working at OSU (Oklahoma State University) about 4-5 years ago when the annual raises came out.[1]

The 'President', Hargis got a raise of a little over $150,000.00 a year. He was already making a 7 figure salary, while the faculty got a 2-3% raise, and the staff got none.(again, after not getting a raise for 3 years previously)

[1] I had been working there several years at this point, and still work there, but no longer(as of Feb. 09, 2014) as an OSU employee, they subcontracted out the dept. I work for(Custodial and Housekeeping) to save money, Pres. Hargis has recieved a minimum of 5% raise each year, while staff and most faculty salaries remain frozen, or 2% maximum.
When I was hired, they had to give me a raise within 2 months due to the minimum wage going up from $6.90/hr to $7.25/hr. As of the Feb. takeover, I was making $8.25/hr after almost 6 years there.(before everyone started leaving due to the 'takeover', I was only making $7.65/hr-my pay had only gone up $0.40/hr over 5+ years there. After a lot of people started leaving, they gave us remaining fools a substancial(compared to what we were used to) raise to encourage us to stay.(I got bumped from $7.65/hr to $8.25/hr then) We have been at %50 (or less) of req'd. manpower since mid-May 2013. We(OSU) just completed a several million dollar 'campus beuatification' upgrade, amid a lot of other new multi-million dollar construction projects, including the new Boone Pickens Stadium that made news(even front page on slashdot!) recently for being 'unfriendly' to scouts and media.

Spy vs. Spy slapstick at it's finest.

This world is getting so ludicrous, it makes those 1970's acid trips seem tame in comparison.

And no control over the contents that specific ship may have, or whether they can find a market for the booty...I don't buy it either.

I was under the impression that the whole point of the piracy was the payoff on the hostages, and really had nothing to do with the ship's cargo. (generalization, not 100% accurate)

It seems you are missing the point.

If the car 'saves you $10,000 a year', and you buy one for $20,000, then the car will pay for itself by the end of the second year. The third year, having that $20,000 car is making you money.

And also, both cars and employees last more than two years if properly maintained, cared for, and 'operated'.

Sorry Uberbah, I cannot let this one pass.

"New highers..." should be "New hires..."

I had to re-read that before I actually understood what you meant, thus this reply.

Pedantry and Grammar Nazi aside, you have a valid point. It used to be different regarding OJT and company attitude.

But those days are gone since the MBA explosion, and where all of this will end up is anybody's guess.