Im curious... Did you have a cover without the light?

I had one of those and was having a problem with locking up and sudden battery drain nearly once a week.
It turns out that the hooks that hold the cover on ALSO provide power to the light in the cover with the light. If the plastic coating on the hook of the lightless cover wears off, it makes some kind of connection that shorts the Kindle out.
From the time that I replaced that cover about 6 months ago with a cover with a light it has not happened again.

I wonder if an airport scanner can induce a charge which increases the chance of this happening?

In principle I agree. The problem is when the contractors KNOW this they can milk the system for more money.
So we need to work with contracts that that bind both parties. Set an upper limit for what the government will pay, a minimum for what the government will receive and logical gates that lock down WHEN each party will walk away.

Even then the system will be gamed, but at least there would be limits.

No, were 5 years behind schedule because the governments response to that situation in the past has been "Oh. Well here's some more money. Let see if that helps."

... the zombie apocalypse.

With normal solar panels you have to pay someone nearly as much as they cost to install them. These you can install yourself. That can cut the true total cost in half right there.
TFA also states that it takes less sunlight to power these than traditional cells, so while they are less efficient, they will generate power for more of the day and on more days.

I cant disagree with anything you say, but where the hell did the corn come in? I reread the article looking for what I missed, but the OP didnt mention corn once, and yet you disagree with his stance on corn. Do you know something I dont?

Surely your not assuming corn is the most harmful ingredient in Doritos, because my permanently orange stained fingers would argue otherwise.

<quote><p>Let's let the let the guys with the PhDs in science, math, and engineering figure out energy policy.</p></quote>

Clearly you have no experience with how Democracies work....

<quote>And how are they going to handle multiple viewers wanting to operate the camera at the same time?</quote>

No Worries. Google already figured it out.
I mean, Im already able to zoom in the satellite cameras for Google Earth.

Whats that? software? digital image? ...
Enough with your crazy techno babel!

Yes.
And in an ironic twist, it can also make baseballs.

I agree with everything you said, but it has nothing to do with this situation.

There is a big difference between calling a students failings out in the class room vs any public forum, electronic or otherwise.

And I would also expect a teacher who says "I hate your kid" to get fired no matter what the forum.

They have sold what, 40 or 50 of these? They are FAR from mass producing them. It makes sense for these companys to try them out at a few centers for high initial prices as an investment in the hope that if everything pans out, the prices will drop significantly when the company is producing them in the thousands.

I wouldnt be suprised to hear that the price reflects more of the cost to keep the company (and the brains behind it) afloat while they try to spin up than it reflects the cost to manufacture.

Not necisarily true.
A stoke (I think this is right, although I may have muddled medical terms)is a blood clot or plaque breaking off and getting lodged somewhere that does damage. Typically its the brain, but not always.
My father in law recently had this happen and had a "stoke in his eye" which left one eye damaged and useless, but the brain is fine.
This sounds like what the parent is talking about IF "no perception on one side of his body" is just visual perception and not feeling as well.

Oh HELL yes.
The book would make a GREAT movie. The only thing they took from the book the first go around was "Humans are at war with bug like aliens". WTF? Did they really need to buy the right to the book for that?

And while were at it, how about a Star Wars reboot? Not eps IV,V and VI. Just I, II and III. Please?

Dont confuse the administrator of the database with the governor of the data therein. Google is just proposing to provide the technical solution, not decide the policies that get someone on the list.

And if Google gets this, the goverment will certainly write into their charter limits on what and when they can charge.

I just dont see an issue here.