Absolutely right. It is important to recognize that both Matlab and R are much more than just languages. I would also throw Mathematica into the mix too, while it is a bit slower than Matlab, its numerical capabilities have continued to grow and it incorporates a fine statistics package alongside a quality plotting and graphics package (not to mention its symbolic roots and recent introduction of dynamic gui manipulation).

For julia to be successful it needs robust integration with quality addon packages, starting with graphics and plotting. It also needs good documentation. One thing that annoys me to no end with Python (and numpy, scipy, pylab, matplotlib) is that you have to look at 3 or 4 different websites to look up API and examples. In my mind Mathematica does this right: a single documentation library which incorporates API reference, tutorials, and common functions grouped together. At the bottom of every page it lists related functions and tutorials so it is easy to discover new API calls in the language.

Almost all Autodesk Software is free for students, staff, and faculty. This includes the big guns like AutoCad, Inventor, Maya, etc. This cannot be said for nearly any other company. Also, they do have reasonably priced "hobby" versions of some of their software. Autodesk 123D is a surprisingly useful tool to model in 3D and is free.

Deflation is a bad thing because it is a disincentive for people to invest their capital. The investment of capital is what will create wealth in the future by founding new businesses and technology.

Also, nearly all GDP numbers account for inflation.

Do the companies own this data? If I buy a computer, create data on it, does the device manufacturer own that data? How could it be legal for a company to transmit data from a device no longer under their ownership?

Those five states also happen to be the top 5 states by population. Perhaps it would be more prudent to look into violent crime statistics per capita....

This is not a case of wikileaks not being able to afford services, this is a case of wikileaks being denied services from private companies due to political pressure on those companies.

The issue we have now is that we cannot trust the government to properly classify reports and cables. Many things are left unlawfully classified in order to cover up embarrassing events. In general I agree that there are instances when sensitive information needs to remain secret, but it is clear in my mind that our government has not applied the necessary level of discretion in their classifications to warrant unquestioned trust. Wikileaks provides that questioning, which one would hope would guide the government's actions in the future.

Long story short: People act to a higher ethical standard when being watched.

Not only that, but the average inflation adjusted price of a paperback has gone up significantly as well. Books in general are too expensive, and ebooks are even worse.

If people willingly buy from a seller that they know is intentionally subverting safety restrictions in order to buy apples at a lower price, then yes, those people do hold a portion of the blame. Sellers respond to consumer demand, so consumers do have an obligation to demand safety. In fact in situations where the sellar is a corporation, consumers are often the only potential source of any ethical behavior.

And woefully underprepared to deal with the social interactions required to advance through society. I would expect many of the parents of unschooled and home schooled kids to not want their children to 'advance' through society, but it is unfair to them to not allow them the opportunity of learning these skills (and other skills the parents are not strong in). A very interesting documentary, SURFWISE, investigates Doc Pascowitz and his form of unschooling. The perspectives from the children are especially illuminating and detail the benefits and pitfalls of this kind of education.

Of course this all comes down to the quality of parents. If you have involved, knowledgeable, curious, parents unschooling may be advantageous, but if the parents are ignorant we as a society are going to have huge problems down the line. The single biggest advantage schools offer is multiple perspectives. As my significant other says "I would hope my children would have access to more knowledge than I am able to provide."

I also expect that many of the "I am smart and I was was bored in school and don't use any of it now, so school is obsolete" commenters do not fully appreciate the impact school may have had on them. It seems difficult for me to think that they did not have at least one influential teacher in their past who had a unique view of the world, not to mention the smaller positive contributions from the many other teachers (liked or not) which are harder to evaluate. Surely, they can read and write, and I would expect schools to have at least some positive impact on those skills.