What was the safety problem here? From this article you referenced, the workers thought that they detected a crack in one of the safety systems and they took it offline. They overreacted and took two systems off line and prepared to shut down a safely opperating reactor because they feared the safety systems would not be adequate if there was a problem. They brought one of the systems back up in 15 minutes when they confirmed that the crack was not a significant threat. I would hardly call that a serious safety problem.

I think it's fair to assert that it is sufficient.

I know you're being facetious but...

No they don't.

Not mine.

They look and sound like idiots. Have you ever actually watched a Congressional hearing?

I vote against my Congressman every 4 years. I don't even go 3rd party just to increase the chances that they will lose! At the same time, I also regularly write polite letters to my Congressman explaining my concerns about some upcoming legislation.

I don't watch TV, so I'm not exposed to campaign ads. The bulk mailers I get are devoid of any solid information or ideas.

Yes

Yes

No

Funding is prioritized by a team of scientists hired by the government. They create general categories to which they designate a percentage of their budget and then approve applications from there. In the interest of scientific integrity, the NSF has been fairly shielded from day to day politics.

No! The priorities are set by members of the scientific community. Not a perfect sample to be sure but a hell of a lot better than having politicians decide what has scientific merit.

The problem is that you just have to accept/memorize it. The repeating sine wave never made any sense until it was explained as a vector spining around the origin.

How is any of that useful to the average person? I found solving inclined plane problems and the like to be interesting. But I'm also an engineer and long ago realized that most people are baffled at what I find interesting.

I did say most people and there have already been a few fair rebutals to my original comment. I am not aware of many 15 year old kids going to schools with "technology" in the name. I believe it would be fair to teach the basics of calculating angles and side lengths on a triangle at the tail end of a geometry class. I don't think most high school students need a whole year of it. I definitely don't think most high school students need to worry about plastic injection molding!

To be fair, trigonometry is largely pointless for the vast majority of people. Algebra and geometry sure, but trig doesn't even make sense until you learn about phasors.

It's telling that my wife's last CT scan (in an attempt to diagnose appendicitis) got us a bill for $10,000. After the insurance processed, there was a magical 90% discount (plus what the insurance paid). And someone wants to try and tell me that the hospital would accept that agreement from the insurance provider if they weren't making money on it?! It's telling that my insurance provider now tells me how much to pay the doctor when they process a claim to make sure the doctor isn't double dipping.

I worked at a company that had 3 CEOs in the course of a single year. All had golden parachutes, all had stupid high salaries, all of them were from the same social club (IMPORTANT!), and all of them ran the company further into the ground.

How is this any different than it has always been? At the end of the day, only cold hard real world experience is going to make anything you learned in college make any sense. Even when and experienced person changes jobs, it usually takes a good year before they really become useful. This is why I always tell people to take a co-op if they want to go into industry. It annoys me to no end that employers claim they can't find people with with the skills they need. However, this was never really a problem until the Silicon Valley startup trend of hiring only people who have the exact background that they need. Before that, companies had to invest in their workforce. Not only did they expect to train new hires, they also had to keep their veterans current.

Factor of Safety

Seriously. Regardless of what your working situation is, it's as simple exercise and diet. Take your lunch to work and be active on weekends. This makes a huge difference. If you're lucky enough to have a gym at work, use it.

For contrast, one of the most popular brand name white breads in the USA (Wonder Bread) has this list of ingredients.

Whole wheat flour, water, wheat gluten, high fructose corn syrup, contains 2% of less of: soybean oil, salt, molasses, yeast, mono and diglycerides, exthoxylated mono and diglycerides, dough conditioners (sodium stearoyl lactylate, calcium iodate, calcium dioxide), datem, calcium sulfate, vinegar, yeast nutrient (ammonium sulfate), extracts of malted barley and corn, dicalcium phosphate, diammonium phosphate, calcium propionate (to retain freshness).

I don't know what half of that crap is.

As a devout Heathen, I find the comparison of Calvinists to my kin highly offensive.