Maybe this is because people who drink coffee are less depressed?

One of the symptoms of severe depression is tireness. People with severe depression often sleep all day. People who are not severely depressed want to get up and out of bed, into the world, and drink coffee to help them do so.

Thus, mortality numbers are skewed by the suicides of the depressed (and thus more likely to fall ill, abuse drugs/alcohol, and/or commit suicide.)

How does this compare to the amount that other large, successful companies spend on research?

Because guess what: long term gambles with no immediate payoff - that's basically corporate research.

What percent of Google's operating costs is spent on these projects, versus say, the amount spent on Microsoft Research or HP Labs?

(We all agree that having a corporate research division is good, right?)

Some of the finest people I've worked with in software have degrees distantly related to computer science, math, or software engineering. Music, religion, "interdisciplinary studies", and an accounting dropout are included in that mix. They are right to pish-posh it away. Actually, as an art person, you wouldn't happen to live near Phoenix, know Java well, and be interested in working on GIS applications for remote sensing, would you? We have a good product that probably could use a techie with an art background to improve its UI.

You want someone with a background in Human Computer Interaction (HCI).

If you're looking for local hires, Arizona State has an HCI program: http://technology.asu.edu/appliedpsych

Why not make it a round 1.25? Delays the next raise, and allows you to not get stuck with a useless nickel that will probably get lost.

There's Google store in Mountain View, at the 'plex. They sell the same products as their online store.

Gavin Russell, prime minister of the student government, gathered scores of signatures on a petition supporting Mr. Christie before two staff members warned him that, if he continued, he could also face punishment.

Apparently petitions are also banned by the cryptofascists who run this school.

As I recall, LOIC is for use with Windows machines.

There is no linux version, since script kiddies don't use linux.

Usernames can't be trending topics, and a ton of people use the tag #wikileaks.

Cash is anonymous.

Anonymity protects privacy.

Privacy is necessary for a functioning democracy.

Smart parent... you get it pretty much on the nose. The technical term is "depressive realism".

You don't need a proxy or perl to game facebook places... you can do it by changing one line in your about:config and hard code "geo.wifi.uri"

I wrote up a full tutorial on my blog for those who are interested.

CMU had a similar site pop up entitled "Before We Leave", which to my knowledge has not garnered any scorn from the administration.

From their FAQ page:

This is not a new phenomenon.

You can do this with commodity hardware. CMU's GREY program has been letting users not only open doors, but manage issues such as access control lists, key management, and usability issues associated with such a system. There's been a considerable amount of information published as a result of their research. They've been doing this since about 2005. It is by no means a new idea.

Insiders being paid off to look the other way?

Maybe.

Or maybe it's a gas station that isn't manned 24/7?

I've seen gas stations in the suburbs where they only have a clerk from say, 8am-8pm. During late hours when they don't get much business, you can use a credit card at the pump, but there's no clerk.