He's talking about mechanical engineering, not coding. There's a huge difference. You can always teach yourself new languages, and by the very nature of coding, there is lots online that can help you become efficient.

But when it comes to mechanical, chemical, and other types of engineering, you need to take the courses. Sure you can buy some books and read them, but there is a large set of knowledge that builds on itself that has to be learned to get to where you can be productive.

This kind of relates to a pet peeve of mine when I hear coders talking about how they can reinvent themselves to keep themselves marketable. I agree they have to, and so does everyone else to varying degrees. However, it is one thing to reinvent yourself by learning a new language that uses a semicolon rather than a line feed to end a line (OK, so I exagerate, there is a lot of other deeper concepts that differentiate languages), and another to go from being an expert in, say, thrust bearing design to wastewater treatment. There is a lot of new knowledge and experience that has to be gained, which may or may not be available through book or on-line learning.

Huh? Stallman is a fan of selling free software!

They do. Although the reference to "State Competition" tells me he might be referring to High School Competition rather than club swimming.

From the FAQ:

If my web site or application becomes suddenly popular, will my maps stop working?

No. Your maps will continue to function. However if your application qualifies for and consistently exceeds the published Maps API usage limits, you do not have a Maps API Premier license, and you do not enroll for online purchasing of excess map loads, a warning may be shown on your map and a Maps API Premier sales manager may contact you to discuss your licensing options.

Since when are coal or petroleum complex molecules? Coal is to varying degrees just carbon (the harder the coal, more it is just plain C) and petroleum is chains of Carbon with hydrogens haning off the sides. These are pretty simple molecules.

Obligatory

We are talking data plans here, not cell phones. There are plenty of cell phone plans you can get that are reasonable.

Personally, I choose to not get a smartphone for the reasons outlined above. However, I still have a cell phone, and the rates are way way cheaper than a smartphone.

I usually do

$kdesudo konsole &2>/dev/null &

on my kubuntu boxes. Then I can open as many root terminal tabs as I need.

Except they didn't "remove it". From the TFA:

"Our Kindle Keyboard 3G will continue to offer experimental web browsing over 3G or Wi-Fi."

All they did was introduce a new product with a different price point and different features.

Amazon pays the cell bill. But makes websurfing very hard and slow so not much data is used.

And no, there is no sim card to take out. Maybe there is one inside (not sure what network/protocol they use), but if so it is sealed inside.