I'm looking forward to commercial SAMs.

if Ask /. was able to get some kind of expert in a relevant field for an Ask /. question and they add that person's input these comments. Probably keep the "expert comment" at the top of the comments. There are good questions posed to this section at times and reading something authoritative would be great.

I had a similar first thought to this. It seems like a lot of equipment developed for "military" use is more along the lines of military/security, thus applicable for use by police forces. Beyond anti-aircraft or ballistic missiles, a lot of the tech seems to become police-issue. So where is the pro-democracy tech to keep police from abusing this stuff once they get their hands on it? Every time I see a "new military tool" I picture police using it to squash protesters.

I'm not sure how. You'd probably have to sue. Would the state secrets ruse be used to prevent the suit? If enough falsely accused people got together, maybe the ACLU would take the case?

That's one reason. I know kids cheat regardless, but online items are so much easier to cheat on.

I took one online class. I didn't like it. I want the interaction you get in a classroom.

Bumper sticker:
"If you think college is expensive, try ignorance."

I agree that the cost has risen quite steeply. But I think a free-market person would argue that if the degree betters your chance of a higher income, then that shouldn't deter you. Of course, those people are probably done with the little debt they had when college was cheaper and are already rich. They don't realize what that debt is like, as you pointed out, crippling in some cases.

OTOH, the kids could try to be more reasonable about what is really necessary to get them through school. Don't need a new car or a lot of new clothes. My uni's library lends laptops and IPads (for only a few hours, but they are available). And I've always worked while in school. Not full-time, but close to that many hours for some stretches.

Further, I don't know if a college degree is really necessary for a lot of "decent jobs". I know this being a tech site, folks are thinking more from the perspective of high tech industries requiring a lot technical training, but there are other jobs that pay well enough without a lot of school. UPS driver, plumber, firefighter. Having said that, the future of our economy seems to be heading in one of two directions jobs-wise: really technical, well-paying jobs that do require a good deal of school of which there don't seem to be a lot of, or a lot of menial, service jobs that don't pay as well. There'll still be plumbers and firefighters, but I picture big plumbing conglomerates that hire plumbers as contractors who will get crap pay compared to what they used to get when they were independent/proprietors.

Just because most of those people don't complain doesn't mean that nothing has happened. They might be scared to complain. Or they may feel that complaining will get them nowhere at the least.