kid at 25, now back in school at 30? Hardly impossible.

and http://www.spacesafetymagazine.com/2013/09/14/european-satellite-goce-uncontrolled-reentry/ his will be the first uncontrolled reentry of an ESA satellite since Isee-2, in 1987. Unfortunately, it will not be the last, considering that the bus-size Envisat’s altitude is gradually decaying in Low-Earth Orbit without control. According to ESA, up to 25% of GOCE’s mass will survive the extreme reentry conditions to fall to the ground. However, the risk for populated areas is very small since the majority of the Earth is covered by oceans. “The major part of what survives to the surface will be the core instrument,” says Dr. Floberghagen. “From the original mass which we have now in space, we have estimated that about 25%, about 250 kilos, will reach the surface, and these 250 kilos will be distributed over between 40 and 50 fragments.” The fragments that survive will hit the ground in a 900 km long footprint. The reentry will be a good test for debris monitoring systems and fragmentation models.

Some, but not all of it. http://www.spaceflight101.com/goce-re-entry.html : With its fins and aerodynamic shape, GOCE will maintain a stable position in orbit as it approaches entry. During entry, the spacecraft will likely remain in that position for the initial phase of re-entry until it breaks up. Following the destruction of the spacecraft, most of its components will harmlessly burn up in the atmosphere. However, it is known that about 20 to 40% of a re-entering satellite's total mass reach Earth's surface. Dense components of satellites usually impact 800 to 1,300 Kilometers downrange from the Orbital Decay Point. Their journey back to Earth is strongly influenced by atmospheric properties like crosswinds that play a major role during atmospheric descent.

You're just assuming he stopped reading after the third line or so, eh?

Well, they'll probably do what they did to fbpurity, block all links to his site from facebook. You can't post a link to it.

you don't have to do this with tex, unless you are coding in a unrelated, plain, word editing program. It isn't necessarily instant live update, but it is a far cry from paper and markers. Also, cascades shouldn't progress beyond section breaks, and you can force even finer cascade breaks.

Wow, that sounds like regulation gone wild. I'm all for well-considered coherent policy regimes, but not for conflicting ones with disincentives towards doing the right thing.

Yeah, I understand that point. Governments in general always prefer to see things come in to general revenue. There's a similar fight going on in Toronto about new revenue streams for transportation infrastructure and how to ensure it doesn't get diverted.

The impervious surface fee actually makes a lot of sense, and isn't simply a "rain tax".

Storm-water runoff is a negative externality that right now everyone in a community pays for regardless of their actual runoff. It's a tragedy of the commons - there's no incentive to minimize it. Charging a fee based on the area of impervious surface on a property converts that externality into a direct cost, rewarding those who minimize runoff and charging those who produce the most runoff more. A property owner need only replace impervious surfaces with pervious surfaces and they'll produce less runoff and pay less; everyone wins. It's the same idea as a carbon tax.

Would not a cryptographic signature not be enough to protect these kinds of communication?

His wife must read /.

Excepting when it comes off the gulf, or from Canada. Or when it becomes suddenly severe. But yes, typically it does come from the west.

it depends what you call passed. 50%, 65%, 80% (here, that's the min undergrad, honours, grad grade to "pass"). Passing means you know enough to do that material, not that you understand it well enough to apply it without effort while learning the next level, so if you stopped there you could be considered to know the material.