It's interesting the conservatives are jumping up and down because the estimates are larger than the politically correct number. :-)

Then why do you keep reelecting her?

This is all Bill Clinton's fault!

Indeed, I don't see any difference between H1B holders and local talent. For every great one there's a really horrible one. There are lots of mediocre ones too.

agreed. H1B has become the new tech bubble. It's attracting a lot of really bad people who just want to get rich quick.

A long term strategy would be to use H1B for quality people, as well as developing quality talent within the US. Right now the H1B use for filling entry level positions appears to be distorting our ability to create local talent.

My experience over the past 15 years has been that H1B isn't used to bring in qualified people that we couldn't otherwise find in the US. It's being used to fill the entry level positions.

I don't know why, but it appears that by filling entry level with the H1B individuals this is distorting the free market within the US. Why do they need to go outside the country? Possibly because there has been a decline in people seeking ComSci and other similar degrees. Why would that be the case? Possibly because the IT industry has not addressed their salaries, or work/life balance issues. Possibly also because in my experience IT departments are extremely bad at recruiting out of college. Possibly also because IT departments are bad at developing talent.

Regardless, the influx of H1B individuals filling entry level positions is destroying the entire IT industry because we are no longer developing talent within the country.

This is actually a pretty major issue. Youw ant to call it tribalism, whatever. I'll certainly call it Nationalism. I think it is important for our country to have a functioning free market system, and the H1B system is distorting the free market and not allowing it to function properly.

I guess I don't see the Touch has having been a fundamental improvement as it doesn't really allow you to play any different content. I suppose it does give you a larger screen for video, and arguably it's useful for games.

Besides the Touch hasn't been that popular. Probably because the iPhone is essentially the same device but with a phone.

I don't know why they are pushing the Nanos in the stores, but they are. Given the price, and what you can now buy flash memory for it is surprising to me that they have not introduced a 32 or 64 gig version of the Nano already. But then they wouldn't have quite the profit margin.

Main point is, we're at the tail end of the iPod cycle. We're waiting for the next big thing. Not sure what that is.

I find it interesting that people claiming Microsoft should abandon the market because of Apple dominance are the same ones who said Microsoft could never sell more Xbox's then Sony Playstations, and yet we've seen where that led.

If one was *really* concerned about Global Warming, one would want a thermostat applied to the Sun. No one has suggested that. I find it remarkable the Sun stays as consistent as it does.

Actually last week on Nova they were talking about several studies that have occured over the years which measure the light hitting earth from the sun. They are not entirely certain why, but over the past 50 or so years they have measured less sunlight.

These measurements come from a study done by an Israeli scientist who measured actual light output, and then from a whole host of data that has been collected over one hundred years for agricultural purposes called the pan evaporation index.

One study done in Wisconsin following 9/11 noted an increase in temperature when the planes stopped flying, leading to a premise that perhaps the exhaust from jets is blanketing the earth and shielding us from sun light. Jets just being one cause, obviously pollution has a similar effect. The show noted that this started dramatically increasing in the 1990s which I suppose coincides with industrialization in India and China.

Now maybe it's not this, and it's sun spots as you say. That could only be determined by measuring solar light levels from a satellite located outside of our atmosphere.

It was an interesting show, and shows how complicated this is.

The claim that humans cannot impact the environment though is patently stupid, as there is thousands of years of evidence that contradicts it.

Seriously, I've been amazed at watching the ipod over the years. They came up at 40 gig and it was quite remarkable. I bought an 80 gig model about 2 years ago when they had introduced those. But now you go to the stores and it's hard to buy a classic. They are pushing the nano.

That's usually the first sign of a product hitting it's peak in the business cycle. When they stop caring about the consumer, and start pushing the models which have the highest profit.

If I were MS, I'd stay in this market. Apple hasn't changed the ipod fundamentally since they introduced the color screen and videos.

I don't know. The "Vista sucks" theme really started spreading.

What has been interesting to me is the number of people who I encounter that say they bought a new computer, and while they thought Vista would suck, it's ended up being the most stable computer they've ever had.

$198 divided by 950 Kwh is 20 cents a Kwh.

That's double what I pay. Sheesh.

My Black Studies class was the single worst class I've taken,

Sounds to me like you choose this class hoping to pick a fight. I never took a Black Studies course, and never had any interest in such. Never had interest in Womens studies, or Religious studies either. I did take Cultural Geography and History to fulfill my electives in liberal arts but I found them interesting.

Lots of people here really seem to have a predisposition to disbelieve this. Skepticism is fine, because you don't know me or my son. I know my son, so I know that doubting what he says would be foolish.

I find your story HIGHLY unlikely. The only way a student can be thrown out of a class is if they are disruptive. Extremely disruptive. We're talking physical violence, or shouting and not allowing the class to proceed for a long time.

Children aren't stupid, and they're very manipulative.

The very fact that you are on this forum promoting this anecdote as some example of evil liberal professors will not be unknown to your child. He knows that this is going to be your reaction, that you have allowed preconceived notions to blind you from proper skepticism. So he's worded his version of the events to reinforce your behavior.

The red flag was when you said he made one mild statement, and the professor few into a rage and then he shut up. Come on, let's get real here. Nobody is going to fly into a rage because of one comment. Especially not a teacher who just asked for open comment.

What you just described is an event which will hit the newspapers. So while I'm very skeptical, I'm more then willing to believe your version of the events if you can send us a link to the school paper discussing this in more detail.