Aussie watchdog starts reading Neal Stephenson novels in hopes that he'll find more things to fret about.

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened."

That isn't true. The GEICO and Progressive ad campaigns will continue. They work well for the demographic those insurers are trying to reach - the discount-seeking, direct purchasers. The funny, 'copycat' campaigns by the likes of Allstate and Nationwide are proving to be unsucessful and are being canned in favor of different approaches. Allstate and Nationwide aren't considered discount carriers and they traditionally sell through insurance agents (i.e. not direct to consumers), thus they have a different demographic to reach.

I wish I could find the link to the article that covers this, but I can't at the moment.

is Melodramatic. Marching with a coffin? Come on. I guess I would hope that such a group of people wouldn't stoop to that level for attention.

The real question is how government will respond to this perceived threat. They could push for better software and system security. Instead, they'll likely use the fear of this threat to increase their size and find yet another way to restrict people's freedoms.

I'm a parent. My kids have never asked to go to McDonald's because of the toy. They have asked to go because of the indoor playspace. I live in Seattle where it rains frequently for 9 months out of the year. I'll occasionally take my 4 year old to McDonald's on the weekend. She'll have half a cheeseburger, some apple slices, a few fries, and some milk. She'll then tear around in the playspace for 45 minutes to an hour while I work or surf the web on the free wifi. At the end of that time we're both in a good mood and ready to move on to the next thing. I really can't complain about any aspect of that experience for the $4 it costs.

Quite honestly, McDonald's and the like probably are the last paces you might get food poisoning. I'm willing to wager that the instance of food poisoning per person served (when consuming similar food) is lower at McDonald's than most non-fast-food restaurants. The similar food factor is important as items such as ground beef have an inherently high liklihood of contamination.

I wouldn't say this was the case prior to the Jack-in-the-box e-coli outbreak, but I think it is today.

To me, this should be the primary difference between a technical school and a university.

At a technical school one should be able to demonstrate, via exam, that they have mastered a skill or set of skills. Upon doing so they should receive certification and move on to a career.

Universities should be built around the process of mastering academic learning - proving or disproving a hypotheses, critical thinking, research, etc. Knowledge that can be demonstrated on tests is part of the process, but the rest must be shown through somewhat long-tailed course work such as thesis papers, directed research, etc.

It seems that most universities are now content to be technical institutions for undergrad degrees and, quite frankly, for many graduate programs. This is a shame because there really should be multiple approaches to undergraduate education.

I'll also say that I'm not against technical education at all and feel it has an unfortunate stigma. The majority of my own degree experience would fit under the 'tech' label. For some reason the job market in many countries has written off technical education in favor the university concept. This in spite of the fact that what they really need is people with a technical education. This has resulted in universities becoming more technical.

This is all just 'top of my head' get-off-my-lawn talk so please don't take offense.

Seems odd to me that one could get both bachelors and masters degrees from a university solely by passing a set of exams. In other words, there was no course work required (though it sounds like he did have to complete an internship). A big part of university should be learning how research and think critically - then apply both to the world around you. Doesn't seem like much of that was happening here. This smells like a for-profit diploma mill.

I can't say that I feel sorry that a school that has likely been gaming the education world got gamed by a few students.

I guess I'll hold judgement until I see an announcement, but a mini Kindle Fire springs to mind. IMO (price aside) the Kindle Fire is the worst of all worlds in the mobile space - laggy and locked down. It's everything I don't want in my next phone. On the bright side, it'll probably be cheap.

Car insurance is not directly analogous. You can choose not to drive. In fact, large numbers of people go about their lives without getting behind the wheel of a car. If you don't want car insurance you simply commute using another option. Granted that this is easier for some people than others (geographic location, career choice, etc.), but people can still choose to live a life where a license to drive is not required. The same goes for all of the other state required insurance. For example, don't want to have to buy medical malpractice insurance - don't become a doctor. Don't want to post construction bonds - don't become a contractor. According to the ACA, if you exist and are in the U.S. you need to purchase health insurance. Suddenly, you don't have any choice (unless you want to pay a fine). That is very different from the car insurance mandate.

I'm not arguing on the merits of the law or the decision. I'm just pointing out why, in my opinion, the use of the car insurance analogy seems rather weak to me.

No disagreement here. I'm simply suggesting what I think would be the preferable alternative. TV ratings and advertising dollars don't carry a high weight in my determination of what is preferable. Clearly I'm not cut of the right cloth for the media industry.

For every three strikes policy there should be a home run policy. A home run would be a crime of such complexity and grand proportion that its perpetrators would get off free and clear. The US seems to have an unspoken home run policy that is frequently applied to those who work on Wall Street. The UK has a similar policy in their own investment banking sector.

So, what would be a home run in this instance? Uploading the top 10 movies and songs of 2012 onto every web-connected machine?

Of course I jest.

Seems like I've already read a hypothetical account of this in Kim Stanley Robinson's 'Red Mars'. That trip to Mars involved more than 4 people and included many of the items necessary for the infancy of a new society, but one can still draw some parallels. I have a feeling, however, that the real life story proposed above would grow rather macabre toward the end.

Rather than watch real people in a downward spiral I'd suggest that people read Red Mars and use their imagination. A manned mission can be sent when there is some hope of long term survival or an eventual return.

For quite some time there has been a serious push to use quantitative analysis to drive decisions. I know this is contrary to the 'Wall Street Gambler' picture that pops into people's heads so frequently, but it really is the truth. High frequency trading operations are a perfect (if not well loved) example.

I'm not in high frequency trading, but I do work for a large financial services company. We frequently look for people with very strong skills in data analysis and then have to help them develop their programming skills. This isn't usually that difficult as these skills seem to come naturally to these folk. I'll assume, with your background, that you are good at accessing and processing data. If you've got these skills I'd suggest you'd spend some time focusing on statistics and other quantitative analysis skills. With those skills (which are rare and in very high demand in financial services) and your M.S. in comp sci you will be highly marketable and should be able to command a very good salary.

If you want examples of some of the things people are looking for head over to Kaggle and look at some of their competitions. I'd also suggest that you enter a couple so you can start a portfolio of projects to bring to potential employers. BTW I am not associated with Kaggle I just think it's a cool idea.