We need a +50 here, this is the exact problem with merit based pay. In addition to that, districts want to judge special-ed and Title 1 the same way as regular kids, when those kids will never measure up (wife is title 1 reading).

you want to get rid of bad teachers? Hire better principals and make them do a better job evaluating staff, using multiple unrelated reviews to help avoid favoritism. Teachers know who the bad teachers are, but no one does anything about it.

I'm not from one of those "arrogant" cities (Columbus, OH), but I do know a bit about what you are talking about.

Unfortunately the area does not produce enough tech workers that the area needs so people relocate. Blame us "yankees" (or Californians) all you want but the truth is without us RTP would not have grown as much as it has. I realize the city is suffering from growing pains, but given that you have Cisco (huge campus), EMC (global datacenter, one of only 3 global manufacturing facilities, and multiple offices including sales and engineering), NetApp (huge campus), Lenovo, Epic Games, Citrix, Microsoft, countless biomedical companies, etc, etc, etc I think things have turned out rather well.

Raleigh, NC (RTP) being the exception, which is why a lot of tech companies move here.

Before anyone chimes in with redneck jokes, let me assure you that Raleigh/Cary is full of transplants. I go days at a time without hearing a southern accent. Living in Raleigh/Cary is nothing like the "typical south", as people like to call it.

Sigh, I really need to proofread.

I meant to say: Example: What *if we* started screening for predisposition for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis? We might miss out on one of the greatest theoretical physicists [wikipedia.org] to ever live.

Technically this is true, unless you are comparing it with Win 7 with Aero (3D) disabled. You can't disable 3D in Win 8, and that means your Desktop Window Manager process (DWM) is going to go through the roof when you launch most apps. No big deal for standalone PC's, but I develop/test VDI (virtual desktop) solutions and I can tell you with certainty that Win 8 uses double the CPU resources of Win 7 for the same workload due to the CPU spikes of the DWM process seen under Win 8 (but not under Win 7 since we disable Aero for optimization purposes). This is significant when you are used to running 8 desktops/server core and now you can only run 4.

Can't you import? Maybe I should setup a business exporting US games at $10 over my cost plus shipping (plus cc fees), or would that not work?

Do you have Hulu Plus? I never got confirmation whether that decision affects those of us who pony up the $15/month for Plus. I have no issues watching Hulu+ with my Roku (and I have no cable/sat service).

Roku plus a pc running PlayOn and some good playon plugins. Pretty much everything is out there ready to be streamed. Netflix and Hulu for Roku are good as well.

One would hope that all US political parties can come together against this idea....

Clinical trials are already outsourced by a large number of pharmaceutical companies (google clinical research organization or cro); they have no interest in performing that work.

Why I agree that changes need made, the problem is that it takes a ton of R&D ($$$) to come up with a drug that looks promising (for the most part). Of course it doesn't matter if it looks promising, until you go through clinical trials (or even sell it to the public for a few years) you have no idea what problems it may cause. As that system stands today the pharma companies makes their money by hoping that the revenue they make from approved drugs is more than the money they pay out for drugs that fail testing or turn out to cause problems down the road (leading to lawsuits).

Someone has to take the risk, the question is would you rather it be the government or the pharma companies?

Apple audits 5% of their suppliers: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/compute/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501832&objectid=10779344
What they are doing is a good thing, but 5% is 5%.

Safety rules have changed a bit since the 20's. The cost of airbags alone averages between 600-800 each, and that is just two parts out of a few thousand. Ask you dealer how much the computers in the car cost, or even the ignition systems that ties the key to the car via electronics.

I unchecked that box the minute I got the job I really wanted; I wanted to be clear that I was going somewhere I wanted to stay. The reality is that if you have skills/experience a company really wants they will call you regardless of what a "check box" says. Even with that box checked I get a call to my desk at work at least once a month (people who take the time to look up the office number and navigate the dial by name directory) as well as an e-mail a week or so.
It is safe to assume that this isn't the only company that would notice such a thing, so if in doubt uncheck the box on your own LI profile.

And the earth is how many years old?
I'm not saying climate change isn't happening, just that your example isn't a good one given the limited sample set that is your life. If we are being honest, even a few thousand years of recorded history isn't much to go on given the age of the planet. Climate change has happened before, it will happen again. Some of it will be because of us, some will not.

I apply this same thinking to people who I (help) interview for the various teams I have worked on. Give me people who are willing to learn (and have shown that ability) and a good fit for the team; choosing based on skills alone is waaaaay too risky.