My experience is similar, but the number of people who can take the car to Autozone for a free diagnostic code reading; that tells them to replace the pedal should be everyone, just a matter of confidence.
Unfortunately me experience with dealers is that's also the best they will do regardless if it is electrical or mechanical as well (doesn't really help either argument though.)

But you should be aware that Windows 7's Task Scheduler comes by default (at least mine did) with a background defragmentation task set to run once a week, and only while the computer is idle. That should probably be enough for most users. One should be aware of this if one desires to use another defragmentation utility, because having two defragmenters fight about where a file should go (either actively fight, or just a file is moved between two locations every time the other is run) is not good.

dot.bank model: Let's sell dimes for a nickel and make it up in bailouts...

Today, Windows 7 (NOT AN UPGRADE) [amazon.com] goes for $178.54 on Amazon and lists for $199. According to the Minneapolis Fed [minneapolisfed.org], $99 in 1985 is worth $200.21 in 2010 - in other Words, inflation adjusted, Microsoft hasn't raised the price of Windows. And if you include all of the programs that are included with Windows 7 that you would normally have had to have purchased separately back in '85 (compression, file management, image viewers, etc, etc...) Windows has gone down dramatically. Now, they've been labeled a monopoly in court, but they're pricing isn't that of a monopolist. Actually, they've given the consumer a really nice value.

What happened to hardware prices during that same time?

My company in England has just received information from HM Revenue & Customs (our central tax collection agency) about how to file the various information that we are legally required to submit. In several cases, we are now legally required to submit that information on-line via HMRC's web site. Lack of Internet access would make it impossible to run a business legally with the law as it now stands in the UK.

I'm pretty sure that preventing someone from making a living is going to violate the fundamental right to work enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the associated European Court were created on the basis of that declaration, but don't explicitly recognise the right to work, so I don't know exactly what the legal situation would be there.

Too true, like Beck himself. He's no different than Limbaugh at his peak in the 90s. There will always be some irrationality-spouting, fear mongering chode on the air trying to incite panic from the lesser morons of the world. Personally I find it difficult to believe anyone actually listens to the guy for anything beyond simple laughs.

Don't worry, the UK government has been pushing for this for years. Technically it already exists, and about 5 volunteers have signed up for it. On the other hand, while certain groups have IIRC already been forced to have one, other test groups have outright rejected it.

With an election coming up, I haven't seen a single reference in favour of ID cards from the Labour lot who are in power at the moment, and both the other big parties have said they will scrap the scheme. It's become a political nightmare for the government.

FWIW, the really insidious thing here in the UK isn't actually the cards, it's the all-in-one database that is behind them. Curiously, the Conservatives (who are likely to win power later this year) seem to have been a bit quiet about that.

What I inferred was that the real problem wasn't that they failed - complete failure they would have recovered from. Unfortunately, they did not understand what their state was when only some of them failed, and did not figure out how to recover.

You might want to look into OpenLaszlo.

I like the idea of this program.

I hated HS and would have done anything to get out early.

In the end, as there was no early out, I simply dropped out of HS entirely. A bit thereafter I took the insanely easy GED exam, got my paper and started at my local community college in what would have been my senior year in HS.

I don't regret that decision. Never have. And once you have your BS/BA no one cares about your HS history.

UW Academy. They didn't give us high school diplomas, but once you have a bachelors, who cares if you graduated from high school? (Also, the continued success of the program is proof that at least some 16 year olds can handle themselves in a university setting)

Nonsense.

The extra 2 years doesn't help anything.

HELL, an extra 6 years doesn't help anything quite often.

The people with talent are having their time wasted due to boredom and those without talent
are also having their talent wasted due to boredom. Artificially extending childhood just
feeds on itself.

Off to college at 16 is not entirely unprecedented.

The cultural failings that cause 16 year old to be children aren't fixed by subjecting them to 2 more years of high school.

I can't tell if I'm going a little over 45 or just at 45. My speedo's marked at 5mph intervals so I know I'm roughly around 40..43? or 42..45? Or somewhere in there. In any case, the needle's "on 45" in multiple positions so I might be at 44.5 or 45.5 or whatever. It doesn't honestly matter.

I'm no expert, but isn't cat5 4x twisted pair? So eight conductors, not four? Glancing at a cable I have handy, it appears to have eight contacts. I assume this means a differencing technique at the receiving end? Or is there actually a common?

Only two pairs are used in standard duplex Ethernet. The other four conductors are occasionally used for Power over Ethernet. See the pinout.

A community college is a strange beast... kind of like vaudeville, its either people moving up and out, or down and out... If you look at is as "college minor leagues" then maybe there is a good point to be made. They will be presented with college-level (or near college-level, depending on your aspirations) classes but still live at home. One of the most valuable aspects in any career is experience, and if you can get more experience than sitting on your butt in high school for two years, that's two years you could be apprenticing or taking core classes that will allow to jump head first into the next step of your studies.

I can see this having a positive effect, as there may just be those "driven underachievers" who would put in the effort just get out of HS early and on with the next thing in their life (hopefully skilled trades). It certainly beats letting kids just drop out.