from when I was down there (USN) in 1976 -- folks were pretty much left to act like adults and be responsible for themselves. Now the whole country seems more farked up than the U.S., or even Britain!

Maybe they should start referring to him as Kim Jong Conroy?

So much for the concepts of "Freedom" and "Democracy" for Oz...

I've been running Linux for over 5 years, and have never had to do anything like that to get a USB drive to work.

Sure, there's some hardware that won't work under Linux because of drivers -- usually cheap-ass crap that people shouldn't be buying in the first place. Then again, my Linux system does recognise the vast majority of hardware, and doesn't need separate drivers for any of it. Hell, the first thing I do when I buy hardware for my system is throw away the Windows drivers disk(s) that came with it, along with whatever suck-ass "free" program they had to toss in to try and convince me to buy it. On top of that, I don't have to reboot eleventy-seven times while installing said drivers.

No, not hypocrisy.

Using Linux, you're expected to take responsibility for your computer and how it's configured. If it's borked, that's because you probably didn't research/learn as you should have and almost certainly changed something without knowing what it does or is for.

When a Windows box is borked, it's generally because MS screwed it up FOR you, before you got it, and without telling you -- if you had any interest in it working correctly in the first place (which most Windows users are willing to assume it does).

to step on the ol' weenie with track shoes...

[Carnac] "What is 'people staying away in droves?' [/Carnac]

Better than fussing at the U.S. that these students are choosing to stay here, better you should be asking why they don't want to go back. Caste system? Social stratification? Old-boy network? Nepotism? What does the U.S. do/have that India doesn't?

The thing that concerns me is that "but for now" part.

If the U.S. doesn't get its collective head out of its ass and start not only teaching math and science again, but actually respecting (and even honoring) the fields, then we're going to be the world's foremost service people. We've got too many kids going to college just for the "piece of paper" that valuable resources are being wasted. It's well past time for parents to accept that a college degree isn't an automatic job guarantee, and start directing their kids into some trade schools. A journeyman plumber takes more money home than a Liberal Arts grad flipping burgers.