http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2401570&cid=37233676

You can't mod down the truth.

There will never be an available cure for cancer as long as the "health care" industry is making such huge profits to treat it.

If you can make an incredibly expensive vaccine, you might displace this effect with time.

This comment is US-centric. It may be that the rest of the world gets the cancer cure but it will be illegal in the US. Or only available to the few who can afford it.

I'm just wondering if there's anyone else who frequents Slashdot who commits the heresy of disbelief in Scientism.

I started to consider this. But then I stopped when I realized that it's just the "blah blah blah" that somebody had spewed in the past.

tl;dr : The map is not the territory. ;-)

"Free to play" is a misnomer. It should accurately be "Pay to win" or "Pay to play well regardless of your skill level".

I hate it. It's a crappy way to do a game, and represents one of the more reprehensible expectations of sociopaths on this planet.

I've taken to assuming that any picture I see in print and many on the Internet have been Photoshopped...

I don't work for them -- I'm just a happy customer. Don't hang on to your Model M - get a new one in black with USB:

Unicomp Customizer

Unicomp SpaceSaver

I still use a wireless mouse, but ran an active USB cable to my comfey chair so I could put one of these beauties on my lap. Buckling springs FTW!

That's pretty good. I also thought of timed quotations from the Sword of Adam in Torchlight.

Wow. That is actually quite awesome. Considering that overcoming cognitive bias could be beneficial to pretty much anyone in any environment. And that lessening cognitive bias on a large scale could only be beneficial to our species and planet.

Sadly, a great many people will oppose the concept or resource allocation toward it due to cognitive bias.

Seriously... Cancer is big, big business. I expect it will never be cured as long as this kind of money is being rolled around. I think I flipped from disturbed to disgusted by this when lots of billboard advertisements started appearing for cancer treatment facilities.

At this point, I may be happier calling this life good and heading out than feeding their damn money machine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvmwY8LHo1Q

Really? Size and resolution were at the top of my list, and friends (techie and non-techie alike) seemed to think it important for their decisions, also.

Ended up watching his entire presentation. Very thought-provoking. Thank you very much for the reference!

Well done on the consent form. Love the way it just drops reference to the real agreement:
https://sites.google.com/site/wiscgapps/wisconsin-google-apps-announcements/consentformandagreementavailable

Some of the confidentiality agreement is below. Love the way they name Google as "School Official" to mitigate FERPA. I also linked Wikipedia below for CIPA, COPPA, and FERPA. These are federal, not sure what the state laws and guidelines are in Wisconsin.

Maybe I'm paranoid, and it's okay for targeted ads for tutoring services to follow little Johnny around for a few years. I do feel bad for Wisconsin K-12 IT. I'm sure they've worked hard over the years to provide systems and AAA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AAAA_protocol) to help students, teachers and school officials protect information and student record data as required. Kiss that goodbye when managed AAA is replaced with self-managed peer-to-peer document security on a per-document basis. What's this "make public" checkbox? Looks cool! How many Wisconsin teachers and administrators are being trained to manage their own data governance in this environment?

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5. Confidential Information.

5.1 Obligations.
Each party will: (a) protect the other party’s Confidential Information with the same standard of care, but no less than a reasonable standard of care, it uses to protect its own Confidential Information; and (b) subject to applicable law, not disclose the Confidential Information, except to Affiliates, employees and agents who have a reasonable need to know it and who have agreed in writing to keep it confidential. Each party (and any Affiliates, employees and agents to whom it has disclosed Confidential Information) may use Confidential Information only to exercise rights and fulfill its obligations under this Agreement, while using reasonable care to protect it. Each party is responsible for any actions of its Affiliates, employees and agents in violation of this Section.

5.2 Exceptions.
Confidential Information does not include information that: (a) the recipient of the Confidential Information already knew; (b) becomes public through no fault of the recipient (in the case of Google, without Google’s reference to Customer Data); (c) was independently developed by the recipient; or (d) was rightfully given to the recipient by another party.

5.3 Required Disclosure.
Each party may disclose the other party’s Confidential Information when required by law but only after it, if legally permissible: (a) uses commercially reasonable efforts to notify the other party; and (b) gives the other party the chance to challenge the disclosure.

5.4 FERPA.
The parties acknowledge that (a) Customer Data may include personally identifiable information from education records that are subject to FERPA (“FERPA Records”); and (b) to the extent that Customer Data includes FERPA Records, Google will be considered a “School Official” (as that term is used in FERPA and its implementing regulations) and will comply with FERPA.

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FERPA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FERPA

CIPA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Internet_Protection_Act

COPPA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Online_Privacy_Protection_Act