One Van de Graaff Generator per Child

What if we made sure that every classroom in the world was supplied with a solar-powered, fully recyclable, free-trade produced Van De Graaff generator? We've seen how such devices can spark the interest of physics students in western classrooms over the years. Surely it will have the same effect in classrooms throughout the world! Just present one to the teacher and . . . science!

The first teacher I ever had who used email was my freshman HS algebra teacher. She used Compuserve so her email address was some sort of random number sequence. Prodigy and AOL were far superior because they encouraged you to pick a goofy nickname to use while online - your screen name. Because, hey, who knew this internet thing would become so serious?

People are still using stupid screen names for primary email. I get to see a lot as a teacher. There are too many female students out there, for example, with emails including some variation on "juicy". My all time favorite, though, was a student whose email address was "SmurfKiller" with some additional numbers. There must be a lot of smurf killers out there . . .

Thanks for the link and instructions, very helpful. I ran through the procedures and am happy to see that I'm clean. The same page also indicates that this bit of malware basically deletes itself if it finds evidence of security software running on the system, such as Little Snitch or ClamXAV. I was neither offended nor confused by the reference to Terminal. Mac OS has had a hidden command line at least as far back as OS 7.1, IIRC.

Another simple precaution Mac users can take is to make sure they are not logging into their computer for daily use as an Admin. In System Preferences, under Users & Groups, make sure your personal user account does NOT have Admin level access. Make a separate Admin account, with a very strong password (yes, yes slashdot community, I know there's no such thing . . . let's just pretend for now) and give your usual login account Standard access only. The bad news with this set up is that whenever you install software, move apps and files to a new directory, or change system settings you'll be prompted to enter the Admin login and password. The good news is that malware trying to install or run in the background will also run into the same obstruction.

I've been seeing stories like this a lot lately. Of course, like most people, my immediate reaction is that this is ridiculous. Should employers be able to access your email accounts as well? How about your Amazon or eBay purchase histories?

But, aren't there other ways around this? If your Facebook is sufficiently secured, how would an employer even know you use Facebook unless you are honest/foolish enough to tell them you use it? If your employer can't just randomly look you up on Facebook, then they don't know you're using it.

I'm also tempted to suggest simply deleting your Facebook - better to let it burn rather than fall into "enemy" hands, if you will. But, for people who use it as a primary means of communication that's probably not an option.

Quick, everyone jump on their always-on internet connections and complain about needing an always-on internet connection to play this new game! How ridiculous to expect people with a computer or console capable of running this game to also have internet access in the 21st century.

The government complains about a lack of scientists and engineers as it continues to cut funding to education across the board at the state and federal levels.

K-12 schools can't afford to give their teachers cost-of-living raises or even hire new, competent teachers in some cases. Colleges are raising tuition year after year despite overcrowding because attendance is up but funding is down. Schools in general have trouble keeping their labs and equipment up to date due to budget cuts as well. Less money for science and math teachers leads to fewer students pursing science and math in college. This leads to fewer science/math professionals, including fewer good teachers. And so on . . .

When a government begins attacking education - banning printing presses, burning books, defunding schools, demonizing teachers' unions - its because they want a stupid, docile populace. If you're raising sheep, don't expect to get anything more than wool out of them.

Ewww . . . maybe MS should just stick to copying Apple's UI and features. Its served them well these past 15+ years.

And what are Japan, Germany, etc. going to do for energy once they've phased out their big, scary nuclear power plants? Unless they find a way to quickly and effectively implement large-scale solar plants/farms, geothermal, etc. they're going to resort to burning fossil fuel. A big step backwards because, under extreme circumstances, nuclear can be dangerous.

You know what's even more dangerous than an accident at a nuclear plant? A world-wide war over the planet's dwindling fossil fuel supplies.

Seconded. The eastern seaboard would benefit greatly from an impact-induced tsunami. Imagine rebuilding NYC, etc. with a layout built around modern public transportation instead of peddler's carts and horse-and-buggies!

Everything old is new again I see. Monarchies, theocracies, feudalism, etc. are based on the presumption that the "commoner" is incapable of ruling her/himself and that it is the holy privilege of a select few to rule.

Bullshit.

People are more educated, more connected, more aware of society on a large scale than ever before. Now is the time to have more democracy, not less. Eliminate the electoral college system so that voters outside of Iowa, California, and Florida get to decide national elections. Have more binding referendums and propositions so that people aren't stuck voting on which guy or gal in their town looks best in a suit but on actual issues that affect their lives.

Sure, voters don't research candidates and issues as much as we'd like and it would be great to have more scientists, engineers, and doctors running for office rather than lawyers and CEO's. That's idealism. To say that people simply aren't smart enough to govern themselves is elitist, bordering on fascist. I would rather be ruled by the collective will of a population with an 8th grade average literacy rate than the singular will of a man who happened to be born into the "right" family.

Sounds like a great deal, actually. I get free off-site storage and all I have to do it put little post-it notes over the webcams on my computers. I'd change the color each day, just to give their consumer data algorithm something different to look at. Only draw-back is the resulting spam email with offers for pills that will turn my penis yellow or electric blue.

This is similar to the NYC subway system. On weekdays for most lines, trains basically run every 5-10 minutes. Its always amusing when tourists walk up to me and ask what time the next train is scheduled to arrive. The flip side of that, of course, is the unpredictable delays due to track fires, random line work, winos pulling the emergency brake cord, express trains suddenly turning into locals, etc.

Better start living in underground bunkers to avoid EM radiation from the sun too . . .

Please PLEASE have the things say, in a deep electronic voice, "Woof. Woof. Woof. Woof." while walking. If they do that, I will buy all of them immediately.

My fondest memory of Sealab was when Hank got trapped under the orange soda machine . . .