I've got engineer friends who have to do much of their administrative work themselves. They submit their own proposals, have to make sure they have enough project to pay their salary, etc. While those tasks are not technically challenging to complete, I'm very glad I work with full time people who do that so I can concentrate on engineering both from a knowledge perspective and from a time perspective.

I had a discussion at work with a mapping vendor. They were involved with discussions on mobile device support. From what he had seen, the survival of RIM to this point and beyond was related to the way they play ball with the government in regards to encryption compared to other companies. Apparently, Apple flat out said no.

It needs new policies to protect the "school property." I'm the year of the class of Columbine. Everybody freaked out. The local districts couldn't afford to buy metal detectors, so someone had the bright idea that they should be able to see into student's backpacks. Clear vinyl or mesh backpacks for everyone. That policy lasted until they had to replace all the rain damaged textbooks from everyone using mesh. If laptops are the new textbooks, then there will be some learning experiences in making sure they are properly protected from damage.

I'd point at vaccine alarmists, PETA, and other left leaning extremists too. Extremist views thrive on empathetic arguments not analytic ones. *Correlation/Causation warning*

He is hiding any details. So, for what it is worth, he is on even grounds with the other two.

"I think we need a Congressional investigation! With blackjack! And hookers!" Is there any other kind?

Nor should it. If your code needs explaination of that detail (read your organization is willing to fund your documentation to that level) then it is likely that plain text is a poor method of communicating your design.

How long till they have a network fast enough to pass a voice call to my cell at my house in one of their "excellent" reception areas?

So health insurance is one of the most important services I choose as a consumer; quite literally a life and death decision. I can choose to go to the free market where I individually have full choice (so to speak). Or my employeer will pay a good chunk of the costs and benefit from economy of scales in purchasing plans at the cost of severely limiting my choices. Technically there is a free market choice there. Practically, probably not for most.

Interestingly enough, the study separates Catholic schools from other private schools. I didn't see a reference to grade 12, but at grades 4 and 8 Catholic schooled children outperform publicly schooled children and are on par with privately schooled children. I don't know the statistics about how many Catholic schooled children grow up to be active Catholics; it seems like you have a better shot of being good at reason if you are trained by them.

The study appears to have been done by the US Dept of Education on US students. I'm not surprised that the article doesn't mention a comparison.

Can I not pay the air conditioning fee so that they don't run my share?

A considerable number of people are concerned that hollywood is investing in marginal tech improvements rather than good storytelling. Since this is slashdot, it would be like every car company decided to forget MPG for a while and just offer everyone the nicest driver's seat possible for a sizable increase in cost over the previous year models.

I see a recognizable vegatable on the plate. Given that, it is more healthy than anything I ever saw in my cafeteria in the good ole US...

http://www.inquisitr.com/25753/seven-actresses-you-might-not-know-are-australian/