In a former career, I had loaded idle-time cancer research software on our office machines. I had permission from the manager to do so. One of our employees was offended because she had a family friend die of cancer and she didn't want to be reminded of cancer. The app was only a tray icon to her. It made no sense that she wanted this removed from her computer but I complied. It also made no sense to me how the cigarette breaks she took every other hour didn't remind the bitch of cancer either. No, she wasn't a nice person and she did end up dying of cancer within 5 years herself.

Question since you seem knowledgeable on the subject: Can/have all Brown Dwarfs achieved fusion? I did more reading since I posted my response, and it seemed like smaller Brown dwarfs had never achieved fusion while larger ones had, and this is one distinction that some astronomers think should lead to a reclassification. Of course, i read it on the internet, so not sure how much validity there is in what I read.

I'm not sure why this is modded down. A brown dwarf never achieves sustained fusion and is not considered a full-fledged star, so i am also confused to why it is considered a star system.

That looks like an absolute fake... I'd love the engineering analysis to show if that things could conceivably fly.

I hate to break it to the researchers, but getting a pack of rats to operate under the same collective consciousness has been done before

http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf

"After 1991, the victimization rate for blacks fell until 1999, when it stabilized near 20 homicides per 100,000."

"In 2008, the o ending rate for blacks (24.7 oenders per 100,000) was 7 times higher than the rate for whites (3.4 oenders per 100,000) ( figure 18)."

The 3.4 offenders per 100,000 is slightly lower than Europe's 3.5 rate per 100,000. So, we clearly have a race problem in the United States. The reality is that we have reaped what was sown centuries before with slavery and continue to exacerbate the problem with public policy. I would like to thank our European ancestors for planting the seed of slavery and colonization... that is the real root of the problem and the one we have to clean up.

I never said that there aren't $50,000 cars. But the masses are not buying these cars. In fact, the masses don't buy new cars period. Most folks buy used after the upper middle class decides it is time to upgrade.

Heck, I make $110,000 a year and I don't buy new. I'd rather spend my money on things that are investments... retirement, education and house (somewhat of an investment), not something that depreciates 30% its first year.

Care to cite where you are getting this info from? I seriously doubt the masses are buying $50,000 cars. I live in upper middle suburbia, and the vast majority of cars are well under $50,000. Even the BMWs are mostly below that price range. If the "masses" are buying these expensive cars, I'd like to know where and how many.

One difference between houses and cars: cars depreciate rather quickly, so interest is only a small factor in what you end up paying for your car usage where with houses, interest is a major cost.

Be appalled all you like, but I am appalled that you would read what I wrote and jump off to a wild conclusion that I am against mathematics in schools. Perhaps you didn't have enough reading comprehension and logic in yours. The bottom line is that the comparisons between countries are not apples-to-apples and that having a pissing war over who has the average highest score is a bad metric.

The problem with averages is this: Only a small percentage of the population are in jobs that require advanced algebra, trigonometry and calculus. Although I went through differential equations in my undergraduate, and still enjoy math, I do not need it for my IT Management job. Statistics I use infrequently. Algebra I use somewhat (but not advanced). When you are measuring the US population average against other country averages (and in many cases just a subset of those other countries) you are not getting to the crux of the issue -- how does our top 2%(or whatever the appropriate number is) compare against other countries' top 2%. If our universities are producing engineers with much worse scores than our counterparts, then I will worry.

On a side note: When trying to make fun of another group's intelligence, you should write a post that doesn't make you sound like a 9 year old who forgot his ADHD medication.

I actually logged in for this response...

Do you REALLY think that is accurate? Do you really think Boeing put the plane together with a bunch of non-spec'd parts? Do you really think that a plane would get off the ground with that type of engineering? Seriously?

An MBA put his two cents together and came up with a penny and you bought it. Most likely there was a lot of back and forth over specification early in the project as prototypes were being built. That does not translate into substandard final designs.

The 787 is cutting edge and the result of some seriously advanced engineering. I would think Slashdot of all places would appreciate that.

I like your post and think it is the best put synopsis of the situation, including my own.

I am not sure that is true. You will never see my name in the news, but I have spent and continue to spend a significant part of my life investing in those that others would not. I don't care to be famous, but for those around me I want to make a positive impact.

He was originally faced with 6 months. The 30 years was not a realistic sentence.

If he couldn't handle being incarcerated, then perhaps he should have complied with the first request to stop accessing the network.

He is no hero. Sorry.

Yup, it is. I wouldn't have said a word if folks weren't trying to turn him into a hero and if folks weren't crying about folks enforcing the law.