Well, I try my best. I thought it would be good to get it out of the way so that we could get on to more interesting things.

AC,

What would you think about a site structured to foster contrasting points of view and public participation & debate. Might that be worth paying for to keep the "cheap shot" trolls out? (i.e., if you want to snark on someone's opinion, you'd better be willing to pay for the privilege).

As a parent and a product of the public school system in the US, I personally reject the idea that I should be required to surrender my children to another's care to be indoctrinated in the current educationally-correct manner.

I believe that I have no duty to support the public schools in any way beyond my financial support through local property taxes, and I find it amusing to hear the poster (here) and the original author of the article being discussed call on me to surrender my children to inadequate public education in order to entice me to get more involved in the system to make public education better for those other children at the cost of my own children's educations.

I have watched trends in teaching come and go, and each one has been the "best", and the "most effective" at teaching my children (e.g., how to read, how to do math, etc...). The mere fact that educational trends do come and go, and as frequently as they do, would indicate to a reasonable person that there must have been something wrong with the older trends, requiring their (somewhat) rapid replacement. How does this build my trust in the public education system if their own assessments of what works are so quickly demonstrated wrong?

My wife and I are uniformly impressed with the homeschooled children we know. They are socialized by adults, to learn how to be adults, rather than turned loose with same-aged children at school where they can outnumber their teacher and reinforce childish behavior. They are kind to each other regardless of age, and are very respectful of adults and their parents. If public schools cannot do what parents that homeschool do with their children, why should I surrender my children to a public school teacher?

Oh, please...

The California Supreme Court recently upheld a law that allows police officers to routinely search your cell phone for information when doing routine traffic stops or arrests. What possible interest could the police have in the contents of your cell phone? Your smartphone with all your tweets and facebook posts that might indicate criminal activity (underage drinking, drug use, etc...).

At least data in the cloud receives more protection than your cellphone, but not much more (if the reason for the data search is deemed "compelling" or justified in some other way). Vermont recently upheld protection of privacy of medical data stored in the cloud (i.e., the data holders could not sell it to other companies for data mining purposes), but it was a hot debate for a while.

People can always make money with more information about a particular area of business or customer practices. The temptation to look at that data will -always- be present. The best way to be safe is to require that the person whose data it -is- be required to give permission before any access can occur.

I am a lawyer, and the thought of trusting my data to the cloud makes me very nervous for several reasons.

1. Government access. If you trust the government to keep its hands off of your securely stored data, you are living in the 1960s. Federal and (most) state governments are too tempted by the possibility of using your data for good purposes to actually keep their hands off it. Employees (like the FBI) will peek at it, especially if you're famous. They will run "searches" to see "what comes up" and get a feel for whether the government needs to do something. Data should never be stored -with- the government, and government should be expressly forbidden from getting access to it after it is generated. They should be required to give you notice each time that they access your data and describe to you what they are looking for in it when they inevitably -do- access it.

2. Outside threats. I'm thrilled every time I read about botnet attacks and Anonymous hacks that get into some individual's or company's private data. (Sarcastically...) "Yes, I believe that my externally stored data is safe from outside intrusion and will not be stolen by criminals." No, I don't believe that. There is no routine requirement for encryption in business environments. If there isn't a robust, national / industry-wide data encryption plan that makes it easy for the end-user (the person whose data it -is-) to protect and access the data, I think that the cloud is too risky for storing really important information, rather than just having my music collection stored in iCloud or Amazon's service.

Also, email security, to me, seems to be a joke. Here, I don't worry about breakins to get at my information, although that has happened at many email providers. Rather, I worry about internal inspection of my information. I use Gmail, but I don't believe for a minute that Google, (or Facebook, which I don't use) doesn't sometimes run statistical analysis of the email stream or the google search bar terms I use to learn more about me. It's their business to know more about me so that they can make money advertising to me. You can be sure that they test their AdSense algorithm improvements on my data to enhance the chances that I'll click on an ad and make them a few per thousand clicks.

I will use the cloud as a backup with services like MozyPro, but only if I can have assurance that my information (my clients' information, really) is locked down tight. To my mind, "ease of access" from storing information in the cloud equates all too readily to "ease of theft" where the thieves don't even have to leave their desks in Mountain View or Moscow to "reach out and touch someone" (apologies, ATT). I much prefer to make the thieves go to all the bother of getting up and coming to my house or office to steal my data.

and sit, too, when you're tired of standing. I'm a student and I spend lots of time sitting to study or in class. However, this year I wrangled a spot in the library where I can put a 24" monitor and I stand to work. It's amazing how much easier it is to get work done with a large monitor and good posture to help me feel more energetic during the afternoon. (Be it noted: I'm a morning person, so this a natural time for me to feel tired. YMMV.) I've seen desks / tables that adjust up and down with the "flip of a lever" or something like that. I tend to sit when my feet or knees get tired, but then switch back to standing. I think that the key to success and comfort is to make standing the default, and sitting a true break from standing. Plus, the Apple wireless keyboard, wireless trackpad, and an aTrackt Go! make moving up or down from a standing position easy! Carbon_tet

As a United States Citizen, the United States Government must respect your Constitutional rights no matter where you live, because the Constitution governs the scope and behavior of government. Yes, you may be outside the borders of the United States, but the government must play by its own rules when addressing American citizens. IWSBAL.

The key words are "sale" and "use." Use is also a killer word because if the product has been used in its final (?) form for over 12 months, then it should, if I remember correctly, be distinctly -UN-patentable. Don't mess around - CALL a lawyer TODAY. The clock is ticking and you don't want to miss out on your big opportunity. Carbon_tet

I've been married 19 years and learned a few lessons about making a successful marriage, none of which take "geekness" into account (it's not relevant). In no particular order, they are: 1) Say "I love you" out loud and in ways that your spouse will interpret as being loving (it is OK, nay, recommended, to ask "what do I do that makes you feel loved?). An author named John Lund writes about what he calls love languages to get this point across. Categories include: Doing things, saying things, spending time together, etc... 2) Be honest. The minute you start hiding things from your spouse, you are creating a problem. Don't rationalize yourself out of this, you're all smart enough to understand when you do this and why. Yes, marriage means love. It also means sacrifice of what you want, to make someone else (spouse, kids) happy. 3) Be united. This takes many forms, but boils down to: "talk with each other to make sure you're working on the same goals for the same reasons." What little I understand about women tells me that they (generally) need to feel like you understand them. All the problems you hear about with the stereotypical "bad husband" stories have this in common: the husband is ignoring the wife and being selfish about something. Husbands are men, not boys. So, be a mature, responsible man and go build a family together. Any problems you have along the way (and you -will- have some, either external or self-inflicted) can be survived if you will both stick with the core ideas I mention above. [YMMV]