Or one of your kids is still awake.

Lol, I have never met any child that could be adequately controlled for a control group. And, don't get me started on what placebos (sugar pills) do to them.

Many modern teachers aren't even decent textbook-readers. I have five kids. The only reason they left high school with reasonable math and science skills is that they had a geek for a father who refused to allow their futures to slip away because their teachers were more concerned with politics then their jobs. (Note: I said nothing about my grammar skills.) :) Those that can, do. Those that can't join unions so that no one will know they can't.

The current situation is due to our current political situation which is in turn due to our current social situation. New highway equals progress equals votes. Repairing existing heavily used infrastructure equals pain in the rear equals far less votes (possibly even negative votes as seen in Denver's T-Rex project [called the "T-wrecks" project by the natives]). Our society has become very stuck on instant gratification (which road repair will never be) and NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) thinking. Repairs cause inconvenience in the short term, and too many American voters are unwilling to deal with even short term inconvenience. So, many of these needed repairs get ignored until we get one of those few politicians who do not care about reelection and get it done. Sorry for my rambling, it is early and I haven't had my tea. The short of it is; until we as a people start realizing that short term inconvenience for long term progress is necessary and good, and start voting for politicians that are willing to take the hit to do their job right, this unfortunate trend will continue.

Only scored a 2? You made my day with that comment. Now moderators mod her up and mod me down so that no one has to know you were asleep at the wheel. :)

Ooooooooo...Thanks :)

Great, identifying the problem is the first step. However, what are the odds of our benevolent government doing anything about it? Unfortunately, without the second step this news is meaningless.

I am new to Slashdot and for the first time I played with the display settings because nearly half the comments were hidden. That was a mistake. I now know why the default is to hide the down modded. Most of those comments were shameful and indecent. The writer asked for help. There are only two choices that one can decently make at that juncture. Help, or get out of the way of those who will try and say nothing. Teasing someone like this was not accepted in elementary school. Grow-up.

I had similar issues (working from home focus issues), and I found that I was able to work from home iff I set aside a work area (an office) that I only used for work (no-multitasking allowed). This gave me enough of a psychological barrier that I changed from work to play mode just by entering the space. I no longer work at home, but maintain the space as my project room, and it still serves it's purpose. Give it a try.

I too am a fan of teachers. However, teachers != teacher's unions. Here in Colorado, as in many other places, the local teachers have to fight their own union (ran by politicians, not educators) constantly, especially if they are one of those truly awesome teachers value their student's education over their student's indoctrination. The unions feed directly off the government's teats taking their money before the teachers here even get it and cycle it back into the Democrat party. It should be illegal, and it is certainly immoral, and quite a few of our "heroes" feel the same way.

"we've taken everything up there except the right stuff." and WD-40 apparently. Never leave your home planet without it.

I always preferred to have the opening brace on the line below the method declaration. Far easier for me to see code blocks. I agree with the rest however adding a maximum line length of 78 for older printers and certain screens.

Why are we bothering to discuss this? As soon as our healthcare system is fully in government hands this will be a budget decision, not ours. That's right around a half billion dollar savings (roughly 1.5E6 males in the US * $313). You need to stop whining and except what ever benevolent choice our government makes for you and your children. They are way smarter than us and only have our best interests at heart, right??? I never, ever, thought before the current administration that the farcical sci-fi action flick Demolition Man could ever become reality. Now I have my doubts. "I've SEEN the future. Do you know what it is? It's a 47-year-old virgin sitting around in his beige pajamas, drinking a banana-broccoli shake, singing "I'm an Oscar Meyer Wiener". " - Edgar Friendly in Demolition Man

I am an electrical engineer, a programmer, and a reasonably intelligent voter. I have huge issues with any so-called scientist (he is a celebrity now, not a true scientist) who chooses to raise a theory to the level of a scientific law without repeatable observable proof (impossible in this case). I am not saying his faith is wrong (and yes to unconditionally believe in the un-provable is an act of faith, not reason). I am saying ignoring other possible (I said nothing about being probable) theories is against the very meaning of science. His given statements are no better than the statements and actions of the Catholic Church towards Galileo and other abused scientists of their time. Luckily, he has no true power to start enforcing the pogrom he seems to desire. For now I will ignore the ravings of this d-list star and e-list scientist, and hope he retakes an introductory science class. One that will reteach him the difference between a theory and a law, and why we differentiate between the two.

I think there are two additional reasons why desktop-Linux is not at the top of the pack. Familiarity and insufficient idiot proofing. Familiarity comes from the huge number of free computers (with Windows and Mac OS's) that are donated to educational facilities across the world. For Linux to compete in this area we would have to join up and form one monolithic entity that would then have the resources needed to donate an equivalent number of computers. Secondly we would have to dumb down the interface and make everyone root (although a far more limited version of root) so that everyone and anyone could easily accomplish their goals within a standardized environment. Were we to do this the game companies and killer app companies would jump on the Linux band wagon in a heartbeat.................BUT, Linux would no longer be Linux. For me Linux represents computational freedom. If i don't like how something works, I change it. Can every user do this easily and without some skill in coding? No, but that is what Windows and Mac are for. For those who would prefer standardization over individualization. Keep your games and your killer apps, I'll keep my Linux.