The craziest drug testing policy I ever saw was at PetSmart. A sign proclaim they were proud to have a drug free workplace. My immediate first thought was I don't care if the guy selling me dog food was high. I would rather they test my plane's piolet or my surgeon if they test anyone at all.

I know, it is pretty awful of me to want to focus on how to help boys and girls do better in school. But it is the case that one of the defining characteristics of "gender equality" in society is how girls scores in school relative to social averages. There is math involved in understanding the consequences of feeding data back into your model.

I have seen the data, yes girls do better in math in progressive societies, relative to boys, but they also do better in language and all areas of schooling relative to boys. In other words, girls do better in school overall and of course one of the measures of a progressive society is how well girls do in school. Thus they found that in societies where girls do better in schools, they do better in math also. What people should ask is how to get the best performance out of boys and girls and which countries have found a formula for that.

I bow to your bureaucratic skills in awe.

Maybe stations in different markets have different editorial content, but I hardly found my station dismissive on Sanders, seen many of the accusations again Clinton addressed in a factual matter (as opposed to with more typical hyperbole) and really can't remember anything about Trumps golf game or taco bowl. They aren't perfect, but the point is they genuinely try to get out factual, complete and relevant information. With most other news sources it doesn't take long for me to figure out that information is clearly being left out and/or skewed.

You need news sources that actually pride themselves in their accuracy and thoroughness. Also The Economist is pretty good too.

Really, so there is a 1 in a thousand chance of humanity exterminating itself next year? Like same chance I might roll a 00 to hit and then roll 10 damage? We face real problems, but I think the assumptions behind these numbers should be examined.

Actually I think all of their game have been a financial success compared to what would normally be called a success in the game industry. It is just that WoW was a ridiculous juggernaut cash cow. You simply can't plan for every game to give that kind of financial success and if revenue drops off from WoW, they will have no choice but to downsize into a more normal, if still successful, sized company. If anything it looks like they are managing the transition better that many companies in the past.

I go out to dinner, and when I do I talk to the family and friends I go out to dinner with, not the Waite staff, they are very secondary to the experience. Don't pity me, if you have to go to a restaurant to have social interactions, I ought pity you! I have no problem with people working at very up scale restaurants making a living wage, but lots of them are barely getting by and the constant threats that these poor paying jobs might be "taken away by robots" if the poor saps working them won't accept even less money disgusts me. Frankly, you are getting the spillover from my irritation about that attitude, but all in all better to call this bluff and say "hell yes" to robot servers.

I mean, are you talking to the waiter or the guests? Is it to make you feel important? Just force of habit? There was a SciFi book where a tyrant had human servants, to show he could, and everyone was scandalized because they knew full well robots could do it just as well. OK, sure at a super fancy place where the whole experience is a little bit show, but over all, I would be happier to not make a human serve me.

Yes, please have robots do crap jobs! The Ancient Egyptians had 100% employment, pulling sandstone blocks in the desert. Jobs that don't/can't pay a living wage aren't worth having. Robots will change the economy and we have to help people transition and get real work, but our current situation sound like something out of Oliver Twist were people have the choice of slow starvation working at a McJob or quick starvation on the street.

The Chinese are, seriously. Yes, this would only be in response to certain types of actions in NK, notably appearing to be trying to reunify with SK, but the Chinese have a contingency plan for that possibility, bank on it. Also, NK doesn't really know that we won't attack them. They know we CAN win a war with them, possibly even if the Chinese rush to their defense, they really only have the deterrent of massive civilian casualties in SK. The problem with a democracy is some who want to invade your country just might be elected, so you can never be sure.

The is a very simple rule that pretty much always is true. The more resources per capita, the better off a population is. There are plenty of examples of poorly run countries that mismanage their wealth, but even they are better off than poorly run countries with no wealth. By limiting population from all sources, immigration and internal growth, the populace of a country will be better off. I wish people could live where they feel like, but until we get a zero population growth problems will continue. Our jobs may be outsourced, but so long as we have high natural resources per capita, we will be better off.

.. to not have an exposed microwave in my house and work.

Snowden would actually be happier in jail. At the end of the day, this is going to eat away at him and lead to a life of fear and self doubt. Why bother talking about coming back to the U.S. if everything is fine right where he is at and our government is corrupt. Better to make your case and take the punishment than spend a life on the run. His case is so famous I seriously doubt he could be swept under the rug at this point.