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Comment Surf's up! (Score 1) 166

Time to hit the internets for some basics. Use the same search terms as you've just typed in and use the homework-helper sites for high school and college. Some professors (and good HS teachers) know their students need more than just lecture in class.
Also, visit Tube-U (youtube) and watch actual science experiments in progress. Go to Wiki places for dry descriptions and SOURCES you can actually look up at your local public library.
Specifics? chemistry.about.com, chem1.com, google...
Don't be afraid to take notes; if you have a question the (course/video/text) doesn't answer you will be able to look it up later.
Lay in a good supply of baking soda, vinegar and don't forget to notify the DHS you're interested in becoming a Mad Scientist.

Comment Re:Think harder... (Score 1) 381

We lived in rural (I could see the nearest town 7 miles away on the plains) Colorado in 1996. For me, a 25 mile commute to a tech firm for support work. I had all the internet I could eat (then still almost fresh).

For the wife, life on the farm, make the best of what technology we had was the rule. We had party-line telephone access. No personal calls allowed to my work, so she'd dial up my company's server on the old 286 we had, login as me, use shell to run mail, send me a message, then logoff. If a neighbor had to make a phone call... we learned more about NO CARRIER than we cared. On that system it took her a few minutes to send me a message, where today she uses sms on a cell phone to ask the same questions: what time home for dinner? But it's me asking as she's the primary earner now.

The punch line here is that in 1996 the telco was laying fiber to our doorstep. Fiber, and we were listening for a distinctive ring!

Comment Re:We build excitement! (Score 1) 189

When I was in the first grade (1968ish), we had a Sears and Roebuck television set with whatever special warranty for service. This was a big deal, because it went past the "mechanical massage" stage of repair, so dad called the Sears Television Repairman to the house.
All I remember of this is:
1. the nice man sticking a screwdriver into the back of the set
2. a loud POOF
3. tiny bits of foil floating amid all the smoke in the living room
and
4. the nice man says "yup, this is going into the shop"

Comment Re:glow, baby, glow! (Score 1) 415

The same cost analysis applies to coal plants as well if you consider regulating and capturing coal's pollutants in the same manner as we do nuclear contaminants. The same ground-chemical pollution from a nuclear plant simply does not exist as it does for a coal plant. Additionally, nuclear fuel has a greater ability to be recycled than does used coal, we just have to DO it.

You're correct that it ain't cheap, but the costs probably run pretty equally in the long run.

Comment Re:So you know they're there (Score 1) 192

You buy a car to drive it, and figure out how to adjust the seats. You tell your mechanic to change the oil because most of us couldn't be bothered to do it ourselves, or we know enough to recycle the used oil and don't dump it on the ground.

People gonna buy computers and drive them whether or not they care about AV. They figure out how to use basic software unless they have aptitudes approaching what most ./ers claim. My clients' computers might have an antivirus program or not, but most rely on my instruction to update the signatures manually or to set the program to update itself.
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Teacher Gets Stolen Car Back, All Souped Up 135

Police found Amanda Pogany's stolen 1996 Honda in a chop shop and were able to return it to her. While in the custody of the thieves, the car got a few upgrades, including a new V-8 engine, manual transmission, leather interior, tinted windows, and oversize tires. Unfortunately Amanda won't be able to play The Fast and the Furious around the neighborhood with her new souped up car. She doesn't know how to drive a stick.

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