Comments by FullMetalPanic_rox_my_sox

A friend of mine and his wife are both Korean and speak the language at home. However, when their first daughter went to preschool, she picked up English at a rapid pace. Turns out friends trump family in this regard: she mutters to herself in English. :)

Provocative. My esteem for artists has risen 10 points, and I hope Mr. Murray manages to prevail in the ensuing legal battles.

You could just make it voluntary... hell, I'm sure many of these women would have liked a free IUD before having a kid. Unfortunately, even at Planned Parenthood an IUD costs $500-$1000.

Google asks only for drug convictions other than marijuana on its job applications. Doubt they test for much. ;)

My deepest sympathies to Merkel.

I will SO use that in a debate at some point. Many thanks.

I have a fondness for Megatokyo, which has managed to finance books and merchandise without Kickstarter. Someday I hope for a plush Rent-a-zilla...

Hmm. Still a little confused, but that must be true since other countries have been doing it for years? I suppose a trip to Wikipedia is long overdue...

I'm confused. The IRS won't go away with the implementation of the VAT, and the burden of paperwork will just get shifted to the corporate bureaucracy rather than households. Someone is going to have to charge the tax for all relevant transactions, someone else is going to have to pay it, and then an IRS agent will have to make sure the tax is getting paid. How is this magically more efficient?

Sometimes I wonder if journalists go and investigate a story AFTER coming up with a particularly good header.

I think the appeal of the "Royal College for Teaching" would be to increase the prestige (and pay) associated with teaching. If teaching requires a professional degree, like law or medicine, then fuzzy logic would imply that more talented and ambitious people would become teachers. But pay is a big part of that equation, and right now that won't work out.

It baffles me that South Africa can have such an attitude towards women as wives, but also kick the US's butt in terms of women as leaders.

A quick google says that women are entitled to up to four consecutive months of maternity leave; not necessarily paid, but protected from getting fired. I don't see anything about public child care; school starts at ages 6-7. Nothing remarkable there. So how'd the C-levels get those ratios? Cultural differences towards child rearing?

Ouch. Not only is my degree costing me a fortune, but foreigners are getting wise to the fact that it's not really worth that much.

This... this just makes me angry.

Lol. Are you literally hopping mad? You are in my mental pictures.

I'll add the book to my reading list, but will also note seeing parts of public programs (education, health, etc) start getting the business analysis treatment. I'm hopeful.

I still like this pile of puns the best:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/newsbook/2010/09/burger_king_sale

OMFG, an encouraging article about an African nation! And about a female leader, to boot. I'll take that as my news treat for the day. Keep me posted!

I'm all for it. It would punish the predatory schools that can't prepare students for the workforce (or even graduate), and drastically reduce key barriers to higher education for students.

$30k - $200k should be more like $50k and up, though.

The astounding cost of higher ed wouldn't even be an issue if either

1) Student loans could be discharged in bankruptcy.

2) K-12 curriculum had evolved to be relevant in today's economy.