One idea that has taken hold in the education community recently is the idea that we don't really need to teach people how to do mathematical calculations, since they can be done so easily on a calculator, and are rarely done in "real life" anyway; instead, we should teach "concepts". Why is this idea limited to mathematics? The grammar checker in MS Word gets better with each new release, the spell checker is already quite good, and any laptop can carry millions of books. With voice software...

The same week I read about an attack on 802.11 , I saw an article on guns for police that can only be used when they are near an ID chip , to be implanted in the owner's arm. Actually, the two articles are unrelated - the chip seems to be nothing more than an RFID chip, which is much easier to jam than an 802.11 transmitter, but it makes me wonder how anyone can think this is a good idea.