Staying with rudimentary C/C++ gives you cross-platform compatibility. And it may come as a surprise, but there are still a lot of legacy systems out there that don't have the latest and greatest C++ libs. As for map libraries, you think those didn't exist before STL?

I never cared much for STL. I don't find it all that useful. But I grew up learning programming thru assembly language and later plain-old C, so I'm biased towards keeping the languages at their core without the window dressing. There just isn't anything in STL that I can't replicate quickly using basic C/C++. It avoids a lot of compatibility/portability issues as well.

I'm still on XP and probably will be for some time. The fact is there is no reason to change. It works and it's stable. Plus, all my software works with it, not to mention that replacing the OS is a major pain in the ass. And finally, here's a clue for Micro$oft: ** A DESKTOP WORKSTATION IS NOT A GODDAMN SMARTPHONE! QUIT TRYING TO TURN IT INTO ONE! **"

I'd support a transaction tax so long as the funds were used for better enforcement and prosecution of Wall Street crooks.

A better system is to install a random delay of between 1 and 5 seconds. This would level the playing field completely and kill off the HFT parasites.

So who's idea was it to to allow a foreign USB stick to get plugged into a ISS system with root access? This seems like a major security protocol problem rather than a weakness of Linux.

Why would anyone place critical hardware on the internet? I'm going to assume by now that Iran has figured out that the US is trying to sabotage their equipment. You would think that Iran would take any sensitive equipment offline and avoid applying any patches from foreign sources. And why isn't this considered an act of war on the part of the US? Didn't we declare cyber sabotage as such? No wonder why we got so many countries that hate us. Do as we say, not as we do.

I seem to recall that works done by a government entity belong to the public and are not subject to copyright. Even so, this seems like a rather petty move. Of course, they tortured and held Bradly Manning is solitary confinement for a year without any charges so I guess expecting any sort of civility in the matter is unrealistic.

I wondered why the pilots didn't respond to a stall by instinct. The feel of the plane should have been a major clue that something was wrong with their course of action. A lack of feel in the FBW system would certainly be a contributing factor in this kind of situation.

The amendments are an attempt to get the foot in the door with CISPA. It's likely they hope to get the basic framework of CISPA in place and then do incremental revisions to the bill over time when the attention has died down.

The best part of the proposed amendments is the supposed liability for the companies violating privacy and handing over info to the government. How'd that work out with the massive illegal NSA wiretapping? Oh that's right, everyone was granted retroactive immunity and the whistle blower got criminal prosecution for his trouble. Somehow, I seriously doubt that the privacy provisions will carry much weight or have any teeth. This bill needs to die.

Pay TV is not as attractive as it once was. One of the biggest draws was the ability to watch ad-free programming. Now pay tv is absolutely infested with advertisement. I think there's more commercial interruptions on pay tv than broadcast at this point. Why are we paying for this again? Add the fact that most of the pay tv programming is repetitive and pay tv starts to look a lot less attractive. Finally, toss in the high cost and the lack of a-la-cart options and it's no wonder why pay tv's business model is losing its appeal.

This is pretty cool. Waste plastic is a real problem for landfills since it takes up space and doesn't decay well. You could probably fuel the US for a 100 years with all the waste plastic that's floating out in the middle of the pacific ocean right now.

He should be doing the interview from a prison cell, awaiting trial for war crimes.

The leaks are not the problem. The root of the problem is the hypocritical policies and unsavory conduct that the leaks are exposing. The best way to keep your dirty laundry from being aired is to not engage in dirty conduct in the first place.