How did they manage to screw up date handling when Java supports the Gregorian calendar in its standard library?

To use it, you have to know it's there in the first place. These people were so incompetent, they didn't know the existence of *basic* libraries...

Great idea! :-D

That said, I'm sure that most of the big problems will manifest themselves tonight, when the batch processes run (with today's date). I'll send them that note tomorrow...

In my previous job, they outsourced certain Java programming and database modeling and building jobs to an IT company (that shall remain nameles... let's just say it also produces cheap cars).

The quality of their software was hideous. Among many, many other issues, their handling of dates and leap years was outright ridiculous. Before I was let go, I fixed some of those problems in the Java software they delivered, but many others remained. I'm willing to bet money that some of the SQL queries they wrote are still unpatched and must be blowing up in the company's face right now.

I think the author missed an interesting point here. If an author was single and had no kids or any direct kin, the STATE will inherit his eternal copyright.

This means that after a few generations, this state income could surpass taxes and thus alleviate taxpayers. It's win-win for everybody!

Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, a hydraulic engineer, was Chile's president from 1994 to 2000. He's widely considered a mediocre president at best, and failed miserably in an attempt to get reelected in the 2009 election. His engineering skills weren't a factor in this, though: his lack of real political weight (other than his name, being the son of the well-remembered Eduardo Frei Montalva, Chile's president from 1964 to 1970) and his lack of charisma and authority were the real reasons he wasn't a good head of state.

Yup.

On another note, does anyone else still prefer CRT's? My other purchase (on the same day) was a spare 19 inch Samtron for when this one gives up. I've noticed CRT usage has practically disappeared in the last 2 years

If I could, I'd buy them in a heartbeat, but they just don't sell them anymore in my country. For that matter, they don't sell higher-mid-range and high-range monitors, either, and it's incredibly frustrating. I survive with a decent Viewsonic VX, but I'd prefer to have a P-series monitor... and they just don't sell them!

If this is implemented via tags in the HTML itself, it can be easily detected and stripped by content thieves, can't it?

If I copy the entire body of work of, say, the War Nerd, and set up a copycat blog ("the war geek"), how can these tags (which I've already modified) tell this is a blatant rip-off?

"Angered at Righthaven’s behavior, a Las Vegas federal judge unsealed the company’s heretofore confidential agreement [...]"

Not that I'm complaining, but... what did Righthaven do to anger the judge? Were their lawyers being dicks? Was the contract itself what angered the judge? Truly, I'd like to know.

If the summary is true, could all the aggravated parties become part of the same suit, or parts of a class action suit or something?

What I'm asking is: what are the required steps now to undo Righthaven's damages?

Did some peeking on the wayback machine...

There's another fun one: bookface.com (although it was oriented to online books and scripts).

Target practice.

A hard drive will stop a bullet from a .45 and 9mm. Rifle bullets cheerily pass right through, leaving an exit hole not much larger than the entrance hole.

When my customers tell me, "Make sure the data is destroyed," I respond, "Don't worry, the whole damn thing will be destroyed."

I guess this counts as "As long as it takes to thoroughly wipe it".

Can anybody or the editors explain the relevance to "my rights online" of this story,

Politics can have effects on all of us, even if we don't care about politics.

If there's ONE change (one of many, but still) I could make to the different Civilization games, it'd be the ability to set an arbitrary end date.

Yeah, I know Freeciv does it.

If you can plug a model M into your smartphone and use it conveniently I will be impressed sir.

I'd rather crush my work smartphone that keeps ringing all day with my Model M keyboard. :-)