I know of no other site that respects the sanctity of the indelible, un-editable comment as well as Slashdot does.

One of the reasons I stayed.

Interesting insight. Would explain much of the anti-Apple, anti-Microsoft around here and elsewhere on teh webz.

Regarding apk, didn't someone do some searches and judging by his reputation ca. 2000 determine that he was a nut even then?

Those other nations are more than welcome to turn the tables or create their own rules.

Try Fastenal. Generally cheaper and a much, much bigger selection. Hours can be a little inconvenient however.

I still find slashdot entertaining, due to the humour, the culture, etc... I just don't learn much from it any more. Back in the early days, there was always something new to be learned about technology, open source, computer security. I think both slashdot and I have evolved. I simply know more now, and slashdot might have gone down a the drain a little bit. However, I say that with the knowledge that other forums never even had the level of conversation one gets here, even now.

Wouldn't you like to know, apk?

Picture, instead of Clippy, we could have Microsoft Creeper.

How apt....

Sure, it's not the most efficient codebase, but on a modern machine with power to spare, it's rather fine. Now, I have run it on a rather high end Core2Duo. That's less fun.

It should be the car that is disabled (or your license taken away)

Exactly - as they do already in the UK: get caught driving while using a mobile phone, you get 3 penalty points. That puts your insurance premiums up in itself, and if you reach a total of 12 points, no more driving for a few years. The penalty may be increased to 6 - in which case, get caught driving on the phone twice, you're in the passenger seat for several years. If someone's been caught driving on the phone (whether texting, talking or reading Slashdot), why let them continue driving at all? Will disabling the phone stop them driving while fiddling with the radio, eating, shaving etc? Of course not - so get them away from the wheel and let them text all they like as passengers.

It is against the law pretty much everywhere. However that law is enforced pretty much nowhere. It is just simply too difficult to enforce it, as a police officer has to catch the person in the act to even write a ticket. And then the ticket is so laughably small in terms of the monetary penalty as to be pointless to even write.

Here in the UK, the penalty is that you get one-quarter of the way to no longer driving (3 penalty points, where 12 means a driving ban); the government announced earlier this year they were considering doubling that to halfway, i.e. get caught doing it twice (within 3 years) and you won't be driving again. However small the risk, I suspect that's a big enough deterrent to scare many - particularly since it would often mean losing their job too. You don't have to be caught red-handed, either, just suspected enough for the police to investigate, then they check the network usage logs and confirm you were using the handset at the time in question. (Or get seen on a traffic camera, of which there are many.)

The idea in the article is just silly, though.