Netgear has an R7000 model which works fine with OpenWRT. I'm not sure of the accuracy of the following: But I think ASUS has one too.

Seems like a major failure on Lynksys/Belkin's part. But neither of those companies really impress me.Sure I used WRT54Gs in multiple applications and have a few laying around. But it's not like those things were actually *great*. They were good enough and hung around far too long for my taste.

Everything changes- and it's always somebodies fault :)

No... there were a number of hubs involved, unswitched (not bridges), the loop was created when one hub in that group, was patched into another hub.

Since there was no bridging, and no spanning tree, feel free to extrapolate.

I more or less agree with your assessment (but I'll eventually disagree ha ha!). My formal education was in music performance. However my hobbies were (and are) computer science, amateur radio, physics and theology. Yes I'm an autodidact. But have studied at two major universities.

In the realm of critical thinking... a deep theoretical understanding is priceless. Because theory is flexible. But more important in my mind is an understanding of the RFCs behind how all this stuff works. Know them, and you can really troubleshoot. Know them, and you get to be the "pro from Dover" when no other tech can solve a problem.

With a mass of knowledge- comes the possibility of thinking critically. This is of course assuming the person in question has a mind big enough to form quality theories of their own. The problem isn't always education... it's also quality of the brain. And the larger a field grows, the lower the mean IQ of it's members.

To illustrate:

I once watched a recent computer science graduate (A Truly Dubious and Short Lived IT Director) introduce a recursive loop into an Ethernet network, on an unswitched segment, which resulted in (you guessed it) significant portions of an 18 building WAN/LAN system to simply go offline. Explaining to this person why things didn't work was useless. They thought they were an expert (because of the degree). Sadly, all of the information they spouted about the problem was completely correct- except the application of that information.

You can't really teach people how to apply information, if they cannot build working models which closely match reality. Sure.. anyone can come up with an idea and call it a theory. But can you come up with a theory that works?

So in a sense, I fall back once again to the idea that the talent pool is diluted. At the same time, the equipment is becoming more and more appliance packaged.

My solution? I'm looking around for something different to do for the next 30 years. If I can get up to speed fast enough, I'll participate in AMSAT. I'll go back to performing music. Maybe even get a physics degree.

But I'll be free to be excellent.

I think I agree with you. My first IT related job was transcribing sheet music into basic music code back in 1984.

Since that time I've seen the intellectual capacity of IT workers drop consistently- while their arrogance has increased. It's a function of the field expanding so fast... in order to man departments you have to compromise on quality by hiring for specialties. Also there's the problem of industry certifications. They are not at face value bad... but those with real skills know that the certification is more or less a learning permit- while management considers it a qualification.

In my day (I'm a year or two from 50) people made their way in IT based on ability. That was the catalyst for the entire industry. It is what built silicon valley and the economic ripples it created.

The way I see it, we've gone from recruiting people who loved computers and played with them on their own, to hiring people who shop for a career in their educational choices. That's a path to mediocrity. Always has been- always will be.

What makes you think I actually think I need a gun in Canada?

I'm not conservative by any stretch of the imagination... However...

Everyone should be armed. Assuming you're not a felon, a weapon should be in every single citizen's possession. Period. No loopholes.

Gun safety should be taught in public school, along with the inferred rights and responsibilities involved.

The reason? So that normal citizens like you and me can defend ourselves on the way to the Canadian border. Because when these idiot libs and cons start really shooting at each other... the Klondike might be our only hope.

As long as they stay out of the Amateur microwave bands... they can have all they want (self interest).

However, this release of spectrum is not nearly enough to mitigate the problems found in urban areas. The bands need to be widened a lot more.

How about on expanding your comments as to why?

I'd be interested in why you made that choice.

That binary system is going to make one heck of a supernova at some point in the distant future.

Hopefully someone in cosmology will figure out what the energy release would be.

Very very cool!

I'm not a fan of crypto-currency. At the same time I'm not a fan of government involvement in regulating it.

Let the people who use it work it out. Caveat Emptor.

Boy... I sure agree with this....

The issue we're really dealing with is "omniscience". In order to effectively run an infinite simulation, you have to be able to observe the state of every variable 100% of the time. No computer will ever be able to do this, because the data set is infinite requiring infinite observations.

That's the difference between matter, and simulated matter. Any simulated universe is estimating infinite interactions at varying levels of granularity. But that system breaks down eventually because the data set is still infinite. Even for events unobserved- the data must still exist. Where with "real matter" the actions are caused by the *nature* of the material/energy... requiring no storage of data,

Gawd, I'll admit it I'm old now. I was young then... but creeping up on 50 makes me old.

If there's one thing I've learned, it's that MBAs and IT people are enemies. And this new beta site is a prime example of that. Sometimes things are "good enough". Slashdot is good enough- and has been for a long time. But the MBAs say "we need more profit". And now they are going to make things shiny.

Slashdot by itself makes money. But it needs to make more money. DIGG was destroyed that way. Didn't that site finally sell to it's new owners fro a small sum?

Want to fix Slashdot? Make it a site that technical people "graduate to" as they become seasoned. Which would mean making no changes whatsoever!

Slowly, I'm watching MBA types eviscerate, good, profitable websites for short term profit. Don't do it to Slashdot.

Right... he's competing against hungry *unproven* recent grads.

There's a difference.

Ageism: It's the new tech innovation.

Tech is still climbing the "rockstar ladder of media attention". At this point it's a feeding frenzy- and "journalists" with no clue about tech are running around everywhere looking for a story.

The difference these days is a good one though. The debates are not lost in history- because much more material is retained digitally. Unlike something in the past where only a handful of sources were available (like Roman history), people looking back 50 years from now will have a clearer view.

As volatile as digital storage is, the fact that so much is actually stored digitally, means that Steve Jobs may not be forgotten. Right down to his abuse of the handicapped parking spot.