It sounds like they're replacing a lot of things. And as cool as the Amiga based system is, having one guy in the whole world that knows how it works is not a situation I'd want to be in if I were responsible for those buildings.

Just like engine management systems, building management system have gotten quite a bit more complex over the years. We work with building automation system data when we are brought in to improve the energy efficiency and air quality of a building. I've written software that pulls data from these systems and analyzes it. We've done a number of schools. An automation system at a high school we are working with now tracks almost 1500 data points. The interactions within the systems now are much more involved. It's not just scheduled start up times.

It's true though that you don't need a particularly high powered system to run the software. A library for at least one of the "standard" protocol stacks used to communicate with the devices has been ported to Raspberry Pi. However, the industry is moving toward adopting a java based system that individual controls manufacturers can customize.

These systems have gotten sophisticated enough that they are beyond what a typical high school instructor and students could put together and adequately test. For example, as buildings have become better insulated, making sure that there is an adequate number of air changes is critically important. Do you really want a high school instructor and a bunch of students in charge of making sure the automation system does what it needs to do? Even if you got some rock star teacher, what if they leave? It seems to me to be a huge liability.

My point wasn't that these aren't real problems, only that we seem to have no difficulty at all in processing grave threats since we seem to be worrying about several of them at whatever point in history we happen to be in.

I'm 50 years old and looming catastrophe has been hanging over our heads my whole life

1. Various Nuclear disaster scenarios
2. Global Economic collapse
3. Climate Change
4. Various religion based end-times
5. Y2K
6. etc


Honestly, it is like we can't function without having some sort of doomsday scenario in the picture

Sure, some types of snow is harder to ride in than others, but how many days do you really get enough snow that it's an issue in Vancouver? A half dozen a year? That leaves a lot of winter days that are totally fine for riding.

I live in a much colder and snowier climate than NYC but I ride year round. I have studded tires to deal with the ice but many people here don't bother (though I recommend them).

Even if you don't have studded tires, the streets are plowed and clear on most days. The bike paths are plowed too. There are definitely days where it's more treacherous and you'd want to either stay home or find another way to get around, but again, that's not necessary most of the time.

We have what I'm assuming is the original design (in Minneapolis). The chains are enclosed enough that you'd have to be be pretty klutzy to get your pants greasy. i'm guessing the reason they aren't fully enclosed is just for easy of maintenance. They use chain tensioners which means you'd need a fairly large chain case to enclose the chain along the whole path.

Lots of people ride year round in similar or even colder climates than New York's. People don't stop walking when it gets cold or wet, do they? You just have to dress appropriately.

FWIW, I live in Minneapolis and also ride year round. I'm not a crazy messenger either, just a run of the mill IT guy.

Don't you think they would have just manipulated the data to show what they wanted in the first place?

The only "Avengers" movies I see on Netflix are the cartoon versions. So yeah, as I said before, Netflix has lots of kid centered content.

The Godfather came out in 1972. I've seen it already.

But if you want to watch good movies that are at all recent, Netflix is going to leave you disappointed. Showtime is far more likely to have them. For that reason I think they can justify charging more than Netflix does.

Didn't check all the directors you mentioned but for the Coen Brothers at least, the first three movies I searched for weren't available for streaming on Netflix (you could get them on DVD). Yet "Inside Llewyn Davis" (2013) is available on Showtime.

I will concede that if you're content to watch old movies then Netflix might be just fine. You might even prefer it. I'd still be worried about their shrinking catalog however. Anyone can see that they have very few quality movies that are at all recent. And again, it's getting worse, not better.

So for me at least you can't say that because Netflix only charges $8.00, then Showtime's offering is too expensive. It's apples and oranges. They have very different content.

Other than their own shows and some kid stuff, there's not much in the way of good movies available on Netflix anymore. An extra $3 a month for decent movies doesn't seem like too much of a premium.

The problem is that sports are what most of the people who opt for something other than basic channels want. ESPN knows this and charges a fortune. The high prices aren't all the fault of the cable companies. ESPN has been what's kept even more people from cutting the cord.

Python doesn't force you to declare variables but running pylint on your source files will notify you of common errors that declaration helps avoid.

For example, pylint will tell you when you've attempted to access a variable that never has had anything assigned to it.