Well, the thing is - they go to jail, they almost certainly don't get clean, they come out harder and more desperate. They go to rehab, maybe they clean up, maybe they don't, but the chances of them doing so have to be higher.

To me, though, the really stupid thing is leaving decisions about the judicial process in the hands of the victims.

I think I speak for many of us here when I say, "eh? Come again?"

Gosh, how clever of you. You'd better phone up US High Command and let them know about these problems they've clearly never considered. I'm sure they'll be very grateful.

There is a big difference between notional exercises and the use of real world force. No-one who actually knows what they're talking about gives any credence to clusterfucks (in every sense) like the one you link to.

And bear in mind the firepower America can bring to bear if it chooses.

I think part of the problem is that for other professions, there's a fairly well defined transition between university education and real world application. When you graduate from a civil engineering program, you don't get put to designing bridges from day one. There's a very clearly defined career path and learning structure to get you from academically capable to I-trust-this-guy's-bridges-to-not-collapse. That doesn't exist in programming, except sporadically.

Why in the name of Goodness does this inane stream-of-consciousness rambling get published here? And more to the point, why can't he be given an auther ID so we can filter his nonsense out?

To keep this vaguely on topic, the answer is efficiency. If that's not good enough for you, fuck off and run a retail store until you have a clue.

I've seen several versions of this letter floating around. Frankly, I think it would be interesting to learn more about the people involved and their backgrounds.

No, the figures listed are the average *difference* in loss, not the average loss.

Please don't assume that the diet of an Olympic athlete consuming ~12,000 calories a day has any relevance to what is a generally healthy diet for you.

Mastercard is the network that ties together you, the merchant, and your account provider. I don't think Mastercard have ever offered their own accounts, though Visa used to (I remember UK credit cards that were nothing but the Visa logo).

Wrong. You do own the airspace. In some jurisdictions, you can in theory sue airlines for trespass and win nugatory damages. In others, the law has been specifically changed to allow overflight.

These little bastards.

Only slightly smaller than a regular pigeon, or at least the specimens I've seen are. Though one can never be certain with taxidermy...

Wise words.

It's obvious you've never actually ridden a bicycle in a busy city. I have to deal with drivers making lethal mistakes every single day I commute on two wheels. Given the number of idiotic drivers yacking on their phones I'd take my chances with half a pound of silicon any day of the week.