You missed the end bit: "abilities based on accumulated knowledge, such as performance on tests of vocabulary or general information, increased until the age of 60.'"

Programming is in the latter category. I'm so much better ten years after I started because I know more than I used to about crypto, networking, individual psychology (of colleagues and users), etc.

So, do not panic - real life tasks benefit considerably from experience.

ITYM WhyFi

but I'm 31, not 22.

Let me just quote from the HF MSDS:
"Rubber gloves, face mask or safety glasses, apron, good ventilation. Do not work without calcium gluconate gel available to treat burns. Do not assume that gloves provide an impenetrable barrier to the acid. DO NOT WORK ALONE! Ensure that those working in the same laboratory are aware of how to treat hydrofluoric acid burns in an emergency."
-- http://msds.chem.ox.ac.uk/HY/hydrofluoric_acid.html

'amateur' and 'hydrofluoric acid' do not go well together.

"No, no, no. It's spelled Raymond Luxury-Yach-t, but it's pronounced 'Throat-Warbler Mangrove'"
"You're a very silly man, and I'm not going to interview you"

Most of us here will have had to pull an all-nighter, followed by a normal day, making 24 hours, plus maybe another 12-14 for the second day, so 36-40 hours total.

This is why you have a back-out plan ready to go at 6am when the new mailserver isn't playing ball at the end of your maintenance window. And this is also why it is a very simple back-out plan that is written down nice and legibly.

Why would he allow his ten year old son to go on the street and flaunt the law?

He was not "flaunting the law", you cold-hearted fuck, he was walking home from the library.

Now, I do not happen to agree with Mr. Taylor here but you can hardly criticise him for his son walking home from the public library before 5pm.

Good God man, have you seen the way the English DRIVE? And you want them to carry guns?

At the moment, at least I feel safe when I'm on the sidewalk.

Linux 2.6.24 - i can haz ethernet driver polling?

Er hello? The JET in Oxfordshire is not a fission reactor by any means.

There are a number of ways of getting a small bit of matter hot enough to undergo fusion - mentioned here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion - and fission is only one, and not a terribly convenient one at that.

"Depends on which computer" - says cynical sysadmin

usually a proposal needs to pay back and less than 24 months to be considered

In the US and Europe sure. Which may or may not be the reason e.g. Toyota are kicking the crap out of General Motors right now.

I'm surprised this comment didn't cause mysql, or whatever back-end /. uses, to die in a huge embarrassment overload.

I look forward to next week on /.: Quantum Electrondynamics: Feynmann's work is "conflicting where not simply wrong" and other inspiring comments.

I maintain that's a transcription error of "sire" - which is what they called Arthur elsewhere in the script.

You didn't need to know that.

*snicker* I've been using UNIX for a bit over thirteen years.

SLOWLY AND CAREFFULLY: The number of files on your fucking disk makes no difference, it's what your CPU is actually doing at any given time.

So, call it what the fuck you like, disks are big these days. If you actually boot every service you've got installed, yes, it will slow down. But just having software installed does not slow your computer down.

Typing this from a Ubuntu box which is running pretty quick, but still has lots of packages installed.