Jesus, the summary's written like an indictment of capitalism. "The only thing that matters now is money", as if that weren't the stated purpose of every company. Dell's not a charity created for its employees. And even if it were, can you argue that this wouldn't be in the best interest of the remaining ones, so that the company still exists a few years from now?

I get the whole Let's-hate-on-private-capital bent. Sure, Mitt Romney was a tool. But you're really not helping your credibility with this Corporations-are-evil hippyism.

No, it's bad for businesses. It means they have to invest funds in protecting their brand. Just like how the .xxx domain people blanketed television with ads, saying how they'll extort your non-porn business by registering your name under their TLD.

That layout looks like the stuff I skip over when I go to any news linked news site. If it had an unscrollable fixed background it would be twitter.

Is it unfair for slashdot to be "American slanted"? I've always thought of it as an American site. Does the fact that it is available in other countries obligate it to give them a proportional share of the news?

I agree that the notion of news feeds filtered by interest is essentially the same as reddit. But I'll take this opportunity to bicker with you about /. vs reddit.

What annoys me most about /. is the poor quality of many of the submissions that make it through, despite (or because of) the fact that it's curated. Sure, there's the almost mandatory trope of closing a summary with a rhetorical question. But often the whole summary, or even the news story, is crap -- FUD, nonsense, or obviously loaded rhetoric that wouldn't even make it over the radar on reddit.

Of course, reddit has its own cliches, some of which make me want to tear my hair out, but that is partially mitigated by unsubscribing from the worst offending subreddits. (Initial customization to leave the default subs is required if you want to avoid becoming suicidal.) But the crap stories that make it through there are at least *interesting*. Sure, they may blatantly appeal to reader biases, especially in politically oriented subs, but at least you know what you get from looking at the headline and know not to read any further.

The crap that gets through on reddit is successful for a reason -- there must be an underlying "quality" in the submission that appeals to at least some large collective of users. Whereas the crap that gets through on slashdot is often a complete fluke.

First comment I got on that line since I started using it since Fall 2005. FYI, it's a quote from a textbook by Koenig and Moo. I know recursion jokes are done to death (and were trite even back then), but I liked that one in particular because of the smugness of the second sentence.

And it's also true, of course.

I disagree. This may be the superlative of something, but I don't think "dumb" is it.

I actually think it's an interesting thought experiment. It immediately forces the reader to think about how pieces of code are used in the real world, both within and beyond their intended application. But it is also likely impossible to settle to anyone's satisfaction. I would trust a proposed answer to this question even less than I would an answer to "What was the size of the internet at the time of the Morris worm", or "How many lines of C code are there in existence".

Just because something's hard to measure doesn't make it dumb, though.

While a Guillotine would certainly bring death quicker, it's unclear whether the victim would experience a few moments of consciousness after decapitation.

Maybe we should just round up all the worlds' death row inmates for a biannual thermonuclear detonation. If that isn't quick, I don't know what is.

"'Tis better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt."

What the hell does that mean? Better say something or they'll think you're stupid.

> Should we have shuttles for a thousand different companies?

Is there a downside to that? If you don't like them using a public resource, charge them for access to it; I'm sure they're more than happy to pay if they aren't already. Not enough bus stops? Build more, seems like you'll make your money back. Or give them free access as a trade-off to lure in a better tax base. That's a decision for the city.

But if you're just mad that there exists a class of people who can afford fancier things (directly or through their employer), then yeah, I could see why one would want to force them to use icky icky public transportation like the plebes.

So? That makes me about as mad as when a corporation charters a private jet, when I think of all the people who would've liked to fly in that jet instead. You're really not selling me on the whole "Having nice things is despicable" argument. (Before you call that a strawman, I'll note that you're the one who put this action in the context of google's "Don't be evil" motto.)

Apparently if a boat is used for something besides its original purpose, no other boat can ever replace it. You know, cause boats and tasks mate for life.

I'm no free market fanatic, but it's like they're *trying* to misunderstand basic supply and demand.

> Inconveniencing [whale watchers] is apparently not considered evil.

I don't understand what anyone involved in this debacle wants google to do. Cease to exist? Develop transporter technology? In general, complaints about gentrification seem ridiculous. You can't complain about rich people outbidding you for your home any more than you can about immigrants stealing your jobs. What do you want, an act of congress to protect your economic niche? Hope you have a lobby.

No, there are 2^8 = 256 many /8s (fewer in practice, but whatever). Someone acquiring a /8 could be a big deal. There are the same number of /24s as OUIs.

The size of the prefix relative to the rest of the address is not the relevant factor. It's the scarcity of the prefixes that determines whether or not we care. By comparison, a 32-bit prefix out of a 128-bit address would not be news.

And how do you intend to communicate over ethernet or wireless ethernet without a MAC address?

(Don't say IPv6.)