I can't think of a single thing I do or would want to do with a computer that doesn't have some sort of toolkit, library, framework, or other component out there to get a "leg up" on doing the work, unless you're only doing the most basic and simplistic pieces of code or presentation. In the case of HTML, that means a text document without images, video, or sound; never mind "active" components of the interface via JavaScript.

The hardest lesson to learn as a programmer is that "not invented here" is code for "I am too arrogant to use someone else's solution."

Microsoft just jumped the shark. Big time.

There is no way in hell I would "upgrade" from 7 to an OS that requires subscription fees. The only reason I have it instead of Linux on the laptop is to run a couple of database products that I couldn't get going under Debian. If I could get Oracle, Sybase, and SQL Server to run under Debian, there wouldn't be a Windows Virus in this house.

First you "legislate" that pizza is a "vegetable", now you're going to vote on whether science is real?

You're insane down south. Absolutely, completely, 100% bonkers.

Sure while it is strictly correct that it can happen and does happen, it certainly doesn't happen with nearly the frequency which it should, which is, every single time. These events are such a rarity that we really may as well ignore the few times it happens since its not significant compared to the magnitude of the problem.

If you want to risk the inherent problems in confronting the police when they do something illegal, I'm sure that there would be an organization that would sue on your behalf, something like the ACLU. Unfortunately it's very likely that it'd be a rough few years and that the police would not give you any benefit of the doubt in encounters with you.

In my neighborhood our backyard fences are 6' high. We also have dozens of thorny rose bushes that were here when we bought the place that we've maintained. There is no practical way to casually trespass.

You mean, Phalanx CIWS?

What they should probably do is marry the control system for the Phalanx with something like Metal Storm, which uses cartridgeless ammunition stacked in the barrels, to make a man or crew-operated portable device that can put a lot of rounds into the air very quickly without having a whole lot of moving parts. It would essentially be a sentry gun, but close anti-air instead of long-range anti-air or anti-personnel.

And I don't doubt that they are concerned about tiny little bits of explosives being brought in on drones. A modern hand grenade is not very big and not very heavy, and a drone capable of carrying an SLR with long lens could probably carry a few of them, dropping them as called for.

Your point about vendor lock-in is pointless. There was a time when computer classes were taught using terminal-based systems, and everyone had to use the school computers, much as chemistry students have to use the school's labs.

You kids. So damned spoiled nowadays.

... the oldest goatse in history.

I wonder how secure l33t sp34k is now; if it's automatically being tried simply because it's so ubiquitous.

I'm not really all that concerned about the physical aspect- it's all solid-state so if the housing of the mouse is decent then it should last assuming it's not dropped from height or crushed, but I just wonder when the point of diminishing return will be reached. Seems like it makes more sense to build the computer into the display or into something the size of a small portable hard disk drive, so that it can have USB ports or bluetooth for the keyboard and mouse, and could literally hang on the HDMI port on the TV like the "Amazon Fire TV Stick" works.

...on the keyboard...

For the purposes of searches, they're considered equipment.

Florida V. Jardines

Man, that's a blast from the past. In my first year of university back in fall of '82, we used the PL/C subset of PL/1. Kind of a shitty language for introducing people to programming, but I'd been coding BASIC and assembler (Z-80) since I was 14, so it was mainly an issue of learning syntax for me.

Actually, the distinction is "naked eye".

Katz v. United States.

There is a subsequent ruling that essentially allows a drone to spot what's in plain view in the backyard of a home, even if that stuff is within the curtilage behind a fence, but Katz seems to establish the right to privacy where one has a reasonable expectation of privacy, so long as there isn't a warrant.

Any technology that could see into someone's home through an opaque barrier would seem to be in violation of that.

Oh I fully agree, in no way did I mean to imply that throwing out the evidence was wrong..... its the best thing you can do under the circumstance and the only proper way to handle in within the context of the original case.

My comment is 100% aimed at the lack of followup and the lack of any even attempt to prevent the issue beyond hiding the truth of the matter and avoiding dealing with it.

Its correct to toss out such evidence, its incorrect to not treat the criminal searches as a crime.