For as much as I respect Linus for the work he's done, his outbursts are getting old and are not funny anymore. I dislike political correctness and bullshit as well, but if you really have a point to make in this regard, it can be made with less rhetorical aggression, even when being blunt about it.

Cool, I knew this would make a comeback from the 60s or something.

I've got a very classical kind of algorithmics and math-heavy CS degree and work as a web-based business application developer. My academic education has nothing to do with what I do daily, except perhaps has served as some kind of a demonstration that I am capable of critical thought, which is quite important in my every day job, making sure that customers' systems don't totally screw up their businesses.

It really depends. Finland is in a similar situation; it seems like we fund the education of an enormous amount of Chinese students at taxpayer expense, like we do in the case of natives.

Whether they just go back to China and make use of their diplomas in their completely dog-eat-dog economy, or whether they choose to stay and live here, is the question. I personally know multiple Chinese people here who choose to stay because the society is preferable, and that is certainly nice, but whether the whole picture works... I don't know.

As a Finnish guy who has been following Nokia since the 90s, yes I do have a pretty good idea.

The important part with enthusiasts is that the enthusiasts are early adopters and often developers. And I'd say that they can recognize a slick UI when they see one, and so can the rest of the population.

I own one, and it really is very nice. It's too bad Stephen Elop intentionally refused to have it sold in most major markets; I guess he wanted his precious WinPhones in people's pockets instead.

Where-ever it was sold however, I hear it did very well among enthusiasts such as myself. The UI has been marveled about by non-geeks when they've got to play with mine.

I'm running Linux on on a Zenbook, and this is what I really prefer to a really crappy "netbook", thank you very much.

My claim here is that the calculus is such that as NK just doesn't matter ideologically anymore to China, so they have no motivation to "support" it in any meaningful way, regional stability concerns aside. International diplomacy is often a matter of trading concerns, so if I were China I would just hope the NK crazies went away and I didn't have to "take their side" when I have much more important issues to defend (trade, Taiwan...)

I'm not all that certain that China will unconditionally prop them up. They already have quite a problem on their hands with NK that they are no longer ideologically interested, and that China's real interests in international trade and so on are just hurt by any overt support of NK.

What China is interested in is that their border region with NK doesn't get flooded with refugees if NK suddenly implodes. So I'd say that China might be our best bet at encouraging internal changes inside NK.

If only it were Chihuahua... chien is "dog" in French :)

Last time I checked Nokia is based in Finland which is not in the US...

How exactly is public healthcare to blame for the situation in Greece?

As someone living in a socialized-medicine country and with a very rare disease, I'd say my specialist treatment has always been excellent. I bet I'd have issues getting insurance in the first place in the States, and it certainly wouldn't cover the "pre-existing condition". I'd be willing to bet that it is indeed the rare-disease people who benefit the most from our kind of a system.