Don't we realize that the same rationing that is going on in ATC is bound to occur in socialized healthcare? Don't we already realize the atmosphere in our socialized school system is failing to enable our children to compete with both those in other countries and with those educated in less well funded private schools? The solution to government control of the airports is the same as that for healthcare or schools - privatize and deregulate. Make the compulsory arm of society pull back to only doing as little as possible and let people be free to solve the problems that are consistently barriers for the socialist system. It's the right, thrifty and moral thing to do.

I've found that voice and interruptive sound can be quite bothersome, but if music is both interesting and acoustic it can have a positive affect... Just the right - balance. Go to candyrat.com & pick out some artists you find intreaguing - you can listen to most on YouTube to try them out. I think you'll be very happy with listening to some acoustic guitar with a nice set of headphones.

OK, granted the guy is green and full of himself... But perhaps a fresh perspective is not all that bad. We KNOW that a lot of the stuff we have worked on and inherited is absolute crap that is very difficult for average human beings to grasp. Here's a human being trying to come to grips with a wicked mass of old (and, granted, battle-tested) ideas.

You are also right that all of us tend to want to greet a problem by trying to bend it into our will so that no matter if the pin is trapezoidal, it will fit (darn it) into our circular world view. And this goes for the new guy as well... We are aware of it, but this new guy may not be aware of it. Explain to him htat he needs to learn to do this as well. Instead of strict adherance to a dogma, a set of programming patterns grows up around a problem space -- not the other way around. Try to help him see the problem and make sense of it first before he triest to tackle the crap with the "new hotness."

So... give they guy a challange. ell him the abovve, and also help him to understand that the code-base is NOT going to take on a revolutionary overhaul overnight. Tell him he can add his new ideas gradually if the new ideas do any of three things:

1) Reduce the LOC's in the program.
2) Measureably improve performance.
3) Measureably improve the code quality (via new introspection/tracing tools, unit testing or algorithmnic proof of correctness).

From a person that doesn't do email. Truly, truly incredible.

I know this will ruin my Karma, and... I have never used this language in a public forum in my life, but, it's warranted...

Not only "no," but "HELL NO!" you Hitlarian Fascist bitch.

I worked in field applications in my previous job -- I lived by my cell phone & I was all over the place always, and 100% connectivity was paramount for me... I would also often need to do conference calls while travelling the highway. I tried a couple of carriers, and then tried Verizon. A few things I could tell you about Verizon:

0) Incomparable coverage -- I almost always had coverage everywhere across the country.

1) Rarely dropped any call... only intermittently driving I-5 across Camp Penalton.

2) I worked many times in an RF SHIELDED building, and I got calls ringing through the shielding.

So, for me there was no comparison. It cost more, but my butt was on the line with my connectivity, and I had to have that service -- and I have the service to this day.

Recently though, I had to go to take my dog to a remote area above Temecula in California to shelter my Dog for a trip. I could get coverage (bars) there, but I could not connect a call through. The lady running the kennel said that ATT was the only provider that worked there... So... for remote areas, maybe ATT is catching up? I've heard stories that ATT coverage is not so great everywhere, but at least in this one place it was the only option.

OK, I'll bite... Yes, Unity is crap. BUT IT WAS LESS CRAP THAN Gnome3.0 and KDE4.0 WHEN IT FIRST CAME OUT -- and that's why i use it to this day. I am on Unity because it's not as clunky & restrictive as gnome3, and KDE was complete and "udder" stink under 4.0. But more than that, Ubuntu 6 mo. release cycles are awesome & I am hooked on that, and it's easier for me to stay on the path that they are actively developing for now. However, now that KDE4 is on the .7 minor release & seems to be looking better -- well, maybe I'll try Kubuntu in PeePee (seems only fitting that this is an LTS).

I wanted to stay with a mainline Linux graphical environment that would grow & wouldn't break too badly with each release. So, I figured that I had 3 choices really for main-line Linux environments... Gnome 3, KDE 4 and Unity... and I was already on Ubuntu. Gnome 3 was/is not mature yet... I'd tried KDE4 and found it "wanting." And I'd tried Unity on a Netbook -- It was a bit slow, but usable and tweak-able with Compiz -- and hey, for Netbooks, right? -- they had to make it faster.

Well, I decided I liked the 6 month cycles & decided not to migrate to Debian or Fedora. I eventually bit the bullet & let Ubuntu upgrade my laptop to Unity, & "got used to it." I keep my eye on Gnome 3 but, PLEASE -- that's even more a joke. KDE 4 also still looks like a Windows knock-off & is still clunky. I'll stick with Unity for a while. At least I'm hopeful because it _has_ improved.

Given the options available and the directions KDE and GNOME are taking... I'm better off with Unity or rolling my own. YMMV, but I'll stick with Unity for now.

Assuming that all machines are using NTFS...

So... A forth...

Pornography as blessed in the name of Jihad

Well... it's not very stupid to me actually... The people that look up to Bin Laudin are Extreme Muslims. If he were truly watching homosexual porn, or American porn... well, it would discredit him in the eyes of his followers. He would not be the great imam... but... as you stated just another flawed human being... A man in a world of extremes that cannot win against his passions... how can he be a holy leader of the Jihad?

Not this bunch... We're pretty sure how he communicated with his people... nice try though.

I'm really interested in what kind of porn it was... Did it have to do with goats, like everyone is joking about? Was he ogling Americans, Arabians -- male or female, I wonder?