+1. Very insightful and fun answers.

Anyone who is still using such devices..
There will be embedded devices out there still running ancient versions of linux, and still receiving manufacturer updates. In many cases the OS will have been minimalized to decrease the amount of effort required to update it, which is another advantage linux offers.

The fact that very few people still use such old linux devices is another matter, there is far less reason *not* to upgrade your linux devices - support for existing hardware is rarely dropped, memory requirements rarely go up, there are no huge costs involved etc.

FYI i still maintain several old linux boxes...
One running a 2.4.x kernel, because it's used to control an SGI machine that requires a proprietary kernel module..
Another running a 2.2.x kernel because i use a third party encryption program that was never ported to newer kernels.

Both of these systems despite having old kernels, have relatively up to date userlands and the services exposed to the network are also kept updated.

In the case of XP, clearly the up front costs have long ago been recovered many thousands of times over.

Well that's the whole point, you don't need to provide support indefinitely you only need to provide the code to arbitrary third parties and they can continue providing support if you choose not to.

Look at all the embedded devices out there still running linux 2.4.x (or even older), and still being actively supported by the device maker. If there's a market for something and people have the code - someone will step up to provide support.

From TFA: "At the start of each round an independent judge flips a fair coin and tells your opponent the result but does not tell you. If the coin came up heads your opponent must play rock."
The opponent isn't forced to get at least 50% rock after any number of plays.

PROTIP: None of us has any chance of surviving, wherever we end up.

Humans are interesting animals.
We are still 80% dependent on fossil fuels for our energy needs and have no clue what we could use at this scale when they're depleted.
But let's worry about what could happen to the sun in 5 billion years!

You mean like :
http://interviews.slashdot.org...
or
http://features.slashdot.org/s...
?

But to be fair, http://slashdot.org/index2.pl?... is much more "Ask X what you will" than "X answers your questions".

The external speakers aren't for the engine or the driver, it's to let the hot chicks know how much you paid for your car.
From the above article :
"Volkswagen previously used a resonator tube similar to the Mustang’s in its GTI but has switched to what it calls a “Soundaktor.” This system is like the M5’s, in that an audio file is stored on the car’s computer and then played during certain throttle applications. Unlike the more selective M5 setup, VW’s broadcasts all the noise from under the hood through a dedicated speaker located near the engine’s throttle body. Soundaktor speakers are currently making noise in the GTI, GLI, and Beetle Turbo."

It's not only for Tesla, and not just on videos either.
Engines are getting more efficient and quieter every year, and cars are better insulated as well. Customers are disappointed when they spend big bucks on a car only to find out it doesn't sound like a big old sport car.
The solution? Manufacturers actually add speakers next to the engine, exhaust and inside the car.
You sometimes get V8 sound out of a V6 car :)

http://www.caranddriver.com/fe...

Fun fact : what you wrote is utter bullshit.
Another fun fact : you need to invest more energy in order to get 1kWh worth of oil than 1kWh of solar electricity.

Exactly.

I love git, because all my development repos are self-contained, easy to backup and work perfectly offline.
"git rebase -i" is just wonderful.

BUT :
You want to pull and overwrite your local changes? It's as easy as :

  git add *
  git commit -a -m "auto dev server commit"
  git fetch origin master
  git merge -s recursive -X theirs origin/master

You want to clone your local repo to a new remote one and use it as origin? Sure :
#On local machine
cd foo_project
git init
git add *
git commit -m "My initial commit message"
#On remote machine (Git remote repository)
sudo su - git
cd /usr/local/git_root/
mkdir foo-project.git
cd foo-project.git/
git --bare init
git config core.sharedrepository 1
git config receive.denyNonFastforwards true
find objects -type d -exec chmod 02770 {} \;
#On local machine, in your git project
git remote add origin ssh://git@example.com:2227/usr/local/git_root/foo_project.git
git push -u origin master

Those are just 2 examples that come often enough to be an annoyance, but not often enough that I can remember them.

I loved KDE 3.5, and would spend weeks customizing everything to look exactly like I wanted.
It worked perfectly, I had all the right applications and buttons at the right place.

I tried 4.5 and newer versions, but with a kid and my day job, I simply don't have time to look through the 1000 menus, tabs and radio buttons.
So I have to stay with the default config, but it kinda sucks.

On the other hand, Linux Mint + Mate gets the job done out of the box and it looks decent.

So you're violating their terms of service and effectively pirating the content anyway...

And that's one of the biggest problems with netflix and other streaming services... Your limited by your bandwidth, which is also likely to go down during peak times (ie when you want to watch), and heavy use streaming means you can't do anything else on the connection either because its too slow or because your activity would cause the stream to stall.

I want a service where i can download and watch later, i have limited peak time bandwidth usage and unlimited late at night, at night the network is less congested therefore faster and i'm generally asleep so i don't care if it makes the connection laggy, and downloads are not hampered by fluctuations in performance.

With a downloaded file i can take it offline to watch somewhere i have no or poor connectivity, once the file is downloaded i can watch it knowing there wont be any dropouts, i can download overnight in whatever quality i want , even a 1080p movie will be finished by the morning on a 5mbps connection.

Streaming is often utterly impractical at the times you most want to watch something, eg:

on a train/bus/coach/car - the motion makes 3g slower, tunnels make it drop out entirely as does travelling in/out of service areas...
mobile data is often expensive...
abroad - roaming data is even more expensive
wifi is not always available, and even when it is sometimes its unusably slow and you trying to stream only compounds the problem...

On the other hand, a usb stick full of stuff you downloaded the previous night works very well in all of these situations. I travel a lot, and frequently find myself sitting around bored waiting for something, while having poor or no internet connection.