I'm from Australia and I've never heard that.

Not that nonce is a word you hear much anyway, regardless of the meaning.

I don't think people handled the transition to motor vehicles well 100+ years ago. There is always a subset of humanity that will complain about new technology.

An example of not handling the new cars well is this bit of trivia - the first drivers licence belonged to Herr Benz for his first motorwagen. He had written to the local duke asking for a permit to operate the vehicle because he was worried about people being offended by the sound and smoke from the thing.

That username and post align perfectly.

I agree that learning C teaches (should that be forces?) you to be a better programmer, but disagree about just get any book. If you're going to get a C book, get the original and the best "The C programming language" by K&R.

I think the real scum are the readers of tabloids and gossip magazines. If there wasn't a demand for compromising photos of celebrities, the paparazzi wouldn't exist. They're giving people what they want to see.

In Australia the a nurse takes a blood test back at the cop shop if you blow over the limit. Problem solved.

I'm pretty sure that your emails, BBMs, SMSs etc. all go through Echelon in the UK too. That's the whole point of there being more than one nation involved. e.g. the USA can spy on people in the UK then through intelligence sharing deals share that info with the UK agencies.

Instead of needing to find a job so you have adequate medical care, couldn't you have the government provide access to health care as a service for all?

The parent post isn't interesting, it's ignorant. The clock moves forward and backwards based on how likely the world is to blow everyone away with M.A.D. It's been closer to midnight e.g. during the Cuban missile crisis and much further from midnight e.g. the fall of the Soviet Union.

I wish I had mod points for that post.

It sounds like the UI designer mentioned by the GP is just laying out buttons on a screen without reference to anything. He's designing a UI he likes.

Proper user centred design is about finding out how the actual users of your software work and designing a UI that meets their goals efficiently. Your touch-typist example is a good one. If you're designing software for secretaries then assuming they can touch-type and building a UI that takes advantage of that is probably the right approach.

Wanting the ability to customise all your settings is thinking like a programmer. Different classes of user want things to "just work".

TFA is about ebooks and the poor formatting of their text. eBooks are read by all kinds of people with varying levels of computer skills, not just programmers.

For example, I don't think it's unreasonable for Grandma to expect that when she wants to read a book on her Kindle it displays correctly. Lines, paragraphs, chapters flow just like they would on the page of a print book. She isn't going to want to stuff around for hours setting up a display profile or some nonsense.

The only requirement should be around accessibility - the size of the text can be changed without breaking the layout & flow.

Standards are low (probably always have been). You see plenty of adults reading Harry Potter and Twilight but it's rare you see them reading books written for adults.