Yeah, this is great and all...

But wouldn't it be more useful to have a course that emphasizes critical thinking about all types of problems rather than focusing on one specific application of critical thinking? People usually seem to overlook that the important thing about working with computers is the ability to think critically about what you're doing, not the specifics of what you're doing.

Traditional science classes kind of broach the surface of critical thinking, but I suspect that it could be covered in much greater depth over a wide variety of problems, to much better effect.

This is retarded. I submit a story for the first time and it just disappears from the submissions list. No way to determine what happened.

The "firehose" apparently is just gone, even though the site FAQ still refers to it. There isn't even a redirect from the /firehose page.
There is no way to control what "colors" of submissions I can see on the submissions page, and even clicking on a particular color (which it says will filter to just that color) does absolutely nothing.

One would think that there would at least be a way to see that my submission has presumably been scored "black" or below. But no... there is in fact no way to determine that.

This place has really gone downhill in recent years.

Actually, it kind of does.

ET == [EST or EDT, depending on the time of year]
So, if you look at your timezone as "ET", then yeah, it's one timezone.
However, if you look at your timezone as EST or EDT, it's two.

Personally, I look at it both ways, depending on the context of what I'm doing.

This. Exactly.
Terrorists are a sometimes-maybe-sorta threat. Government is much more terrifying because it is always there protecting itself rather than its citizens.

How do we fight this nonsense?
It goes way beyond the role of groups like the EFF... What groups can I support to prevent nonsense like this?

Sometimes I swear Apple makes the Windows versions of their software terrible on purpose. It's still an uphill battle trying to use any of their software on a windows machine, as it always has been.

Why?
Obviously when you're using their amazing iPhone or iPad or whatever other tacky Apple gadget, you'll start to feel that your PC isn't up to par and you should replace it with a Mac.

Total rubbish. People should avoid buying trashy Apple products at all costs, lest they support this fiefdom.

full disclosure: I have used Linux exclusively for the past 13 years. I only have to interact with Apple and Microsoft's junk when I have to sync my wife's iPad with her PC.

Maybe they shouldn't have Coca-Cola deliver refreshments to their secret military installations? ;)

This sounds like what I've experienced with USPS.
Except I've had this sort of nonsense happen dozens of times with them.

I'm sorry... are you implying that restructuring the USPS would be in some way unethical or inhumane?

Yeah?

I've lived in apartments in the NYC area and the LA area over the past 5 years.
In both places, the USPS has screwed up almost every package delivery, almost always without apology. (Frequently resulting in packages going back across the country with me never having even seen a missed delivery notice.)
There's not even a useful way to complain to anyone higher up the food chain than the local postmaster, who, based on the three I've spoken with, is useless 100% of the time.

I, for one, am thrilled to see them dropping Saturday delivery of some items. They need to start running the operation like a business instead of a government agency if they intend to hang around much longer.

I never have a problem with UPS or Fedex.

Agreed. Chamsys' or other commercial (or open source-- see OLA) tools have been around to do these sorts of things for years.
This is really no big deal.The entertainment lighting industry does this all over the world, all the time.

Except there it's often previsualized in a computer months before anything is even assembled in the real world. There is no need to "debug" this sort of thing on the bridge itself. Simple video animations can drive 25k pixels without a problem and are very predictable in a simulation.
This is simply a publicity stunt.

I don't see what the big deal is. Yes, it looks nice, but there is nothing even remotely exciting about this.

Sounds to me like you're more interested in _Computer Science_ than programming or "IT".

Maybe you need to reconsider the program you are in, or attend a more serious education institution?