So your claim is that the bug you are talking about is unknown? That you haven't seen it? My, that's quite a problem in logic, isn't it?

There seems to be a big chasm opening in the Linux world. Not to worry though, there is stable Linux out there. There are two forks of Gnome and a large variety of alternative desktops to choose from. You can still install Jessie without systemd and Devuan, Slackware, and Gentoo intend to keep that option open.

As for the lockup bug in TFA, in most projects, the kernel versions in question would be internal release only. The outside world would never see them. For example, my debian system is on 3.16 even when I enabled the backports repo.

The final bit, not all soft lockups are fatal. They are never a good thing, but they sometimes just indicate that something is taking longer than it was ever expected to and it needs to either be speeded up or broken into more manageable pieces so something else gets a chance to run.

Not always, but unfortunately in the majority of cases. So advice to the OP would be to put both languages on his CV and learn none.

Indeed. Only cure for that: Management that signed off on the "solution" goes to prison and/or has to compensate the company for the damage from their personal funds.

Indeed. On a breach like this, somebody should go to prison for a year or two for gross negligence.

There's the problem, dependencies out the wazoo. And no, that is not par for the course for system tools in Linux. Look at ldd /sbin/init. Those are the only dependencies. To have a 'normal' system, you'll need to add a shell (ldd /bin/bash)

In that case, the government would put all the proceeds back toward maintaining the roads instead of allowing private middlemen to skim off the top of the rent-seeking.

That depends. Have state governments tried to take cars off the road by increasing the price of license plates? If so, when and where has this happened, and what results have been common?

Then why are the leases long enough that it becomes becomes common to resell rights under the lease before it expires?

Is it really a government-granted monopoly if anyone with a chauffeur's license and proof of appropriate insurance can lease a medallion from the city government? It'd be like buying license plates: something everyone does every 4 years. There would need to be some way to distinguish part-time drivers using services such as Uber from full-timers in traditional taxis because a traditional taxi occupies curbside real estate for a longer part of each day. Any ideas for how to do that?

Oh, and btw: Matt 25:40

Some parts of the US actually still are. But ... give it time.

I can't speak for you, but knowing how hormones work in a young body (being a former young body myself), I sure as hell would want my daughter to know EVERYTHING THERE EFFING IS about contraception. Preferably BEFORE she can get pregnant in the first place.

how can they really be worth that? Isn't each medallion worth 1 taxi cab? I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how 1 taxi cab can bring in enough money to justify that kind of value.

The international perception of the US changed a lot in the past decade or two. When I was young, in the 80s, the US was the place to be. It was the dream land. Freedom, peace and the promise that hard work will make you a rich man.

Today the US are regarded not unlike the USSR was while it still existed, with suspicion and caution. Don't get them pissed off, you know what they can do, and what they have done... Plus, and that hurts me personally quite a bit since I do know a lot of people in the US and found a few very good friends there, the whole religious bit paints the people as somewhat dim witted, naive, if not gullible or even outright dumb. The general sentiment is that in the USSR, the people at least knew their government was bullshitting them, but in the US, they succeeded. The people actually believe that they're living in paradise while in reality they are trapped in a hellhole.

But nobody really would say that openly. Sure, we joke about the US behind its back and make fun of it (mostly the government, less so the people), but nobody would dare say it to their face. In general, the US are regarded as the international politics version of the dim witted schoolyard bully. Nobody would dare speak up against him since we all know he can beat us up good, and if we suck up to him we might even get some spoils when he rips off someone's lunch money, but when he ain't around we're much more happy and we make jokes about how dumb he really is.

It's sad, actually. Mostly because I do know a lot of very good, very intelligent people in the US. What's sadder is that most of them are desperately trying to find employment in Europe with the goal to leave the whole religious cesspool behind them...