Sometimes doing things the insane way is the sanest method available.

Let me explain:

A new programmer will look for a method to transform one object to another another; a new programmer will write a method to transform some bytes into some other bytes.

A (slightly more seasoned) programmer will realize that even though you are using a higher-level language, someone inevitably said "f*ck it" at some point, and built byte arrays[] and so on into the various namespaces / classes, and that it's more of a search for the right namespace than inventing the wheel for the 5000th time. From the usual 'sane' standpoint, resorting the byte[] arrays in a high level language kind of defeats the purpose of using a high level language, and yet, somehow, between the hours of 1-3 AM, it makes perfect sense for a high level language to be filled with all these nitty gritty options.

+1, Funny for the BOFH style response.

What does it say about condensed water vapor?

More along the lines of "they never knew what a server was, and would artfully dodge your phone calls, elevator meetings, and eye contact to avoid accidentally imbibing any knowledge that might furnish them with this understanding; all they know is that the slick salesman with the nice sports car and itemized billing said they'd magically do everything from their end and never bother them, and they believed them."

I can't wait for programmers, sometime in 2020, to rediscover the performance boost they receive running an OS on 'bare metal'...

See it with me: one day, we will have clouds inside clouds!

There will always be another war, another enemy; it seems that mankind keeps track of its history this way, from who we were at war with last, to whom we are currently at war with, and whom we will be at war with tomorrow.

Nonsense. We'll start making things out of quarks then.

EE, CE, SE, CS, and Physics majors of the future will stare into the void that is sub-atomic computing, and see something staring back at them.

Hush. The god of education demands his sacrifice -> the minds and souls of millions of children, being taught to warm a chair and loosely follow some obscure lesson by someone engaged in private theatre. If you don't teach them, they might learn something other than what has been planned...and if that happens, anything could happen!

AMD, come on. Focus on refreshing your top lineup of CPUs, or become irrelevant.

Bring me back the old Wall St. Journal...the one where you had to understand the finer points of oragami to fold it so you could read it with one hand, and whose advertizements were for things you could never hope to afford.

You're thinking too small. Think bigger...if you have access to the in-flight infotainment system, you have access to the eyes, hearts and minds of the passengers. Passengers who are, due to not so subtle-conditioning, easily frightened. "9/11" "Never again!" Pictures of the statue of liberty crying and politicians dissembling at the top of their lungs. =^_^=

So what would I do? Two things. I'd play a video, ostensibly of a 'live' newscast that the plane they are currently on has been taken over by terrorists, and that their current pilot / co-pilot / first officers are planning to ram the Pentagon. Think about it. Some people on the plane will look at their ticket subs, figure out that the plane they're on is the one being hijacked, and rush the pilot's cabin as one person.

When they rush the cabin, I begin jamming the radio (cellphone signals are already being jammed, and wireless internet as well). At this point, on the ground, a video is delivered to the real media stating that some terrorist group (sans pilot / copilot, as background checks on the ground will clear them) have taken over the plane, and are planning another 9/11 style attack. With the radio dead and lack of useful communication, the military will assume the worst.

+1, Funny.

Oh damn, got so off track replying to parent / grandparent, I didn't have a chance to make the post I wanted.

http://www.nature.com/nature/j...

Testosterone is the hormone which is responsible for aggressiveness and individuality, right? Except when it's not. It's the 'everybody knows' kind of wisdom that is bunk -> I've been studying this off and on for a while, and the hormone in both males and females that is responsible for aggression, IMHO, is progesterone; think of your wife / gf who gets PMS, this hormone is in play, and men have some of it in their systems as well. Testosterone seems to get a bad rap, with half the research saying this, and half saying that. Read up on it...the scary thought is, if one half is right, then chemical castration of sex offendors actually makes things worse, rather than better.

"I am not saying men should be exterminated. I am just saying that there are no significant technical barriers."

Lol, let me get this straight...you want to remove the male half of a species, then permanently weld the female half of the species to technology from now until the end of time, and you think this is not a significant technological barrier? That's a bold statement, let's check in with our Russian judges, and see what score they give your mental gymnastics...an 11 / 10, impressive.

I could touch on the greater science out there which points to the genetic depletion of the overall gene pool of humanity, but I digress, so few people can see the forest for the trees these days, that I'll spare you that lecture. I'll simply state that if one were to head down the proposed path of sperm bank males, the species as a whole would suffer, and, without genetic engineering bordering on Science Fiction levels, would be permanently disabled. I say this, because without heading down that path, we've already screwed ourslves, genetically speaking, the consequences of which have been the arrival of genetic diseases that no one can seem to shake.

And yes, there is a significant difference between rats / mice and human beings which is why this would cause such a problem. One of those science 'gotchas.' It's addressed in the report I am alluding to, and will let you google if you wish to read it.