The demographic already has a great deal of preconceptions about how to train a 12yo to program. My kid is only 5. Go back and edit the post to capture a stronger market demo...

NASA wants the same thing that everyone else does: for their program to encounter some phenomenon so remarkable that it captures our attention.

I suppose they could always fake up a few alien spacecraft for us all and just get the wait over with regarding staring at the sky, but that just wouldn't be sporting, would it?

In other news, deer blind owners complain about the boredom of hunting...

Something to experience worth talking about and like-minded people to talk about it with.

Oh, and cute girls... but, really, where don't we look for those, hmmm?

They can't hold off supporting it much longer. As more providers distribute phones capable of supporting features like this, they are all brought closer and closer to the line. One of them will cross it first, and then the rest will follow. Tethering will be a ubiquitous feature in another year or two, even in the US.

No, they don't like it. Yes, they will do something about it if/when they perceive it to be abused. No, it won't matter in the long run.

Propagation of this misinformation, specifically, is the reason the GPL is so misunderstood: too many people out there that think GPL is the same thing as public domain and derive a sense of entitlement from it.

General Public License != Public Domain

Don't piss me off or I will kill you, rez you, and kill you again! O.o

"Service Oriented Architecture"? Really? There is a buzzword for that now?

If I spent less time writing code and more time reading about the latest trends, I'd stop to realize that I've been developing SOA for years now without ever even realizing it.

Is this that moment when I'm supposed to recognize that I'm actually standing on some type of "cutting edge" because it all just sounds like another remix of disparate systems with a client that says "make it all work together"...

As opposed to the hacking they will likely get as a response to trying to hide the information? Throw down the glove, why don'tcha?

It is feasible that, within our lifetimes, we will see the "genius" contributions coming from AI systems, with the human element only being able to take credit for building and raising it.

Then we will have to revise our measurements again based on how quickly artificial systems are capable of making "genius" contributions, vs how slowly we ourselves are able to.

Considering the speed with which both data and medium deteriorate with age, perhaps it is not surprising that ancient civilizations continuously relied on stone carvings and other physically substantial means to record information.

Being able to create something that will last down through the ages has been one of the classic challenges to mankind.

Even if you were able to come up with a solution for preserving data integrity, there is nothing to prevent purposeful destruction by third parties. Even the library at Alexandria burned.

Unfortunately, the only information that has ever been successfully preserved involves science, and that is because we appear hard-wired to reverse engineer how the world works. It is rather difficult to forget the laws of physics when they are repeatedly proven on a daily basis.

You are a "manager", and you need to understand that you are not a "supervisor", mostly because your staff won't necessarily need supervision.

As a manager, you do not work for the company. You work for your staff. You are only PAID by the company. Your job is to make sure that THEY can do THEIR jobs. You are the liaison between your staff and the company. As such, your responsibility is to discover the needs of your staff and do what is in your power to cater to those needs in an effort to maximize the productivity of your staff.

A programmer with concerns about his pay or his vacation time, etc, is going to be much less productive. As a manager, your job is to manage that problem by finding answers and pursuing solutions to problems that exist outside of the production environment.

Think of yourself more as a "coach" who needs to train a team to be as effective as possible... because that is what you are.

Just like most programmers, you will likely be most effective at your job in ways that are virtually invisible to everyone else; your associates will only be aware of what you do when you don't do very well at it.

Keep that in mind too, and realize that your (in all likelyhood) under-appreciated staff will benefit from being recognized for doing their jobs correctly once in a while.

Just keep in mind: they don't work for you, you work for them. They work for the company. It will keep you in perspective.