The miniaturization of electronics has resulted in the miniaturization of spectacular failures.

Same concept, written by Charles Petzold in 1999:

http://www.amazon.com/Code-Language-Computer-Hardware-Software/dp/0735611319

I would invite you to learn how Etsy releases multiple times per day:

http://codeascraft.etsy.com/2010/05/20/quantum-of-deployment/

Are you using ReiserFS?

Yes, it's a drug called "old age". I highly advise that you stay away from it.

I agree that statistics is very, very useful - if for no other reason than being to identify the useful info in a sea of spreadsheets and log files.

As for the other stuff? Depends on what you're doing. I've had a very successful IT career of 20+ years, and the last several years have involved working on marquee mobile apps. Even when working on high-profile websites (~500M page views/month), I haven't needed to understand Big O beyond a superficial level, and I certainly didn't need anything beyond algebra to understand the output of a profiler (even for iOS, which can be a challenging platform.)

Am I a monkey? No. I have worked on engaging software products that millions of people happily use, all without advanced math knowledge.

Nothing annoys me more than "security" questions. First, so many sites share the "secret" answer that it's really not secret, is it? Second, I'd prefer to not make vulnerable even yet more personally identifying information. Third, I really dislike needing to remember the hundreds of variations of stupid personal trivia that comprise my "answer". "In what city did you first drive a car?" How the hell should I know, I barely remember my name anymore!

Sorry, I beg to differ. I've waited eighteen months for an Android tablet that has pixel-perfect, smooth as butter scrolling, which iPhone has had for several years now.

As a developer who has worked on several marquee apps on iOS and Android, I've always been disappointed by Android. The small details matter.

Vampire snacks! Like cherry-filled chocolates.

I got fired once for circumventing network policy. Afterwords, my former coworkers would refuse to talk to me. I heard from the janitor that they all make fun of me now on a regular basis, and when anyone proposes a truly stupid idea, the common retort has now become, "Oh yeah, sure, and why don't you just SSH tunnel out of the network while you're at it!"

I agree. And just for extra measure, don't do personal banking from your home PC unless it's housed in a windowless room with concrete walls that are least 4 inches thick.

Time for RMS to add a "NewEggization" clause to GPL4.

If your biggest concern, in 10 or 15 years, is that you wasted money on a video game that you only got to play for about 60 to 120 hours but can no longer play because Blizzard goes out of business, congratulations! Most of us are too busy worrying about if the planet will even be habitable by then.

Then again, maybe you've built an underground nuclear fallout shelter, and desperately are looking for Diablo III to be your sole source of entertainment.

What do you think the CEO does all day long?

Bulleted lists. Bulleted lists have been broken since well before 2002.

Oh, and "sections". Sections have been broken for almost as long as bulleted lists.