Human error may always exist, but I think the point is that people aren't learning from their errors. With software, you can find a problem, fix it, and then iterate until all the problems that can be encountered are handled. if you build in robust modules there is a point where you start to see less and less errors being introduced into the code. That isn't currently happening. If we really want to, we can build truly bullet proof code modules but it would take a substantial change in the way things are done.

Suggesting that human error will always exist that therefore there isn't any point in trying to reduce or remove it is lazy and stupid.

It is incredibly simple to drill through the ice. Bring a long a one pound sphere of depleted uranium. Before you start breaking for obit, release the sphere on an impact trajectory. Without a thick atmosphere to ablate it, I feel fairly confident in saying that the crater will be fairly deep. Repeat as needed. If you want real precision, I'm sure you can get the military to give you one of the cheap laser guidance packs they slap on dumb munitions. Rememeber that the goal here is to get through the ice, not examine the geology, so I think your comparison isn't quite appropriate.

The agency leadership isn't stupid. If they pull funding from other programs, the could get backlash from cutting other (presumably useful) activities, and when the public notices that the spying hasn't stopped, the next cuts will be even deeper. At some point congress would get collectively pissed off defund the agency completely.

Americans tend to be complacent in the face of minor irritations, but when faced with a real threat/outrage they tend to go completely postal. Just ask the Imperial government of Japan or the Taliban about this.

"Sir, I cannot define private information, but I know it when I see it..."

Ok, I am trolling you with the quote, but your statement is bullshit and I think you know it. Law enforcement agencies shouldn't be collecting ANY information on anyone until they have a crime report in their sweaty little hands or enough evidence to go get a real warrant. Anything more is just the first step on the slippery slope to police state.

Very eloquently spoken, sir. Unfortunately I think that the conflict over patent reform is due not to disagreement about what is the best way to govern progress and invention for the good of the inventor and society. It seems to be a debate between people who want a fair system, and people who think that they need to fuck over everyone in order to get a larger share of of profits in return for doing nothing. (I'm looking at you, defensive patent portfolio holders)

1000 years ago, those with the biggest armies ruled. Now those with the most lawyers rule. This is progress.

this makes a lot of sense to me. Given that EM radiation only travels at the speed of light, and falls of with the square of the distance, it is the cosmic equivalent of writing a letter, stuffing it in a bottle, throwing it in the ocean and hoping that your friend in Japan gets it. We think we are clever monkeys, but we are in effect beating on a log with a stick, when the rest of the universe is likely sending data packets via the cosmic version of fiber optic.

It speaks to our hubris that we assume that we are smart and we use this technology, and that other people will use the same technology. They probably don't even look for 'young civilizations' that use EM for communication, because they blow themselves up half the time before achieving a useful form of communication technology. Would you try to talk to an amoebae on the off chance that it might evolve into something interesting in a few million years?

If there is any way to communicate in a faster than light fashion with others, it will be the standard by which advanced civilizations talk.

...Good to know. Hey WB, if you have canceled my Amazon pre order of TLM just to hike the price, I'm not reordering it. I just going to STEAL it online. Fuck you.

You are just....stupid. As an active member of the AFoL community, I suggest you go do a Google image search for 'Lego Convention' or something similar to see all the really amazing stuff you can build with all the 'useless' bricks they make these days before you say anything else on the topic that is just wrong. There is even a subset of the community that deliberately acquires highly specialized bricks to challenge themselves to find creative uses for said pieces.

If you cannot build new models out of modern Lego sets, it is because you have no imagination or creativity.

Actually Lego had already licensed and sold SW products when they were going bankrupt. SW didn't save them from going under, reforming their business practices did. They cut costs by radically reducing their part pallet for example. But, you are completely right about the fact people will bitch about anything. Many people complain about the cost of Lego sets, but the price per brick has stayed at almost .10 since the 1970s.

A majority of people in society aren't deep philosophical thinkers. They want to do their 40 hours, and go have a beer and watch football. Police are a fair cross section of society, so most cops aren't going to stop and ask if what they are doing is a fundamental violation of a person's constitutional rights, unless it is a pretty sever deviation for normal behavior. (Ex: beheading perps caught in the act)

I don't think most cops think too much about it, they have plenty of more immediate problems to keep busy with.

I would say that a Rock Star Dev only lives up to the title if they can lead and educate.

A dev that crank out large volumes of code, but is unable to articulately communicate or work with others might be skilled, but is hardly a 'Rock Star'.

"Please don't come back"? I made a sarcastic comment about how quickly the tread was going downhill, and that is the response I get? I am so very disappointed on so many levels. I offer this rebuttal, you filthy, Portland hippy:

Sir, the whole of your taste is in your mouth, your father only impregnated your mother because he was drunk at the time and mistook her for a overly portly circus clown, and you tip poorly. The Irish think you drink too much, and racists call you thick-witted but only behind your back, because they find you to be too violent and moody to deal with. All your dates with the opposite gender have occurred because of dares or pity, and your hair is more oily that Saudi Arabia. You dress like a pimp from New Jersey, and I would have a better conversation with a rotting stump than with you. I'd suggest that you kill yourself to improve humanity as a whole, but that would just waste an empty hole in the ground where someone would doubtlessly stuff your bloated hideous body, that could otherwise be doing something useful like storing landfill. Mail yourself to Tasmania, and stop lowering this website's name by posting your filthy opinions on it. Bits cost almost nothing, and yet I feel you are wasting Slashdot's money ever time you foolishly click 'post' in the vain hope that if you spew enough verbal fappery you might actually say something that somehow matters. Away, chaff, away with you.

Something interesting to note, A 'construction worker' is largely a bivalent obvious label. It is relatively clear cut if someone is a member of this set of people. "nerd' is a term that is much more loosely defined, and large portions of the general population would be able to distinguish between a 'nerd', a 'geek', and a 'gamer'. I thought it was telling that the GP post spoke of engineers and other nerds, suggesting that all engineers and programmers were automatically part of the group of people who were nerds. Programmer != nerd, I have meet many coders who aren't anywhere near the intellectual caliber to be called a nerd.

TLDR? - Please be more specific in your generalizations.

NAZIS! NAZIS! HITLER!

*Drops Mike, walks out*

It is unlikely. A car bomb is a cheap and simple way of killing lots of people. Drones are relatively complicated and incapable putting a six foot hole in the middle of a busy market. You may not realize this, but building a good, reliable bomb in a third work country with ad-hoc parts is somewhat challenging and dangerous.