No, he/she IS on the spot. Remember, the slide rule was mainly a source of inspiration, which help the GP understand relationships between numbers and motivated GP to learn more. Choice quote:

I did a 180 on math subjects - even without using the slide rule.

It is not a "learning styles" issue. Learning styles is a fiction.

I think Knuth's "made-up" assembly code looks generic to anyone who knows any assembler at all. I first saw assembly language in a Commodore 128 book decade ago, and reading the first few pages allowed me the grasp the big picture for Knuth's MIX language.

And I think you're incorrect about TeX vs LaTeX. Try to write your resume in LaTeX. TeX takes the pain out of LaTeX when you want to exercise good taste.

This is not at all true. The opposite is true. The latest kernel works perfectly fine on any 15 year old x86 machine.

This is true. However, getting a laptop with ECC RAM straight from the manufacturer is never an option, and impossible when RAM is soldered onto the motherboard. I think if Apple started using ECC RAM, and advertised it, others might follow suit (like with the "retina" displays).

It was the class of 1994, which entered college in 1990. So the article is correct. I was in the class of 1994 at a different college, and saw my first web browser in early 1994. Before that I used Wais and Gopher. Most of my classmates learned about IRC sometime in 1991-1992, not before. AOL was not a household name before 1990.

I totally agree with you. Please report the same on the Linux Kernel Mailing List. It's a shame the Linux kernel is written in C and does not benefit from this.

Here's one of countless reasons why you should learn C++.
std::thread([&](){ do_something(local_arg1, local_arg2); }).detach();
Write me the equivalent in C.

Wow! You should mention this on the Linux Kernel Mailing List. The Linux kernel is LOADED with threads, all written in C. You will certainly save the kernel developers lots of time when they switch. Please write back and tell me how it goes.

I don't have enough field knowledge to combat every ridiculous claim, coming from either side.

I'd be interested in hearing an example of a "ridiculous" claim from the side which thinks global warming is real.

C'mon, now. C++ needed the relatively recent "move constructor" to solve a serious inefficiency when doing, say for example, complicated matrix arithmetic using classes (created in the most obvious way). Before this, there were hacks, like template metaprogramming. The reputation of C++ is well-deserved, even if all of that stuff is fixed now.

Incorrect. The variable "a" is a pointer. The problem above is that "a" and "b" have different types-- "a" is a const pointer, while "b" is not.

I read your long essay. You can only make inferences about the population you survey here ("Mechanical Turk"), not the general population. (Are people on "Mechanical Turk" representative of the general population?) So the best you can do here is draw conclusions about people using "Mechanical Turk", but alas, your sample wasn't random. It takes hard work to do a statistical study well, especially if taking random samples is too hard or too expensive. Unfortunately, nobody believes this.

I am so tired of this simple-minded shit getting modded +5 Insightful. Please stop psychoanalyzing an entire race if your primary experience with members of that race are just one real-life person (who will never get invited to your home), and a bunch of fools on television. You don't know what the hell you're talking about. You're not that amazing. Get over it.

This is an obvious troll, but not from the OP. This is a troll by the editor, Timothy, to encourage discussion of the PulseAudio author, Lennart Poettering, and systemd.

How can a databse of 1.5 million people be created by such a small organization in such a short time based on credible evidence? I've figured it out!

grep -e Abad -e Abdallah -e Abdul ... -e Mohammed ... NSA_list_of_Muslim_names.txt

That price probably included late fees/fines, "paying over the phone" fees, and probably other crap you'd never think of if you aren't poor. Also, women with children, in my personal experience, are much less likely to buy older, used cars.