That is the only feasible explanation for it being down right now. We know this site doesn't direct enough traffic to take down any website that is more robust than that.

In a theological sense, modulo the crawling, sure. This is the Meaning of Life we're talking about.

Security's motto: We break stuff, put ALL the burden on the users, walk away AND we get paid for it!

This is pretty much what happens when "Security" is a separate business group. Security-oriented admin groups can usually manage to balance security versus operational requirements, but if your only job is making things more secure and there's zero penalty for making things non-functional, well... honestly, I'd probably do the same thing.

At least, assuming these tweets are ranked appropriately.

Down near the bottom, with the ad spammers.

But really... what the fuck, Google? The most "useful" kinds of tweets are the ones who reference the authoritative material that you'd want to see instead of any tweet about it. As a means to add to the page rank of good (i.e. referenced) pages tweets might be valuable, but otherwise twitter activity is pretty much the definition of irrelevant.

I suspect that statement may have actually trapped smitty in an infinite loop. He has stated before that he reads my comments assuming that I mean the opposite of what I say. Hence in the case of sarcasm the loop might never exit.

Now THAT, sir, is a theory.

It's kind of like that Metallica line: "Come crawling faster / obey your master. . ."

I use Putty plenty, but I haven't had a time yet where I have needed to use it on a new system and needed root access on the system I am logging in to. If I'm using it on a new box, I am logging in with my usual non-root account on my remote system. How exactly would they use that to gain root access?

What they advocated for, and what they actually did, were two very different things. I'm talking about the budget proposals that they actually signed into law (in the case of Obama) or voted for (in the case of Pelosi). These were really not even close to reflections of what they said they were campaigning for. Even more so, they resulted in higher government handouts to wall street and the military-industrial complex than the GOP presidents had ever dared dream for, and larger tax cuts to the wealthy as well. The cherry on the sundae comes in the continued dismantling of workers' rights.

Another way to put it in perspective is to look for any bill that Obama signed that Reagan, Bush, or Bush Jr. would not have signed. I can't find a single one.

Really? Obama has signed into law - including during the time when Pelosi was leading the house - bills that Reagan and both Presidents Bush could have only dreamed of. Under Obama - regardless of who controlled either chamber of congress - we saw huge tax cuts to the wealthy, and continued marginalization of the middle and lower classes.

Essentially, while the GOP was marching further to the right, the democrats decided it would be a good idea to follow.

... you buy a gun, and you become a republican. That's been the cycle for a long time. Yeah, lots of republicans have croaked lately but they're being replaced by democrats shifting over.

Besides, as we've seen the last 6 years there isn't much difference between the two. One party is right-wing, and the other is 1 order of magnitude further to the right. Either way the republicans and their supporters win.

Not a surprise that I raise an actual concern and you reply with a conspiracy. Obviously the constant flow of time in this corner of the universe is not important in the context of trying to banish people with the wrong consonant after their name from Washington.

"You wouldn't understand."

"I wouldn't expect you to understand."

Ain't about the loot. Cthulhu has promised all his cockroaches that the conservatives get devoured first. I just like watching roach boy's legs scramble as he tries to run for some fresh rationalization to try and show that Her Majesty is not a thorough, complete, and consummate liar. Scant pleasure, as we slide into the settling pond, but don't deny me.