Well, I have been fortunate enough to be able to afford a pilot's license and I could not give a rat's ass about the economic benefit. There is nothing better than flying around in an airplane on a sunny day, at 1500ft above the Golden Gate bridge. And I will even go one step further: my first solo flight was the best day of my life. That includes losing my virginity and getting married. Check the continuous smile on this pilot's face during a first solo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v....

Who cares about economic benefit. If you can ever afford it, go for it! If you can't afford the license, go take an introductory flight at your local flight school and at least enjoy it for a brief moment.

I'm not an English major, but that was not very obvious.

Not true as there is no backlog. Applications that are filed outside of the annual limit, or not selected when a lottery is performed, are rejected. They are not delayed for processing in the next FY, and new applications for the same beneficiary will not get any preferential treatment.

That is perhaps a given to you, but that is not what you wrote. Remember that you, as someone who as undergone the process of immigration, may understand all the steps and requirements, but some poor schmuck in India reading your post may think that he has a chance if he files his own H1-B paperwork. Yes, the naturalization forms may not be that difficult that you'd need an attorney, but that was not clear from your post...

You need to get your facts straight.

A: There is no 5-6 year backlog for TN visas for India and China. India and Chinese nationals are not eligible as primary applicant for a TN visa.

B: You could be referring to H1-B visas, but then you would still be mistaken as there is no 5-6 year backlog for those either. H1-B visas are processed on a first-come first-serve basis until the annual limit is reached or when a high number of applications is received (all applications in the first week will usually be put in a lottery system). Unlucky applicants can try again next FY.

C: H1-B is not a direct path to citizenship. The path from H1-B to citizenship requires permanent residence, which requires a sponsoring employer.

D: I suspect you are not being truthful when you say "I did mine myself". That is very difficult, as you generally need an employer to sponsor your permanent residence (form I-140), and BTW, the same goes for your H1-B (form I-129). The only exceptions to the I-140 sponsoring requirements are people who have an extraordinary ability (EB1-A category). If you are able to file all the required paperwork yourself and get it approved, then you are truly extraordinary and I humbly bow to you.

E: It is the permanent residence part that has a huge backlogs, up to 8 years for certain countries.

If only software would be the focus of the Gnome foundation. I had a look to check if it would be worth donating some of my cash to. One of the ways to see if your money is spent well, is by looking at the financial statements of the charity you're considering to donate to. I found old statements on their page (http://www.gnome.org/foundation/reports/). Their last financial report goes back to 2011...

According to the financial data in their 2012 status report, 25 percent of their spending went to "Women's Outreach" ($106,741 out of $409,400). While I have no issues with programs helping women getting coding internships, I'm pretty sure the Gnome foundation would not be broke right now if they focused on their mission statement: "The GNOME Foundation will work to further the goal of the GNOME project: to create a computing platform for use by the general public that is completely free software. ", according to their website: https://wiki.gnome.org/Foundat....

This looks like a self-inflicted wound, originating out of bad management and diversion from their core mission.

No, Lawful Intercept.

Don't shoot the company that is complying with government wishes. When the FBI knocks on a CEO's door and says "you need to do this and this", the CEO will have little choice but to comply. Yes, in theory he may refuse an order if it is not 100% a requirement per the law, but that will only make his own life difficult. Remember that it is the same government that hands out licenses for the CEO's business, and the same government that collects that CEO's taxes. The government can make life very, very difficult for the CEO, even while staying within the boundaries of the law (tax audits, anyone?).

When focusing on a single company, you're losing sight of the bigger picture. The problem is that the government has little regard for the end-user's privacy, and sacrifices civil liberties in the name of security. It is the government that needs a slap on the hand, not the company that has been "exposed" (but I do agree that morally, the company is on the wrong side in history).

And this is exactly what it is. Putin is a mugger with a gun and crazy eyes. Too bad he also has nuclear weapons so nobody can do anything about. The only thing that can be done is to isolate Russia the same way as we isolate North Korea. Nazdrovje!

When I put the sentence "the code running the sight was a mess" in MS Word, it does not show up as spelling error.

How do you call someone that speaks two languages? Bilingual.
How do you call someone that speaks three languages? Trilingual.
How do you call someone that speaks one language? American.

Moral of the story: stop complaining about people who learned English as a second language and be happy that they did.

I'd recommend you to include a link that explains why that particular case was dismissed (spoiler: the judge basically said: this is free speech).

At least I provide a reference to support my arguments. I suggest you take my example and do the same.

Well, let's see:

source

I think you have trouble reading. The law enacting this compliance tax was created in 2006. When Mr Bush was president. You know, the GOP one.

I'm not digging at the Tea Party. I'm asserting that the government is trying to keep them as a friend by introducing this obligation without calling it a tax.

What I'm implying is that the government first collects taxes from its citizens in order to provide "law enforcement" and "protection", and then taxes the internet access industry for exactly the same thing. Which of course, in the end, gets paid by the users.

In short, the government is collecting money twice from its own citizens, to illegally spy on the same citizens that it should be protecting against illegal activities.

No, this is basically the government outsourcing the cost of law enforcement to the private sector. Effectively, another form of taxing your local business. But since the TEA party doesn't like that, they called it something else.

The only one living in a bubble is this commie idiot named Erin McElroy. According to her own resume she has done nothing to contribute to society (sorry, I don't call "art" a meaningful contribution: "Grids and Birds and Such", my ass).

I wonder if she gets up in the morning and pees acid instead of urine. Google spends their cash on helping those less fortunate and she's still not happy. If course not, in her Marxist views, making a profit is bad. Go back to Mother Russia, Erin.