I withdraw the word "surly" -- it's not appropriate here, and I apologize. Your phrase "The only exception I take ..." is not surly.

Also, I am pleased that you concluded your post with a sentiment that matches my own:

On the other hand, sparking that interest is fairly key. Shrug, if it works, it works.

... flood of useless coders ...

Who cares? What harm is done? It's not like these noobies are going to be our new co-workers, now or ever. It's not like they are taking bread from our mouths.

We should be happy that beginners take an interest in coding, not surly over some imagined insult to the collective intelligence of coders.

Galileo and other early inventors were bitter rivals for the secrets of optics. Lots of deception, aggrandizement, hard feelings and litigation.

Ancient tales of magical mirrors play a part in the tale of telescopy. We have numerous accounts of, say, a man atop the highest tower in Alexandria, who, with the aid of a magical glass, can see all that happens in London. These tall tales go on and on -- magical mirrors and lenses which see distant sights, peers around corners, see through walls ... mostly far-fetched, yet meaningful in an age of discovery.

I read a book on the topic -- the title escapes me, sorry -- thin, scholarly study. Good stuff, recommended.

You are right, of course.

I am aware of the difference between CO2 and CO, and considered toning down my inflammatory (asphyxiatory?) rhetoric.

But in the end (motived by +funny karma whoring) I chose polemic black humor over rational scientific discourse, hoping that no one would call me out for bad science.

But is that fair to other commuters?

Life is not fair, my dears. Do the best you can under the circumstances.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm busy exhaling deadly carbon dioxide into the air you breath.

... sap the performance of your script by following the JQuery ethos of using expensive DOM-query navigators for every operation ...

Performance hit is a problem, agreed.

Also problematic: ease of creating memory leaks.

Corralito (Spanish pronunciation: [koralito]) was the informal name for the economic measures taken in Argentina at the end of 2001 by Minister of Economy Domingo Cavallo in order to stop a bank run, and which were fully in force for one year. The corralito almost completely froze bank accounts and forbade withdrawals from U.S. dollar-denominated accounts. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corralito]

Instead of getting my programmers from Glasgow, I am sending my current programmers -- broke, penniless, desperate -- to live on the streets of Glasgow for a year.

Those that survive the ordeal will return to my Xanadu-like pleasure palace, where they will serve out their remaining years in matchless luxury.

Talk money: man hours, capital investment, returns.

Will it profit the company?

This is a language problem. Know your audience, use their language

Restrain your Tech nature. Management doesn't care and never will -- just shut up about it.

I like to moderate week-old comments, when I get mod points.

Imagine the poster's surprise: "Hey! I got modded up for a comment I wrote last week!"

Gives me a warm feeling: two parts happiness, one part mischief.