"To be a great programmer, you need to write code that reads like English."

That's an interesting observation, and see what I (not a coder but an interested bystander) say above about two programs I know equally well as a user -- one in Pascal (I can pretty much grok what all the code does despite zero comments), the other in C (lots of comments, but still makes my brain hurt even when I can figure it out).

From the user standpoint (I'm not a programmer, but I take an interest, and have rooted around a bit in various source codes), these are my observations:

1) When a program written in C crashes, it may do damnear anything on its way out.

When a program written in Pascal/Delphi crashes, it simply closes down and returns you to the OS.

2) I have an ancient (1990) database program I can't live without. When it was retired from the market, its owner kindly shared source with me, which happened to be in Pascal. There's not a single comment in it, but as I know the program so well, I can tell what nearly all its code does.

I can't say that of the other antique program which I still use and know very well (and have perused much of the source), but is written in C.

I doubt it's entirely coincidence, or even relative marketshare, that's given us those marvelous Obfuscated and Underhanded Code contests for C, but no such for Pascal.

> but the suspects can easily dispose of "evidence" (illicit drugs) in the toilet.

So it's too hard to put a bucket or stopper in the sewer line?

> Who knows about the bitcoin mining because that's all nonsense anyway.

Nobody in their right mind uses GPUs to mine bitcoin any more. They use custom mining chips (ASICs) which are about 100 times more efficient, because the calculations are done entirely in hardware, and being fairly simple, can be parallelized much more than graphics cores.

As far as bitcoin being nonsense, the New York Stock Exchange and a large bank just invested in a bitcoin company: http://blog.coinbase.com/post/..., and Microsoft accepts bitcoins: https://commerce.microsoft.com... . Evidently they don't think it is nonsense.

> But I'll bet their little programs that they run using $1 of electricity to get 50 cents in bitcoins

I did mine at a loss sometimes back in the day, but it was in the background, for a graphics card I was already using in this PC. So I only had to pay for the incremental electricity of the card running full bore instead lower levels. The $60 of extra electricity is worth $680 in bitcoins today. I stopped mining in mid-2013 when the custom chips started going into volume production. Not all of us are idiots.

Not sure what Arizona has to do with Jeff Sessions, although if they'll take him, some of us in Alabama would appreciate it (although he was reelected in an unopposed election, so I guess not too many of us).

That's also how the believers work.

Space solar arrays are also 2.5 times as efficient than in 1998. That's because they now use triple-layer cells, that convert more of the solar spectrum to electricity. The biggest shift will be if SpaceX can reuse their rocket stages. They are already the low-cost launch provider, and that would given them another factor of 3 or so in cost.

Reducing launch cost also will reduce satellite cost. The cost optimum is when the marginal cost of removing 1 kg from the satellite = the marginal cost of launching that kg. So cheaper launch means heavier but less expensive satellite parts.

> Private corporations may soon have more space technology than the US government.

That's already the case. NASA's share of total space industry is only 6% ($18 vs $300 billion/year). Commercial satellites have had ion thrusters for a number of years before the NASA Dawn spacecraft had them. For-profit corporations have more incentive to update their tech sooner, to get a competitive advantage.

The free market method is to offer "dead or alive" bounties on whoever dumped in your water system, and let competition sort it out. One mining company might do it once, but after that, the rest would have an object lesson.

Metallic foil "radiant barrier" insulation is already a thing:

http://www.amazon.com/EcoFoil-...

Just make sure to cross-connect the pieces, so they form a single ground plane.

The Fourth Amendment reads in part:

> "...and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized ."

This looks like an attempt to get around that provision. Sorry, FBI, you actually have to do police work.

We get the same thing at bird dog field trials from popper loads (which can travel a couple hundred yards in a good wind) -- it's kinda like being spattered by light sleet.

The government should be =restricted= by the Constitution, as the Founders intended: government can or must do *these few things*, and all other actions are forbidden.

Well, your hair doesn't want to be free, but it falls out all the same...

Hey, maybe they can put their money where their mouth is -- get their DNA sequenced and torrent it to the world!

> It does limit the functionality though since you don't get emergency calls where someone you know had to borrow a phone and such.

Those people can leave a voicemail message. Most telemarketers and robocalls don't. When I get a mystery calling number, I let it go to voicemail. If it's important they can leave a message, and I can call them back.