The NSA is part of the U.S. Federal Government. The boss of that government is the People of the United States of America. It's in the constitution; read it. The NSA will get their asses nailed to the wall because they lied to the boss. If I'm your boss, and you lie to me, you're fired.

Edward Snowden is my hero; he can sleep on my floor any time.

Some people ask whether Edward Snowden can get a fair trial in the US. The real question is whether Keith Alexander can get a fair trial in the US. He was the head of an organization which was doing illegal things. Will he get a fair trial? Will he get a trial at all? No.

A few days ago our backup server died. The hub server detected that no back up had been done for over an hour, and changed the server status web page background from green to red. I saw it and drove over to the office - it's about 4 kilomters from here - and had a look around. Computers were OK, but the router needs replacing.

If you have wings and long hair and a beard and a white robe and a belt made out of rope maybe you can fly into the cloud and do the same.

My first programs were on punched cards at U.C. Berkeley in 1968. As a student I punched the cards myself. The serious programmers, like me, would stay up all night so we could get our results back in only an hour or two. Results came as 11 by 14 blue striped paper wrapped around the original deck of cards.

Ah, I miss punched cards! They were the perfect size to fit into your breast pocket. One side was blank to write notes on; the other side had column numbers and digit numbers: columns 1-80, digits 0-9. They were free; came in boxes of 2,000 cards per box.

My first keyboard/monitor thingy was a graphics terminal connected to the Stanford Timesharing System about 1980. The boss had an Apple II in a back room.

Seems to me that you need to establish a list of pre-approved changes. For example, if you're running Windows and IIS, make sure there's a clause that says anything that comes down the pipeline via Windows Update does not need formal approval. That way you can offload the responsibilty, and work, onto Microsoft. You can keep your core software up-to-date. Third party software, same thing for corporations. Student projects and your own shell scripts might need more examination; not a bad idea actually. But if there's a new version of Firefox, why in the world would a Change Advisory Board think it knows more than Mozilla?

Being imployed for a salary by a foreign company in a foreign location, one gets a Foreign Earned Income deduction, which was about double what I was geting paid. And I carefully did not maintain any legal residence in the United States so I did not owe any state or county or city or property taxes.

The only reason I carry a U.S. Passport is that the government of Thailand wants me to have a passport. If they offered me Thai citizenship I would take it. But I figure it's not polite to pursue it. And in Thailand, "polite" is the key word.

You're right. I've basically given the finger to Uncle Sam. I figure that if I ever set foot in the United States again I will be locked up until I, or Uncle Sam, dies.

I agree. The last few years when I was living in the USA, every April 15 I had to file my employer's statement and my 1040. I always wished for a check box on the form 1040 that said "You got it, you keep it." When you think about it, a tax form is a horrible intrusion into your personal life. The 1040 must have been invented by the NSA. The Thai system is better - just tax the corporations, and let them raise their prices to make up for it.

I live in Thailand. Thailand does not tax indivituals; they tax 7/11 and 7/11 raises their prices to collect it from me. Easy and painless, no paperwork, a better system

The first few years I lived here I filled out a US income tax return. Every year I got an overseas deduction. So one year I attached a letter saying that they can just photocopy that return every year, and if I ever think I owe them money I'll contact them. That was 15 or 20 years ago. I don't talk to them and they haven't found me, even though I still carry a US passport.

People used to say that the only sure things in this world were death and taxes. I haven't paid taxes in over 20 years, so now I'm not so sure about death either.

In 1990 I moved to Asia and, being overseas, did not owe U.S. any tax money. For a few years I filled out the income tax returns. Twenty years ago I attached a letter saying that if I ever think I owe money to the IRS I will contact them; until then the IRS can just photocopy that return every year. I haven't fill out one of those forms since.

This story makes me concerned that the IRS will make a delusion of that they think I owe, and then nail my two eldest children (who are still in Amerika) for the money. If that happens I'll tell them to get the H* out of there. The five Asian children are unreachable.

Slashdot spin-offs for beta-haters:
http://pipedot.org/
http://soylentnews.org/

Try: http://slashdot.org/?nobeta=1

I half agree. When the system is up and running you can go home at 3PM. But if the system is down, you don't go home until it comes back up. That's the job; on call 24/7. Love it or leave it.

?off topic?

I was raised as an American Lutheran Scientist. I have always leaned towards resolving apparent conflicts between the Bible and Science. For example, Creationism and Evolution may just be a question of whose experience is being described - the Martians or the animals.

However, I must admit that the Bible has some "facts" which can not be true. Noah's flood is one. The Bible says that the water went down underground, but geology today proves that that much water just isn't there.

It was the basin in the temple - in Exodus I think. Diameter 10 cubits, circumference 30 cubits. To one significant digit, that is the correct value for Pi. On the other hand, remember that a 'cubit' is the distance from your fingertips to your elbow. You would be lucky if you used 40 men and got even one significant digit correct. They wouldn't use women in those days. If you used men for the circumference and women for the diameter you probably would get a value for Pi of less than 3.0.

I live in Thailand; I can't even READ the posted signs. But smile and wave to the police and there is no problem. I don't have a Global Positioning System, I only have a MPS (Me Positioning System). Works fine, but it makes me cross-eyed.