> The credit card companies and issuing banks can see every transaction, thus, they have the capability to create a very sophisticated anti-fraud system. They could easily identify a pattern indicating fraud

You mean like American Express.

The strange (don't even know what to call them) shills like to whine about AMEX fees but they are actually rather diligent when it comes to trying to detect fraudulent spending patterns.

Merchant accounts are "such a burden" that even single person operations can manage to accept the major credit cards.

> Secure? I have no problems keeping on me credit cards with $30k spending limits. Would you keep that amount in cash on you all the time with no fear of getting robbed?

Cash equivalents are readily available in those amounts and they can be secured if stolen.

Although it's dubious that you actually require the ability to make a $30K payment. You probably wouldn't get authorization for such a thing even if you attempted it.

Of course what you are describing there is not your actual spending power but your total line of credit.

You are confused and you are muddling terms you don't seem to understand.

The two terms are not mutualy exclusive

> Professional sysadmin here. The only bitching I've seen has been from deranged Slashdot hobbyists.

Really? You should work harder on your trolling then because you are completely unconvincing.

> That is exactly what systemd does, without all the hacks of the script.

That "hack" is simply a program. If it looks like a "hack" then that's simply the complexity required for the task. If that complexity is unnecessary, then the end user can create something simpler and it will all be a simple matter.

If the task is complex, you aren't making it any simpler by hiding it in a black box. Hiding the details only makes things look deceptively tidy. It doesn't actually make them tidy.

What the f*ck does an init replacement have to do with plugging in USB devices? What psychotic nut thinks they should and why? What was wrong with how it was working before all of this nonsense started?

I really don't see where the emergency is?

I shouldn't be forced to suggest improvements on systemd. I shouldn't be forced to deal with it at all. It's a wannabe core system service. IT needs to prove itself first.

The champions of mindless change are the ones that need to prove their point. They have perverted the normal rules of rhetoric when they demand that it's the conservative voices that need to justify themselves.

It's those that demand change that need to justify themselves. This is basic, standard change control doctrine. So it's not surprising that you see an alleged rift between those that manage other people's expensive systems and "everyone else".

Although I am skeptical of the notion that "laptop users" even care.

As a desktop user, I am certainly not clamouring for an init replacement.

It's about the single least of my worries.

> because a governmnet monopoly is the best kind.

It's pretty much the only alternative, if the other kind of monopoly isn't giving you what you want.

> of extensive testing, trials, heck, even labeling. But after 20 years of GMO products, and absolutely no significantly measurable negative ecological/human impacts,

Actually, we are currently in the middle of a population crisis with our bees. So just blissfully assuming that there have been no consequences is probably just wishful thinking on your part.

We're engaging in rapid development on a production server with no backup what-so-ever.

...or better yet: "The Africanized Swan".

The fantasy convention is not an attack on the University. Nor is the fantasy convention trying to abuse the reputation of the University for it's own gain.

There's a real trademark dilution problem right here that doesn't exist with something like Ogre-Con.

I would say that probably everyone has been discouraged from getting into or staying in CS or Engineering. This is especially true of Engineering which will chew you up and spit you out if you aren't ready for it.

The idea that people are discouraged from something isn't just about "the man keeping the brother down". It's also about how the brother reacts to that and whether he breaks or carries on.

I think that everyone is taught that "curiosity is bad and math is hard". It's a pretty universal anti-intellectual aspect of American culture. If there are victims here, it's not just the girls but everyone.

CS is not a glamorized profession. Medicine, Law and Sales are.

The "brogrammer" is just a bogus media narrative. It's just an extension of the "Revenge of the Nerds" mythos. Guess where journalism and communications majors fit into that story.

This is an intentional distortion caused by trying to conflate a small number of West Coast startups with the industry in general. Must of the industry is actually much more stuffy than that.

So it's really the SJWs causing trouble here by trying to scare women away from a career path that they might otherwise consider.