Anyone else read this as the "MacGyver" test facility?

I like my version better.

Is it just me or did anyone else visualize the warheads of these missiles being painted with mean looking sheep with fangs and red eyes...

Or perhaps sexy sheep in alluring pinup poses ah la fighter plans in WW2... :)

As an example:

I have Windows 7 at home. My phone is an Android. I use OpenOffice (or LibreOffice, whatever), occasionally google docs. I have a number of video games, however the only one I really play is DOTA2 off Steam. I use it as a media device, and while I have customized it enough that most of my media files play, a growing number only work under VLC.

To also counter your Linux is too hard to configure VS windows:

I would put custom configuring linux up against custom configuring Windows Media Player codecs any day of the week. That is to say, I would much rather configure linux than try to get Media Player to a point that it can play everything. I had to do a re-install last winter of Windows 7, and while annoying, the part I dreaded the most was trying to figure out all the codec BS after my previous setup was wiped. It is one of those things that you do a whole bunch of arcane mystical shit, and eventually you get it to the point that everything seems to be working (don't even get me talking about subs as well)... and you never want to touch it again, as you will A) never remember whatever it was you did to get it all working together, and B) never be able to replicate again the same way.

That might have been true 10 years ago, however today there are plenty of flavors that are very easy and default install just fine with little or no interaction from the user.

The main stumbling block is install base and compatibility. Windows has as big a strangle hold than ever. Apple has made some strides, however with their expensive machines, they will only ever be niche players. Where they have been loosing and where it may transition into a loss for them is the tablet and phone markets which are all basically iOS and Linux (in Android). If computing transitions along those lines, windows will eventually lose. Which I am sure why they made the ill conceived leap with Windows 8 and the Metro interface to try and get ahead of any convergence that may take place in the future.

The issue with today is that they have such a large install base that is not compatible with linux. I presume that is why Red Hat bought WordPerfect software back in the day, as it was the only one that challenged MS on their home office turf. Problem was it was too little too late as it was already on the way out. Before that I recall trying use wordperfect files in office all the time. So Office compatibility is one issue on the business side, and on the other you have the gaming issues on the entertainment side. However players like Steam may have an impact in this regard depending on how their plans go.

People in business buy Windows because of largely office and other windows only business related software (on the desktop, not servers). People that buy for gaming get windows because most games are only compatible with windows. Everyone else (who you are talking about) pretty much buy windows because it is really the only thing available (other than iOS if you have the $$$). It used to be that common users might be more comfortable with windows, however MS pretty much killed that advantage with windows 8.

On top of all this, what baffles me, is that Windows as an integrated media player is truly horrible with Windows Media Player. I have no idea why this is the case, a company like MS *should* be able to make a decent video player, but they do not. Software like VLC are becoming much better alternatives, than trying to break your system installing malware loaded "codec packs" in an attempt to fix their broken media player. I can only surmise that MS makes it intentionally broken in an attempt to only support official codecs that they can load DRM for the media companies... however is that business worth flushing their brand down the toilet?

Anyway linux while not there yet, and not a lock for surpassing MS, has some opportunities to do so. However likely it would take a large company (like Google say partnering with Steam) to really put a nail in the coffin. Pushing things like Google Docs and the like for office compatibility and transition (particularly when MS starts pushing their Office 365 BS), also strengthening the media software as more and more people use their devices as a connection to their TV, while getting Steam to offer an easy conduit for linux games and developers to market them to a growing user base. Once you have people that are used to it at the office, as a media device, as a gaming device, the common light users will start having more options, and have more people used to the UI. Also if using similar devices say on tablets and phones, this will also raise your common users comfort level, particularly as the demographic that grew up with smart phones start maturing...

So while I don't see it happening anytime soon, it is defiantly something that is possible over time should all the ducks line up in a row.

Obviously there is only one clear choice.

Make all the obese people pedal exercise bikes in specially created "Fat Farms" connected to dynamos to generate electricity.

Kills two birds with one stone! :)

My girlfriend had same issue doing call center for a large telecommunications company (cable, cellphones, internet, etc...). These places are terrible employee mills. She eventually quit because she couldn't take it anymore. Shift bid were every couple of weeks, sometimes not even that, every other week. They would even play games with tenure, by moving everyone with long tenure into the same group so that they only compete against each other in shift bids, making tenure largely worthless. They don't really give a shit about retaining employees anyway, as they have a rotating training program to get new employee's in to replace those leaving due to the high attrition and turnover rate. Everything is evaluated about selling, even if it has nothing to do with what the customer is calling about. Anyway for me the worst part was the constant screwing around with shift bids, working weekends and odd hours, never the same in a given week. It is hard to maintain a relationship or any kind of life with that sort of uncertainty all the time. Hopefully she has better luck at her new employment.

So what if it does? What are they realistically going to do about it? I mean the warning is great and all (if accurate), however without a way to stop it, or anyway to mitigate the consequences, what is the point?

I guess presumably you might be able to reroute traffic in advance, however I am guessing the ability to even do that would be limited, as I am pretty sure they would have done that after the first time.

1) Anything we built that is several decades old will need increasing amounts of maintenance.
2) Environmental regulation has increased costs over the last several decades.
3) Inflation has increased over the last several decades.

All of this means that the cost of caring for these facilities will increase. Notice I didn't say nuclear once in any of that.

Well I didn't know that, and I am supposedly smart and well education with resources available to me to even easily find that out. All I know is that some doctors have already tried an alternative experimental drug, and that the UN recently authorized the use of experimental drugs that haven't gone though human trials yet. Though it is probably too soon for large volumes of said experimental drugs to be available (or maybe not, this is an emergency).

Nobody said criminals are smart, only that they are sometimes desperate individuals.

Select OS:
1) Crush!
2) Kill!
3) Destroy!

I think motive is rather obvious. I would discard the idea of superstition and the like.

1) Liberia is poor, like really poor.
2) Drugs are expensive, like really expensive.
3) Drugs in a quarantine zone for a deadly epidemic are in high demand, very high demand.
4) Profit!

I think someone decided that the personal risk was worth it.

I mean, what are these communists doctors doing giving all these profitable drugs to poor people for free. Why not let the invisible hand of the market allow people to sell the expensive drugs to unaffected but scared wealthy people in the area? I mean the rising tide raises all boats, and the trickle down effect, and whatever and the like right?

Exactly. This is probably just some sort of political "think tank" with an agenda.

Here is the simplified answer:
A) No, storage is not needed, if you do not plan to replace base load generation but rather use renewable sources to augment your energy mix.
B) Yes, storage is needed if you plan to replace base load generation with renewable, however there is not enough "storage" to ever come close to doing this in any meaningful way unless someone develops some sort of magical storage battery that isn't limited to appropriate locations for hydro storage and generation.

Too many people are enamored with the idea that renewable energy is the magic bullet to solve all our energy needs. Maybe someday, but not today, nor anytime in the foreseeable future (barring as I said some sort of magical storage device).

There is also the fact that much of the commercial AV software is barely less worse than the viruses they purport to protect you from. From consuming resources in a bloated way, to advertising, to constantly trying to extort money from you, to conflicting with other programs, etc...

Personally I have taken a light approach and the only ones I touch are MSE and Spybot Search and Destroy on specific issues that might come up. Much of the malware you get (and most of it is adware now) take over other applications such as browsers and the like and are not easily removed by AV packages.

As many have probably mentioned, the best AV is the education of the person sitting in the chair, and until that is addressed, no amount of AV is going to be effective and there are so many ways around it by simply getting the user to allow it anyway.

Yeah went to the Colosseum. In addition to that:

Rome was pillaged and sacked a few times, and the building was burned and damaged several times.
World War Two wasn't so great for it either.
Interestingly as mentioned valuable material got looted, one of which I wasn't aware of before, was that basically it was of the first structures to use brick and mortar, but on top of that, of the large stone supports, in order to remain stable, it was one of the first to use a primitive version of "rebar", in which large blocks of stone had holes drilled in either piece, and iron rods inserted to keep things together. However at the time, iron was a very expensive commodity, which meant when things fell apart, looters would dig into the stone to steal the iron bars, further weakening the structure. Much of what looks like bullet holes from WW2 is actually holes in the stone where the iron rods have been removed.
However by far the most destructive was just a structural issue, where half the building was built on top of sand. When at one point there was a larger earthquake, the sand shifted and about half of the whole structure collapsed and had to be rebuilt.

So it being one of the larger and more notable structures has had quite a storied history of getting destroyed and rebuilt over the years, which a lot of people may not realize, thinking the grand thing has been standing for so long untouched.

Your defending a parent who was concerned about VIDEO GAMES, so took his kids to a WAR ZONE to learn about what real war is like?

Stupid and irresponsible comes to mind.

That's like teaching gun safety to your kids by shooting them in the leg, "See now you know how it feels, so be careful".

Anyway I usually try not to be judgey but to react to an imaginary issue, with such an over the top answer is pretty crazy.

Like the Dungeon and Dragons scare of the 1980 and 90's and forcing your kids to live in a cult commune for a week to understand reality...

It is an overreaction.