My problem with this update was that VirtualBox did not want to start virtual machines. So running Windows inside VM solves all problems with this patch: just as you don't have to worry about AMD and Nvidia drivers, you don't have to worry about VirtualBox because it makes very little sense to run VM inside a VM.

In the provided link, MS claims that one of problems with the said update is that it prevents future updates. It seems that it was not the case, luckily.

BTW, my problem with this update was that VirtualBox did not want to start the virtual machine.

The problem is that you usually don't know where the the allocated memory is finished.

I understand the rationale behind the pointers like they are, but I'd still prefer if pointers could keep both address and size of the buffer. But it's too late now for such kind of redesign or upgrade.

And yes, I do code in C every working day.

The company claimed that they have confirmed their methodology using data from other airplanes flying in similar area.

I work in digital TV. It is embedded, but with quite capable processors and a lot of resources. E.g. SoC based on MIPS 3300 running at 500MHz with 256MB DDR2 at 800MHz is considered "low end" and used for cheaper STBs. Software for such system is still written in C/C++. I've seen one big company using C/C++ in combination with Java, but that made system very sluggish. And Java was only for top tier (GUI). So I don't expect that C/C++ would be abandoned soon in DTV field due to entire code base already written. But Java is also making a progress because Android will be very big player in DTV very soon, so more and more thing will move to Java, but core of the system will still require solid amount of C/C++ coding in predictable future.

Yes, it would be nice if we could get entire stack - documentation, working code, test examples, free support accounts, testing hardware, source repository access, Intel engineers payed to work on our favorite project, board of directors meeting memos and our own Santa but that is not going to happen. Documentation and some support is probably all the community would get, but that should be enough. The community usually had to work with a lot less and it was still capable of making useful code.

That was really explanatory, indeed. One idea that came to my mind: how about medical records? Medical records are used by doctors not by you*, they are kept at hospitals and they are still protected by 4th Amendment. Do you think that this brings sufficient analogy to telephone metadata? Or is it maybe that medical records are protected by some law and not by the constitution?

* In some cases they may be used by the patient, but that can be said for phone listings and related metadata as well.

Very good point! During my military training, official instruction was to rotate the map as you were moving/rotating - i.e. to orientate map just as the terrain is oriented and not to keep the North on the top just because the map was drawn that way.

It is very confusing to have to rotate the map in your head even when you are walking, not to mention the effort for doing it real-time while you are driving a vehicle.

IIRC, Alan Cox explained how before starting his working day he would walk around the block, and after the work he would walk around the block in different direction.

During the winter, day is shorter than night, and your house is always heated to ~70F (both day and night). Hence, your roof will radiate energy for longer period (night) than it would absorb the energy (day). And black bodies radiate energy better than white ones. Conclusion is that it is better to have white roof during the winter.

But if we redefine radian, lim sin(x)/x = 2

My understanding is that main point of Wayland is not to be a X server.

Apart from necessary technical knowledge, there is one more reason: most radical social movements has often started on technical universities.

Reason for this is simple. Technically oriented people tend to underestimate how society works, and believe that it is possible to change it easily. This attitude was also seen in XIX century, when mathematicians tried to apply mathematics rules to social problems. It should mention that this never worked. Not because mathematics is wrong, but society is simply too complex to be modeled that way. (Or, it could be modeled mathematically, but results would not be spectacular.)

Or to say it in other words: you have an intelligent but socially incompetent person, who believes that everything is easy to fix (hey, there was no WinXP that he could not attach a SATAII disk to!). He is highly dedicated, he believes that his position in society won't be appreciated as it should, and he believes that one bomb could actually solve something. Doesn't this sound like a good candidate for a terrorist?

This is a term from telecommunication theory. For each type of modulation (AM, FM...) you have carrier and signal which is embedded into the carrier. IIRC (it was 1997 when I attended telecommunication course), efficiency is defined as a power of the signal compared to the power of the carrier. In AM it is like 0.5% (!) which is why they have so powerful transmitters (up to 1MW, IIRC). FM is much better in that regard.

I would dare to say that PHP competes just fine, just for example.