I've had the misfortune of needing to use an Oracle system with a web interface to deal with a large client for construction management & billing. If that experience is any indication of how Oracle will fix the problem, the Feds would be better off keeping the very crappy existing system. (seriously)

Sadly, Apollo Computer had this concept 20+ years ago. The Apollo Domain Operating System was built from the ground up as a network operating system. Everything from the kernel up was designed with networking in mind. It was a brilliant yet ultimately dead operating system. The biggest downfall was being expensive and proprietary. Sun Microsystems won through a cheaper alternative and doomed us forever with NFS.

My sis has an implanted defibrillator. It's a weird experience to be sitting in a doctors office when a technician comes in with a machine to test the installation.

"I just need to turn up your blood pressure and heart rate for a minute" says the tech, as casually as ordering a cup of coffee.

A couple of button presses later, the look of shock on my sister's face as she realized that she was not, in a very literal sense, in control of her own heart is something I'll never forget.

She needs her implanted defibrillator but, holy shit, the power she must cede to Miss Random Device Technician by having it in her body is scary as all hell.

Everyone should have a single "Supermod" point once per month that would work as a normal mod point except it would allow going past +5.

So after the holidays we could quickly read the articles with only the very few +6+ posts.

I have a colleague working there, in the Oracle Campus,...

I thought this was kind of common knowledge. Penn and Teller's Bullshit even showed how they beat the polygraph.

Really all you need to know about Polygraphs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROhp2aS9pQU

gimme a roomba, a broom stick and a pivoting webcam.

... but here's an exercise that will translate into the real world... Separate them into two groups, the "M" group, and the "E" group.

The Ms ties the Es group's hands up behind their backs. Then the Ms set themselves on fire, and have to coerce the Es to put the fire out with their hands tied up. If the Ms survive, they get more Es and go again. If the don't, they're replaced with a new M, preferably one from outside who has no idea what just happened.

Based on his overall personality, I strongly suspect that if Steve Ballmer hadn't just happened to be college buddies with BillG and Paul Allen, chances are pretty good he'd be selling used cars somewhere and enjoying the nearest football team. Instead, we're going to take him seriously for the rest of his natural life and possible beyond.

Now we know why.

Have you looked at Facebook's stock recently? It's getting close to the IPO price.