They're not (yet) at the 15c range, but if you buy in a large pack and don't want the fastest drives or USB 3 you can grab 4GB thumb drives for ~$2 each (~$1 each if you in 100+ quantities)- and these days be more assured that the person taking the data can read it easily

I believe much of that cabling was actually replaced when the bridge was last rehabbed (not the current project working on the ramps and roads)

/they kept the substandard cabling in though because the bridge was built with several different support mechanisms, each one sturdy enough for the bridge on its own, Roebling was being paranoid with his design
//the cable crosshatching *is* because of the inferior wire however, though in the end they really are a just decorative feature since they aren't needed for support

NZ has the advantage of knowing that if another nation invaded them there are countries with big sticks, like the US and UK, that would defend them. It's easy to go light on national defense when you have other people willing to step in. When you're already the big fish there isn't someone else to rely on

What, pray tell, (ignoring all other effects for a second) do you think would happen to the economy if a)all defense contractors suddenly had their orders shrink by 80% (bearing in mind this cascades down the supply chain to everyone from small subcontractors like speciality machine shops to the delis that make their bones on selling lunch and coffee to everyone working on projects) and b)if we suddenly dumped all the people currently employed by the DoD directly in the labor market? Not that the military is really about to be drastically eliminated but if it were the economic effects alone would probably tank the US economy, and the world's right afterwards.

GPGPU is an important segment of the high end market these days...

/The machine I'm typing this on right now has an nvidia Tesla in it

RAM is cheap, most people who are planning to toss this card in their workstation can also max its memory out to a level that 16GB wouldn't make much of a difference if they needed a ramdisk. For the few remaining people there are better solutions.

Add to that that then you're competing on bandwidth on the PCIe lanes for access to the card's memory with anything you're actually using the card for and it makes no sense to bother.

I would bet that some the absolutely best technical coders around are completely unknown because all they know how to do is write code. This list I think isn't that, but it also isn't fame per se. I think it could be more called "high impact programmers" - and that you deserve to be on.

Also, comments like yours are why I still read slashdot :)

I think you're joking, because for a consumer that's not necessary, but when you have, say, whole office buildings with centrally controlled zoned heating and cooling they may not need *internet* but they damn well do need some some of sensor and control network. And once you have that making it at least monitorable over the internet can have some real benefits.

They'd claim they broke the encryption using some "Super Duper Top Secret Compute Cluster" and attempt to use it

Yup, at my Uni, and at any other SUNYs, the police are actual police.

For that matter back when I was in HS I seem to remember some changed messages on the NYC subway because some of the signs were programmed via infrared with no protection (and the port left uncovered), and you could reprogram them with a palm pilot or laptop with an IR port.

There is a big difference between "will void the warranty" and "not allowed".

/there's a reason that one of my "work on my car" shirts says "I void warranties" on it

Well, first of all, MS and Dell both have major presences in a lot of movies and TV, big and small, from Marvel through the new Tomorrow People. Second Apple logos are often blocked out *because* they didn't license, they just used the product because it was aesthetically pleasing. Third there are whole movies devoted to basically being car company product placement. The Need for Speed movie was basically a dressed up Ford ad.

But lastly, Coke is easily the most placed product. It's everywhere

Because if it tasted like Chicken I see a much better economic investment in a future Jurassic Park than as a tourist trap!