The laser is nailed to the head, so that it won't fall off during high speed maneuvers and the fish* is taped to the airplane so that it can be dropped on commando raids deep behind enemy lines - granted, they just sorta flop around on the ground afterward, but anyone walking by is likely to get quite a sunburn.

*Yes, we've been *told* they are mammals, but I believe its all a conspiracy started by the "late"** Douglas Adams to ensure that they wouldn't be seen as cannibals during the pre-release marketing for his fourth book in the trilogy.

**I put late in quotes because we know that he's just gone home.***

***OK, I've got nothing... POPCORN!

...not because of the Nazgul - they were all royals too, just 2nd rate ones: Numenoreans who couldn't get to the top any other way, Easterlings with Gondor-envy, etc.

However, in the Orcs we do see true meritocracy at work: moving up in the hierarchy was a function mostly of how efficiently one could lop off the heads of those on the next rung up - though deceit, cunning, cruelty to prisoners, squashing bugs and the ability to commit patches regularly were also rewarded too... wait somehow I got off topic.

Anyway, definitely the orcs were a meritocracy in the purest sense of the word, not basing everything on birth like man or on how many times one lived next to a glowing tree like those pesky elves.

Yes I know, this is /. and no one read the article, let alone the actual patent - however the article (and the /. excerpt) are very misleading about what was patented. Reading the actual patent, it appears that the patent was granted on a method for the user to create an account with the patent-holder and then use the patent-holders software to access any number of various for-pay and other wifi hotspots without having to manage the individual credentialing, network configuration and associated billing. I am not a lawyer, or a patent attorney -- and I'm not a big fan of software patents in general -- but this doesn't sound anything like: "patenting wifi hotspot access". More like: "patenting an integrated, account-managed, token passing, billing system for accessing multiple diverse wifi-hotspot vendor systems". I.e. Much narrower and a based on a product built on basic wifi access. In short: Boingo was granted a patent on their software that makes it easier to manage all those wifi accounts you have to set up if you travel a lot and use a bunch of different carriers. Not wifi access in general. The editors should consider amending the front page summary because its very misleading.

Please don't mod my post up - I hate it when someone thinks I've said something funny when it was really informative or vice versawise not the other and it gets twisted into a comment on the fundamental nature of molecular... oh the hell with it, It's Friday, I'm going for a beer.

you can master any language withing a matter of weeks

Not really, but you can be *proficient* and a *productive contributor* in a matter of weeks.

Mastery of a language takes longer because it's more about mastering of all of the little quirks, warts, conventions and whatnot that only come with experience with a certain platform than it is about syntax and transliteration of general programming techniques to the new language.

Still, I agree with the overall sentiment: Focus on being a good programmer and learning new languages (and being a valuable contributor) takes care of itself.

>my motorcycle is highly important to me and a fundamental part of who
>I am but I don't introduce myself as "I'm Steve the motorcyclist".

You might, if fundamental meant: "you had to ride that motorcycle" yet you were being told it made you unwelcome anyway and you were still trying to define your identity and your place in the world. Then, you might very well say, "Hi I'm Steve the motorcyclist, I won't be at the movie theater tonight because they don't allow motorcycles on their property", or: "I'm Steve, the motorcyclist, I can't visit that other state/country/province because they don't allow motorcycles on their roads." You'd be even more likely to say: "I'm Steve the motorcyclist" if you did go to the movies or that other state, because then you'd be protesting the injustice by going anyway and what's the point if everyone there thought you arrived in a car.

Besides, you're doing a disservice to those motorcyclists who've gone before you. At one time, wearing leathers and sporting a pony tail was enough to land you in jail all by itself. How is this any different? Maybe you wouldn't be riding your bike now if it wasn't for all those hippie freaks flying their flags 40 years ago. And maybe (if people like this girl "keep on keepin' on") homosexuals 40 years from now will be forgetting how controversial it was once to be one and will be chastising someone else for wearing their identity on their sleeve.