Apparently the link changed since I submitted the article (I'd tested it before posting).

Here's a new link:

http://aroundtheworldin80jobs.com/how-i-got-fired-from-the-job-i-invented/

For true malice there's also The Underhanded C Contest.

From their home page: "The goal of the contest is to write code that is as readable, clear, innocent and straightforward as possible, and yet it must fail to perform at its apparent function. To be more specific, it should do something subtly evil."

How about we call you "efficient". Laziness is a virtue when properly applied.

If you're performing a new install of Debian and want it to use xfce as your desktop right from the start, edit the install cd boot command and add the following:

desktop=xfce

Or you can go to Avanced Options and choose xfce.

Then your system will be configured for xfce from the get-go.

Humans are storytelling creatures.

For many moons we've sat around campfires, hearths, lamps, and glowing rectangles telling each other stories -- about the hunt, the weather, myths, fables, our neighbours, ourselves, the day's work, and even math problems. Sometimes we stick to the facts, but often the teller exagerrates, embellishes, or flat out lies. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story, or so it goes.

Fiction is part of the human condition.

The VMware vCenter Server is not required for a VM cluster to function.

It provides a handy interface from which to view your entire cluster and provides tools to make administration and initial setup easier, but the cluster will run just fine without it. High availability and load balancing continue to function. You can always log in to each VM host server directly as well.

If you've installed VMware License Server on the same VM as vCenter then you won't be able to add any new licenses and some ESX features expire in 14 days. However, one would hope that you've been able to bring your Licensing/vCenter VM back online by then.

The failure case is an annoyance that should be dealt with, but it is not a disaster by any means.

Where did I say that the vendors had the right to do it either?

If you've sold the laptop, or given it away as a gift or a donation, by what right do you have to limit what the recipient can do with it?

And, yet, fantasy where 'anything goes' is usually terrible, in my opinion. I think good fantasy remains consistent to its own internal laws, whatever those laws may be.

Plant some Roundup Ready corn around their building and send Monsanto after them.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exxon_Valdez_oil_spill:
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"Forget the drunken skipper fable. At the helm, the third mate would never have collided with Bligh Reef had he looked at his Raycas radar. But the radar was not turned on. In fact, the tanker's radar was left broken and disabled for more than a year before the disaster, and Exxon management knew it. It was [in Exxon's view] just too expensive to fix and operate." -- Greg Palast, BBC

At the time of impact with Bligh Reef, Captain Hazelwood was asleep in his quarters, having left Third Mate Gregory Cousins in charge of the navigation bridge and Able Seaman Robert Kagan at the helm.

Captain Hazelwood was accused of being drunk at the time of the accident, though at trial he was cleared of this charge.
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Exxon used him as a fall guy.

Pipelining was invented by Douglas McIlroy, not Dennis Ritchie. But that, of course, doesn't lessen Dennis' status one bit.

Many moons ago I was playing an old game called Midwinter. One of the ways to win the game was to blow up the building where the commander of the invading army was staying.

The game involved warning NPC's about the invasion and also recruiting them to help. But some of them didn't get along and could only be recruited by specific characters. You could play from the viewpoint of any recruit, and you had to worry about supplies, routes of attack, and other various strategic bits. I imagine playing the game as intended would take a long time to win.

I fired up the game, simply ignored the invaders completely, skied all the way to said building and blew it up with the initial character. Total time, 15 minutes.

I wished I hadn't done that. It ruined the game for me since I then didn't want to play it The Proper Way, with all the recruiting and grand strategy.