Obviously, the "no reboot" dude operates in a generously staffed environment, allowing him plenty of time to dick around with stale NFS mountpoints and memory leaks. Most of us don't have the luxury of time.

If they didn't rescue Goldman Sachs, who would have given Facebook the billion dollars? Thanks to the prompt response by the Federal government, I may finally get a working Facebook app for my iPhone. So think before you talk!

So, security-wise, how is this LED transceiver different from a regular WiFi access point? You know they both use EM waves. Just different frequencies. It should be more secure because it is more directional and short-range. And you can always close the curtains if you need privacy. And there is no interference from a hundred other WiFi systems in your office building.

Really, who cares how they spell things in Oregon? Personally, I find all this talk about improving our education system quite unpatriotic. How would the US survive if its population became well-educated? Who would fight wars? Who would overpay taxes? Who would bother to vote? Who would watch TV, do Christmas shopping, eat fast food, or shop at Walmart? Oregon can't sustain our entire economy, you know. We all need to pitch in. Good education is a privilege, not a right.

So you are advocating doing away with windows as a concept?

And what would a reasonable person expect to see in a photo of your bedroom or backyard online?

You mean it is OK to photograph everything, but not OK to photograph something? And what do you mean by "going out of my way"? I just happen to have a night vision camera, so it's no trouble at all.

Let's say your girlfriend's naked ass showering in your bathroom is visible to my naked eye from a public place (at the end of your driveway, where I parked my cherry picker). I just happen to have brought a pair of Celestron SkyMaster zoom binoculars for no particular reason. Perhaps I am an amateur asstronomer.

You'd be surprised how much of your private life can be glimpsed from a public place. Would you get upset if I used a telephoto lens with night vision to film you shagging in your bedroom and posted it online along with your address? Naturally, I would only be filming you from a publicly accessible location. Or will you now expand your "common sense" point of view to include a limitation on equipment and intent?

It's Switzerland. They do have gnomes, you know.

My bud Joe Lieberman will jump right on it. I think we will also bring the Swedes into this. I am sure that sheriff's been sleeping around...

By "good" sysadmin I don't mean a doormat. Sysadmins are also people, but not all managers treat them as such. Sometimes they confuse "servers" with "servants". So, yes, it is entirely conceivable that even a mistreated good sysadmin, upon departure, may want to enhance his former employer's systems even more. This is why no employer should ever fire his last good sysadmin. Otherwise there will be nobody left to appreciate all this hard work.

Imagine this: an operating environment where neither the users nor user applications can modify the system. What a novel idea.

And if you decided to fire them, make sure you terminate their access to your network in a timely manner. Somehow I seriously doubt Ms. Fowler actually "hacked" their systems. It is far more likely that after four days she discovered her remote access account still works and she took full advantage of this.

Every time I see news like this, it certainly makes me suffer: a good sysadmin would not get caught. For a sysadmin, incompetence is the worst crime.

As of 10am EST this morning I have completely secured the Internet. The NSA director and my immediate management have been notified. I closed the ticket.