Bob Lutz is a ICE car guy. New world is coming.

Hangouts is not just IM. It is also a fully functioning VOIP client, especially if you use gVoice. Really handy when you don't want to give out your Cell number, but want them to be able to call you. Don't dismiss it, if you don't use it. The fact it also does IM, and Video IM (similar to Skype/GotoMeeting) is also nice. And the ability to do desktop sharing has caused me to almost stop using TeamViewer.

It has finally become a very useful application.

I find it funny that a number of people who "don't want to be tracked" are using Smartphones at all. The only way to "not be tracked" is go all Unibomber and live off the grid.

Same was true with VZ Navigator. On one of my old phones (Blackberry), there was a fully functional GPS chip, that only worked if you paid the monthly fee. It is one of the reasons I'll never use VZ ever again. Verizon isn't just satisfied being largest carrier, it also wants to extract every penny it can from its customers.

I hate them.

You didn't give us a challenge, you didn't give us sufficient information. I'll just pick one at random.

Sarah, Sara, Zara, Seraiah, Sarai.

No, it means investing in better antenna equipment, I can get gigabit speeds on an unregulated frequency, a regulated frequency should be much easier. Japan has 100Mbps to individual mobile devices, setting up P2P wireless links is even easier. Even so, the country has paid said regulatory fees to ensure wired access to everyone.

Other than the contract wasn't for building a launcher in the first place, hence why the remarks about experience in building a launcher is irrelevant. The contract was for building a spacecraft that would sit on top of a launch vehicle. In the case of SNC, they were using the services of United Launch Alliance, a company who has experience in launching stuff into orbit. ULA has been putting stuff into orbit (at least their parent companies) since the 1950's. Is that enough experience?

It helps to read the fine print.

The contract is not about launching the spacecraft, it is about building them and having the work in space.

Besides, SNC is going to be launched on the same vehicle that Boeing is using. The Atlas V. The only difference is that the Dream Chaser could also be launched on an Orbital Antares rocket or the Falcon 9 as well (at least it is being designed to fly on multiple launchers).

That isn't even a consideration for why SNC lost the bid.

This has NOTHING to do with binary vs shell scripting and you're a completely uneducated newb to coding if you think it is.

BASH itself is a binary and it is the problem -- your argument is ridiculous.

At no point are you not in control of the environment variables in question; unless you're allowing unsanitized input of course.

I've forbidden shell interactions from web servers forever on my client systems and I'm always in shock that online control panel systems allow direct shell access to the system. It just seems obviously wrong.

I really liked PayPal's solution for limiting risk when paying sites that didn't support PayPal. Their Virtual Debit Card product was great. I could provide whatever information I wanted, restrict the virtual card to exactly the amount of the transaction, and optionally allow it for recurring transactions. They were awesome, especially when purchasing from small companies with very little information about if they were legitimate or not.

PayPal if nice and all, but plenty of people fall for the common traps, like variations on the domain name which are phisher traps.

People here were generally better at avoiding scams, but that doesn't help the > 90% of the population who never check.

One does not simply invite the Romulans.

Aside from someone else already pointing out that you want to use different tools, that's exactly my point -- their minimal install is truly minimal -- there's no need to roll your own at all.

My basic install procedure is a CentOS minimal with a quick shell script that installs the packages and configs I need on top of that on a per-client basis.

If you're putting together your own optimized small footprint installs, you're not a sysadmin anymore, you're a distro maker. I spend way too much time actually administering working machines to be bothered to do someone else's job as well.

CentOS does a fantastic job of maintaining their minimal install for me (and anyone else who wishes to use it), what possible advantage is there to me putting together something else (not to mention learning a new filesystem and config layout for no reason).

With the money Mr. Carmack earned from the sale of Oculus, do you think he cares? He has suggested that he wouldn't mind simply going back to running his spaceship company, so can Samsung give him a good reason to do that?

This definitely sounds like somebody who doesn't give a damn.