I saw my first "studio quality" amateur replica of the Enterprise bridge set more years ago than I care to think about --- and as much as I admire the effort put into projects like this, I believe it is time to move on.

The modern era of science fiction is close on to a century old now. It's an enormous body of work in all media and all genres --- space opera, speculative fiction, etc., etc. --- that the geek has largely ignored for decades.

Why should the big boys like Disney, Pixar and Marvel have all the fun?

I'm asking that not only because my first instinct when hearing the words "The Prime Directive" is to kill them by fire.

But look at Disney.

Founded 1923.

Significant presence and impact in all media from the beginning. Jump-started the modern family oriented theme park and the ABC television network with "Disneyland."

No less a driving force in color television sales with "The Wonderful World of Color." You can't say anything meaningful about the evolution of cable TV without mentioning HBO, the Disney Channel and ESPN.

The musical adaptaion of The Lion King had a ten year run in London.

The geek obsesses over porn, but, my god, think of Disney's impact on the sale of home video hardware and video sales and rentals. You'll know 4K is here to stay when Disney supports it.

Pixar may be spinning its wheels, but Disney Studio Animation is hitting on all cylinders. The Marvel Comics division isn't doing too badly either.

There is no single point of failure.

And manage network connectivity. And printers. And other hardware. And the clipboard. And other means of sharing between applications. And multiple user accounts. And virtual desktops. And VMs. And a way to search the stuff on your machine. And task scheduling. And updates. And joining your company network. And syncing with your phone. And credential management for internet certificates. And cryptographic and other similar services. And language support. And network device discovery. And I'd hope for a seamless way to manage network files like on DropBox or OneDrive. And logging/diagnostics. And screen-reader and other assisted technology support. And 3d graphics. And privacy controls, a way to stop apps from stealing information themselves.

What I've written down isn't "windows bloat". It's in linux and mac too. It's just what we've come to expect of an operating system.

I think you've confused my quote. I used it to quote the item I was *responding* to, like you do in conversation, like I'm doing it right now. You've bizarrely taken it to be a quote of evidence I'm using.

The price/performance ratio for Macs has always been highly dependent on what kind of device you're getting. Since the G4 iBook (which is when I started using Macs) their notebooks have been a pretty good value for what they did, especially if you want to run some kind of unixoid without having to fiddle around or compromise on capability. Since the unibody MBP they're pretty damn robust, too.

Their desktops, on the other hand, cater exclusively to a) people who need big workstations and b) people who see a sleek form factor, no fans and fewer cables on the desk as serious value-adds. I fall into neither of these categories, which is why my desktop is built from COTS parts.

Unfortunately even the notebooks are becoming less attractive as Apple is focusing on the "I want my notebook to be as light and thin as possible" demographic at the expense of everyone else. My next notebook will still run OS X because I'm used to it but it won't come from Apple.

The thing is -- I read your post, and I think "that's institutional sexism right here".

I agree with most of what you wrote. But other bits are a sort of weird distorted view of the tech industry, or a picture of an undesirable workplace that should be changed. For instance, "men often like solitary complex tasks working long hours" -- (1) as a married man with a child, I'm delighted that I don't have to work long hours; (2) the successful senior folks are those whose work is accomplished through meetings like in any business, not solitary. And your insults (like those of Linus) are ones I'm glad I don't face at my work, where everyone really genuinely is polite and "nice".

I agree there's no evidence that universities or companies are discriminating. However, I think YOU PERSONALLY are discriminating, and if you're in tech, I bet you contribute to a discriminatory workplace.

I'll take it as given that clerical work in the broadest sense is not a significant part of your job.

Read the article. This is about RECRUITERS. They go out and find candidates. If you're passively waiting for applicants, I'd fire you as a recruiter on the spot.

They're CANDIDATES. No "at the expense of".

To fill you in: The Lord's Resistance Army

and maybe next week I'll win the Tri-State Lotto

--- but that isn't how I plan to meet the mortgage payment on my house.

can you post a single example of a geek who escaped conviction because of jury nullification?

If I see a $1500 charge on my credit card, it's for sale.

If there is an online retail shopping site, it's for sale. Glass Explore

There ain't no such thing.

The geek's infatuation with jury nullification never ends.

Historically, jury nullification meant that the black man would be lynched before the trial began and the Klansman would go free. The outsider - the stranger - never holds the winning card in this game.

But good luck trying to explain to the geek why he is not the hometown hero who gets the free pass.

Oh, hell.

Ulbrich isn't a master criminal mastermind --- he's just another greedy, babble-mouthed, geek with a handful of technical tricks and an ego the size of the planet.