was confirmation of my opinion that "political correctness" now means "any kind of attitude or phenomenon that I don't like, but I can't be bothered to articulate a proper argument against". A bit like "inappropriate", really.

"First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist..."

Yeah, I wondered that too. Initially I thought they were demolishing the mall, or something. But apparently he took a photo of the mall security tackling some other guy to the ground.

Now that everyone's got a phone camera, I can envisage more "knock-on" incidents like this. Just imagine if someone else had photographed this guy being taken down, at which point security would have to go for the person #3 as well... pretty soon you're going to run out of security guards. It's probably good if everyone gets into the habit of filming police takedowns, precisely in order to swamp their capability to punish such actions.

I think you're missing Jane Q. Public's point, which is that they shout "stop resisting" even if you are not moving, to give the impression that their violence is justified.

Of course, once there's more than one, they can employ the classic technique of stretching a pedestrian.

Amen. I use Ubuntu and am happy (on a pragmatic level) to have a set-up that's maybe 98% free software. I would sooner punch myself in the nuts than switch to Trisquel, but I'm keenly aware that were it not for RMS's single-mindedness, I would probably be using a set-up that's 98% non-free (or, more likely, doing something entirely different because the world of computers wouldn't interest me as much).

Indeedy. But these days you can use the Java platform without using the Java language. Next time I'm writing something for the JRE, I'm going to give Scala a shot. (And if it's riddled with gotchas, I can always come back to Java...)

Who are you arguing with? Neither TFA nor TFS makes that claim. It's a description of a technique for turning a particular class of waste into a useful product, not a turnkey solution to the energy crisis.

You and me and ten million others. But Elop won't allow that kind of sanity.

I've just figured out who Elop is: The Old Man of the Sea from the voyages of Sinbad. He hops on Nokia's shoulders, clamps on like a barnacle, and uses them like a bitch till they drop dead.

Urectum?

As far as I'm concerned, an extra 4" of screen (with attendant bulk, weight, and battery life reduction) would be a liability rather than an asset. Same goes for Windows. I realize that my needs are not everyone's, but I suspect there are a lot of people out there who don't want to lug a 15.6" machine around.

Lance Armstrong is innocent. His business case is based 100% on being a non-cheating cyclist: if it ever leaked that he'd taken any kind of performance enhancers, it would all be for naught.

The point, surely, is not that I am necessarily a cryptographer, but that the source is available to those who are. It's not necessary for every user to independently audit the code, because the skilled individuals who do audit the code can then communicate their findings.

"But why trust the skilled individuals?", you may ask. Answer: because I find it unlikely that all the world's cryptographers are conspiring to keep quiet about any vulnerabilities they find the code. At any rate it's a more sensible strategy than "assume that Zimmerman is both infallible and incorruptible".

... and then corrected by a +5 informative annoyed nerd in the comments. Good thing you don't need my last modpoint, because I just spent it on someone who pointed out that

This kind of shit is the reason I keep coming back to Slashdot. The editing's always been hopeless but there's gold in them there comments.

Hmm yes, good point. So I could try to do some basic physics and figure out the equivalent volume at ground level, but given my track record thus far, maybe I'll just get me coat.