And when that happens, the new "Pay $5/day to see who's stalking YOU!" feature becomes available.

I think one major difference is that the the three you mentioned, and many of the others of popular cum changed and/or gone away sites is that Google and hopefully (for their sake) Facebook have the foresight to be constantly adapting to what's needed and wanted in the user marketplace. If Google lags and someone else comes along and manages to get more direct marketable eyeballs than Google does, then yeah, they'll change and/or shrivel up as the ad dollars migrate. But how many people do they have working on this exact problem on a daily basis? I'm guessing more than Geocities ever did.

"The United States, for example, has no federal law on trade secret protection..."

Yes we do; and a bunch more at the state level. Among other things, to qualify for trade secret protection, these laws requires that you make a good faith effort to keep the information secret. By, in the classic example, requiring NDAs of everyone you voluntarily disclose it to. It's not that it's easier to sue someone for stealing your secret if they signed an NDA. It's that even if they didn't, and you didn't tell them the information, but they stole it through some more devious means, you can't sue them for stealing your secret because you didn't try to keep it secret in the first place. If I tell you my secret without an NDA, it isn't a secret, and anybody else who gets their hands on it can use it.

NDAs are a document that makes it possible to sue someone else who steals my trade secrets. If I tell you without an NDA, it isn't a secret, and I can't sue someone else for stealing my trade secret if it isn't a secret. You can't "run off with insider info" if you didn't sign an NDA, because if they told you without an NDA, it wasn't insider info - it was info they just told to people with no obligation not to disclose it. If you don't sign an NDA, you're free to use the info, and so is anybody else on the planet.

If they've got secrets worth keeping, they're idiots if they don't require an NDA, even from people they don't expect to steal their secrets. The articles point is that if they want an NDA for initial high-level discussions well before employment, they are idiots for thinking they have secrets worth keeping.

"The person sending you an NDA isn't saying to you that you're going to steal their stuff, they're saying to you 'I don't know you very well.'"

More likely, they're saying "If someone else steals my idea, I'd like to be able to tell a court it was a trade secret, which I can't if I just go telling it to people without an NDA". The guy in the article is giving good, but nuanced advice: If someone wants an NDA for an idea they'll be explaining over a cup of coffee to see what you think, they have an inflated concept of their ideas importance. If someone want's an NDA before employing you for work with a specific secret, that's appropriate, and the article author explicitly says he'll sign.

Note the well known successful freelance programmer will sign an NDA pertaining to something specific once actual employment is on the table; just not for high level initial discussions; which makes sense.

Refusing to sign an NDA ever is naive, or at least ignorant of basic trade secrets law. If I've got a secret really worth keeping; or rather keeping my ability to sue people for stealing, I need you to sign. The main reason to ask you to sign an NDA is so that it is easier to sue someone else in the future. Even if I don't think you'll steal my idea, somebody else might, and I can't sue them for it unless I can show I actually tried to keep it a secret. Typically, by requiring an NDA from everyone I disclose it to.

Refusing to sign an NDA before high-level preliminary discussions is reasonable for the reasons the article discusses. It's not that the legal situation is different, it's that if I'm not at the point of actually employing/funding you, you don't need to know the kinds of secrets it's worth keeping. The articles point is that if I want you to sign an NDA before high-level preliminary discussions, I am probably mistaken about whether my secret is worth keeping. And you probably don't want to work for me before I figure that out.

What I really don't like is the whole sleeping in the cockpit game. If it is legal, it shouldn't be.

This was my first thought. I have no problems with members of flight crews sleeping on flights they're responsible for, so long as there are other flight members who are awake, alert, and on the controls at all times. I do think there's something wrong with a pilot or copilot sleeping in the cockpit with their hands within reach of the controls.

To be fair, Victory has a history of being shitty to artists. One of my friends put it simply "bands who sign to Victory in this day and age have it coming."

In 2010, I flew from Denver to Minneapolis. It was a visit during which, I would be riding a loaned bicycle, so I brought a multitool should I need to do some roadside repairs on the loaner. On my flight there, I had plenty of time to go through security and if the multitool (which had a 2" knife blade) was not allowed, I could go check the bag it was in. I went through security without a hiccup.

Landed in Minneapolis, and went to check with security, since I wouldn't have such a time window on my return flight, and wanted to see if I would need to check the bag with the multitool in it or if it would be allowed. I went up to the security station and politely asked the TSA agent if this would be allowed. I had it in my hand as I approached. The knife blade wasn't visible but it was obvious that it was a bicycle multitool. I asked if it would be allowed. A fellow agent came over in the middle of my explanation, and started to ask some questions about the tool.

The first agent sort of waved his hand and said "It's ok, it's a bicycle multitool. It has wrenches and screwdrivers, right? You should be fine."

To which i responded "Well, it does have a 2" knife blade on it, in case you need to cut something."

At this point, the agent stiffened up, looked around and in a very serious voice said "Sir? You have a knife on your person? How did you get into this secure area? You need to leave this secure area immediately or..." and then went into this official sounding tirade.

I tried restating my question, but you'd think I had threatened to stab the guy. I checked the bag on the return flight, but it turns out they didn't like the burly bicycle lock in my check bag, either. As if a big chain would be a threat in the belly of the plane...

I fondly remember learning the multiplication tables for two reasons:

1. We moved a lot when I was a kid, and one of my new schools only learned them up to 10x10, whereas my previous school had taught them up to 12x12. Seems pretty minor in retrospect, but it gave me some kind of incredible confidence. It almost felt like a super power.
2. More importantly, my innate sense of trying to cheat/be lazy taught me to find patterns: 9 times any single digit number is that digit with a zero after it minus that digit. 5 times any number is half of 10 times that number, etc. The trick where you open both palm, and fold down the finger that corresponds with what you're multiplying by 9, and the fingers on the left of the folded digit are now the tens column while the fingers on the right are the ones column. (I'm not sure i can explain why it works, but I know that it wouldn't if we had 11 fingers...)

Finding those shortcuts, and seeking them out, felt like finding some kind of cosmic Easter eggs or something. I feel like that encouraged me to be inquisitive in other areas, and appreciate when I found connections.

I don't think the fact that i know by rote what 11 times 12 is is beneficial, but the fact that i know that there are patterns and connections to be found has helped me be confident to face and solve many other problems, math or otherwise.