This sounds like it will be a easy scapegoat for the entire massacre, rather than the fact that the individual was responsible, or the military in general.

But Vernor doesn't technically own a copy of the software, he's merely licensing a copy from Autodesk, correct? The company I work for licenses most of its software, so I know there are distinct differences between the two.

As someone with experience with hardware support for a large company, I can attest to the assertion that SSD's fail pretty often. We use the HP TC4400 tablet, which has a 40gig SSD in it, and we seem to get more of them in with dead harddrives than we do the TC4200, which uses a typical SATA drive.

This may not be true for all SSD's, but it's my experience so far.

Can't believe someone modded this redundant. Funniest post on slashdot in a long time.

My grandfather taught me when I was 8 that there are four inner (solid) planets, and four outer (gaseous) planets, separated by the asteroid belt. Anything else is not a planet, and Pluto certainly should not be.

But oh, if Illinois says it's true then it must be!

This is a good idea in theory, but try doing that when 2,000 people apply for 4 entry-level positions. Are you really going to give every single applicant an excuse, or would "Sorry I didn't even get to your resume because I picked the first one I found" not good enough?

Usually if ask why you're rejected from a position they'll tell you. Making the business legally obligated to proactively inform all rejected applicants is unnecessary.

I have a lot of older P4 machines that aren't special but they run fine. I'm located in Virginia; would you pay for shipping? If you're located within a reasonable distance I wouldn't mind driving them to you.

My fledgling Website Design company recently did free design work for Banana Leaf Project. It's nothing fancy, but a simple website like that can go a long way for a charity organization that's looking for small donations and government sponsorship.

Ockham's Razor: "All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best."
Heinlein's Razor: "Do not attribute to malice what could be more easily explained by stupidity"

Ockham's Razor != Heinlein Razor

It's often called Hanlon's razor because he quoted that in a 1980 book, but it was originally used by Robert Heinlein in his 1941 short story "Logic of Empire".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon's_razor

Heinlein's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can adequately be explained by stupidity. I somewhat agree with you in the WW2 example, because there's sufficient evidence to show that Roosevelt wanted us to join the war (because we needed to join the war). But the Lusitania disaster was completely due to stupidity, and the Gulf of Tonkin incident was due to the trigger-happy captain of the USS Maddox, not some giant conspiracy to throw us into a war.

Additionally, I think you assume too much intelligence and foresight on the part of the Bush Administration with regards to the WMD information.

The point is you're innocent until proven guilty. Think about the Duke Lacrosse team; their Lacrosse season was disbanded for a year and their names dragged through the mud, and in the end they were innocent. They weren't angels by any means, but they did not rape someone. Reputation is hard to gain back.