That must explain why so much software sucks these days, as well as all the binary bloat. Now get off my lawn.

The cops will be exempt. And don't worry, congress will take care of the obvious loophole: they'll make it illegal for people to use stolen cop guns, thus completely preventing that from ever being a problem.

I'm not sure why you were modded Troll. I tend to agree. Types are no good if they are not enforced. Either use a language that doesn't enforce typing or use one that does. This in between approach is indeed lazy.

I wouldn't resort to it right away but I'm happy knowing I can, and have, live off the land. First I'd start with my vegan and vegetarian neighbors though. They are more likely to not be armed and are grass/grain fed.

God, it brings back memories: ...8 1/2" floppies

Things are always remembered bigger then what they really were.

Sure I shafted Borland, AutoDesk and all the others, but then I bet they made a whole lot of money afterwards, when I and all the others like me hit the job market and started using their products professionally - on seats paid by the companies I worked for to the tune of many thousands more than a single user seat.

In the case of software, I think many software companies don't pursue individual or educational piracy for this reason. I had an Architectural Drawing instructor in college say that Autodesk willingly allowed and encourage piracy in developing countries to get their foot more in the door there, becoming the standard for CAD over competing products. If they weren't going to get paid for a license, might as well at least not let them go to the competition. Once they became the defacto standard for CAD in the area, then they swept in with licensing enforcement.

When I was in college I took an Analysis of Algorithms course as part of my CS degree. The textbook was $100-something and it was on it's 16th edition or so. Several weeks into the semester, my copy of the book was accidentally destroyed. Searching for a used copy online, I found one of the first several editions for about $10. I took a chance that no that much changed. Aside from the pages yellowing with age, I never found any differences to the current edition. The current edition actually had a few minor typos that the earlier edition that I had didn't have.

Sure they would. They would make large donations during the next election cycle to incumbents or other candidates that will introduce bills reversing the tax, or giving the company a grant or tax break or otherwise returning the money.

The NSA on the other hand will just have anyone associated with the current bill thoroughly investigated for ties to terrorism, drug dealing, child pornography, and movie/tv/music/software piracy. Those that don't capitulate get an all expense paid trip to the nearest federal deep, dark hole until they do.

Well... The GFI outlet should be that one *and* one closer to the breaker box.

The outlet can trip and stop itself.. If the liquid (or whatever crud) reaches the cabling, there's nothing but the breaker to stop the short. In the case of your normal bathroom or kitchen, there's usually an outlet elsewhere that is in line before it. For most people who I've had to reset the GFI for, it's been an outlet in the garage up fairly high on the wall.. In one house, it was in a bedroom closet.

I don't know why people call me to fix their electrical problems, I'm not an electrician. I can search a house and find the GFI outlet. Well, after I've asked them "What did you do to cause it?" Where I live, the answer can simply be "thunderstorm". The power surges will sometimes trip them.

building codes certainly wouldn't like it

That's the big one... Your local building code is almost certainly not identical to mine. Well, unless you live within just a few miles. There are federal, state, county, and sometimes city codes.

If you look at the instructions for anything electrical at home improvement stores, there's always a blurb that says have a local contractor who knows the local codes do the install.

There was a particular type of insulation I was using for a project. It was a roll of foil faced fiberglass. I moved about 20 miles, and couldn't find it at the stores in the new area. As it turns out, it's against code there, but was fine in the other one..

I also noticed that the blue EPS board wasn't stocked in that store. They told me local codes changed, and it was no longer permitted. That stuff was great for some projects.

Counter top outlets in general are a bad idea.. If they're on the surface, they're bound to get something down in them.

Every kitchen I've seen has plenty of outlets along the walls, and some on the vertical side of cabinets...

As for sitting furniture, it's an amazingly bad idea. I'm just picturing a couch.. Kids spilling drinks. The dog pissing on it. Toddlers finding amazing new places to stick metal objects. Hell, drunk friends spilling drinks on them while watching football or in the case of this audience, playing a heated game of D&D.

If there isn't a wall outlet close enough to where you (he) wants them, have one installed. Contractors are more than happy to install anything you want within the guidelines of local building codes.

For the furniture manufacturers, they become stupid additions to their line. If they sell internationally, they'd need to offer all the different outlets. If the consumer chooses not to use them, now the customers have the annoyance of dead outlets.

For movers, they no longer are just skilled at moving heavy objects from Point A to Point B, they have to be electricians. That's assuming they're to be hard wired, and not just plugged in somewhere.

And never leave it to the consumer to consider the total power load on a circuit, they'll always get it wrong.. I can just imagine an entire livingroom with a couch, loveseat, and other assorted chairs, all plugged into one outlet strip on one socket, with god knows what plugged into every outlet. They already fuck it up bad enough with chained outlet strips on poorly designed home wiring..

When we have some extra cash to bring a contractor in, we're going to have a good bit of our home rewired. Despite a couple dozen circuit breakers in the box, half the house is on one circuit. At least we're aware of it, and are careful not to overload it. As I've found over the years, this is normal. It's like the construction crew waits for the inspector to sign off on the electrical, and then throws everything else on one long circuit.

... the Moon if it happens to be there at the time ...

Every time I've checked, the moon has been in orbit around the Earth. Do you know something the rest of us don't?

We aren't really just actors on the Truman Show, are we?

    Maybe I exaggerated a little bit. :)

    They were cargo vans without side windows. The rear window was obscured by gear in the back. The mirrors were (hopefully) adjusted for the tech who drove them, but not for me moving it to where I was installing gear.

There have been incidents here of NYCs finast shooting some poor schmucks who were guilty of just answering the front door "while being mexican or of driving a car "while being tipsy and black" and getting themselves shot dead.

"Quis custodiet ipso custodes" indeed.

Does this work for the locks on my house? The dial on my safe?

You're asking this of guys who'll kick down your door if you don't open it fast enough and run in with weapons blazing?

Seriously?