For a medium or large sized business, it is. For a start-up or independent consultant... I feel your pain!

I'd say if you ever need to have two programs or documents (of any type) open at the same time because you need to refer to one to update the other, then a second monitor does help... how much is subjective, and it's certainly not necessary, but it does help. And to get used to it and then have it taken away... well, I'd put in a requisition and if it wasn't honored quickly I'd start looking.

Bottom line -- if you use two or more applications at the same time, more monitors == better.

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I drank what?

You had a formless void?

You were lucky.

(apologies to Monty Python but I couldn't resist...)

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I drank what?

Realistically, this is beyond the scope of more than a handful of us tech literate users... my power, I can go outside and record numbers off the meter and then compare to my bill... yeah, I have to do some math, but the equipment is there and I don't have to know how it works (though I admit this will still be prey to deliberately munging the meter so it spins just a tad faster... I'll assume that this kind of thing would be discovered over time. As long as I can trust the meter, it exists as a back check).

I can install DDWRT or setup a bridging only firewall to monitor my traffic... my neighbor wouldn't even know what those words mean.

I don't know the solution as I hate to say government regulation is the answer, but it does put us all on a similar playing field...

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We know that almost every time we've looked into ghost stories, they've turned out to have a mundane explanation or to be complete bullshit. That doesn't mean that ghosts have been proven... on the contrary, it means that the wrong things were tested or looked for.

Amateurs have discovered all sorts of things through out history... will he? Probably not, but I can tell you this... staying home and watching reality TV pretty much guarantees he won't.

Have fun with it, and if you do find something odd, you'll have a story to tell about how you tracked it down to it's real source... wherever that might take you.

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what about the lawyers? I think I'd put them ahead of marketers... but just.

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Ok, I'll admit to not having read the article or much of the details... if it was a "opt in" kind of thing, then I would agree... picketing is probably the best "real world" like example.

I was speaking more generically about DDOS attacks when some pissed off group claims responsibility and tries to wrap themselves in a cloak of righteousness.

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While I like the term "cyber-picketing" better than "hacktivism" (that word just sounds stupid, period), I think I must point out at least a slight difference from traditional picketing...

Picketers perform what is (usually) non-violent interference, but the individuals involved are not hiding... if they do cross the line to violent activity (assaulting people who wish to break the line, damaging property, etc.) they can and are arrested, usually as individuals, unless it reaches potential riot proportions.

"Cyber-picketers" sit behind a wall of more or less anonymity, often using hundreds or thousands of OTHER PEOPLE'S COMPUTERS to distance their person from the activity... so when they cross the line of illegality (and in all honesty, using someone else's computer for purposes they do not know about or have not agreed to is illegal in most places) who can be removed to return it to a "peaceful" protest?

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Yes, but a useful one... I can't count the number of times I've edited someone's code to capitalize the SQL commands so that the fields and where clauses are more easily picked out of a complex query.

Not saying you're wrong, just that some conventions exist for a reason... and removing the caps-lock simply because some users miss-use it seems more like cutting off an arm because the fingers constantly flick you off...

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I'd have to agree with this on the level of likely media awareness of a young child... if you're looking for heroes he won't have to explain, then these are probably the most scientific... not rigorous in the sense of a University Physics lab, but a heck of a lot more rigorous than most anything else that gets wide media attention... identify what to test (myth), give initial hypothesis (explanation), identify how to test, revise if necessary, test, scale up, come to conclusion, revise in later shows, re-test, etc.

Other "heroes" to consider might be internet entrepreneurs, who while not being scientific themselves, managed to take new technology in directions not grasped before... Facebook, Google, Netscape... might be more commercially oriented than you want, but still, it's an area your son and his friends will know well soon, if he doesn't already.

Unfortunately true scientific or mathematical skill comes with a lot of background work and most don't get the credit they deserve, even when older, but definitely not while they're still learning.

I told my daughter (now 17) that true skill takes time, and the flashiness of athletes and movie stars almost always dies quickly... a few make it, but thousands don't. I tried to teach her (I hope successfully, and her math and science grades suggest I might have succeeded at least a little bit...) that a hero is one who sticks to her guns, as long as the evidence supports her, and isn't afraid to admit when they were wrong and change their theories. The hero is one true to the search, not the result... cause it only takes one bad result to take you down.

Hope this helps in some small way :-)

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The problem as I see it is not so much how good X is or isn't (and I've seen cases where it's both), but what happens to all of the existing software that is in use, largely in Academia, but also to a significant degree in engineering and other industries using decades old software...

If X compatibility is actually any good, then fine, let change come... OS X was worlds better than the Classic Mac OS, but they did maintain the ability to run a classic emulator (at least until the Intel machines started coming out)... Change can be a fine and necessary thing, but expecting everyone to rebuild and recode before we see how it plays out is just hubris.

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I drank what?