I still think it's crazy that you have to pay to receive messages in some countries.

Don't you have a "Do not Call" registry?

And does anyone actually trust NFC enough to leave it enabled? Not me, anyway. Same applies to bluetooth.

...largely because the net difference between the two parties is (almost) nil. Unfortunately, this is a trend throughout the Western world, where politicians of the major parties play to the misgivings of the least social-justice oriented of the electorate rather than exhibiting any courage to stand up for actual principles.

Only the smaller one, apparently. ;)

Well, there's something to be said for that. I have no particular desire to be part of Google's ecosystem, and I'm certainly not going to start using their products if I can't depend on them still being there tomorrow or the day after. Google is developing quite a habit of pulling the rug from under its users, and we shouldn't reward that.

You aren't wrong, and neither is the symptom very new. I seem to remember the more originally original Mandrake begging for donations to keep it afloat back in 2001. Maybe I'm blind or stupid, but if they can keep dying for that long, there must be a workable business model in that.

If this Mageia thingy is a descendant of Mandriva, which was a descendant of Mandrake, then you would presumably be using rpm anyway, so there should be plenty of common ground.

I tried out a few rpm-based distros back in the '90s, and while they usually functioned pretty much OK, I preferred (and still do) the simple Slackware "YAFIYGI" (You Asked For It, You Got It) approach with its simple *.t?z packaging.

The core packages just give you a world to stand on while you use the One True Package System for everything else (mostly):
$ ./configure --prefix=/usr/local && make && sudo make install"

No.

If he hadn't explained, we would see a chorus of complaints that not every species of nerd is conversant with what BSD is. I recall a time when any /. user would slash his wrists before admitting that he was so utterly clueless, but now that time seems to belong to the same domain as the tooth fairy.

OK, but that's a silly argument. 6% is only 6%.

That's like saying 30% of traffic accidents are caused by drunk drivers - so 70% must be caused by sober drivers. Ergo, you're safer driving drunk than sober.

A majority of Americans were happy enough to be led to believe that Saddam Hussein was somehow responsible for the 9-11 attacks in order to justify invading Iraq.

Never mind that, you could just as easily kill someone just as effectively with a rubber band and a forked stick. Or a kitchen knife. Or a knitting needle. Or a bucket of dihydrogen monoxide. Or a piece of string. Where do you start, and where do you stop?

I have worked with CNC mills from the '80s and '90s that have no requirement for an internet connection. They might seem primitive to you, but they get the job done with more than enough precision.

And, for that matter, a halfway decent workman could probably fabricate just about everything he needs for a workable automatic weapon with nothing more than a good lathe, a hacksaw and a decent selection of files.

[My point of view here is that of a former blacksmith. I am old enough to remember the adage that "By the hammer and the hand, all other arts do stand".]

Although Luddites have an interesting history, along with the clog-throwers (saboteurs), that isn't really germane to this case. However, it is easy enough to understand a reluctance to accept the casual and uncontrolled production of murder weapons. It's just too bad that any injunction would be totally unenforceable.

Incidentally (re. TFS), a survey of 1000 subjects is admissible as a valid statistic, provided that the proper sampling rules are applied.

Indeed. After all, there are plenty of Americans to spare...