That sounds like an awful lot of trouble to avoid taking ten minutes to fix the configuration, or yum update for a correct default configuration. Do you also move to some third world country to avoid the law requiring working turn signals?

I tend to prefer joins over subqueries, and for many years I wouldn't use subqueries. However, in the very name SQL, Structured Query Language, "structured" means "with nesting". Complaining about nesting in SQL is kind of like complaining about hyperlinks in HTML.

There are people who RUN businesses, and there are people who are EMPLOYED by businesses. If they haven't "taken over the company" by age 40, they almost certainly won't. If they've been an employee for 20-30 years, that's probably because that's their preference or where their strengths lie. They aren't going to take over anything.

Of course, there's the rare case of someone has has run several businesses by age 40 taking non-executive employment for some reason, but that's not the usual case. I've run a few companies and I took an 8-5, but I think I'm the only one in a building with ~200 people. Nobody else here is going to take over squat because they'd rather show up at 8, leave at 5, and and collect their steady paycheck and benefits.

I'm thinking a programmer who doesn't know if-then-else may not be awesome.

Is width greater than? It was greater then.

> The difference in security between GET and POST is about the same as level ground vs. a finger nail sized piece of tissue paper on that same level ground, since it would have only stopped someone so incompetent to not have been a threat anyway.

Query strings (GET) are visible to other sites as the referer, and end up in their logs, which may well end up on Google. So if you're okay with the information being displayed with someone does a search for your domain name, it's okay for it to be in the query string. GET is for GETting publicly available documents, and the query string can be used to identify the document. The query string is also visible to third-party JavaScript and .. well just about everybody. So it's in no way private. Additionally, note that any number of people can GET this post and read it and that causes no problems. It can be cached and people can get it without the server knowing and that's fine.

POST is used to take actions, such as POSTing a message on Slashdot, logging in, logging out, deleting something, etc. That data isn't visible to other sites you visit. It's not part of the REFERER, or document.location, etc. Assuming either SSL or no MITM by someone with access to your network, POST data is private. Additionally, POST explicitly means it has some effect, so it should not be repeated, cached, etc. If you confuse the two, doing something (such as creating a Slashdot post) based upon a GET request, you my well end up doing the action multiple times when it should have been done only once, or not doing it at all when it should have been, because the request was answered by a cache. It's not okay to add four hard drives to my shopping cart when I click "Add to cart" once, so not knowing and respecting the difference is a significant security issue.

If you want to compare it to mathematics, knowing that economics refers to either macroeconomics or microeconomics is more like knowing what "arithmetic" is.

Since you mentioned names, I'm guessing you thought the two main branches are "Keynesian and some other guy". That's fine, nobody is competent in EVERY field.

  If you didn't know the difference between arithmetic and calculus, you wouldn't argue math with mathematicians, would you? If you didn't know the difference between an Ethernet cable and power cable, you wouldn't argue about computer technology.

  Just know that since you clearly haven't so much seen the cover of an economics text, YOU DON'T KNOW ECONOMICS. If you're arguing about economics and you don't know whether you're discussing microeconomics or macroeconomics, you don't know what you're talking about, simple as that.

As you mentioned, people pay to get exactly what they want, something specific. Not so much sick and depraved, but specific. Either specific niches like Amelia G's work, or a specific style like Perfect 10. Girls Gone Wild is just flashing of boobs and they have a LOT of customers. See also Netvideogirls.com, a specific style / story line.

Aside from that, the megasites offer a plethora of porn with no popups, no viruses, no bullshit. The value proposition is there for anyone whose time has value.

Next time try being a little more subtle - not even Obama himself thinks this mess will be fixed in six months.
If you want to pretend to be a left wing loony, "keep the gov't out of my medicare/obamacare" is a little too stupid.
Try "keep the evil businesses out of my business".

> You can easily have an opinion on something in which you have no vested interest.

I would venture to say that most opinions posted on Slashdot are from those with little or no interest in the subject.
I say this based on the manifest truth that most have little to no knowledge of the subjects upon which they opine.

For example, everyone on Slashdot has strong opinions on economic theory. Yet, fewer than 1% know the two main branches of economics - something you learn by merely looking looking at the TITLES of economics courses or textbooks, without attending a single day of class.

PayPal never was popular for porn. On any given day of your choice, there was 100 times as many PayPal transactions on eBay than PayPal transactions for porn.

Porn went from AdultCheck and other AVS systems to iBill and a few iBill competitors. With the fall of iBill, CCBill took over the adult sector.

I don't disagree, it sure looks like a major bubble, so on that point I still think it's very risky to get involved in. Where my perception has changed is that it looked like a toy, something tin-foil-hat people play with. I laughed it off. It seems it's now big enough that one shouldn't laugh it off. As an example, with over $150 million in a single exchange, an unlicensed bank, it probably makes sense to seriously look at appropriate consumer protections.

Thanks for link, it provided a lot of good information.
If anyone else from outside Oz is still reading this, where catprog says "FITs", that's Feed in Tariffs, which is where each customer is forced to pay for some other guy's solar installation.

The PDF which breaks down the billing shows 9% "carbon tax" and 20% "customer service and renewables schemes". Only 10% is the actual cost of the electricity, so the customer's bill in no way reflects the actual cost of the electricity. That 29% is more than the entire bill paid by Texas residents.

I've poo-pooed Bitcoin before. If it's now at the point where there are $150 million transactions, that's significant. I sure hope the operators of that exchange don't disappear with the money, get hacked, or any of the other nastiness that seems to happen every couple of weeks. A $150 million heist would be a big deal, and damn few internet-connected systems are secure enough to thwart even moderately skilled crackers. For example, a certain national agency I'm familiar with that does cyber-security training is wide open to SQL injection and other attacks. I sure hope these bitcoin exchanges have better security than the agencies that set security standards have. If not, somebody's going to steal $150 million in bitcoins any day now, and that'll be a big deal.

The utility power that costs you $54 only costs me $12.42.

Hmm, you're paying four times as much for utility power, and can buy solar systems for half the cost compared to the US. I wonder if that huge extra cost on your electric bill is what's paying the other half of the solar panels, through subsidies. If the government mandates for solar are paid for via taxes on utilities, that would explain things - you're effectively being forced to pay for solar whether you use it or not.

Assuming that's a quality system, with the price you mentioned, that's an extra $200 / month to cool the house during the sunny part of the day only, when you're at work. Peak temperatures are at sunset. So you've spent $200 / month on solar that you can't even use while you're home after work. Maybe that might somehow be useful for 1% of people. For most people, that would be really silly.