I know this is Slashdot and all, but for the rest of the world, "system" means any organized collection of rules and doctrines. "System" here refers to the Emergency Response System as a whole, including the computers, the people who run them, the officials responsible for determining policy, etc.

Because, as you yourself point out, it's "optional." If I one day arrived at Slashdot and had to enable scripting to view the comments, I'd delete the bookmark and never look back, even after a decade as a reader.

Now wait, hold on a second: "this includes tracking down a loaner computer that, against regulations, might be taken off campus" - I was led to believe that the laptops were given out to students to take home. Does this statement contradict that, or do they specifically mean loaner computers are the only type that aren't allowed to be taken off school grounds?

If the laptops were never intended to leave the premises, I might forgive the security measures he describes.

Yeah, I could make a car that went 861 MPH and got 2k+ MPG if I dropped it out of a plane, too.

God, I remember that. Used to get my Dad to take me to Fry's, marvel at all the stuff I could never hope to afford, then hop across the road and spend my allowance on shareware floppies.

I know you're not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition, but that's not a good alternative.

Your sarcasm meter is broken. My point was that as soon as a title hits theaters, it has a torrent up. From a "competing with pirates" angle, there's little difference between having a rental up now or a month from now: the morally bereft have already partaken.

Really? So you're saying pirates are patiently waiting for the DVD or Bluray to come out before watching films? How polite.

How is it a hassle? It IS a delay, but as Netflix is the only place I use to check new releases, it's one I admittedly won't notice. In return, we'll get way more instant-watch movies available, which I don't have to wait for and can watch on my laptop or two of the three consoles in the house.

It's hardly an anti-customer strategy when they make the same choice I'd have asked them to, given the option. The only thing currently stopping Instant-Watch from being really awesome is its subpar selection. And really, if I cared about seeing the movies from Netflix soon after they came out, I'd have seen them in theaters.

"I'm not calling you stupid, I'm just saying you do stupid things." Yeah, heard that one before. It was bullshit then and it's bullshit now.

These things have gone from funny to angry and vindictive. In particular, that overpass-falling one strikes me as an easy mistake. Here in Raleigh, we just had two people do something very similar: an overpass (near the Crabtree area, for locals) looks for all the world like it's a single bridge. But in reality, each lane is its own structure, with about four to six feet between the two that drops straight down to the freeway below. I'd driven by a hundred times and had no idea, and while yes, I'd like to think I'd look before I leaped over, I could easily see paying more attention to traffic than the divider itself and making the same mistake.

That entry happened, according to the site, in Florida, so it's a different area. But there's certainly not enough information there to make a judgment call on his intelligence.

But was it "fucking obvious" in 1998?

You misspelled "cheater" as "hardcore gamer."

No no no, let me fix that:

Threats are threats, even
when online. Sounds about right.
Next topic, please sir!

Any system wherein you upload pictures for the world to see is fail for not assuming that's what you want to do? We're not talking an OS or web server here; it's a social site.

I have to ask: if you have private pictures, why are they online?