Did you RTFA?

How many years before we have a brain interface to Google? You'd know everything. And its not crazy to think that soon after we'd find ourselves limited by how slow our brains process information. The obvious next step being to augment our brains, our thinking, and in the process - augment who we are. That's what our scientists will be working on then (and of course, are actually already working on).

And they say Latin is a "dead" language! HAH!

Gotta call Bullshit. Sequestration cut every program by 1.4%. And there was a mandatory 1.7% increase on most budgets. If we really cut all programs 10% then it wouldn't be $44B in savings this year, it would be $370B in savings. We'd still be spending over $1T we don't have, but that would be a vast improvement over the $44B we're actually cutting.

All I can say is, "Bad Robots!"

NC headphones help but by themselves won't block out everything. Get some noise-cancelling headphones and play music - just don't play music you like. Find something you don't completely hate but that really doesn't float your boat. Something without vocals is preferable. You can grab all sorts of classical, big band, early jazz ensembles, etc. for free. It's not going to grab your attention and distract you like music you really like, but it will block out the sound around you. At least, that works for me. I use the trick for writing in public spaces.

"When the last Ice Age set on 28,000 years ago, Neanderthals had no sewn clothes and no large organized groups to rely on each other, hastening their fall. "

Ha! Take that, Robert J. Sawyer!

Sure, the frontiers are dangerous for those heading to them, but my intent was to highlight the attitude that are places that were wild and free from government, that one could 'escape' to, where in fact there was no place that was not lived in and ruled by somebody. So the idea that you could go somewhere and be free of the shackles of government and having to play nice while living amongst others means that you thought the people living there didn't matter, and their land was yours to do whatever you wanted with.

Oh yes, the frontiers, where any persecuted white man could escape from his oppressive government and start killing natives.

The talk was completely off-topic and couldn't possibly improve the environment of the conference.

And, of course, that opinion is the only one that matters, so it's OK to lie and use whatever other cheap, underhanded methods you can use to impose your perspective on everyone else, right? "Rape trigger" is a convenient tool because it shuts down all further conversation.

A: "Rape trigger!"
B: "But I ..."
A: "What, do you support rape? What kind of sleazy, disgusting asshole are you?"
B: (slinks away)

My team has an hour meeting every week where we review code, how it could be better, what we can do better next time, how our overall system could change and improve. Instead of ragging on people, we sympathize when they are under deadlines and stress. People were hesitant and embarrased at first, but over time, as we've nurtured a supportive envrionment, people feel free to air their problems and ask for help. Knowing that your teammates truly have your back makes you feel good about yourself want to succeed. Sometimes people will give presentations of design patterns, functional programming, certain libraries, or new technologies like REST. Nothing big and fancy, just enough for everyone to get a handle on it and small enough to digest mentally. I don't know if this can work on every team because IT people seem to have a pandemic negativity and perfectionist syndrome. In the long run this just makes you give up and write crappy code, when you believe everything is futile and worthless when it's not perfect.

Aside from the "this is a hack?" issue, get a headboard and clamp the tablet holder to that.

Wait wait wait wait--- you're telling me those New Age kooks who said we were going to add another strand in our DNA after 2012 were actually right!?!?!

But Lamo could not have known beforehand that there would be no fallout from the release. It seems a reasonable fear to be had.

Where are people going to see movies these days? Pleasure Island from Pinocchio? I've never seen or heard anyone texting, talking, or whatever on their phones. Granted, it's not a monastery, but it doesn't disturb me or ruin the movie for me. If you haven't been to the theater in 15 years, how do you know the behavior has gotten worse?

Maybe you are the new-fangled type that prefers to watch media on their home entertainment system?

I've found that certain movies are enjoyable on the big screen, and less so on the small. Does that mean they lack something? Probably -- but for me, it's about the experience of the film. If it needs to be seen on the big screen for me to properly get the full effect, so be it. If it makes a less stellar movie feel like it was worth it, then it was worth it.

I don't go to the movies twice a month-- probably more 6-8 times a year-- but if I could go whenever for $19.95 a month, I might see almost every movie. If have have to shell out $10 for a movie, I have to think really hard if it will be worth it. If I've already shelled out the cash, it's a no-brainer.