At my university, the CS department are, counter-intuitively, some of the most reluctant to use our online capabilities and classroom presentation tech. I'd say about half of the CS profs still want everything handed in hard-copy and don't even post their syllabi online. And we have a pretty robust system for online content too, if a prof chooses to actually use it. But many don't want to even touch it.

You would think programmers would be more comfortable with computers.

FTFY

Hey Laura, I'm sending you a picture of The Decider!

If I were going to join a cult, it would be the one worshiping Justin Bieber.

You sir, are worse than Godwin!

I'm just glad that those of you who think that all conspiracies are just the product of paranoia weren't in charge of the Watergate invesitgation--or Iran/Contra, or the torture and extreme rendition allegations, etc. There is a big difference between thinking that black helicopters are circling your house monitoring your brainwaves and thinking that the CIA engages in operations against foreign individuals deemed a threat to U.S. interests.

Do you honestly believe that the U.S. government regarded Assange as just "some random guy leaking confidential State Department cables"? Seriously?

Yeah, those rapists.

I remember a guy who made a speech calling for a global currency to challenge the dollar. Turns out he became a rapist too, just a few months after making that speech in fact. Well, he was a rapist for a while anyway. The DA later admitted that the previously "rock solid" case against him was completely bogus--exactly three days after his successor at the IMF took office. Coincidental timing, I guess.

But then I guess I would be accused of wearing a tinfoil hat if I suggested that there was anything suspicious about the timing of some rape charges.

You know, believe it or not, there are actual conspiracies in this world that are real. And there are actually real spies and real saboteurs whose job it is to infiltrate organizations deemed national security threats. They get paid to do it and everything.

After all, what do you think 130,000 CIA employees do all day, sit around and stare at the walls?

Julian Assange may be a bit cocky, but keep in mind that a lot of this "Cult of Assange" shit and a lot of the infighting reports came from Daniel Domscheit-Berg, a person of VERY questionable motives and honesty--to say the least. His dubious book is the source of many of these reports.

Now personally, I've always strongly suspected that Domscheit-Berg was an intelligence plant at Wikileaks (working for the CIA, BND, or take your pick). He started to physically sabotage the organization pretty much from day one, acted a lot like an agent provocateur when he was there, destroyed some 3,500 unpublished whistleblower communications as he was leaving, immediately went on a campaign to discredit Wikileaks and Assange after he left, and then unsuccessfully tried to set up a leaks site himself that sounded suspiciously like a honeypot to me (send us your leaked documents and trust us to maybe release them to the press--or maybe just send some FBI agents to kick down your door). And apparently Assange suspected this too.

Apple

Much as I hate to side with MS (okay, I do like my Xbox), they've got a point on this one, even if they're doing it for all the wrong reasons. I do find it really fucking creepy that gmail is parsing my private email, no matter what their justification. I would hate to be conducting a search at work in front of my boss and have a bunch of "Hey, you're gay, so check this out!" advertising pop up because I sent some highly personal emails to a gay partner. Not to mention the fact that since they've established that they have the tech to parse emails for advertising, you know the government is going to come calling (probably already have) to make them parse emails for "national security" too. Fuck that noise.

Now go ahead and mod me down for daring to defend MS on slashdot. But you may want to think about this the next time google returns an ad that seems to know WAY too much about your personal life.

It was the biggest Ponzi scheme in history--all done with the blessing of the biggest banks in the world, cheering politicians, and a gullible public that bought into the idea that less regulation and oversight would somehow not incentivize corruption and fraud.

Obviously, you haven't been watching Fox News. They have assured me that it was the evil government, and not base greed and the free market, that caused the crash.

Obviously you don't appreciate how many nerdy quants there were on Wall Street painting over these bag-of-shit securities packages with a fresh coating of technical bullshit to make them look like roses.