Well, if the OpenBSD project releases patches like this, there is a huge cryout. Of course, it doesn't happen all that much.

Seriously, I don't get the fuss. The industrial world has been overdue for a change in tactics for at least 3 decades, and the problems in society around the globe reflect humanity pursuit of things that can't work the way they used to anymore.

These are the facts (and we all know them, either intuitively or by plain analysis):

1.) We are reaching peak capitalism.

2.) Our jobs are going away, either to robots or the poorest of the poor on the planet ... and *then* to robots.

3.) We are about to reach a worldwide abundance of material goods. The last pieces of production society are on the way out.

4.) Most of our societies follow rules which, under the circumstances described above, seem bizare, arcane and silly. Each society and country has it's on set of soon to be totally pointless behaviours, but they all have them. The US has their evangelical cristian stuff, Germany spends 4.7 billion man-hours per year in traffic jams (seriously) and I don't even know where to begin in describing the bizar notions and pressures the Japanese society puts on people.

Let's face it: Most of us here on slashdot (I consider the average IQ here on /. measurably higher than average) would do the same if they hadn't developed some sort of psychological survical skill or found a nice warm place in the 9-5 jobworld where they can play with computers all day.

Bottom line: This is a totally normal reaction to environment, especially if you haven't had the luck to be introduced to stoic or zen philosophy or something simular in your teenages which might help you cope with the bizar theater going on around us in everyday life, including people presuring others to 'get a real job' and 'do something usefull'.

My 2 cents.

No, that's WWV on those frequencies.

... Ok, ok, hear me out: Yes, it is true, our knowledge is quite impressive to a degree, in some fields, the technological high-culture we've built these days has a significant positive impact on overall global wealth and power over the forces of nature in general, etc. jadajada ...

but:
How many things are there that really can count as a significant cornerstone of out civilisation?
- Electricity
- Internal Compustion Engine
- smithery/metal works
- arabian math & british navigation, astrology
- the wheel
- knowledge of basic hygene, virii, bacteria and genetics aka medicine
- chemistry
- experience with various modes of agriculture (4-field agriculture and nitro-ferilizer), carring crops and fruits from one continent to the next (the south-american potato definitely brought europe and the western civilisation forward) ... and a usefull overview of the laws of physics and some neat applications of those (flying, solid-state transistors, etc.)
- nuclear power

So what gives?

ICE - I'd say the internal combustion engine we could to without. Overall it has done more or at least as much damage than good, imho.
Electricity - that one definitely rocks. No other tech has brought us as far ahead as electricity.
Chemistry - not quite sure what to make of this. I'm leaning toward 'not-so-good'. Petrochem definitely has done more harm than good, I'd say. Don't like the polution. Basic knowledge of chemistry, especially in the field of medicine is neat, no doubt.
The Wheel - neat. Very usefull.
Modern Agriculture - modern agriculture sucks, however, if the insights would be applied correctly, we'd live in paradies in this area
Metal - tools: nice. means of transport: nice. Jewlery: ok. Weapons, large machinery, modern production, etc.: bad to not-so-good, imho.
Arabian math - very nice. A strike of genius, if you ask me.
Astrology - Usefull, but only to a certain extent. The past 150 years were more of pasttime in that field. Don't need to know about radiation to admire the stars.
Medicine - Very neat. Allthough I'd argue chemical medication hasn't improved that much since the 1960 - some diseases have been tackled since, but they were specifically targeted by an army of well/globally organised scientists - nothing regular humans with common sence couldn't to again. And diseases change all the time, this is an ongoing battle.
Physics, basic laws of nature - neat, very usefull.
Nuclear power - not needed, does more damage than good, especially in the hands of 99,9% of humans who are to dumb to handle it. This is one of the things I'd want *removed* from our knowledge.

All in all I'd say that in a well ordered society this knowledge could be rebuilt in 6-8 generations, roughly 200 years. Not that difficult. ... Once we have moved away from playing angry birds on smartphones to building AI to solve Big Problems (TM) that may be a totally different picture though. Then again, those big problems wouldn't be there if humanity had shown a little more brainpower while advancing in tech so fast.

Our knowledge has done far more damage than it should have, and to me it is apparent that overall inteligence isn't sufficient enough to handle todays technology correctly. A little more moral and mind training and another century or two of entlightenment before moving into hightech would've been better for humanity.

My 2 cents.

Hmmm, while not 800x600 (which is the standard resolution I think he was hinting at), there have been graphic cards in that timeframe that were high resolution. Well high resolution for those days. You're probably just too young to remember. That's fine. Let me show you: Hercules Graphics Card.

CRT's were... Older LCD's could also. I just recently had to throw away my 15" 1024x768 LCD screen I bought in... 2000 (!). That's 13 years and the image quality was as good as on day #1. One day, last month, it simply didn't turn on again. Sure, the last 5 years, it was the console of a server, but it worked.

So, the conversion from CRT to LCD also cost us longevity.

Obligatory XKCD.

I can't believe that some scientists actually had the bizar idea to test this on animals. What sick brain actually thinks "Gee, I wonder if I could transplant the head of this goat to the body of that other goat ..."
Creeeepy. ... Perhaps scientists doing stuff like that should be locked away or at least have their permissions revoked or something.

My 2 cents.

Suject says it all.

This is idealized and only a few unions ever truly seemed to work for the employees.

Personal Anecdote FTFail!

Here are a few things you can "blame" on Unions:

• Weekends
• 40-hr work weeks
• Sick days
• Being able to live wherever you want, not just a company house
• No more child labor
• Benefits
• Fair hiring practices
• Fair promotion practices

Now, please regale up with more tales of flight and fancy and how the unions are to blame!

Incorrect. The cities/states with higher union presence have a higher standard of living, due to the increased wages and benefits, which fuels the economy when those workers pay for goods and services.

Would you like help writing a letter?

Shame on you for crushing him with facts!

Please think of the Tr0lls and don't crush them. They're really quite squishy and drippy and make a mess that SOMEONE is going to have to clean up.

I was under the impression that they pretty much all include some basic "personal finance" in the required curriculum these days.

That skill was taught in the class known as "Home Economics," which was one of the first ones cut after the 'Reagan Revolution', along with Art, Music and PE.

My point is that at some point, people are responsible for their own decisions and their own positions in life.

Let 'em burn, eh?

No penny for the guy, eh?

I hope you find your Ayn Randian paradise soon (but make sure it is far, far away, please!)

Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men. — Mahatma Gandhi

It depends on the shop. I've worked many places that paid weekly. Some shops paid me bi-weekly or on the 15th and the 30th.