Its not that easy to track down a node on a botnet, nor to stop them from sending spam, plus the fact that not all the spam comes from the US. Its easier to write down an IP and call up an ISP telling them to hand over the info you need or you'll sue them into the ground, than to prevent someone in Siberia from sending spam to another continent.

Funny, I've been running Gentoo for a few years and setting up a new kernel takes me about 5 minutes, 10 if I decide to look through and see what all has changed.

Or you could switch to MacOS or Linux and tell MS to screw themselves finally. As long as people keep buying their OS and allow themselves to be gouged when they demand a lesser evil, they will keep doing this kind of thing.

Spending time with said relatives can lower ones IQ, if many of the ones I've met is any indication. At least with this, you have a reason to be totally lost.

How do you know your doctor knows what could go wrong with any of the medication you or your child takes? How do you know that any of the drugs you or your kid takes isn't going to kill either of you? You simply don't. The only way a company could be held liable for the side-effects of their medication is if you can actually PROVE that it was tied to their product, which is probably going to be next to impossible for anyone, and without that threat hanging over their head they can product anything they please, as long as people THINK it is working. Because of this, anytime you take any form of medication, you are taking your own well-being in your own hands.

Its a cult that, instead of selling shirts, sells pretty cases to fund their trip to the big Apple in the sky.

Figure out what you want to do/help with, and see what they are using. Personally, I would start with C/C++ and move from there, but it depends on what you want to do.

What about the Universities? A newly developed CPU could be a huge avenue for profit for them, and along with cheap (student) labor, they might could come up with something better than what is being crapped out today, whether it is a new version of a previously discontinued system (ternary CPUs, for example), or something entirely new. The CPUs we are using today are based on tech from the 90's with some extra crap added onto them.