I wish I could save a post :). I've been here "only" since 2005 but this puts into words very well what I have observed.

Still the quality of comments is better by far than most platform. And I include hacker news with it's weird rules on how people can talk to each other.

Where is food free?

This is the most useful thing I have read on Slashdot ever. And on the internet in the last few weeks. Good job, sir!

The internet long united, must divide; long divided, must unite. Thus it has ever been.

I have used Redhsift in production for many years. Not my first choice, but great if someone is willing to pay.

It was froked from Redshift by some other company. AWS bought that and enhanced/integrated it with the rest of their products. As usual they did a good job.

It is really good technology, and no you cannot achieve the same with Postgres (as other comments are implying in this thread). As long as you have the money and read the fine manual, it will solve a lot of data problems at scale, with flexibility.

OTOH, An enitre thread could be written about AWS pricing strategy... I guess they don't have to worry about that themsleves.

Very few, if any, jokes are appropriate worldwide. If that is so, then what is the importance of this message? Should we stop making any jokes?

Nothing is acceptable in all contexts. And most things are acceptable in some context. Letting the author of the fucking code decide is one of the better ways to decide. My code, my choice!

I thought that everybody in the UK with a TV set is already paying for the BBC by law (i.e. no choice). If this doesn't change then the BBC will keep producing good independent programming.

The question now is, if everything will be as before for you, why do you care if others get it for free? Is this some "justice" thing?

You don't want anybody to talk to the cops, guilty OR innocent.

This is because if only one group talks to the cops it leads to information unraveling (i.e. innocent ppl talk -> if you shutup you admit you're guilty, so you better talk and get some better treatment or whatever.)

The only way the fifth works is if it works for everybody, otherwise it's useless.

What business? Did you need any environmental approvals or construction? Did you need to make business with the government? (i.e. contracts)
Not all business are equal. Bribes are sometimes necessary, sometimes optional and sometimes useless.

To achieve this in SQL Server do this:
BEGIN TRANSACTION;
SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL REPEATABLE READ;
//update your table here
//.. wait as long as you want
COMMIT TRANSACTION; //when ready


Alternatively you can use the WITH( REPEATABLEREAD) table hint when you select (but you still have to use transactions).
There are also implicit transactions and a lot of other ways to control concurrency...

Actually there is no reason to be freaked out by their pricing. Just buy the number of instances that you need (one for example) and don't set up any auto-scaling. This way if you get slashdoted your instance will just fail as a normal server would and you will incur no charges. Also no service...

I have worked with amazon aws and with dedicated server providers. Amazon has been much faster and reliable.

Furthermore, the way to protect your life savings from a potential business failure is not through inefficient procurement practices. Just incorporate, otherwise you will be open to all kind of risks (must of it unknown to you, and uninsured)

Your exceptions are either misunderstandings (i.e. "GMO product with built-in insecticides or herbicide resistance[...] was no doubt heavily sprayed with herbicides"

I recommend "DNA: The Secret of Life" by Watson for a new perspective on GMO. It's well written and will clarify a lot of aspects about it, and other more interesting subjects.

I am not american but I always watch closely news about the gun control in the US. I don't really like that the US is heading the way of other civilised countries in this regard. I know that US bashing is popular these days(since Iraq, GWB etc.) but the reality is that the rights that people enjoy there have always been important for the rest of the world. More precisley that country has always been a beacon of hope to opressed people around the world, and a source of concern to all goverments who would take their freedoms, or continue denying them. No man is an island, no country is ever trully a hermit kingdom. As long as american citizens enjoy certain rights there is hope for every other opressed man around the world. This is especially important in lights of american rights guarantees (some of do not even exist in most countries, and others are "implict", i.e. they can be taken away when the goverment no longer considers them so) and american conviction that they have a duty to promote their ideals around the world.

I don't know if this is really that relevant to this discussion. But the point of my message to americans is that not all foreigners are "america hating/bashers". We are not all statists (even left-wingers like me). It is american conviction and courage that dragged a lot of the world out of darkness. I am from eastern europe and I know first hand what this means.

I really think it is important that you know that the right to bear arms is not just an american issue. It is a human rights issue in my view. When this right will dissapear in the US it will probably dissapear from the entire world.

If you are from the US then keep fighting for your rights. At least you are in position to defend them, or at least to have a discussion about them. Most other people don't have that choice.

Mod parent up. I know a company that does this and it is really convenient. You want some software? Go to a web site, download, get key, install.