I don't have such an expectation, but the comment to which I replied seemed to, since it's talking about nulls in databases in the context of changes in null semantics of TypeScript 2.0, seemingly conflating the two.

It makes a difference when you start applying operations.

For example, if you compare a NULL to any value (even another NULL), the result is also NULL, rather than TRUE or FALSE. This doesn't make sense for absent values - two absent values should compare equal (and, indeed, two nulls in JS do). On the other hand, it makes perfect sense if NULL means unknown - if my last name is unknown, and your lastname is unknown, comparing them for equality can only produce "unknown" as a result, since it's not known whether they're the same or different.

Same thing with arithmetic operations. 1 + NULL equals NULL in SQL, again, because NULL is really "unknown", and so when you add an unknown value to 1, the result is also unknown. If NULL were an absent value, the expression should either produce an error, or give 1.

The most telling part, though, is the SQL truth table for Boolean operators that includes NULLs. Specifically:

TRUE AND NULL = NULL
FALSE AND NULL = FALSE
TRUE OR NULL = TRUE
FALSE OR NULL = NULL

Again, this makes perfect sense if and only if NULL means unknown. AND is always false if one of the operands is guaranteed to be false, so FALSE AND NULL is always false, regardless of what the actual unknown value is. On the other hand, FALSE AND NULL is NULL, because the result could be either false or true depending on the unknown value. With OR, it's the reverse - TRUE OR NULL is TRUE, because OR is always true if one of the operands is definitely true, regardless of what the other operand is. FALSE OR NULL is NULL because the result depends on the unknown value.

Philosophically, the difference also exists. Absent value means "I know what the value is, and there isn't one". For example, for a guy from Iceland, you know his last name - he doesn't have one. Unknown value means "I don't know what the value is, and there could be one". For example, you don't know if I'm from Iceland or not, so I may or may not have a last name, and you don't know which one if I do. These are two distinct states, and ought to be reflected as such in the database.

You have to keep passwords written somewhere because stupid sysadmins have such insane password rules and retention times that no-one could possibly remember them. In theory word documents are at lest better than post-its because they COULD have some access control.

The tighter you squeeze, sysadmins, the more systems will slip through your fingers.

You have got to be joking. Swap in "Jews" for "Deplorables" and Hillary would be every bit a "hitler", if it were not so absurd comparing wanting to control immigration rather than letting it occur with no oversight, to mass slaughter of humans. Even if you tried to compare mass deportation, you can't even get close because you are comparing someone sent to Mexico with someone being packed on a train and sent to a gas chamber! Do you realize how foolish and un-believeable you sound? The fact that you and other liberals really believe that down in your heart is why you are turning so many independent voters against you. Trump says some reasonable things, you claim he's hitler and that's all she wrote for believing a word you say.

Part of that whole "land of the free" thing has been that you could live as a cash-only squatter and mind your own business without having the government sticking their nose into yours. Maybe not the most convenient way to live, but an option.

And, as a matter of fact, you can rent an apartment without an ID - provided that you find someone who agrees to rent one out to you on those terms. You probably won't find such a thing in an urban area, but out in the country, it's not all that hard. Either way, again, there's a big difference between having the government demand your ID, and having another party to a deal you're trying to make do the same. You can walk away from the deal and try to find a different one.

The difference in all the cases that you describe, is that you have to actively do something to get into that situation. And you always have an option to turn around and walk away if you don't feel like it. Not at all the same as walking down the street minding your own business, and having a cop or a ICE agent harass you for papers.

Not that we already don't have that - those bullshit roaming immigration checkpoints within 100 miles of the border (which is where millions of American citizens live). But at least you can tell them to fuck off these days, and because they know they don't have the authority to actually detain you without a reasonable suspicion, and looking Hispanic does not constitute reasonable suspicion, they'll back off if you're persistent enough.

Illegal immigrants don't necessarily lack the ability to establish their identity - they will usually have the passport of their originating country, for example. And getting a driver's license does not require a US-issued ID (given that it is the one and only ID that they have for most people, that wouldn't exactly work). So for a non-citizen, when you come to get a license, what you usually need is 1) a valid ID, possibly foreign (they usually ask for 2 different kinds for foreign ones), and some proof of residency - like, say, a utility bill with your name and a local address.

All of this is already the case. I don't know if you've heard, by the way, but deportations are at an all-time high under Obama.

seriously? you didn't know it's to measure bars? Those big nasty bars what shit popes in the woods?

...yet

It's amusing how "papers, please!" was one of the most chilling American stereotypes of the Soviet "evil empire", encapsulating everything that's wrong with it in a few words... and less than three decades later, so many Americans not only see why it's problematic, they actually think it's a solution to some of their problems.

If you're driving, the driver license (and only the driver license - not any other form of ID) is a prerequisite to demonstrate that you have the right to drive.

But you don't have to drive to get around. You can walk, bike, get a bus etc. And none of those require a driver license, or any other form of ID. If you get pulled over on a bike, the officer doesn't have any right to ask you for ID, and you have no obligation to show them one.

Historically, in this country, the social contract has not amounted to "papers, please!". That was supposed to be the kind of thing reserved for commies and fascists, not for the land of the free and the home of the brave. This is also the reason why many people don't actually have a birth certificate etc on hand - because they don't need it, and because the law doesn't require them to.

Also, driver's license does not actually signify either citizenship or legal status. The amount of supporting documentation that is required to issue one varies from state to state, and not all of them ask for an SSN. Of course, even if it did, not everyone has a driver's license - as the name makes evident, it's a document that is issued for a specific reason, and not all people even need it.

In any case, the main question was not about identification, but how exactly you imagine checking for it. So, again: are you proposing to stop random people on the street, going on about their business and not engaging in any criminal activity, and demand to see their papers? If yes, are you going to do this for everyone, or just for those who look Hispanic?

It's not a dodge at all. I'm merely pointing out that Trump's proposals require massive civil rights violations of all ethnic minorities who are collectively suspected of being illegals, in order to determine who of them is actually here illegally. There's no way to decouple these.

how often do home hard drives fail?

They only need to fail once for something you have no copy of...

Also I am pretty sure they fail 100% of the time your laptop is stolen and/or there's a fire in your house that melts your HD. Are you saying houses do not catch on fire? That laptops are never stolen?

Your plan is lunacy. Backups aren't about any one unlikely thing, they are about a world of unlikely possibilities weighed against the loss of many things (even if virtual) that are literally irreplaceable.

does the average user still need "cloud backup"

The "average user" needs those things more because they do not have as deep an understanding of what will and will not be lost if the device breaks or vanishes.

I tried that with an HDHomeRun. I wanted to get some DVR software running on my computer, but couldn't get it to work right.

I did that years back with HDHomerun and MythTv.

I just now switched to OTA again..this time, I priced out the hardware needed and found that the Tivo Roamio OTA unit was only about $399...and it was cheaper to do that for a 4 tuner unit than to buy the HDHomerun units (2 of them) and the computer to run it on.

Look into the Tivo OTA unit...lifetime service for $399.

I got the Tivo minis to stream from main unit to tvs in bedrooms and office..each only about $125 or so.

It works great although setup is a bit clunky for the tivo minis takes a long time for registration on them to take online and have it pushed to main unit.

You have to reboot the main one after it gets the update (up to 24 hours later)....but once it all hooks up, works flawless and great tivo guides and ease of use.

Well, I'll be the first to risk Flamebait mods by saying it: this summary reads as though it was written by someone whose first language was Hindi or something similar.

Nah..Slashdot just finally outsourced their editors...or maybe just imported H-1B workers to do the work.

Seems about the same quality I've seen from most of those type of workers so far in real life.....