Not even sure the exact age, but quite early on. I used to play a lot with the Lorentz equations, seeing how much my mass would increase the closer I got to the speed of light, or how thin I would appear, etc. It was great fun. And I've explained Relativity to my own kids at younger ages. Maybe I didn't get into the math behind it as much, but, you know, many feed their kids all of these fantastic fairy tales, when actual reality itself can and is more bizarre than any fairy tale -- and actually is reality, after all.

Because the looser of a lawsuit must pay the legal fees of the winner. And Google's lawyers are not cheap. Ouch.

Beware of Microsoft.

Any popular form of centralized password repo will become a magnet for being cracked. Better is to have something decentralized and directly under your control. Maybe something you can wear on your wrist or around your neck, and can interface with your devices via some sort of secure low-power BlueTooth connection.

If you want to implement such a beast, feel free to do so. Count it as "Open Source IP". :p I personally use longish passwords that might be difficult for most people to remember, and wish most places that accept passwords would allow for more flexibility. Someone already mentioned that a lot of sites hamper the password's max size and require a mix of different type of characters. And there is no consistent rule between sites on this, either. Probably the best approach would be to rely on multi-factor authentication. And if it's good enough for a gaming site like Steam, it should be good enough for everyone.

Who the hell needs a "tuner" in this Internet-driven streaming video age? We're using the Amazon Fire Stick plugged into a USB port on our big-screen HDTV. No "cable" service. Who needs it? Why pay for it? Mostly crap anyway.

You can stream to all of your devices, anyway. I sometimes prop-up the iPad next to my bed to watch a show before going to sleep. Or maybe watch a thing or two on my desktop before buckling down to software development. I'm actually surprised anyone would bother having a "TV" at all these days.

They never tell you the details in the media sources for the masses. Also, there were no references presented in this story to something more definitive. Right out of the bat I was concerned about whether or not this is based on nanotechnology, because we already have super-slick surfaces there. Not sure if I want to eat nanotech.

Even if that's true, who cares? Like Facebook is your only choice of a place to work. I am finding all these complaints about "age discrimination" a bit silly. Funny thing is, I am over 50, and demands for me is stronger than it has ever been. Back when I was in my 30s, it would take me 2-4 weeks to find the next job. Now? I can land a new job in a week or less. I kid you not. Once my CV goes up on Monster, my phone rings off the hook the following day and I must take it back down to save my sanity.

So if there's age discrimination out there at all, I am not seeing it. And most of the people I work with on a daily basis didn't even exist when I got started!!!! They were still teens or in their diapers when I was making a killing at Cisco Systems back in the 90s. And I am well respected. A father figure, even.

So if Facebook is engaging in age discrimination, let them. Move on.

I lived in the US for the past 50 years, then came to Germany. In the US, I found the whole "Affirmative Action" bit quite annoying. Even though my skin happens to be brown, I am fully capable of what I do and don't need any sort of "protection" being in a "protected class". How condescending.

And there were a number of times in the US where I experienced what I can only call, "reverse-reverse discrimination". That is, those treating me differently for the sole reason they feared I might "play the race card", which I would never do in a million years. They would walk on egg shells around me, or distort the facts, etc.

I even had to endure the humiliation of the government doing a "race audit" at one firm I was at. I was pulled aside and asked very awkward questions. I didn't know what was going on at the time and nearly walked that very day. I will NOT be hired because of my dermal chromatics. I will NOT be chosen because of my "race". I want to be considered SOLELY on my MERITS and past ACCOMPLISHMENTS. Period, end of sentence. If anyone is better than me for the job, by all means take him. As I would when I am looking to hire. I pay no attention to gender nor dermal chromatics nor any other bullshit. I look to see if the person can do the job and work well with the team. That's it. The rest walks. And I don't expect to be treated any differently.

Affirmative Action, thank goodness, is NOT an issue in Deutschland. Here, they hire solely on merit. My fellow germans can be quite thorough in their background checks, too. They don't use some stupid service like many American firms do, and typically don't even check references, either. Nope. They check YOU out directly.

I am proud of my GitHub account and my participation in Open Source. Anyone can go look at my code, download it, run it, and see what I'm capable of. And there is nothing stopping others from doing the same.

The Internet does not care if you are pink, green, or blue. It does not care whether you are male, female, transgendered, or otherwise. It does not care if you look like a Hollywood star or something that came from the bottomless pit. You have the knowledge? You have the skills? You have the passion? Then Just Do It already and the world can see what you are.

I see no value in lumping individuals into groups. Yes, there will be various differences in distribution in any arbitrary grouping for any number of reasons, but what really matters is the Individual.

As long as the Individual is free to take action, that's all that is needed. The rest is up to the Individual.

Women, in general, are good at language and its use to appeal emotionally. Explain to me how that translates, say, in writing system code in C++, or an algorithm in Java or Ruby or Python? I am all ears.

Being "better" at spoken languages does not necessarily translate to being "better" at writing code, which requires logical thinking, mathematical ability, and being able to visualize and analyze problems, abstract reasoning, etc.


So much for woolly-headed liberal thinking.

I have seen this attempt time and again over the decades, and they never seem to gain traction. Why not? Simple. It's all about the passion, and especially in today's world of the Internet, with endless resources available online for free at every level to for anyone even mildly curious about software development.
If you are interested, you already would've Googled and checked it out. Many sites allow you to write code in your browser in just about every major language out there. Development platforms can be setup and downloaded for free to any computer. Etc., etc. So what will FB do that will enhance what's already there? I think they will get maybe a handful interested, but you will not see the "sea change" they seek. You either have the knack or you do not, and no amount of flag-waving will change that much. "Women" and "Minorities". I don't see the point in targeting specific demographics like that. It's very condescending.

I'm over 50, and my phone rings off the hook with recruiters falling over themselves to plug me into a new job. These days, it only takes a week or less to find new work in the software arena. If there is age discrimination anywhere, I am scratching my head why I am not seeing it.

I have no problem with that. Not that I like FacistBook, but they all do it this way. But while many are beating up FB for paying next to no taxes in GB, they ignore the aspect that FB has created many jobs there. Is this not good enough in its own right???? Or am I missing something here?