I have a streaming Netflix account, and I get the two DVDs at a time disc-in-the-mail service. The streaming is good for TV series and specialty Netflix material, but the range of films available for streaming is tiny compared to what's available on disc. Foreign films, documentaries, obscure films, so much stuff not available to stream. Probably licensing issues. So I do both.

There are pockets where old developers still hang on.

I'm early 60s. I'm still fully employed, still programming. I have resisted all offers of management positions, and they stopped coming around 55. I'm thinking of retiring in 3 years. The guy in the office next to me is 70. He might retire next year. The guy in the office on my other side is late 50s. He might retire in about 5 years. I've been in the same company for 20 years. Kind of telco. The work is still interesting, mostly Python and Java. I am training my replacement, but the best way of easing a replacement in is rewriting all the old C stuff into Python and modernising it. Once I am done with that, it will be time for me to go.

I get DVDs from Netflix, and I stream. The list of DVDs is much larger than the list of streamables. If I want old classics, like Criterion series, then DVDs is what I have to get.

If the advertising groups are complaining about this already, it is probably going to be very effective, so I am all for Apple and every other browser maker going ahead with it. Fuck them.

I have them. I have studied small parts of some of them. I have been delving into them over 30 years.

For day to day programming, I do not need or use the detail in those books.

At various times in the past, I have delved into library writing, and then they were very helpful, mostly in understanding issues and problems that I had not thought about. But I think time has moved on. Hardly anyone needs the details in those books, and in many cases, some classes of problems are well solved.

Looking back, I am glad that I studied some parts. But today I would not recommend them. Unless you really wanted to look back at history.

Isn't Eric Raymond in the middle of a major rewrite of the NTP software, with emphasis on security?

I used to read many books when younger. Maybe four or five a week. Earlier this year, I realised that I was down to three or four books a year. I also had trouble reading longer articles. My years of web browsing and skimming had retrained my brain to only look at small amounts of text before moving on. I did not like this. So I started a programme in my life. If I came across a longer article on the web, I forced myself to read it in full. Man, that was hard at first. I had to force myself to complete this many times, until it became a habit. It also made me realise that not all long articles were crap.

Then I turned to books. I started reading again. Start with smaller fun books, and persevere till they were done. Note them, write small book reports for myself, and keep going. Almost one year later, I am reading a book a week. I will continue this and hope to increase back to two books a week.

Self-discipline is what did it for me. I am sure that there are many other ways of approaching this and changing your own behaviour.

I made a smooth and easy transition from Google Reader to Feedly, and that worked well. It's a very efficient way of getting through my news and blogs. Then I discovered that ownCloud (http://owncloud.org) has a built in RSS feeder. I use ownCloud on my Linode to provide a Dropbox like environment, plus my own Calendar and Contacts for my iPhone and iPad, plus bookmarks. I am currently working on replacing Evernote with ownCloud.

I already had a cloud installation with Linode, and I just added ownCloud to it. Then I started discovering all the extra stuff it can do. The RSS Feeder was a wonderful discovery. I lose the economy of scale that Feedly provides, but it works more closely to my mental model, and some of the formatting is nicer than Feedly. I've been using it for several months now, and totally love it. It's not for everyone, given the requirements (you have to set up your own webserver, then set up the ownCloud services), but the benefits are enormous. And I get a little more privacy, just me and Linode and the NSA.

Me too. I tried switching to XFCE again recently, but went back to FVWM after a day. I have too much configuration and automation built in to FVWM and it works neatly and quickly and I get my work done better. Looks like I'm stuck with it for another ten years of productive work.

I use the command line in Linux and Mac all the time for almost all my work. I browse with the GUI parts but everything else, including CD and DVD ripping is done on the command line. It's far more efficient FOR ME. It's where I prefer to work.

They go for it because of the convenience. You might have other options open to you, but regular folks just want to click a few buttons and have the book on the device and ready to read. They don't care about DRM or patents or rights or morality. They just want the book there, and they don't want to have to think about it, or go to any extra effort to satisfy someone else's views on right or wrong.

Statistically, your attitude that 5,000 jumps compared to 500 jumps is the same as heads or tails after 5,000 or 500 tosses, is quite correct. But it doesn't take into account the human factor involved in skydiving. The skydiver who has done 5,000 jumps might have become cocky, complacent, careless, and is therefore long overdue for an accident. Statistics are fine in big picture, but the human element can trump statistics.

I've bought two of the Unicomp keyboards and I appreciate them mightily. I got one for work and one for home. They are noisier than the plastic kiddie-keyboards but they make up for the noise by being superb keyboards. My accuracy and speed increased, my physical effort decreased, and my hands and wrists appreciate the key action.

And at a pinch, I can pick these massive keyboards up and use them as a deadly weapon.

Didn't they just announce the presence of mercury in High Fructose Corn Syrup, which is in almost every processed food and drink today?