I *so* remember that message. kremvax!chernenko Maybe the first piece of spam ever. Certainly the first one to get such wide-spread circulation. I remember a bunch of us geeks sitting around and figuring out how it had been done. Hard to believe it has been 30 years. ....

Wasn't this meant to be a thread about the web site technical issues?

3 seconds is wrong. But there was an observation made in the late '70s, when sub-second response time was hard to get (but also when a lot of editing was done locally by the local 3270 terminal - so many trivial interactions, like character editing, really were zero response time) that people would get used to sub-half second response time and then the bar would be raised. Maintaining sub-half-second response time was very hard in a cyclical environment, like a university. Between assignments it was easy - the day before the assignment due date, it was just not possible. The comment was made that predictable response times were a better human factors choice than unpredictable ones. The suggestion was made that there be a minimum response time, settable by some kind of configuration parameter, to better ensure predictability. I don't believe it was ever a hard wired fixed time, such as the poster suggests. And I believe it was an option you could turn on or off.

Also homosexuals.

On the contrary. It says (I think quite clearly): Deletion When you delete an account, it is permanently deleted from Facebook. It typically takes about one month to delete an account, but some information may remain in backup copies and logs for up to 90 days. You should only delete your account if you are sure you never want to reactivate it. You can delete your account at: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact.php?show_form=delete_account

What's really interesting to me about this concept, assuming they get the computer stuff right, is then what does this do to commuting and living patterns. Do all the cars which communicated and found out they were all getting off the highway at the same exit hitch together and form a train, thereby reducing distance between them to much less than normal (human reaction) stopping distance? Do they hitch together mechanically or merely electronically? How much does this reduce accidents? How much does this increase highway throughput? Does this change the tradeoffs between highways and arterial roads? What about urban roads like ring roads or beltways? Do we have wind effects that increase the efficiency of cars in a "train" ? Has anyone simulated any of this stuff?

All sorts of appliances are Linux based (many routers, network printer boxes, etc) and no one either knows or cares.