Yes, yes it did. I've tried giving basic points before and allowed people to follow the them to the logical conclusions on their own. Unfortunately, I've found they subconsciously either stop thinking about it or refuse to continue when they realize they're looking from a viewpoint they simply don't agree with. Therefore, I have to not only give them the map but be their guide as well.

Then there are those who claim they welcome a debate, but adamantly refuse to acknowledge even the possibility that they're wrong no matter how many facts you present them with.

Eventually you get tired of hearing the same arguments and the same opinions you've already argued against and debunked, so you simply stop debating. At that point, you're considered closed-minded.

I have mod points, but I'd rather simply explain this...

Warren Buffet has actually made this exact analogy before (I believe when he and Bill Gates did a joint Q/A session). He acknowledges that he has no skills that would be of any use if he were on a deserted island. He's even joked that he'd be eaten in a couple of days if he were born while humans were still hunter-gatherers.

What many fail to understand is that there are positions in society. I'm not talking about peasant versus king positions. I'm talking about people who are particularly skilled in a certain area and they can take advantage of those skills to make a living for themselves and/or make others' lives easier. Farmers are necessary, soldiers are necessary, teachers are necessary, and investors are necessary (note, I'm using the term investor as define by Benjamin Graham), etc...

Why is manual labor considered morally superior to allocating one's money where it would do the most good? Why are those who pour hundreds or thousands of dollars into construction companies, mining companies, or wood/metalworking companies demonized for allowing companies in those sectors to expand their business, hire more people, and offer their product in larger markets?

Did the rich build this country? Of course not. However, without the rich, no-one else could afford to.

I would bet that the people who criticize the rich for having money are the same people who criticize those who finance expensive houses, a Mercedes-Benz, and Prada bags with debt for being irresponsible with their money.

Is being poor supposed to be the only moral way to live?

Sorry I wasn't clear, but that was sarcasm. I did not however, know about this, so thank you for educating me. :)

As I said to the other person. I never used the word intuitive. I described them as logical.

So did you open up a terminal and start typing in random commands hoping you were giving the right one?

I am used to it, and given a basic definition of random, these commands are not. I will concede they're not always intuitive but they're not nearly as far-fetched as the op was attempting to convey.

How the hell is mnt a random abbreviation for mount? Seems very logical to me. ls as the command to list files in a directory? I wonder where those letters came from.

Good thing, too. Rooting around trying to do something when you don't know what you're doing is a really bad idea, anyway.

Sounds like you know a bit about how Linux works. It also sounds like you're bitter about learning.

More work? There are gui's for almost any admin tool.
More knowledge? God forbid you know how to do your job.

Disclaimer: I'm not a programmer. This post is speculation.

There's also the issue of resources. I think most programmers, nowadays, don't optimize code for minimal resource usage. Virus writers are most likely no different, and thus, probably aren't accustomed to coding for platforms with as few resources as cellphone and other handheld devices. There have been a couple stories on /. about vulnerabilities (buffer-overflows, mostly) in different software that could potentially be dangerous, but are difficult/impossible to exploit due to not enough memory.

Actually, GNU Image Manipulation Program is quite an apt name.

Tools like this, while helpful, should never have been necessary. If MS, owner of the dominant browser, wasn't among the poorest in W3C compatibility, stuff like this wouldn't be needed. Web pages should render the same in any browser, on any OS. The only difference should be in resolution.

Well, that's fun, but I enjoy even more when I can drive away the lazy devs who can't be bothered to write valid code. MS doesn't help the matter by allowing it.

Actually, I'm a purely Linux user (Debian) and had to call Comcast to switch to the modem I had purchased. The problem was their end and the rep on the other end was amused and asked me what kind of programs I run after I mentioned that I used an XP vm to get it running in the first place. He sounded like he actually knew something and was surprised that I sounded like it as well.

Except the article stated that IR cameras showed that part of the tank never dropped below 60 and the bat never dropped below 70.

Except being a monopoly isn't a crime. Abusing the position is...and no, it doesn't mean you're no longer doing it...it just means you need to be more careful...

They do if you don't have a generator to power the base. Unless you have one of the much older phones that don't plug into an electrical outlet. (The only one I've ever seen is my mother's and she keeps it for this exact reason.)