The 4.6 kernel series is already end of life, 4.7 is only marked stable, and 4.8 hasn't yet been released.. Currently Linux Kernel 4.4 is the latest longterm Linux kernel and is projected to be supported until Feb. 2018. With the exception of kernel 3.2, support will end for the other Linux longterm kernels either this year or next year.

If you are creating a long term support release of a Linux distro, it makes sense to choose a longterm support kernel over either an EOL kernel release or an unreleased kernel (which likely bring its own set of issues). If the distro did choose to kernel without long term support, they would be on the hook for back porting critical patches into the kernel. Since they did choose a long term kernel release, they can focus on what sets Mint apart, maintaining their Cinnamon interface, rather than maintaining a custom kernel release.

On a related note, Alpine Linux and Slackware Linux also chose the 4.4 kernel.

Looking at the math, if a McDonalds location is making fries from 11:00 am until 10:00 pm daily, a $15/hour wage would be about $1,155 per week or about $54,750 per year. Using your argument that a single employee is not dedicated to making only fries at a single location, lets say only about 1/3 of a man-hour per business hour, that still is about $18,250 per year in wages for making and bagging fries. However with the same assumptions at $8/hour is only $9,7333 per year in wages for making and bagging fries.

So a $15/hour wage alone would pay for a $35,000 robot in 2 years and an $8/hour wage would do the same in 3.6 years.

If you increase the business day to 14 hours (11am - 1:00am), the numbers become:
$15/hour wage @ 14 hour days = $25,550/year to make fries or 1.4 years to pay for a $35k robot
$8/hour wage @ 14 hour days = $13,626/year to make fries or 2.6 years to pay for a $35k robot

Keep in mind that the above figures do not cover the costs in addition to wages for hiring employee such as unemployment insurance and other benefits.

It is not my job to explain the binding force of treaties on US law, however I'll do it anyway so you'll see that treaties may be be as cut and dry in the US as they are in Canada. As a side note, I would be surprised if your diplomats did not understand the binding force of different treaties with the US on US law.

Although under international law, a US Treaty, a US congressional-executive agreement, and a sole-executive agreement are all the same, within the United States they have significant legal differences.

A constitutional treaty is capable of extending beyond the term of the president which negotiated the treaty and the senators who ratified it. A constitutional treaty also has the ability to legislate in areas which are constitutionally within the sole authority of the individual states. A constitutional treaty is relatively rare in the United States.

A congressional-executive agreement only requires a simple majority of congress and the agreement of the president. These agreements are the same as any other legislation passed by congress and are likewise limited in scope to the authority vested in both the legislative and executive branches of the government.

A sole-executive agreement is entirely within the president's discretion. However this agreement is limited in power to only the authority vested in the president and cannot extend beyond the president's term in office without the authorization of the president's successor.

In summary, a constitutional treaty can ban capital punishment on foreign nationals tried within the states even though Congress does not have the power to outright ban capital punishment. A congressional-executive agreement can impose tariffs and other taxes upon imported good since taxation is within the authority of congress, however a congressional-executive agreement cannot ban capital punishment. An sole-executive agreement can lift sanctions the president enforces (he controls the military), but he cannot impose tariffs, taxes, or guarantee monetary compensation since these authorities belong to Congress and not the president. Additionally, the president cannot make an agreement which violates US law.

Since I've taken the time to explain how treaties affect US law, maybe you can throw us a bone and tell us the name of this supposed treaty which grants Canadians within US borders exemptions from the DMCA.

The tape in an 8-track cartridge would never hold enough weight to hang them properly.

I say we spread them across eight tracks and use a Train (TM) as a Milling Machine (TM) to make Meat Loaf (TM) out of them, then cover them with Beattles (TM) that will eat the evidence so the Police (TM) can't put us on Deathrow (TM).

The point of the judicial system is not to exact revenge, but to protect society. I stand with the teachings (CCC 2267) of the Catholic Church on this issue.

The law mentioned in the video is the Gun Control Act of 1968 which was a passed in 1968. 1968 was in the 20th century, not the 18th century. More to your argument, it was passed 34 years after the Communications Act of 1934, not 150+ years before the Communications Act of 1934.

1968 was in the 20th century or the nineteen hundreds.

1768 was in the 18th century or the seventeen hundreds.

BTW, for those not familiar and who have not yet googled it, according to Wikipedia, Wayland aims to be a replacement for the X Window System.

<rant>

For those of us who have not heard of Wayland, the following is how the summary reads:

So what does Some Software actually do and why should I be interested? I know that I can Google Some Software, but is it really that hard to start with the summary with the following:

After all, phrases such as "As Wayland is maturing", imply that this is a relatively new piece of software still under development of which everyone is not familiar, especially for those of us using BSDs, Solaris, and Slackware.

</rant>

Hmm, Windows XP is over 13 years old and has been end of support for 5 years, and still released a security patch 7 months ago.

Android 4.3 was released 2 years ago. So the EOS was when? A few months after it was released?

Not that Windows XP and Android are great comparisons, but your jab does not exactly help Google's case. A better example would have been Apple iPhone 1 vs Android 4.3, but even Apple supported the first iPhone for 3 years before ending support.

The majority in the House of Representatives is Republican, however the organization called Majority House PAC is Democrat. From the Majority House PAC website:

I should have worded that a little better. I meant that Slackware is an alternative to Debian (since the submitter was asking for options other than Debian). I personally and professionally use Slackware with a little FreeBSD.

Slackware is an alternative mainstream Linux distribution which does not use systemd. Instead of systemd, it uses a combination of custom rc scripts and sysvinit. If Slackware ever adopts systemd as the default system init, they would likely lose most of their user base.

Unless, you live in a cold climate such as Fairbanks, Alaska during the the middle of winter and you stop at a shopping center which does not have electrical outlets for the block heater thus allowing your engine to cool to a nice refreshing -20 F. It does sometimes take a few extra cranks to get a gasoline engine to start, even if it is tuned and in working order.

Although the blog mentions, trademark , I bet the multi-meters were actually infringing upon trade dress of Fluke's multimeters. Trade mark reserves a specific logo/phrase/design. Trade dress protects the look and feel of the product. I learned a great deal about this distinction from Mattel when I created a Magic Eight Ball app for iOS when the iTunes app store first opened.

And number of techie types that actually manage consumer grade routers for businesses, I would guess, is an extremely small cross section of techie types. Most businesses that actually employ a technician probably use at least something along the lines of a Juniper SRX as the public router. The point still stands, that automatic firewall updates is a good idea for the vast majority of consumers and techie types (just not in their professional arena). I must confess, that I have been using the Apple base stations for nearly a decade for home use. My business uses a Slackware Linux router, and Junipers for our clients.