This is funny because this is the standard Erlang philosophy. The question becomes: Are you positive about the state that brought you to the exception and can you recover or should you log and alert and exit from that function? Are you really suggesting to preemptively insert sweeping exception handlers that allow errors in code paths to be ignored and move on? If something is so non-critical then it probably shouldn't be there. OS releases are a frequent cause of version updates anyway. Exception handlers tend to contain the least tested sections of code and I'm seen too many that swallowed errors and hid the problem for long periods of time before being discovered. I'd rather see a crash unless there is an obvious way out with a known state.

Survival is its own morality. My son has asthma and Beijing's air might have killed him as a child. The quick math of how many people are damaged or dying compared to the number of elites violating air quality standards makes applying penalties - especially for egregious cases - easy. What's going on in Beijing on a bad day goes beyond pollution - it is willful murder and the government should respond accordingly. The owners are probably part of the CCP, so ... they've already had plenty of experience with how the government is run and they should have known better. Most are probably well-off and can flee the country if they know they're going to be targeted.

Although I visited China frequently, I'm still just a tourist, so I've had no negative contacts with anyone and I've felt more at home there than many places in America. Like any American, I hope that the good parts of our culture will eventually bleed over into their equivalent Chinese realities. It's also possible that the collective weight of more than a billion people communicating with each other and the rest of the world created a new reality already and hopefully that progress will continue to evolve China at a pace that doesn't produce panic and bloodshed. China almost becomes a new country every ten years - hopefully they never go backwards. Also, I'm puzzled by the moral perspective comment. Cleaner air is cleaner air. The reason why it's cleaner won't matter to the people that can breathe again - as long as the path to cleaning the air is taken.

The funny thing about China is that when they want to solve the right problem they can do so effectively. I was in Tianjin during National Day Golden Week when much of China was shut down and the sky was nearly perfect and it seemed everyone was outside enjoying the week. If they solve this problem like their mass transit problems they'll be fine (granted, the taxis will probably have to be electric at some point). Their leaders have to breathe the same air (usually), so I'm amazed this wasn't done years ago.

I've had two Minis as my mainstay desktop computers in the last ten years. The first one was powerful enough to use to complete my master's in computer science since most of the intense computation was done by remote machines. No one seems to just state the top reasons to have a mac mini: 1) it's good enough for most things and it just works; 2) it's quiet!; 3) it's out of the way and looks cool. It's that simple. I have to admit that over time I would have moved over to a machine that hosted Linux or FreeBSD as quietly with a system that just worked, but I'm not sure the software or hardware, or the combination, exists. Also, my music is in iTunes at the moment.

While it may feel like the right thing to do is to admit guilt and take whatever punishment is given, it is much better to continuously say nothing and make the people of the legal system work when they destroy your life - hopefully with a good lawyer if you're the kind that can afford your rights. There are not usually any good outcomes of "manning up" and taking responsibility when you just make it easy for people with political motives to hammer your life to dust. One of my biggest regrets in life is not having representation at least twice in my life because I thought the outcome would be better if I handled things on my own - or just stayed quiet. Big mistakes. He should get a lawyer before he lands and should expect to be isolated for months upon arrival. The real terrorists are the people who bought Congress.

No kidding. I'm sure I knew quite a few people of all types in SF, but never had someone from the other side confuse me for someone on their side - unlike other places I've lived. Strangely the only person that thought or at least implied I was gay was some homeless looking asshole probably just trying to start a fight.

Actually - all you have to do is be an atheist in certain parts of this country before they will drive you mad: the cops and ambulances seem to pop out of nowhere. Also, if you have the temerity to leave a politically sensitive job you are also screwed.