Wasn't that the point of the original ARPANET? To route around broken parts of the network?
ARPANET was never about sustaining communication in the event of network failure. That goal belongs to the development of packet switching - a separate government funded project by the RAND corporation at about the same time.
Sorry, I'm too lazy to dig through my e-mail to find my references.
Is saving five seconds such a big deal that I wouldn't spend that five seconds in order to protect my identity?
Upgrades for the sake of the "wow-factor" are stupid.
The credit card companies are not upgrading for the sake the "wow-factor", they are upgrading for the sake of marketing and gaining business. It's just another one of those "make-a-buck" products that are created not because anyone really needs it, but because someone thinks (hopes) it will turn a profit.
Swiffer, Clorox wipes, 40 gallon Ziplock storage bags, 1 ounce bags of chips, disposable toilet brushes - they are all "make-a-buck" products that few people felt a need for before any of them were introduced. I doubt that before these credit cards came out, anyone thought to themselves, "Gee, I wish there was an easier way to use my credit card than swiping it each time." No, it think it was likely an executive at MasterCard who said, "Gee, what can we come up with to make people choose our card over Visa?"
For two years I was out of a steady job, but I NEVER considered extorting an employer.
"But I have kids and a mortgage" justifies it for some people. Would those same people, in the absence of unions, feel that it was okay to rob a bank if they were out of work? Why not? They need the money, right?
Unions served a purpose before we had laws ensuring basic rights for employees. The laws on the books now (in the US) ensure that no one works in a sweatshop. But unions have gone too far, driven by an entitlement mentality that way too many people have: "I want this, I deserve that." Bullshit. If you think working conditions are inhumane, write your senator. If you just want more than you're getting, learn a field where you're not expendable. Then you'll have honest leverage, and won't have to extort your employer for leverage.
Slashdot Mirror
we also all know that no one submitting to /. would ever be sarcastic.
...Google "Pripyat", the name of the city in Ukraine that was abandoned after the Chernobyl disaster (as mentioned in TFA). Pretty cool, actually.
For two years I was out of a steady job, but I NEVER considered extorting an employer.
"But I have kids and a mortgage" justifies it for some people. Would those same people, in the absence of unions, feel that it was okay to rob a bank if they were out of work? Why not? They need the money, right?
Unions served a purpose before we had laws ensuring basic rights for employees. The laws on the books now (in the US) ensure that no one works in a sweatshop. But unions have gone too far, driven by an entitlement mentality that way too many people have: "I want this, I deserve that." Bullshit. If you think working conditions are inhumane, write your senator. If you just want more than you're getting, learn a field where you're not expendable. Then you'll have honest leverage, and won't have to extort your employer for leverage.