e.g.
(o) Yes
(o) No
(o) My CowboyNealCoin will outperform it

Nullable boolean ftw!

Perhaps omitted because Slack is not best known as a conferencing tool? That said, since my employer has Slack, it's extremely handy for a quick video call with screen sharing when a text thread gets bogged down. +1 for Slack.

>Do you believe rehabilitation is impossible or do you want revenge?

I don't believe that someone who commits mass murder can be rehabilitated, no. It isn't about revenge; it's about public safety.

Someone once pointed out that hoping a rapist gets raped in prison isn't a victory for his victim(s), because it somehow gives him what he had coming to him, but it's actually a victory for rape and violence. I wish I could remember who said that, because they are right. The score doesn't go Rapist: 1 World: 1. It goes Rape: 2.

What this man did is unspeakable, and he absolutely deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison. If he needs to be kept away from other prisoners as a safety issue, there are ways to do that without keeping him in solitary confinement, which has been shown conclusively to be profoundly cruel and harmful.

Putting him in solitary confinement, as a punitive measure, is not a victory for the good people in the world. It's a victory for inhumane treatment of human beings. This ruling is, in my opinion, very good and very strong for human rights, *precisely* because it was brought by such a despicable and horrible person. It affirms that all of us have basic human rights, even the absolute worst of us on this planet.

This is precisely why I lost all interest in Oculus the instant I heard that it had been acquired by Facebook.

I agree with the less-cynical-sounding commenters: math is important in CS not just because of the history of the field, or because it shows your willingness to work hard, or because maybe one day you'll code in a domain that requires tensor analysis or what-have-you.

It's important because when you "grok" it, your mind is different than before you grokked. Garridan's comment (http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3805139&cid=43874611) is right on: you'll "sharpen your skills in symbolic manipulation". Pushups and bicep curls and stretching aren't sports: athletes do those things to condition their bodies for the real sports where nary a pushup is involved.

Maybe the marketplace for the kind of job you want demands a CompSci degree in these tough years, but I know many developers from a few years back who don't have one. Question yourself: would you be better off getting certifications plus a 2-year diploma and a 2-year headstart in the job market rather than a 4-year degree? You might do just fine with job-oriented training on top of your aptitude and some experience.

"Siri, find examples of a non-visual human-computer interface."

Astronomical new year -- I like the vernal equinox. Happy rockin' Nowruz, my Zoroastrian pals!

Hear, hear!

The Loonie is still just above the US dollar as I write this. Plus, I live here so it's the easy choice... carry a (very small) poke full of gold to the bank 2x a month? Shop with it?

This is good advice, and gives me an opportunity to speak to the community at large: some of us who go to cons and are in a position to shake tons of hands politely decline. It's not because we're being dicks, it's because we know it's a good way to substantially decrease our chances of catching and spreading any germs.

I played the PAX Pandemic game, where the Enforcers handed out stickers to attendees that read [Carrier] [Infected] or [Immune] (There was also a [Patient Zero].

I got the [Immune] sticker, and by the time I got home on Monday, it was clear that I had the flu. I've had a fever between 100 and 104 all week that finally broke last night, but I'm going to the doctor today because I think whatever I had settled into my lungs. I'll tell him about the H1N1 outbreak and get tested if he wants to run the test, but at this point I think it's safe to assume that I was [Immune] to the Pig Plague, but definitely [Infected] with the damn PAX pox.

Even though it's been a week of misery, it was entirely worth it, and I don't regret going to PAX for a single second.