In 1967, as a soon to be graduate from a university in what is today called computer science, I applied to the NSA and nothing about that interview was nice. I failed the polygraph on two consecutive days and that's all she wrote. What tripped me up was the question "have you had any homosexual activity." The pen almost went off the graph when I truthfully said, "no."
Where and when I grew up that was about the worst thing that could be said of a young male. On the trip to the interview my magic magnifying mind had wondered about whether sensitivity to a question alone could cause truth to appear to be a lie. Of course the question that popped into my mind which I anticipated was the question on homosexual activity. Well, having thought about it beforehand, sure enough I reacted strongly. It was just as well because the overall interview had shown me that I didn't want to work there anyway but it was still traumatic to be accused of lying and about that in particular at that time.
For a short period of time I questioned my sexuality but can say that in the intervening 51 years there has not been one moment when I considered homosexual behavior. This is not to say anything negative about homosexuality, just how one's fear of responding to a question can cause one to respond negatively even with a truthful answer.
Times were different then and my attitude was too. I doubt I'd fear the question today given that my accepting attitude toward homosexuality in general has been normalized.
Actually I did think of the desirability of exactly this somewhere around 1984 or thereabouts. It didn't go further than a wish though because the only access to the Unix system that I'd installed for use by the group I managed was via dumb terminals and the DIY arena was nowhere near as rich as it is now. Especially in a building in a corn field somewhere between Rockford, IL and Belvidere, IL:-)
If wishes were fishes we'd all swim in riches. Really nice job moving beyond that!
The argument I made stems from a spiritual, non-dualistic perspective. While reading the blog post and writing the comment, I was thinking about how I think a lot about what is capital-t true. I usually find then if I would like to move towards what is capital-t true, dis-identifying and dropping labels is the start, individually and worldly. It's a lot like the pursuit of certainty by Descartes: What he did was lay everything down that he has known and throw away all which wasn’t certain, which later translated into: “Cogito ergo sum.” In similar form, I think ought to do the same: dis-identify with things, not have a reactive like or dislike with life, not mentally label every experience, etc. In other words, having labels and identifying with things is the opposite way towards where I would like to go, since that, I think, gets away from the core of what is capital-t true. If any of things I said above makes any sense.
Ultimately, I'm sorry, I should have gone into detail why I think my argument is the case. I'm also afraid I don't have a scientific study, it's really just what I have come to know at the moment, though I'm certain what I know at the moment will change, plus I do love counter-arguments since that's where we get somewhere really worth noting. I also should have not used the word 'dumber', but another, more compassionate word, I think.
One thing I think we can count on is that now that there has been a retreat we will never hear another word about this from FBI or NSA. And probably from Apple.
I ceased killing invasive ants with borax, a substance taken back to the hive to destroy it, when during one such defense I saw them divert from the track I was poisoning to attack newly hatched termites that were emerging from under an appliance. They were incredibly effective. They also raid termite colonies and carry away the eggs. I switched to a lemon oil based repellent applied locally as needed.
At least here in Hawaii, predation by ants apparently is not effective at preventing termite infestations. They eat them, yeah, but they don't actually significantly affect the nests, according to what I've heard at least.
I'd bet it depends on the kind of ant and the kind of termite. I'm in Northern Ca and haven't seen trace of a termite since I stopped killing the ant colonies.
There is no question in my mind but that Don Herbert propelled me into engineering. My fascination with the show started in 1951 when I was 7 and came to an end with my entrance into E.E. at the University of Illinois in 1962 strictly because there was no way my fraternity brothers in the TV room would stand for it.
I loved my career and have Don to thank for it. I'll bet there are a whole lot of us who owe our careers to his wonderful influence.
As could be expected this has poked a hornets nest of opposition because of its implications regarding backward compatibility of extensions we use. Many of us are hoping for a fork based on the current release that will continue to evolve and be maintained and which values backward compatibility first and foremost.
Users can snapshot the current 40.0 release by copying the installation directory and creating a cloned profile for it with updates disabled. Personally I find the 42.0a2 development channel release to be backwards compatible with all extensions and to have superior memory management.
Are you hoping for a fork more than you're hoping for all your extensions to be ported (or reimplemented by different people) on the new model? I bet this is super frustrating for established extension authors, but as a user, I bet there are enough users that the demand will be there for all the common extensions.
Anyway, if you're staying on an old release, please use Firefox 38 ESR (or switch to the ESR at Firefox 45, on the assumption that this change won't be complete by March). Sticking with Firefox 40 and disabling security updates seems like a terrible terrible idea.
Where and when I grew up that was about the worst thing that could be said of a young male. On the trip to the interview my magic magnifying mind had wondered about whether sensitivity to a question alone could cause truth to appear to be a lie. Of course the question that popped into my mind which I anticipated was the question on homosexual activity. Well, having thought about it beforehand, sure enough I reacted strongly. It was just as well because the overall interview had shown me that I didn't want to work there anyway but it was still traumatic to be accused of lying and about that in particular at that time.
For a short period of time I questioned my sexuality but can say that in the intervening 51 years there has not been one moment when I considered homosexual behavior. This is not to say anything negative about homosexuality, just how one's fear of responding to a question can cause one to respond negatively even with a truthful answer.
Times were different then and my attitude was too. I doubt I'd fear the question today given that my accepting attitude toward homosexuality in general has been normalized.