timepilot

I'm guessing he isn't a big Steve Jobs fan.

Completely agree!!

Fantastic progress - keep it up and thanks for sharing! I'm looking forward to buying one of your future games on the app store.

App was slang for Application long before there was an iPhone.

Front Page is horrible!

For those of you in favor of a zero inbox, I have a couple of follow-up questions.

(1) are you archiving? (2) if not, how do you search for old emails?

I have 10,000+ emails in my inbox and I get the same benefit from them all being marked read. I also can search for back emails which you cannot (unless you have archived them).

Edit: Occurred to me you may have meant the same thing (if this is the case, pls ignore my post). I'm pretty sure the OP refers to empty inboxes (all messages deleted, not just marked read).

pure awesomeness! :)

great story, thx for sharing

you would be correct! :)

"All I can do is point to the zero deaths since 2001 caused by passengers smuggling dangerous objects onto planes." - As I noted above, we have recently had a few close calls. It appears the terrorists are adapting. Personally, I'd rather we try to stay ahead of them than wait for your sentence to change to "well we had zero deaths until 2011 when ..."

"Flying is far safer than many other common activities whose risks we gladly accept, and that would remain true even if terrorists blew up a fully loaded 747 every year." - I have used this argument myself (yes I have argued your side as well). However, it does not capture the broader impact - economy etc (this may be why they continue to target planes). Frankly, I think the terrorists could accomplish their goals in many other far easier to accomplish ways but I wont help them here.

I understand your view. I just don't share it. You attacked mine by saying the scanners added zero value. I forwarded a link that while critical of the scanners also noted they were as "effective as a pat down". Unless you think pat downs add zero security, then we are back to security vs personal privacy.

"It's not a goal to try to prevent someone from doing this again. That's simply not possible. The goal is to make its success as unlikely as possible without causing too great a burden." - agreed

"Groping and virtual strip searches go too far in my opinion." - Understood. Personally, I'm ok with the virtual strip search. If the physical search is a "professionally executed" pat down, I'm also ok with it. My wife and I fly multiple times/month and so far this has been our experience. If the search turned into "groping", I would have a different view.

"Zero people have died in the U.S. from terrorism on airplanes since 9/11. It's extremely unlikely that a terrorist will blow up a plane with the security measures that were in place 1 year ago." - We just had a few close calls. The terrorists appear to be adapting.

"The next place to hide explosives are vaginas and anal regions. Do you think those should be probed as well? If a terrorist blows himself up at a TSA checkpoint should we have a checkpoint in order to get to the checkpoint?" - This is indeed the rub. Where do you "draw the line?" - is always the issue when discussing giving up/forcing people to give up personal liberties for the good of others. Nevertheless, we do it all the time. For me the scanners/searches have not crossed the line. For you, they have.

The good and the bad:

“While officials said [the scanners] performed as well as physical pat downs in operational tests, it remains unclear whether the AIT would have detected the weapon used in the December 2009 incident,” the Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress’s audit arm, said Wednesday in written testimony to the House Homeland Security Committee.

http://homelandsecuritynewswire.com/gao-raises-questions-abo...

I am well aware the scanners are flawed. However, I have not seen a study that shows the added benefit is "indistinguishable from zero." Please provide links, I may agree with you.

Actually, I think your reasoning is well "reasonable". :)

I also agree with you that the hijack/missile scenario seems unlikely at this point (existing safety precautions seem appropriate).

I remain surprised (but happy) that terrorists have not gone after softer targets (malls, etc). For some reason, they remain very focused on airplanes (maybe the shock and awe effect). As a result, taking steps to make air travel as safe as possible seems reasonable.

Now - how we do that is an open question. We have already had an underwear bombing attempt. How do we prevent this from being attempted again? The only solution I have seen is the current scanners and sadly the "pat down". If there is a better one, lets deploy it. If not, then it seems the argument is personal privacy > the lives of the unfortunate passengers aboard the plane that explodes when the terrorists are successful. No?

If the underwear bomber had been successful, would you have a different view?

@orangecat: If you are suggesting I'm talking a health risk, fair enough. If you are suggesting the added security from the scanners is minimal, also fair enough. If you are trolling, you know what you can do.

Not sure you are correct - I'm in the 2/3. I have been scanned several times and I'm fine with it. For me: safety > personal privacy.

Several teachers in my family - none of them would agree with you.

irssi or weechat - both are excellent cli irc clients.

Thanks for writing this! I also enjoyed the same game code books as a kid - looking forward to learning lisp.

Great job! Can't wait to see what your next project is. I'm also learning python and your post has inspired me to take a look at GAE.

Depends on what you mean by Financial - big difference between personal finance and raising money for a startup. That said, I would encourage you to take a look at Quora.com. It's a fantastic new Q&A site that covers a broad range of topics including finance.

yep!

lol!

and healthcare benefits, etc

agreed, looks like a great way to quickly hack a simple app