mironathetin

I think you are right and I voted your contribution up. But you don't really think it will work? Developers were kings once. Big companies turned them into slaves.

Well, yes and no. People who take their backup drives away from the computer tend to have - a completely outdated backup. There is no 100% safety. If power fails while the backup is done, well there is still the original disk. How high is the possibility that it crashes in the same moment?

".. do you actually TEST those backups?"

yes (of course), see my post above.

I have used time machine repeatedly to restore lost or damaged files. I also replaced harddrives several times and played back my carbon copy clone. It boots and I have never missed a file in years.

Mac: Carbon Copy Cloner and Time Machine on separate usb disks. I use the system scheduler to wake the machine at night, mount the disks, start both backups, unmount and sleep the Macbook again. Rock solid, runs every night since years. Even swapping the harddrive is a matter of 30 minutes to play back the latest ccc clone.

I have to find a similar backup solution now also for my Linux based Thinkpad. I am looking into Mondo rescue, because it promises to create a bootable image on an external drive (just like Carbon Copy cloner). For me, it still fails, but this is Linux. Needs more time and research.

This is a personal backup of one computer only. I have bad experiences with centralised backup solutions. In every case you need to reinstall the operating system at least before you can access the backup. I also forgot my password once, because access to the backup is not frequently needed and well meaning admins constructed crazy pw rules. So even though I had a backup, it was not accessible any more.

Well, I do expect the availability of applications has been checked before moving to Linux. If not, ... bad management (not impossible that the move was planned badly though).

But if you know exactly what you need, you can also develop software or extend functionality of available software. That's one of the advantages of the Unix processing philosophy and open source software.

For a local government a preference of local business is not only ok. It should be the first choice, the second choice and also the third one. In this case, as there is totally different tax flow involved as the article nicely explains, local business is the only responsible choice for an elected government, IMHO.

If Munichs public service personal has issues with Linux and Libre Office, they need a proper training, not a switch of platforms.

Without training nobody in this world would be able to properly use Microsofts products as well. And this is true for every new version, as the comments correctly mention.

yes, I wanted to add that remark as well, especially because the topic is about kids. But I didn't.

And of course bicycles are far less dangerous than any car. So there is no reason to complain or criticise this great achievement.

"This is very true in London, unfortunately ..."

I admire the Dutch. They use the bicycle everywhere and in all weather conditions. The result? Their cities even sound so different. It is calm, very little car noise. Amazing.

"... I do have less ability to do brilliant-late-night-ninja-coding stunts,..."

Isn't this an advantage as well? How many ninja stunts have you seen without hundreds of bugs and being easily integrated into existing stuff and not requiring to change many existing things because they don't fit anymore with the genius code (and thus replacing well tested bits with alpha quality code)?

Being older helps to plan well before you code and get a result that does the job. As you said: getting things done.

Franz Werfel: Pale Blue Ink in a Lady's Hand. The story of an Austrian aristocrat and politician, who is - through his marriage - well established in society and on a safe carrier path, who discovers that he might have a child with a jewish woman (in pre-WWII Austria).

Great story and so well written by Werfel.

What do you want to say: it is hopeless to cultivate bicycle usage in the US?

"And then there is the stigma that if your riding a bike, it means you obviously have DUI and/or other issues."

Here in Europe bikes become a lifestyle item. Just get yourself a real cool bike, with a carbon belt drive or one of those Titanium bikes, and dress accordingly.

"Cities make it easier for kids to go outside and be kids."

The other way round. I grew up in the countryside and we could literally play on the streets without risk. Visiting friends was actually easier. We simply took the bike, the rollerskates or - later - a motor scooter. No need for any parent to drive anybody anywhere. No need to use public transportation. All my schoolmates lived in bike distance (that is 25 km in my definition).

Of course it counts how safe your country or city is. It is our business to make them safe, not to hide in cars, because otherwise we may be harmed.

"For example, if I use the same word ten times in the same paragraph, this tool would replace it by synonyms;"

Very funny. This would make terrible prose, I guess. It is part of the art to say things only once and thus make repetitions unnecessary.