I can't believe how few people mentioned mosh. I work on remote boxes "across the pond" all the time and it makes a huge difference. Laptop going to standby, VPN dropping, slow connection, all handled perfectly.
It sounds like it's best to be doubtful and unsure about my knowledge. So as long as I can make sure I'm unsure, I'm good. But can I be confident that I'm unsure?
Yes, I have been using Fedora this way for a couple years now (ever since systemd made this easy in Fedora 17). Two heads, one running MythTV (most of the time), the other is my workstation.
"Why draw the line at family and friends? It's a natural place to draw the line. I think if you study psychology and the evolution of the human mind that's pretty obvious."
I think if you study those things, you'll realize that it's not at all obvious. Clearly there's a difference between your blood relatives and the rest of humanity, but we collaborate and dependent on non-related strangers far more than any other species, and we have morals that support that kind of behavior. Why, do you think, we accuse people of nepotism, when they favor family in some scenarios (particularly in business and politics)?
I think the slogan "charity begins at home" is not appropriate to excuse one's ignorance of others' plight, and the fact that we have this debate is a good proof that human ethics are, in fact, more sophisticated.
I don't really get your second paragraph. If you can afford to help strangers, then you can afford to help your friends. What point are you trying to make? I'm not sure.
And why do you help your family and friends? Why not focus on yourself only?
My point is, why did you draw the line exactly at friends and family? You don't owe anything to the rest of society, nor the rest of society owe anything to you? Why do you owe anything to your friends and family?
Everybody is biased. Having a somewhat left-of-centre bias myself, I like to read the FT and the Economist precisely because they don't simply reinforce my beliefs.
I also speak three languages, and I'm learning another two. I'm also a hacker. I find programming and foreign languages highly complimentary. In both cases I'm supposed to communicate ideas in a specific vocabulary and grammar.
Also, my two geeky pre-teen sons equally like learning Python and French (on Duolingo).
Of course, I learn languages because I'm interested in the culture of the people who speak those languages. In the same way, I learn programming languages to broaden my way of thinking about computing.
Do people really ask their friends for recommendations for things like insurance? For lawyers, and other local services, I can see perhaps. Product comparison and review sites, or even Amazon seem to me like bigger threats to Google than Facebook. I can also see them trying to do something about that (reviews appearing for some search results), although I don't think they're doing a particularly good job of it.
Then again, how do I find those auto insurance comparison sites? Google, of course.
I can't believe how few people mentioned mosh. I work on remote boxes "across the pond" all the time and it makes a huge difference. Laptop going to standby, VPN dropping, slow connection, all handled perfectly.