OK, I've been inside enough industrial installations to know what an "emergency power off" button looks like, and when one would use it. So when I hear the phrase "kill switch", I immediately think of a set of controls that would disable the functioning of a substantial portion of something, like infrastructure. How does that ability -- disabling many key functions -- yield a benefit in a national cyberemergency? Does it protect key systems or infrastructure by isolating it from the attackers? Does it stop the attacks by denying their clients access to the net? The original article talks a lot about taking over / commandeering certain functions, like radio/TV/internet broadcasting or other usage. Still enabled, but used by the government. That's not "kill switch" functionality; that's more like "manual override"

Heinlein wrote about this in "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". One doesn't need nukes, when one has lots and LOTS of kinetic energy. Rocks will do a lot of damage, and once on their way, would be hard to intercept/neutralize. The original article mentions attacking military assets in low earth orbit, which Heinlein didn't discuss. That's not surprising, considering the newness of applications of space technology for communications and navigation when he wrote the book.

Larry Niven wrote a series of novels with consistent backstory, physics, and an evolution over time -- the Known Space series. J. K. Rowling knew there would be 7 Harry Potter books, and J. Michael Straczyinski (sp) planned Bablyon 5 to have a story arc over 5 seasons. Asimov intended the Foundation Trilogy as a cohesive whole; I think that his later additions to that universe, including the tie-ins to the "I Robot" universe were motivated more by publishers than by his original vision. Perhaps Dan O'Bannon never wanted to create a universe, or a self-consistent backstory... he just wanted to make a scary movie with a surprising powerful alien. The second movie also worked as a suspense/thriller, even though we knew what the aliens' abilities were.

Indeed. Though I've not worked at a startup, I have done a bit of project management. Clear goals/milestones and deadlines are very useful in delivering quality work. Does the boss have something/somethings he wants to achieve at the end of the "long march"? What would be delivered or shipped at the end of N weeks of 10 hour days? You and your colleagues could agree to longer hours until version x.y ships, with this specified feature list. But simply agreeing to work 25% longer each day, for an indefinite period, until the company is profitable is not going to work. Your hard work could be derailed by the sales weasels, who don't deliver the revenue, or by a screwup by the CFO in handling the details of accounts receivable.

How many folks (of a certain age) were so blown away by Tron, that they wanted to do something with computers? Having the PC revolution right around the same time really helped, but there was a huge influx of geeks thru the 80s and early 90s that helped fuel Silicon Valley.

The preferred method for conducting meetings at my workplace is through audio conferences. Conf calls to Europe in the morning, and Asia Pac in the evening. Even if all the folks in the meeting are located in different buildings in the same city -- it's easier to dial up the conference, fire up a web tool to share the document, and answer email when the person drones on .. and on .. and on.

Oh, and he's definitely overlooked the Turkey Dump. Countless relationships between (US) high school seniors continue thru the summer, after graduation. They make an effort to keep things going during their first term at *different* colleges/universities. But when they return to their hometown for Thanksgiving (a US holiday that is roughly 3-4 weeks before Christmas), they realize that all the girls/guys back at college are really more interesting/attractive. Breakup.

Steve Jobs is famous for rigorous standards on the HW and SW for his latest technology -- it needs to be the best, so it can "just work." Yet there is a bit of light shining through the bars of the walled garden ... the connectivity provider. By opting for WiFi only in the device, users may choose Sprint, or even Verizon, to bring 3G connectivity to their device. I wonder if there are any data on how often this has been done using non-AT&T local hotspots? Or if it is being done with iPod Touch devices, which are very close to iPhones without the AT&T service?

So, suppose all the background was the same ... homeowner didn't pay the fee, despite reminders; house catches on fire accidentally; fire dept rolls out to protect the fee-paying-neighbor's house. Except for this one -- instead of 3 dogs and a cat inside, there were 4 human children inside. Do you think the firefighters would have stood by and watched the house burn in that case? Following some of the reasoning here, should they have entered the burning house, pulled the children out, and then watched it burn? Or should they have intervened, using their usual methods and saved both the kids and the property? IANAFirefighter, but it seems to me that they would need to use some water on the structure to make it safe for themselves to enter, in order to save the children inside. Once you've gone that far, you might as well put out the fire.

That was my initial thought ... doesn't order matter? Perhaps a more pertinent question ... is there no penalty for guessing wrong? If not, then one can simply cycle through the permutations of the 3, 4, 5 keys until you get it right.

Absolutely, positively do some research first. There are many folks doing formal algorithmic research, and something like your algorithm may have been published 5 or 10 years ago. That should not be taken as advice to NOT submit ... just be prepared to be rejected because your algorithm has already been described by some uber math geek in Russia, Germany, or another country.

I don't have a game console, you insensitive clod!