The spectator goes on to point out that at the time the dollar was backed by gold. Presently the US dollar is backed by the US dollar, which makes a potential default impossible as the Fed can just print more money.... unless the rest of the world stops using the US dollar as its reserve currency. I'm not an economist or an accountant, but it seems to me that the resulting inflation would make it impossible for the government to service the debt. Again, this hinges on the rest of the world changing reserve currencies, but really what incentive to non-US nations have to stick with the US dollar?

There's a $100CAD application fee, but I think they take anyone pretty much. You'd probably be able to fast track a little too... The unfortunate part is that the cost is comparable to actually going to a Canadian school, and they may charge more for foreigners...

Well if you're smart you use unique passwords for your online services, so log in and change your password. Give Visa/Mastercard/Amex or whomever a quick call, tell them what happened. Problem solved.

Imagine for a second hackers more malicious than the LulzBoat stole your data (especially financial data), they probably wouldn't publicly post it, they'd sell it, or use it in other ways that are far more aggravating than spending five minutes changing a password, and/or a telephone call to your credit card company.... Granted this still doesn't make the Lulz crew's actions 'right', but there are SERIOUS online crimes going down every second...

the worst part about the Lulz debacle isn't the possible net regulation the future holds... that's speculation. the worst part is the REAL criminals are still flying under the radar hacking the RSA, Lockheed Martin, etc...

Aside from doxing Arizona law enforcement, what harm did they really cause? They've really just managed to point out a lot of trivial security flaws... I suppose one could argue that they cost Sony billions of dollars, but fighting Sony was a legitimate cause...

Having been to a variety of schools, worked a variety of jobs, and spent time working people who's educations varied from multiple Ph.D's to high school drop outs, I'd have to disagree with you. Don't get me wrong, I see value to the university education system, especially in maths, sciences, and engineering, but as far as undergraduate electives go, I see it as a waste of time. Maybe your university offered more substantial electives, outside of the CS program, but the three schools I've been to did not.

I don't think the electives I took were worthless, I value education highly, but the materials covered in every elective I took were entry level, designed to 'level the playing field' to account for students' varied high-school experiences.

I would agree that in an employee I definitely want additional background, but I want that background to come from outside of the undergraduate system, and here's why. When I was in school, I divided people in two two categories. The first category were the people at school for education, and the learning experience. The second were those who were in school to get a job. The people in the job seeking demographic for the most part didn't seek understanding, they just wanted to get a degree and get paid.

I remember having an assignment in Small Talk programming lab, and we all were given partners at random. My lab partner was a memorizer, not a learner, the assignment was ten questions, all geared towards problem solving and learning Small Talk. Once we'd read the read the first question, and my lab partner didn't understand it, he went immediately to the prof's office to wait in line, and query him. I stayed in the lab and experimented with Small Talk, solved the problem, and moved on to the next question. By the time my lab partner got back, I was on the third question. I taught my partner how to do questions #2 and #3, and then we read question four. Needless to say, he didn't 'get it' and went right back to the prof's office.

It was that day when I knew the post secondary education system was largely bullshit. Sure there are people there to learn, there are people there to teach, but most people are there to milk the cow.

Also I have no idea how to hold a straight face and say "BA and valid degree" in the same sentence, so kudos.

So if davidj can find a way to avoid taking a few electives, I'm all for it, and I'd happily interview him for a job in the future. Maybe it's just me, but I hire people based on what they can do, not the tissue of lies they call a 'resume'.