Bacon started this.

And underwear elastic furthered it.

The new Ford F-150 has an all-aluminum body, but the frame is still made of steel. Overall, they've managed to lighten the truck by ~700 lbs according to FMC, and aluminum will not rust/rot anywhere near as quickly as traditional steel body panels; even the newer zinc-plated and e-coated steel will not hold up as long as aluminum.

You're correct in stating that TIG (or GTAW: Gas Tungsten Arc Welding) requires different equipment and more practice. There is more flexibility in the types of materials, thicknesses, etc., which can be welded. It's not wildly different, but it does take experience to know how to not screw up the work piece(s).

MIG (or Metal Gas Arc Welding) can still be screwed up, but it can also be fixed very easily. A novice can pick up the basics of MIG welding in a day, though you'll obviously not mistake them for a master welder.

My old Nokia candybar phone (c. 2000) is practically indestructible. To this day I can still charge it up and play "nibbles" in all its LCD monochrome glory. Too bad the cell towers don't support its signal anymore...

That's lame. I had an MX500 which lasted many years, have a G5 which still works flawlessly (but isn't hooked up atm) and each of my home PCs has a G500 currently in use. The only Logitech mouse which has ever failed me was the G7 because the battery packs don't hold a steady charge any longer, and I lost the transceiver. Wireless mice don't work without the antenna or batteries :)

...that's one surefire way NOT to get hired, especially for IT or infosec types of positions.

That seems to be your problem. Perhaps you're unable to wrap your mind around it, because you've never been forced to use it. You're not being instantaneously teleported to random locations around the world, having to figure out in which time zones you're now located...this isn't an episode of Sliders. If you're traveling between NY and WA, you either already know the general times during which businesses are active, or you'd plan accordingly. If not, that is your own fault.

Every single issue you described is just as arbitrary as you proclaim my proposed clock to be. Broadcast stations, whether TV, radio, or otherwise already tailor to local working hours. Staples is open based on local working hours. The solar cycle does not arbitrarily change. The key difference with my proposed clock, which has been validated by a little system called "UTC" if you weren't already aware, is that it assigns 1 time keeping value which never needs to be translated and correlates to the solar cycle. Virtually every major international business already runs on UTC with a 24-hour clock, whether you choose to acknowledge it or not. Localities would actually find it extremely easy to use the same system; it would avoid any mistranslations in delivery times, electronic transactions, etc.

I'm sorry you don't understand. Cheers.

I'm fairly certain the current Beast is not HEMP protected. It's solidly constructed, but it doesn't have copper knife-edge seals and a complete faraday cage around all of its electrical and electronic components.

Besides; if there are EMPs anywhere in the area of the principal, there's already a major breakdown of security and things are likely out of their control. Their escort vehicles, mobile phones, radios and other electronics are all useless by that point, not even counting the other unknown factors which would subsequently arise.

We would still "work" on a solar cycle. Until we're no longer dependent on the sun as organisms, we will utilize day & night accordingly.

When you're dealing with international correspondence, global networks, etc., the overarching day/night cycle loses its meaning. "Tomorrow" is relative to the situation, and is easily understood. I do it all the time; At 0100, say "talk to you tomorrow" which actually means perhaps 2100 that same night...not technically solar OR calendar-day tomorrow, but it is indicative of a work/rest cycle.

If you're not dealing with others who are in multiple time zones, then the point is absolutely moot. It's just a change in perception and behavior, not actual function.

Again, I have been doing this for many years. It works extremely well the way I describe it. When people don't adapt to it, or they choose to try to stick with their own local times, the system breaks down. If they had been trained to think that way from the start, then there would be no issues at all...the issue is getting people to make that change and adhere to it.

As someone who has worked with worldwide network technologies for over a decade, I can safely say that everyone running on UTC (or "Zulu time" as they say in the military sector) is an extremely easy task, and a non-issue. Travel, phone calls, etc...it's all pretty darn easy. Most of our timing systems are already GPS-referenced, so translating from one time zone to another is moot.

The worst complications might arise when you have to coordinate a meeting (physically or digitally) with someone far away. All you need then is their respective work hours, which you can use to select an agreeable time frame in which to meet. You might get off work at 2200, where they might start at 0100...so pick 2330 (or whatever) as the middle-ground and take it from there.

There is no reason to keep our antiquated time zone & daylight savings systems in place. 24 hour clocks & UTC are far more efficient means of tracking time...the only obstacle to overcome is the anal retentiveness of everyone who has not yet gotten used to it.

I'm in the same boat. It's really only detrimental when I have some kind of upset stomach and don't want to upset it further. But given about 24-36 hours without a cup, I'm in nearly-migraine mode.

I actually broke that addiction 3 years ago. Obviously temporarily. But for an entire week I was not a pleasant person to be around...my wife never wants me to go through caffeine withdrawal again, so she helps keep the supply going instead :D

Koreans are widely very tolerant, if not accepting, of their mandatory national (not necessarily military) service.

All of the soldiers I worked with over there had been amazingly professional, courteous, and capable. While I don't necessarily agree with compulsory service, they are allowed to defer it for some time in order to finish college, etc. At least it's a little bit flexible.

Good point. Most home owners don't even know the condition of the wiring in their homes. I recently purchased and found out that the wiring in my place is all sorts of wacky...while I don't have the cash to fix it all now, I make sure to not overload any one circuit in the meanwhile.

If this thing were hooked up to my house, it'd probably be in cinders (the house, not necessarily the charger).

Arguably, the mistakes RIM made with Blackberry go back about 7 years or so. When they didn't react smartly to the advent of the iPhone and Android devices, they started hammering the nails into their own coffin.

I sincerely hope that this was as I read it...as a "Men In Tights" reference :D

There are no semi-automatic-only M16 rifles. Since the M16 is very specifically the military variant of the AR-15 platform, it *always* has the capability to be both semi-automatic and "burst". M16 & M16A1 are semi- and fully-automatic. The M16A2 and subsequent variants are semi- and 3-round-burst capable. The M4 series is simply the shortened version of the M16, from 20" to 16" barrels with various other minor modifications (mostly superficial). Hence, when you go to purchase a rifle from ArmaLite, you will buy an AR-15, or from BushMaster it may be the AR-16, etc., ad nauseum.

Of the thousands of variations of AK47-based rifles, there are no super-anal-retentive definitions of which I am aware. I've seen them have semi-automatic fire, or 2-, 3-, 4-round-burst fire, as well as fully-automatic fire while still being classified as AK47-based firearms. If you'd qualified your statement without saying "M16s" at all, I'd probably not have even commented in the first place.

Cheers.