Pretty much the same here in Australia. The Government won't drop you because of a pre-existing condition, and I have friends whose lives were devastated by losing a family member, but who were not turned out of their house to finance the rather extensive care over a couple of years (and the care was comprehensive, and brilliant).

Does it add to my tax burden? Yes, it does, and I don't give a flying f**k that it does, because I care more about people living better, than I do the few cents I pay in each tax dollar. Priorities.

I think Google+ would have been fine, except for Sergey's insistence upon people using their real names, instead of being able to keep their nicknames. That made it no fun any more, and that's why I closed my profile down & avoided it from then on.

Truth is, I don't want people to know I'm actually a Staffordshire Terrier. People can be so prejudiced against dogs on the internet.

What, with your bare hands?

  -- XYZZY

I think I should go back to ancient and venerable Slashdot practice and avoid reading TFA. In fact, I'm not so sure about the summaries, either.
And the comments...
well,

Good bye, it's been fun.

Did you know that if you took all the economists in the world and laid them out, end-to-end, they still wouldn't reach a conclusion?

"Preposterous."
    -- Nicholas Bourbaki

I would read Greg Bear's "Blood Music" -- I think you're ready for it.

That will be a truly great conversation starter in prison.

Seriously. What Jeremiah Cornelius said. Your job is officially on an escalator to Hell and the steps have just flattened out.
They're doomed. Don't take it personally, just go.

Marketing is driving the software?
They don't care about security?
System administration is outsourced?

Quit. Leave now. Take only your jacket. Your adrenals will thank you later.

On the other hand, a truly good HR manager can be the making of a company. I've never known a successful CEO *anywhere* who didn't see absolutely top-notch people in the right places as a critical KPI of their company's long-term success. Either the CEO has those people recognition skills or they have a top-notch HR person at their beck and call.

Mind, for some firms (such as company harvesters like Bain Capital) this may mean the ability to carry out an order such as "find me a sociopath who can fire people in bulk and make it look like it's a mercy killing from a friend".

Sort of like Royal Archery. Your minions wait for the King's arrow to land, then paint the target around it. Bullseye.

You can always tell a pioneer by the arrows in his back.

Generally I just post a search for the item name and the string "problem with" and scan the list for clangers. Not so much a way to find, but a way to avoid.

> There are too few geeks who have the time and patience to automate anything in the home to this level. Most people are sloth-lazy...

We're too lazy to spend the energy to enable even more laziness.