Something similar happened in Korea, though I don't know what year. All phones use the same adapter for data and charging, or at least they did. A second, more compact standard was never created, as far as I can tell, and so all the smaller, slimmer phones come with adapters to match the (relatively) larger old standard.

People who treat university like vocation school will get what they deserve - I did.

University isn't just a place to learn. It's a place to network. It's a place where you can find like-minded individuals to hang out with, and a place where you're forced to interact with unlike-minded individuals - and not always to your detriment.

Handing a bunch of kids a pile of money is borderline irresponsible. Ideas are all good and well, but it takes a hell of a lot of experience or luck to parley them into money.

This is actually becoming less true as time goes on. I've been reading the English edition of the Chosun Ilbo, and it seems like in recent years, the information barrier is becoming increasingly porous. Apparently, North Koreans regularly watch South Korean TV shows, listen to SK music, etc., etc. - it's supposedly pretty easy to get a smuggled Chinese DVD player that'll play anything.

Not to say that they won't fight, though... they will, because the alternative is to get shot by firing squad and have their whole family sent to the gulag.

The problem is, who defines right vs. wrong?

I haven't read the leaked material, so I can't speak to what happened in this particular case. However, it might be worth considering what the ideal scenario here would be.

In theory, the US government should be releasing as much information about their actions as possible, without compromising security. But if you want to ensure a transparent and democratic society, wouldn't you want to verify their decisions?

All in all... it makes me wonder. How can a stable democracy be built if the flow of information is restricted by unknown parties for the good of the people? If they aren't accountable, how do can anyone trust them? And if they can't be trusted, why are they making these decisions?

If the TSA really wanted to build security, they'd set up an opfor mixed team of geeks and soldiers.

The shittiest piece of video game software has to go through QA; why don't TSA policies go through the same?

He's also buying the opportunity to engage in networking. A lot of jobs are acquired through the social network; a lot of employment options come from word of mouth and references from friends or colleagues. If I knew then what I know now, I would've spent a lot more time talking to people in university.

He's also buying - at least, hopefully - a more well-rounded education. It's nice to get an engineering degree, but it's also nice to talk to people in other fields, especially at a university where professors and experts gambol in the quad freely.

Implementation is something else. What so-called 'idea people' don't realize is that without implementation, ideas are worthless. And you know what? Implementation is hard.

Starting a business is hard work!

The intangible benefits are pretty great, of course - freedom to set your own hours (clients permitting), freedom to set your own priorities, that sort of thing. That's all great. But the costs are pretty hefty. It's not just the money - though the money is a big problem too!

It's about the stress of getting a business off the ground. It's about taking half pay, living expenses, or no pay whatsoever while the business gets off the ground. It's about hiring someone new and wondering if they're actually a fuckup who's going to pull you down. It takes grit! And after the first year, you end up wondering if you did the right thing - if working for someone else might not seem so bad after all.

I used to guard my ideas jealously, but these days I don't even care. Go ahead, 'steal' my ideas. Then, whether you fail or succeed, I'll watch what you did. And if I have the opportunity... I'll give it my best shot to do it better.

...seriously? Elance, Guru.com, vWorker.com... just Google 'freelance programmers'. There are loads.

I'm already resisting. I will absolutely not fly through the USA anymore, and neither will anyone else I know. We're all disgusted by the TSA scanners and the laborious extra 'security' and the marshals walking around with shotguns.

In fact, I refuse to even visit the US until some form of sanity comes back to the government.

You could probably solve this problem by adjusting how shares worked. CxO salary, from what I recall, is largely set by the board of directors, who are selected by the shareholders, in theory.

The thing is that a lot of shareholders simply don't know what's going on - either they've bought non-voting shares, or they simply don't give a crap. Because of this, the Board of Directors basically does what it wants, and is often encouraged to increase salaries - whether reasonably or not.

What am I proposing? I'm proposing that shareholders exercise reasonable due diligence *for their own self interest*. Every million that's wasted by the CxO is a million that can't go towards dividends or re-investing into the company.

If I had my druthers, we wouldn't even have a stock market as it stands today, but we obviously can't re-run the simulation from Day 1. So, gotta figure out how to make people give a damn.

I don't think I'd care about which university someone came from, but it is important to me that someone completes university. While I know that there are lots of people who are talented and self-disciplined enough to know their stuff, a university degree tells me two things as an employer: first, that they can at least hold it together for three or four years, and second, that they have been exposed to different ideas from different fields.