Tory, Grant and Kari have gotten progressively over-animated recently. That detracts from any serious attempt at science on the show. Grant is as others have mentioned, the only engineer on the series but he's given in to the mousse and schlock. Too bad. It'll be interesting to see how this progresses. I'm wondering whether or not they're running out of material.

4 Desktops, 3 laptops, 1 tablet, 2 phones, 1 Wii and one Raspberry Pi.

I agree that science and engineering are good fields and tend to pay well. However it goes beyond coursework. It's a way of life and a way of thinking. Purely academic engineers and scientists suck. They can't actually do anything. We hired some of those in my company. One of the "golden boy" AA hires was afraid to touch a PC board that he was responsible for. He couldn't even identify a capacitor on it. That being said, my suggestions would be: Material scientist, environmental scientist (lots of environ. regs. popping up), chemical engineer, failure analysis engineer (we outsource crap to cheepo countries and need to find out why there stuff fails so we can spank them... .they're too stupid to do it themselves). The medical field, biochemistry, biomechanics, electrician, plumber, auto repair. Civil Engineering was mentioned. I would stay away from any field that can be performed remotely (Comp. Sci, etc) because India is only a network away.

I disagree. I worked for one of those "large computer companies". Most of our technical staff had a Bachelor's degree. A few had a Masters. There was zero pay difference between the B.S. degrees and M.S. degrees. It's all based on job performance. Ph.Ds were actually a disadvantage. Most managers stayed away from them because of the perception that they would be "bored" doing normal engineering jobs.

I went to my Social Security statement and added up my income since I graduated (Electronics Engineering degree (BSEE), 35 yrs. in my career until I retired). I stayed in the technical field (avoided management). The number: $2,727,247 I went to a community college and obtained my general education, later transferring to a state university. I'd estimate my total education cost at around $3K maximum (tuition was a whopping $59.65/qtr. when I graduated in '77). Starting salary was about $1.2k/month. Ending salary was about $10k/month. YMMV

A decoded NZB file :- Perhaps streaming radio (KOZT.com) or a bit of Netflix.

I disagree about your comment regarding "remote workers". I know of some folks in this position that are essentially giving work second or third priority. Some who won't come in when they're needed because it's "working from home day". Others call in to have workers physically located in the plant to do their hands on work for them. Meg is correct in requiring remote workers to return to the office. While some are more productive, there are MANY taking scamming the system and doing nearly nothing, receiving full pay for doing so. I've seen one guy that has never worked in the plant and follows his squeeze around the country "working from home". Ripe for abuse and many are doing just that.

Elon Musk is "African-American". Doe he count?

If we're going to force "diversity" why not have the stats represent the output statistics of U.S. computer science graduates and the likes? Simply forcing a "color count" and a "gender count" makes no sense when a job actually needs to be accomplished. Otherwise, we get folks hired for window dressing that have no ability to perform the needed tasks.

The term "African American" is a joke. It refers to a geography not a race. I guess Elon Musk is "African American" because he came from South Africa and immigrated eventually to the U.S.

I wholeheartedly agree. I haven't watched commercial TV in about 30 years or more. When I go to womble nzb matrix and look at what's playing, the titles are so inane that I have no regrets. Pure garbage.

Three of my son's principals stopped being principals and went to "assistant superintendent" jobs at the school board. Higher pay, lower responsibilities. My sister and two of her kids are teachers. There's plenty of money in the school district but there isn't enough flexibility with state mandated laws/budgets to funnel the money where it is actually needed. Too much of "we can't use the money for that purpose because it has to be used for (fill in the blank). They can't even provide basic supplies like copy paper, pencils and classroom supplies because of inflexibility of the budgets for various reasons. My son's school is the same. They want the parents to come in on weekends and maintain the school grounds. Shit! They have union groundskeepers and they can't maintain the school. Then I went to my old elementary school to see weeds growing up in cracks of the pavement. It was NEVER that way when I attended. It was impeccably maintained. Yet, the school has obtained a magnitude of funding increases. Every time I see the school trying to shake me down for basic supplies and programs, I look at their requests with disdain. Now, we even get "suggested donation" sheets (Mount Diablo Unified School District) and If I were do donate what they suggest, it'd be nearly $800! What is this crap? The school district has some of the most-expensive homes in the county yet they can't manage their money! No thanks. The problem is a management and a government regulatory problem. Not a funding problem.

I've seen a few CEOs whose positions would have resulted in a better outcome if they were initially replaced by blow up dolls. Take Carly Fiornia, Mark Hurd and Leo Apotheker (and add to that, Whitman) for example. These cretins have been destructive, not constructive employees. Sometimes, doing nothing is better than "doing destruction".

The true test regarding whether or a job should exist is to ask "would the customer be willing to pay for the position in the cost of the product?"

I have to agree with you. I bought a Sony BR player and it wouldn't play the BR discs I purchased. Needed an upgrade of firmware. I tried to do that and the process repeatedly failed. I called Sony and they said "it won't update properly via WiFi, use a cable. I ran a LAN cable 50 feet to my router. Same error. Returned the deck. I tried to play BR on my PC. More DRM crap. I'm not buying Blu Ray discs anymore. They are a pain in the ass to play (or "attempt to play").