Never attribute to malice that which may be caused by incompetence.

I worked for the IRS for 6 years. It is a huge, bloated bureaucracy and everyone is afraid of it so no one messes with it. We lost data all the time, which was a boon to people who owed money based on that data. Honestly, there was more fucking going on amongst the people in the office than actual work. It was the land of office affairs.

Women who prevail and succeed have a property similar to many men. They know what they want to do, and do not care what society, or Barbie, or fashion magazines think. And they are willing to do what it takes. My wife, the model of an Alpha female, is this way. The successful female techs, engineers, and scientists where I worked were this way.

You just described my network engineer wife. She doesn't give a crap about doing girly things. Awesome cook and a sex machine though. I'm a lucky SOB.

My wife changed careers 10 years ago from teacher to network engineer. She tries VERY HARD to get other women insterested in going into tech fields. She has oodles of money from her job, while all her female friends make less than half what she makes. But none of her friends or relations are even remotely interested in changing their career, even though they all complain about not making enough money.

Hell, I try to get more women interested in the tech fields all the time to no avail. I've even gone to career days at local high-schools to try to get women interested in tech careers. Last time I interviewed a woman for a programmer-trainee job she decided she wanted to do something else after we offered her the job, she didn't even try it.

So the problem seems to be pretty cultural. Even with someone offering to mentor them, most women (based on my limited sample) have little or no interest in the tech fields. And these are all smart, educated women. I imagine we really need to change the way we bring up girls if we want to fix the situation.

So it will remain a sausage fest wherever I work until I retire, I guess.

How about "Positive parental involvement" then?

I'll take "The big companies that most people deal with at home for 400, Alex"

I mean, these electric car thingys are just a fad, right?

I haven't heard that since I did a nickle in Leavenworth.

I'm thinking there will eventually be a "statute of limitations" for data. Anything more than X years old can be requested for removal.

My wife changed from teaching school to becoming a network engineer about 8 years ago. She went from making 40% of my income to making 95% of it in the past 8 years time, and that's with about 30% increase in my income in that time.

She is treated like a professional and doesn't have to deal with the parents of her clients. Yes, there are a lot of clueless "Durr, she's a girl!" nerds that she has to deal with, but she says they are easier to handle than her former students.

So if you are a woman and you are AT ALL interested in technology, get into the tech field anywhere. We're in Austin but it is lucrative no matter where you go. And you will have your pick of well-employed male suitors if you so desire.

Then one day somebody discovers this awesome substance called gasoline that has so much more energy

Do you honestly think that if we didn't have gasoline powered cars already ANY company could get a tank full of gallons of a highly volatile and explosive liquid put under the back seat of a car (where the CHILDREN sit) approved by ANY government agency? Sure, it's fine for daredevils and stuntmen, but you would be thrown in the looney bin for even suggesting that families use it for daily transportation.

I consider myself minimally competent, but most programmers I meet don't seem to be as skilled as I am.

Will these killbot have pre-set kill limits?

Yes, I've been saying this for a while. Pipelines are way safer but we also need stricter pipeline regulations.

I have three oil pipelines that go through my property. While they are pretty solid, the pipeline companies refuse to do any maintenance (such as when one becomes uncovered in a creek bed where it's supposed to be at least 3 feet underground) until you call the news crews out.

Exactly. Every time I see something I want that is manufactured in China, I go to Alibaba to find out what it REALLY costs.

Yessssss....

I work for a US semiconductor company with US fabs. Most of our output goes to Asia. WE WILL RULE THEM!