I don't have a degree in CS. Mine is more like Information Systems with lots of CS theory and mathematics thrown in only because of the route I took starting an undergrad in computer engineering and switching tracks about half way through. My work title is "multi-discipline engineer" only because I was an electronics engineering technician first and still work in an aerospace engineering R&D lab. I do programming, specify instrumentation and measurement systems, herd contracted development projects and manage databases and data acquisition systems networks. In practical terms I'm more of a software engineer and developer that fills some management and support functions.

A CS degree? Nice to have and the background is likely as good as what I received from university but there is nothing wrong with software engineering and for most business needs it's usually just fine. The extra calculus didn't do me any harm in the long run. I think I have a broader outlook than most CS grads but I also had a lot more programming experience since I finished part-time while working full time. I do sort of wonder how a CS grad can come out of university not knowing digital logic, how to specify a project and what recursion is but schools do vary quite a bit in what they teach.

High school should start with digital and mathematical theory and work outward since that is what computers are really about. You only need a single book and a white board to show what's going on. Turn it into a digital lab class and then work up to CPU organization in the abstract. Delphi or C# programming to start if there has to be something that shows program structure. How about bringing back an old 8088 PC with MASM on a floppy? Nothing like a little assembler to show what registers or program counters do even if the technology is obsolete.

High school CS classes should give the students a bit of idea the breadth of the subject and it's pretty wide from where I sit. If the kids are interested then they should have something decent to chew on rather than some idiotic typing class or "enter these lines into VB and see what it does" crap. A class that doesn't teach anything is a waste of time and in high school they take enough classes like that. CS classes are en elective. Electives should be playtime for the mind.

Bullshit!
Unless the OP uses LabVIEW at work or school (and is allowed to take a copy home to play with) it's a hell of a lot more money than a decent Tek o-scope. Daq cards are fine for some things but troubleshooting isn't one of them. Stay away from used HP scopes since the damn things never triggered right even when they were new.

As long as you can afford it then go with Verizon. The reason I switched from Verizon Wireless to AT&T was due to the premium price, annoying customer service, phantom unexplained charges and the increasing number of minutes forced on me as a consumer over the years that I only used once my son had a phone. Now I get largely the same service for less money. As others have explained, the coverage in the DC and Baltimore areas is just fine, thanks. Now I get more than one bar worth of signal at my own house.

If I could get what I have now for about $30 less a month from Verizon Wireless I would not have switched. As it is my wife and I are happy and the phones work great. They are not iPhones (which I would consider a waste) but they are 3G multiple network phones which is likely why we do not have to worry so much about dropped calls here.

Something to understand about those statistics: This is a self selected group based largely on income. Camrys may be everywhere but Prius' tend to be expensive.

No. I don't think so. I can't afford Verizon any more so this spring I close the account and smash the phones to move to another carrier. The phones are junk and the plan costs too much. I'll get new phones if or when I choose a replacement carrier.

I had a fellow come to my door and ask what Comcast could do to return to them as a customer. My answer was that I would return if they became another company. I went to Verizon and my services work, They're less expensive and I do not have to deal with Comcast customer service at all. Verizon has been a pleasant experience over all for me in the Baltimore/DC metro corridor (Columbia, MD).

I think Verizon has a much better chance of changing my behavior than Comcast does particularly so considering I've been so happy without them in my life for the last two years now. This is competition in action: A better company came along and ate their lunch.

In a lot of ways x86 processors suck. Newer processors make great PCs and parallel processing can work wonders for some tasks but there are some things that require a whole lot more power on a clock by clock basis. There are lots of problems where parallel efforts are a wast of time. Some problems are sequential and can only be solved one node, tile or element at a time. Those are the problems for HPC rigs. Some architectures scale a lot better than Intel for similar problems and MIPS is one of the first to come to mind.

Then there is the crap given out by Verizon for use with FIOS (HD DVR box made by Motorola). I need to pull the AC plug every other month because the box goes to Mars and fails to respond to things like trying to turning it off...

Does anyone actually plan to buy one of these pieces of crap? I have a PC because I need one. I don't have an iPod, iPhone or any other iCrap. My Windows copy is XP cause it's paid for (just to use LabVIEW for work, taxes and Netflix movies). I may not be cool enough for Apple but I'm not stupid enough to buy this garbage.

This is a logical contradiction. The employee is worth X but should be paid $0?

Don't fart too hard or your brains will be crushed...

The sponge dried out long ago. They've sponged enough from us. All of these pro-business diatribes basically want all of us to bend over to our corporate overlords. Fuck 'em. I had no idea so many of my generation wants to go back to 19th century industrialism or hated the United States so much.

"It's pretty much a given that Apple is not going into the server business so MS is safe on that end."

I'm not sure what part of the market you've been looking at but Xserve has been a brand for a while:

http://www.apple.com/xserve/

Not my cup of tea but for Apple shops it looks pretty good if a bit pricey.

No. We have science education. The bar is set way too low for high school graduates. Physics was an option when I went to high school. I took the class and understood more when I effectively took the same course over in college just like Chemistry and a few others. Now when people graduate from high school they know what they want and not what they should. Science education is not a problem. Science education of a higher order of general knowledge should be mandatory.

For short lived technical information a Kindle or similar makes good sense.
That Windows Server 2003 R2 configuration book? When the inevitable upgrade cycle comes ditch the old and get the new for the Kindle.
K & R C book? It's a keeper so by the paper book.
LabVIEW programming? Very short upgrade cycle so put it on the Kindle.
Electrical Theory, Calculus, Engineering Calculations? Keep the old text books. The dirty little secret about these books is that new versions of these are a complete scam since the underlying theories were discovered ages ago. None of this is "new material".

Technical books tend to be hefty and expensive. Carrying them in and out of the workplace is a pain. Get any e-book reader and load it up and you won't take and leave somewhere a book you need elsewhere or have to carry the stack around. I have a stack of expensive Windows programming books since that's what they use at work. A Kindle version of the same book would suit every day use more even though the book stack over my desk is much more impressive.

Better yet start at the bottom of a large company, take the college money they offer to all employees to go to school part-time and graduate with no debt after a decade in the same industry. Work experience, corporate cultural exposure and a degree for close enough to free.

It still amuses me when the techs I used to work with wonder why I finished school when I could just have taken the overtime and made the same money I make now by working at least a few 50 hour weeks every month.