Thank you. You saved Slashdot from this:

I'm thinking of a Fast Array of Gigabyte Systems or "FAGS" as opposed to FAWN.

Imagine talking to your admin in front of PC type of folks,

"Hey Lou, you did you get those new FAGS? That last ones broke down and were a real pain in the ass!"

"No Joe, we still have those old FAGS. The holes in those things were so big, anything could get in."

"Yeah, I know it. They were pigs too. Some of the fuses went. Things really got blown!"

"I tell ya! I tell ya! Hey, how are the boys in San Fransisco? I heard the FAGS vendor is really sticking it up their asses."

"Sort of. They were happy with their shot and reciprocated on the terms."

"Ah, good."

Of course you're not. No one is. Everyone on the internet isn't qualified to make any opinions because if we were, we wouldn't be giving them away for free online: we'd be paid big bucks for our knowledgeable opinion and wouldn't be here.

I'm just tired of reading the qualifiers. Even if you were, it wouldn't matter. For example, in my business law class, a classmate brought in his employment agreement that his new employer wanted him to sign. The lawyer looked at it and said, "Sign it and forget about it. It isn't enforceable in this state." Then the lawyer said, "Some companies have their general council write these things for all of their offices when what they write may be legal in their state, but it isn't in others. When seeking legal advice, only use a lawyer that is a member of the BAR in your state."

That's just where I'm coming from. Unless you're a member of the BAR in my state, I will take whatever you say with a grain of salt - and that includes all of you who are actually lawyers.

What?!? You expect a simple solution from the politicians?!

It'll probably be a complex formula that depends on: the card holder's state of residence, where the items were shipped, where the company does business, whether or not the person makes over $250,000 per year, which states the item passes through when it goes from the retailer to the purchaser, and I'm sure some lobbyist will make some other horse shit that I'd never think of in a million years.

You wipper snappers! In my day, everything had to be named Enterprise - and we liked it!

True. Many times space engineers are inspired by SCi-Fi authors. Don't forget, many of those authors have had scientific and engineering training. Heinlein had a few degrees in that area- IIRC.

TFA just says Florida, but where in Florida? It's been a while since I lived there, but pretty much everything below the pan handle is already just one big city with the Glades breaking things up.

Maybe in the middle of the pan handle where I-10 cuts through to go from Tallahassee to Jacksonville? There seems to be a lot of open land there, but that's just what I've seen from the interstate.

Unless they use eminent domain or some other legal BS, the land itself will be a fortune. I see this "plan" dieing quietly.

Golfers who have been killed by their wives for never being around, bowlers and softball players die of cirrhosis of the liver (the drink more than they play!), hunters who are shot by Vice Presidents, and then there's the tiddlywink players who are just killed for being sissies.

All sports can be rough!

Hey, that's what an ex-girlfriend of mine called it: her nano-tube. Bitch. Oh, carbon nano-tubes.....gotta hit Cancel.

Can you actually respond to them? I once got a spam email and I was in a really pissed off mood and wanted to take it out on someone who deserved it, so I tried to contact the spammer. The email they included didn't work. There wasn't any phone number. I couldn't find any way of contacting them. I can't believe some of those morons actually make any money. Sometimes, I wonder if it's the ISPs that host those assholes that are pushing this shit. Maybe convincing stupid people that they can get rich sending mass electronic marketing or some other made up buzz word that obfuscates the fact that they are selling you a spammer package. Moron spammer buys it, sends out a bunch of emails, and then gives up after a while; only to have another moron take his place? Just guessing.

Listen, you have every fucker on Earth gunning for Vista to "prove" how stupid Microsoft is and what not - so you HAVE to build an OS to fight that horse shit. In the meantime, OS X and Linux developers are sitting back being arrogant that no one can break them. (Riiiight.) Meaning, they are NOT doing anything as proactive as MS in fighting hackers. At least I've never seen it.

No sir, my money IS on Vista.

Yep, go ahead and mod me down. I firmly believe what I just said and I REFUSE to to say something else just to appease the goddamn MS haters here.

I don't doubt that. I'm just saying, it's really hard for some of us now.

How old are you? I'm in my mid-forties and I've been having a horrible time. It's all about recent experience in - long list of tech.

I almost became an accountant. I really really wish I did.

How do you move when all you've ever done was code? Employers just see "coder" on our resume.

BTW, are all of those folks you know below 40 years of age? That was a rhetorical question.

Please! The metal and parts were bought at Best Buy! The clerk promised that it will be protected for the whole 10,000 years! How can they lose!

Does it run .... wood?

Ha!

You thought "Linux" - didn't you?!?!

Aside from very specialized work or defense contracting, I think that's becoming true of all coding. More and more of it, especially the business development is going overseas or is being replaced by newer types of technology - see BPEL. Who needs a programmer when the accounting department can just draw their process and have something implement it.

And as far as those tools are concerned, you have the very rare CS person design those things and then have the overseas guys code that thing. Even then, all those CS folks that the developing countries are paying to be trained out of the tax dollars, will be able to design and develop their own systems cutting out us in the developed World. India is constantly weeding out the "dumb" folks and sending the smart ones to IIT or over here to study. Which means those of us who are average will be SOL.

There's no more room for average or above average folks anymore in the Globalized World. You are either exceptional or you're working at Walmart. I think the skilled trades are going to have a renaissance in popularity in a few years - that will be one of the few places where a young person will have a future. No wonder parents today are so concerned about their kids and hover around them!

Yes, I am extremely pessimistic about our futures.