Flanian Pobble Beads... can only be exchanged for Flanian Pobble Beads. So, I suppose that choice is just an improbable wish. Fire up the Heart of Gold, and maybe...

"He's a straight shooter with upper management written all over him."

"How badly BB got shafted by that loan is determined by how desperate they were when they took it."

On a level of desperation going from 1 - 10, I'm going to go with "Vlad the Impaler" as far as shafting is concerned.

âoeWe had military contracts. Who cares whether it worked or not?!?!â â" Dick Jones

" And so far, we've seen no evidence whatsoever there's any contrition or accepting that what they did was going to piss off everyone else."

Stratfor hacker Jeremy Hammond sentenced to ten years in jail

I'd say sneering contempt rather than contrition.

But there's no sense crying over every mistake.
You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.
And the Science gets done.
And you make a neat gun.
For the people who are still alive.

And now for a rebuttal to this inane garbage, McGarnagle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjbl9QBrM50

Never talk to the police!

"After all, you don't get tenure by dazzling 18-year-olds with PowerPoints. "

I don't know about the study, but the article is garbage.

The professor's job is not to entertain students, it's to teach them. Sometimes, students don't like the teachers who force them to work hard and learn the material.

That's why we have tenure.

Although my significant other simply will not engage in any online activities with me... or with anyone else, pretty much, I do have a good idea for other people.

Gary's Mod Theater Mode!

Yes, it's true, you are limited to watching stuff on Youtube, but there is a lot of good stuff on there. And it isn't as taxing as playing a real game type game.

If an individual holds the copyright, it isn't folk music.

It's called folk music.

It was pretty much inevitable that after being taught how to make world class devices by Apple, Foxconn would eventually question why a bunch of foriegners living off in the States should get a cut of their hard work. This means that Apple's big advantages will be:

1. Hardware patents: How easy it will be for Foxconn to get around these to sell to the US and Europe I'm not sure, since I'm no lawyer. If they have to do their own redesigns or are even completely stymied by overbroad patents they may have a limited market for their devices.

2. Software (and Software patents): Foxconn can now make world class hardware, no mistake about that. However, I don't know how well they will do with software, since that isn't part of their core competencies. Also, they'll have the same software patent issues that Android devices have.

I'm not a fan of Foxconn's horrible labor practices, but it will be interesting to watch this develop.

This is pretty absurd, the idea that Larry Ellison can own the sixth largest Hawaiian Island.

On the one hand, it means the Hawaiians, on that island at least, have a royal family again.

On the other hand, he holds it due to fictitious numbers in a database, so what this really means is that the United States gave it to him.

The United States will take it back whenever it likes, unless he decides to be a king like Leopold and establish his own military to torment the inhabitants. In which case the United States will take it back after a rather short war.

But I'm sure he'll enjoy pretending to be king for a while.

Wii U looks a damn sight better than the new Xbox, which I believe Microsoft has named the Xbox Catastrophe. (It goes along with the Calamity operating system that they released for PC/Tablets.)

Well, the first thing to understand about this article is that it treats software engineering as a pure meritocracy.

Maybe at some places it is.

However, for me the important film is that timeless documentary, Office Space, which drummed into my head two things that I actually found to be true:

1. If you are good at office politics, you will be called "a straight shooter with upper management written all over him," if you are merely good at creating software you will be "Mr. Samir Naga... Naga... Naga... Not gonna work here anymore, anyway."

2. Even being a successful office politicker like Peter Gibbons or Bill Lumbergh, you will still possibly find that you have a hateful, soul crushing job that drains away your life and enthusiasm every day.

What does this mean? Well, it means that you have to decide early on whether you are chasing a good life or an early retirement. chasing the good life means hanging on until you get a job you can tolerate, early retirement means making as much as you can so you can get out as fast as you can. Or perhaps being hit by a truck so you can work at your real passion, "A Jump to Conclusions" mat.

All in all, I think wire fraud and armed robbery are probably more satisfying careers much of the time.