I figured this out when I was like seven years old. You just hook up one of these to a space ship and fly straight to Jupiter.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/w...

Or in the sense of adding a spoiler and neon running lights to a beat up Honda Civic "might be really cool"?

Oh, you've seen my whip. Pretty badass, huh?

Not forever, as black holes don't last forever. They evaporate due to Hawking radiation.

I hire people all the time and I've had to say no to great candidates who wanted more money than we could pay. I've also turned away applicants who thought they were worth more than they were. Most companies have a budget and they aren't going to exceed it. They know what local market rates are (unless they are idiots) and are unlikely to pay you more than that. If you live where I do you probably aren't going to get a six figure salary as a programmer but the cost of living is a LOT lower than in Silicon Valley so the net result is often better.

That is VERY unusual. Most employment negotiations do not go anything like that. I'm not a programmer but I do have two masters degrees, an accounting certification, and a lot of experience as an engineer and I've had times when it has been REALLY hard to find work better than flipping burgers. If you are luck enough that getting work hasn't been a problem, congratulations. Unfortunately that doesn't describe most of the working population.

Spoken like someone who has never been in a big financial or social hole or had a severe medical condition. Sometimes hard work and talent and making good decisions isn't enough. If you grow up in a depressed area with a poor family there is a non-trivial chance that opportunities are going to be hard to come by. Sometimes people have severe medical conditions that put them in a financial hole or make it difficult to work. Get sick and you might find yourself in a deep financial hole through no fault of your own. Sometimes you find yourself in a bad situation because someone ripped you off.

It's easy to say luck has nothing to do with it but that simply isn't true. It is a LOT easier to get opportunities if you are in a good financial position to start with. It's a lot easier to make money when you already have money. That isn't to say you can't make it if you don't have a silver spoon but it is a lot harder and that is a matter of luck. Being healthy is largely a matter of luck. My mother suffers from ALS and cannot work and that is NOT her fault. Your romantic notion that all that matter is hard work and fiscal discipline is a nice story but a false one.

At some point your old car is worth less than the minimum trade in price they will give you. The trick is to time it just right so that you roll on to the forecourt just as the engine chokes on the last drop of gas, and conclude the sale a few minutes before the wheels fall off.

Just so you know, the average malware jockey makes money that makes me wonder why I remain on this side of the fence. So much for "getting a good job that pays well".

Don't worry. He already has one.

The people collectively? Yes

Adelson owns among many things casinos, hotels, an Israeli newspaper.

So, what you're trying to say is that Sheldon Adelson is representative of people from other countries. Then we agree.

Those casinos, newspapers, investment management companies, etc. get money by selling things to customers, and not just other elite rich people customers.

So, what you're saying is, we have a "representative democracy" but it represents the people of a different country?

Great advice but not always possible. Sometimes life just isn't very kind to some people. Worst thing is it's pretty easy to get trapped

Everything you will ever achieve in your career will depend on other people. Learn to work well with others. If you have ambitions to achieve something noteworthy you are going to have to get a lot of people moving in the right direction. This is not easy but it is critical.

Doing this may invite the wrath of the company legal department if discovered. This creates a VERY real source of potential legal problems for a company should they get sued. In most companies this would be grounds for immediate termination with cause if the actions taken conflicted with their email retention policies.

Actually, no.

I've learned one thing: Never ever touch the hot topic everyone else seems to avoid. Not even with a ten foot pole. There are exactly three things that can happen. Either it resolves itself. This is the norm and gets you off the hook. Or someone else is stupid enough and tackles it, gets burned and loses his job. That's fine as well. Or it blows up and the blame is shared within the department. That's ok as well since nobody gets fired for it.

Since promotion happens today by tenure and not by merit, what you do is less important than what you don't do.

To which the company will likely say "thank you for your time and we'll show you to the door".

To be clear, I agree with you but being right carries a non-trivial risk of not getting the job. That may or may not be a good thing.

Bear in mind that a lot of people are pretty desperate to get a paycheck. You can pretty easily take yourself out of the running for a lot of jobs by trying to negotiate salary (or by doing so clumsily) particularly when there are multiple qualified candidates for the job. Not saying that more folks shouldn't negotiate their salary but many times they are not negotiating from a position of strength. It's one thing if you have a nice pad of savings and can afford to say no to an offer. Not everyone is so lucky. I've been in both circumstances myself at different times so I understand how hard it can be to negotiate when not getting the job at all is a worse outcome than getting paid a sub-optimal amount.

That said I agree completely with what you said. Negotiation is a very valuable life skill. The sooner you get good at it the better.