In one of the referred articles on the Congo, it mentions that cassiterite is one of the ores that is being faught over. Cassiterite is the primary source of tin. Congo is one of the primary sources of cassiterite.

They want to ban tin. Tin goes in solder. Solder holds chips to circuit boards. Circuit boards have via's lined in tin to allow for complex circuit design. Ban tin and you make most of our tech industry dead overnight. Now I know there are people that want to return our world to the caves, and this may be a good step in that direction. But do all /. readers really want themselves to be reduced to sending their comments in on Slates?

I've always regarded HH's as one-hit wonders. If they send you to a job (however appropriate) and you decline/fail the interview/or hate the "opportunity" then they just wander off anyway. Now, I will say I have known some headhunters for more than 15 years, but they are few - they know my disagreeable traits. In general, you just need to move on.

As for resume modifications, etc... rub behind your ears, if still damp, then "No" they never change aaanyyyything.

Interestingly enough, not all businesses have a network, in fact the vast majority of businesses still don't have a network. Many are just 1 to 20 person companies, I agree, but they form the bulk of the working population. They don't have networks because either the business doesn't justify it (which is often hard to believe) or they can't afford to get someone in to do it for them. Ma & Pa are not calling in IBM. They need John & Jane. They need the personal touch. These little companies often have to buy inappropriate package software. It's in these areas that the Glory quietly continues. Building computers & building software for the little folk. Because the little folk are in fact doing the interesting stuff, and them doing interesting stuff means we as the IT players are helping that interesting stuff get done better. Which is glorious!

Political asylum is a mugs game. The grass is always the same shade of green of the other side of the fence, which ever way you go.

You need a better angle.

I chose Climatological Asylum. The weather is miserable in the UK (most years, though not this by all accounts), with cold damp winters leading to cold damp summers. It made me really depressed, so I fled. Love New Mexico, much better weather. And the grass is always browner on the other side of the fence!

Only the Icelandic people would think you stupid from fleeing on climatological grounds.

These are just components, simple stuff. We want real machines... and heck, what's simpler than a Nuclear Power station? A few wheels, pulleys, rods and a bunch of graphite. Simple! Other than that it's elemental.

Interesting. You're barefooted?

I too live in NJ, and commute into Gotham. It takes a total of between 3 and 4 hrs a day to do the train rides. The parking is approx $1/day (resident perk), which equates to a saving of $30-$40/day if I were to pay for parking in the City.

The wear and tear on the car is covered by others, the wear and tear on me to drive that journey, is simply inestimable. I know that I can eat babes after about an hours commute in the car, and this commute could easily be 2 hrs each morning. Nerves would be wrecked, stomach churned, finger nails eaten, and hair ripped out.

NJ Transit may be the worst rail company on the face of the planet, but I can still get to work (relatively) reliably, can sleep on the train, and look down on all the poor schlubs stuck in their tin coffins on the Garden State Parkway. A monthly pass cost $227, good for multiple trips a day, weekend travel, and any of the tram rail lines in NJ.

The 18th century way to travel still works well in the 21st Century - where it's available.

The only people left that haven't a clue about what goes on in dockyards at Faslane are the British Taxpayers. Everyone else has spies there and photographs the place as needed.

Cold War? Heck this goes back a bit further than that.
They haven't forgiven us for Agincort, or Joan of Arc. And we haven't given up needling them about it.

Don't worry, I was in Washington D.C. back in '92, it snowed no more than a trace, and like some budget impasse, shut DC down. So, living in the Deep South, not demanding or anticipating feet of snow, you have friends in DC that don't know what to do with it either, and they get it regular as clockwork, several times every year. I think living inside the Beltway dissolves their brains; living under the shade of a Live Oak keeps your brains cool and collected.

You want a snow that cuts the town off, not your house. Then you can go down the local bars and see if you can drink them dry. You need challenges in life. Driving in snow is a small challenge; drinking a pub dry is a life long achievement!

Louth, 1987, 3 days of Public House bliss. 18" of snow, 50mph winds, 70ft snow drifts, 5 lost snowploughs, all roads closed. No internet, drat!

I live in this small town, at the top of the hill is a large edifice to modern technology. The town's zipcode is immortalised in "The C Programming Language" book. K&R both used to be seen in the local Friendly's.

Things are different now, though. The huge carparks have been empty for years, some of the multiple entrances are often closed on workdays. I have been in the buildings and they smell of history, but sadly they don't smell of the future. This story is simply the black filling in the final period in a long story. The fact is the place has done little of it's famous research in more than a decade. It's an empty shell of a place. C was created there, Unix too, even C++. Many local businesses have failed or moved out as the Labs have withered away. The gist of this story is long overdue.