Good Lord,

Switching power supplies have been around at least since the early 60's. Also for a long while 400Hz power was standard on all aircraft. The apple II in no way blazed any trail in power engineering. Now apple may have been the first to employ them in consumer-grade hardware for a small computer but let's not take any further than that.

Sounds like someone forgot to pay a Senator off.

The [sic] perpetually want a set of requirements. And they get upset if a new requirement is added later.

Yeah, pretty much. I think that sums it up quite nicely. I'm guessing you have not written much commercial software.

They would probably be sued ... in short order.

I guess for me, the real shock is a cop can earn that much money. Even in California this figure is quite generous for someone with possibly an Associates degree (guessing, as most cops are in this range) and some time at a local academy (also normally hosted by community colleges).

There are people a lot better educated and arguably more productive to society making about that figure.

I never would have thought that but you are very correct. I just read the data sheet for the device. Just because we live in a modern world does not mean all low-level consumer electronic gear uses a crystal time-base.

In some organizations the only resumes the Developers get to see are the ones picked by the HR staff. And they are not passing along anything that does not have a BS or the right mix of buzz words. We don't even get to write the requirement!

I'm averaging 70-hour weeks. There is absolutely zero chance I'm going to go home and do more coding on a personal project.
The last thing I want to see or talk about outside of work is code.

Why the hell am I even reading Slashdot ? :P Good lord, there's something wrong with me.

The nature of my work involves very deep dives into some thorny problems. I crave and try to attain a good flow psychology to help me with complexity and the workload. I "enjoy" solving the problems. Social interaction, in my case, is counter-productive to the organization and to me.

Am I a "miserable cunt" because I don't like it when someone comes to my desk to pull me out of the zone and ask me for the 15th time to explain to them everything they should already know or could find out themselves with a little effort? Do I need to feed their dependency by breaking bread with them each day for some more concentrated verbal blather?

I am paid to produce code. Everyone's paycheck ultimately depends on the code I produce. Why sabotage my efforts by making me also don a faux social mask and take part in the office club? As another poster stated - I enjoy eating at my desk with headphones on and surfing the web for relaxation.

Los Angeles? I think we could afford to let that one go. Call it a Mulligan.

I also think you would hit the ground before freezing would be a factor. In fact, with the exception of hitting another portion of the airframe, I think the entire article was complete rubbish.

I used to skydive from 11.5K ft. That's about 55 seconds of free-fall time (with a safety margin). Extrapolating this to 35K suggests another 2.5 minutes. I am probably not going to asphyxiate in that time, either. Especially since I will be in lower altitudes quite quickly.

Would you be cold? Yes, very. Would you possibly pass out from low oxygen levels, possible but not certain. Would you get the bends? Even if you did, it would doubtful be fatal. The biggest concern by far is hitting the ground.

I was born in Chesapeake. The GP is correct: It sucks huge, throbbing, unwashed members.

That's a fallacy.

Walk through a grocery store or mall. Where are the non-Chinese goods? You can't find them no matter the price. And while I don't shop Walmart, it's common knowledge they strong-arm their suppliers into outsourcing in their fervor to shave a nickel off their costs. Electronics, textile, heavy machinery, even pharma is nearly entirely off-shore. We've only services, aircraft manufacture, and agriculture left.

As a consumer (we stopped being citizens long ago), show me where my power is? The only American thing left to purchase anymore is politicians and I don't have that kind of money.

Now substitute the word "Liberal" with "Conservative" and "extreme right" with "extreme left". Your argument still holds.

The entire system is broken, both the left and the right. I fervently hope you are not of the opinion one side is better than the other.

If OPEC embargoed the USA today you would then witness a "shakeup" of the World order. I am not using this post to advocate right or wrong, I merely state fact: A few OPEC countries would find themselves in a real pickle, militarily speaking ... and FAST.