...what are we going to do about Middle-Earth warming?!?

Never a mod point when you need one...

GNSS - Grammar Nazi Surveillance System

If they don't force you to use "TI model x", then I would second this for RPN users. I have an 11C which I bought new nearly 30 years ago, and it is a wonderful machine which your thumbs will love. I later ended up with a 16c (programmer's version), and a 48g, but the 11c is still my favorite.

So what's up with this group of kids then? Did too many of them spend the summer at hockey camp?

Exactly. Tell them they can have usage-based billing for internet when we get all our programming ala carte. That'll shut them up.

"Looney bin or brewery?"

Watch the movie Strange Brew sometime for better look at what powers the Enterprise now.

They'll make billions with that scheme, just like Nintendo did with the Wii U.

Dial-what?

Did you miss the news a while back about productivity levels having peaked? So now the weaker Corporations, faced with losing their least politically-damaging method of squeezing up short-term profit, are trying anything they can to shore up productivity.

Superannuation? Sounds like Gerry Anderson got into Finance!

There are some cases also where this misalignment of skills and management expectations is more of a management deficiency. Many organizations have technical people who are quite willing and capable, but they have been pigeon-holed and beaten down by policies which incentivize apathy. I have worked with long-time developers in quasi-government jobs who have skills only on legacy systems, and I have had the pleasure of helping them participate in the development of modern SOA interfaces. Most of these people just need an opportunity to learn, grow, and feel like their contributions will be meaningful. And it is not expensive, in fact if it looks expensive you are doing it wrong! You don't need or want conventional "training" for them, and if it is done right, it can cost little or nothing in extra time. These people have a goldmine of lost productivity to tap into -- productivity that poor management has beaten out of them and that good management can cash in on.

Nope, just standard practice here: Pay "reputable" consultants big bucks to fly in workers from the opposite coast every week. Not to mention the offshoring.

Studies show that Reality is a leading cause of failure in the development of promising technologies.

Wow. I hate it when the truth is more absurd than comedy.