Oh yes, you from Edinburgh Uni too? In fact, we had to slow ours down to match the screen refresh rate.

And I suspect that the SPARC was 25MHz and the C compiler not especially good.

Rgds

Damon

NTP can be run securely, with decent keys.

But if someone is injecting packets into the network there are more obvious targets, like printing bogus medication instructions out or bringing machines down, maybe?

Rgds

Damon

As the GP says: take control.

Don't stay working for a shitty place that doesn't acknowledge when you've done something amazing and beyond the call of duty.

I've been pleasantly astonished by how my (good) clients have looked after me when I've looked after them. Beyond the contract on both sides.

It's not all sunshine and roses, and I'm sure that I've left a trail of people behind me that KNOW that I'm a jerk, but hey-ho ... I know that I've tried to DoTheRightThing(TM) and that they haven't and don't even begin to understand that in many cases...

And right now I have a really good client and choose my own hours and indeed daily rate AND I have the opportunity to do fun things (like meet a government minister on home turf this week for an area that is a strong interest of mine).

Stop working for the people that don't care. By and large, if you're good, someone *will* reward you for it, IMHO.

Rgds

Damon

I do understand the cultural aspect, but maybe that culture will change quickly if/when the price of gasoline doubles again...

People have to be clear about the difference between "need" and "want".

Rgds

Damon

Except that we do fine without a car even though those big places exist here too. For bulky stuff we have the supermarket deliver to us (which is probably more carbon-efficient too). Only light/fresh stuff then needs to be carried by hand.

There are several chains competing, but we use Tesco, which does a good job and is not expensive at all.

It simply matters between you and the car, which is to be master.

Rgds

Damon

Right, but there are plenty of people in US cities who could live like I do in a European one. Energy consumption per capita is comparable I suspect between EU and US cities, unlike the average US citizen using twice as much as the average EU citizen, of which a lot will be (self-inflicted) travel.

No one forces the building of exurbs or living there! And we have crap-to-get-to places in the EU too.

We've taken a conscious decision to live somewhere that has good public transport.

And no, my partner does not currently work, but that will change. My kids are not old enough for me to send them down the mines yet. B^>

Rgds

Damon

In Brussels I saw some parking spaces with charging while at FOSDEM, here:

http://gallery.hd.org/_c/travel/_more2012/_more02/car-electric-ZERO-ZENCAR-pair-charging-from-pillars-on-snowy-streets-of-Brussels-Belgium-1-DHD.jpg.html

Now this may be currently limited to one car rental scheme, but that's more-or-less a matter of software to fix, especially once a standard plug is widespread.

Rgds

Damon

"So, you're suggesting, that every time someone changes a job, they pick up, sell their homes and move to be closer to the new job. Hmm...what about people with kids, you want them to uproot them from schools every time jobs change?"

Well, that's what we did when my dad changed jobs, maybe an average of once per year at times IIRC, and it didn't kill us.

And I don't own a car (and never have) and manage to commute less than half the week, and when I do it is by (electrified) public transport and to decent/fun clients that pay well and at non-peak hours.

The horrors! Maybe it *is* terrible being a creepy commie energy-efficient European banker IT consultant after all, and my kids hate me too, really.

Rgds

Damon

News just in: Oracle is sueing what is left of Greece for misuse of Oracle's trademark in ancient tales of Delphic wisdom, and also sues the owner of the fiery orb at the centre of our planetary system as Oracle now owns all rights pertaining to "Sun".

Rgds

Damon

Teenage thinking admits not grey: with us or against us, just like me or flat-out wrong, left or right, ...

Rgds

Damon