Sadly, whenever a profitable platform is shut down, a lot of good developers are RIF'ed. Its a horrible market right now, so PLEASE look for a way to stay with Adobe.

1) Use your knowledge of internal procedures and development practices WORK for you (saves the company serious $$$s training somebody new!)
2) Submit your resume back to your own HR department and let them know you wish to stay
3) Work off-hours on active projects that YOU think have potential - ask questions, involve yourself in debugging, development and design reviews
4) Get yourself invited to development meetings while still putting 40 hrs/wk on your current tasks
5) Don't Slouch - its bad for your posture

The last two items really get the line managers' attention.

If I were in the business where my attornies were just sitting idly by, like a McDonalds, Starbucks, or another business that can see this thing snowball, I would sic them on these slimetards and tangle up this operation from thousands of different POVs. What this patent troll is collecting is just to bank their attack on the big boys. Don't need a crystal ball for this!

Guanxi, your links are appreciated. Don't forget the US Geological Survey ( http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/irene ), they will make the raw data available in a few more days. It looks like the baby-faced politicians are making mockery of the serious science of weather forecasting in a very apparent attempt to defund and dismantle another of our "Crown Jewels". If an agency doesn't drop bombs, wreck havoc or kill people ("Let God Sort Them Out", to use the vernacular), these numbskull pols consider it a waste of tax revenue. President Bush defunded the USGS to such an extent that he refused to issue a Tsunami warning to Indonesia; I guess Hurricane and severe weather forecasting is next on the chopping block.

The National Hurricane Center found that Irene was CATEGORY 3 off the Florida Coast, and running up the coast over the Gulf Stream. If you do your calculus properly, you have to plan for the fact that Irene could not help but remain a hurricane if (or when) it hits New York City. That would have been a disaster the likes of New Orleans (times ten, then times ten again). President Bush looked the fool by not taking precautionary measures; who could seriously blame President Obama for being Presidential?

CAT 3 (Florida): http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/gtwo/atl/201108281214/index.php?basin=atl&current_issuance=201108281214
CAT 2 (NC) http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/gtwo/atl/201108270558/index.php?basin=atl&current_issuance=201108270558
CAT 1 (New York) http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/archive/gtwo/atl/201108260858/index.php?basin=atl&current_issuance=201108260858

Check out the US Geological Survey in a couple more days to view the raw meterological data (usgs.gov)

That's MADAM to you!

It is a thought-provoking idea - "When" did Irene become a hurricane - and well worth my time to consider it. The US Geological Survey is an E-X-C-E-L-L-E-N-T source of information, and, in my humble opinion, criminally underfunded by our tax dollars (especially those companies that won't pay U.S. Taxes).

Use the following link inacoupladays
http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/irene/coastal-change/updated-assessment.php

6' 5" : Pray tell - you aren't related to Douglas Adams, are you?

There is remarkably poor phone service in the middle of the ocean, or in countries with poor infrastructure. Think Katrina or some other natural catastrophe where a cell phone site could be remotely connected through a satellite using a simple flat antenna.

I like how you have put perspective into this conversation. Most software engineers build up their design time skills - documentation, proposals, test plans - or the management side of software development. Take a good technical writing course is what I would recommend across the spectrum. Follow that up with a Dale Carnigie (sp?) public speaking program. The better you communicate with others, the more in demand you will be. It really isn't having "mad skillz" that ensures our sucess; we've proven ourselves countless times before!
 

Impact has the best chance, in that a large number of "small" mass missles can travel at a high velocity and timed to impact for best effect. A jackhammer effect, or convert rotational energy in a manner to nudge the asteriod into a different orbit. Think COMSAT maneuver.