It doesn't matter. I'll just keep subtracting 1 until I forget to wind my watch. Then I'll have to walk down to Grand Central to set it again. That's right, I wear a mechanical watch. Good luck telling the time during the next blackout!

Not having to slam the phone reciever down on the old Bell accoustic coupler was a BIG deal. And 300 baud was *so fast*. Then I went to 1200 baud... and I thought WHOA! I can now recieve data at a speed I can't read at! That lasted for almost 5 years until 2400 baud came out and downloads were instantaneous.

Now, of course, my cable modem has 12Mbps and it's way too slow. :-\

Charlton Heston guarantees it!

I started my Master's about 18 months ago after graduating with a Bachelor's in 1995. Why? Cash. Simply put, after a bit over 15 years in the industry you can't advance too far from "Senior SysAdmin" without a Master's. Oh, there are some possibilities but the cold hard fact is that to get anywhere fast it's the way to go, just like having the Bacehlor's kept me ahead of the competition during the .COM days. Sure, I didn't make outrageous money but I've been very comforable since I started working and that's no bad thing.
Did I learn anything then or am I learning anything now? Not anything directly useful on the job, no. But that's not the point of school anyway. You're there to hone your thought process and take in ideas and points of view you otherwise wouldn't encounter. Science knows, I'd never have taken Java last year if they didn't make me do it for the degree.
Bottom line: We need more IT professionals that are... IT *professionals*. Too often I've interviewed people that can't write or speak professionally (no, I don't care about accents!), or are just plain sloppy either in their manner of dress, their grasp of their skills, or (worst) their grasp of what work is about. The money is out there to be made, but getting the right person for an IT job in a financial firm is often a long process. A degree in CS is a good starting point and if nothing else lays a foundation for becoming a professional.

Maybe it's because this is where I started (as a youngin' back in 1980)... Start with "Pyramids of Mars", which is a great primer episode. If you like it, then watch The Android Invasion. If you can stomach the production values of THAT, you can watch any old Doctor Who episode with impunity! Then move onto "Brain of Morbius" and "Seeds of Doom". Now that you've gotten a decent dose of Tom Baker... go watch "The Five Doctors". This will get you a solid basis with the other characters and Doctors. "The Three Doctors" is optional, IMO unless you really like one of the first three.

But the best way to start is to watch the first and last episodes of each Doctor from 1-7, (read: 14 episodes) then start the modern series with Christoper Eccleston.
I also believe these are episodes ANY Whovian needs to have seen, (besides the first and last of any Doctor):

William Hartnell (Doctor #1): The Daleks, The Dalek invasion of Earth
Patrick Troughton (Doctor #2): The Tomb of the Cybermen
Jon Pertwee (Doctor #3): Ambassadors of Death, The Time Warrior
Tom Baker (Doctor #4): The Masque of Mandragora, The Invasion of Time, Full Circle/State of Decay/Warrior's Gate
Peter Davidson (Doctor #5): Black Orchid, Arc of Infinity
Colin Baker (Doctor #6): Trial of a Time Lord (I'm probably going to get killed for this, but if you watch it all in the same week and in order, it's one of the best stories ever written for DW!)
Sylvester McCoy (Doctor #7): Ghost Light

20? Try 40! The shuttle was designed during the NIXON Presidency and was approved of on 5 January 1972!
http://history.nasa.gov/stsnixon.htm

One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble...

Absolutely right! I also had a few versions and it all looked so... dated to my 1986 eyes. The weapons descriptions, the basic tactics, and the technology (never mind the bomb making) read more like a history book than a real manual. (That and a kid I knew blew half of his hand off making pipe bombs.) IMO the AC was never really meant to incite revolt but to serve as either a "cautionary work" or to "point people in the right direction". Anyone who actually tried applying anything from it likely walked away somewhat disappointed and/or with a few wounds to lick.

That enjoy indoor plumbing http://www.eoearth.org/article/Water_and_poverty_in_the_United_States ? If not, how can we determine the percentage of US outhouses that will be in the 4G zone?

Beta?! We're on at least Catholicism 4.0 between the First Vatican Council, the Second Vatican Council, and the Council of Trent!