Wah fucking wah. Standard socialist bullshit. If you don't like your working conditions, get a different job. We live in a free country, I don't know about you. This guy's biggest problem is that his company ids trying to short him on some stock options, not work him to death. It's California, for fuck's sake. Get a grip. There's a reason American tech workers aren't unionized, and it's NOT because Big Management is fighting tooth and nail to keep unions out. It's because the VAST majority of us want absolutely no part of a union, ever. I don't believe I have ever once talked to a programmer, engineer, analyst, DBA, SA, network cable monkey or repair tech that seriously wanted any part of a union, and I've been working in this business for over three decades.

I'd rather be screwed over by my employer -- who is paying me, regardless of the amount of screwage, and from whom I can separate at any time I decide the screwing isn't worth the compensation -- than a union, from whom I'd get a screwing over and PAY for it.

How appropriate that a comment about unions should appear with a subject line of "Mafia".

I believe I'd treat something like this the same as I would any other unidentified, obviously non-factory object found on a vehicle with no explanation for how it got there. I'd call 911, and tell them I just found what I believe looks like a pipe bomb attached to my vehicle. I'd follow that up immediately with calls to each of the local TV stations, letting them know where they could watch the police bomb squad in action.

How much would you bet the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing? It could be an interesting and entertaining afternoon. Let THEM blow it up. Hopefully not while still attached to my vehicle.

I blame the far left AND the far right for the probably-unavoidable demise of Social Security. Different color pigs feeding at the same tough.

You can get by on less, of course... but like I said, while $150K a year might sound like a whole big pile of money to a 25 year old with no kids (and it would be), it's not going to make a 50 year old with kids in college rich. Even if those kids get decent scholarships -- it's shocking what those don't cover, and how fast even a conservative, responsible college student can blow through money.

Perhaps if you're 20 or 25, making $150K a year, and never plan to marry or have kids. As one of the old curmudgeons (not a coder, thank God) I can tell you that $150K, while comfortable (in many parts of the country) even with a sizable family, will NOT let you retire early. At least not if you worked your way to that pay level starting from typical 20-something slave wages.

There's a reason we won't see flying cars, and it doesn't have anything to do with patents. You need a pilot's license to fly. To get a pilot's license, you need to be trained, and learn, and study. It's expensive, and it's a lot of work -- that will (and does) eliminate most of the population's even wanting to get one right there. And once you have the requisite knowledge and training to get a pilot's license, no sane individual would want to come anywhere near a city full of idiots with flying cars. Driving is bad enough, but when they're coming at you from ALL sides? No thanks.

Oh, stop. See, that's why they had to stop calling it "global warming" and are now alarmed about "global climate change". That way they can blame the same thing no matter what the weather does. Try to keep up. :)

Hmm. Maybe that would work where you live. Fiji, right? My out of shape body lives in a part of the world where bamboo (and rubber for tires) would need to be imported by means of fossil fuel burning transport, and passive solar heating is not quite enough to hack a -30F winter week or three around here. Unless you're also proposing that we abandon living in areas such as these -- you know, the ones where we grow millions of tons of carbon-sequestering plants, that get harvested and turned into food to feed people all over the world. Even the poor ones in places where they don't think passive solar heating is such a grand idea, and would do anything for low humidity, electrically cooled houses.

But, hey, I live in the evil West, so ignore anything I say. I'm obviously just a right-wing global climate change denier, probably working for Monsanto and BP.

This could turn out to be an energy saving breakthrough. Just imagine the annual energy savings from being able to dramatically reduce lighting levels in restaurants.

They are grossly overestimating their own relevance. When the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. I use PayPal to receive money from others (because they insist on it). I also use credit cards. But it will be a cold, cold day in hell before I stop carrying a wallet, or cash.

Those cocksuckers swiped a camera from my bag several years ago. TSA pointed the finger at Continental, Continental pointed the finger at TSA. Both parties basically said "Tough shit". Baggage is only covered at $0.50 per pound -- but ANYTHING of any value is specifically excluded. So if they steal electronics, jewelry, anything other than basically clothing, it's just tough shit.

Fuck 'em. I'd been a loyal Continental customer for years. After that incident and, shortly after that, trying in vain to find a way to actually use the many, many frequent flyer miles I had accumulated, I finally had had enough. Haven't set foot on a Continental flight nor given them a penny of revenue in several years now. Not that they cared in the slightest.

My point when I complained about my missing shit was, if someone were willing to commit a felony for a box of Hot Tamales (the only other thing missing from my bag), what could I have put IN a bag for, say, $10K? How about $50K? Somehow these shitheads don't make me feel any safer flying.

You, sir, are so far off base it's not even funny. One could just as well say, "If you meet an American with a college degree, you can assume that he or she is a pompous, egotistical jackass." While certainly true in some cases, it's not an accurate generalization and would be a stupid thing to say.

If you meet an American who actually studied and applied him or herself during high school, he or she will be reasonably well "educated", whatever that means. Not all American public schools are pathetic, and some are quite good. As with most things, the education you get depends on how much effort you put forth. There are plenty of us without college degrees who are not exactly the knuckle-dragging morons you seem to think.

Of course, of course!! If anyone says anything less than worshipful about The Anointed One or one of His appointees, then obviously they must be no more than a shambling, mindless right-wing redneck who does nothing but watch Fox News and club small animals for fun.

Wake up and take a peek past your own reality distortion field. This guy doesn't have the qualifications to be the CIO of a gas station, let alone the US government. Like so many in the current administration, he seems to have had no practical experience that would make him an asset to the US. His speeches reveal that he has no clue what he's talking about, and an understanding of technology that's shallow and tenuous at best. The fact that he's incompetent and completely lacks qualifications for the post to which he was appointed has nothing to do with the fact that he's of Indian descent. However, it's pretty obvious that he got the job mainly because of it. Political cronyism isn't just for oil barons, you know

Also known as the "Milli Vanilli Billi" Yeah, it's a slow day.

Am I the only one who expected to see a bill made up of recycled bits and pieces of old bills, stitched together and brought back to life in a midnight session?