In other news, research shows that goal setting, eating right, exercising, going outdoors and getting sun light, and having friends and maybe a girlfriend/boyfriend also helps with Starcraft Addiction and reduces the time spent playing the game.

Come on, its not rocket science. Anti-depressants work, but they are all "profit" based, as is probably this research. A little change in lifestyle can probably do just as much, except in the most extreme cases where mental illness is involved.

Based on what EA did to C&C 4 - basically destroying the original concept of the C&C franchise - i.e. no tiberium harvesting and base building, I can only imagine that this will also be worse than the original Spore.

EA - frankly you are the worst software company in the world because you buy great software companies and take great games written by them - and slowly destroy the games.

Ultima II, right?

Is this some kind of marketing scam or FUD against Apple? I still see My Frame 1.2 at least in iTunes. Seems a fishy attempt to me to draw attention to the application.

Dude,
It ain't that hard.

1. Bring the laptop if you want, but internet cafes are all over London last time I was there. If you do bring the laptop, all you need is a plug adapter for your power adapter, if your power adapter handles 220 volts that's all you need.
2. Buy Lonely Planet and some of the other guides and read up before you go. Bring them with you. Find some things you want to see in Lonely Planet.
3. Ride the crazy double decker tourist buses first. This will help you learn the city.
4. Go see what you want.
5. If you like Indian/Pakistani cuisine - go to Brick Lane in East London. There are at least 30 curry restaurants on that one street.

I can't believe how much people over-analyze vacations. Just go and do it. Don't sweat the details. You can find the most amazing things just walking around London without any major plans or agendas.

Glory in software engineering??? Excuse me if I disagree, having been a software engineer, programmer, systems analyst, DBA, consultant and technical director in my career.

The glory of IT is not in IT, but in software engineering. IT is the dark, smelly, hairy underbelly of computing technology. Software engineering is the light, bright, wonderful topside, basking in sunshine and wonder.

Software engineers are given the challenge of a problem to solve, and the money and time to do it in. Good software engineering consists of designing the most elegant technical architecture to solve the problem.

--- Uhh actually software engineers usually are required to work extra hours because there is not enough time in the budget. Add onto that almost every client, whether inside the company or an external company "balks" that the time estimates are too long - so unrealistic estimates are usually put into the project. As for "most elegant technical architecture?" Only in the top software companies will you see that. In most places - whatever is good enough is used.

Software engineers regularly meet with executives in fancy boardrooms with glass tables. They are there to design quality solutions that will be used by thousands or millions. They are treated with accord, respect, and often, mild deference. Lunch is often provided by hired caterers at design meetings.

--- Uhh, actually most of the executives are scared to death of Software engineers and rarely talk to them. Usually, there are about 4-5 levels of team leads, project managers, directors, etc before you even get to the executive level. Catered lunch is only given to SAP consultants, and that was in the past. As for respect - actually we are typically screamed at when something goes into production that fails - even though it was the QA teams fault for not testing it enough.

There are never enough qualified software engineers - they are pretty much always in high demand and paid to match. When software engineers work in a field, they quickly acquire domain expertise that's almost impossible to replace.

--- Uhh, actually many of us made more money in the late nineties then we do now. Because rather than having good, high quality software, many firms choose to outsource the development - so we spend most of our time fixing bad code that was written overseas. As for domain expertise, some of that is true, but the language and platform "dejour" changes so fast that someone that is a irreplaceable expert today can be a nobody tomorrow. Did you ever hear of "PowerBuilder" for instance? I bet those guys are really in demand these days - NOT.

People who confuse IT and Software Engineering often wind up working in the wrong field. Put in the time to become a software engineer, and you won't ever regret it. Cram through your MCSE or CCNA, and become one of the faceless droids. (Yay! I know what an MSI file is! I can calculate a subnet!)

So instead of being an IT slave, I can be a Software Engineering indentured servant? Come on man didn't you ever watch "Office Space"??? Those guys were software engineers, not IT staff. In any case I sincerely hope you were being sarcastic about software engineering. Otherwise, either that was a really good joint you smoked before writing this or you have never actually been a software engineer in your life.

Actually, the soviets had several large carriers planned and wanted to build more. But apparently the break up of the Soviet Union stopped a lot of that:

http://128.121.102.226/rcar.html

In addition, I think your missing the point. A carrier is not designed to function alone. It will have a lot of destroyers and other support ships to protect it from submarines. In addition, its aircraft have a long range and can attack other ships without aircraft before those ships get close enough to attack.

Anything attacking an aircraft carrier is going to have to get close enough and get through all the air patrols, anti-submarine air patrols and cover of the surrounding frigates and destroyers.

The aircraft carrier is more of a mobile air field than anything else. It has allowed the US ( for the right or wrong reason's, I won't get into politics here ) to bring air support right off of the coast of a nation as has been demonstrated in the Korea conflict, the Vietnam war, and both Iraqi wars to support troops directly, challenge the enemies air force, and bomb ground targets.

In addition, I would like to point out that the British decided to maintain a carrier force are going to build new, larger carriers based on their experience in the Falklands war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth_class_aircraft_carrier

I think carriers and air power at sea have pretty much shown their value from WWII onward. I don't think you can argue that they have not. I also don't think you can argue that carriers are not relevant anymore.

I'm sorry, the joke is on the Indians.

H1B is part of a secret plan to destroy India's culture....

In fact, many of the better H1B coders I know from India have become American citizens, are raising their kids in America, and have started to do things like listen to Heavy Metal, play video games, buy fast cars, drink "heinous" amounts of beer, eat meat every day and other "bad" habits that make Americans who they are.

Meanwhile, I don't see many American girls wearing Sair's or American kids watching Bollywood movies...

Muha-ha-ha!!!

India may take the IT market - but America is conquering India and winning in a cultural war.

Its only a matter of time before India will have a McDonalds on every corner and 50 WalMarts in Mumbai - and Hindi and Muslim kids everywhere in India will be listening to Metallica or Ministry on the weekends while they are eating a Big Mac and fries instead of going to temple or mosque.

The jokes on you guys!!! So what - maybe you take our jobs. You will send the money right back to us while you buy our food, music, movies, video games, and clothing...

HAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!

Did the book happen to mention that the convential medical system routinely prescribes medications that have no effect as well - to simply provide the patient with a "Placebo"?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/10/30/ep.doctors.prescribe.placebos/index.html

One clear example of this is all the doctors that prescribe anti-biotics for viral infections! What a waste of time and money that is...