You statements are simplistic, naive and just wrong.

Read a damn history book. No country in history has ever "become the ruling force in a country by offering nice health plans and a school for everyone". The Visigoths who were defeated by the Muslims conquered the country through force after they finished sacking Rome. Every country has blood on their hands. Stop being simplistic.

I feel like you want to believe that human history and interaction is a series of simplistic events, carried out by caricatures rather than by complicated human cultures, each with their own desires, fears and circumstances. It's never that simple. NEVER.

For security purposes, I use a WiebeTech drive eraser to scrub the drive (DoD Sanitize standard), then send them to a physical destruction service.

Paranoid? Yes. Expensive? Yes. Worth it to my employers? Yes.

The Inland Sea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seto_Inland_Sea) is not deep enough.

I don't know how it is in Germany, but here in the USA (especially in the Silicon Valley) if you want a late career boost, go get an MBA. Having an MBA isn't a four-letter word around here, especially if you get one from a good program. MIT has an excellent executive MBA program that can be done remotely, and everyone I've encountered with one has been top-notch. Same goes for an MBA from Stanford or even the other colleges local to the area.

Having an MBA opens a lot more doors for you. If you already have a good amount of experience in IT and Software Development, go get a degree in something outside of those fields to help expand your options.

You could also get a degree in something you enjoy personally but won't directly get you a job. Education doesn't just have to be for professional development.