too bad people can remember their popular cultural references, i.e.: V for Vendetta - Governments should be afraid of their citizens... not the other way around.

The problem of the 'heroic resistance of individuals' is that as stated above this only works in Hollywood. The fact of the matter is that due to individual fear a dozen people can be held off by a lone 'bad guy' with a revolver that has 6 shots. When societal issues arise that affect everyone society loses because the individuals that comprise it wont act out of fear for their individual lives.

Mind you, when 'society' (aka: governments usually, but sometimes the actual society) decides that some must die in a war... well, you can fix a problem with a solution that in other instance (like war) are an atrocity (i.e.: drafts).

I offer not solutions, just and observation.

You're preaching to the choir unfortunately. Far too often the people that need to hear this message are not the ones listening. Not only are the Mean Bastard Accountants (aka: MBAs) not listening but neither is HR - I was once told by a HR "friend" that since she had a stack of resumes for IT people 6 inches high that she could replace any IT person without impact to the company... something it took a year of persuasion to dissuade her of.

Unfortunately I have no suggestions on how to get the people that we need to listen to actually listen - particularly since kidnapping is illegal and tying them to educate them is frequently misunderstood. This goes for both the "leadership" of a company and the Mean Bastard Accountants.

Once you learn to cope with a new born - namely learning to sleep when you can for however long is available & sleeping through 3AM nursing or diaper changes - you'll find that there are no problems with coping with the on call alerts. However, unless the company you work for has pictures of you that you don't want public... go find a better job. It is cheaper to find a better job than to have a baby.

You're married? Clearly YOU aren't in IT.

I say... if it is the first experimental ship: definitely send the politicians, MBAs, lawyers, movie/sports stars. Let's just avoid sending the phone sanitizers so as to avoid the tragedy noted in HHGTTG.

DO: Die your hair, shave your face, dress in "current" fashion, listen to "modern" music.

DON'T: talk about things that obviously date you, expect those younger than you to "respect" you automatically, think that you can get by on what you've already done.

Keep in mind that things that no longer grow are functionally... if not literally... dead; so don't stop learning and growing your skills base. And finally, quit thinking that society owes you anything. If you aren't willing to offer what they are buying, then don't expect them to buy what your selling.

- Captain Obvious

Are you sure you need NNTP to get your kitty pr0n?

Huh. Much of what you say is true... but not all.

For instance, "the audience here" isn't much more likely to view these as absolutes... too many of us run into the "standards aren't" in our day-to-day lives to really have any faith in "absolutes".

Second, some "descriptives" actually are correct. My MBTI is INTJ and the description/explanation given by Dr. Keirsey in his book 'Please Understand Me' is exceedingly accurate for me.

Now if you were trying to make the point that assumptions based on description of a person by a third party can not only be inaccurate but harmful... sure. However... as an INTJ that is not how I interpreted what you wrote. ;)

UserFriendly archive for Feb 17/04 http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20040217&mode=classic

Are to take it that you both write to yourself and others? Or are there multiple-personalities involved here?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If only they would... but I seriously doubt they they could resist the urge to get free porn/mp3s/movies for their personal use (under the guise of looking for "bad things")