They aren't exactly cowboys, but the Jurassic Zookeeper Meme comes to mind.

If you hire a coder that can't code, who is the bigger failure?

wow, don't have kids when you finally do grow up. and, maybe see a therapist.

Thanks for mentioning the over-engineering aspect. Some of my peers, that I usually refer to as 'the academics', often over-think, over-analyze, and over develop their solutions. They want to develop the perfect solution that will stand for all time, and will rebuke any and all criticisms. 6 Months later they might have a prototype if they haven't gotten stuck on some unsolvable. I often find this group is terrible at things like unit testing and refactoring. It is like it is above them. 40 years later they wake up in the fortran dept and realize the whole world is above them.

The other group, the 'clock-punchers', will do exactly as told, have nothing to prove, and in turn are extremely agile. They think simply so things like unit tests and prototypes come very easy to them. They aren't attached to their ideas in the same way, so they can switch tracks quickly. As a reward, they get experience on lots of frameworks, languages, and trends. Maybe they will never be head architects, but they make a crap load of cash, don't get weekend calls, and don't develop the cynicism that a lot of the heavyweights do.

My team needs both, but you only need a couple of the former group to solve the big issues. The latter will get your project finished. Thinkers never seem to finish anything, In their minds, there is ALWAYS something more to be done.

If you have millions of dollars that you cannot prove came from a legal source, the feds will get you one way or another. See Capone for an example.

interesting graph, but I think your explanation on C is a little muddy. I would just say C is the initial cost before any storage medium is acquired.

that is a good point. The few times I saw a company crash and burn, the CFO was one of the last out. The last few precious beans had to be passed out carefully.

Uncertain future? I think Blackberry's future is anything but uncertain.

When I visit western rural China, I am always amazed at what qualifies as a car.

Got a couple pipes, 4 wheels, and an old tractor engine? You have a car! Seriously, it reminds me of mad max, with less spikes and more bungie cords.

I am thankful for our regulations, because there it removes some of the risk that others with poor judgement carry. I think a lot of the reactions to these 3 fires is of the knee-jerk, xenophobic type, but it is to be expected. Tesla just needs to be resilient while they open the new market.

ps.
I think you probably mean 1980's Volvo, since the late 60's early 70's were actually pretty cool and lean. I had a 122s that could baja.

except for that 150B$ cash reserve

rule 34

Phone in the pocket: get some, shoot blanks.

Phone on the nerd utility belt: saturday nights with the syfy channel.

Money buys the smartphones that run linux?

and if you want to make money, don't go into scientific or game programming.

Various MS corporate products demand newer OS's. Sharepoint is one that comes to mind.