How about...

"if someone would convince people to quit hiding in civilian neighborhoods, homes, crowds, etc., we'd be quite happy to not inflict collateral damage in the process of killing those people."

There, all bias removed.... poor grammar remains intact.

As a long term contractor, I always suggest the 7/12 paradigm.

7 days, 12 hours per day is about 105 hours of billable time. Work a week, take 2 weeks off.

Getting over time on its own is a pain in the ass these days... takes the fun out of contracting.

Seriously, who would spend $4k+ on a pre-built monster machine.

When you can piece one together yourself for less than half the price.

Nothing can cause a sprint unemployment (and off shoring) like the overly inflated wages cause by modern day unions.

We already have federal wage restrictions (Though this should be localized, its not like the COL is constant across the land). And years of inflated wages, cause by various factors not the least of which is unionized industrial work forces (and you wonder why they were the first to get shipped over seas?), has caused a proportionately disproportional increase in the cost of living (Consumer based market is fine, when prices aren't based on the intangibles, but people just gotta have that 60 GB MP3 player ...).

We all need to be willing to spend less money, so that we can earn less money and still be fine... Seriously, 1 less bottle of whiskey a week is 50 cents an hour.

It will drive all non commodity based costs down!
Parts stay the same, labor goes down, prices go down. Life is good, and no one actually needs a 60 GB MP3 player. And has the added benefit of avoiding socialism ...

Trimming the fat should help too ... (management costs).

This is all a trade system, somethings only worth X when people are willing to pay X. This goes for everything from rent, insurance, through bananas and ipods.

Someone should remind the world that supply and demand are supposed to define prices, including wages. 250k technical graduates, annually to fill 100k technical jobs ... but by jove, we need those HP1Bs to fill out our workforce.

Don't get me started on our education system in this country, cause its a nice built up framework to help persist this travesty.

Logic ...

Doesn't matter what you want to do, if you can't define a logical progression of states, you can't get anywhere in programming.

High level math class is all any person needs ... the syntax only takes a couple weeks/months to master.

Best practices for coding is really just a matter of opinion. Any paradigm that is preformed cleanly and consistently is fine.

I can only see good possibilities for this.

As long as a proper framework is put together, you can avoid any major pitfalls. Its basically just another VM ... ?

Its a pretty large step in terms of making virtual web based OS's have value, which is something Google is going for, no?

I can foresee the end of client side applications.

I know it may seem surprising, but that book is the definitive source to neural networks, written by the developer of back prorogation network training (the definitive training mechanism for NN).

All other things, don't really matter quite as much, as they are more "case study" and specific. Not really informative in the classical sense, or in the general sense.

The only thing you have to know is proofing your inputs is the entire joke.

NN in general is just a nonlinear black box modeling system (combinations of S-cruves more often then not). If you want really in depth understanding of these concepts, avoid NN classes at first, and go toward control system and decision sciences. I assume since your a PHD candidate you can probably breeze by the bitter beginnings, and get to optimal control quickly, and then to fanciful things such as adaptive systems, and nonlinear systems, and their control theories.

This will give you a damn good basis on the real world of modeling and control. Most importantly, the mathematical and physical aspects of what you are doing.

None of this will really help you with AI; last I heard NN's were no longer being seen as a feasible solution.

... doesn't mean the product sucks.

If you are really united, start up a software contract firm, and offer your services to your current employer. Since you have the product knowledge already.

It can be a win/win if you set things up cleanly and correctly. They will spend less money, because they don't have the general employee overhead (Easily double your salary). And you can make more money (Though, you will have to finance your own benefits).

If they say no, well then, your still a contract software firm, and as long as you didn't burn any bridges during your coup, you still have a descent advertise-able resume, and industry connections of sorts.

Its a great addon ... and has been around for over a year.

Basing an entire browser on the concept ... is absurd for anything beyond development.

Honestly.

Aside from a fairly large infrastructure with fairly extreme security concerns.

Can an IT department budget ever be justified for a small-medium company? One small IT department could likely administer several small-medium companies.

Are you doing anything the guy next to you can't do if he weren't just surfing the net on the light side of the firewall? How many of those certifications/degrees are you actually using? Are you doubling up on job titles? (You know, do you setup meeting rooms, act as an all-purpose-help desk, sweep the floors ... something to keep you busy yet productive.)

Perhaps I've just had poor experiences with IT departments in general. Though the one at the FFRDC I worked at was top notch, so it could just be a comparative disappointment. Or it's based on the reality that the average company doesn't actually know what an IT department does, or should be doing, so they hire worms that managed to memorize a book long enough to pass a test and then serve to do nothing but screw up and then fix the network in a vicious cycle of fail that somehow serves to justify their existence.

Well ... its more or less true.

Clinton administration did the failed trade agreements, NAFTA and China. Resulting in the slow off-shoring of most industrial, and now light technology work.

Clinton reduced regulations on financial houses to encourage sub-prime style lending to improve lower income family status ... by letting them go even further into debt... without any oversight to prevent this massive implosion we see before us.

Of course, the first Bush put us in a position where those agreements could be sighted, but he wasn't around to sign them, iirc.

And of course, knowing this, and seeing it happen ... the more recent Bush did nothing to stop it.

Presidents in general have little power outside of the veto. It takes the legislature to really screw up a country. The fact that any incumbents won this time around ... really makes me even more disillusioned ... we're running our own country in to the ground ... and its almost like we are applauding it ... wtf.

I blame new-media. Too many retards believe the 90% bullshit they say ...

I also blame education in this country ... too many retards in general are voting. Seriously, I hate European anything, but why in gods green earth is their citizenry more educated.

I also blame everyone under 35, because we are retarded, biased, and easily persuaded by off the cuff-pseudo-facts, without care to actually find the truth for ourselves.

I also blame our campaign process. It forces the pseudo-two-party system with the illusion of multiple candidates. It'll take a lot of reform, that no one in government would support, to actually make the process more "fair". More people running for office, the more real issues to be discussed. Sporadic third party candidates ... they are only crazy because no one in their right mind would run against the big two and expect to win these days. Of course, this is all at fault from the 70's and 80's elections, when both parties went and expelled half their basis to defined the parties as they are today. (Conservative big government spenders, with either ultra conservative(R), or near-ultra conservative(D) social values.)