Actually, I believe this will work. In my opinion, one of the reasons that driving in traffic sucks so hard is because of the limited amount of information the pilots of automobiles are able to pass to each other, because they are sealed up in big metal and glass boxes, limiting the information transfer to the use of a single-note horn, turn signals, headlights, and brake lights. If you are able to communicate to fellow drivers things like, "Excuse me, may I get in here?", this is a much more nuanced and information-rich set of information than a simple blinking indicator. Allowing for greater information-rich communication between cars on the road will, in my opinion lead to a more pleasant driving experience, because human interactions are heavily dependent on emotional cues, i.e. politeness.

Sometimes I wish there were no TLDs at all. They aren't really necessary. They actually make things worse, since any owner of a domain is forced to buy several TLD versions of their domain. They only make sense if you can actually enforce the meaning of the TLD, such as how .gov TLDs are enforced.

I am surprised that the infamous malfunction of the robotic cannon, Oerlikon GDF-005 in 2007 was not mentioned. This malfunction caused the robot cannon to wildly spray hundreds of high-explosive 0,5kg 35mm cannon shells around the firing range in a South African training exercise, killing 9 and wounding 14. To be fair, it was not clear if it was a software or mechanical glitch that caused the malfunction. In any case, this underscores the growing reliance on automated systems, and the life and death consequences. Could licensing for software developers - similar to that bestowed upon civil engineers - be far away?

Here's a good book on social and business networking (even for the shy): "Power Schmoozing" by Terri Mandell.

An excerpt:

1. Experience: self-educate in an emerging technology in your chosen field. You have the advantage of being unbiased to legacy practices. With an emerging technology, no one has experience. In today's world of cheap hardware and open-source software, it has never been easier for motivated people to find a way to contribute. Treat the learning process as an extended interview, including your project emails and contributions.

2. People: you're already at the bottom, nowhere to go but up. Don't further handicap yourself with low expectations, reality will be happy to reduce your expectations for you. Aim as high as you can imagine and work down as necessary. Rank the top ten companies or organizations (globally) with people who are experts in your chosen field. Identify some of these people by name and learn about their career path and current projects. Find a way to contribute to similar projects. Work backwards from their social network to your social network and try to have F2F conversations with local contacts who are best-of-breed.

3. Budgets: use your F2F contacts to obtain intelligence on budgets. In a poor economy with layoffs, the remaining people often have too much work to handle. Creative volunteering and compensation ideas can get you involved in real-world projects where the experience is worth 10X the dollar value comp. It all starts and ends with people, be they HR, managers or customers. So focus on being useful and building relationships with people. The most valuable information is often very transient (e.g. time sensitive hiring opportunities) and communicated only by word of mouth.

4. Recession: some of the best engineering creations have come from highly constrained environments. If you can be successful in an environment of fiscal discipline, you will only be more successful when boom times return. The same cannot be said for those who begin careers in boom times and are shocked by their first major downturn. There is no better time to start working than now. It doesn't mean you'll find a job quickly, but you will learn much more than by staying in school (which also costs money, even if deferred).

10 years from now, business schools will have course material dedicated to the lessons of these unprecedented economic times. New grads have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to experience the kind of business environment where fortunes will be lost and won, as economic hierarchies adjust. Don't miss the excitement by hiding in school!

July?