Everyone knows "hacker" == "technology + evil" and it gets more play than a headline that reads "Accountant Office Burglarized: Romney Tax Returns Stolen"

The inconsistency of their agents has to be the most annoying thing. In Dallas a few weeks ago they were uniformly polite and efficient. In Oklahoma City they tend to be pretty good as well. In Charlotte they like to pretend they are Gestapo agents and in In Fort Lauderdale they are crass and unobservant (had a new bottle of gel toothpaste in my carry-on that went unnoticed because they were too busy bitching about the phone charger and camera clumped together) in smaller airports they tend to fumble around a lot. I flew out of Washington National a few years ago with my 8 inch dive knife in my carry-on (by accident.)

I think TSA satisfaction would increase if the airlines hadn't turned the security checkpoint into a baggage checkpoint. The volume of luggage going through the system slows everything down and creates more hassle, which is communicated to the passengers. Flying is no longer a luxury in most cases, it's a necessity. As such the airlines really don't care about providing customer service, they only try to avoid liability. This touches everyone who participates in the system.

My family currently has 5 smartphones and a MiFi - about 1200 minutes on a calling plan, unlimited texting and data on everything. (an OLD plan) If we convert to one of the new bucket plans and allocate enough extra data to cover estimated monthly usage we *might* save $10 per month, but we would also be giving up a device (the MiFi) since tethering would be included for the smartphones. In short, we'd essentially pay the same and get less for it. No thanks!

How is this "heartless" - as previously stated, people are purchasing books at a price that the seller has deemed fair and are moving them to another market where they have identified the potential to make a profit. Since when did it become taboo to make a fair profit? If they're willing to search out the books and put forth the effort then they're certainly entitled to reaping benefit for their efforts. It's called work. I find the concept inspiring; here's someone who identified an opportunity and is using it to earn money without taking advantage of anyone.

If I donate to the library for their sale it is for several reasons. 1) Recycling the books 2) Providing the library a source of revenue 3) Hoping that someone else will derive enjoyment from something that I have previously possessed. If there's a 2a) inserted by a third party it has not diminished any of the reasons I had and actually adds an additional benefit. All of the statements about the outlets using technology to maximize their profits are well taken, but there are explicit and implicit costs to the application of this technology and the cost/benefit may not merit the effort as compared to pricing them by an algorithm.

No Starch Press has been known to do ok with their authors.

The 'me' decade (the 1980s) saw a similar set of expectations (maybe couched differently and with more pastel fashion, but essentially an entitlement gap emerged). I suspect what is being observed now is the same type of pop culture fallout to some degree.

...some of the more stellar behaviors I have seen over the years;

- No knowledge of actual standards (including refusal to believe in almost any Open Source options, the only one he agrees to is the MySQL boxen because he has no choice)
- No actual technical knowledge. Claims to have been in management so long, its all antiquated. To which I wonder how you can be useful as anything other than a glorified secretary if you do not actually understand anything about your operating environment.
- Fixation on paperwork-generating processes as a crutch against ineptitude and poor planning.
- Completely devoid of a spine, and buckles like wet cardboard under any pressure from the COO, who is the only person more staggeringly incompetent than he is.
- Is having an affair with the director of HR (possibly as a job-saving measure).

If you cannot actually do your job, I suppose your next best thing is to posture and be project your stupidity as some kind of avant-garde performance art.