I will not use this type of service. It demotes people’s employment options in favour of the lowest cost. This is a drive to mediocre service. I don’t want Google having access to this data (who I am, what I eat, how often I come) and sharing it with governments, social engineer groups, and other entities it stops now.

You forgot to add to the ‘worse that can happen’:

Crippling taxation to pay for green initiatives
Energy poverty - impacts low income people greatly - doubling and tripling of energy bills to cover green infrastructure requirements (e.g. seniors can only afford two: eat, shelter, or power)
Food price increases to cover new infrastructure (e.g. business have to pass along the increased distribution costs)
Food choice reducing as food inherently becomes local (e.g. no longer affordable to see fruits and vegetables shipped long distance year round) - this one may be good as it encourages investment in local infrastructure but get used to no more exotic stuff like pineapples and bananas (let alone stuff from out of country)

I’ve seen comments about them not wanting to give up their strong presence and want a financial partner. Thing is, who gives money without something in return? Something significant if they cannot finance the money themselves.

Need better leadership and accountants?

Indeed. Excel is not a database, but it is used like it. No communication, no double-checking, no integrity on the summation of data.

And what kind of spreadsheet are they building that has more than 1,048,576 rows and/or 16,384 columns?

I thoroughly enjoyed BF3 & 4, especially 4. I was hoping for a modern or futurist era update for multiplayer. BF1 was a good game and I did play it for a while.

I went back to BF4 to continue. If/when a viable modern or futurist BF equivalent comes out, I'll give it a go.

It is good for iOS, Android, or web. Passwords available offline or online. Documents online. Can enable two factor authentication - send SMS to phone.
http://securesafe.com/
Really good product and very happy with it.

Like most big companies, HP is running out of new CEOs to find 'problems' to correct to 'explain' lack of profit to shareholders. What is fundamentally wrong is that in any given market, costs are likely to go up over time. You cannot sell the same product for the same price over quarters or even years. Technically you get around this by either introducing 'new' products with 'new' features or you pad some aspects of your business from other aspects.

HP has been cutting employee benefits and salaries for going on a decade now. Every quarter they cut to make the profit for the shareholders. At some point this needs a reckoning. That is likely going to be in the near future. The company needs to be split into different divisions to slough off the unproductive components - e.g. IBM getting rid of its computers and laptops division.

You can't be everything to everyone. If you try, you end up disappointing everyone. A CEO can only do so much and good employees will only stay so long until they are forced to find an alternative to save their sanity.

I want to know how many NOC and IT folks are in that study... Perhaps a disproportionate amount?

World backup day? How about world test your restore day? All the backups in the world don't mean anything unless you test your restores and know your data.

Try the opposite side of things. I am in what I thought is a good position. I am highly skilled both technically and in the soft skills. Yet all I see is hesitant businesses testing the waters. They pull the pin then pull back. Extremely frustrating. I would like to have a good full time job right now but the proper opportunity has not presented itself. It seems like barriers have been thrown up by business/HR to prevent normal discourse.

True, companies are not mentoring like they used to. This meant a lot to the continuity of the professions. It was a method of giving back and to everyone else. Businesses which don't mentor or give back are just consuming resources. You have to be the judge of that opportunity. I pray I don't have to make that decision to work for a questionable company.

I think businesses are way over thinking their various aspects. Too much analysis means over think. Over think gets you nowhere and wastes money.

Good luck in your search. At some point, if you have the proper work ethic and attitude, your worth will be accepted with open arms.

I second using Tamrac. Had mine for three or four years now. I've put small and large laptops in as well as magazines and iPads. It holds my lenses plus binocs, power cables, etc.

It does get weighty though. It's a good traveling backpack if you have a decent back. If you are not planning to take "everything" where you go, go with a nice small roller for plane trips (holds your laptop and other accessories) and a small shoulder pack for your body and a couple lenses. It really depends how you are going to look at your whole trip.

Keys are supposed to be secure. If you really need it, keep a few critical ones on a small keychain in your pocket and secondary ones on another in a less secure place such as bag, man-purse, etc.