in spite of it all, amazing stuff has emerged 

recession has helped raise awareness of the value of data
(see nanog 2002-2003 meetings, nanog.org videoarchives) 
DNS:
damage in the DNS system 
BGP:
route dampening considered harmful (again)
behavior under stress (lixia et al)
non-deterministic routing can be demonstrated w/in full mesh topology
enhancements to prevent persistent route oscillations
partial order (due to MED) in route selection
MEDs prevent reasoning about routing policies 
though existing references encourage use of MEDs to influence inbound policies
how much are we facing limitations of distance vector protocol and inherent limitations of same
lots more examples
   upshot: environment more receptive to collaboration than ever