I agree about the ThinkTank bags - I have 3 different ones for different circumstances, but they are extremely well-made bags. Very solid. Thom Hogan has an article on bags (http://bythom.com/bags.htm) which is quite good. But sticking with ThinkTank, LowePro, Kata, Tenba... you won't get a piece of garbage. You might not get the perfect bag for your purposes, but it won't be garbage.
I have been calling it TSA Theater for years, usually while I am in line, waiting to get groped while I anxiously watch to make sure someone doesn't make off with my laptop and cameras while I get me TSA crotch massage. And really, guys - I can put explosives in my Tevas?
I have one leg. When I travel, I wear shorts, cause it just makes things a little quicker - they usually just wave me into the little glass cubicle and mutter "male assist" into their shoulder. Then they explain to me that they are going to touch me as they pull on their rubber gloves (not the most reassuring of sequences). And then the fondling begins. And then they wipe down my hands and prosthesis with a swab and go check that out for explosive residue. Like I couldn't/wouldn't clean myself if I was a bomb maker.
For the record: All TSA employees have been courteous and polite, and many have had a sense of humor about it, laughing when I offer to just strip naked and let them run my clothes through their x-ray (which I will do if they ever say yes. I'm not proud). I have never had a negative experience from TSA - except for the actual experience, of course. Thankfully, cause I don't think I would sit very quietly for the kind of shit I hear about. Though there was that one time the fondling got a little too personal...
It's just theater, folks. They might catch the most stupid of terrorists (you know, the ones that actually answer yes when asked if they are carrying explosives?), but google "myth busters" and TSA to see how one of the MythBusters guys (Jamie?) accidentally took some really sharp blades onto an airline flight.
Sigh. It won't go away, though. Too much money being made by the private sector who build the machines, and contract the labor. Money talks, and we get fondled.
My current favorite thought about programming:
Always code as if the person responsible
for maintaining your code is a maniac
serial killer who knows where you live.
Too many coders forget that.
I actually like the guild idea myself. Good
programming is a bit of an art-form, a craft,
so why not a guild?
Slashdot Mirror
I agree about the ThinkTank bags - I have 3 different ones for different circumstances, but they are extremely well-made bags. Very solid. Thom Hogan has an article on bags (http://bythom.com/bags.htm) which is quite good. But sticking with ThinkTank, LowePro, Kata, Tenba... you won't get a piece of garbage. You might not get the perfect bag for your purposes, but it won't be garbage.
I have been calling it TSA Theater for years, usually while I am in line, waiting to get groped while I anxiously watch to make sure someone doesn't make off with my laptop and cameras while I get me TSA crotch massage. And really, guys - I can put explosives in my Tevas?
I have one leg. When I travel, I wear shorts, cause it just makes things a little quicker - they usually just wave me into the little glass cubicle and mutter "male assist" into their shoulder. Then they explain to me that they are going to touch me as they pull on their rubber gloves (not the most reassuring of sequences). And then the fondling begins. And then they wipe down my hands and prosthesis with a swab and go check that out for explosive residue. Like I couldn't/wouldn't clean myself if I was a bomb maker.
For the record: All TSA employees have been courteous and polite, and many have had a sense of humor about it, laughing when I offer to just strip naked and let them run my clothes through their x-ray (which I will do if they ever say yes. I'm not proud). I have never had a negative experience from TSA - except for the actual experience, of course. Thankfully, cause I don't think I would sit very quietly for the kind of shit I hear about. Though there was that one time the fondling got a little too personal...
It's just theater, folks. They might catch the most stupid of terrorists (you know, the ones that actually answer yes when asked if they are carrying explosives?), but google "myth busters" and TSA to see how one of the MythBusters guys (Jamie?) accidentally took some really sharp blades onto an airline flight.
Sigh. It won't go away, though. Too much money being made by the private sector who build the machines, and contract the labor. Money talks, and we get fondled.
Phillipe Jose Farmer? "To Your Scattered Bodies Go" - Bacitators!
oh man.... I can't believe you went there.
My current favorite thought about programming: Always code as if the person responsible for maintaining your code is a maniac serial killer who knows where you live. Too many coders forget that. I actually like the guild idea myself. Good programming is a bit of an art-form, a craft, so why not a guild?