I remember back in the day, going through the Ultima games, redesigning the maps, redrawing the cities, changing all the dialogue... all with a hex editor. It took us a while to figure out a key for what the hex values corresponded to in the game, but once we had that down, the rest was pure coding joy.
Heh... we had some fun doing that... you wouldn't have recognized the games by the time we were done with them. Unfortunately, this was in the BBS days, so there was no "net" on which to post our mods... lost to history.
I was not sea-based during the campaign in Afghanistan, but the Brits soldiers I knew then didn't seem to like the BBC much either.
And it wasn't just the BBC... I'd sit around with my fellow soldiers and airmen and watch CNN et al, marveling at how wrong they could get a story. Now, in fairness to them, a lot of our units were "quiet professionals" who valued discretion highly... you ex-military people know what I'm talking about here.
Even in Iraq, the coverage is not representative, including coverage by the much-derided foxnews. How do I know? I still have friends in the military on the ground there, including some grunt-level MPs in several branches of service (I know them from my law enforcement background). Half the time they won't even watch the news, because they get so disgusted watching it. Upon asking them their viewpoints, they reiterated to me that the lion's share of the Iraqi people love us, are glad we're there, and don't want us to leave.
Why do I mistrust CNN/BBC/FOX/NBC/ABC? Because I've seen the news media get it wrong, and because I trust a grunt on the ground before I trust a reporter drinking martinis in a hotel.
Most fertilizer is some kind of nitrate (NO3)... ammonium nitrate, etc. High explosives, such as the type commonly used in munitions, are actually N02 compounds, rather than simple nitrates. The nitrates/nitrites are often used in explosives as the oxidizing agent, sometimes in an internal REDOX reaction, sometime to oxidize an additional reagent. As a fertilizer bomb example, the explosive used in the OK city bombing was basically ANFO (acronym for Ammonium Nitrate and Fuel Oil). It's an explosive agent commonly used in mining, and has a lower brisance rating than most military explosives. Brisance refers to the shattering power of a given explosive, and has to do with the speed or rate of deflagration. ANFO is relatively slow compared to some other agents, and military explosive can be much faster: For instance, if you were a combat engineer taking down concrete bridge pilings, you'd want to take advantage of a faster agent to shatter the concrete, rather than a a slower agent that tends to "burn", rather than rapidly detonate.
For example, Tritonol (trade name for the common explosive TNT, or 2,4,6-TrinitroToluene) is three nitro groups on a Benzene ring (a CH3 group at the number 1 position makes the base molecule Toluene, rather than conventional benzene). A certain percentage of TNT is actually DNT, since the compound deteriorates over time and loses a Nitro Group (becoming 2,4-DiNitroToluene. It takes some work to actually produce a high yield of TNT during the manufacturing process, rather than DNT... progressive deactivation of the ring occurs with addition of multiple N02 groups, though you can manipulate reaction conditions to push the reaction to completion.
Another example would be the Picrate compounds... used during WWI. They are not used much anymore... too hazardous to handle. Picric Acid is chemically very close to TNT, except it's 2,4,6-TrinitroPhenol (think of TNT with the CH3 group exchanged for an alcohol, or OH group, making the base molecule Phenol, rather than Toluene).
The study of high explosives is actually quite fascinating... particularly when you get into the physics of the blast waves themselves. Hang out with bomb or EOD guys if you get the chance; they're geeks with high explosives.
A personal recommendation helps, but you don't have the "right stuff"(TM), you need to be shown the door.
What if everybody gave out recommendations saying "Hey, this guy is awesome"?
What you are talking about is a form of grade inflation, and it occasionally crops up in medicine as well... I've seen it happen in a document that virtually every residency program requires: the Dean's letter. I've heard of medical schools sending out uniformly outstanding Dean's letters for every student... the only perceptible difference being that some are just a bit more outstanding than others. Some medical schools fear litigation if they pan anyone (even if they deserve it), and some are trying to defend their school's reputation as one of producing quality students.
For example, I know of one school that took almost 8 years to graduate a student (normal course of study is four years), and only allowed that student to graduate because both parents were attorneys and threatened to sue. Luckily, no residency program offered that student a slot, so that student will never touch a patient... at least somebody finally did the right thing.
In medicine, numbers usually get you as far as the interview (a personal recommendation seals the deal)... but that's it. After that, it's all on you. Med schools receive hundreds, sometimes thousands of applications, and MCAT scores/GPA are immediately used to cull out the non-hackers, with personal interviews for the rest. Residencies do a similar winnowing with USMLE scores. My former program black-balled some very well-qualified (at least numbers-wise) candidates because they came across as arrogant, or abrasive... I know, because I was present at those meetings. Being a clinician requires a human side, so geniuses who are also abrasive jerks are a liability. When arrogant guys like that go into clinical medicine, they piss off patients, reinforce the "God complex" reputation of doctors in general, and feed the malpractice attorneys. IMHO, those people belong in research... not as clinicians.
Word of mouth is so important... it's so critical not to burn your bridges, or to gratuitously act like an ass. I could tell you story after story of that kind of slash-and-burn philosophy coming back to haunt people...
Network... but be qualified, and be a reasonable guy... that's all most employers want.
It's not just the trite "it's not what you know, it's who you know" philosophy... it goes deeper than that.
What can distinguish you from the clamoring masses, all wanting the same job or position? Personal recommendation... all the way. This is partially how I got a residency slot I wanted, and my current medical job.
I was offered a residency slot based on my qualifications, but also because a department chairman at my medical school was personal friends with the department chairman at the residency site. A letter of recommendation and a phone call later, and the residency site chairman personally came to my interview, asked for me by name out of a room full of faceless medical students (talk about some envious glances... competition can be cutthroat in medicine), thanked me for applying, and told me to thanks his buddy for calling ahead (I knew about the letter, but that was the first I knew of the phone call).
My current job was offered to me long after I applied... my current director approached a mutual acquaintance from my residency program, and asked him about me. His response? "pure gold... you should hire him yesterday." (I don't know about that "pure gold" part... he may have oversold me a bit...).
The point remains... you can be qualified and never be hired if you get lost in the resume` shuffle... but that networking, word-of-mouth contact is money in the bank.
Also, the employer is understandably hedging his bets by not hiring someone sight-unseen, who may or may not play well with others, who may or may not be dishonest, etc, etc... personal confirmation of a person's claimed credentials/ability is key. And for those of you who think this is somehow wrong, we're talking about a good word from a friend, not someone's daddy getting him a job that he's totally unqualified to do. I despise nepotism as much as anyone.
Never, never underestimate the value of a friend...
I know some people don't find asians attractive (I, for one, do), but what's wrong with that model?
This is the second "Look at that dog-ugly ch1x0r" thread I've gotten mixed up in this week... what ever happened to the sensitive, non-judgemental geek? I mean c'mon... we all tout our own inner beauty, because not all of us are Tom Cruise... I'm sure as hell not... but what happened to practicing what we preach?
Many of the forensic program suites out there are designed to basically "ghost" an image of the suspect system's hard drive, particularly because it also theoretically copies "hidden" data, and data in the slack space. EnCase does this, if memory serves.
Simply copying the filesystem isn't enough... you need a bit-for-bit copy of the hard drive, not only to gather all the evidence, but to have that evidence hold up in court. If your copy is not exact (and reproducable), your evidence can be challenged, and you can lose it. That alone is one good reason to leave the suspect hard drive untouched and simply ghost an image... if the defense demands another analysis, you can hand over the original drive and say "be my guest, monkeyboy"
I've never known a law enforcement agency that routinely wiped drives.
Did you even look at the rest of the pictures in that gallery? Some people simply don't photograph well at times... there are other pictures of her on that site where she is quite attractive.
Besides, who cares? This man is apparently married to a woman who shares a rather arcane interest; that of making star wars costumes.
Have you any idea how rare a find a woman like that is? To find a woman who is into something that obscure, single, willing to marry (not to mention willing to marry you), and isn't a reclusive nutcase?
Listen, dating for looks alone is fine... did it myself for a few years. However, the percentage of those "hot" women who either had problems, emotional scars, or outright personality disorders was quite high... perhaps from being hunted like an 18-point buck from puberty onward. It took me until almost my 30's to find the perfect woman, and I married her as fast as I could (I tried to elope after two weeks, but she wanted a wedding... oh well.)
Everyone should be as lucky as that man. I think he chose wisely... mod him +5 insightful.
That's some nice detail work... note the actual hoses that go into the laser cannon on the side of the door... complete down to the "scorch marks" on the paint next to the muzzle.
Despite the fact that this car screams "cheesy," the attentino to detail is remarkable.
it all depends on where you are in the United States.
For instance, in the state of Ohio, it is perfectly legal for a woman to walk around in public topless... been that way for a few years. That comes straight from that state's supreme court.
It came as a result of some granola-type college students who were sunbathing topless and were arrested. They fought it all the way to the state supreme court, and argued (successfully) that if a man has the right to walk around shirtless in public, so does a woman.
The students in question were from this university and were sunbathing at this state park in southwestern Ohio. I have often wondered how the in-chamber discussion went amongst the predominately male supreme court when they were considering that decision...
You'd be amazed what goes on behind closed doors in that country, and what is tolerated at various foreign enclaves or compounds.
People are people, no matter where you go... they often have the same yearnings, and yes, that includes vices... take my word for it, the Saudis are NO exception, you just have to know where to go.
Perhaps this is difficult for you to understand, but Americans are extremely fond of speaking their minds... both in private, and public. In America, if I wanted to walk around in front of a catholic church with a blood-drenched picture of the pope, accusing him of horrible crimes, I could do it (not that I would, but you get the idea). In Saudi Arabia, that could get you beheaded.
I would not want to force my wife to wear something she didn't agree with, particularly something that is required by a religion we don't practice, that ostensibly puts her in a subservient position. I consider women to be my equal in virtually everything, excepting perhaps physical size and strength. I have a problem with subjecting my wife to possible humiliation, interrogation, and virtual imprisonment just to make a few bucks.
Judging by the reaction of muslims when their women are prohibited from wearing veils in schools and drivers license photographs, it's obvious you can appreciate my point. You don't like being forced, and neither do I.
As for being courteous and polite, that goes both ways... you could expect my politeness to end, with extreme prejudice, the moment some muttawa religious policeman tried to strike my wife with his stick because he could see skin above her ankles in public. All cultural differences aside, if you strike a man's wife in front of him, you'd better be prepared for the consequences, whether you're Saudi or American.
Call me an ugly american if you want, but I have a problem with asking my wife to live in an environment like that, even for a year or two... I simply have too much respect for her.
to work in Saudi Arabia, and after some thought, elected not to do so. I spent some time there during a military stint, and had the opportunity to interact with a number of Saudis (in the medical field, which is what I would have been doing there).
I discussed the job possibility with my wife (the money was very, very good), but her life would have taken a dramatic turn for the worse in that country. Women there (particularly foreign, christian women) do NOT have the same rights as men. Among other things, you can be detained by the religious police (different from the regular police) if you are a female out in public, not accompanied by at least one male relative. Not wearing an abayah (female headgear) in public is asking for trouble.
I should point out that lots of westerners live in walled compounds, so you don't really have to interact with the regular population if you don't really want to... but who wants to be cooped up in a walled compound for a year or two? The security we had at our military base was ridiculous (and necessary), and the compounds did not have the same level of security. Remember those car bomb attacks in Riyadh last year? They wouldn't have stood a snowball's chance at our military compound... that's the kind of security I'm talking about.
It's a very different culture, and a tough environment to walk into as a freedom-loving american... despite the excellent cash compensation. You really have to bite your tongue, be polite, keep your opinions to yourself, and be a gracious guest. Saudi justice is not american justice (in court, if it's a muslim's word against a christian's word, the christian can lose automatically) You're NOT a citizen there, and if you forget that detail, you can get yourself in serious trouble.
Good money, and I'm sure they could use a few geeks... but know what you're getting yourself into. Lots of TCNs (third country nationals) work there... Britts, French, etc, and some of them seemed to like it... but it wasn't for me.
I just built a computer for a guitar-playing colleague who uses his box to mix/record music professionally. It's a well-cooled P4 (with 2gigs of pc3200, CL2 RAM to hold some of the larger samples)... but he had to disable some of the fans because his musical ear could pick up the white noise in the background of his recordings.
I agree... professional audiophiles will pay that amount easily. In my experience, when someone does music for a living, their ear is often able to pick out those subtle imperfections in a recording. For an environment/person like that, noisy fans are a liability.
I sometimes come here for the articles... but also, as you rightly mentioned, for the conversation.
Seriously... if you can sort the wheat from the chaff, you can learn things here. Even as a terminally-degreed professional, I find this website valuable (I also double-check facts to be sure they're not BS). The level of expertise of the people that regularly read and participate here is substantial (and the trolls simply make for cheap, lowbrow entertainment... thanks guys!).
Believe it or not, you can also meet people... I've found I'm not the only healthcare professional (physician) who reads slashdot; I've met other docs, paramedics, radiation technologists, etc... all of whom have expanded my knowledge about various topics. The non-medical hard-core EE/code/kernel geeks have led me to good books, websites, and reference works on non-medical technical subjects.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I love this place, trolls and all.
I keep an eye on my wireless subnet with a separate box running kismet... tells me everything I need to know.
Heh... it also told me immediately the first time my neighbor fired up his brand-spanking-new access point. I went over to his house (where he was washing his car) and asked him if he'd gotten a new AP for christmas? (nod) a Linksys? (another nod) running on channel 6? (confused look and another nod)... I briefly explained wireless network surveillance/network sniffers, and gave him some basic tips on WEP, disabling SSID broadcasting, and MAC address filtering. He thinks I'm some kind of hacker now... got a feeling I'll be getting some "tech support" calls from their place...
Works for me, and it's free... works well with the prism2-based cards. I bought a bunch of these: and they work great with the wlan drivers.
I think English is not this gentleman's native tongue... I've read several of his posts (Mensa membership.sig and all), and they are always rife with spelling, grammar, and syntax errors.
Note: when bragging about your intelligence in an adopted language, it pays to actually be adept with that language... otherwise, whether you intend to or not, you'll provide amusement and provoke snide comments from the native speakers.
Perhaps the.sig is simply there as a backhanded attempt at a troll... it certainly provokes a response from virtually everyone.
Right, because as CEO of his own company, he has nothing better to do than contribute to Slashdot on a daily basis
Nobody said anything about daily participation... but an account that's at least a year old, with only six posts, all of which plug his product?
Next jacket I need, this company gets serious consideration
Good for you... though for my own part, were I using slashdot as criteria for buying a product, I'd probably be more likely to buy from a guy with a longer posting history... but that's just me.
Not that tr0lling slashdot makes you a better person... it might actually make you a worse person, depending on how you post. For instance, would you buy something from a GNAA troll? The Penis birdman? the Goatsex guy? A long posting history can give you a better feel for how a person thinks, believes, or reacts... If I were to use slashdot to help me make a decision about buying a product, I'd be more likely to buy from Bruce Perens than Sir Haxalot (never met either guy, but I must say Perens gets the nod, if I'm going on nothing but their posts).
If the guy is trying to win over the geek community, he could start in a lot worse places than slashdot. However, geeks are pretty cynical, and notoriously suspicious of anything that smacks of marketing-speak. Here's a good example: how many times have you absolutely laughed out loud at those OSDN personals ads? C'mon... admit it... you see right through that stuff, just like 90+% of the Slashdot readership. I've never attempted to sell anything here (sales is not my line of work), but you'd be hard-pressed to find a tougher, more-cynical crowd... I'd think it would take serious geek cred to sell anything in this forum... and the only way to get that cred is to be
1. tech elite
2. famous/infamous
3. build it up the hard way by posting early/insightfully/entertainingly/often.
I give him a big thumbs up
Well... I don't know about that... I'll give him a small thumbs up.
I did NOT call Mr. Jordan a bad person... if you read my posts, I specifically stated that I would NOT blackball him.
My caution is to those who would swoon over his company's products because the CEO has a slashdot account. In his half-dozen posts, he's simply plugging his product. Not that plugging your product is bad... this man clearly has a business to run, and I'm not an anti-corporate communist like some/. readers. If his product is good, the market will bear it out.
However, the fact that he has a slashdot account shouldn't make anyone rush out and buy a jacket, particularly when his account has been very sparsely used, and almost entirely for advertising. I think my exhortation to exercise a little caution is reasonable, not ridiculous.
His product may rock... but getting excited simply because the CEO reads slashdot? Heh... by that criteria, I'd still be using windows.
My grasp of English was far more worser than it is now
Heh... well, OK... at least you're trying.
My primary point with the original poster is that he might want to avoid looking like a dunce in the same post where he trumpets his intellect. I don't have a problem with Mensa folks... but boasting about your membership is generally considered crass and obnoxious.
Far be it from me to discourage someone from picking up a second (or third, or fourth) language... but if english is not his native tongue, he might consider writing his self-aggrandizing Mensa sig in the language where he (presumably) has mastery, or leaving it off entirely. If not, he runs the risk of native english-speaking bozos like me chuckling over it. I speak a some german and spanish... but I'd never presume to brag about my intelligence in those languages... the native speakers wouldn't be able to stop laughing long enough to correct my grammar.
Slashdot Mirror
That's exactly how we did it.
I remember back in the day, going through the Ultima games, redesigning the maps, redrawing the cities, changing all the dialogue... all with a hex editor. It took us a while to figure out a key for what the hex values corresponded to in the game, but once we had that down, the rest was pure coding joy.
Heh... we had some fun doing that... you wouldn't have recognized the games by the time we were done with them. Unfortunately, this was in the BBS days, so there was no "net" on which to post our mods... lost to history.
I was not sea-based during the campaign in Afghanistan, but the Brits soldiers I knew then didn't seem to like the BBC much either.
And it wasn't just the BBC... I'd sit around with my fellow soldiers and airmen and watch CNN et al, marveling at how wrong they could get a story. Now, in fairness to them, a lot of our units were "quiet professionals" who valued discretion highly... you ex-military people know what I'm talking about here.
Even in Iraq, the coverage is not representative, including coverage by the much-derided foxnews. How do I know? I still have friends in the military on the ground there, including some grunt-level MPs in several branches of service (I know them from my law enforcement background). Half the time they won't even watch the news, because they get so disgusted watching it. Upon asking them their viewpoints, they reiterated to me that the lion's share of the Iraqi people love us, are glad we're there, and don't want us to leave.
Why do I mistrust CNN/BBC/FOX/NBC/ABC? Because I've seen the news media get it wrong, and because I trust a grunt on the ground before I trust a reporter drinking martinis in a hotel.
Most fertilizer is some kind of nitrate (NO3)... ammonium nitrate, etc. High explosives, such as the type commonly used in munitions, are actually N02 compounds, rather than simple nitrates. The nitrates/nitrites are often used in explosives as the oxidizing agent, sometimes in an internal REDOX reaction, sometime to oxidize an additional reagent. As a fertilizer bomb example, the explosive used in the OK city bombing was basically ANFO (acronym for Ammonium Nitrate and Fuel Oil). It's an explosive agent commonly used in mining, and has a lower brisance rating than most military explosives. Brisance refers to the shattering power of a given explosive, and has to do with the speed or rate of deflagration. ANFO is relatively slow compared to some other agents, and military explosive can be much faster: For instance, if you were a combat engineer taking down concrete bridge pilings, you'd want to take advantage of a faster agent to shatter the concrete, rather than a a slower agent that tends to "burn", rather than rapidly detonate.
For example, Tritonol (trade name for the common explosive TNT, or 2,4,6-TrinitroToluene) is three nitro groups on a Benzene ring (a CH3 group at the number 1 position makes the base molecule Toluene, rather than conventional benzene). A certain percentage of TNT is actually DNT, since the compound deteriorates over time and loses a Nitro Group (becoming 2,4-DiNitroToluene. It takes some work to actually produce a high yield of TNT during the manufacturing process, rather than DNT... progressive deactivation of the ring occurs with addition of multiple N02 groups, though you can manipulate reaction conditions to push the reaction to completion.
Another example would be the Picrate compounds... used during WWI. They are not used much anymore... too hazardous to handle. Picric Acid is chemically very close to TNT, except it's 2,4,6-TrinitroPhenol (think of TNT with the CH3 group exchanged for an alcohol, or OH group, making the base molecule Phenol, rather than Toluene).
The study of high explosives is actually quite fascinating... particularly when you get into the physics of the blast waves themselves. Hang out with bomb or EOD guys if you get the chance; they're geeks with high explosives.
A personal recommendation helps, but you don't have the "right stuff"(TM), you need to be shown the door.
What if everybody gave out recommendations saying "Hey, this guy is awesome"?
What you are talking about is a form of grade inflation, and it occasionally crops up in medicine as well... I've seen it happen in a document that virtually every residency program requires: the Dean's letter. I've heard of medical schools sending out uniformly outstanding Dean's letters for every student... the only perceptible difference being that some are just a bit more outstanding than others. Some medical schools fear litigation if they pan anyone (even if they deserve it), and some are trying to defend their school's reputation as one of producing quality students.
For example, I know of one school that took almost 8 years to graduate a student (normal course of study is four years), and only allowed that student to graduate because both parents were attorneys and threatened to sue. Luckily, no residency program offered that student a slot, so that student will never touch a patient... at least somebody finally did the right thing.
In medicine, numbers usually get you as far as the interview (a personal recommendation seals the deal)... but that's it. After that, it's all on you. Med schools receive hundreds, sometimes thousands of applications, and MCAT scores/GPA are immediately used to cull out the non-hackers, with personal interviews for the rest. Residencies do a similar winnowing with USMLE scores. My former program black-balled some very well-qualified (at least numbers-wise) candidates because they came across as arrogant, or abrasive... I know, because I was present at those meetings. Being a clinician requires a human side, so geniuses who are also abrasive jerks are a liability. When arrogant guys like that go into clinical medicine, they piss off patients, reinforce the "God complex" reputation of doctors in general, and feed the malpractice attorneys. IMHO, those people belong in research... not as clinicians.
Word of mouth is so important... it's so critical not to burn your bridges, or to gratuitously act like an ass. I could tell you story after story of that kind of slash-and-burn philosophy coming back to haunt people...
Network... but be qualified, and be a reasonable guy... that's all most employers want.
It works in other fields as well.
It's not just the trite "it's not what you know, it's who you know" philosophy... it goes deeper than that.
What can distinguish you from the clamoring masses, all wanting the same job or position? Personal recommendation... all the way. This is partially how I got a residency slot I wanted, and my current medical job.
I was offered a residency slot based on my qualifications, but also because a department chairman at my medical school was personal friends with the department chairman at the residency site. A letter of recommendation and a phone call later, and the residency site chairman personally came to my interview, asked for me by name out of a room full of faceless medical students (talk about some envious glances... competition can be cutthroat in medicine), thanked me for applying, and told me to thanks his buddy for calling ahead (I knew about the letter, but that was the first I knew of the phone call).
My current job was offered to me long after I applied... my current director approached a mutual acquaintance from my residency program, and asked him about me. His response? "pure gold... you should hire him yesterday." (I don't know about that "pure gold" part... he may have oversold me a bit...).
The point remains... you can be qualified and never be hired if you get lost in the resume` shuffle... but that networking, word-of-mouth contact is money in the bank.
Also, the employer is understandably hedging his bets by not hiring someone sight-unseen, who may or may not play well with others, who may or may not be dishonest, etc, etc... personal confirmation of a person's claimed credentials/ability is key. And for those of you who think this is somehow wrong, we're talking about a good word from a friend, not someone's daddy getting him a job that he's totally unqualified to do. I despise nepotism as much as anyone.
Never, never underestimate the value of a friend...
I know some people don't find asians attractive (I, for one, do), but what's wrong with that model?
This is the second "Look at that dog-ugly ch1x0r" thread I've gotten mixed up in this week... what ever happened to the sensitive, non-judgemental geek? I mean c'mon... we all tout our own inner beauty, because not all of us are Tom Cruise... I'm sure as hell not... but what happened to practicing what we preach?
I see nothing unattractive there.
termodynamical?
You know, that reminds me of a comic strip I saw once...
"it's a trick, get an axe"? Link.
Yeah... Groovy.
Many of the forensic program suites out there are designed to basically "ghost" an image of the suspect system's hard drive, particularly because it also theoretically copies "hidden" data, and data in the slack space. EnCase does this, if memory serves.
Simply copying the filesystem isn't enough... you need a bit-for-bit copy of the hard drive, not only to gather all the evidence, but to have that evidence hold up in court. If your copy is not exact (and reproducable), your evidence can be challenged, and you can lose it. That alone is one good reason to leave the suspect hard drive untouched and simply ghost an image... if the defense demands another analysis, you can hand over the original drive and say "be my guest, monkeyboy"
I've never known a law enforcement agency that routinely wiped drives.
Did you even look at the rest of the pictures in that gallery? Some people simply don't photograph well at times... there are other pictures of her on that site where she is quite attractive.
Besides, who cares? This man is apparently married to a woman who shares a rather arcane interest; that of making star wars costumes.
Have you any idea how rare a find a woman like that is? To find a woman who is into something that obscure, single, willing to marry (not to mention willing to marry you), and isn't a reclusive nutcase?
Listen, dating for looks alone is fine... did it myself for a few years. However, the percentage of those "hot" women who either had problems, emotional scars, or outright personality disorders was quite high... perhaps from being hunted like an 18-point buck from puberty onward. It took me until almost my 30's to find the perfect woman, and I married her as fast as I could (I tried to elope after two weeks, but she wanted a wedding... oh well.)
Everyone should be as lucky as that man. I think he chose wisely... mod him +5 insightful.
That's some nice detail work... note the actual hoses that go into the laser cannon on the side of the door... complete down to the "scorch marks" on the paint next to the muzzle.
Despite the fact that this car screams "cheesy," the attentino to detail is remarkable.
it all depends on where you are in the United States.
For instance, in the state of Ohio, it is perfectly legal for a woman to walk around in public topless... been that way for a few years. That comes straight from that state's supreme court.
It came as a result of some granola-type college students who were sunbathing topless and were arrested. They fought it all the way to the state supreme court, and argued (successfully) that if a man has the right to walk around shirtless in public, so does a woman.
The students in question were from this university and were sunbathing at this state park in southwestern Ohio. I have often wondered how the in-chamber discussion went amongst the predominately male supreme court when they were considering that decision...
You'd be amazed what goes on behind closed doors in that country, and what is tolerated at various foreign enclaves or compounds.
People are people, no matter where you go... they often have the same yearnings, and yes, that includes vices... take my word for it, the Saudis are NO exception, you just have to know where to go.
(generally, $120,000 and up, plus signing bonus.)
Actually, it was more than that.
Perhaps this is difficult for you to understand, but Americans are extremely fond of speaking their minds... both in private, and public. In America, if I wanted to walk around in front of a catholic church with a blood-drenched picture of the pope, accusing him of horrible crimes, I could do it (not that I would, but you get the idea). In Saudi Arabia, that could get you beheaded.
I would not want to force my wife to wear something she didn't agree with, particularly something that is required by a religion we don't practice, that ostensibly puts her in a subservient position. I consider women to be my equal in virtually everything, excepting perhaps physical size and strength. I have a problem with subjecting my wife to possible humiliation, interrogation, and virtual imprisonment just to make a few bucks.
Judging by the reaction of muslims when their women are prohibited from wearing veils in schools and drivers license photographs, it's obvious you can appreciate my point. You don't like being forced, and neither do I.
As for being courteous and polite, that goes both ways... you could expect my politeness to end, with extreme prejudice, the moment some muttawa religious policeman tried to strike my wife with his stick because he could see skin above her ankles in public. All cultural differences aside, if you strike a man's wife in front of him, you'd better be prepared for the consequences, whether you're Saudi or American.
Call me an ugly american if you want, but I have a problem with asking my wife to live in an environment like that, even for a year or two... I simply have too much respect for her.
Some things are more important than money.
to work in Saudi Arabia, and after some thought, elected not to do so. I spent some time there during a military stint, and had the opportunity to interact with a number of Saudis (in the medical field, which is what I would have been doing there).
I discussed the job possibility with my wife (the money was very, very good), but her life would have taken a dramatic turn for the worse in that country. Women there (particularly foreign, christian women) do NOT have the same rights as men. Among other things, you can be detained by the religious police (different from the regular police) if you are a female out in public, not accompanied by at least one male relative. Not wearing an abayah (female headgear) in public is asking for trouble.
I should point out that lots of westerners live in walled compounds, so you don't really have to interact with the regular population if you don't really want to... but who wants to be cooped up in a walled compound for a year or two? The security we had at our military base was ridiculous (and necessary), and the compounds did not have the same level of security. Remember those car bomb attacks in Riyadh last year? They wouldn't have stood a snowball's chance at our military compound... that's the kind of security I'm talking about.
It's a very different culture, and a tough environment to walk into as a freedom-loving american... despite the excellent cash compensation. You really have to bite your tongue, be polite, keep your opinions to yourself, and be a gracious guest. Saudi justice is not american justice (in court, if it's a muslim's word against a christian's word, the christian can lose automatically) You're NOT a citizen there, and if you forget that detail, you can get yourself in serious trouble.
Good money, and I'm sure they could use a few geeks... but know what you're getting yourself into. Lots of TCNs (third country nationals) work there... Britts, French, etc, and some of them seemed to like it... but it wasn't for me.
We used to drive past that rocket whenever we would travel to visit family down in New Orleans.
It looks big in person... looked even bigger as a kid... truly an impressive sight.
I just built a computer for a guitar-playing colleague who uses his box to mix/record music professionally. It's a well-cooled P4 (with 2gigs of pc3200, CL2 RAM to hold some of the larger samples)... but he had to disable some of the fans because his musical ear could pick up the white noise in the background of his recordings.
I agree... professional audiophiles will pay that amount easily. In my experience, when someone does music for a living, their ear is often able to pick out those subtle imperfections in a recording. For an environment/person like that, noisy fans are a liability.
I sometimes come here for the articles... but also, as you rightly mentioned, for the conversation.
Seriously... if you can sort the wheat from the chaff, you can learn things here. Even as a terminally-degreed professional, I find this website valuable (I also double-check facts to be sure they're not BS). The level of expertise of the people that regularly read and participate here is substantial (and the trolls simply make for cheap, lowbrow entertainment... thanks guys!).
Believe it or not, you can also meet people... I've found I'm not the only healthcare professional (physician) who reads slashdot; I've met other docs, paramedics, radiation technologists, etc... all of whom have expanded my knowledge about various topics. The non-medical hard-core EE/code/kernel geeks have led me to good books, websites, and reference works on non-medical technical subjects.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I love this place, trolls and all.
I keep an eye on my wireless subnet with a separate box running kismet... tells me everything I need to know.
Heh... it also told me immediately the first time my neighbor fired up his brand-spanking-new access point. I went over to his house (where he was washing his car) and asked him if he'd gotten a new AP for christmas? (nod) a Linksys? (another nod) running on channel 6? (confused look and another nod)... I briefly explained wireless network surveillance/network sniffers, and gave him some basic tips on WEP, disabling SSID broadcasting, and MAC address filtering. He thinks I'm some kind of hacker now... got a feeling I'll be getting some "tech support" calls from their place...
Works for me, and it's free... works well with the prism2-based cards. I bought a bunch of these: and they work great with the wlan drivers.
Your mileage may vary, of course.
I think English is not this gentleman's native tongue... I've read several of his posts (Mensa membership .sig and all), and they are always rife with spelling, grammar, and syntax errors.
.sig is simply there as a backhanded attempt at a troll... it certainly provokes a response from virtually everyone.
Note: when bragging about your intelligence in an adopted language, it pays to actually be adept with that language... otherwise, whether you intend to or not, you'll provide amusement and provoke snide comments from the native speakers.
Perhaps the
Right, because as CEO of his own company, he has nothing better to do than contribute to Slashdot on a daily basis
Nobody said anything about daily participation... but an account that's at least a year old, with only six posts, all of which plug his product?
Next jacket I need, this company gets serious consideration
Good for you... though for my own part, were I using slashdot as criteria for buying a product, I'd probably be more likely to buy from a guy with a longer posting history... but that's just me.
Not that tr0lling slashdot makes you a better person... it might actually make you a worse person, depending on how you post. For instance, would you buy something from a GNAA troll? The Penis birdman? the Goatsex guy? A long posting history can give you a better feel for how a person thinks, believes, or reacts... If I were to use slashdot to help me make a decision about buying a product, I'd be more likely to buy from Bruce Perens than Sir Haxalot (never met either guy, but I must say Perens gets the nod, if I'm going on nothing but their posts).
If the guy is trying to win over the geek community, he could start in a lot worse places than slashdot. However, geeks are pretty cynical, and notoriously suspicious of anything that smacks of marketing-speak. Here's a good example: how many times have you absolutely laughed out loud at those OSDN personals ads? C'mon... admit it... you see right through that stuff, just like 90+% of the Slashdot readership. I've never attempted to sell anything here (sales is not my line of work), but you'd be hard-pressed to find a tougher, more-cynical crowd... I'd think it would take serious geek cred to sell anything in this forum... and the only way to get that cred is to be
1. tech elite
2. famous/infamous
3. build it up the hard way by posting early/insightfully/entertainingly/often.
I give him a big thumbs up
Well... I don't know about that... I'll give him a small thumbs up.
I did NOT call Mr. Jordan a bad person... if you read my posts, I specifically stated that I would NOT blackball him.
/. readers. If his product is good, the market will bear it out.
My caution is to those who would swoon over his company's products because the CEO has a slashdot account. In his half-dozen posts, he's simply plugging his product. Not that plugging your product is bad... this man clearly has a business to run, and I'm not an anti-corporate communist like some
However, the fact that he has a slashdot account shouldn't make anyone rush out and buy a jacket, particularly when his account has been very sparsely used, and almost entirely for advertising. I think my exhortation to exercise a little caution is reasonable, not ridiculous.
His product may rock... but getting excited simply because the CEO reads slashdot? Heh... by that criteria, I'd still be using windows.
lesse here... 1 Terabyte at USB 1.1 speeds.
1,000,000 megabytes / 1.5 megabytes per second... Divide results by 3600 (number of seconds in an hour)
Thinking, thinking...
Oh, about a week to back this drive up at USB 1.1 speeds. Heh... so much for your vacation plans.
My grasp of English was far more worser than it is now
Heh... well, OK... at least you're trying.
My primary point with the original poster is that he might want to avoid looking like a dunce in the same post where he trumpets his intellect. I don't have a problem with Mensa folks... but boasting about your membership is generally considered crass and obnoxious.
Far be it from me to discourage someone from picking up a second (or third, or fourth) language... but if english is not his native tongue, he might consider writing his self-aggrandizing Mensa sig in the language where he (presumably) has mastery, or leaving it off entirely. If not, he runs the risk of native english-speaking bozos like me chuckling over it. I speak a some german and spanish... but I'd never presume to brag about my intelligence in those languages... the native speakers wouldn't be able to stop laughing long enough to correct my grammar.
Just a thought.
but I might recommend a variant on the Army/Navy store tac vest... a photographer's vest.
You wouldn't believe how many pockets, clasps, D-rings, etc come on one of those.
I have one... love it.