It's basically impossible to get a security clearance without having a need for one. Need meaning being in the armed forces or guard, or being employed by the gov or a gov contractor.
Don't worry too much about it, though. If you have good grades and skills, and haven't gotten into much legal trouble, it will be easy to get you Secret clearance. This article is focusing on Top Secret clearances, which are much, much more difficult to get (often requiring recurring polygraphs, random drug testing, and other weirdness).
If you really want to get a clearance, try to get a job with a gov. contractor (SAIC, MITRE, Booz Allen Hamilton, CSC, etc.), and they will work to get you cleared.
Good luck!
PS-Go with Booz, we got a nifty acronym- BAH! (sorry...)
I thought about jumping into the.com arena during the heyday, but I held back for some vague reasons. Sure, I only got my ok raises every year rather than huge bonuses and such, but I still have my job and have increased my income 50% in 4 years. I liked my job, I liked my coworkers, and I liked where I lived- why should I have jumped for the possible big gains? Turns out I was right, at least for my circumstances.
Some possible reasons why.comers won't go to government positions:
1) Less flexibility in hours and attitude.
2) Lots of military types in upper management.
3) Sensible business plans where everyone does NOT get $2000 chairs.
4) You actually have to work rather than just hype vapor.
5) You actually have to produce something, or provide a service, rather than just market yourself.
6) Generally need to have multiple skills in a variety of areas, rather than be _The Wizard_ in only one area.
7) MCSEs don't count as degrees in this line of work.
There's probably more, but this was just off the top of my head, and this is just my take from what I've seen of friends, coworkers, and acquaintances.
Re:The first Slashdot troll post investigation
on
KaZaa Suspends Downloads
·
· Score: -1, Offtopic
Un-fucking-believable!
+5 in my book, if only from what I've seen the editors do to this thread. At least twice, and maybe three times, some editor has been bitchslapping the ENTIRE THREAD down to -1. Mod totals are up to 105, with a net of +1! Couple hundred of responses, too.
I'm not posting AC, and will take the 3 pt. karma hit, just because I think this guy is right.
Damn straight. I screw with Wintel and Sun machines all day to make them do this or that, or occasionally fixing them when they blow up.
When I get home I don't want to have to even think about having to fix or configure (after intial config) my machine!
I don't want to reboot 3 times like I did at work that day, or have to reboot because I changed my IP address, or plugged in an USB devices which makes me reboot! Just work, damnit!
I don't know about you, but I would be plenty pleased to have a 256MB L2 cache!
Re:I resent the underlying sexism of your comment.
on
The Ultimate S.U.V.
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
What the hell is it about driving and cellphones that everyone is freaking out about? I agree that most people can't drive and use a cellphone, but I also believe that most people can't pick their nose and drive, either. I get this continual bitching that I talk on my cell (with headset) while driving. Does this also mean I should stop smoking while driving? Eating? Drinking coffee? Changing radio stations? Changing CDs? God forbid if I sneeze!
Can we agree that it is not the actual activity but generally the person who is to blame?
Re:I resent the underlying sexism of your comment.
on
The Ultimate S.U.V.
·
· Score: 1
Damn it!!!! Why can't I have mod points right now! +5 funny
I laughed so hard I shot my (not lit yet) cigarette half across the room. (I especially like that extra 1%!)
This really is a good analogy; some days I'm embarassed to check my _work_ email, since some company must have sold my email to some spammer. Bastards.
Support for Intel mPGA478 Pentium-4 400MHz FSB Processors up to 2.2GHz+.
Onboard AC'97 Audio with SoundMAX with SPX Technology and Microphone Pre-Amplifiers.
Two 184-pin memory slots with support for up to 2GB PC2100 (DDR266) SDRAM Memory.
4 External USB 1.1 Connections for added peripherals, with support for an additional 3 USB 1.1 connections.
Intel Active Monitor for monitoring of system temperatures, fan speeds, and power supply voltages.
1 1.5V AGP 4X/2X Port for Accelerated 3D Graphics.
6 32-Bit PCI Ports for added components.
Ultra ATA/100 Disk Support.
Onboard 82562ET Intel Pro/100 LAN
Features (Pentium-4 2.2GHz Processor)
Intel Net-Burst Micro-Architecture.
512KB Advanced Transfer Cache (L2) with 8-way associativity and Error Correcting Code (ECC).
System Bus Frequency at 400MHz.
Rapid Execution Engine: Arithmetic Logic Units (ALUs) run at twice the processor core frequency.
Hyper Pipelined Technology.
Advanced Floating-Point and Multimedia Unit (FPU) for enhanced video, audio, encryption and 3D performance.
144 enhanced Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 (SSE2) instructions.
Advanced Dynamic Execution
Power Management Capabilities
8KB Level 1 Data Cache
Optimized for 32-Bit applications running on advanced 32-Bit operating systems.
Yes, magnetic fields. Anti-matter is affected by magnetism. You just need to make sure that your storage chamber has a very hard vacuum, unless you want a stray dust molecule running into a bit of antimatter.
Damn right. My wife's family (easily uppper-lower class) never had a computer until they bought a stripped system for $25. I spent $200 in hardware to make it useable, and "borrowed" my office's Windows image CD (98 SE). Buying that OS would have doubled the amount of money I would have had to spend, most likely making it not feasible. Also, they are not likely Linux converts since they can barely handle email. As for the Internet access, until last month they kept switching from free provider (until it went bankrupt) to the next free provider. They had to finally suck it up and pay for the 'net when I couldn't find anymore free providers for them.
And the best part is my home Mac system is 7 years old and still quite useable under OS9. I swear that old, donated Macs would be the true answer to "bridging the digital divide". They just last. There is even a website devoted to old Macs, LowEndMac.com.
Probably OT- I really believe that music swapping increases CD sales (at least until Philips is done with 'em). Ancedotal- myself and several others just don't buy music anymore (could it be because current music sucks?!), unless we sample a few songs first. So we are now at the point were you download a few songs and (generally) buy the CD/DVD, or you just say fuck it.
Well, at least the poorer people will have something to burn when it gets cold in the winter. (What, the poorest of Belgium are going to have uses for a computer?! Give some NYC homeless guy a comp and he'll burn it or try to sell it.) Hope they don't die from the fumes.
Glad to see politicians from other countries are as clueless as ours.
I guess you mis-understood me: I meant that Futurama at 7pm on Sundays is a totally travesty. It would do so much better at almost any other time slot! Who the hell watches TV at 7pm on Sunday (much less 7pm anyday?!)?
It seems that over and over again networks put good, or at least promising, shows in awful spots or against established leaders. Hello? Put a good show in a dead spot (Thursday at 8 maybe, c'mon Survivor?!), let it build up an audience, then move it to a stronger slot.
Futurama at 7 on Sundays?! This show is as good, if not better than, the Simpsons, yet it flounders...
I went there, and there is a column on the right hand side with the word "Advertisement" at the top. All those links are ads, but it says so right at the top!
I agree with you choices of topics, except programming, since I'm not a programmer. It seems that good science stories have dried up recently.
Unless you've been in the military
on
The Drone War
·
· Score: 1
or have worked with the military, you just don't know what the hell you are talking about. No matter how many movies you watch, how many stories you read, how many interviews of Tom Clancy (ha) you watch, there is stuff that goes on behind the scenes and won't surface until much later.
Katz is a dimwit who knows jack about what he is talking about. Like a lot of the posts I've read.
Don't even bother flaming me, I DO know what I'm talking about. Wish I could tell you why.
The problem is that this site relies on the editors and readers to submit stories. If they don't find any good stories, then they submit 2nd rate ones.
If you have no news, you have to put something there, or you'd have/. not change for a couple of days sometimes.
Also, there is a group of people on/. who are privacy/legal/freedom freaks (I use that term affectionately). They _do_ care about this type of story.
Question- what kind of stuff would you like to see?
As for this story, as I stated above, the governments of this world are really ratcheting up the vice-grips of content protection. At this rate, it will be illegal for you to even watch a DVD you bought because you are decoding the damn thing! (Ok, that's a bit over the top.)
Now that we have these super-encompassing, yet vague laws regarding computers, data, and the Internet, the authorities have to go and arrest (you'd figure after 2 years of investigations they would have a good idea if he was guilty or not!) people just to "try out the ideas in court"!
"Hey you, come over here. I've been watching your for 2 hours, and I'm not sure if picking your nose is illegal, but let's see if the courts think that is obscene" (yeah, bad analogy)
I first read about something like this is a scifi series by Michael F. Flynn- Rogue Star, Firestar. In those books they used satellites to pump microwaves down to earth to provide electricity.
But you come up with the same type of questions: What thermal effects will it have on the atmosphere? Can it be used as a weapon? What effect will it have on local weather (how cool would it be to have a _stable_, low-scale tornado centered on the warmed air around the laser!)?
Solar energy is nearly a holy grail for energy- it's always there and there is a bunch of it. The only problem is collecting it efficiently and delivering it (ok, 2 probs). Personally, I think it would be better to beam down the power and then crack the water, rather than have a huge ass laser bombarding the ocean. How many seagulls are you going to cook? Of course, you could set up "Fried Seagull Emporium" as a lunch stand for the workers!
a new processor licensed from Motorolla. In the vein of the Duron and Celeron, Apple has dubbed its chip the Dodecadon. It will feature a spherical chip package with one wing.
After a lukewarm reception, Apple changed the name to the "Celery", and sales went up 1400%.
(If you don't get the above [bad] joke, please "move along, nothing to see here!")
Slashdot Mirror
It's basically impossible to get a security clearance without having a need for one. Need meaning being in the armed forces or guard, or being employed by the gov or a gov contractor.
Don't worry too much about it, though. If you have good grades and skills, and haven't gotten into much legal trouble, it will be easy to get you Secret clearance. This article is focusing on Top Secret clearances, which are much, much more difficult to get (often requiring recurring polygraphs, random drug testing, and other weirdness).
If you really want to get a clearance, try to get a job with a gov. contractor (SAIC, MITRE, Booz Allen Hamilton, CSC, etc.), and they will work to get you cleared.
Good luck!
PS-Go with Booz, we got a nifty acronym- BAH! (sorry...)
I thought about jumping into the .com arena during the heyday, but I held back for some vague reasons. Sure, I only got my ok raises every year rather than huge bonuses and such, but I still have my job and have increased my income 50% in 4 years. I liked my job, I liked my coworkers, and I liked where I lived- why should I have jumped for the possible big gains? Turns out I was right, at least for my circumstances.
.comers won't go to government positions:
Some possible reasons why
1) Less flexibility in hours and attitude.
2) Lots of military types in upper management.
3) Sensible business plans where everyone does NOT get $2000 chairs.
4) You actually have to work rather than just hype vapor.
5) You actually have to produce something, or provide a service, rather than just market yourself.
6) Generally need to have multiple skills in a variety of areas, rather than be _The Wizard_ in only one area.
7) MCSEs don't count as degrees in this line of work.
There's probably more, but this was just off the top of my head, and this is just my take from what I've seen of friends, coworkers, and acquaintances.
Un-fucking-believable!
+5 in my book, if only from what I've seen the editors do to this thread. At least twice, and maybe three times, some editor has been bitchslapping the ENTIRE THREAD down to -1. Mod totals are up to 105, with a net of +1! Couple hundred of responses, too.
I'm not posting AC, and will take the 3 pt. karma hit, just because I think this guy is right.
I've never got the 581% email.
As for the stop smoking, my email address is bryan1945@please.spam.my.ass.com!
Damn straight. I screw with Wintel and Sun machines all day to make them do this or that, or occasionally fixing them when they blow up.
When I get home I don't want to have to even think about having to fix or configure (after intial config) my machine!
I don't want to reboot 3 times like I did at work that day, or have to reboot because I changed my IP address, or plugged in an USB devices which makes me reboot! Just work, damnit!
This is why I like my Mac. I call him Ziggy.
>> 256 meg L2 cache - yawn
I don't know about you, but I would be plenty pleased to have a 256MB L2 cache!
What the hell is it about driving and cellphones that everyone is freaking out about? I agree that most people can't drive and use a cellphone, but I also believe that most people can't pick their nose and drive, either. I get this continual bitching that I talk on my cell (with headset) while driving. Does this also mean I should stop smoking while driving? Eating? Drinking coffee? Changing radio stations? Changing CDs? God forbid if I sneeze!
Can we agree that it is not the actual activity but generally the person who is to blame?
A statement only an AC could make.
One of my holy grails was to have _Plan Nine_ MST3K'ed. Sometimes life is unfair....
Damn it!!!! Why can't I have mod points right now! +5 funny
I laughed so hard I shot my (not lit yet) cigarette half across the room. (I especially like that extra 1%!)
This really is a good analogy; some days I'm embarassed to check my _work_ email, since some company must have sold my email to some spammer. Bastards.
I'm even surprised at the L2 cache size. Pretty much a given that a 1MB of L2 can really help performance wise.
And the 8k is ridiculously small.
Features (D845BG Motherboard)
Support for Intel mPGA478 Pentium-4 400MHz FSB Processors up to 2.2GHz+.
Onboard AC'97 Audio with SoundMAX with SPX Technology and Microphone Pre-Amplifiers.
Two 184-pin memory slots with support for up to 2GB PC2100 (DDR266) SDRAM Memory.
4 External USB 1.1 Connections for added peripherals, with support for an additional 3 USB 1.1 connections.
Intel Active Monitor for monitoring of system temperatures, fan speeds, and power supply voltages.
1 1.5V AGP 4X/2X Port for Accelerated 3D Graphics.
6 32-Bit PCI Ports for added components.
Ultra ATA/100 Disk Support.
Onboard 82562ET Intel Pro/100 LAN
Features (Pentium-4 2.2GHz Processor)
Intel Net-Burst Micro-Architecture.
512KB Advanced Transfer Cache (L2) with 8-way associativity and Error Correcting Code (ECC).
System Bus Frequency at 400MHz.
Rapid Execution Engine: Arithmetic Logic Units (ALUs) run at twice the processor core frequency.
Hyper Pipelined Technology.
Advanced Floating-Point and Multimedia Unit (FPU) for enhanced video, audio, encryption and 3D performance.
144 enhanced Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 (SSE2) instructions.
Advanced Dynamic Execution
Power Management Capabilities
8KB Level 1 Data Cache
Optimized for 32-Bit applications running on advanced 32-Bit operating systems.
Overall it seems like an evolutionary step.
Yes, magnetic fields. Anti-matter is affected by magnetism. You just need to make sure that your storage chamber has a very hard vacuum, unless you want a stray dust molecule running into a bit of antimatter.
Damn right. My wife's family (easily uppper-lower class) never had a computer until they bought a stripped system for $25. I spent $200 in hardware to make it useable, and "borrowed" my office's Windows image CD (98 SE). Buying that OS would have doubled the amount of money I would have had to spend, most likely making it not feasible. Also, they are not likely Linux converts since they can barely handle email. As for the Internet access, until last month they kept switching from free provider (until it went bankrupt) to the next free provider. They had to finally suck it up and pay for the 'net when I couldn't find anymore free providers for them.
And the best part is my home Mac system is 7 years old and still quite useable under OS9. I swear that old, donated Macs would be the true answer to "bridging the digital divide". They just last. There is even a website devoted to old Macs, LowEndMac.com.
Probably OT- I really believe that music swapping increases CD sales (at least until Philips is done with 'em). Ancedotal- myself and several others just don't buy music anymore (could it be because current music sucks?!), unless we sample a few songs first. So we are now at the point were you download a few songs and (generally) buy the CD/DVD, or you just say fuck it.
Well, at least the poorer people will have something to burn when it gets cold in the winter. (What, the poorest of Belgium are going to have uses for a computer?! Give some NYC homeless guy a comp and he'll burn it or try to sell it.) Hope they don't die from the fumes.
Glad to see politicians from other countries are as clueless as ours.
I guess you mis-understood me: I meant that Futurama at 7pm on Sundays is a totally travesty. It would do so much better at almost any other time slot! Who the hell watches TV at 7pm on Sunday (much less 7pm anyday?!)?
It seems that over and over again networks put good, or at least promising, shows in awful spots or against established leaders. Hello? Put a good show in a dead spot (Thursday at 8 maybe, c'mon Survivor?!), let it build up an audience, then move it to a stronger slot.
Futurama at 7 on Sundays?! This show is as good, if not better than, the Simpsons, yet it flounders...
I went there, and there is a column on the right hand side with the word "Advertisement" at the top. All those links are ads, but it says so right at the top!
/., Bad!
There is also the ubiquitous pop-unders and such.
Come on, this is a really badly reported story!!!
Bad
I agree with you choices of topics, except programming, since I'm not a programmer. It seems that good science stories have dried up recently.
or have worked with the military, you just don't know what the hell you are talking about. No matter how many movies you watch, how many stories you read, how many interviews of Tom Clancy (ha) you watch, there is stuff that goes on behind the scenes and won't surface until much later.
Katz is a dimwit who knows jack about what he is talking about. Like a lot of the posts I've read.
Don't even bother flaming me, I DO know what I'm talking about. Wish I could tell you why.
The problem is that this site relies on the editors and readers to submit stories. If they don't find any good stories, then they submit 2nd rate ones.
/. not change for a couple of days sometimes.
/. who are privacy/legal/freedom freaks (I use that term affectionately). They _do_ care about this type of story.
If you have no news, you have to put something there, or you'd have
Also, there is a group of people on
Question- what kind of stuff would you like to see?
As for this story, as I stated above, the governments of this world are really ratcheting up the vice-grips of content protection. At this rate, it will be illegal for you to even watch a DVD you bought because you are decoding the damn thing! (Ok, that's a bit over the top.)
Now that we have these super-encompassing, yet vague laws regarding computers, data, and the Internet, the authorities have to go and arrest (you'd figure after 2 years of investigations they would have a good idea if he was guilty or not!) people just to "try out the ideas in court"!
"Hey you, come over here. I've been watching your for 2 hours, and I'm not sure if picking your nose is illegal, but let's see if the courts think that is obscene" (yeah, bad analogy)
I first read about something like this is a scifi series by Michael F. Flynn- Rogue Star, Firestar. In those books they used satellites to pump microwaves down to earth to provide electricity.
But you come up with the same type of questions: What thermal effects will it have on the atmosphere? Can it be used as a weapon? What effect will it have on local weather (how cool would it be to have a _stable_, low-scale tornado centered on the warmed air around the laser!)?
Solar energy is nearly a holy grail for energy- it's always there and there is a bunch of it. The only problem is collecting it efficiently and delivering it (ok, 2 probs). Personally, I think it would be better to beam down the power and then crack the water, rather than have a huge ass laser bombarding the ocean. How many seagulls are you going to cook? Of course, you could set up "Fried Seagull Emporium" as a lunch stand for the workers!
a new processor licensed from Motorolla. In the vein of the Duron and Celeron, Apple has dubbed its chip the Dodecadon. It will feature a spherical chip package with one wing.
After a lukewarm reception, Apple changed the name to the "Celery", and sales went up 1400%.
(If you don't get the above [bad] joke, please "move along, nothing to see here!")