godlessgambler - Slashdot User

Submission + - What to Include in Your Open Source Resume (itworld.com)

Submitted by maximus1 on Friday October 16, 2009 @10:22AM

maximus1 writes: If you're selling skills gained in an open source project you have additional opportunities to shine, say experts in this article. But what is the best way to explain your FOSS experience? "Someone stands out because of how they talk about the project," says Zack Grossbart, author of "The One Minute Commute". His advice is to describe the project, and discuss your contributions in detail. "If you were a committer, what did you do to earn that status? What features did you work on? Did you design new areas, or just implement predefined functions? Did you lead meetings? Define new architecture? Set the project direction?"

If the FOSS experience is part of your background but not a shining beacon or job equivalent, it's common to list it under "other experience." Andy Lester, author of "Land The Tech Job You Love" says: "Think of each project as a freelance job that you've worked on. Just as different freelance gigs have varying sizes and scope, so too does each project to which you contribute. The key is to not lump all your projects under one 'open source work' heading."

Good examples are worth a thousand words. Grossbart offers up his resume as a sound, but not perfect example that includes open source experience. (Note: The resume is at the bottom of the article on how to format your resume.). What resume techniques have worked for you?

Submission + - Giant Ribbon Discovered at the Edge ofthe Solar Sy (nasa.gov) 2

Submitted by beadwindow on Thursday October 15, 2009 @09:34PM

beadwindow writes: NASA's IBEX (Interstellar Boundary Explorer) spacecraft has made the first all-sky maps of the heliosphere and the results have taken researchers by surprise. The maps are bisected by a bright, winding ribbon of unknown origin:
"This is a shocking new result," says IBEX principal investigator Dave McComas of the Southwest Research Institute. "We had no idea this ribbon existed--or what has created it. Our previous ideas about the outer heliosphere are going to have to be revised."

Submission + - Memristor minds: The future of artificial intellig (newscientist.com)

Submitted by godlessgambler on Thursday July 09, 2009 @07:34PM

godlessgambler writes: Within the past couple of years, memristors have morphed from obscure jargon into one of the hottest properties in physics. They've not only been made, but their unique capabilities might revolutionise consumer electronics. More than that, though, along with completing the jigsaw of electronics, they might solve the puzzle of how nature makes that most delicate and powerful of computers — the brain.

Submission + - Survey Shows Gap Between Scientists and the Public (nytimes.com)

Submitted by gollum123 on Thursday July 09, 2009 @07:00PM

gollum123 writes: When it comes to climate change, the teaching of evolution and the state of the nation's research enterprise, there is a large gap between what scientists think and the views of ordinary Americans, a new survey has found ( http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/10/science/10survey.html?hpw ). On the whole, scientists believe American research leads the world. But only 17 percent of the public agrees, and the proportion who name scientific advances as among the United States' most important achievements has fallen to 27 percent from nearly 50 percent in 1999, the survey found. Almost a third of ordinary Americans say human beings have existed in their current form since the beginning of time, a view held by only 2 percent of the scientists. Only about half of the public agrees that people are behind climate change, and 11 percent does not believe there is any warming at all. According to the survey, about a third of Americans think there is lively scientific debate on both topics; in fact, there is no credible scientific challenge to the theory of evolution and there is little doubt that human activity is altering the chemistry of the atmosphere in ways that threaten global climate. The report said 85 percent of science association members surveyed said public ignorance of science was a major problem. And by large margins they deride as only "fair" or "poor" the coverage of science by newspapers and television.

Understanding How CAPTCHA Is Broken 148

Posted by CmdrTaco on Saturday May 17, 2008 @11:10AM from the stuff-to-think-about dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Websense Security Labs explains the spammer Anti-CAPTCHA operations and mass-mailing strategies. Apparently spammers are using combination of different tactics — proper email accounts, visual social engineering, and fast-flux — representing a strategy, explains their resident CAPTCHA expert. It is evident that spammers are working towards defeating anti-spam filters with their tactics."

The World's Spookiest Weapons 224

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Saturday May 17, 2008 @03:21AM from the criminally-insane-working-for-the-government dept.

DesScorp writes "Popular Science has a piece on some outrageous ideas for weapons; some came to fruition, and others didn't. And while some of the weapons (atom bombs, chemical weapons, bats with bombs strapped to them that seek out homes and buildings at night) are truly frightening, some of them are also kind of silly, such as the Gay Bomb, and the Frisbee bomb that was labeled the 'Modular Disc-Wing Urban Cruise Munition.'"

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