Over the years I have owned and camped in numerous conversion vans. I've never lived in one though but I wouldn't think that it would be too uncomfortable as long as you lived a minimalist lifestyle. The big problem would be the facilities but my boat has an answer for that. It is a very small chemical toilet. It sits underneath a box that looks like it is a built-in footstool.

Living in a climate where the temp drops to -20 below there are times where you would need some sort of heating. A small catalytic heater could help but would be dangerous unless you also have a CO detector. Perhaps a small furnace from a travel trailer would be a better solution (keep the CO detector to be safe).

What besides space would you be missing? Today you have cell phones, LCD televisions, wireless internet. Almost anything that plugs in can be had for 12V and inverters are available for those things that can't be.

I went to school and emerged debit free. I lived in my parent's old house that hadn't sold yet and only paid utilities (that was a big help) and relied on a part time job for income. I got the GI bill and was lucky enough to win a grants for my text books and other school related expenses and even got some money for tuition. While many of my fellow students emerged with huge bills for student loans, I graduated with zero debit!

Was it worth it? Hell yeah. I only had to concentrate on the future and was not haunted by the ghosts of the past; all those ghosts named "Bill".

I can say if I had to do it again and if I had to live in a van to emerge debit free; I would not think twice.

Excuse me? I am not a 'Microsoft Hater' as many people are here on Slashdot but that does not mean that I will take their word as gosple either! If Microsoft felt so strongly that this processor bug was terrible they should have never yeilded to Intel after all it is their reputation on the line too.

While the bug does sound serious it has been dealt with in a hot fix; a fix that may not be perfect but it works. I'm not a server engineer but if you disable power mgmt and lock the hypervisor into turbo does it hurt the performance much? I seriously don't know the implications but have always thought that most servers are tweaked for performance and not really for power saving.

I am willing to bet that there have been many, many give and take sessions between Microsoft and Intel and probably other entities where issues like this are sorted out for the benifit of the industry (or at least for all parties involved in the discussions).

I don't know what you want to put in the report but I do know I would call it a TPS Report.

Free Time? I'm sorry but that is not a term I am familiar with. What is it and what do you do with it?

I did not say that government, business, or universities are bad - just that people can do extrodinary things on their own.

I found inspiration in what these folks did (and did on their own). If more people did stuff like this, I am pretty sure the world would be a better place.

I think that my original post was pretty clear but for the sake of clarity - what I wanted to do with my post was inspire others to do something or at least be someone who encourages people that take the bull by the horns!

Look, I don't understand how you got what you got out of my post, I had not intended it to be political at all.

For those of you complaining about the jerky video: STFU!

For those of you saying it isn't practical: So What!

I want to take my hat off to these dudes and give them a hearty round of applause and say "Great job guys!"

My point here is these guys had a vision, that led to an idea, that lead to an exparament where a couple of pretty normal folks did something extrodinary. It is the same kind of curiosity that Ben Franklin had when he flew the kite and "discovered" electricity.

Those of you who have offered criticisim, I ask you to reply to this post and tell me what you have done without backing that approximates or bests their very cool accomplishment.

Those of you who have a vision share it, maybe someone will help you make it an idea so, I invite you to share your vision.

For those of you who have an idea, share it and maybe someone will help you make it real.

We don't need government, business, or universities to make the world a better place; just a few ordinary folks who try to do extrodinary things!

Those of you who think this is just very cool, use this thread to virtually offer your applause and (real) encouraging comments!

I like a good bang; it is a good way to end the show. There is plenty of other stuff that happens throughout the show, a minute or two at the end is all the big explosion takes. If Adam and Jamie are reading this (and I think they are geeks enough to know about Slashdot) keep up the good works and keep the big bangs in!

Speaking of good bangs, is Kari really pregnant?

Your current experience counts for something. Your best bet is to leverage what you know. It is hard for me to imagine a job that wouldn't have something to offer a coder. Say you are empting port-a-johns for a living. Write some code that would help that industry. I can see the application planning the route and measuring the level of the truck's tank so that you can maximize the truck's capacity on the shortest route. Use this code to demonstrate your skills and release it open source. That way you have something in your portfolio to show a perspective employer.