It's a shame none of these disk encryption systems can use hardware (USB token for example) as part of the crypto. Then pulling out the token would remove the key, at least if the software behaved itself correctly with no caching. Truecrypt does go halfway in the sense that the hash of a file stored in hardware can form part of the key but it would be nice to see it done properly.

My first language is UK English and I too faced the same "which next language to learn?" choice. After a lot of thought I chose Russian. China is such a massive trading partner and I can understand the arguments for selecting a Chinese language but the truth is that learning a language takes time and you have to predict what will be useful in the future rather than what would be useful right now. I've been amazed at the high quality of our outsourced Java development from Russia and and I'm betting that it can't be long before they get tired of China/India taking everything and themselves emerge as a prime supplier of both outsourcing and physical resources. Also Luuseens is right there is a lot of useful technical stuff posted in Russian and it's helpful to read it directly rather than auto-translate.

I've been learning Russian for four years mostly by self-study of free learning material found on the internet. I am nowhere near fluent for a workplace but I'll get there. Yes Russian is "hard" from the point of view of being unlike English but on the plus side its internal structure is so consistently logical that it almost feels like just learning another computer language. My friend at the local office of a major software company does speak four languages fluently (including Russian and Mandarin) and it's beyond doubt this has been a major boost to her career so why not also for the rest of us.

I can't help feeling that "topological conductor" would be a better name for a material that behaves as an insulator in its interior but whose surface can conduct.

There is something wrong with this argument but my mind won't tell me what it is. Why do the publishers think people like you should read the full article if you are perfectly happy to read only an excerpt? In fact why don't the publishers save time by only publishing the excerpt (since people don't bother with the full article.) Of course Google would not able to show you this excerpt so instead would have to display a link to "mystery news".

The story has the words in the wrong order.

Having last erupted about 1,300 years ago... That, however, is about to change.

Fixed it for you.

Over the last 20 years of parenthood I ran into exactly two instances (that I knew of) where they encountered a genuinely predatory person. I was able to ensure nothing bad happened on those occasions. So I agree the chances are remote. But so what, when it's your kids no chance at all is acceptable.

I also had a small number of occasions like the OP where the child wandered off in a crowded place and I went into Defcon-6 OMG mode. Again nothing bad happened. But you cannot discount the chance of a troubled person (who otherwise would have done nothing) taking an impulse opportunity if they randomly encounter an obviously unattended child.

Not as impressive as the actual jump but could not help feeling it was cool that I could do that.

Be careful I knew someone who converted his Volvo 244 and it blew up in his garage. You can't safely put the vehicle into an unventilated space.

The police used to sell these vehicles because I saw them regularly turn up at car auctions. Normally of course when people sell at auction they clean up their vehicles to make them attractive and get the best price, however the no-insurance cars were exactly as they were when seized. Very strange to see half-eaten lunches on the passenger seat and so on. Without exception they had the messiest nastiest interiors with cigarette butts and junk all over the place. Maybe there is a certain type of person who cheats on the insurance.

I don't understand why Slashdot posts with "um" annoy me so much, but they do. Um often seems to accompany a reply when not only disagreeing with someone but implying that they were stupid as well. Maybe there is something to this research. Anyway, um-people, please put yourselves on the psycho list.

http://www.bitterwallet.com/fancy-dating-a-gamer/57716

Kapikachhu, AKA "Mucuna pruriens", AKA "Velvet Bean"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mucuna_pruriens

Something to do with the way its dopamine content affects the reward stimuli feedback system. Definitely works I've tried it.

"Facebook Details Executive Salaries, Bonuses"

Why do Americans use this strange form of English? I mean using a comma to separate nouns and usually only towards the end of a sentence. The obvious way to write the same thing would surely be "Facebook details executive salaries and bonuses."

Not a criticism by the way. I would really like to know and Google has not helped me.

One of the Harry Potter films had this. In the movie it was called "Skelegrow" and fixed Harry's broken arm in just a few days when he fell off his broomstick.

If you don't get all the certs you will never get past the dumb HR filters. But if you do get the certs the experienced interviewing manager will snicker at your book-learning naivety and reject you as not hard-core enough.