But this is one of the few times when the article is actually more interesting than the comments here. Worth reading, even if that is breaking the unwritten rules around here.

That is right. I was in during the middle 80s when it existed, but was still rare.

No, it was called a Senior Airman. Very few Sr.Amn went to NCO school and took the rank of buck sgt. before just going for staff, so the majority of E4s were Airman tier, not NCO tier. Sr. Amn and Buck paid the same, both being E4, with the only difference being NCO school and tier, plus some advantages (priority) if you wanted to separate rats and quarters and were single. Oh, and the star on your sleeve was silver instead of blue, although that isn't a perk, just an indication you were an NCO.

Note that most of the "exceptional" airmen back then would simply go below the zone (make E5/Staff Sgt. in less than 4 years) rather than seek buck sgt. Bucks were fairly rare for a variety of reasons, including the above.

Yes, I was in the Air Force. So was most of my family.

I was a philosophy major as an undergrad, have a Masters in Theological Studies, and a PhD in New Testament, and pastored a couple of churches along the way (part time.)

I've been working in IT continuously since the mid 90's (part-time when I was working on the PhD), and am presently employed by a Major Telecommunications Company as a senior architect. I make very good money, and when I left another Major Telecom Company in March, after 15 years, I had 15 inquiries just by posting to Facebook. The other day, I had a recruiter from Amazon practically beg me to come interview (they lost out in March due to being too slow to arrange an on-site interview.)

The degree doesn't matter. The skills matter. If anything, my broad background sets me apart from the pack. But only because I've got the skills.

Let me guess, you haven't spent much time in the states, have you?

My ex was from North Carolina, so yeah I have spent a fair amount of time in the states. Admittedly each state is difference (same as Europe).

It's funny, you speak of "no meaning" as if you have a scientific basis for this. Unless you do, your opinion is no more valid than the guy strapping a bomb on himself to get 72 virgins, and no less dogmatic. Not everyone defines "meaning" is as narrow a manner as you.

For starters, deism isn't a religion, which makes the rest of the comment not worth bothering with.

as an atheist, I can't imagine dating a theist. How could I respect someone who believes obvious nonsense?

My ex-wife was Mormon. You learn to get over it. I'll still invite missionaries into my house if they knock; they're usually very nice and interesting people and there's no need for me to be an ass.

Like hell there isn't! To belong to any atheist community, you need to align with their dogma, have read and agree with their favorite authors, and "other thingamajigs" or you'll be ousted as a troll or worse.

Can I make a guess? You're American, aren't you?

Can I just point out that American Atheists are, uh, weird? They are not representative of 99% of the worlds Atheists.

I once met a nice girl, who had just moved to the UK from America. She told me that on her first few weeks here she wondered where all the atheists were, and it took her to little while to figure out that unlike the states, atheists did not seek out other atheists, congregate into groups, and spend all their free time discussing atheism. In fact it was quite a relief to her when she realised that atheists were everywhere but as nobody a) gave a shit b) talked about religion or lack thereof, she could just relax and go about her day without interference or having to form Atheist Defence Leagues.

For the record. Myself, personally, as a life long atheist, have never read Dawkins (because that's who you meant, isn't it?) and think he's actually a gigantic cock. I've never knowingly been a member of an "atheist community" (do they build Yurts?) and I really don't care if other atheists can agree on anything, or even if they're having pitched battles in the fucking streets. The only "dogma" I'm aware of is the rather good Kevin Smith film.

You are right about one thing: as an atheist it's not just "lack of belief in God". It's also a lack of giving a shit what you or other people think, or caring when you project your own biases and religious frameworks in a desperate attempt to make sense of it. You're wrong and I simply don't care.

I've been deistic for decades. It discounts the idea that god is an old man on the mountain, but maintains the idea that there is purpose and meaning to everything, not just man.

Your post would carry more weight if HP hadn't already been in public cloud for nearly three years now, and weren't the largest single contributor to OpenStack. Buying Eucalyptus isn't some desperate attempt to get into the cloud market; it's a smart move to consolidate their existing position.

Don't let facts get in the way of giving HP a good kicking though. This is Slashdot, after all.

As you point out, not all birds of a feather stick together. I'm not a Tea Party guy. I'm just not closed minded enough to judge a friend by their politics. If you only have friends that agree with your politics, you are probably narrow minded or take politics too seriously.

Buy a good switch and a low power PC with some ram. Virtualize it all.

Smoothwall is a good choice, there are lots out there.

Makes it easy to do other things like IDS as well later.

Has the United States of America become a member of The Totalitarian Club ?

Yes. Each President has been moving in this direction more and more, but Obama has managed to overreach even more than those before him. Take the IRS, for instance. I personally know of people who have been getting involved with Tea Party politics and now are getting audited. Like their politics or not (it doesn't matter), that is totalitarianism, which means the next time a GOP'er gets in, he can do the same thing. It isn't a good time to be an American.

However, it takes a really fast car to stay on the other side of the planet.