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Comment What interests you exactly? (Score 1) 2

You pointed out a few things that interests you. I have a CS degree so I'm speaking from that perspective. Here's the deal, a degree only gets you knowledge so you can learn more stuff--strange I know, but that's reality. You're interest that you've listed indicates that an EE might be a better track for you if you really want to do the electrical engineering stuff. I know people that have EE degrees that after they started doing programming or network-related stuff never turned back. I also know people that have EE degrees that enjoy writing embedded software as part of their electrical engineering-related work. Here's my suggestion: if you're at a college where your lower-division coursework can be applied to either EE or CS after your second year, then I suggest decide before the end of your second year. If you can't then I suggest you look at what you've done so far between your high school electrical work and your A+ and see what really interests you more between the two.
Transportation

Submission + - FAA Urges Maintenance Of Manual Flight Skills (avweb.com)

PantherSE writes: This might not be standard slashdot topic, but I think those of us in IT appreciates that automation only works best when the "golden path" is followed. The reason why you have 2 trained people in front of the plane is so they can take over when the autopilot decides the plane has left the "golden path". Problem is when they don't get a chance to practice, they get rusty; except you never want them rusty.
Java

Submission + - Oracle Ships Java 7 Update 11 With Vulnerability Fixes

An anonymous reader writes: After announcing a fix was coming just yesterday, Oracle on Sunday released Java 7 Update 11 to address the recently disclosed security vulnerability. If you use Java, you can download the latest update now from the Java Control Panel or directly from Oracle’s website here: Java SE 7u11. In the release notes for this update, Oracle notes this version "contains fixes for security vulnerabilities." A closer look at Oracle Security Alert for CVE-2013-0422 details that Update 11 fixes two vulnerabilities.
Space

Submission + - AXE and Buzz Aldrin Announce Apollo Space Sweepstakes 1

RocketAcademy writes: "Apollo 11 lunar-module pilot Buzz Aldrin joined AXE, a personal-grooming brand of Unilever, to announce the AXE Apollo Sweepstakes, which will select 22 winners to become astronauts on the XCOR Lynx Mk II spacecraft.

“Space travel for everyone is the next frontier in the human experience,” Aldrin said. “I’m thrilled that AXE is giving the young people of today such an extraordinary opportunity to experience some of what I’ve encountered in space.”

According to XCOR Aerospace, AXE will select one winner following the Super Bowl on February 3. Twenty-one additional winners will be selected later on. 100 early-stage winners will attend the AXE Apollo Space Academy in Orlando, Florida in December 2013.

Private citizens can also earn a chance to fly on the Lynx through Citizens in Space, a non-profit project of the United States Rocket Academy, which has purchased 10 flights for citizen astronauts."
Power

Submission + - US Deserves Transparency From Oil Refineries

Hugh Pickens writes writes: "Gregg Laskoski writes in US News and World Report that virtually all of the retail gasoline price volatility that Americans experienced this past year was connected to significant problems at refineries and it was those refineries' vulnerability that subjected US consumers to the year's highest average price ever, $3.63 per gallon. February delivered the BP refinery fire in Cherry Point, Washington that led to gasoline price spikes all along the Pacific coast, refinery problems in the Great Lakes region pushed Chicago gas prices to an all-time high of $4.56 per gallon, and over the summer, west coast refineries incurred outages, and California saw record highs in most markets, with Los Angeles gasoline's average price peaking at $4.72/gallon in October. Finally after Reuters reported that some 7,700 gallons of fuel spilled from Phillips 66's Bayway refinery in Linden, NJ, after Hurricane Sandy, New Jersey environmental protection officials said they were not made aware of a major spill at the Bayway plant, and the refinery failed to respond to inquiries from Reuters reporters. "Too many times, history has shown us, the Phillips 66 response or lack thereof characterizes the standard practice of the oil industry. Refineries often fail or are slow to communicate problems that create significant disruptions to fuel supplies and spikes in retail gasoline prices. More often than not, scant information is provided reluctantly, if at all," writes Laskoski. "When such things occur is silence from refineries acceptable? Or does our government and the electorate who put them there have a right to know what's really going on?""
Education

Submission + - Ask Slashdot: What Does It Take to Become a Software Engineer? 2

Jeheto writes: "I’ve always had an interest in IT, and now I’m at the point where I can choose my career. I’m currently a freshman college student trying to decide between Electrical Engineering and Computer Science as a major. I’m about to take my A+ certification, I have a few years of high school level training in electronics theory/soldering, and I know a just the smallest bit of Python from working with the MITOpenCourseWare program. I’m equally interested in networking, electrical engineering, and programming. My question to Slashdot is, what should I learn?"

Comment Re:Until... (Score 1) 64

Actually, as a pilot I experience this sometimes--especially when flying when visibility is not so great. The feel on the seat of my pants is not agreeing with what I'm seeing outside and in my instruments. When I was in flight school my instructor always told me to prioritize what I'm seeing, not what I'm feeling in the seat of my pants. I wonder if the same technique can be used to prevent simulator sickness?

Comment Re:Just kick him out. (Score 2) 338

I think that's they key there. You know what's expected of adults, and you decided you're going to be one. I would venture to guess that your parents raised you up to become the responsible adult that you are--that you only stayed for a week after you got your post-college job. In situations like this, I say that the parents are just as responsible as the adult child. Like others have said, give the kid a month to get his act together or he's out of the house. There comes a point when the parents needs to disconnect themselves from their children.

Comment Re:Tech time lines (Score 3, Insightful) 179

Years ago I met a CFO who had just finished grilling his tech guy for over an hour getting the tech guy to come up with a worst case scenario for the project they were about to begin. In that hour the tech guy nearly tripled his time and cost estimates. After he left the CFO doubled the time and cost estimate for the budget. In the end the CFO was nearly bang on.

I would say this is a good CFO. The CFO understood that he had a choice: get it done quickly, or get it done right the first time; and he chose the latter.

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