The author has never worn a mask or they wouldn't be spouting such nonsense. Professionally fitted? They usually come in small, medium and large. Pick the right one. They need to make a good seal on your face, so lose the beard if you really need a good seal.Other than that, keep them snug enough so that when you inhale, the air enters through the filter cartridges and not through leaks around the mask. Because the filters slightly restrict airflow the mask tends to pull in tighter as you inhale. Uncomfortable? I guess comfort is a personal thing, but I've worn a half mask with N95 cartridges all damn day without too much discomfort. It sure beats hacking up drywall dust for the next 3 days.

When I heard the joke it was a Marine telling it. It ended with " ...and the Marine just sat quietly, stirring the ashes with his dick."

Thanks for that. First useful post on this thread.

"Canada is 95+% white." Have you been to Vancouver lately?

Sounds like she rented from the Gord.

http://www.actsofgord.com/inde...

I was thinking of a different vintage sf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T...

You always want what you don't have. People never change.

I have a gramer pendant, but I stopped wearing it because the chain kept snagging on my t shirts.

"beards and turbans for Muslims". ??? Beards and turbans are a fashion accessory for Muslims. For Sikhs, however, they are a religious necessity; part of the Khalsa. Are you mixing up Moslems and Sikhs? Americans often do that. FWIW Sikhs, with turbans,have a long military history and fought with distinction in the British, Indian and Canadian armies. See - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H...

In other unionized workplaces they don't call it tenure, they call it seniority, but it amounts to the same thing.

There is no teacher shortage around here. The boomer's kids are all done high school and enrollments have been dropping for a decade. Because of the downturn in 2008 older teachers are working longer or coming back after retirement. New teachers can be on the spare board (1 or 2 days a month) for 3 to 5 years before getting a full time shift. And the universities keep cranking out teachers at the same pace as always.

Interesting theory on the origin of the word gyp, but around here gyp no longer has any trace of that connotation, and is in no way associated with any racial or ethnic slur.

You forgot the part about the 4 day time cube.

Thanks. I always like to hear actual experiences rather than assume I know what other people are thinking. My daughter got best in school marks in math and science, as well as in fine arts (drawing and painting). I would have been happy if she had decided to go into engineering like me, but I tried to not pressure her in any way. She ended up choosing to study urban planning, which has both hard science and creative and design aspects.

Why don't we ask the women? Survey young women at different stages oh high school and university. Ask them what they would like to have a career in. Maybe ask the smart ones why they chose not to go into CS.

Any women reading slashdot right now who didn't go into CS care to tell us why?