I agree. The current iteration on the homepage is bad enough, but at least it lets you expand the page to full width, and doesn't have somewhat related stock photos taking up space on the page. I used to read Fark before they switched to a fixed-width, graphical intensive layout -- and now it's useless. When I go to slashdot, I want it to load fast, be free of BS and give me the latest without having to skip stupid stuff. If I wanted to see pictures and horiscopes and shit I'd set my browser to MSN.com.

Please, less with the attempted eye candy and more with the news for nerds. You shouldn't be trying to appeal to mass-market web designs, half of us still subscribe to USENET for God's sake.
 

So how do I opt-out? Where do I get away from companies releasing my information to third parties that track my identity or other things to allow other corporations to peruse at their leisure? Not only do you not get to tell companies where they can and can't store your personal information, you also can't dispute that information when someone uses it for the wrong reasons or enters things that you're not allowed to know about.

For example, let's say LexisNexis had an entry that said I caused a major auto accident involving 15 cars, because an insurance clerk pressed the wrong button that said I was at fault rather than being involved in the accident? How do I correct that data? How do I dispute that entry? How do I even find out about that information?

And how do I get them to delete my personal data rather than allowing their poor network security policies to expose my life to risk? Answer: I can't. I have no agreement with them to host my personal data. I'm not just upset about the breach, I'm upset about the lack of ownership and consequence of such regarding my own life.

This just in: Obama is a politician. More at 11.

I think we all lost the 2012 elections.

Whatever. I write code. I want more vertical space. Why would I bother with one of these when I could just get a QHD [2560x1440] for ~$650 or a WQXGA [2560x1600] for a couple hundred more? If I'm going to spend more than $400 on a monitor, I'm going to get one that scales nicely.

Anyone who has gotten started in that field, and is any good at it, isn't going to tell you how.
Sorry, that's part of the trade secret. :)

Personal experience can be 'experience' on your resume. What you need to do is to put them as 'personal projects' or 'side projects' instead of listing them as your job functions. Then, they will still trigger the keyword search, and it's enough to justify saying you have 'entry level experience' (which is MUCH better than not listing them at all). Better yet, once you have a little experience with them do a little consulting that makes use of that skill set.

ALWAYS work on your skill set. Don't wait for a position to come along to allow you to do it.

I was just about to post this. You can use technet to get educational licenses to all sorts of things. Once you have technet down, walk through a DotNetNuke (http://www.dotnetnuke.com/) installation and figure out how the database works, how the SSMS tool works, and how SQL Tracer works. Those are the basic experiences you'll need to get your foot in the door.

Set up a few basic email boxes and some SMTP rules on exchange and figure out how to get DNN to sent you emails to that, then you've installed, configured, and implemented both MSSQL and Exchange, not to mention some experience understanding the technologies that sit on top of the stack (which is ALWAYS helpful understanding the developer or software release point of view).

Maybe that's just it -- I am not trying to follow the same model as your 90-year-old grandmother. I want it to behave in a manner different than it's intended, and so the interface (and the ability of the software) is not adequate for my requirements. It's part of a good software engineer to understand your target audience. Perhaps I am not their target audience, and your 90 year old grandmother is.

Plus their iPod driver / background launcher probably conflicts with a driver on my machine, or my antivirus. But it's the squeaky wheel so it got torn off the wagon.

I admit that I may be ignorant. I should have prefaced my reply with "Disclaimer: Haven't used iTunes since 2009"
Honestly I haven't had the time to sit down and try any new music stores recently, and have just been depending on what Amazon comes out with. But my other point still stands -- BitTorrent is awfully convenient for the lazy (such as myself).

That's that thing for people with apple devices, right? That thing that doesn't run on Linux, and barely runs on Windows (and as such is unusable enough that I won't install it) and is the main reason why I don't own an iPhone or an iPad? Yeah, I've heard of it.

I also haven't much interest in it, when I can (and do) get much of the same content from Amazon. The PC I browse on is separate than the server I store media on is separate from the device(s) I watch media on -- I don't fit into Apple's box. I'm not hating on the people who do, I'm just not one of them. If it works for you, then I'm glad you found a solution you're happy with. For me, that solution is torrent first and pay later.

I disagree. Half the stuff I torrent is just because it's more convenient than the crappy "approved" distribution models. If I *really* like what I torrent, I wait until it's available commercially (see, Game of Thrones, Walking Dead) and buy the box sets after I watch/listen to the torrents. If I sort-of like it, I won't bother seeking it out after the fact, and if I don't like it, I delete it. This seems like a good way to get me to throw them a few dollars even if it's in the "sort of like it" category, because of the convenience.

They did that sort of thing with paintball guns in this BF3 sim.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=eg8Bh5iI2WY#t=816s

I agree. Also, was I the only person to think 'Judge Dredd' when I read it?

What you're talking about is: Where does experimental science (and the scientific theory) end and where does scientific philosophy begin?
That's a line that is hard to draw, and even more difficult to explain to those that aren't versed in research.

Not to the people who give out the grant money.