I voted for competent and clean but not beautiful, mostly because I am very out of practice. I've seen MIL-SPEC mentioned a few times in this thread, so I figured people might be curious about the military standards for soldering. In the USAF we used TO 00-25-234, and it covered all of the basics for learning good soldering techniques.

On a slightly different topic, what do you think of butane-powered soldering irons? I saw one for the first time a few days ago and my pal seemed quite pleased with it... are they generally regarded as better than corded or battery powered?

The mirror they maintain at is yet another reason to get involved with your local pirate party. There website indicates that they can use assistance from UK residents who want to help with:

IT Team - Code
IT Team - Other
Campaigns - Design
Campaigns - Content
Campaigns - Local
Campaigns - Events
Campaigns - Candidates
Campaigns - Coordination
Campaigns - Newsletter
Treasury - Finance
Secretariat - Administration
Press - Pressteam
Leadership - Policy

I don't understand the headline.

How does the fact that Canada is a global leader in music sales imply that they are not a "pirate nation"? Has any credible study shown that one would expect that to be the case? The studies and surveys that come to mind all indicate that those who pirate the most media also spend the most...

As far as household objects go, a mylar emergency blanket might do the job. Your best bet is to stick with commercially rated filters... here's an interesting article from the World Health Organization about safely viewing the sun.

Humility, it's a virtue.

...apparently one that has fallen out of fashion. Most functional adults interact with people who are less 'intelligent' than them- both in terms of having more knowledge and being more creative/insightful. That shouldn't be a barrier to empathy or communication. It is sheer arrogance when someone who is more knowledgeable or more capable at a particular task than someone else allows that to get in the way of caring about others and forming social relationships. I decided to comment on this story rather than moderate because so many of the commenters here seem to be wallowing in their own misery, lamenting about how smart they are and how lonely they are as a result.

Sure, those at the top .01% of whatever intelligence scale you choose to measure by have a different experience of things. Their skills may allow for a level of self sufficiency but "no man is an island" still applies, and if people isolate themselves from others then it is easy to fall into self-destructive patterns. With some mental disorders there is a very fine line between learned/self-induced behaviors and biological causes... I'm sure someone will throw up a snarky [citation needed] reply, but working to keep oneself involved with a community and investing the time and effort to develop genuine friendships can do a lot to ease the "burden" of intelligence.

Killing people, blowing stuff up. Of course all US tax payers share the credit, at least indirectly.

If I had any say, I'd flip education and military budget around, but then we'd have to deal with a soaring unemployment rate, 'cause soldiers can't easily be turned into teachers...

The US Department of Education disagrees with you.

That one made my toes curl.

Visible firearms do cause a disturbance, and it makes perfect sense that they can make an officer feel uncomfortable, because they are an existential threat to the officer

I don't think that word means what you think it means...

I think it comes down to a lack of courage. The reason people who open carry might be treated differently than people who don't is fear. Courage is not a trait that is particularly valued in the law enforcement community, and it's becoming less valued in the military as we change the way we fight wars. It's *hard* not to respond with aggression when you feel threatened, and due to the nature of most interactions cops have with the public they do feel threatened- whether or not it's justified by the particular open-carrying person they are interacting with.

It may make sense that openly worn weapons can make an officer feel uncomfortable, but when that officer responds by breaking the law and disregarding someone's rights the cop is in the wrong.

Really comfortable workboots. You know who you are...

To be fair, in most places there are options for satellite. Many rural locations also have small-business ISPs that can set up a LOS shot. Not always economical, but definite alternatives to the nationwide ISPs.

Here, let me google that for you: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+does+facebook+track+you

Short answer: mostly by setting cookies in your browser, but with several other tricks as well.

Proof that we're living in The Future. Ghost in the Shell fans will recognize the Japanese Miracle in action. The '30s should be an interesting decade...

Are you, perchance, a barnacle?

http://www.explodingrabbit.com/games/super-mario-bros-crossover I came across a similar project last month. It has been active for about a year now and features the original mario levels that you can play through with any of several other old NES characters. Maybe Nintendo is actually playing nice with the fan community?