I'm a fraternal twin. Our SSN's are only different by a single digit, but it's a step of 2. So my last four is 1234 and his is 1236 (not our real last four of course, purely an example).

Someone out there sniped the number between us. Combo breaker!

I currently work for a refrigerated shipping and warehousing company. The in-house warehouse management system is all in COBOL. One of my responsiblities is the care and feeding of the WMS system and the database cluster back-end.

This WMS chugs along and weathers everything that gets thrown at it. It really is the most bulletproof system I've ever worked on.

One of the primary uses for my laptop is as an audio workstation. If I'm at home I connect an external keyboard and mouse directly to 2 of the ports. The third port connects to a powered hub that connects a 61-key synth, a 25-key midi controller, a contoller pad, an external track controller, an audio interface, and a secondary audio interface that allows me to use tablets and smartphones as additional controllers/input devices. And a large external backup drive that I don't leave connected all the time.

Grand total of 10 devices if you include the usb hub itself as a device. 12 devices if you include a tablet and phone connected to the special interface.

On the road I'll just plug in a mouse and maybe the 25-key controller if I want to do any music work at the hotel as a break from the grind. My actual job is in security, the music is a very serious hobby.

I worked as a *nix administrator for the House of Representatives for a number of years. The saying on the hill was "as long as you're not caught in bed with a live boy or a dead girl".

oscilloscope, wire-wrap gun, unwrap tool

Apparently the link changed since I submitted the article (I'd tested it before posting).

Here's a new link:

http://aroundtheworldin80jobs.com/how-i-got-fired-from-the-job-i-invented/

For true malice there's also The Underhanded C Contest.

From their home page: "The goal of the contest is to write code that is as readable, clear, innocent and straightforward as possible, and yet it must fail to perform at its apparent function. To be more specific, it should do something subtly evil."

How about we call you "efficient". Laziness is a virtue when properly applied.

If you're performing a new install of Debian and want it to use xfce as your desktop right from the start, edit the install cd boot command and add the following:

desktop=xfce

Or you can go to Avanced Options and choose xfce.

Then your system will be configured for xfce from the get-go.

Humans are storytelling creatures.

For many moons we've sat around campfires, hearths, lamps, and glowing rectangles telling each other stories -- about the hunt, the weather, myths, fables, our neighbours, ourselves, the day's work, and even math problems. Sometimes we stick to the facts, but often the teller exagerrates, embellishes, or flat out lies. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story, or so it goes.

Fiction is part of the human condition.

The VMware vCenter Server is not required for a VM cluster to function.

It provides a handy interface from which to view your entire cluster and provides tools to make administration and initial setup easier, but the cluster will run just fine without it. High availability and load balancing continue to function. You can always log in to each VM host server directly as well.

If you've installed VMware License Server on the same VM as vCenter then you won't be able to add any new licenses and some ESX features expire in 14 days. However, one would hope that you've been able to bring your Licensing/vCenter VM back online by then.

The failure case is an annoyance that should be dealt with, but it is not a disaster by any means.

Where did I say that the vendors had the right to do it either?

If you've sold the laptop, or given it away as a gift or a donation, by what right do you have to limit what the recipient can do with it?