overlord412 - Slashdot User

Star Wars Fans Look For Love In Alderaan Places 88

Posted by samzenpus on Friday August 20, 2010 @01:37PM from the I-can-win-your-heart-in-less-than-twelve-parsecs dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "The Christian Science Monitor reports that devoted fans at the recent Star Wars Convention V, many dressed as Jedi knights, stormtroopers, or the indomitable Princess Leia, sat opposite one another for a series of 3-minute speed dates, in hopes of finding a connection with a fellow Star Wars enthusiast. 'Over the course of the three events, due to size and time, we turned away about 600 participants,' says Ryan Glitch. 'Yesterday, this room was packed. We had to keep shoveling people along.' Meanwhile in the main exhibition hall, a chapel was set up to allow fans to profess their love and devotion to each other in the form of commitment ceremonies. 'I've been told that we've had two commitment ceremonies from people that met at my event,' says Glitch adding that he saw eight additional couples at the convention made up of people who had attended his speed dating sessions."

Decades-Old Soviet Reflector Spotted On the Moon 147

Posted by Soulskill on Monday April 26, 2010 @05:16PM from the always-in-the-last-place-you-look dept.

cremeglace writes "No one had seen a laser reflector that Soviet scientists had left on the moon almost 40 years ago, despite years of searching. Turns out searchers had been looking kilometers in the wrong direction. On 22 April, a team of physicists finally saw an incredibly faint flash from the reflector, which was ferried across the lunar surface by the Lunokhod 1 rover. The find comes thanks to NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which last month imaged a large area where the rover was reported to have been left. Then the researchers, led by Tom Murphy of the University of California, San Diego, could search one football-field-size area at a time until they got a reflection."

Comment Complete and Utter Burnout (Score 1) 783

by overlord412 on Wednesday October 28, 2009 @09:21AM (#29896065) Attached to: Moving Away From the IT Field?

I know the trapped feeling. I have a mortgage that's been refinanced twice, 2 car payments, a wife and 2 kids that occasionally need food and shelter to survive, etc. Right before the economy went south, I went from being an $80/hour independent consultant that demanded respect within the IT field at every company I've done work for, to a 5 figure salary low man on the totem pole at a Fortune 500 answering to a boss that sees me as a commodity on a team of 20 people. I have creditors and tax collectors beating down my door every day. I've already taken over 40% in pay cuts in the last 2 years. If you are in a similar position, there's no way out. Any career change would require an additional pay cut that would lead to losing your home, your cars, your COMPUTERS, your way of life. The only way out for would be to liquidate everything, sell off the house and cars, move into a low rent apartment or with a family member and reboot your life. Friends of mine have gotten out early. Here are a few interesting things that they've done: 2 different people went and got their Commercial Driver's Licenses and starting driving the big rigs. 1 former employee of mine moved in with his mother, went to nursing school and now is successful as an RN. 1 person and his brother, both in IT, went and took over their father's plumbing business. 1 interesting person bought a plot of land and went "Green Acres" and built a nature preserve. He eventually came back to IT after taking a break and is the CTO for a fairly successful startup company. My best friend from high school left IT around 2000 and is a successful kitchen and bathroom salesman who claims he's making more money now than ever. Most of my friends who seem to be happy and making enough money to survive are managers and directors for startup companies or universities. They are just above the technical level to avoid the burnout of having to relearn everything you need to know for your career every 4 years, but deep enough into it to provide the right direction for those are constantly studying to stay ahead and compete.

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