Red-Ringed Tupperware Party with (ineffective) Tin Foil Hats (2)

timbernet wrote in post #3655610
I agree with you here... Alas, my former boss and my Mother really think I need to go to college. I will give a try for one year... We will see what I think after that.

Personally, I had so many doors open to me while working at the City, a lot of companies were asking if I could do stuff for them. And what do I tell them? Sorry, the next four years of my life I am paying someone.... Just for the off chance that I will make $10K more a year...

I don't want to be "rich" (and rich is a relative term) - I just want to be happy.

I get that too... And I think - why would I want to spend all the money for just "fun" - think of all the lenses I could buy

I read about that facial feature mapping... Really cool!

I'd walk away from the education.

Everybody tells you that you should go.

Hear it from someone who sacrificed everything and nearly lost everything, life included, in the process.

I don't need to hear the sugar-coated stories. It's the unhappy endings I need to worry about. After all, if every frog the princess kisses turns into a prince, then wouldn't life be perfect? I wish it could be that way; it sure as hell ain't gonna be.

Permagrin wrote in post #3655414
....so that they can map your features and the changes over all your drivers license photos to track you. It's supposed to prevent id theft. It feels like something completely different, but I won't go there ...

As a daily commuter I get annoyed at the photo tracking they are doing. Our toll system takes your pic every day so i took to holding up a paper cutout of George bush with the eyes cut out so the toll guys get to see good old GB driving my car.

calicokat wrote in post #3655294
I got a Marine Biology Degree, if I could do it all over, Geology would be it

WOW!! I started in marine bio but quickly figured out that there is not a lot of marine in the middle of Illinois and I was too poor to get to a coast and settled for engineering instead. My last semester though I took geology and fell in love with the science but alas, again too poor to continue in school. Maybe one day I’ll go back.

Lightstream wrote in post #3655303
If I had to do it all over again...I would never have gone to college.

Better to be happy and make less $$ than suffer for everything you believe in.

Sorry your experience was so dark.

calicokat wrote in post #3655306
I loved college, great memories, oh, the classwork was nice too

My college stay was a blast. I got most of my partying done in HS and as I was footing the bill for college, I paid attention to the academics way more than the social side but still got a fair share of that as well.

calicokat wrote in post #3655475
People can be cruel, but most pay for it later down the road

If this were only true. Unfortunately in my adult life I have noticed that back stabbers and cutthroats rise to the top. Work is chocked full of thea$$h0les all telling those who can actually do something what to do.

Zilly wrote in post #3655513
i want to go to brook insitute of photography next year but im not too sure . . . . . . . . . do what to move to america (california) tho

I had a guy come up to me in the park one day, I had my 1DsmkII and 70-200/2.8. He asked me what camera I had so I held it up to show him. He then went on to tell me that he was a graduate of Brooks Institute a few years ago but decided photography was not his thing. I thought to myself, if you can't look at a rig and identify it then you made the right choice. I'm thinking, the camera body has Canon in big letters and theres a white lens attached.

Lightstream wrote in post #3655625
I'd walk away from the education.

Everybody tells you that you should go.

Hear it from someone who sacrificed everything and nearly lost everything, life included, in the process.

I don't need to hear the sugar-coated stories. It's the unhappy endings I need to worry about. After all, if every frog the princess kisses turns into a prince, then wouldn't life be perfect? I wish it could be that way; it sure as hell ain't gonna be.

Just to shut them up, I will go for one-year... or maybe even one semester. I am staying at home and commuting in and I am not taking any crazy classes...

That is something else that makes me mad about college... So I am going into a "Business Administration" degree and what classes do I still have to take? Science, music, history.... The same classes I have been taking every year in high school.... You don't learn anything new - just the classes and homework are harder...

I would much rather go in, and take just the business classes and be done with it...

timbernet wrote in post #3655610
I agree with you here... Alas, my former boss and my Mother really think I need to go to college. I will give a try for one year... We will see what I think after that.

Personally, I had so many doors open to me while working at the City, a lot of companies were asking if I could do stuff for them. And what do I tell them? Sorry, the next four years of my life I am paying someone.... Just for the off chance that I will make $10K more a year...

I don't want to be "rich" (and rich is a relative term) - I just want to be happy.

I get that too... And I think - why would I want to spend all the money for just "fun" - think of all the lenses I could buy

I think you are more mature than the average guy entering college, so it might not be a good fit for you. But at some point you should probably pick up a degree simply because there is likely to be a job you will want that will require that degree, regardless of your experience. Also later of if you have a wife and kids, car payment and mortgage, its really hard to budget in the time or money for your own education.

Personally I really enjoyed college, and I wasn't the partying type. It was just great to be away from home with people in my own age group, lots of books and newspapers to read in the library, buffet meals three times a day, frisbee golf in the evenings, easy on-campus jobs. It was a wonderful "all about me" life that I didn't fully appreciate until I had tons of adult responsibilities taking up nearly every minute of my waking life.

Kevin wrote in post #3655641
I had a guy come up to me in the park one day, I had my 1DsmkII and 70-200/2.8. He asked me what camera I had so I held it up to show him. ...

I have had a two Nikon guys come up to me recently almost the same way. One guy asked if I was shooting a Canon, the other asked what kind of camera. Both I believe were using the phrase as an ice breaker and we shared some good stories, swapped equipment for a while and I got to shoot a D200 and a D40.

gjl711 wrote in post #3655670
I have had a two Nikon guys come up to me recently almost the same way. One guy asked if I was shooting a Canon, the other asked what kind of camera. Both I believe were using the phrase as an ice breaker and we shared some good stories, swapped equipment for a while and I got to shoot a D200 and a D40.

Did you wash your hands afterwards?

timbernet wrote in post #3655687
Did you wash your hands afterwards?

Actually, I kind of liked the D200. A bit big as a travel camera but a good feel. The D40 was something else though.

Jon wrote in post #3654655
Ah, yes! Need a good quiet time so I can start on Deathly Hallows. Not to mention a few dozen other books in my slush pile . . .

I've been slowly working my way through this one, but I don't have the free time for reading like I used to. I'm about halfway through, so far...

I don't even want to talk about the other books in my slush pile...

This morning I noticed that a website I found yesterday with GPS waypoints for Namibia & Botswana had been hacked.


Today the webmaster has posted this about it

Oooo keeh. Hmmm I would certainly NOT trust a hacker to tell me how to prevent him from getting in again.....

tommykjensen wrote in post #3655887
Oooo keeh. Hmmm I would certainly NOT trust a hacker to tell me how to prevent him from getting in again.....

Lots of big internet security firms do employ "ex" hackers as consultants... Really makes you wonder...

tommykjensen wrote in post #3655887
Oooo keeh. Hmmm I would certainly NOT trust a hacker to tell me how to prevent him from getting in again.....

I'm presently working on security for an aspect of our company's site. I've learned that people who do not care about security are willing to sacrifice the effort to make things secure for the luxury of implementing something easy. I smelled lawsuits, disclosure investigations, and possible FBI involvement if we didn't lock things down to MY standards.

Dang it.

Now they've put me in charge of the friggin security. Oh well. Job security.

My boss wants to know how it all works. I told her. At different points she stops me and wonders why it isn't enough to stop at THAT point of my description. I explain the hacks I would employ to get past my own security. At this point, she and another on the team look at each other and say "I'm not sure I want Bill to have access to computers around here." I replied "I'm PRECISELY who you need to have poking around the computers. Who's going to tell you where the holes are? You won't know you've been breached until after the site has been raided."

Trust me, you NEED someone with hacking skills working on your security. You just have to monitor what they do closely so you can understand why.

timbernet wrote in post #3655610
I agree with you here... Alas, my former boss and my Mother really think I need to go to college. I will give a try for one year... We will see what I think after that.

Personally, I had so many doors open to me while working at the City, a lot of companies were asking if I could do stuff for them. And what do I tell them? Sorry, the next four years of my life I am paying someone.... Just for the off chance that I will make $10K more a year...

I don't want to be "rich" (and rich is a relative term) - I just want to be happy.

Those openings you've seen have all basically been doing just about what you're doing now, though right? after a few more years of it, you may want some new challenges, and unfortunately many, if not most, employers are reluctant to take on someone without those magic letters after their name (and I don't mean MCP or CCNA). They'll use that lack as an excuse to bring in an H1B from overseas who's spent the last 4-8 years in college and grad school getting a diploma or two, regardless of whether s/he's any better qualified. You may like what you're doing now, but can you see doing it for the next 50 years, until you reach retirement age?

BillsBayou wrote in post #3656133
Trust me, you NEED someone with hacking skills working on your security. You just have to monitor what they do closely so you can understand why.

Having someone on the payroll is one thing another is trusting an anonymous hacker on the internet. If you need the hacker to tell you what to correct then who knows if the solution he provides is not a new backdoor.

I can't imagine entering todays job market without a degree in your field of interest. Even a basic BS degree shows that you are committed to complete what you start. 40 to 50 years is a long time to fight off those degreed individuals that may threaten your future.