A Geek’s Think

Here’s a page I made up several years ago about setting up Eclipse with J2EE on Windows. It’s a but outdated now, but I still get a few visitors looking for it.

Eclipse + J2EE

There’s a site I visit fairly often called Groklaw, which reports on legal items of interest to the technical community. I found a recent article funny and scary at the same time.

The article is titled ColdPizza, a parody by Scott Lazar. To quote Groklaw,

There is no way Scott Lazar can read Coldplay’s DRM notice of terms and conditions without inspiration striking. So here is his latest, ColdPizza.

DRM, or Digital Rights Management, refers to technical measures companies take to limit the use of their products. An example of this would be a copy-protected CD, which has some technical “feature” that (theoretically) stops consumers from making copies of the music it contains. For a better definition of DRM, visit the Wikipedia.

The DRM mentioned in the article is on a recent Coldplay CD, which automatically installs software on (Windows) computers when the CD is first inserted. The software is supposedly there to stop the consumer from making copies of the CD or ripping the songs into MP3’s. The terms and conditions of using that CD/software are rather draconian, thus inspiring a parody thereof.

You’ll never think about cold pizza the same:

ColdPizza, a parody by Scott Lazar.

Here are some links that I've found helpful in my research about joining the US Navy. I'll try to update the list as I find new links.

General Navy Links

• Main Navy Site - The Navy's home page containing the latest news about the Navy and its many parts
• Navy Forum on Military.com - This has been one of the best resources for me both in deciding whether or not to join the Navy and to prepare for life as a sailor. I highly recommend that anyone considering joining the Navy, already in DEP, or o n active duty check it out.
• Navy Statistics - Some interesting statistics about the Navy, including the number of ships and subs currently deployed, the number of active and reserve sailors, and more
• LIFELines - A site with information about nearly every aspect of Navy life
• Navy Terminology - Some definitions of Navy terminology.
• Navy Uniforms - Pictures and descriptions of the various Navy uniforms.
• Links Galore - A thread in military.com's Navy forums with lots of helpful links. I'll eventually go through it and put the best ones here, too
• Soldiers and Sailors Civil Rel ief Act of 1940 - Information about the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act, which has some helpful provisions to protect servicemembers' finances, such as reducing interest rates to 6% for debts incurred prior to the start of active duty.
• Servicemembers Civil Relief Act of 2003 - The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act expanded and improved the < em>Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act. 
  

Information for Those Thinking About Joining

• Na vy Recruiting Site - The Navy's main site for those interested in joining. It has some good information, but it's often less specific than I would like.
• Military Pay Scales - A page linking to the latest military pay scales
• Naval Recruiting Command - The home page of the Naval Recruiting Command has information directed toward recruiters but which the recruitee may also find interesting\u2026
• LIFELines - A site with information about nearly every aspect of Navy life
• DEP/New Recruit Forum on Military.com - This has been one of the best resources for me both in deciding whether or not to join the Navy and in learning how to prepare for life as a sailor.
• Enlistment Incentives - This page lists the available enlistment incentives for the various Navy ratings (jobs). Check it out!

Delayed Entry Program (DEP)

• Dep Guide - A guide for sailors in the Delayed Entry Program (DEP). This program is for anyone who has enlisted yet has to wait some amount of time before they attend basic training.
• DEP/New Recruit Forum on Military.com - Th e DEP/New Recruit forum on military.com is a great resource if you have any questions about preparing for Navy life. Believ e me, you will!
• Enlisted Rank Insignia - Insignias of enlisted ranks in the U S military
• Navy Recruiting Orientation Unit - Site with training for Navy Recruiters.

Boot Camp

• RTC Images - Images of one of the newer buildings at the Recruit Training Center, the USS Enterprise building.
  These images were posted as a favor for fearlessfosdick, a member of Military.com.
• Great Lakes Online - The home page of the base housing the Recruit Training Center and several other training facilities.
• Navy Recruit Training Center (RTC) - Contains information about the RTC and Boot Camp for sailors, families of s ailors, and more.

Ratings (Jobs)

• Rating Fact Sheets - A Navy page with links to P DF's describing the various ratings (jobs) and what they do.
  Warning: the page uses the abbreviation for the ratings (e.g. Electronics Technician = ET).
• Navy Enlisted Classifications Manual - A page describing the various sub-fields you can go into for a lot of the ratings (maybe all). I use it to find out what I might want to specialize in as an ET or FC.