Danger is my middle name

Motorcycles

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Dangerismymiddlename.com includes stories for computer programmers, stories for motorcyclists, and stories about myself. This particular post lists some of the motorcycle stories.

I want you to come back here until I have told all the great stories that are in me. Please subscribe to my feed. Thank you.

Motorcycle Safety and Riding Technique

Maintenance

Motorcycle Products

Electric Motorcycles

MotoGP

Other Motorcycle Competition

Motorcycle Track Days

Motorcycle Travel

Add comment 2008-11-09

NESBA Is Offering FREE Track Days!

These quotes are from the official NESBA Web site:

“NESBA offers an Intro group to non-members at no charge. This FREE Intro Group is for the street rider who’s unsure about signing up for a full day of riding. The Intro Group receives the Beginner classroom session and has access to the track for two 15-20 minute Beginner sessions in the morning rotation.”

“There is no bike preparation requirement; however, participants must pass a tech inspection as defined in the Riders’ Manual. The number of riders in the Intro Group is limited, so sign up early! You can sign up for this FREE offer only once.”

Click here to sign-up for your FREE NESBA track Day!

Here are the tracks that NESBA uses.

Go here to learn about demoing a new Yamaha sport bike at a NESBA track day!

Add comment 2009-05-11

Religious Logic

StumbleUpon presented Kay with this comic (it’s served from juanfont.eu). It’s not mine. I don’t know who created it:

Add comment 2009-05-10

Kansas Classrooms

The first two frames and the last frame are what some people really want, and the other frames are a metaphor for what some people really want.

Add comment 2009-05-09

Windows 7: Adjust User Access Control Settings

User Access Control is more intrusive by-default in the Windows 7 Release Candidate Build 7100 than it was in the Windows 7 Beta Build 7000, but it is still easier to live with than the original Vista implementation. Here is how to adjust the settings:

Go to “Control Panel”
If you cannot see the “Action Center” control panel icon, then choose “View by: Small icons”. The small icons settings turns on all control panel icons.
Click on the “Action Center” control panel icon.
Click on the “Change User Account Control settings” link.
Adjust your settings.

Add comment 2009-05-08

Find Your Next Job Online

Following this introduction is a short essay that I wrote for Brooks’ Rejection Emails Web site; where he critiques rejection letters. If you meet Brooks, then hire him.

My advice below eventually generated leads. That said, you never know where your next offer will come from. I met a Wal-Mart recruiter at a Diversity Job Fair during the dot-bomb implosion. (It’s not diversity without at least one caucasion man. Right?)

The Dallas Metro area lost over 78,000 IT and Telecom jobs during the 12 month period prior. Many of those folks were at this job fair. There were only two tech companies present. One of those two was interested in applicants with flight simulator engineering experience. The other said, “Go to our Web site. We are not taking resumes.” O… K… I was near the start of the line, so I let others know what I learned, and I heard a lot of, “Thanks, now I don’t have to waste anymore time here” in response to my news.

So, I introduce myself to a Wal-Mart recruiter at her empty booth. She took one look at me and said, “I am not recruiting computer programmers. I am recruiting night stockers in Dallas for the holiday season.” I reply with, “That’s OK I was a Night Stocker at Ames Department Stores. I like retail, and I like stocking shelves. Also, I would like to move to Bentonville Arkansas to be a computer programmer.” She took my resume, told me that she would bring it home, and give it to a tech recruiter, and that my-friends was the beginning of the highest paid position that I have held in my entire life. Heh, and people think that Wal-Mart doesn’t pay well… only better than everyone else!

OK, after this line comes the part that I wrote for the Rejection Emails Web site. Everything up above was just some additional rambling on my part:

I had this experience back during the dot-bomb bust. Obviously I need to paraphrase here, because this conversation happened long ago.

Recruiter:
“How are you doing your online job search?”

I then describe how I search for positions via friends, Monster, etc.

Recruiter:
“That will never work. Those ‘known’ positions potentially have hundreds of applicants. It doesn’t matter how good you are. There are just too many other applicants. Here is how I find potential applicants. One of my clients contacts me directly to fill a position. These are typically not positions that are widely advertised. My client wants to interview a small number of highly qualified people. I go to one of these Web sites (she then shows me Monster). Then I search on the keywords that are in the job description, the potential applicant’s location, etc. Then I contact the folks on the first page. I am almost always able to fill the position for someone near the top of my search results.

Recruiter:
So, the most effective way for you to find a position is to be on that first page. You don’t look for positions, because too many other people are applying for those very same positions. You simply position yourself so that I can find you. See this? The results near the top were edited recently. Make a resume. Put it on here. Put all the technologies that you know on it, and update it every single day, even if you simply add a space somewhere. Editing it every day puts it near the top of the search results. This advice will help other recruiters find you. In the meantime I will see if any of my clients need you now.”

Needless to say, this turned everything upside down. My job wasn’t to look for a job. My job was to market myself.

Add comment 2009-04-20

Open-mindedness

Add comment 2009-04-09

Phoebe: Evolution May Be True, But I Don’t Believe In It

Add comment 2009-03-28

If you spent a million dollars a day, every day since Jesus was born…

If you spent a million dollars a day, every day since Jesus was born, you still wouldn’t have spent as much as the Stimulus Bill. Now lets quadruple that amount, and we have the cost of the Iraq War.

2 comments 2009-03-27

Windows has Symbolic Links

I once said that if Microsoft added symbolic links to Windows, then I would use it forever. Well… We currently use mostly-UNIX where I work, but I am still psyched that Microsoft officially includes symbolic links in Vista and Windows 7.

Please go here to learn how to use the mklink command to create symbolic links in Microsoft Operating Systems.

Please go here to learn about symbolic links in various operating systems, including alternatives to mklink in Microsoft operating systems.

Add comment 2009-03-11

UNIX Commands for Microsoft Windows

The name (Windows Services for UNIX) makes it sound as if the application puts Windows services on UNIX. In actuality these are UNIX commands that run on Windows.

I realized how much I needed to install this $0.00, cygwin-like, program when I typed “ls” in front of a coworker for the third-time this morning.

Cons? Windows Services for UNIX does not include bash. For the love of all that is good Microsoft, please merge the features of bash (best… shell… ever…) and PowerShell (best… Microsoft… shell… ever…).

Cygwin is an well-known, older alternative to Windows Services for UNIX. Cygwin does include bash. It’s what I am using today.

Go here to download Windows Services for UNIX 3.5.

Here is information about Windows Services for UNIX 3.5 from Microsoft TechNet’s Interoperability TechCenter.

Here is more information about Windows Services for UNIX 3.5 from Microsoft TechNet’s Interoperability TechCenter.

Thank you, and have fun out there.

Add comment 2009-03-09