I had seen this story last week but the Libertarian Blog article reminded me of it. In short, police departments across the country are running out of ammo for their weapons training because the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (not to mention all the other locations we have troops) are sucking up most of the small arms ammunition being manufactured. > more <

A friend sent this to me and I found it interesting and amusing. 10ZenMonkeys has an article entitled “Don’t Go There: Top 20 Taboo Topics for Presidential Candidates” and it’s quite enlightening. > more <

Found via Slashdot, Frank Wiles writes in his blog about why hiring the top programmers results in a better product and ultimately at a cheaper cost, contrary to popular thinking. His reasons are similar to what I’ve been thinking.

If you’ve ever read The Mythical Man Month, then many of his thoughts will sound familiar. A single expert programmer is equivalent to several average programmers. Therefore hiring a few experts yields numerous returns, such as: > more <

I read a blog post from Paul Graham a while ago and it’s stuck with me since then. In it, he states that hiring programmers proficient in “esoteric” languages means you’ll most likely end up with a better caliber of programmer.

The reason is that people who learn a non-standard language are learning because they like to program and the standard languages aren’t necessarily the best ones available. These people go out of their way to learn a new language for personal enjoyment, not because they have to know it to get a job. Graham calls it the “Python Paradox”: > more <

As found on the Libertarian Party blog, the era of Orwell’s Big Brother is in sight. And the U. S. government isn’t even shy about it.

Under Project Hostile Intent, scientists will aim to build devices that can pick up tell-tale signs of hostile intent or deception from people’s heart rates, perspiration and tiny shifts in facial expressions.

> more <

I don’t want this to sound like a political blog and it’s not directed at a specific political party. As usual it’s an observation from my personal life.

As readers should know, I am sending out resumes because I plan on leaving military service next year. Since I won’t be retiring from the military, it behooves me to get a federal civilian job so my years in the military will still count towards my retirement. In that light, I’ve been perusing USAJobs.gov, the “official” web site for federal service. > more <