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Comment several suggestions (Score 5, Informative) 85

Get a pelican case, waterproof and near indestructible for tools and equipment.

Get another for your stuff.

They come with removable foam, and you can customize spots for each tool.

Some other tips-
Carry some cash somewhere on your person other then your wallet. Carry more then one type of credit or debit card. (machine ate one of mine in china when I arrived in China. It was NOT a good day)

Printout maps to all the hotels you are staying at-its handy to show cab drivers that don't speak english.

Carry some basic things like a small travel toothbrush, and hand napkins on your person. If the plane you are about to board has the luggage loading door torn off-you will appreciate this as you spend the night somewhere with no luggage.

Deodorant is your friend-yeah they don't sweat in the 110 degree 90% humidity heat. If you were born in Minnesota, odds are you do.
Don't assume things. Some fun examples-
Going out to eat Pussy, in China refers to the district you are going to have dinner in NOT the activity.
When Chinese are saying "nigga" they are NOT referring to any color of your skin, its not related.
When asked if you want a "Chinese girlfriend" they are asking about a hooker, not if you want to meet nice Chinese women to get a girlfriend. Try to avoid conversations where at the end of it they assume you are gay. God that was funny later. Not so much at the time.

Buy tools and shavers that take both 110 and 220.
Bring adapter plugs.

Hotel networks are often horrifically infected with spyware etc-keep a firewall up, and up to date anti-virus.

If you don't think you can eat those chicken feet, or bugs without throwing up-decline.

If you CAN eat horrific things, and the locals are messing with you to make you look foolish-suggest a better place to eat, and take them somewhere where they turn green. Evil...but funny.

Transportation

Submission + - Int;l Field Engineer Travel Tips?

ShamelessHero writes: I was recently hired as a Field Engineer, deploying servers, workstations and peripherals to sites around the globe. I try and travel light, but try as I might, the Emergency Repair Kit has ruined three sets of luggage so far.

I know there are Slashdotters here who travel internationally and through some treacherous environs.

What are the best travel tips you've come up with? Recommendations for durable, light yet large luggage are much appreciated.

Comment Re:Iron Man's Suit Defies Physics -- Mostly (Score 2, Interesting) 279

Hydrogen peroxide powered rocket packs fly for around 30 seconds, because they have a specific impulse of around 125, meaning that one pound of propellant can make 125 pound-seconds of thrust, meaning that it takes about two pounds of propellant for every second you are in the air. Mass ratios are low for anything strapped to a human, so the exponential nature of the rocket equation can be safely ignored.

A pretty hot (both literally and figuratively) bipropellant rocket could manage about twice the specific impulse, and you could carry somewhat heavier tanks, but two minutes of flight on a rocket pack is probably about the upper limit with conventional propellants.

However, an actual jet pack that used atmospheric oxygen could have an Isp ten times higher, allowing theoretical flights of fifteen minutes or so. Here, it really is a matter of technical development, since jet engines have thrust to weight ratios too low to make it practical. There is movement on this technical front, but it will still take a while.

John Carmack
Microsoft

Journal Journal: why I hate xbox live 2

The story so far..

My Xbox 360 experienced the red rings of death while playing Halo 3 shortly after release. Since in my spare time I was working on a XNA project as a developer this was especially disappointing. So I canceled my XNA developer access while I waited for it to be repaired, and sent the Xbox in. Amazingly fast service in returning it! A couple weeks later a replacement arrived.

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