So yeah, as the title implies I did a little shopping around to other, nameless security forums.

Granted most of these forums haven't been updated since the Coolidge administration and/or are loaded with ignorant opinionated kiddies droning on with accolades of the simple technologies they understand and condemning those they don't with a level of lucidity one might have expected as a response to the first time someone tied a chunk of volcano to a stick.

All that aside, some are quite current and professional... like I care about such that "country matters" as that. (too esoteric?) What I do care about is prizes.

Being a guy in general and a geek in particular, I love little techno toys, be they the two-dozen or so USB keychains I swiped from the PGP booth at the ISSA convention in San Fran (sorry, Brita, hope they didn't make you pay for those)... or a bluetooth enabled thermos that connects uses a konfabulator widget to display the contents temperature so I know when my hot chocolate is just right (I wonder if anyone has patented that yet? just in case I think this might pass for prior art since it is public) but also being a guy (being a geek plays less into this part) I have a girlfriend, which means that even with an eight figure income, I'd still be lucky to afford myself a new toothbrush every six months, much less new techno toys.

Don't even get me started on the number of times I've had to clean the mouse's ball and crevass(es).

This girlfriend/poverty matter brings up another point. I have plenty of work clothes, but I'm not allowed to wear them around the house... something about me not being trusted to "not ruin them" so I am left with casual clothes. Even though the choice between buying a new "Joy Division" shirt or being in fresh toothbrushes for the next two years has been a difficult one... well I only have about four days worth of around the house clothes. Even just sock prizes would be great... send mixed sets of blue/brown/black so everyone else, but me notices them. Great marketing.

What does this mean? Well, I figure that I've prolly generated about $273million for this site over the last few years ($273million margin of error). Had I not been so busy sitting through retarded seminars by "LANScope" or "WebSpeculum" just to swipe toys, constantly blowing on and remicrowaving hot chocolate, doing laundry sometimes as often as once in a while, or clinging to some false hope of finding that matching sock... just think how much more than that original $546million (outside estimate) I could have contributed.

cheers,

catch