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  • Hey food science people. This guy in my office keeps warning us about how you shouldn't drink energy drinks because taurine and citric acid mixed creates some sort of toxins in your digestive tract. Despite the fact that I realize energy drinks aren't healthy for you I can't find any evidence on this claim. Anyone else heard this? Apparently it was on 60 Minutes.

    Preface: I didn't search beyond the first page with the phrase "taurine and citric acid"
    Never heard that. Can you ask for a citation beyond "60 Minutes?"

  • edited September 2012
    Sounds like bollocks. Taurine and citric acid are essential dietary components for cats, who will go blind without taurine intake and use the Krebs Cycle like every other eukaryote.

    Keep in mind that there's loads of taurine in a steak and loads of citric acid in orange juice, so if you have steak and eggs with a big glass of OJ, you've probably exceeded the taurine/citrate content of a can of Red Bull by leaps and bounds.

    Physiologically, it's really, really hard to have things that you digest react to create toxins. Things like taurine and citrates especially; they're simple and readily absorbed, so your body is going to take them into the bloodstream before anything can happen.
    Post edited by WindUpBird on
  • What are the job opportunities for people with electrical engineering degrees? A friend of mine has one, but he somehow can't find a job. He's actually heading back to school to earn a CS degree in the hopes that that piece of paper will open some doors.
  • A friend of mine has a job lined up with Microsoft's hardware division for when he graduates this summer - talking to him, EE jobs aren't that hard to find as long as you're willing to work on digital components, since there aren't many people hiring analog designers.
  • What are the job opportunities for people with electrical engineering degrees? A friend of mine has one, but he somehow can't find a job. He's actually heading back to school to earn a CS degree in the hopes that that piece of paper will open some doors.
    You live in Oregon right? Just did a quick and dirty search on usajobs.gov.

    Found two that are open to all U.S. Citizens.

    https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/326920200

    https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/327318600

    I know Oregon is a big state, and those locations are probably far away, but I see engineering jobs all the time on usajobs.gov. Have your friend check them out from time to time.
  • edited September 2012
    What are the job opportunities for people with electrical engineering degrees? A friend of mine has one, but he somehow can't find a job. He's actually heading back to school to earn a CS degree in the hopes that that piece of paper will open some doors.
    If you're in Oregon, Intel has some major facilities there near Portland. They do a lot of their microprocessor design there. In fact (not sure if he's still there), I have a friend who works on their CPU design team there.

    Post edited by Dragonmaster Lou on
  • Look into Aviation. Word on the wire says that there are some jobs either going around or coming very soon in the field, for electrical engineers. It'll be hard yards to get in, but it's worth a shot.
  • edited September 2012
    I think he was just being dumb. The only thing that I can find on energy drinks and 60 Minutes is about sugar being "toxic". Not sure where he came up with the combination of citric acid and taurine.
    Post edited by MATATAT on
  • Thanks for the tips, I'll pass them along.
  • What are the job opportunities for people with electrical engineering degrees? A friend of mine has one, but he somehow can't find a job. He's actually heading back to school to earn a CS degree in the hopes that that piece of paper will open some doors.
    If you're in Oregon, Intel has some major facilities there near Portland. They do a lot of their microprocessor design there. In fact (not sure if he's still there), I have a friend who works on their CPU design team there.

    He tried, but from what I understand all the jobs he was looking at had an experience requirement of at least 3 years, and he got discouraged. Wouldn't academic work count for that, or is it impossible to swing things in that direction?
  • Yes. The key is to make sure you properly answer it correctly in the application process. I have to do this a lot when applying for federal jobs.
  • edited September 2012
    He tried, but from what I understand all the jobs he was looking at had an experience requirement of at least 3 years, and he got discouraged. Wouldn't academic work count for that, or is it impossible to swing things in that direction?
    Hmm, I'm somewhat surprised they don't have jobs for relatively recent college grads there, given how it's a somewhat major facility. They also do a lot of their networking gear out there too. Did he even try to apply, or did he just look at the experience requirements. Sometimes, even with these larger companies, they'll find a resume on their desk that may not be a perfect fit for something that's advertised for, but could be a good fit for something else that's not quite public yet for whatever reason.

    Churba did mention aviation. Boeing is just up the road in Seattle, so that may not be too far to look.

    Oh, and my alma mater's engineering department just tweeted that Raytheon is hiring recent grads, although he'd probably have to move to the East Coast to get a job there. Plenty of EE work there with their radar systems and whatnot.

    Finally, an EE degree can definitely find work on the hardware side of many a high tech company, if you look. I'm sure Intel isn't the only hardware company up there (they tend to cluster together). You can also try Silicon Valley and the Boston area, among others.
    Post edited by Dragonmaster Lou on
  • edited September 2012
    Yeah, I live literally right down the street from Intel's Hillsboro facility, and less than a mile away from the new chip factory their building. It's pretty damn massive.

    I honestly have no idea. Every time that I asked him how the job search was going, he'd talk about how he was waiting on a friend or a relative to help get his foot in the door, or he was complaining about how everyone requires a few years of experience. I can only remember one instance when he talked about going in for an interview that wasn't helped along by someone he knew.

    Hell, the only job I know he had was working at Subway, which I literally had to shove him towards. And then he quit after two months without another job waiting in the wings. And that's when he decided going back to school was a good thing.

    Helping friends who don't seem to want it is incredibly frustrating.
    Post edited by Banta on
  • No kidding. I'm not ashamed to admit that I got my first two jobs out of college partly due to having connections at those particular companies -- however, those connections pretty much only got my foot in the door for an interview. There were other cases where I had connections, got the interview, but then bombed the interview (Google grills you pretty hard, go figure :P). However, I did not rely on connections to get interviews for my next two jobs and in all the cases, I actually did go out and work to try to find those jobs. Even if I wasn't a perfect match for the listed requirements, I knew most of them were at least partially BS and that if I at least matched up enough of the keywords, I'd at least have a shot.

    Sounds like your friend is the type where permanent work in academia is the only option. Maybe he should just get his doctorate in electrical engineering and become a college professor.
  • There's a girl in my German class who is doing really badly (like, she doesn't know the forms of "to be" badly), while I'm bored out of my mind. As an act of kindness, I've started to tutor her. Should I be charging her for this?
  • She can pay in boobs.
  • OH wait you're 15. Nevermind. She can pay in lollipops.
  • Why does Youtube give different search results on the mobile and desktop versions?
  • Because net neutrality isn't a thing.
  • Ok, I've seen people reference "CARROUSEL" on the internet. That's the reference to that South Park episode with molestation, and it's an homage to Lord of the Flies and the kids have a ritual called "Carrousel", where someone gets sacrificed, right?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wacky_Molestation_Adventure
  • Pretty sure it's Logan's Run.
  • Oh. Ok. Yeah. I never got into that.
  • Logan's Run, definitely. But, South Park paid homage, and I'd reckon more people know about it from that.
  • Clearly I am old because I'm fucking offended that people think of it as a South Park reference before a Logan's Run reference.
  • There's a girl in my German class who is doing really badly (like, she doesn't know the forms of "to be" badly), while I'm bored out of my mind. As an act of kindness, I've started to tutor her. Should I be charging her for this?
    How cute is she? That was my rule of thumb back in the day...
  • edited September 2012
    Clearly I am old because I'm fucking offended that people think of it as a South Park reference before a Logan's Run reference.
    You are younger than me, right? I don't know it and don't really care that I don't know the reference. Boo-fucking-hoo.

    We have to remember that geeks aren't all alike in regards to what they geek out about or know that things reference to.
    Post edited by Rochelle on
  • Clearly I am old because I'm fucking offended that people think of it as a South Park reference before a Logan's Run reference.
    You are younger than me, right? I don't know it and don't really care that I don't know the reference. Boo-fucking-hoo.

    We have to remember that geeks aren't all alike in regards to what they geek out about or know that things reference to.
    So wait... are you arguing that willful ignorance is laudable? Carousel is a very clear Logan's Run reference. That's where South Park got it from.
  • Clearly I am old because I'm fucking offended that people think of it as a South Park reference before a Logan's Run reference.
    You are younger than me, right? I don't know it and don't really care that I don't know the reference. Boo-fucking-hoo.

    We have to remember that geeks aren't all alike in regards to what they geek out about or know that things reference to.
    So wait... are you arguing that willful ignorance is laudable? Carousel is a very clear Logan's Run reference. That's where South Park got it from.
    Or worse, she's arguing that it's OK to not care about Logan's Run! It's required viewing to receive the nerd card.
  • Clearly I am old because I'm fucking offended that people think of it as a South Park reference before a Logan's Run reference.
    You are younger than me, right? I don't know it and don't really care that I don't know the reference. Boo-fucking-hoo.

    We have to remember that geeks aren't all alike in regards to what they geek out about or know that things reference to.
    So wait... are you arguing that willful ignorance is laudable? Carousel is a very clear Logan's Run reference. That's where South Park got it from.
    Or worse, she's arguing that it's OK to not care about Logan's Run! It's required viewing to receive the nerd card.
    Boy am I sure glad you guys don't control the nerd cards.
  • Clearly I am old because I'm fucking offended that people think of it as a South Park reference before a Logan's Run reference.
    You are younger than me, right? I don't know it and don't really care that I don't know the reference. Boo-fucking-hoo.

    We have to remember that geeks aren't all alike in regards to what they geek out about or know that things reference to.
    So wait... are you arguing that willful ignorance is laudable? Carousel is a very clear Logan's Run reference. That's where South Park got it from.
    Or worse, she's arguing that it's OK to not care about Logan's Run! It's required viewing to receive the nerd card.
    FISH! PLANKTON! PROTEIN FROM THE SEA!
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