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It's not my judgement to make - that's been accepted usage for centuries.

And now I'm going to have to ask you to substantiate this claim at depth. I mean, not just cite some manuals as evidence, but also explain why we should take those manuals as evidence that the rule has been accepted usage for centuries.

Let me preemptively link to this Amazon review of Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage , simply because it cites that book's entry on the "less/fewer" issue (and I don't have the book with me right now). Basically, the claim that the rule in question has been accepted usage for centuries runs afoul of the fact that the counterexamples go back about 900 years before the rule was formulated, without anybody taking care to complain about how "wrong" they were. (And hell, Baker himself, first guy to state the rule, said that less was "most commonly used in speaking of a Number; where I should think Fewer would do better." Which if anything suggests that the rule was more likely in contrast to accepted usage.

It's the name of the book, and how the author refers to his findings. NPR has nothing to do with it.

Is NPR accepting ads now? At first I thought this was idle news, until I read "In 2 1/2 months, Herson and Deck traveled the perimeter of the country..."

Perimeter of the US in 2 1/2 months? That takes some $$$$$ to do that and 2 1/2 month without a day job... and here's how they did it, by writing a book, The Great Typo Hunt

A book about traveling the country and correcting signs. Must be an amazing read, what's their next book, the Amazing Highway Trash Cleanup?

Think I'll just wait for the movie like the Twilight series, hope they sparkle in the sunlight too

Speaking of avoiding downtime, the recently published Web Operations is excellent. Lots of good anecdotes, advice, and procedures to make things better (RCA, 5 whys, etc). I've been doing devops stuff for a while and have picked up a lot from this book.

The SEC doesn't stop fraud because it doesn't want to stop it, not because it lacks the resources.

Exactly. For those who are not convinced, a bit of reading: Five New York Stock Exchange specialists were actually charged with fraud, but it's not the justice you think it should be. Richard Ney and economist who later turned actor, wrote a best selling book in 1970 ("The Wall St Jungle", interview NY Magazine 1970) with a few follow up books that all called out the NYSE Specialist families for fraud, explaining exactly how they defraud the public. At the time The Wall Street Journal boycotted anyone selling the NY times longest running best seller, and Ney was not permitted as a guest on The Tonight Show - very unusual at the time for someone with such a long run best seller/controversial book - his message had touched a raw nerve. In response, the establishment had Ney widely counter-attacked, labelled a conspiracy theorist nut at every opportunity - comments like "what would an actor know of the stock market" were common and can be heard even today.

To prove Ney's wild eyed grand conspiracy theory right - The DOJ finally got around to charging the NYSE specialists for the exact fraud that Ney described - 33 year's after he wrote about the crime! In 2003 the Specialist firms quickly got their get out of jail free cards for a tiny fraction of what they had actually defrauded over the years. Those get out of jail free cards just keep coming off the monopoly pile. The story does not end there however... news came out shortly after that the NYSE was at long last going to move to an all-electronic exchange - and that the Specialists firms charged with defrauding the public were the very same that had been blocking the move due to their 30% NYSE stake. Everyone in the know + those that read Ney's books knew all too well of the massive fraud going on in full public view for at least 33 years (more like 210+ years), but it was not until these Specialist criminals blocked other powerful interests that the illegal behaviour was actually pursued by the SEC/DOJ.

If ever there was an example of the lack of credibility for the SEC and DOJ, this is it. 33+ years of massive fraud in full public view, but they did not get around to prosecuting until it was ordered to - until it was necessary to coerce the Specialist family firms into letting the NYSE go electronic. Nothing to do with justice, or protecting the innocent being defrauded to the tune of billions of dollars over the decades. As an added insult, the DOJ let the criminals off the hook with a paltry fine. But then there is no surprise there, as Richard Ney said it best:

"Regrettably, the arrangements that exist to preserve the traditions and legalize the frauds of the security industry are inseparable from the general organization of a society controlled by the financial establishment, a society whose laws and principal customs have been contrived to serve the special interests of the financial community,"

Voting Red or Blue will not change this arrangement of US society and it's laws - merely reinforce it.

Some NYSE specialists were charged with fraud: Richard Ney and economist who later turned actor, wrote a best selling book in 1970 ("The Wall St Jungle", interview NY Magazine 1970) with a few follow up books that all called out the NYSE Specialist families for fraud, explaining exactly how they defraud the public. At the time The Wall Street Journal boycotted anyone selling the NY times longest running best seller, and Ney was not permitted as a guest on The Tonight Show - very unusual at the time for someone with such a long run best seller/controversial book - his message had touched a raw nerve. In response, the establishment had Ney widely counter-attacked, labelled a conspiracy theorist nut at every opportunity - comments like "what would an actor know of the stock market" were common and can be heard even today.

To prove Ney's wild eyed grand conspiracy theory right - The SEC and Department of Justice finally got around to charging the NYSE specialists for the exact fraud that Ney described - 33 year's after he wrote about the crime! In 2003 the Specialist firms quickly got their get out of jail free cards for a tiny fraction of what they had actually defrauded over the years. Those get out of jail free cards just keep coming off the monopoly pile. The story does not end there however... news came out shortly after that the NYSE was at long last going to move to an all-electronic exchange - and that the Specialists firms charged with defrauding the public were the very same that had been blocking the move due to their 30% NYSE stake. Everyone in the know + those that read Ney's books knew all too well of the massive fraud going on in full public view for at least 33 years (more like 210+ years), but it was not until these Specialist criminals blocked other powerful interests that the illegal behaviour was actually pursued by the DOJ.

If ever there was an example of the lack of credibility for the SEC, this is it. 33+ years of massive fraud in full public view, but the DOJ did not get around to prosecuting until it was ordered to - until it was necessary to coerce the Specialist family firms into letting the NYSE go electronic. Nothing to do with justice, or protecting the innocent being defrauded to the tune of billions of dollars over the decades. As an added insult, the DOJ let the criminals off the hook with a paltry fine. But then there is no surprise there, as Richard Ney said it best:

"Regrettably, the arrangements that exist to preserve the traditions and legalize the frauds of the security industry are inseparable from the general organization of a society controlled by the financial establishment, a society whose laws and principal customs have been contrived to serve the special interests of the financial community,"

Voting Red or Blue will not change this arrangement of US society and it's laws - merely reinforce it.

Just because some do doesn't mean all do. Read the fine print on some of the ones at stores you don't code for. Many of them are indeed non-replaceable.

Read Amazon's gift card policy or that of SeaWorld's gift card supplier. Wendy's gift cards cn be replaced if they are registered online before they are lost or stolen, but not otherwise. Ticketmaster will replace malfunctioning cards but not lost or stolen ones. Mom and Pop indeed...

Some stores do have much friendlier policies, but when I say that many don't I mean it and I'm right. Any easy way to get a friendlier policy is to either use Visa or MasterCard gift cards or deal with stores whose gift cards are handled as such. Many stores, however, still do not replace or refund stolen, lost, or destroyed gift cards (partially destroyed and still recognizable maybe), which is what I said and you're trying to argue against.

You are bitching because people don't know about some old, somewhat obscure, modem protocol? What the fuck? Why would they? Hell even many people who used modems didn't know about it because they didn't use it with the systems they were on (XMODEM and ZMODEM were way more popular in my experience).

The Kermit/Zmodem flame wars raged over Usenet for YEARS. I'd be surprised to find anyone who had been on comp.dcom.modems or comp.terminals circa 1988-1996 (!) who hadn't heard of it. I still stand in awe at Frank da Cruz's thick skin during the relentless attacks on what is undoubtedly the best widespread file transfer protocol ever designed. (And which saved our bacon while trying to automate an $80,000 scientific intrument when we only had three wires to talk to it with...but that was enough for RS-232 and Kermit95.)

But you're right, in the end all of those protocols were obscure. Xmodem/ymodem/zmodem were included in every version of Windows before Win7 in the form of HyperTerminal, hundreds of millions of installations, yet finding enough information to re-implement them required finding the old t-files floating around, poring over the lrzsz code, and reading Tim Kientzle's great book on serial protocols. (If I had known how painful it would be I would have just stolen sexyz's code.) Kermit OTOH had a great protocol manual that made it very easy.

As a counterpoint, do you know all about the telegraph, how it came to be, the development, the refinements, the way it changed the world? Can you tell me about the different kinds of keys and what they are good at? What can you tell me about the life of the man who invented it? Can you even tell me his name (without looking it up)?

I don't know the telegraph, but I do know a little about TTYs (the real ones). I needed to learn it in the process of making decent emulations for TTY, VT52, VT102, and others. Amazing how many of the C0 control codes have a real meaning.

Don't get grumpy because the things that were new to you are old to others. That's called progress and it is a wonderful thing.

I missed the text-mode online days too, got grumpy for a while, but then decided to bring my nostalgia into the more modern era. TradeWars 2002 FTW! :)

I think you should mention I pay $35 per month or year.

While I can't answer what you pay, I pay $60 per year.

http://www.amazon.com/IPEVO-S0-10-Desktop-Phone-Black-handset/dp/B0028NJTUE

And I basically have a regular phone with this, although it seems to be discontinued by Ipevo. Works great.

That's still WAY too expensive.

Funny, people said that it was going to cost $1k before it launched, and that it should really cost $500.

I find for what it does it provides great value. It's almost half as much as a Cintiq for example, and while it's not as advanced as that for drawing it can also do a lot more than a Cintiq can.

The iPad actually IS more expensive than $500. http://www.amazon.com/Apple-iPad-MB292LL-Tablet-16GB/dp/B002C7481G

It's $500 at Apple.

Your mistake is not looking at the seller, one of those companies that takes supply constrained products and charges an out outrageous amount more just for you to be able to get it faster. Yes, they are selling at over $100 above retail!

You can buy at Apple for $500, it will just take a bit longer to reach you.

HDMI to DVI or even the new laptops with WiDi

It's kinda like arguing for smoking because it tastes good. On my gluten free diet I have found that I do not miss bread that much as there are enough reasonable substitutes to keep me happy. I like chocolate cake, and Kinnikinnick Food's gluten free chocolate cake is as good and moist as anything I have ever tasted. It seems I can get by without the daily dose of gluten and my health has improved. The fact is that according to many nutritionists we would should not be eating huge amounts of carbohydrate bread products for good health anyway. It may taste really good, but it is not necessary for a diet.

And Linux use has dropped from a high of 2.5% in 2004 to a rounding error this year.

This might be true if you count the O/S that is installed on the student's laptop. However, most students also have a phone. And most students these days are buying smart phones. If is not an iPhone, it is probably an Android which of course runs Linux. And for those of you who think "Its not really Linux unless you can drop to a BASH shell", you might want to check out one of these bad boys.

I refer you to an interesting book.. I haven't read it, but the reviews suggest that the book claims that it is the reaction of others towards the scenario that causes the harm.

From a review written by a psychotherapist

Sexual experiences of children, either with peers or in some instances with adults, tend to be harmful to the child more because of the hysterical displays of adult care givers on discovery of the event than from the event itself.

it creates a distortion in the market for that commodity

What would you call the periodic booms and busts ignited by the meddling of central bankers with our money supply? There are plenty enough precious metals here on Earth, with some exceptions, that have few economic uses other than to serve as the "money" commodity. The essential feature here being that the total supply of commodity money grows in proportion to the actual output of the economy, not the whims of central bankers who invariably "get it wrong", balancing the supply of and demand for the money commodity with the supply of and demand for of all other goods and services relative to the money commodity using the market.

it erases the ability to ameliorate the horrific boom-and-bust cycles that occur in such a system.

The boom and bust cycles are caused by government interference with the money supply through fiat currency, fractional reserves and centralized banking. If you have any doubts about the history of central bankers as bunglers you might try either Murry Rothbard's A History of Money and Banking in the United States or The Case Against the Fed . It is simply not possible for a centralized group of bankers to "guess" what the correct supply of money should be and then cause exactly that amount to be in circulation at exactly the right time. Any attempt to do so is guaranteed to be unsustainable and fail; causing the booms and busts that people now accept as a "natural" feature of our economy. We have given up the centrally planned economy as unworkable for every other commodity except money; Why should we expect better results with centrally planned money? To be clear: you cannot ameliorate boom-and-bust cycles by meddling with the supply of money as the Federal Reserve and other central banks do today. It is their meddling which causes the business cycle to occur in the first place. These cycles would not occur in an economic system with a stable commodity backed money (which would make manipulations of the type currently done by central banks impossible). The Austrian Business Cycle Theory accurately explains this and other economic problems associated with fiat currency, fractional reserves and central banking. Why people continue to put their faith (and their wealth) in the hands of central bankers after nearly a century of contrary evidence is really quite astonishing.

Note: For those interested in a timely and more in depth analysis of the roots of the current financial crisis might I recommend: Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse?

"LEGO doesn't make purple bricks, so villains like Lex Luthor, The Joker, and Grimace are a challenge."

This statement may be true, however I know that Lego has indeed made purple bricks. I just stepped on one in front of my garage today. I believe my nephew got it as the exit gift from going through the 'Lego Factory' at Lego Land in Southern California. Not the huge impressive one available here on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Harry-Potter-Knight-Bus/dp/B0001A86BO

The toy my nephew received was only a double-decker.

The one space/two space debate is really about fundamentals of good typhography when doing text layout. It has everything to do with the overall colour of the block of text you're setting. But I'm no expert. Bill Hill is. He knows more about fonts and typography than likely anyone posting in this quite silly thread, including me. He spoke at length about spaces after periods on Channel 9 back in 2004.

Want to read more? Then pick up a copy of The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst. It's pretty much the bible of typography and goes into all sorts of wonderful detail on the colour of text, how to lay out pages, when to use em dash vs. en dash vs. hyphen, lowercase numbers, etc. And yes, Mr Bringhurst even talks about spacing after periods.

Google's guidelines for code contributions calls for 2 spaces.

It's also in the Green Book.

The Mac is not a typewriter not only lays down guidelines, but explains the logic behind them, such as why punctuation should be hung, why there should not be two spaces after periods, why text set in all caps should be avoided.

Obscene prices. sorry but $69.99 for a book on Python programming is robbery. When I can get the same book on Amazon.com for $29.95.

Every inch of shelf space has to generate its share of income for the store.

How many copies of your Python textbook do you think leaves the mall each day?

Amazon stocks a number of Python texts that list for $100 - in paperback:

Introduction to Computing and Programming in Python, A Multimedia Approach (2nd Edition)

Expect to see a relatively modest 12% discount here.

The Ansel Adams coffee table book in hardcover that lists for $150? 25% off. The American Wilderness

Obscene prices. sorry but $69.99 for a book on Python programming is robbery. When I can get the same book on Amazon.com for $29.95.

Every inch of shelf space has to generate its share of income for the store.

How many copies of your Python textbook do you think leaves the mall each day?

Amazon stocks a number of Python texts that list for $100 - in paperback:

Introduction to Computing and Programming in Python, A Multimedia Approach (2nd Edition)

Expect to see a relatively modest 12% discount here.

The Ansel Adams coffee table book in hardcover that lists for $150? 25% off. The American Wilderness

Based on a book called "China Inc.", Chinese labor today is even cheaper than slaves of US more than 100 years ago. It's a fact, face it or lose it.

And is the computer you are posting from made in US?

Just because the components were not made in the US does not by default mean they were made by slaves. In fact, I wholeheartedly admit that I do not know enough about the source of parts in the workstation I built.

That said, I am quite sure that they were not made at Foxconn in China, and I would take an educated guess and say that most of the parts were made in Taiwan or Malaysia by fairly compensated workers.

It's saddens me to learn that even with their 30% "pay" raise, that Foxconn slaves are still worth less than former US slaves.

You're right about the calculus books being written by mathematicians who are not well-known for their contributions to mathematical scholarship and research. I'm sure that Stewart, Anton/Bivens/Davis, Thomas/Finney, Varberg/Purcell/Rigdon, etc, all had to do some original research in order to get tenure, but nothing that anyone would know of. The one (fairly) recent exception to this that I can remember is Peter Lax, the well-known and outstanding applied mathematician at the NYU Courant Institute who wrote a fantastic first-year calculus book that is far better than any calculus book out today. Sadly it's out of print. I think it could be used today, with no modification.

On the other hand, not all the big-name mathematicians would necessarily make the best authors of a calculus text. For one thing, many of them usually teach graduate-level courses, and may not have taught first-year calculus in decades. The lesser-known profs probably have more experience teaching calculus and have at least some idea of the difficulties involved for students in learning the subject. Still, I would've loved to see a calculus book written by people like Stephen Smale, Michael Atiyah, René Thom, or V.I Arnold.

Um, guy, you do know that Income Tax is not the only tax that has ever been levied in the history of the world, right?

*sigh* Maybe not. Neither you nor the people who moderated you up.

Okay, here's the deal. Before we had income taxes, we had massive property taxes and sales taxes. We also had a lot less financial oversight, which meant regularly scheduled banking panics in which people lost their life's savings due to the shenanigans of bankers who gambled with other people's money.

Now I understand you think this is all fine and dandy, largely because you were never exposed to it. But I strongly suggest you actually crack open a history book before making more of a fool of yourself. In case you don't like dry tomes, here's a nice readable one, illustrated with period drawings: The Good Old Days: They Were Terrible!

Pricing: http://aws.amazon.com/s3/#pricing

Amazon MP3 Downloads?

You should get comfortable with object-oriented programming as a paradigm rather than worrying about which specific languages to learn. Of course you have to pick a language to learn it in (plenty of clean straight-forward implementations: Java, C#, Python etc.) but if it's the programming model that is foreign to you, focus on that. If you understand the concepts/fundamentals well, teaching yourself new languages should be easy. You never know what new language you'll have to work in or what new ones will be invented but learning how to effectively and quickly learn new languages is invaluable. This upcoming book looks worthwhile: http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Languages-Weeks-Pragmatic-Programming/dp/193435659X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280772277&sr=8-1

Orion Min-Eq tabletop mount. Friend has one and loves it. $60 plus $70 for a drive if you want it. http://www.amazon.com/Orion-Min-EQ-Tabletop-Equatorial-Mount/dp/B0000XMX8O

Sounds like you've done a lot of procedural programming. Programming now requires a different mindset than you've probably used in the past. I would recommend the following books: Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction is a good book to get you started thinking in a more object-oriented way. Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software is a very practical guide and great shelf reference. These will probably be much more useful to you than being told to go learn x, y, z languages: since they will help you write GOOD code in x, y, z.

Sounds like you've done a lot of procedural programming. Programming now requires a different mindset than you've probably used in the past. I would recommend the following books: Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction is a good book to get you started thinking in a more object-oriented way. Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software is a very practical guide and great shelf reference. These will probably be much more useful to you than being told to go learn x, y, z languages: since they will help you write GOOD code in x, y, z.

Actually I quite like the HP 50g, and if you look at the main product page you'll see it has just eight one- and two-star reviews versus 183 four- and five-star reviews.

I think you should first decide which platform you want to work on then go for the tools commonly used on that. Platforms are basically Linux, Windows, or cellular/iphone/android. With your lack of tool experience and your absence it'll be a tough sell, so you've got to demonstrate you've got desire and motivation. I would first start working on something and setup a website showing off your work. Put your software on sourceforge or equivalent. Make it seem like you're busy and you've got things filling up your day.

You left out SQL on your list of languages. Knowing SQL is a must for probably 80% of the jobs out there. Try out MySQL or Postgres.

I would avoid pursuing a web developer only job. They are commonly populated by teams with young graphic designers and programmers. I think older people 40+ are discriminated against among those circles.

One other thing. It's been a while since you've interviewed for a programming job. Interviewing has changed a lot since the 1980's. Today there is a kind of interviewing culture (or perhaps "language") you should know about. Long gone are the days when recruiters took your word when you said you knew X, Y, and Z. Today you are generally expected to code on the whiteboard and get into nitty gritty details of algorithms and containers. This can really hit you hard if you've not thought about the material in years. Do some interviewing research. Google, Microsoft, Amazon seem to have the model everyone emulates. Read up on Programming Pearls, Programming Interviews Exposed, and reading list and blogs like codinghorror.com

You should know about the riddle/puzzle interviewing fad that swept the industry between the late 1990's and early 2000's. Ala How Would You Move Mount Fuji. The riddle interview fad has mostly passed (at least for programmers), but you never know if you'll get hit with one.

I think you should first decide which platform you want to work on then go for the tools commonly used on that. Platforms are basically Linux, Windows, or cellular/iphone/android. With your lack of tool experience and your absence it'll be a tough sell, so you've got to demonstrate you've got desire and motivation. I would first start working on something and setup a website showing off your work. Put your software on sourceforge or equivalent. Make it seem like you're busy and you've got things filling up your day.

You left out SQL on your list of languages. Knowing SQL is a must for probably 80% of the jobs out there. Try out MySQL or Postgres.

I would avoid pursuing a web developer only job. They are commonly populated by teams with young graphic designers and programmers. I think older people 40+ are discriminated against among those circles.

One other thing. It's been a while since you've interviewed for a programming job. Interviewing has changed a lot since the 1980's. Today there is a kind of interviewing culture (or perhaps "language") you should know about. Long gone are the days when recruiters took your word when you said you knew X, Y, and Z. Today you are generally expected to code on the whiteboard and get into nitty gritty details of algorithms and containers. This can really hit you hard if you've not thought about the material in years. Do some interviewing research. Google, Microsoft, Amazon seem to have the model everyone emulates. Read up on Programming Pearls, Programming Interviews Exposed, and reading list and blogs like codinghorror.com

You should know about the riddle/puzzle interviewing fad that swept the industry between the late 1990's and early 2000's. Ala How Would You Move Mount Fuji. The riddle interview fad has mostly passed (at least for programmers), but you never know if you'll get hit with one.

I think you should first decide which platform you want to work on then go for the tools commonly used on that. Platforms are basically Linux, Windows, or cellular/iphone/android. With your lack of tool experience and your absence it'll be a tough sell, so you've got to demonstrate you've got desire and motivation. I would first start working on something and setup a website showing off your work. Put your software on sourceforge or equivalent. Make it seem like you're busy and you've got things filling up your day.

You left out SQL on your list of languages. Knowing SQL is a must for probably 80% of the jobs out there. Try out MySQL or Postgres.

I would avoid pursuing a web developer only job. They are commonly populated by teams with young graphic designers and programmers. I think older people 40+ are discriminated against among those circles.

One other thing. It's been a while since you've interviewed for a programming job. Interviewing has changed a lot since the 1980's. Today there is a kind of interviewing culture (or perhaps "language") you should know about. Long gone are the days when recruiters took your word when you said you knew X, Y, and Z. Today you are generally expected to code on the whiteboard and get into nitty gritty details of algorithms and containers. This can really hit you hard if you've not thought about the material in years. Do some interviewing research. Google, Microsoft, Amazon seem to have the model everyone emulates. Read up on Programming Pearls, Programming Interviews Exposed, and reading list and blogs like codinghorror.com

You should know about the riddle/puzzle interviewing fad that swept the industry between the late 1990's and early 2000's. Ala How Would You Move Mount Fuji. The riddle interview fad has mostly passed (at least for programmers), but you never know if you'll get hit with one.

I don't know whether you've gotten caught up in the UML/"design lots of patterns"/"writing code is for suckers" hoopla of the late 90's early 2000's--as if you didn't, you'll have a much easier time learning state of the art in development, while being able to apply enough experience from your younger days. (Consider everything that has to do with J2EE Enterprise Java of early 2000's as an example of what not to do.)

If you want to become current, you are going to need to learn to do:

1) Test-driven development
2) Write clean, expressive code (with much less need for comments and documentation)
3) Object-oriented design, as used to solve actual problems (not just putting functions into classes)
4) Design for what you need now or in the immediate future and refactor only as needs change
5) The Do Not Repeat Yourself principle. No duplication or copy/pasting.

The best advice I give to any starting out developer these days is to read Robert Martin's book Clean Code. It distills the wisdom of many an experienced programmer into a clear, well-explained format. It's Java-centric, but principles apply everywhere. Read it and see why separation of concerns is good, why keeping your functions at the same level of abstraction is good, why the single responsibility principle is good.

That book is the first book that explained to me properly why I should give a crap about the Law of Demeter. That law has been around since 1987 and yet I rarely came across anything but explanations with sterile, academic examples. Yet, "Clean Code" showed me why it's bad in closer-to-home terms AND, best of all, instantly provided a rewritten version that didn't violate the law and was clearly better.

One important point: it's not the languages you know, it's whether you know how to code well, design well and analyze problems well. All languages are just tools.

Modern development has finally stopped pissing over code and began respecting code. Gone are the days of trying to make UML diagrams generate Java (Model-Driven Architecture seems to have successfully passed us by without doing too much damage). In the web apps world, I think Ruby on Rails exemplifies latest thinking in software engineering, namely the thinking of "less code = better" and how to add abstraction layers without imposing code overhead in your application (e.g. convention over configuration).

The way I did it:

To learn Java: http://download.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/reallybigindex.html
To learn PHP: http://www.php.net/manual/en/ (start with the simple tutorial)
To learn Perl: SAMS Teach Yourself Perl in 21 days, http://www.amazon.com/Sams-Teach-Yourself-Perl-Days/dp/0672320355/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280710004&sr=8-1

I don't recall where/how I learned HTML/CSS. w3schools.com might have helped--it certainly helped with Javascript--but beware, particularly with Javascript, that not everything there is portable or even right. Once you have the feel for HTML and CSS, just go to w3.org where the specs are fairly readable.

most students are too lazy or too stupid to learn on their own and need someone to do the song and the dance going with the lesson.

Read this and tell me if you wouldn't benefit from a lecturer who has been in the field for 20+ years.

They're the only ones that offer:
1) easy website integration
2) thousands of programmers know how to setup advanced shopping carts thanks to the developer network
3) customers that trust them (that's very important)

and I thought of some more:
4) instant access to funds using the Paypal debit card.
5) 800 number where I can speak to a real person when I have a problem. Doesn't happen often but when the account is frozen (again) I want a real live person to tell me why ASAP

someone mentioned Amazon Payments which might be a great alternative since everyone's heard of Amazon and Amazon's fees are the exact same as Paypal's fees, 0 to $3,000.00 USD = 2.9% + $0.30 USD per transaction

I'll check out their API and see if we can use it.

Brave New World is under $2.50 for the Kindle. I have no idea why and I haven't noticed if other classics are at that price point. http://www.amazon.com/Brave-New-World-ebook/dp/B000FA5R5S/

Actually HP calculator quality has been falling off significantly the past few years as they have seemed to be outsourcing and cutting corners. I can't help but think that Carly Fiorina was largely responsible.

Actually HP calculator quality has been falling off significantly the past few years as they have seemed to be outsourcing and cutting corners. I can't help but think that Carly Fiorina was largely responsible.

Yes, I'll completely agree on that issue of access to fresh food as it relates to social class or segregation, good point.

Isles, inc. is one example group in Trenton that has made a difference fostering community gardens is the inner city for fresh veggies (as well as other benefits): http://isles.org/

Here is a co-op just started in a town as part of regenerating it:
http://www.mohawkharvest.org/

But our society could do a lot more. These issues are all intertwined.

And then these issues are interwoven with product design, advertising, profit-driven commerce, and externalities:
"The Pleasure Trap: Mastering the Hidden Force That Undermines Health & Happiness"
http://www.amazon.com/Pleasure-Trap-Mastering-Undermines-Happiness/dp/1570671508
"Supernormal Stimuli: How Primal Urges Overran Their Evolutionary Purpose"
http://www.amazon.com/Supernormal-Stimuli-Overran-Evolutionary-Purpose/dp/039306848X

People with less free time to understand all this then are also at risk (another issue of either income or lifestyle).

So, a complex mix of issues. But, they are systematically addressable, even without massive government involvement (as nice as it would be to throw a lot of resources at the problems). Get you vitamin D, pennies a day, have a garden or at least grow sprouts in your kitchen, buy more vegetables, soak and cook beans, buy frozen fruit instead of ice cream, make green smoothies in a US$100 blender.
http://www.greensmoothierevolution.com/
The most important foods to buy organic (generally, stuff you don't peel):
http://www.greenwala.com/community/blogs/all/6290-The-Dirty-Dozen
In general, it is cheaper and healthier to eat vegetarian. Permanently turn off the TV that mesmerises people into eating more junk.

It can be a positive upward spiral, of one improvement leading to another. First vitamin D, cheap and easy, then smoothies, then other changes... Any small group of people in any US community can make these basic things happen for themselves and their neighbors, as Isles, Inc. shows, as the Mohawk Harvest Cooperative shows, as lots of other examples show.

Still, it can be hard to throw off the mental parasites (like coming through mainstream TV, or even sometimes through school programs influenced by the meat and dairy industry) that keep us down.
* "Jamie Oliver's TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food"
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jamie_oliver.html
* "Dean Ornish on the world's killer diet"
http://www.ted.com/talks/dean_ornish_on_the_world_s_killer_diet.html
* "Ann Cooper talks school lunches"
http://www.ted.com/talks/ann_cooper_talks_school_lunches.html
* "Mark Bittman on what's wrong with what we eat"
http://www.ted.com/talks/mark_bittman_on_what_s_wrong_with_what_we_eat.html

From:
http://www.the-open-boat.com/Gatto.html
"A lot of the constraints on us, a lot of the ah, ah - strings that hold us like puppets are really inventions of our own mind. I'm not saying that there aren't armies and police and various ways to punish deviants. But there isn't any way to punish a LARGE NUMBER of deviants. There isn't any way to do that. It's too expensive

Yes, I'll completely agree on that issue of access to fresh food as it relates to social class or segregation, good point.

Isles, inc. is one example group in Trenton that has made a difference fostering community gardens is the inner city for fresh veggies (as well as other benefits): http://isles.org/

Here is a co-op just started in a town as part of regenerating it:
http://www.mohawkharvest.org/

But our society could do a lot more. These issues are all intertwined.

And then these issues are interwoven with product design, advertising, profit-driven commerce, and externalities:
"The Pleasure Trap: Mastering the Hidden Force That Undermines Health & Happiness"
http://www.amazon.com/Pleasure-Trap-Mastering-Undermines-Happiness/dp/1570671508
"Supernormal Stimuli: How Primal Urges Overran Their Evolutionary Purpose"
http://www.amazon.com/Supernormal-Stimuli-Overran-Evolutionary-Purpose/dp/039306848X

People with less free time to understand all this then are also at risk (another issue of either income or lifestyle).

So, a complex mix of issues. But, they are systematically addressable, even without massive government involvement (as nice as it would be to throw a lot of resources at the problems). Get you vitamin D, pennies a day, have a garden or at least grow sprouts in your kitchen, buy more vegetables, soak and cook beans, buy frozen fruit instead of ice cream, make green smoothies in a US$100 blender.
http://www.greensmoothierevolution.com/
The most important foods to buy organic (generally, stuff you don't peel):
http://www.greenwala.com/community/blogs/all/6290-The-Dirty-Dozen
In general, it is cheaper and healthier to eat vegetarian. Permanently turn off the TV that mesmerises people into eating more junk.

It can be a positive upward spiral, of one improvement leading to another. First vitamin D, cheap and easy, then smoothies, then other changes... Any small group of people in any US community can make these basic things happen for themselves and their neighbors, as Isles, Inc. shows, as the Mohawk Harvest Cooperative shows, as lots of other examples show.

Still, it can be hard to throw off the mental parasites (like coming through mainstream TV, or even sometimes through school programs influenced by the meat and dairy industry) that keep us down.
* "Jamie Oliver's TED Prize wish: Teach every child about food"
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jamie_oliver.html
* "Dean Ornish on the world's killer diet"
http://www.ted.com/talks/dean_ornish_on_the_world_s_killer_diet.html
* "Ann Cooper talks school lunches"
http://www.ted.com/talks/ann_cooper_talks_school_lunches.html
* "Mark Bittman on what's wrong with what we eat"
http://www.ted.com/talks/mark_bittman_on_what_s_wrong_with_what_we_eat.html

From:
http://www.the-open-boat.com/Gatto.html
"A lot of the constraints on us, a lot of the ah, ah - strings that hold us like puppets are really inventions of our own mind. I'm not saying that there aren't armies and police and various ways to punish deviants. But there isn't any way to punish a LARGE NUMBER of deviants. There isn't any way to do that. It's too expensive

To support your points, consider:
"The Two-Income Trap" (about needing two incomes and being more precarious)
http://motherjones.com/politics/2004/11/two-income-trap
and:
"Capitalism hits the fan" (about 30 years of stagnant wages)
http://www.capitalismhitsthefan.com/

Still, I feel the grandparent post is right about taxes. A 90% progressive maximum tax rate would help deal with a growing rich poor divide, and the fact that since it takes money to make money, the rich tend to get richer, and then a centralization of capital leads to the free market and capitalism breaking down (small businesses can't get started, etc.). Also, there are some needed things that business just won't do because of the risk or time horizon or externalities. That tax rate is part of what pulled the USA out of the Great Depression (justified at the time in part by WWII).

As far as government debt, it could be paid off tomorrow by just printing the money (which can be non-inflationary if the money printed matches the growing need for it). Related:
http://www.amazon.com/Creature-Jekyll-Island-Federal-Reserve/dp/0912986212
http://www.moneyasdebt.net/

Debt by the US government and also citizens for mortgages is a tricky thing, since our economy is based on debt to create money. I think we'd probably be better off with some other approach eventually. Ideas on that:
http://knol.google.com/k/paul-d-fernhout/beyond-a-jobless-recovery

C is certainly not the easiest language to learn but it will give you a very solid base that will make every other language easier to pick up. And yeah, most books are focused on boring bussiness applications but you need to remeber that it's programming you're learning, the bussiness apps are just contrived examples that are designed to touch on all of the basic programming elements.

THE classic C book is K&R, it does not have example applications, it has examples of techniques. If you take the (non-trivial) time to understand K&R from cover to cover you will still not know how to write MIDI drivers but your skills will be such that it will be easy for you to pick it up in a couple of days.

Note that K&R uses unix as it's example operating system but it does not teach you how to compile/link on any OS. Linux distro's usually have the compiler/linker already installed. If you want to use windows then you will need to find (and learn) an IDE, a respectable freebie is Eclipse.

Eek! Makes me wonder if you're 1) trolling, 2) realize that's absurd but think it's 1337, or 3) think it actually makes sense. Whichever it is, these people have *no* use for asm or tcp/ip, little use for C, and should learn something simpler than PHP, like Python. Maybe a good list for their next iteration through the "what now?" knowledge acquisition loop though, if you reversed the order. Also, I would note that a great way for non-technical people to actually understand how computers work, perhaps on their path toward your number (1), would be Petzold's Code.

Based on a book called "China Inc.", Chinese labor today is even cheaper than slaves of US more than 100 years ago. It's a fact, face it or lose it.

And is the computer you are posting from made in US?

You mean like these?

My friend, $600 will buy you a lot, but a cable that works with the newest HDMI standards it will not. May I interest you in our $1200 version? It's twice the pri.. quality. And in case you want higher quality YouTube videos, we've got the amazing Denon AK-DL1 [denon.com] Ethernet cable. It will sharpen your web-browsing experience, and make it run faster.

Don't forget that you can buy the same cable for $2500 on Amazon(*), after all, the more expensive the better.

(*) Spoiler: Read the reviews. All of them.

Close. I've only been hit once, and that was by another bike.

I take a fair bit of time tuning my bike and pay special attention to the brakes. I can stop from full speed (20-30km/h) in about a length - length and a half. Yep, that fast. The tires grip and the brakes have a hair trigger. (You want to talk contact patches?)

I stopped dead cold when a car wasn't decelerating fast enough (there's a bike trail that has a few side-streets crossing it; there are stop signs for car traffic, but I trust them as far as I can throw them, and given that they are bolted to signposts that are cemented into the ground, that is "not at all") and I was rear-ended by a 90-pound woman on a road bike. She tacoed her front wheel and broke the clip for one of my lights. She was drafting behind me and didn't call out to let me know.

I then accidentally ended up blinding her because when I turned to ask her if she was okay, I gave her 2W of Blaze right in the eyes. (I call that light "The Intimidator"; you don't want to know about "Dr. Throw")