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Who says you can't merge them, my console is on a desk like this:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=9854979

With this TV:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=9204671

With this printer down below:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=bpd02982&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&product=58749#

and this external hard drive that works in both Linux and GameOS:

http://www.amazon.com/Maxtor-Basics-Personal-Storage-External/dp/B000HKKNH8

And there's people with HTPC's in their living rooms attached to their big screen HDTV.

Here's a good start, the Nerd Handbook.

--
*An associate's link! I stand to make hundreds of microcents if you use it!

...and use Agile. Here is the best book in the world: Agile estimation and planning

To micro-manage them is to underutilize them (and to frustrate them). Your job is to understand the business problems and communicate them as business problems, and let the team figure out the technical solutions...they should give you some alternatives, and let you pick the right ones. After that, your job is to ensure that nothing obstructs their development, and to take action whenever they tell you that they are blocked.

If you must be hard on deadlines, then you must be soft on requirements. Or vice versa. Being hard on both will always guarantee failure to deliver, and talent walking out the door. Usually being hard on deadlines is the choice of the day.....so being soft on requirements must be done, but *intelligently.* Some requirements are core to the usefulness of the app. Some are gold-plating. Move the gold-plating to the bottom of the priority heap. Each iteration will then represent the maximum possible business value that can be developed within the allotted time.

You also spend a lot less time trying to stick stuff end-to-end in making a project plan and having to spend more time changing it all around after things don't go as planned halfway through the project. Micro-managers tend to hate agile, despite the fact that it is a much more realistic addressing of the realities of software development than traditional, waterfall, winds up being.

First, read Gerry Weinberg's classic work, "Becoming a Technical Leader". It's particularly apt for you, since you've transitioned from being a developer to being a manager.

Second, read "Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams" by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister. Still the single best work on shaping and managing software teams.

Finally, work your way through "Journey of the Software Professional: The Sociology of Software Development" by Luke Hohman. This book deserves to be far better known (and read) than it is. It's a denser book than the first two, but will cover virtually every issue that you'll run into as a software project manager. ..bruce..

First, read Gerry Weinberg's classic work, "Becoming a Technical Leader". It's particularly apt for you, since you've transitioned from being a developer to being a manager.

Second, read "Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams" by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister. Still the single best work on shaping and managing software teams.

Finally, work your way through "Journey of the Software Professional: The Sociology of Software Development" by Luke Hohman. This book deserves to be far better known (and read) than it is. It's a denser book than the first two, but will cover virtually every issue that you'll run into as a software project manager. ..bruce..

First, read Gerry Weinberg's classic work, "Becoming a Technical Leader". It's particularly apt for you, since you've transitioned from being a developer to being a manager.

Second, read "Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams" by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister. Still the single best work on shaping and managing software teams.

Finally, work your way through "Journey of the Software Professional: The Sociology of Software Development" by Luke Hohman. This book deserves to be far better known (and read) than it is. It's a denser book than the first two, but will cover virtually every issue that you'll run into as a software project manager. ..bruce..

Read Hackers and Painters and Mythical Man Month, especially the latter.

Know this: checking in on your developers via a bug tracking system is probably advisable instead of constantly walking in and saying, "What's happening." Note period instead of a question mark.

Read Hackers and Painters and Mythical Man Month, especially the latter.

Know this: checking in on your developers via a bug tracking system is probably advisable instead of constantly walking in and saying, "What's happening." Note period instead of a question mark.

Your numbers are incorrect.

Xbox 360 with 120gb drive (Elite) and wireless adapter: $400
Extra controller - $40 Amazon
Charging kit - $17 Amazon
Memory card (absolutely not necessary BTW) - $43 Amazon

I refuse to include headphones as you need them whether you use a PC or a console, therefore it is not relevant to your argument.

The total is $457, or $500 if you truly must have the memory card. You'll be able to play every Xbox 360 game without worrying about whether it is compatible. The graphics will look great and have an excellent framerate, having been fine-tuned for the Xbox capabilities. You'll never have a driver incompatibility. You'll never have a virus (hopefully I'll never have to eat these words!). You'll be able to play on your TV, which in most cases is larger and easier on the eyes than your computer monitor, that was designed for high-contrast stuff like word processing. You'll be able to play in the comfort of your couch, which in most cases is more comfortable than your office chair, that is designed for upright posture and typing.

You will be hard-pressed to find a $500 PC that can play 1 year old games, let alone the newest ones. And during the 5 year lifespan of a console, you will spend many times that amount trying to keep your PC upgraded to the latest video card.

Your numbers are incorrect.

Xbox 360 with 120gb drive (Elite) and wireless adapter: $400
Extra controller - $40 Amazon
Charging kit - $17 Amazon
Memory card (absolutely not necessary BTW) - $43 Amazon

I refuse to include headphones as you need them whether you use a PC or a console, therefore it is not relevant to your argument.

The total is $457, or $500 if you truly must have the memory card. You'll be able to play every Xbox 360 game without worrying about whether it is compatible. The graphics will look great and have an excellent framerate, having been fine-tuned for the Xbox capabilities. You'll never have a driver incompatibility. You'll never have a virus (hopefully I'll never have to eat these words!). You'll be able to play on your TV, which in most cases is larger and easier on the eyes than your computer monitor, that was designed for high-contrast stuff like word processing. You'll be able to play in the comfort of your couch, which in most cases is more comfortable than your office chair, that is designed for upright posture and typing.

You will be hard-pressed to find a $500 PC that can play 1 year old games, let alone the newest ones. And during the 5 year lifespan of a console, you will spend many times that amount trying to keep your PC upgraded to the latest video card.

Your numbers are incorrect.

Xbox 360 with 120gb drive (Elite) and wireless adapter: $400
Extra controller - $40 Amazon
Charging kit - $17 Amazon
Memory card (absolutely not necessary BTW) - $43 Amazon

I refuse to include headphones as you need them whether you use a PC or a console, therefore it is not relevant to your argument.

The total is $457, or $500 if you truly must have the memory card. You'll be able to play every Xbox 360 game without worrying about whether it is compatible. The graphics will look great and have an excellent framerate, having been fine-tuned for the Xbox capabilities. You'll never have a driver incompatibility. You'll never have a virus (hopefully I'll never have to eat these words!). You'll be able to play on your TV, which in most cases is larger and easier on the eyes than your computer monitor, that was designed for high-contrast stuff like word processing. You'll be able to play in the comfort of your couch, which in most cases is more comfortable than your office chair, that is designed for upright posture and typing.

You will be hard-pressed to find a $500 PC that can play 1 year old games, let alone the newest ones. And during the 5 year lifespan of a console, you will spend many times that amount trying to keep your PC upgraded to the latest video card.

History Channel ran a story about him in Modern Marvels - it was a good show and if you can, you should watch the show to see the DeBeers vs Small Man battle and some other cool theories he has on geological/ice drift that prompted him to look below the ice based on patterns of deposits from a glacier. Very interesting stuff indeed - despite all the rants - this is a good topic about innovation, forward thinking and the challenge of David vs. Goliath in modern terms... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0877223/ http://www.amazon.com/History-Modern-Marvels-Diamond-Mines/dp/B001CU9486 http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=4&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthepiratebay.org%2Ftorrent%2F3592588%2FModern_Marvels_-_Diamond_Mines&ei=lbFCSeKZPNG3tweKqP3TCA&usg=AFQjCNFANj1cetx6DEkhjYL2v1NJmGwaVA&sig2=rvJ3z4L9GKhe_vyIQZn02w

Last year my wife kept mentioning that she wanted a mother-child pendant. (Here's a photo of one, in case you don't know what it is: http://www.amazon.com/Sterling-Silver-Heart-Shaped-Pendant-Russell/dp/B000OZT53O ) Trying to be a good husband, I took the hint and bought her one. It cost around $250, but I figured that it was something that she wanted. Instead, when I presented her with it, she slapped me and told me that I shouldn't have spent so much on a piece of jewelry. I think she would welcome the opportunity to get nice looking diamonds at only $5 each.

He also reviewed Mac OSX Leopard
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1SM2V0UJ2MM9L

> I fail to see motive, nor how a government as incompetent as ours could pull of a huge conspiracy, and maintain full secrecy at all levels

The beauty is that you don't have to maintain secrecy. Our willingness to believe that all is right with the world and to have faith in our leaders leads people to selectively filter out truths which don't gibe with that world view. Don't believe me? How many people in your country still believe that Iraq had something to do with 9/11? How many still believe that Iraq had WMD? The fact that events like (for example) the Gulf of Tonkin incident are well documented, does not mean that that truth is widely known let alone widely accepted. Politicians all over the world have figured out that it is all about managing the message. The few people that can see through the spin are ignored by the majority who choose to believe what they are told and look no further.

The other thing to note is that it doesn't have to be a "huge" consipiracy. If I order to you to run a war-game on that day, why would you question my motives? You don't have to be aware that 3 other similar war-games were called on the same day. Compartmentalisation and need-to-know practices ensure that large projects can proceed to conclusion with little or no knowledge amongst the lower ranks of the bigger picture.

> Also with an event so heinous, I really doubt that everyone involved would have absolutely no moral qualms with it, it doesn't gibe with human nature.

Are you kidding? We've just left a century which saw the Armenian massacre, Stalin's purges, the Holocaust, the Cultural Revolution, Pol Pot's killing fields, the carpet bombing of Vietnam, the Rwandan genocide, Central American death squads and many more than I can remember. We are currently seeing Robert Mugabe slowly starve his people to death.

Don't kid yourself, human nature can self-justify the worst possible atrocities.

See http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Evil-Ordinary-Genocide-Killing/dp/0195148681/

This guy got him beat:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1PPJ35WY17216

Higher Order Perl is a great way to wet the appetite for FP and learn a few of the major ideas. But it seems like your appetite is already wet you have been just trying books / lessons that are too hard. An easy Haskell book is Thompson's and you can get the first edition cheap. Thompson will work you through the basic syntax enough to do one of the good books.

Scheme! There's something great about starting out with an interpreted language - instant results keep kids interested.

Scheme also has the advantage of two brilliant books for beginners, The Little Schemer and The Seasoned Schemer. I think eleven-year-olds would get a kick out of the fact that these books are written for adults, written in fact to be challenging and engaging for adults, yet are written in a very simple format with very simple language, exactly as if they were written for children. The message to adults -- set aside your burden of knowledge, become childlike, start from scratch with Scheme. The message to kids -- this is an area where you can approach serious stuff on equal terms with adults.

As a child, it is always gratifying change to hear that adults would understand better if they were more childlike and less handicapped by experience. That alone is enough to fire a kid's enthusiasm for programming.

Scheme! There's something great about starting out with an interpreted language - instant results keep kids interested.

Scheme also has the advantage of two brilliant books for beginners, The Little Schemer and The Seasoned Schemer. I think eleven-year-olds would get a kick out of the fact that these books are written for adults, written in fact to be challenging and engaging for adults, yet are written in a very simple format with very simple language, exactly as if they were written for children. The message to adults -- set aside your burden of knowledge, become childlike, start from scratch with Scheme. The message to kids -- this is an area where you can approach serious stuff on equal terms with adults.

As a child, it is always gratifying change to hear that adults would understand better if they were more childlike and less handicapped by experience. That alone is enough to fire a kid's enthusiasm for programming.

"PHP or C are ideal for a number of reasons."

I agree with C or C++. Seems those are the first program languages taught to computer science majors in most major universities, and many of those freshmen are 17 or 18 yrs old. I see no reason why "11-14 year old gifted children" can not handle a basic course in C or C++. Besides, if they do decide to go on to become programmers, might as well teach them the first language they'll learn.

Use the C++ for dummies as a guide to writing the lessons.

First off, a disclaimer: I'm actually not (much) of a Python programmer--I much prefer Ruby.

However, my Dad teaches Math & Physics at the high school level, and got tapped to teach an intro to programming class this year. On my advice, he bypassed C++ (which he kind of knew) and Java, and taught it in Python using this book:

Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science (Paperback)

He has been absolutely delighted with the book and with how well the students have done with Python as a first language. His comment has been that he wishes he had been exposed to Python instead of (many years ago) Fortran and (more recently) C++ -- he might have actually learned to program. ;) It seems that Python's a good choice--it's an easy language to learn, supports procedural, object-oriented, and functional programming, and has all the usual advantages of a dynamic language for programmer usability.

Now if only they would do a version of that book in Ruby... :)

Your Source: http://www.amazon.com/Proust-Squid-Story-Science-Reading/dp/0060186399

Most of the inner planets have no space elevator at all; Venus and Mercury because their days are unfeasibly long, Earth because its gravity well and debris belts challenge the limits of engineering.

A good place to start is to read the book
They All Told the Truth: The Antigravity Papers
by Richard P. Crandall

http://www.amazon.com/They-All-Told-Truth-Antigravity/dp/1553957237

Notice that the typesetting on this book is very bad, so if that is all you look at you will be very disappointed.

But this book will teach you how to build a anti-gravity generator and will provide you with
the theoretical foundation for understanding anti gravity.

But to understand the theory you should know about
general relativity and quaternionic electromagnetism.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/4445/quaternionic-electrodynamics

If you want to hear more about Doug Englerbart, I recommend reading
What the dormouse said by John Markoff.
It discusses in detail not only the technical achievements of the main players in the personal
computing but also provides a deep look at their individual philosophies.

Haha :D

Recommended reading -- it may be fiction, but it's got some interesting, scary ideas. (I prefer Croatian translation, by the way, but whatever :P )

I think it's safe to use GAs for stuff like meeting schedules and toying around. For other things? Other stuff are ... safer :)

This is really cool. Does somebody know a good (introductory) book on genetic algorithms?

You can try Introduction to Genetic Algorithms by Melanie Mitchell. It is a much easier read than Goldberg's original Genetic Algorithms book, and contains information that most CS Majors could easily understand.

A petition? Seriously?

As a matter of fact, all kinds of such things *were* tried at the time. The problem is that things like personal appeals and shunning only work on people who actually give a damn. Not only did the H-man not care, but he knew everyone else did care, and used that against them.

(sigh). The first volume in Churchill's history of World War 2 (The Gathering Storm) should really be required reading in the west.

Amazon needs to be taken down under the Patriot Act:

http://www.amazon.com/Groucho-Glasses-Fake-Mustache-Brows/dp/B001HHECYU

... your (possibly justified) criticism that extrapolation from those papers' findings is, at least logically, invalid.

If you have ever worked with static analysis, my criticism is vacuously true.

... your (possibly justified) criticism that extrapolation from those papers' findings is, at least logically, invalid.

If you have ever worked with static analysis, my criticism is vacuously true.

Whereas I thought it was pretty good. Oryx and Crake is even better.

For the world to truly end, as in no more planet Earth, scenario 4 is most probable in the near term and scenario 1 inescapable in the long run. If you are defining âoeend of the worldâ as in a major extinction event, with Homo sapiens in a staring roll, then there are a bunch of options. The ones suspected of causing or contributing to major extinction events in the past are outlined in chapter six of my book, The Resilient Earth (shameless plug). Here are the main ones from the book.

• Extraterrestrial Impacts — asteroids or comets striking Earth.
• Massive Volcanoes — in particular the effect on climate.
• Moving Continents — destruction of habitat due to continental drift.
• Ice Ages — glaciation, global cooling, lowered sea levels.
• Disappearing Oxygen — deep water overturn or methane ice.
• Cosmic Peril — impact of cosmic rays and supernovas.
• Coincident Causes — the âoemurder on the orient expressâ model. (all of the above).

Our planet's past is filled with extinctions,some large, some small, some solitary. All the ages in the fossil record chronicle the departure of species from this Earth. The sweep of geologic time, comprising more than 90 recognized time periods, is partitioned by changes in the fossil record. What is most amazing is how gigantic an event has to be to be recorded in the strata. Visit theresilientearth.com for more information including pdfs of the book chapters and a link to Amazon for purchase of the paperback version.

Only bill time and materials. Do not ever agree to do fixed fee work or you will loose your shirt.

On the other hand, once you get good at estimating your time, having per-project rates is a sure way to make more money. Estimate the maximum time the job will take, add a reasonable amount for the inevitable delays and overhead (a minimum of 50%), write a clear statement of work (ie, contract) stating what is and is not included. If you get the work done faster, which you will once you get good at these estimates, you've effectively raised your hourly rate for these projects.

Even better is to estimate the value your work will bring to the client and factor that in as well. Read what Alan Weiss has to say on the subject of value billing.

No.

Aren't most of the other things work well on the internet? (more or less)
How many people here on slashdot live from something like the internet? (I know, I do.)
Isn't there a lot of (good) business going on? Isn't there a lot of culture going on? Isn't there a lot of good (and bad) communication going on?

How many real world mailboxes are overflowing with advertisment stuff (speak spam)? Douglas Adams made jokes about that twenty years ago in the Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. It is just cheaper over wired networks.

Spam is annoying like the flu. I comes again and again in various flavors, but almost anyone dies from it anymore. And we live well and prosper with it.

How could they not include Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy. He just wrote a book about this for christ's sake.

... by someone who was both scientist and science fiction author, a little dated now perhaps, but still an excellent read:

A Choice of Catastrophes

Also, see Dr. Sears' blog with a lot of current information http://www.askdrsears.com/thevaccinebook/

The author has spent may years of his practice (he is a pediatrician) to study in detail how each vaccine is made, what variants are available, which ingredients are present, what are the side effects, and when does the vaccine need to be administered. For each vaccine, he summarizes the reasons to take it, reasons to avoid it, and then gives his own recommendation.

Overall, I feel he provides a great overview of the available information to allow parents to make an informed choice.

This is a very good resources that presents both sides of the issue without assuming that either one of the crazy or criminal a priori: http://www.amazon.com/Vaccine-Book-Decision-Parenting-Library/dp/0316017507
And for the "science is great" camp out here - believe it or not, but not all of the people who may disagree with you on this issue are uneducated ignorant morons. In fact, if take your head out of your textbooks and look around, you might find the world is not quite as black and white as the letters on those pages lead you to believe.

For those that don't know Sherlock (full name Sherlock Holmes) was an investigative detective from stores by Arthur Conan Doyle found here Sherlock Holmes

Because the phone (well, at least, my phone, a Sony Ericsson W810i) has horrible sound quality. The hissing off that thing when using even a pair of $30 earphones is ridiculous. My iPod touch, by comparison, has almost no hissing (even if you listen to it at maximum volume, there's still less hiss than my phone). My phone also has horrible music management capabilities. The names of the songs, albums, and artists are all cut off at, like, 16 characters; you can't search by genre; when searching by album, sometimes the track order is reversed; there's no album art; and the phone, for some reason, includes its horrible ringtones into the music library. There exist only two good things about my phone's music player: It has this really awesome bass boost that I like to turn on for fun to pretend I'm sitting in some tricked-out ride; and it doesn't require iTunes.

Amazon has the same image, and will even sell you the record: http://www.amazon.com/Virgin-Killer-Scorpions/dp/B0000073NL/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1228665999&sr=8-2

Are they now CP distributers?

David Hamilton's The Age of Innocence would agree with you.

Nudity != Sex

Naked Pictures != Porn

Whether or not that image should be considered child porn should be up to the courts to decide.

And from January, according to Government guidance, it seems the IWF are going to be handling reports of "extreme pornography" (that criminalises possession of adult images considered "extreme" and "disgusting", even those involving consenting adults, staged acts, and screenshots from legal films), which is broader and far vaguer than child porn law - so if they start blocking anything that might "potentially" be extreme, I worry that this could mean a lot more sites being blocked.

This also shows that they are willing to blacklist mainstream sites - well, at least they get points for being consistent I suppose (there`s nothing worse than selective enforcement) - but the point is that images that might "potentially" come under the extreme porn law have been found on mainstream non-porn sites. Now even if it may be the case that such a site would never be prosecuted, this shows that the IWF may happily censor any site that has a potentially extreme image on it, no matter what site it is on, or for what purpose it is there for.

It is also misleading that the site returns a fake 404 message - Virgin Media do this, although apparently Demon do not. Is this something decided on a per-ISP level, and something worth complaining to them about?

It's not like Wikipedia is hosted in some lawless country - it's hosted in the US, which has similar laws on child porn, and if it was really a problem it would be easy to cooperate with the US to remove the images.

Amazon also has these images, which are not blocked.

This is absolutely true. C is absolutely essential to learn, but you'd do well to learn the basics of C++ as well. I've been a *NIX developer for 13 years (oh my god has it really been that long) and I've done almost exclusively C++. If you want to be employable you need to learn it. Any large-scale, multi-developer projects WILL be using it. That being said, it is such a complicated language as many posters have already pointed out. You will spend the rest of your career developing your skills in it. Here is a great set of books to get you started: http://www.amazon.com/C-Depth-Boxed-Set/dp/0201775816/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228660512&sr=1-4

> If you're writing web software use PHP, but it will make you feel dirty inside.

Look at alternatives before using PHP! I'm enjoying mod_python. You can also get this book and just learn to write webapps in C!

I used to code PHP but now see it as just ... ugly.

A great book which covers fold is: http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Functional-Programming-using-Haskell/dp/0134843460

You're thinking of Clive Wearing - pretty much the most severe case of amnesia ever recorded. His wife has written a book about her experiences in dealing with it. It's really quite an interesting insight into the way memory functions; for example, he will still hoot with glee whenever his wife enters the room, believing he has not seen her in years. However, even though his illness happened over 30 years ago and his wife has of course visibly aged, he's not surprised by her current appearance.

This is from an excerpt from "Stan Veit's History of the Personal Computer," published in 1993. You can buy the hardcover version here: http://www.amazon.com/Stan-Veits-History-Personal-Computer/dp/156664030X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228605724&sr=8-1. I have the softcover version. Just thought I'd point that out.

If you want to hear about Hubbard's real start check out the book Strange Angel.

http://www.amazon.com/Strange-Angel-Otherworldly-Scientist-Whiteside/dp/0156031795/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228595734&sr=1-1

Parsons not only invented the first feesible JATO propulsion (the foundation for the JPL), but showed Hubbard the roadmap for getting what he wanted through occult organizations before falling prey to his own system.

The book provides insight into early sci-fi fans as well, as Parsons would give presentations to sci-fi fan clubs about his reasearch during the period that no one respectable would talk to him.

I believe Ackerman makes an appearance in the bio, and I am sure several other sci-fi authors do as well... I just don't recall which ones ATM.

Anyhow, RIP Ackerman... Yet another legend that I will never meet in this life.