Slashdot Mirror
For Those Long Coding Sessions: The Food Patch
rtphokie writes "The U.S. Army has created a Transdermal Nutrient Delivery System which works similarly to to nicotine or birth control patches but delivers vitamins and other micronutrients. It was developed to help "warfighters sustain their physical and mental performance" during high intensity conflict. Is this what ./'ers need during those long coding sessions."
Is this what ./'ers need during those long coding sessions.
This may have been said jokingly, but it definately isn't what we need. Not only do TNDS' not give you a delicious taste in your mouth, they don't tell your body that you are full either. If we want fatter geeks, this is the way to go. Otherwise, I'll just stick to my perishable food.
The site is NIPRnet (unclass military network) or internet-only - sensitive but unclassified max or it wouldn't be out there, judging by the lack of authentication and encryption.
Slashdotting it would be considered a normal network incident subject to someone having to come in over the weekend and fix (reboot). I don't think we need worry about our doors being broken in over this.
Paranoia sucks.
Btw, I work for the military: I know what i am talking about here.
HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
I'm sorry, but when I'm wading through breakpoints, I want something cruncy. When I'm hacking out a killer regular expression, something sweet. While I'm sure the patch is nice and chewy, there's nothing like an ice cold Jolt Cola at about 1a.m. when you've finally inherited and overloaded your native hash object to recursively enumerate its own members.
Point is, some of the fun of eating while coding isn't just the stinking vitamins, more full tummy for that matter. So while I see it as an effective way to feed someone who'd rather starve than gag on MRE's in the middle of a minefield, I'll stick to my pretzels and mint-conditioned coffe thank you very much.
--- have you healed your church website?
Because, a fully combat-loaded soldier may be carrying upwards of 100 pounds of gear, including ammunition, clothing, first aid equipment, water, and food.
Now, imagine that you're stuck in battle, 40 miles behind enemy lines. You've had an airdrop of ammunition, but the chopper carrying your food resupply was shot out of the air.
You can carry a day's worth of nutrients in a couple of ounces worth of patches, or a bulkier vitamin bottle - which, by the way, is harder to protect against chemical agents, water, and other contamination.
I'll take an emergency supply of patches.
What we geeks need is for those long coding sessions is: better chairs, better screens, workplace ergonomy in general, decent food, short breaks a couple times an hour and a short walk around the block or something now and then aswell as 8 hours of sleep. We do not need anything to keep us glued to our monitors.
I know it's incredibly cool to keep up the pizza/coffee/dew image, I like all three of them too, but considering how bad a lof of geeks handle their eating and sleeping, combined with a bad workplace and little excercise... they're a burnedout zombie with bad back and wrist problems waiting to happen.
Contrary to popular geek belief, our bodies are not made for such abuse, and no, you are not different, you too need nutrition and sleep.
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And, while we're venturing off topic, geeks need better project planning to prevent a lot of the last minute coding cram sessions that inevitably happen.
Before you flame me, I've long championed the "improv" school of coding - write when you're inspired.
But, good project management might save a lot of hairlines, guts, and relationships from distress.
I don't need a sticky wafer feeding me fancy "nutraceuticals". That's why they make vending machines, I imagine the pork rinds are chock full of them (not that I could ever bring myself to eat them, mind you. I'm in for the sweet rolls).
No, what I need is a patch to feed me lots of "nutrazzzzzicals", giving me a full nights sleep while I do whatever. If that means lucid dreams overlaying normal vision, fine (I'll just be really careful who or what I look at), just give me real sleep I don't have to catch up on later.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Why do people assume that coding needs a lot
of food? I mean mental labor definitely requires
a normal diet, but it is not mountain climbing
or pentathlon... Even the hardest mental
activity cannot compare to moderate physical
activity in terms of calorie consumption.
Even for the longest coding session a 10 minute
break to eat something healthier is OK, I suppose.
For those who worry about micronutrients, a
nice fresh fruit (orange/apple) is a good idea
and you can eat it while coding.
Hydration and electrolyte balance is propably
more important, especially in conjuction with
fluid loss from caffeine consumption (diuretic).
P.
Then either your life was *really* SNAFU, or you've got one wierd definition of 'normal'.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."