I've looked into independent contracting. I even did a business plan. Right now rates where I am are shyte. I do plan on incorporating in my home state, New Hampshire. NH next to DE has easier to take rules on incoporating.
If I did contract I would outsource my payroll and billing to an "Employer of Record" firm. Basically they do all your payroll, taxes, billing and collections for you; freeing your time up for more billable hours. They collect the money from your clients, cut you a W-2 paycheck. Also you can get business insurance at a good rate. All for a small fee. You're still working for yourself but don't have the hassles of nitty-gritty of doing your own payroll and collections.
In the eyes if your banker and the IRS, you are a W2 employee but you get to call the shots as a contractor. These agencies also offer discount health and dental insurance. they offer retirement savings plans as well.
Take a look at Youcor [Yucor], a company that offers this service. Also there is ZeroChaos and Guru.com has similar services.
"I think your historical perspective is more limited than it should be, then."
I am aware of computing history in a broader sense, not just DEC. DEC was part of my life then and I'm writing about it. And, yes, I was reacting to all the immature trolling. Instead of dropping to their level, I wrote something passionate and literate.
"Also, lose the religious overtones."
When was the last time you read prose or 19th century literature?
Relax, it was a metaphor and I was being literate. Read the post as a op-ed nostalgic memoir. Remember what Baz Lurhman said about nostalga.
"People are gonna say you're an old fart."
Feh. Truthfully, I had a hellish childhood, nothing will age you faster. That stepdad who took me to DEC also gave me a near nervous breakdown when I was 13. I've done a lot of living for 27, it's a lot in Internet time.;-) Once you hit 26, caffiene poisoning takes its toll and Zoloft takes the edge off.
At this point in my Slashdot life, I don't care about karma anymore, so I'll rant:
You damn PFY's don't have any history. Quite a shame.
Heloooow?? Did anyone read the headline if this article? It says MINIcomputer! It's a step between a mainframe and a microcomputer. Are you so clueless to think that a TI99 is a minicomputer?! That thing doesn't have its own tape drive cabinet or the same address space as the computers I saw when I was a kid hanging around DEC on snow days.
I know what a minicomputer is because I was exposed to a VAX when I was 10 years old. I hung out a few times at the DEC plants in Salem, NH and Tewksbury, MA when my stepdad brought me in. I sat at a VT100 and played (well tried to) DnD games and chatted with his coworkers using talk.
At a young age, I got to see what very few kids my age got to see: The Machine Room. The experience was almost religious, spiritual. Brightly lit, white walls, raised flooring, awe-inspiring. The white noise of all the computers and the cooling system drowning out any distracting thought. The machine room was a would on its own. You were surrounded by sheer computing power and was one with it.
This expanded my perspective of computing beyond what sat on my desk or what was plugged in to my TV. It also planted the seed of my inner geekdom. I didn't understand fully all the implications of what I had seen... Until I started using the Internet, and later when I became a sysadmin.
I saw glimpses of the future in 1984 which became the life that we live in now: ethernet, e-mail, the laser printer.
I was there when you PFY's were proto-PFY's.
I really feel sorry for those who missed this milestone in computing. I only caught a glimpse of it. I now wished that I saw more at the time.
Please, take some time to learn the history of computing. The micro was in many ways the foundation of the Internet and the precursor to the client-server model of computing. For many people who experienced mainframes and minis either in an academic setting or just being babysat on a snow day: this is a special time for us. It was a time when computing was a priesthood and the machine room was the cathedral. Please respect our history and our memories.
Also remember there are the smaller shops who want to grab a spare obsolete PC and turn it into a firewall. This obviously saves money and saving your company looks good on your annual review. As a side note: for many, this is their first foray into using Linux in a corporate enviroment.
Also think of all the landfill space we save thanks to Linux.
I hope that we don't forget that one of the benefits of Linux (and the open source BSD's) is that they are less demanding on hardware requirements thus making reusing old PC's possible. I've got a few throwaways from past clients in my home machine room serving internal DHCP and home automation.
You may say, "yeah but get a *real* computer", but I deal with a lot of mom-and-pop businesses that want a cheap, secure firewall solution for their office. I rather not lose this option or the client.
In the Boston area, we had three large Mom and Pop ISP's with shell access, etc: Shore.net, World.std.com and TIAC.
TIAC sucked. TIAC was also know as TYUK on the ne.internet.services newsgroup. Managed by a group of lamers -- including Tim Jackson who'd flame his customers on local newsgroups. Tech support was clueless and lousy. The only time it was usable was when Martin Hannigan was the sysadmin there. Thankfully PSInet bought them out.
Shore.net was great. They went out of their way to keep the customer happy. Just about every member of the staff had a clue. Also every year they hosted a clambake for their customers.
Now they are owned by Primus (Primus Sucks!) and only do vhost, colo, and dedicated box hosting. No dial-up.
The only real independent ISP left in town is The World @ Software, Tool, and Die. I personally have given up on dial-up, but if I had to go back, I'd use them. And, heh, they gave Kibo a job:-)
Compiling from source is a PITA on a RaQ (slow, wonky GCC implementation, missing header files). Having x86 RPM's to cherry pick from rpmfind.net makes my job easier.
I think it's time we resurrect nuclear research after a 20 year dirt nap. If the Bee Gees can make a comeback, then nuclear power can. Nuclear has a lot going for it: cheap, reliable, and mostly clean.
Unfortunately, we have not found a way to dispose of the pesky waste by-products and other radioactive stuff that comes along with it. Short term we're just going to have to stick it deep, deep into the ground and deal with it untill we come up with a more creative solution.
Ultimately the holy grail for nuclear power is cold fusion or some form of fusion. Ten years ago we almost got there. Ufortunately that experiment was a hoax but I think there is some promise to be held.
What we really need now is to start pumping more money into nuclear research to find a better way to do fission or fusion before our petrol reservers run out.
Hey, at least it sucked some money out of Scientology's PR mill. Better yet, it was an embarassing money suck for them.
If design is not Bauhaus, it is Baroque.
What happens when your HD gets hosed?
on
Copyrant
·
· Score: 1
Has M$ come up with a way to end hardware failure? I have seen computers bought at computer flea markets and screwdriver shops that had components fail 24-48 hours after the customer has brought it home. What happens when the OS or app is installed on a faulty hard drive and the restore image is on a corrputed sector?
The days of the sealed black box are not that far ahead.
For a moment I thought I was the only one who was fighting with Caldera OpenLinux 2.3's library files. I keep upgrading and replacing libc files with newer ones only to break other dependentcies.
OpenLinux sux0rz because of this problem. The benfit I got out of the $40 I wasted was that I learned a lot about Linux.
What are you smoking? How was the last poster a "flamebait"? He was saying something very clueful about the issues of serving large globs of data to a busy website. Please, next time, check what you are clicking on before you moderate.
If the book is hardcover, just remove the slipcase that covers the book. Then read for your enjoyment.
If the book is on paperback, just take a large white sheet of paper and make a book cover (remember those?) and slip it over the offensive cover art. Be sure you label the book cover!
Intersting hack. But I wonder if it's worth all the effort and sliced, bloddy fingers. It just seems you're putting too much effort in something that you won't get much back from.
Also there is one quesiton: stability? What happens when the homebrewed shield falls off?
RAMBUS prices will go down. For the rest of us, we will wait for that event.
There are two thoughts in design: Bauhaus and Baroque. The Bauahus School is one of elegance and simplicity. The other goes over the top.
The best analogy and comparison is the diffrence between a Buick LeSabre GS and a BMW 540ti. Both are luxury cars but one was designed with Bauhaus principles that put the user first while the other has all the toys thrown in with little thought to ergonomics. I can drive the BMW without taking my eyes off the road because everything in the cockpit was purposefully placed for my comfort and safety. Whereas with the Buick, I have to futz with the light switch because some dumbass GM engineer decided to obscure the light switch with some useless decoration. I take my eyes off the road for 5 seconds, and I hit a Mack truck!
If I were driving the BMW, I would of kept my eyes on the road and I would still be alive or walking.
As computers enter into mission-critical areas like medicine, the UI design becomes a factor if someone lives or dies. If a nurse can not grok a interface panel on a computer-controlled piece of med equipment and presses the wrong button, he/she can kill the patient.
Keep it simple, especially when time to make a decision is crucial.
Also remember that mistakes do cost money, whatever you can do to lessen errors in your UI will save people time and money.
The overiding principle when designing a functional object, like a UI, is to follow the mantra contained within my sig:
That is if Bell Atlantic does not screw up Jeff's phone line when he moves in.
I live in the same town as he is moving into and Bell Atlantic has a 95% fsck-up rate on new install orders. I was without a phone for three weeks while I got circle jerked by BA. Eventually MediaOne saved they day and gave me a free month of phone service.
I head that Hemos was moving to the Boston area. I wonder how they are going to do future GIS broadcasts. It'll be kinda odd having Hemos tape his parts in from Boston and mixed in with the rest of the crew in Holland, MI.
At least Ben and Jerry's did not get bought out by Nestle. For those who do not remember, Nestle did a boo boo with baby formula in Africa sometime back and tried to cover over the problem. It took a boycott and a few lawsuits to make them come clean.
I could not imagine B&J's social progressiveness playing and sharing well with Nestle's way of doing business.
Slashdot Mirror
I've looked into independent contracting. I even did a business plan. Right now rates where I am are shyte. I do plan on incorporating in my home state, New Hampshire. NH next to DE has easier to take rules on incoporating.
If I did contract I would outsource my payroll and billing to an "Employer of Record" firm. Basically they do all your payroll, taxes, billing and collections for you; freeing your time up for more billable hours. They collect the money from your clients, cut you a W-2 paycheck. Also you can get business insurance at a good rate. All for a small fee. You're still working for yourself but don't have the hassles of nitty-gritty of doing your own payroll and collections.
In the eyes if your banker and the IRS, you are a W2 employee but you get to call the shots as a contractor. These agencies also offer discount health and dental insurance. they offer retirement savings plans as well. Take a look at Youcor [Yucor], a company that offers this service. Also there is ZeroChaos and Guru.com has similar services.
"I think your historical perspective is more limited than it should be, then."
;-) Once you hit 26, caffiene poisoning takes its toll and Zoloft takes the edge off.
I am aware of computing history in a broader sense, not just DEC. DEC was part of my life then and I'm writing about it. And, yes, I was reacting to all the immature trolling. Instead of dropping to their level, I wrote something passionate and literate.
"Also, lose the religious overtones."
When was the last time you read prose or 19th century literature?
Relax, it was a metaphor and I was being literate. Read the post as a op-ed nostalgic memoir. Remember what Baz Lurhman said about nostalga.
"People are gonna say you're an old fart."
Feh. Truthfully, I had a hellish childhood, nothing will age you faster. That stepdad who took me to DEC also gave me a near nervous breakdown when I was 13. I've done a lot of living for 27, it's a lot in Internet time.
At this point in my Slashdot life, I don't care about karma anymore, so I'll rant:
You damn PFY's don't have any history. Quite a shame.
Heloooow?? Did anyone read the headline if this article? It says MINIcomputer! It's a step between a mainframe and a microcomputer. Are you so clueless to think that a TI99 is a minicomputer?! That thing doesn't have its own tape drive cabinet or the same address space as the computers I saw when I was a kid hanging around DEC on snow days.
I know what a minicomputer is because I was exposed to a VAX when I was 10 years old. I hung out a few times at the DEC plants in Salem, NH and Tewksbury, MA when my stepdad brought me in. I sat at a VT100 and played (well tried to) DnD games and chatted with his coworkers using talk.
At a young age, I got to see what very few kids my age got to see: The Machine Room. The experience was almost religious, spiritual. Brightly lit, white walls, raised flooring, awe-inspiring. The white noise of all the computers and the cooling system drowning out any distracting thought. The machine room was a would on its own. You were surrounded by sheer computing power and was one with it.
This expanded my perspective of computing beyond what sat on my desk or what was plugged in to my TV. It also planted the seed of my inner geekdom. I didn't understand fully all the implications of what I had seen... Until I started using the Internet, and later when I became a sysadmin.
I saw glimpses of the future in 1984 which became the life that we live in now: ethernet, e-mail, the laser printer.
I was there when you PFY's were proto-PFY's.
I really feel sorry for those who missed this milestone in computing. I only caught a glimpse of it. I now wished that I saw more at the time.
Please, take some time to learn the history of computing. The micro was in many ways the foundation of the Internet and the precursor to the client-server model of computing. For many people who experienced mainframes and minis either in an academic setting or just being babysat on a snow day: this is a special time for us. It was a time when computing was a priesthood and the machine room was the cathedral. Please respect our history and our memories.
Right. Good point.
Also remember there are the smaller shops who want to grab a spare obsolete PC and turn it into a firewall. This obviously saves money and saving your company looks good on your annual review. As a side note: for many, this is their first foray into using Linux in a corporate enviroment. Also think of all the landfill space we save thanks to Linux.
I hope that we don't forget that one of the benefits of Linux (and the open source BSD's) is that they are less demanding on hardware requirements thus making reusing old PC's possible. I've got a few throwaways from past clients in my home machine room serving internal DHCP and home automation.
You may say, "yeah but get a *real* computer", but I deal with a lot of mom-and-pop businesses that want a cheap, secure firewall solution for their office. I rather not lose this option or the client.
In the Boston area, we had three large Mom and Pop ISP's with shell access, etc: Shore.net, World.std.com and TIAC.
:-)
TIAC sucked. TIAC was also know as TYUK on the ne.internet.services newsgroup. Managed by a group of lamers -- including Tim Jackson who'd flame his customers on local newsgroups. Tech support was clueless and lousy. The only time it was usable was when Martin Hannigan was the sysadmin there. Thankfully PSInet bought them out.
Shore.net was great. They went out of their way to keep the customer happy. Just about every member of the staff had a clue. Also every year they hosted a clambake for their customers.
Now they are owned by Primus (Primus Sucks!) and only do vhost, colo, and dedicated box hosting. No dial-up.
The only real independent ISP left in town is The World @ Software, Tool, and Die. I personally have given up on dial-up, but if I had to go back, I'd use them. And, heh, they gave Kibo a job
Exactly.
Compiling from source is a PITA on a RaQ (slow, wonky GCC implementation, missing header files). Having x86 RPM's to cherry pick from rpmfind.net makes my job easier.
If design is not Bauhaus, it is Baroque.
Uh, dude, the RaQ4's run an AMD K6-3. I know since I admin one.
If design is not Bauhaus, it is Baroque.
I think it's time we resurrect nuclear research after a 20 year dirt nap. If the Bee Gees can make a comeback, then nuclear power can. Nuclear has a lot going for it: cheap, reliable, and mostly clean.
Unfortunately, we have not found a way to dispose of the pesky waste by-products and other radioactive stuff that comes along with it. Short term we're just going to have to stick it deep, deep into the ground and deal with it untill we come up with a more creative solution.
Ultimately the holy grail for nuclear power is cold fusion or some form of fusion. Ten years ago we almost got there. Ufortunately that experiment was a hoax but I think there is some promise to be held.
What we really need now is to start pumping more money into nuclear research to find a better way to do fission or fusion before our petrol reservers run out.
If design is not Bauhaus, it is Baroque.
Hey, at least it sucked some money out of Scientology's PR mill. Better yet, it was an embarassing money suck for them.
If design is not Bauhaus, it is Baroque.
Has M$ come up with a way to end hardware failure? I have seen computers bought at computer flea markets and screwdriver shops that had components fail 24-48 hours after the customer has brought it home. What happens when the OS or app is installed on a faulty hard drive and the restore image is on a corrputed sector?
The days of the sealed black box are not that far ahead.
If design is not Bauhaus, it is Baroque.
Manchester, NH is a good choice.
If design is not Bauhaus, it is Baroque.
Funny thing, a Costco is just a stone's through away from Exodus in Waltham. So that's why those geeks were buying huge diesel tanks! ;-)
If design is not Bauhaus, it is Baroque.
Now that we are licking our wounds from being lynched by the jack-booted RIAA, it's time to take a stand.
/independent/ dealers or Ebay.
Here's what I am doing:
+ Boycotting all shrink wrapped commercial recorded media. My last CD I will buy until the RIAA backs off will be today.
+ Buy used CD's if I am jonesing for mass-market music from
+ Supporting my local starving musicians. I find the unsigned artists to put out better music because they don't have the industry to rest on.
+ Help my local bands distribute their music in MP3 format.
+ Use Gnutella. It can be found at gnutella.wego.com
+ Setup a firewall and 512bit PGP my disks.
Also I would entertain a World LogOff Day were the Open Source community boycotts the Internet for 24 hours.
If design is not Bauhaus, it is Baroque.
For a moment I thought I was the only one who was fighting with Caldera OpenLinux 2.3's library files. I keep upgrading and replacing libc files with newer ones only to break other dependentcies.
OpenLinux sux0rz because of this problem. The benfit I got out of the $40 I wasted was that I learned a lot about Linux.
If design is not Bauhaus, it is Baroque.
d00d, Dreamweaver is more k-rad l33t ;-)
If design is not Bauhaus, it is Baroque.
What are you smoking? How was the last poster a "flamebait"? He was saying something very clueful about the issues of serving large globs of data to a busy website. Please, next time, check what you are clicking on before you moderate.
If design is not Bauhaus, it is Baroque.
Here's a hint:
If the book is hardcover, just remove the slipcase that covers the book. Then read for your enjoyment.
If the book is on paperback, just take a large white sheet of paper and make a book cover (remember those?) and slip it over the offensive cover art. Be sure you label the book cover!
No need to whine, just fix the problem.
If design is not Bauhaus, it is Baroque.
Yes, but one that has a life.
If design is not Bauhaus, it is Baroque.
Intersting hack. But I wonder if it's worth all the effort and sliced, bloddy fingers. It just seems you're putting too much effort in something that you won't get much back from.
Also there is one quesiton: stability? What happens when the homebrewed shield falls off?
RAMBUS prices will go down. For the rest of us, we will wait for that event.
If design is not Bauhaus, it is Baroque.
Now I am beginning to get sucked into the Slashdot Sucks meme. The link is broken because you did not complete the "a href" part of the tag.
Can someone post the link so that I can know what I am supposed to posting about?
BTW, for my QA services, that will be $500. PayPal me at mindstorm@nospam.mediaone.net.
If design is not Bauhaus, it is Baroque.
There are two thoughts in design: Bauhaus and Baroque. The Bauahus School is one of elegance and simplicity. The other goes over the top.
The best analogy and comparison is the diffrence between a Buick LeSabre GS and a BMW 540ti. Both are luxury cars but one was designed with Bauhaus principles that put the user first while the other has all the toys thrown in with little thought to ergonomics. I can drive the BMW without taking my eyes off the road because everything in the cockpit was purposefully placed for my comfort and safety. Whereas with the Buick, I have to futz with the light switch because some dumbass GM engineer decided to obscure the light switch with some useless decoration. I take my eyes off the road for 5 seconds, and I hit a Mack truck!
If I were driving the BMW, I would of kept my eyes on the road and I would still be alive or walking.
As computers enter into mission-critical areas like medicine, the UI design becomes a factor if someone lives or dies. If a nurse can not grok a interface panel on a computer-controlled piece of med equipment and presses the wrong button, he/she can kill the patient.
Keep it simple, especially when time to make a decision is crucial.
Also remember that mistakes do cost money, whatever you can do to lessen errors in your UI will save people time and money.
The overiding principle when designing a functional object, like a UI, is to follow the mantra contained within my sig:
If design is not Bauhaus, it is Baroque.
That is if Bell Atlantic does not screw up Jeff's phone line when he moves in.
I live in the same town as he is moving into and Bell Atlantic has a 95% fsck-up rate on new install orders. I was without a phone for three weeks while I got circle jerked by BA. Eventually MediaOne saved they day and gave me a free month of phone service.
If design is not Bauhaus, it is Baroque.
I head that Hemos was moving to the Boston area. I wonder how they are going to do future GIS broadcasts. It'll be kinda odd having Hemos tape his parts in from Boston and mixed in with the rest of the crew in Holland, MI.
If design is not Bauhaus, it is Baroque.
Are you on $1 crack or trolling?
;-)
Linux is a great platform for artists. It's cheap, allows for flexiblity, it's fast, and very stable. Art is another form of hacking
NT? Fugettaboutit! Too unstable and expensive. 98? Why?! Macintosh? Does not support true mulitasking.
For now Linux looks like the most promising choice for starving artists.
Keep those graphic apps comming!
If design is not Bauhaus, it is Baroque.
At least Ben and Jerry's did not get bought out by Nestle. For those who do not remember, Nestle did a boo boo with baby formula in Africa sometime back and tried to cover over the problem. It took a boycott and a few lawsuits to make them come clean.
I could not imagine B&J's social progressiveness playing and sharing well with Nestle's way of doing business.
If design is not Bauhaus, it is Baroque.