I have Kindle using Macophile voracious reader friend. He seems to think the iPad is no threat to the Kindle as the former will have a much shorter battery life. Not the kind of thing that someone who wants to read on the couch for hours at time will prefer.
That is because Twitter is still new. When they get more established, have more money on the line and employ the types of people/professionals a company gets when it is established they will act the same.
Those other 3 companies were cool when they were new and small.
It was happening even before personalized news. If you are into X, you tend to make friends and surround yourself with people who are into X. You read books by people into X about X. You to conventions for X. Now, just add reading web sites, email lists and personalized news for X. The news will increasingly become done by non-journalists on top of that.
Translation: The Volt will really be out in 2011 and will sell for $39,999.98.
What a disappointment, I was looking forward to it coming out *this* year as in the next few months. Oh well, it would likely be out of my price range and I wouldn't be keen about GM using my money as a first adopter to work the bugs out of car running on new technology.
I got get a new car within the next few months. I guess I will hang onto that until the new technology cars are well supported and cheap.
How about finding the cause of autism or a cure, rather than a drug to manage it?
My guess? The Pharmaceutical companies make more money selling drugs to manage a condition rather than curing it, so that is where their researchers look.
Additionally, the human genome has not changed much. So, either diagnostics have gotten better so more cases of autism are being noticed or there is actually more autism. If the latter case is true it has to be an environmental change as the cause. Discovering that would mean some reach person would have to pay money and change the way s/he did things.
Animal Testing doesn't work. These quotes are from a very *SHORT* article that describes the issue well:
More than 90 percent of all new drugs which proved effective in animals end up not working for humans. It's because animals -- however similar they are to us -- have different physiological systems. What works in a mouse usually doesn't work in a human.
History is filled with stories of drugs that didn't work in animals -- Aspirin, for example -- that ended up working in humans. And the obituary pages are filled with stories of people who died from drugs that looked safe in animals. The painkiller Vioxx, for example, tested safe in mice and five other species but ended up killing many thousands of Americans.
snip....
If the chemo drugs I'm trying now don't work, I do have one last option. I could try a Phase One trial. That's when a drug looks promising in animals and is first tested in humans. My doctor started to tell me why so many participants die in Phase One trials -- but it turned out I already knew the answer. Drugs that work in animals, he explained, usually don't work in humans.
Many movies are okay, but just okay. I usually don't buy a DVD unless I've rented it, cheaply and know from watching it that I will want to watch it several more times in my life.
By prolonging the time I have to wait to see a DVD I may just forget about it altogether.
If a movie is good enough (rare these days ) for me to keep track of its availability, I will go see it in the theater.
Seriously, maybe my friends and I are atypical, but we have lives and if there is too big of a hiatus in mediocre ( or even good entertainment ) there is a chance we will forget about it.
I can't tell you how many television series I have lost track of when they went on hiatus for months at a time.
2. Not getting the work that they were hired for. This bait and switch is at its worst with
programming. Advertise for developers, hire developers, do not give them development work
and watch the poor attitude grow ( or the worker leave ).
3. People who don't know better forcing stupid technical decisions on technical people
who do know better AND without hearing AS WELL AS respecting their professional opinion.
4. Not getting rewards for extra effort. Doesn't even have to be money, just a sense
that someone is interested in what you did or at least *appreciates* it beyond a
cold "thank you".
5. Knowing that you are not valued, that the moment they can outsource you with someone
cheaper you will be replaced. Why value a company beyond them being a pay check if
they don't value you beyond being a cheap enough part in a machine?
6. As per the other day on slashdot, penny pinching on minor perks
However, I have seen ( and been ) enthusiastic people who go above and beyond the call of duty be the ones to get the rewards ( perks, more interesting positions, raises, etc ).
Many other times I have seen people be used, work a lot of extra hours and get zilch for it.
It is important for new people to make a good name.
I think the best thing to do is to do extra, make a good impression and watch for rewards. If they don't come look for a job at a place that will reward it and/or cut down on the extra effort.
Unfortunately there is no substitute for taking a bit of a leap of faith and playing craps with your time.
Your shock is being new to the work world, not specifically the IT world. I had the same observations as you when I entered the professional work world. To your credit you were very smart in deciding not to bring your dissatisfaction up. Many new workers before you have done that and have changed nothing but their own situation ( for the worse ).
The internet has made things worse. It and talking to coworkers is my own problem. I go through better and worse cycles with managing each. Programming tends to mentally intense demanding breaks, needed breaks, but I overdue the chatting and surfing.
I see this situation as paying for federal government incompetence with my civil liberties.
I read in the news that various security & intelligence networks had red flags about the Nigerian terrorist but decided not to act.
The way to prevent future problems is to fix the broken process whereby a red flag can come up and be ignored.
Not by trampling on people's civil liberties and right to privacy.
This isn't the first time this bullshit happened.
Prior to 9/11 one of the terrorists told a flight instructor that he didn't need to know how to land. Reports about the hijackers were lodged in several intelligence/security agencies. They were ignored the way red flags about the Nigerian terrorist was ignored.
President Bush created an entire new Federal agency because he felt he couldn't fix the dysfunctional culture at the FBI.
Today I read that there was 3rd gate crasher at the White House.
It is time to start visibly firing people.
The private sector fires people for serious screw ups. Putting the lives of the President and other Americans at risk is of far more importance than a network admin downloading malware.
Employers are doing it because it's an employer's market out there. But rest assured, these employers will reap what they sow. The best employees are always the most mobile employees. If your best feel dicked over or if there's even the slightest concern about company stability, they will be out the door in a heartbeat. And it's now accepted in IT culture that you will NEVER make more money at the same employer. The only way to raise your pay is to move to another organization because your current one will never justify paying more for the person they already have, no matter if you're learning new skills, taking on more work, or improving the bottom line.
I'm guessing that some CEO types think that they can always give the job to some highly trained but desperately poor person somewhere via outsourcing so if their current employees don't like too dam bad.
Slashdot Mirror
I have Kindle using Macophile voracious reader friend. He seems to think the iPad is no threat to the Kindle as the former will have a much shorter battery life. Not the kind of thing that someone who wants to read on the couch for hours at time will prefer.
That is because Twitter is still new. When they get more established, have more money on the line and employ the types of people/professionals a company gets when it is established they will act the same.
Those other 3 companies were cool when they were new and small.
I have to agree.
It was happening even before personalized news. If you are into X, you tend to make friends and surround yourself with people who are into X. You read books by people into X about X. You to conventions for X. Now, just add reading web sites, email lists and personalized news for X. The news will increasingly become done by non-journalists on top of that.
If India and China went to war that would wipe out the take-out industry on a global scale. We would all be stuck eating Mexican.
Does India even have enemies that have satellites?
Translation: The Volt will really be out in 2011 and will sell for $39,999.98.
What a disappointment, I was looking forward to it coming out *this* year as in the next few months. Oh well, it would likely be out of my price range and I wouldn't be keen about GM using my money as a first adopter to work the bugs out of car running on new technology.
I got get a new car within the next few months. I guess I will hang onto that until the new technology cars are well supported and cheap.
The critics, some of the educated, said the exact same things about the Prius, which has been as successful in sales as the backward SUVs.
Darn you Wayward Geek talking facts instead of whining.
I used to think the same thing until I watched the old BSG again.
Seriously.
No reason to remake something that worked. You disappoint people if you don't do at least as well and if you do, the fans feel disrespected.
Better to do something that sucked, better. Like Battlestar Galactica.
Aside from Japan, those countries also have cheaper labor so cost is less of an issue with hiring
How about finding the cause of autism or a cure, rather than a drug to manage it?
My guess? The Pharmaceutical companies make more money selling drugs to manage a condition rather than curing it, so that is where their researchers look.
Additionally, the human genome has not changed much. So, either diagnostics have gotten better so more cases of autism are being noticed or there is actually more autism. If the latter case is true it has to be an environmental change as the cause. Discovering that would mean some reach person would have to pay money and change the way s/he did things.
I have to admit that when I see an AOL email address or something similar I notice it, thinking, "how frumpy".
Then again I've been a programmer for 11 years.
My guess is that fields that have little to do with IT might not care as much.
The only thing I can think of that would be nice about a tablet pc is that it would let you read the internet while laying on a couch.
Is there something else to justify the hype?
Animal Testing doesn't work. These quotes are from a very *SHORT* article that describes the issue well:
snip ....
Full Article
Many movies are okay, but just okay. I usually don't buy a DVD unless I've rented it, cheaply and know from watching it that I will want to watch it several more times in my life.
By prolonging the time I have to wait to see a DVD I may just forget about it altogether.
If a movie is good enough (rare these days ) for me to keep track of its availability, I will go see it in the theater.
Seriously, maybe my friends and I are atypical, but we have lives and if there is too big of a hiatus in mediocre ( or even good entertainment ) there is a chance we will forget about it.
I can't tell you how many television series I have lost track of when they went on hiatus for months at a time.
That is interesting. Do you have any citations for that claim? It would be a cool thing to have.
Let me guess why
1. Bad economy, fear of job loss
2. Not getting the work that they were hired for. This bait and switch is at its worst with
programming. Advertise for developers, hire developers, do not give them development work
and watch the poor attitude grow ( or the worker leave ).
3. People who don't know better forcing stupid technical decisions on technical people
who do know better AND without hearing AS WELL AS respecting their professional opinion.
4. Not getting rewards for extra effort. Doesn't even have to be money, just a sense
that someone is interested in what you did or at least *appreciates* it beyond a
cold "thank you".
5. Knowing that you are not valued, that the moment they can outsource you with someone
cheaper you will be replaced. Why value a company beyond them being a pay check if
they don't value you beyond being a cheap enough part in a machine?
6. As per the other day on slashdot, penny pinching on minor perks
I would add "mostly" and "use your own judgment".
85% of the time what you wrote is true.
However, I have seen ( and been ) enthusiastic people who go above and beyond the call of duty be the ones to get the rewards ( perks, more interesting positions, raises, etc ).
Many other times I have seen people be used, work a lot of extra hours and get zilch for it.
It is important for new people to make a good name.
I think the best thing to do is to do extra, make a good impression and watch for rewards. If they don't come look for a job at a place that will reward it and/or cut down on the extra effort.
Unfortunately there is no substitute for taking a bit of a leap of faith and playing craps with your time.
Your shock is being new to the work world, not specifically the IT world. I had the same observations as you when I entered the professional work world. To your credit you were very smart in deciding not to bring your dissatisfaction up. Many new workers before you have done that and have changed nothing but their own situation ( for the worse ).
The internet has made things worse. It and talking to coworkers is my own problem. I go through better and worse cycles with managing each. Programming tends to mentally intense demanding breaks, needed breaks, but I overdue the chatting and surfing.
I see this situation as paying for federal government incompetence with my civil liberties.
I read in the news that various security & intelligence networks had red flags about the Nigerian terrorist but decided not to act.
The way to prevent future problems is to fix the broken process whereby a red flag can come up and be ignored.
Not by trampling on people's civil liberties and right to privacy.
This isn't the first time this bullshit happened.
Prior to 9/11 one of the terrorists told a flight instructor that he didn't need to know how to land. Reports about the hijackers were lodged in several intelligence/security agencies. They were ignored the way red flags about the Nigerian terrorist was ignored.
President Bush created an entire new Federal agency because he felt he couldn't fix the dysfunctional culture at the FBI.
Today I read that there was 3rd gate crasher at the White House.
It is time to start visibly firing people.
The private sector fires people for serious screw ups. Putting the lives of the President and other Americans at risk is of far more importance than a network admin downloading malware.
I'm guessing that some CEO types think that they can always give the job to some highly trained but desperately poor person somewhere via outsourcing so if their current employees don't like too dam bad.
Nice to know we aren't being singled out
Well put.