I've worked four ten-hour days at several companies, and I love it. Recently I had a little boy, and with his sleep schedule I found it really hard to spend enough time with him after work, so I'm back to five eight-hour days. It feels like cheating, going home every day at 4pm. Until Friday morning:)
Four other folks at our company work 4x10, including the CEO, and it works just fine. Friday is fucking sacrosanct: no emails, no phone calls, no contact of any kind. If a fire flares up, other people in the office deal with it.
And when I say 4x10, I mean it. We track our time pretty religiously, and our most bust-ass employee has averaged about 42 hours a week over 18 months.
And yes, we're a tech company:) Live in Portland? Want to move here? We're hiring.
IMHO Bloom County is better than Calvin & Hobbes. I think Bill Watterson is probably the best artist ever to see wide newspaper comic publication, but Bloom County had it where it matters: character and story. As wonderful as Calvin & Hobbes was (and I have every collection ever published), Bloom County gave us characters who changed and grew over time. The stories were varied, interesting, and sometimes lasted months. On top of that it was bloody hilarious.
I won't write a novel and try to convince you right away. Next time you're in a book store (or on Amazon:), pick up a Bloom County collection and see what you think.
In western countries, its the womens choice whether to have the baby. Don't believe anyone if they tell you the man has any say what so ever.
What the fuck? The man has all the choice in the world about whether to have sex with a woman in the first place. If you don't want to pay for the consequences of your actions, perhaps you should act more carefully.
The Baroque Cycle? Are you out of your mind? I like a lot of Stephenson (and even waited in line to have him sign Quicksilver), but Baroque Cycle is what Dickens would have written had he been paid by the word instead of by the pound.
Separation is good. I can trot out the old "let coders code and designers design," but I often do both, and there are other benefits. You should look at model view controller. You don't have to drink all the MVC kool-aid to get good ideas from it.
Wonder why Slashdot looks like ass? I've spent a lot of time hacking Slash source and, until their recent refactors (and maybe even now) there was markup everywhere in the Perl. It made a redesign impossible without actually writing code, and possible introducing bugs.
MVC says that the presentation layer should be separate from the rest of the application. If you think about it, that's the same idea as keeping presentation (e.g. CSS) separate from content (e.g. XHTML). That idea has clearly won out.
Performance can be a factor for smaller systems, but if you cache your templates or have them precompiled (e.g. JSP) it helps. Also, programmer efficiency is almost always more important than code efficiency. Keeping the controller code and the view separate allows you to find and fix code bugs without wading through all sorts of presentation logic. Who cares about how a nested list is constructed in XHTML when you're trying to find out why your app is barfing?
Put this in your ~/.vimrc (on Windows it's still called "vimrc" I think, but I don't know where it's kept):
set pastetoggle=
This will cause F6, in any mode, to switch between paste mode and regular mode. Just what you need. You can set the key to anything. Do ":help pastetoggle" in vim for more info.
Re:Apple is going to make a killing...
on
Going To Boot Camp
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· Score: 1
All 5 of you?
Oh, now that's funny! The wit, the insight, the maturity displayed in this single, deceptively simple critique is truly devastating. Please, allow me to subscribe to your newsletter, where I may enjoy more of your humor.
Re:Apple is going to make a killing...
on
Going To Boot Camp
·
· Score: 2, Informative
To everyone who thinks this is going to be Apple's demise, you are completely wrong. No one buys a Mac for the hardware.
I agree with most of your post, but this is flat-out wrong. I bought my G4 aluminum Powerbook for the hardware, period. Sure I like OS X, but I spend 90% of my time in the terminal, and the OS isn't as big a deal. This is true for many Perl developers I know. Sure, OS X is nice, but having Perl running natively on the best hardware available -- that's why we buy these things.
Re:some possible addenda to that comment
on
Why Windows is Slow
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· Score: 1
[ Nice sig, BTW ]
I agree that Win2k is a pretty good OS. I used it for a year or so before jumping to Debian full-time. It lacks the control of Linux and the ease-of-use of OS X, but for me it was fast and stable and easy to customize. Certainly there's a market for Windows. Some things it does better than OS X (keyboard access, for instance).
I called the great-grandparent a bigot because he trotted out the old "Apple computers are expensive flash for art weenies" line. In fact, Apple laptops are IMHO the best web development platforms available for any money, and their other machines are very price-competitive for their rich feature set.
If i'm a fanboy, it's for well-designed tools that help make me money, not for any corporate logo or CEO. If any other company built a better laptop I'd buy it and run Debian on it. No one does, so I get OS X as a fringe benefit:)
Re:some possible addenda to that comment
on
Why Windows is Slow
·
· Score: 0
Apple is the designer store that people go to and spend an inordinately high sum of money because they're "cool" and because they want to be "different".
Oh, come one, talk about flogging a dead horse. Find me a more capable notebook than the Powerbook or MacBook. Then find me one that costs less. I've done this research three times over the last three years and the answer's always the same -- no one can touch Apple for features or price.
Yes, Apple machines are more expensive, but you know why? They're better. Better designed, better engineered, more reliable, better supported. I'm not even talking about the OS yet, or the huge array of apps they ship, just the hardware. A Toyota Camry is more expensive than a cheap Ford, too, but that doesn't stop people from buying Camrys. Things that are better are worth more money.
Every person I know who's switched from Windows to Mac (including my 75-year old mother) is ecstatic. Every one. Apple isn't perfect, and there are still things about the OS or platform that bug me, but it kicks the shit out of Windows.
Give up your bigoted attitude. It's been obsolete for years, and just shows ignorance.
Congratulations on getting your press release on Slashdot. Seriously, did you blow your whole marketing budget, or did they give you a discount for the dupes that will show up later in the week?
Yet Another Press Release. Nice to see that Taco's tight editorial control hasn't been impaired by too much turkey. The guys at XYZ Computing are giving each other high-fives right now.
In those areas where somebody else has done well, that's great. We'll match what they do, we'll bring new things to it, do it better and integrate it in with other things. And so it's very healthy for the consumer.
He continued, off the record:
Of course, once we reach total dominance in those areas, the consumer will really start taking it in the ass.
... announced plans back in 2003 to cut £66m from its IT budget by switching from a Unix server platform to Linux...
But he said the emergence of Linux as a cheaper and viable enterprise option has been good for competition because it forced proprietary vendors to raise their game.
Translation: "We wanted Sun to shit their pants and they did. Like my new Ferrari?"
My only advice is that they have to try hard or they're not going to get the full effect.
Seems like solid advice in any area. IMHO, though, OS X pays back your effort much faster than Windows.
unlearning is frustrating when you are so ingrained that things work one way. That was my only point.
Well taken. Even after a couple years on OS X, I find Photoshop frustrating, compared with the Windows version. It's more Adobe's problem than Apple's, but still.
Apparently you believe that macs are easier to use for really smart people who are motivated and interested.
I'm not sure why you say that, since it's neither stated nor implied by my text. I said several things:
Macs are easier to use.
Most people are pretty smart.
Most people quickly get used to things if they're motivated and interested.
The fact that these points are close together does not imply correlation, or causation. If you want to take issue with one of those points, go ahead. As it is, you're just flailing around. Perhaps you should read a little more carefully.
However, I have switched many of my friends to Apple, making sure they knew how difficult it would be to unlearn what they already thought about computers. Most of them don't get very far in learning.
This is idiotic. You're a piss-poor teacher if you pre-scare students with "Now, this is going to be really hard, and most people I know don't make it very far, and you're going to end up disappointed."
I've helped a number of people switch. I spend about an hour with them, showing them the basics, and leave them alone. My mom was more productive within a week of using her Mac than after years on Windows. Ditto my wife, who still uses Windows full-time at work.
Funny thing, though -- I tell them the exact opposite of what you do. Instead of trying to scare them and lower their expectations, I tell them to trust the computer. I tell them that the entire machine, from the solder to the software, was designed by smart people for the purpose of making their lives easier. If you don't understand something, try it and see what happens, I say.
It works really well. Macs are easier to use, period, hands-down, no rational argument. People are really smart, for the most part, and quickly get used to new things if they're motivated and interested. No surprise that the people you try to terrify don't do so well.
I love Apache, but in the same way I love my wife: with some trepidation. Fast and stable, flexible and reliable, but make one little syntax error and you can lose your ass.
Oh for Christ's sake, you can't compare WWII with the current situation. WWII was a conflict between countries. Each country could end the conflict at any time by having a small group of people agree to surrender. There were armies, navies, military targets, and for the most part clear lines between civilians and military folk. None of that is true of the "war on terror."
We've already invaded two countries to "stop terrorism," and where has it gotten us? Nowhere good. The world is more dangerous now than it was four years ago. Who else should we invade? What infrastructure can we destroy that will cripple the forces against us? It's a completely bogus comparison.
They must have responsibility, and those responsibilities must be enforced by the government.
Yes, there are countries out there with that philosophy - it's called socialism, where governments control everything that companies do.
Oh, come on, don't you think that's a bit of a stretch? It's a long step from the OP's "corporations have responsibilities" to your "go back to Cuba, commie." Neither the OP nor most thoughtful people argue that the government should control "everything that companies do." It's a straw man and a poor argument, and you should know better.
Corporations are a legal fiction. They get most of the rights and few of the responsibilities of people in exchange for their ability to create wealth. They do have some responsibilities, though, and these are occasionally enforced by the government (or certain elements in the government, like Eliot Spitzer). This is good and proper. The amount of effort the government spends enforcing those responsibilities depends on who's guarding the hen-house. As of today, it's more of a fox than some would like, but at least it's something.
There are contries where the opposite is true -- it's called fascism, where corporate and government power align to further the same interests. Government and corporations have been and should be at loggerheads; it's a fundamental check and balance.
Slashdot Mirror
I've worked four ten-hour days at several companies, and I love it. Recently I had a little boy, and with his sleep schedule I found it really hard to spend enough time with him after work, so I'm back to five eight-hour days. It feels like cheating, going home every day at 4pm. Until Friday morning :)
:) Live in Portland? Want to move here? We're hiring.
Four other folks at our company work 4x10, including the CEO, and it works just fine. Friday is fucking sacrosanct: no emails, no phone calls, no contact of any kind. If a fire flares up, other people in the office deal with it.
And when I say 4x10, I mean it. We track our time pretty religiously, and our most bust-ass employee has averaged about 42 hours a week over 18 months.
And yes, we're a tech company
IMHO Bloom County is better than Calvin & Hobbes. I think Bill Watterson is probably the best artist ever to see wide newspaper comic publication, but Bloom County had it where it matters: character and story. As wonderful as Calvin & Hobbes was (and I have every collection ever published), Bloom County gave us characters who changed and grew over time. The stories were varied, interesting, and sometimes lasted months. On top of that it was bloody hilarious.
:), pick up a Bloom County collection and see what you think.
I won't write a novel and try to convince you right away. Next time you're in a book store (or on Amazon
The Baroque Cycle? Are you out of your mind? I like a lot of Stephenson (and even waited in line to have him sign Quicksilver), but Baroque Cycle is what Dickens would have written had he been paid by the word instead of by the pound.
Separation is good. I can trot out the old "let coders code and designers design," but I often do both, and there are other benefits. You should look at model view controller. You don't have to drink all the MVC kool-aid to get good ideas from it.
Wonder why Slashdot looks like ass? I've spent a lot of time hacking Slash source and, until their recent refactors (and maybe even now) there was markup everywhere in the Perl. It made a redesign impossible without actually writing code, and possible introducing bugs.
MVC says that the presentation layer should be separate from the rest of the application. If you think about it, that's the same idea as keeping presentation (e.g. CSS) separate from content (e.g. XHTML). That idea has clearly won out.
Performance can be a factor for smaller systems, but if you cache your templates or have them precompiled (e.g. JSP) it helps. Also, programmer efficiency is almost always more important than code efficiency. Keeping the controller code and the view separate allows you to find and fix code bugs without wading through all sorts of presentation logic. Who cares about how a nested list is constructed in XHTML when you're trying to find out why your app is barfing?
[ Nice sig, BTW ]
:)
I agree that Win2k is a pretty good OS. I used it for a year or so before jumping to Debian full-time. It lacks the control of Linux and the ease-of-use of OS X, but for me it was fast and stable and easy to customize. Certainly there's a market for Windows. Some things it does better than OS X (keyboard access, for instance).
I called the great-grandparent a bigot because he trotted out the old "Apple computers are expensive flash for art weenies" line. In fact, Apple laptops are IMHO the best web development platforms available for any money, and their other machines are very price-competitive for their rich feature set.
If i'm a fanboy, it's for well-designed tools that help make me money, not for any corporate logo or CEO. If any other company built a better laptop I'd buy it and run Debian on it. No one does, so I get OS X as a fringe benefit
Yes, Apple machines are more expensive, but you know why? They're better. Better designed, better engineered, more reliable, better supported. I'm not even talking about the OS yet, or the huge array of apps they ship, just the hardware. A Toyota Camry is more expensive than a cheap Ford, too, but that doesn't stop people from buying Camrys. Things that are better are worth more money.
Every person I know who's switched from Windows to Mac (including my 75-year old mother) is ecstatic. Every one. Apple isn't perfect, and there are still things about the OS or platform that bug me, but it kicks the shit out of Windows.
Give up your bigoted attitude. It's been obsolete for years, and just shows ignorance.
Congratulations on getting your press release on Slashdot. Seriously, did you blow your whole marketing budget, or did they give you a discount for the dupes that will show up later in the week?
Yet Another Press Release. Nice to see that Taco's tight editorial control hasn't been impaired by too much turkey. The guys at XYZ Computing are giving each other high-fives right now.
Well shoot, that's a relief, thought it was me. Your posts are usually like a mini acid trip anyway; this was like an acid trip with an echo :)
Nice start. Hopefully soon everyone else involved in the production and distribution of that awful thing will be spending time in the big house.
Seems like solid advice in any area. IMHO, though, OS X pays back your effort much faster than Windows.
Well taken. Even after a couple years on OS X, I find Photoshop frustrating, compared with the Windows version. It's more Adobe's problem than Apple's, but still.
I'm not sure why you say that, since it's neither stated nor implied by my text. I said several things:
The fact that these points are close together does not imply correlation, or causation. If you want to take issue with one of those points, go ahead. As it is, you're just flailing around. Perhaps you should read a little more carefully.
I've helped a number of people switch. I spend about an hour with them, showing them the basics, and leave them alone. My mom was more productive within a week of using her Mac than after years on Windows. Ditto my wife, who still uses Windows full-time at work.
Funny thing, though -- I tell them the exact opposite of what you do. Instead of trying to scare them and lower their expectations, I tell them to trust the computer. I tell them that the entire machine, from the solder to the software, was designed by smart people for the purpose of making their lives easier. If you don't understand something, try it and see what happens, I say.
It works really well. Macs are easier to use, period, hands-down, no rational argument. People are really smart, for the most part, and quickly get used to new things if they're motivated and interested. No surprise that the people you try to terrify don't do so well.
Suddenly, your sig makes much more sense.
I love Apache, but in the same way I love my wife: with some trepidation. Fast and stable, flexible and reliable, but make one little syntax error and you can lose your ass.
Oh for Christ's sake, you can't compare WWII with the current situation. WWII was a conflict between countries. Each country could end the conflict at any time by having a small group of people agree to surrender. There were armies, navies, military targets, and for the most part clear lines between civilians and military folk. None of that is true of the "war on terror."
We've already invaded two countries to "stop terrorism," and where has it gotten us? Nowhere good. The world is more dangerous now than it was four years ago. Who else should we invade? What infrastructure can we destroy that will cripple the forces against us? It's a completely bogus comparison.
This is why I have you marked as "friend": so I know I'll always catch shit like this even if the mods are asleep at the switch. Very nice.
Corporations are a legal fiction. They get most of the rights and few of the responsibilities of people in exchange for their ability to create wealth. They do have some responsibilities, though, and these are occasionally enforced by the government (or certain elements in the government, like Eliot Spitzer). This is good and proper. The amount of effort the government spends enforcing those responsibilities depends on who's guarding the hen-house. As of today, it's more of a fox than some would like, but at least it's something.
There are contries where the opposite is true -- it's called fascism, where corporate and government power align to further the same interests. Government and corporations have been and should be at loggerheads; it's a fundamental check and balance.