Thanks for the link. That was very helpful for describing how the different widgets should behave. Sadly, our discussions usually aren't even at that level, though. We're talking the level of "If you have field with 15 options, you should use a drop-down list field and not 15 radio buttons." If anyone has a link to something along the lines of "Remedial GUI Design 101", that would be awesome.
While we're talking about GUIs, does anyone know where I can find some good documentation of GUI development standards online? I've done a number of Google searches but haven't found anything comprehensive.
Some developers on my team are absolutely abysmal at GUI development and, whenever we question them, they always say that what they're doing "follows the standard", which is total bulls--t. (They're just lazy and don't want to take the time to do it right.) Among other atrocities, they convinced our functional team that it is acceptable not to include any OK, Apply, or Cancel buttons on their windows and that it is "Windows standard" to provide only the X button in the upper right hand corner to close all windows (including ones for data entry). The business analysts have no experience with GUI development and are pretty intimidated by them, so they just believe whatever they say. I'd love to have some documentation to disprove them. (I've had limited success with "If it's the 'standard', can you show me ANY window from a MS application that looks like that?", but I'd like to have harder evidence.)
You can catch the tramway at 59th Street and Second Avenue. It's just a block away from the 59th Street-Lexington stop on the N/R or 4/5/6 lines. I think it's $4 round trip or you can get a $2 one-way and take the F line back. I only tried the tramway out for the first time a couple of months ago but it is definitely becoming part of my standard out-of-town guest tour.
I was beginning to wonder why noone had mentioned NYC. Besides what he said, Times Square is great for any electronics geek. Also, a number of geeks are interested in architecture and design and NYC has a number of fine architectural specimens (Brooklyn Bridge, Chrysler Bulding, etc.) and design museums (Cooper-Hewitt, MoMA, Museum of Arts and Design, etc.).
And I concur about the Staten Island Ferry. The best cheap ways to see the city are the SI Ferry (the poor man's Circle Line/Statue of Liberty tour) and the Roosevelt Island tramway (the poor man's helicopter tour, plus geek points for being in Spider-Man.)
A number of recent articles have discussed advertisers who are moving away from traditional 30-second commercials and instead embedding their products into the shows themselves to avoid ad-skippers. (Think Coke and American Idol) While I love skipping ads with my TiVo, I do wonder if this new trend will only lead to big corporations getting bigger and less competition in the marketplace. Companies like Coke, Microsoft, and McDonalds can afford to spend millions to sponsor shows but upstarts can't and will have a harder time building brand recognition. The cost to effectively market a product on television might someday be raised to the point that it stifles innovation because it is too expensive to promote new products.
The grocery store in my area has a section where parents can stash their kids that has video games, a mechanical pony ride, etc. I looked in the other day and noticed that the "claw machine" was filled with stuffed animals wearing Viagra t-shirts. I bet they used them because they got them cheap from one of the drug reps for the store's pharmacy, but still that's starting them a little young. Not to mention the fun conversations parents will get to have on the way home.
From the home page: We are an informal organization for technical women in computing that began in 1987 as a small mailing list for women in "systems", thus the name Systers. It was founded by Anita Borg. There are now over 2500 Systers around the world. If you are a woman in the technical end of computing, you are welcome.
Check out this article. The accompanying photograph shows a soldier raising the American flag with the caption "An American Marine replacing the Iraqi flag today at the entrance to Iraq's main port of Umm Qasr." Looks like the US will fly our flag in their country.
That's exactly what I meant when I said when I said that I doubted US soldiers were getting the same pep talk as the Brits. (As opposed to the people who think I meant the US generals were telling their soldiers to go rape and pillage or that they were otherwise not being told to follow the international rules of war.) I found the British speech to be moving because it was very humbling as opposed to the American attitude which has been very self-righteous. I think this speech by the US general supports that.
I found this speech to be very moving. I just hope the US troops are getting the same advice as the Brits. Somehow I doubt it.
-----------
UK troops told: Be just and strong
British troops waiting to attack Iraq have been told to behave like liberators rather than conquerors. But they have also been warned some of them may not return from Iraq alive. Lieutenant Colonel Tim Collins gave the battlegroup of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish the pep talk as the US deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq or face action ticked away. Reporters said the men listened in silence to the address at Fort Blair Mayne desert camp, 20 miles from the Iraqi border. "We go to liberate not to conquer. We will not fly our flags in their country," he said. "We are entering Iraq to free a people and the only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Show respect for them. "There are some who are alive at this moment who will not be alive shortly. Those who do not wish to go on that journey, we will not send.
"As for the others I expect you to rock their world. Wipe them out if that is what they choose. But if you are ferocious in battle remember to be magnanimous in victory. "Iraq is steeped in history. It is the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood and the birthplace of Abraham. Tread lightly there. "You will see things that no man could pay to see and you will have to go a long way to find a more decent, generous and upright people than the Iraqis.
"You will be embarrassed by their hospitality even though they have nothing. "Don't treat them as refugees for they are in their own country. Their children will be poor, in years to come they will know that the light of liberation in their lives was brought by you. "If there are casualties of war then remember that when they woke up and got dressed in the morning they did not plan to die this day. "Allow them dignity in death. Bury them properly and mark their graves."
To his 800 men - an arm of the 16 Air Assault Brigade - he said: "It is my foremost intention to bring every single one of you out alive but there may be people among us who will not see the end of this campaign. "We will put them in their sleeping bags and send them back. There will be no time for sorrow. "The enemy should be in no doubt that we are his nemesis and that we are bringing about his rightful destruction. "There are many regional commanders who have stains on their souls and they are stoking the fires of hell for Saddam.
"He and his forces will be destroyed by this coalition for what they have done. As they die they will know their deeds have brought them to this place. Show them no pity." He said: "It is a big step to take another human life. It is not to be done lightly. "I know of men who have taken life needlessly in other conflicts, I can assure you they live with the mark of Cain upon them. "If someone surrenders to you then remember they have that right in international law and ensure that one day they go home to their family. "The ones who wish to fight, well, we aim to please." He warned the troops not to get carried away in the heat of battle. "If you harm the regiment or its history by over enthusiasm in killing or in cowardice, know it is your family who will suffer.
"You will be shunned unless your conduct is of the highest for your deeds will follow you down through history. We will bring shame on neither our uniform or our nation." Warning that the troops were very likely to face chemical or biological weapons, he said: "It is not a question of if, it's a question of when. We know he has already devolved the decision to lower commanders, and that means he has already taken the decision himself. If we survive the first strike we will survive the attack." His closing words were resolute: "As for ourselves, let's bring everyone home and leave Iraq a better place for us having been there. Our business now is north."
Sorry, but I just don't feel it. Although some of the other actors are just as recognizable (Elijah Wood and Ian McKellan, for example), whenever Samwise comes on screen I always think "Hey, what's Sean Astin doing up there?"
I know this is common practice these days, but it bothers me because it has such potential for abuse. Employees are barred from asking your age, marital status, sexual orientation, etc. in an interview, but if they have your credit report, they can deduce a lot of this information. (What year were your college loans taken out? Do you have a co-signer on a home or car loan? What gender is the co-signer?)
My biggest gripe/fear about Clear Channel is that they are owned by the same company as Ticketmaster. Think of the position that puts them in. Bands are essentially forced to use Ticketmaster because of its monopoly. If they resist or create a fuss, like Pearl Jam tried, they could potentially get the backlash of both Ticketmaster and Clear Channel. Clear Channel could refuse to play their songs on their stations. Considering how hard it is for a band to get exposure, you'd be sunk if you had to use alternate channels for ticketing AND radio exposure. It's bad enough for a company like CC to have a monopoly over radio and TM to have a monopoly over ticketing, but letting those companies be owned by the same conglomorate is just plain wrong.
I think learning two languages at the same time can actually be better than learning them separately. My university taught C in its Intro to Programming course for Freshmen and assembly language in its Computer Organization course for Sophomores. I transferred into CS as a Sophomore, so I had to take them concurrently. At first, I was worried about mixing them up, but then I found that I was actually getting a better appreciation for how programming languages worked. It was very eye opening to learn a construct in C, like loops or conditionals, and then learn how they are implemented in assembly the next week. I feel that I had an advantage by learning the "innards" of C at the same time I was learning the syntax.
This benefit is dependent on the languages being learned concurrently, of course...
What if a pro-life librarian doesn't want to grant access to sites about abortion? What if a fundamentalist librarian doesn't want to grant access to sites about birth control or gay issues? What if a librarian doesn't want to grant access to a site he finds politically offensive? You would hope that personal beliefs wouldn't influence these decisions, but you can never be sure.
Two points before anyone flames me: (1) I gave examples of "liberal" sites that were blocked because those are the sites I personally wouldn't want to see blocked from my (future) children. I'm sure the tables could be turned, too, with a liberal librarian overruling a conservative site. [However, my example appears to be more common.] (2) I really respect professional librarians and think they are doing a great job promoting first amendment rights and fighting censorship. I'm sure most librarians would use their discretionary powers appropriately, but I think it is dangerous to let a small group of people decide what information can and cannot be accessed.
That reminds me of a show I saw at the Upright Citizens Brigade a while ago here in NYC. It was about a guy whose phone number got mixed up with a computer help support line. When he called the phone company to get a new number, they tried to give him a 646. He refused to take the new number because it "would keep him from ever getting laid again" and instead decided to totally mess with the callers. Being a member of a comedy troupe, he was really good at it. He taped the callers and made it into a stand up show that rocked. You can check out some of the clips here.
That's a really interesting point. Heck, imagine if a show had been sponsored by a now defunct company like Kosmo or Pets.com. What the heck would they do with that in syndication?
I think this would be much more difficult for the new variety show one of the networks is proposing that has contestents make up songs about the sponsor and stuff since that's content that would need to be altered. If it's straight up product placement, it wouldn't surprise me if things were changed using computer imagery. IIRC, I read an article a while ago that said TNT is already doing this on Law and Order by changing sodas the cops are drinking and background signs to showcase sponsors.
Tax Cut is also much better than TurboTax if you are filing multiple state returns. I usually file about 3-4 state returns and Tax Cut does a good job of keeping the references correct between the Federal and state returns. I don't know if it's changed, but TurboTax didn't even allow for multiple state returns. The bad news -- Tax Cut makes you pay a premium for your 2nd and above state but I've found it to be worth it.
The guys who were trying to make homebrew at my school were idiots. They were using a rusted out trash can to ferment the stuff. It's a good thing the RA confiscated it. God knows what type of disease they would have caught had they succeeded.
I agree that Fox News is a highly biased "news" organization. My problem is that, while users might realize a political bias in a network's news reporting, I don't think many people realize the possible bias that might be caused by media partnerships. Joe Smith might take a pro-Bush article on Fox with a grain of salt because he knows its political bias, but he might not realize that its technical reporting might be slanted to further the agenda of one of its partner corporations. Media organizations occasionally provide "full disclosure" asides, but how can you be sure they are really disclosing all of their interests?
Also, for an example of Fox's bias, I think you need look no further than the fact Fox gladly supports Ashcroft's attempts to shut down civil liberties and other attempts to monitor citizens but (GASP!) this technical device might monitor you and think you're GAY! The horror! We need to tell everyone to stay away!
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Thanks for the link. That was very helpful for describing how the different widgets should behave. Sadly, our discussions usually aren't even at that level, though. We're talking the level of "If you have field with 15 options, you should use a drop-down list field and not 15 radio buttons." If anyone has a link to something along the lines of "Remedial GUI Design 101", that would be awesome.
While we're talking about GUIs, does anyone know where I can find some good documentation of GUI development standards online? I've done a number of Google searches but haven't found anything comprehensive.
Some developers on my team are absolutely abysmal at GUI development and, whenever we question them, they always say that what they're doing "follows the standard", which is total bulls--t. (They're just lazy and don't want to take the time to do it right.) Among other atrocities, they convinced our functional team that it is acceptable not to include any OK, Apply, or Cancel buttons on their windows and that it is "Windows standard" to provide only the X button in the upper right hand corner to close all windows (including ones for data entry). The business analysts have no experience with GUI development and are pretty intimidated by them, so they just believe whatever they say. I'd love to have some documentation to disprove them. (I've had limited success with "If it's the 'standard', can you show me ANY window from a MS application that looks like that?", but I'd like to have harder evidence.)
You can catch the tramway at 59th Street and Second Avenue. It's just a block away from the 59th Street-Lexington stop on the N/R or 4/5/6 lines. I think it's $4 round trip or you can get a $2 one-way and take the F line back. I only tried the tramway out for the first time a couple of months ago but it is definitely becoming part of my standard out-of-town guest tour.
I was beginning to wonder why noone had mentioned NYC. Besides what he said, Times Square is great for any electronics geek. Also, a number of geeks are interested in architecture and design and NYC has a number of fine architectural specimens (Brooklyn Bridge, Chrysler Bulding, etc.) and design museums (Cooper-Hewitt, MoMA, Museum of Arts and Design, etc.).
And I concur about the Staten Island Ferry. The best cheap ways to see the city are the SI Ferry (the poor man's Circle Line/Statue of Liberty tour) and the Roosevelt Island tramway (the poor man's helicopter tour, plus geek points for being in Spider-Man.)
A number of recent articles have discussed advertisers who are moving away from traditional 30-second commercials and instead embedding their products into the shows themselves to avoid ad-skippers. (Think Coke and American Idol) While I love skipping ads with my TiVo, I do wonder if this new trend will only lead to big corporations getting bigger and less competition in the marketplace. Companies like Coke, Microsoft, and McDonalds can afford to spend millions to sponsor shows but upstarts can't and will have a harder time building brand recognition. The cost to effectively market a product on television might someday be raised to the point that it stifles innovation because it is too expensive to promote new products.
The grocery store in my area has a section where parents can stash their kids that has video games, a mechanical pony ride, etc. I looked in the other day and noticed that the "claw machine" was filled with stuffed animals wearing Viagra t-shirts. I bet they used them because they got them cheap from one of the drug reps for the store's pharmacy, but still that's starting them a little young. Not to mention the fun conversations parents will get to have on the way home.
You might try contacting Systers for advice.
From the home page: We are an informal organization for technical women in computing that began in 1987 as a small mailing list for women in "systems", thus the name Systers. It was founded by Anita Borg. There are now over 2500 Systers around the world. If you are a woman in the technical end of computing, you are welcome.
Check out this article. The accompanying photograph shows a soldier raising the American flag with the caption "An American Marine replacing the Iraqi flag today at the entrance to Iraq's main port of Umm Qasr." Looks like the US will fly our flag in their country.
That's exactly what I meant when I said when I said that I doubted US soldiers were getting the same pep talk as the Brits. (As opposed to the people who think I meant the US generals were telling their soldiers to go rape and pillage or that they were otherwise not being told to follow the international rules of war.) I found the British speech to be moving because it was very humbling as opposed to the American attitude which has been very self-righteous. I think this speech by the US general supports that.
I found this speech to be very moving. I just hope the US troops are getting the same advice as the Brits. Somehow I doubt it.
-----------
UK troops told: Be just and strong
British troops waiting to attack Iraq have been told to behave like liberators rather than conquerors. But they have also been warned some of them may not return from Iraq alive. Lieutenant Colonel Tim Collins gave the battlegroup of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish the pep talk as the US deadline for Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq or face action ticked away.
Reporters said the men listened in silence to the address at Fort Blair Mayne desert camp, 20 miles from the Iraqi border.
"We go to liberate not to conquer. We will not fly our flags in their country," he said.
"We are entering Iraq to free a people and the only flag which will be flown in that ancient land is their own. Show respect for them.
"There are some who are alive at this moment who will not be alive shortly. Those who do not wish to go on that journey, we will not send.
"As for the others I expect you to rock their world. Wipe them out if that is what they choose. But if you are ferocious in battle remember to be magnanimous in victory.
"Iraq is steeped in history. It is the site of the Garden of Eden, of the Great Flood and the birthplace of Abraham. Tread lightly there.
"You will see things that no man could pay to see and you will have to go a long way to find a more decent, generous and upright people than the Iraqis.
"You will be embarrassed by their hospitality even though they have nothing.
"Don't treat them as refugees for they are in their own country. Their children will be poor, in years to come they will know that the light of liberation in their lives was brought by you.
"If there are casualties of war then remember that when they woke up and got dressed in the morning they did not plan to die this day.
"Allow them dignity in death. Bury them properly and mark their graves."
To his 800 men - an arm of the 16 Air Assault Brigade - he said: "It is my foremost intention to bring every single one of you out alive but there may be people among us who will not see the end of this campaign.
"We will put them in their sleeping bags and send them back. There will be no time for sorrow.
"The enemy should be in no doubt that we are his nemesis and that we are bringing about his rightful destruction.
"There are many regional commanders who have stains on their souls and they are stoking the fires of hell for Saddam.
"He and his forces will be destroyed by this coalition for what they have done. As they die they will know their deeds have brought them to this place. Show them no pity."
He said: "It is a big step to take another human life. It is not to be done lightly.
"I know of men who have taken life needlessly in other conflicts, I can assure you they live with the mark of Cain upon them.
"If someone surrenders to you then remember they have that right in international law and ensure that one day they go home to their family.
"The ones who wish to fight, well, we aim to please."
He warned the troops not to get carried away in the heat of battle.
"If you harm the regiment or its history by over enthusiasm in killing or in cowardice, know it is your family who will suffer.
"You will be shunned unless your conduct is of the highest for your deeds will follow you down through history. We will bring shame on neither our uniform or our nation."
Warning that the troops were very likely to face chemical or biological weapons, he said: "It is not a question of if, it's a question of when. We know he has already devolved the decision to lower commanders, and that means he has already taken the decision himself. If we survive the first strike we will survive the attack."
His closing words were resolute: "As for ourselves, let's bring everyone home and leave Iraq a better place for us having been there. Our business now is north."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2866581.stm
If you don't have your own domain, you can set up a free Mailshell account.
Sorry, but I just don't feel it. Although some of the other actors are just as recognizable (Elijah Wood and Ian McKellan, for example), whenever Samwise comes on screen I always think "Hey, what's Sean Astin doing up there?"
I know this is common practice these days, but it bothers me because it has such potential for abuse. Employees are barred from asking your age, marital status, sexual orientation, etc. in an interview, but if they have your credit report, they can deduce a lot of this information. (What year were your college loans taken out? Do you have a co-signer on a home or car loan? What gender is the co-signer?)
How will you really know why you were declined?
My biggest gripe/fear about Clear Channel is that they are owned by the same company as Ticketmaster. Think of the position that puts them in. Bands are essentially forced to use Ticketmaster because of its monopoly. If they resist or create a fuss, like Pearl Jam tried, they could potentially get the backlash of both Ticketmaster and Clear Channel. Clear Channel could refuse to play their songs on their stations. Considering how hard it is for a band to get exposure, you'd be sunk if you had to use alternate channels for ticketing AND radio exposure. It's bad enough for a company like CC to have a monopoly over radio and TM to have a monopoly over ticketing, but letting those companies be owned by the same conglomorate is just plain wrong.
I think learning two languages at the same time can actually be better than learning them separately. My university taught C in its Intro to Programming course for Freshmen and assembly language in its Computer Organization course for Sophomores. I transferred into CS as a Sophomore, so I had to take them concurrently. At first, I was worried about mixing them up, but then I found that I was actually getting a better appreciation for how programming languages worked. It was very eye opening to learn a construct in C, like loops or conditionals, and then learn how they are implemented in assembly the next week. I feel that I had an advantage by learning the "innards" of C at the same time I was learning the syntax.
This benefit is dependent on the languages being learned concurrently, of course...
What if a pro-life librarian doesn't want to grant access to sites about abortion? What if a fundamentalist librarian doesn't want to grant access to sites about birth control or gay issues? What if a librarian doesn't want to grant access to a site he finds politically offensive? You would hope that personal beliefs wouldn't influence these decisions, but you can never be sure.
Two points before anyone flames me: (1) I gave examples of "liberal" sites that were blocked because those are the sites I personally wouldn't want to see blocked from my (future) children. I'm sure the tables could be turned, too, with a liberal librarian overruling a conservative site. [However, my example appears to be more common.] (2) I really respect professional librarians and think they are doing a great job promoting first amendment rights and fighting censorship. I'm sure most librarians would use their discretionary powers appropriately, but I think it is dangerous to let a small group of people decide what information can and cannot be accessed.
That reminds me of a show I saw at the Upright Citizens Brigade a while ago here in NYC. It was about a guy whose phone number got mixed up with a computer help support line. When he called the phone company to get a new number, they tried to give him a 646. He refused to take the new number because it "would keep him from ever getting laid again" and instead decided to totally mess with the callers. Being a member of a comedy troupe, he was really good at it. He taped the callers and made it into a stand up show that rocked. You can check out some of the clips here.
Ha. You made me think of "24". I love the show, but sometimes I think it's just a huge informercial for Design Within Reach.
That's a really interesting point. Heck, imagine if a show had been sponsored by a now defunct company like Kosmo or Pets.com. What the heck would they do with that in syndication?
I think this would be much more difficult for the new variety show one of the networks is proposing that has contestents make up songs about the sponsor and stuff since that's content that would need to be altered. If it's straight up product placement, it wouldn't surprise me if things were changed using computer imagery. IIRC, I read an article a while ago that said TNT is already doing this on Law and Order by changing sodas the cops are drinking and background signs to showcase sponsors.
I still think Google put it best: Don't be evil.
Tax Cut is also much better than TurboTax if you are filing multiple state returns. I usually file about 3-4 state returns and Tax Cut does a good job of keeping the references correct between the Federal and state returns. I don't know if it's changed, but TurboTax didn't even allow for multiple state returns. The bad news -- Tax Cut makes you pay a premium for your 2nd and above state but I've found it to be worth it.
My favorite (positive) description of the WTC buildings were that they looked like two stacks of staplers plucked from god's supply closet.
The guys who were trying to make homebrew at my school were idiots. They were using a rusted out trash can to ferment the stuff. It's a good thing the RA confiscated it. God knows what type of disease they would have caught had they succeeded.
Actually, it does look like this new version has a PVR built into it, too. The description said you could control live TV.
I agree that Fox News is a highly biased "news" organization. My problem is that, while users might realize a political bias in a network's news reporting, I don't think many people realize the possible bias that might be caused by media partnerships. Joe Smith might take a pro-Bush article on Fox with a grain of salt because he knows its political bias, but he might not realize that its technical reporting might be slanted to further the agenda of one of its partner corporations. Media organizations occasionally provide "full disclosure" asides, but how can you be sure they are really disclosing all of their interests?
Also, for an example of Fox's bias, I think you need look no further than the fact Fox gladly supports Ashcroft's attempts to shut down civil liberties and other attempts to monitor citizens but (GASP!) this technical device might monitor you and think you're GAY! The horror! We need to tell everyone to stay away!