In France, email is also a kind of cheese - I think it's a thinly-sliced dryish cheese sort of like what we call Swiss in North America, but it's been a while so I could be wrong.
When I was last there (uh, 92) the University of Strasbourg had some rooms set up for people to write and send "PopMail" - which is sort of catchy and actually makes technical sense (although I guess they should have said "PopSMTPMail").
It's still sort of two English words, so the Language Police at the Academie Francaise probably wouldn't go for it.
... but did anybody else look at the rest of the page the article was on?
Am I the only geek here who looked at all the Swedish and thought: Wow, there's a lot of Tolkien-style words!
- Näringsliv: An elvish sword from the goblin wars. - Enkelt: Like an ent, but for ferns. - Javaarkitekter: A legendary craftsman who worked in runes. - Nagon: A dwarvish city in the southern end of the Misty Mountains.
Or am I just a leetle bit too excited about the upcoming Two Towers DVD release?
because I thought one of the tenants of capitalism was that by investing my work and effort into something (the company in this case) I can claim instrinsic ownership of the fruits of that labour, which would seem to include a partial ownership of the tools we use to achieve our goals (doubly and doublessly more legally so if you own stock in your company, right?)
Actually, owning part of the company because of your labour is one of the tenets of socialism - in fact, capitalism is the opposite: you exchange the ownership of your work for cash. The only people who own your work are the owners - including the shareholders if it's public (which means that if you own stock yes you have some ownership, but it's probably a very tiny amount).
When they weren't going on about silly stuff like overthrowing civilization, Marx and the gang (not the Soviets who used Communism as an excuse for their own brand of dictatorship) were generally concerned with the fact that workers generally *don't* get to share in the profits of their work. Employee stock ownership is a step in that direction - although ideally companies would only have internal stock owners.
Maybe if the employees truly owned their own work and shared in the real profits - from reception up to CEO - Enron wouldn't have been quite such a mess.
Oh no but wait that's bolshie talk you little pinko!
Another (better?) movie about Stalingrad
on
Enemy At The Gates
·
· Score: 1
It's a German film from 1993 called (no surprise) Stalingrad. It's told from the point of view of the average German soldiers. Between grim and gripping battle scenes, the main characters start to realize what they're really fighting for - and it makes more points about the morality of war and nations than a dozen Vietnam movies.
Well worth seeing - but without a cheezy love story, the grim intensity doesn't let up much.
Random Star Wars trivia: From what I could gather from the film (and I haven't been able to verify this elsewhere) the German army that was supposed to arrive with new supplies and reinforcements in December (but it didn't make it) was commanded by a General Hoth. Coincidence? I think NOT!
I've been doing contract work for several years now and the most important thing that I've learned is the truth of the adage that "Time is Money".
Time is money in the sense that you'll find yourself saying 'if I take the toll highway that costs $5 it'll save me $35 in billable time - so it's worth it!'. Your time is directly related to your income. Your time becomes a commodity as much as your skill and the actual software that you produce, and that takes some getting used to (Marx would probably have some interesting things to say on that topic, too!).
But the reverse is true as well - money is time. As a contractor the truth you have to face every day is that you can never guarantee when the next paycheck will arrive - even if you're currently doing work, clients may have a 120-day pay period or may decide not to pay you.
When you get that first big cheque for $5000 or $10,000, the temptation is to blow it all on fancy equipment and exotic trips - remember that you're probably not going to be getting one of these cheques every week. Consider pacing yourself with a monthly 'salary' based on reasonable expectations of a decent standard of living. That way you can plan ahead more effetively. If your rent and living expenses
add up to $3000/month (say), then look at $12,000 in the bank not as $12,000 now, but 4 months' worth of living. Actually, with taxes and expenses and 'putting 10% away for later' (which you do already, right?), it's probably more like 2 months' worth. I had a good year last year, and that doesn't mean 'I'm going to buy a dual-processor G4 with a 22" flat-panel LCD display, and put a downpayment on a BMW!', but rather 'I can live without work for 6 months!'
On a related note, remember that the most valuable (and expensive) gift you can give yourself as a contractor is time off. Considering money in the bank as time instead of as stuff you can buy means that the more money you have, the more free you are to explore new technologies, do some hobby-based things (that could turn into further money-makers), get a *life*, and generally rest up for the next busy period. In this way the slow times between jobs are actually useful instead of stressful.
Also, if you can find a good client with good people and that pays punctually and well, don't jump ship for other clients just because you feel you ought to run around more. Good clients are *golden* and worth hanging on to.
Slashdot Mirror
In France, email is also a kind of cheese - I think it's a thinly-sliced dryish cheese sort of like what we call Swiss in North America, but it's been a while so I could be wrong.
When I was last there (uh, 92) the University of Strasbourg had some rooms set up for people to write and send "PopMail" - which is sort of catchy and actually makes technical sense (although I guess they should have said "PopSMTPMail").
It's still sort of two English words, so the Language Police at the Academie Francaise probably wouldn't go for it.
... but did anybody else look at the rest of the page the article was on?
Am I the only geek here who looked at all the Swedish and thought: Wow, there's a lot of Tolkien-style words!
- Näringsliv: An elvish sword from the goblin wars.
- Enkelt: Like an ent, but for ferns.
- Javaarkitekter: A legendary craftsman who worked in runes.
- Nagon: A dwarvish city in the southern end of the Misty Mountains.
Or am I just a leetle bit too excited about the upcoming Two Towers DVD release?
- AJLB
Actually, owning part of the company because of your labour is one of the tenets of socialism - in fact, capitalism is the opposite: you exchange the ownership of your work for cash. The only people who own your work are the owners - including the shareholders if it's public (which means that if you own stock yes you have some ownership, but it's probably a very tiny amount).
When they weren't going on about silly stuff like overthrowing civilization, Marx and the gang (not the Soviets who used Communism as an excuse for their own brand of dictatorship) were generally concerned with the fact that workers generally *don't* get to share in the profits of their work. Employee stock ownership is a step in that direction - although ideally companies would only have internal stock owners.
Maybe if the employees truly owned their own work and shared in the real profits - from reception up to CEO - Enron wouldn't have been quite such a mess.
Oh no but wait that's bolshie talk you little pinko!
(-1 offtopic)
Hey can you imagine a Beowulf of these?
(He runneth for cover)
Well worth seeing - but without a cheezy love story, the grim intensity doesn't let up much.
Random Star Wars trivia: From what I could gather from the film (and I haven't been able to verify this elsewhere) the German army that was supposed to arrive with new supplies and reinforcements in December (but it didn't make it) was commanded by a General Hoth. Coincidence? I think NOT!
ajlb
I say the future is a serious matter
Time is money in the sense that you'll find yourself saying 'if I take the toll highway that costs $5 it'll save me $35 in billable time - so it's worth it!'. Your time is directly related to your income. Your time becomes a commodity as much as your skill and the actual software that you produce, and that takes some getting used to (Marx would probably have some interesting things to say on that topic, too!).
But the reverse is true as well - money is time. As a contractor the truth you have to face every day is that you can never guarantee when the next paycheck will arrive - even if you're currently doing work, clients may have a 120-day pay period or may decide not to pay you.
When you get that first big cheque for $5000 or $10,000, the temptation is to blow it all on fancy equipment and exotic trips - remember that you're probably not going to be getting one of these cheques every week. Consider pacing yourself with a monthly 'salary' based on reasonable expectations of a decent standard of living. That way you can plan ahead more effetively. If your rent and living expenses add up to $3000/month (say), then look at $12,000 in the bank not as $12,000 now, but 4 months' worth of living. Actually, with taxes and expenses and 'putting 10% away for later' (which you do already, right?), it's probably more like 2 months' worth. I had a good year last year, and that doesn't mean 'I'm going to buy a dual-processor G4 with a 22" flat-panel LCD display, and put a downpayment on a BMW!', but rather 'I can live without work for 6 months!'
On a related note, remember that the most valuable (and expensive) gift you can give yourself as a contractor is time off. Considering money in the bank as time instead of as stuff you can buy means that the more money you have, the more free you are to explore new technologies, do some hobby-based things (that could turn into further money-makers), get a *life*, and generally rest up for the next busy period. In this way the slow times between jobs are actually useful instead of stressful.
Also, if you can find a good client with good people and that pays punctually and well, don't jump ship for other clients just because you feel you ought to run around more. Good clients are *golden* and worth hanging on to.
-ajlb
I say the future is a serious matter