the individual who is unwilling to accept the obvious but instead clings to the often illogical notion that there is always a deeper answer that only they see
These people have been around a long time. Back around 2000 years ago, they were called gnostics. They believed that " that there is special, hidden knowledge (esoteric knowledge) that only a few can possess." I never much liked the gnostics back when I was studying religion; seemed too elitist and exclusive, though they produced entertaining literature.
I find it interesting in light of your comment that there's been an increasing interest in gnostic literature lately (e.g. The DaVinci Code). I suppose it's comforting for some people to feel that they have access to exclusive, hidden knowledge that nobody else does.
this whole concept of secular v. religious is something which we get from our Indo-European heritage
Actually, religions all over the world have the concept of the "sacred" being separate from the "profane" or ordinary. For example, Native American rituals taking place in a lodge which is sacred space, as opposed to any ordinary building or somewhere outside. This separation of the sacred from the ordinary is something which is not only common to all religions I can think of, one could argue that it is what makes a religion.
Recommended reading: "The Sacred and the Profane" by Mircea Eliade Dense, but interesting in parts
(BTW, I saw your recommendations in the earlier post, and plan to check them out. Sounds interesting.)
Exactly! I never know how to categorize what I do, but "web designer" fits best. I don't want to be lumped in with people who can toss clip art into FrontPage, but I'm not really a graphic designer (no degree), though I do do graphic design, and I'm not purely an interface designer, though that's a large part of what I do. I don't know any programming languages by heart, but I can work with several, and I'm not a usability or standards "expert" though I know a lot about both subjects.
Some people tell me I'm good at what I do, but I look around the web and see I still have a long, long way to go if I want to reach the place where I'd call myself good. I just hope that constantly striving toward improvement will keep me employed.
"You come home and flip the switch, but the lights don't come on. Describe in as much detail as you can how you would go about fixing the problem."
Assuming I'm in my kitchen, I flip the switch several more times. If the lights still don't come on, I turn on the light in an adjacent room and use the ambient light to get out the step-stool, climb up and tap on the fluorescent tubes with my fingers until one lights up.
But I guess if I were really interested in "fixing the problem" I'd go spend some money at Home Depot and buy something reliable to replace the old tubes.
they want to control their own destinies and not be told what to do by the government
I agree completely. Why can't we get a candidate like that to run for President? I'm tired of the current administration's love for legislating every facet of our lives.
Supposedly Ashcroft isn't going to be returning for a second term
Where did you hear this? Link, please! I want to believe it, but would like to see some evidence before I get my hopes up.
Re:I'm going as a pirate this year
on
Halloween Fun
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· Score: 1
There's a group of us that dress up as pirates every year. One year, my SO and I decided to be a little different and go as software pirates. I wore a pirate outfit with a black cape with a bunch of free/demo CDs glued to the inside. My SO's pirate shirt had ads for software bootlegs in place of red stripes.
The first Democratic presidential candidates debate was held in South Carolina last summer (I believe it was July). Several of the candidates visited the USC law school in August and September, and I was at the opening of Edwards' campaign headquarters here in September.
That's all to say that the campaigning really began during the last 4-5 months of 2003. But that's still a good chunk of the year and doesn't count for any prep time leading into the campaigning.
(Off-topic, I can't believe only a year ago not a single vote had been cast in the primaries and things were so different, more hopeful.)
It says on the Apple web site: "Spent time organizing your photos using iPhoto on a Mac or either Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 or Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 on a PC? iTunes 4.7 rewards your diligence by importing the albums you've created in iPhoto or collections created in Album or Elements."
To me, their reliance on Adobe products for Windows sounds like they have no plans to expand iPhoto beyond the Mac.
No kidding. I can sketch almost anything fairly well, but don't ask me to put a sphere on top of a cube in a 3D program. I even have trouble playing 3D computer games, constantly getting stuck in corners and staring up at the sky. I just deal better with two dimensions on a computer screen.
"Commission-only sales work" wasn't in the original list of "you should try these, and then you'll like IT" jobs in the original post
Tired of temping, desperate for a "full-time job," I worked for a while at a cemetery doing pre-need sales. That means calling unsuspecting people at home and convincing them to invest in a coffin, plot and marker package. I worked on commission, worked my ass off for a month, and sold nothing. I quit and went to work part-time at a theme park for a while, where at least I knew I'd get paid.
So I'd say cemetary salesperson is a worse job than IT manager. You have to have the morals of a slug to make money in that field.
I don't expect any career politician to actually document their position on everything and set themselves up to be held accountable to their constituency
When presented with the most recent state budget, our governor made a list of vetoes and included an explanation of why he vetoed each item. The list was published in the paper and online. It was very clear and made sense.
So naturally, the state congress quickly voted to override nearly all his vetoes. Heaven forbid we get rid of any pork in the budget! I am investigating whether my representatives voted to override the governor's vetoes. If they did, they're not getting my vote.
A new political action committee called IPac ("defending the public interest where culture and technology meet") has just compiled a list of six congressional candidates whom they believe to have good records on IP issues. If you're looking for a quick list of people to throw your support behind, here it is: http://ipaction.org/candidates.html
Thanks! As a bittorrent newbie, I had never heard of suprnova and was having a hard time finding what I was looking for.
Where I think bittorrent really shines is in making local TV programs global. So you live in Indonesia but want to watch American TV? Now you can. Because the Internet has globalized communication, people want to access the same media as their online peers, regardless of physical location.
Right now, though, the biggest barrier I see for big-time online distribution of U.S. TV shows is the royalty system. Every time a commercial is aired, the actors and voice talent get a small royalty. The royalties negotiated for online distribution are much higher than those for TV and radio broadcasts. This is why so many radio stations went offline in 2001: they couldn't stream their ads. I don't expect streaming of TV shows would be much different.
If TV producers won't stream ads along with the show, I don't know where the money will come from. CBS/UPN (i.e. Viacom) has done a good job inserting minimally intrusive ads into the "extra footage" offered on their web sites. But I notice that the ads are typically the same 3 or 4 for the same sponsors, so they must have worked out a specific deal for those ads.
The six candidates are obvious, if you think about it, representing all the major and major minor parties: Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, Green, and Constitution, plus Ralph Nader.
...like running into Jim Cantore in a hotel lobby.
When watching the 6:30 news earlier this week, I noticed that the reporter NBC assigned to this story was dressed in hiking gear and reporting from the mountain itself (as opposed to voicing over from the studio). At that point, there had only been a mention of increased activity but NBC were clearly not taking any chances - if something was likely to explode, they wanted to be there.
For keychain drives that truly are fashion statements, check out some of the finds over on shiny shiny, including one that looks like a cat, accompanied by the memorable headline "Store things in your pussy."
What impresses me about A9 is the interface design that puts the image search in the right sidebar next to the regular search. It helps narrow searches quickly, especially if you're searching for a person. When I type in my maiden name, I get a picture of myself in the sidebar. Anyone looking for me under that name would be able to find me immediately and cut through all the clutter of the genealogy sites.
by and large the good ones are still working, and we mostly saw marginal candidates.
I know what you mean. We're having trouble finding a Java developer here, even offering pretty good compensation. I figured that once the job opening was announced, we'd be swamped with applications but that hasn't been the case.
One complaint I hear from people who don't vote is, "I can't take the time off work." Though polls in the U.S. are generally open from 7AM to 7PM local time, I can see how this still might be a problem for people working long shifts and/or who have children that need to be looked after. And rarely is a 30 minute lunch break long enough to drive to your polling place, wait in line, vote, and drive back.
It would be neat if there were some way for people who have free time and flexible schedules to sub for people who want to vote but can't get free. A sort of job exchange to get out the vote.
Or, perhaps, it would be nice if employers would sign a pledge promising not to fire workers who needed to take an extra long lunch break on election day as long as they came back with the "I Voted" sticker.
My sis told me about a coworker of hers who discovered how to get connected to a real person as quickly as possible when calling her ISP. Instead of going through menu after nested menu, she just shouts obscenities loudly into the phone, and she's quickly connected to a service rep.
Slashdot Mirror
the individual who is unwilling to accept the obvious but instead clings to the often illogical notion that there is always a deeper answer that only they see
These people have been around a long time. Back around 2000 years ago, they were called gnostics. They believed that " that there is special, hidden knowledge (esoteric knowledge) that only a few can possess." I never much liked the gnostics back when I was studying religion; seemed too elitist and exclusive, though they produced entertaining literature.
I find it interesting in light of your comment that there's been an increasing interest in gnostic literature lately (e.g. The DaVinci Code). I suppose it's comforting for some people to feel that they have access to exclusive, hidden knowledge that nobody else does.
this whole concept of secular v. religious is something which we get from our Indo-European heritage
Actually, religions all over the world have the concept of the "sacred" being separate from the "profane" or ordinary. For example, Native American rituals taking place in a lodge which is sacred space, as opposed to any ordinary building or somewhere outside. This separation of the sacred from the ordinary is something which is not only common to all religions I can think of, one could argue that it is what makes a religion.
Recommended reading: "The Sacred and the Profane" by Mircea Eliade
Dense, but interesting in parts
(BTW, I saw your recommendations in the earlier post, and plan to check them out. Sounds interesting.)
Exactly! I never know how to categorize what I do, but "web designer" fits best. I don't want to be lumped in with people who can toss clip art into FrontPage, but I'm not really a graphic designer (no degree), though I do do graphic design, and I'm not purely an interface designer, though that's a large part of what I do. I don't know any programming languages by heart, but I can work with several, and I'm not a usability or standards "expert" though I know a lot about both subjects.
Some people tell me I'm good at what I do, but I look around the web and see I still have a long, long way to go if I want to reach the place where I'd call myself good. I just hope that constantly striving toward improvement will keep me employed.
"You come home and flip the switch, but the lights don't come on. Describe in as much detail as you can how you would go about fixing the problem."
Assuming I'm in my kitchen, I flip the switch several more times. If the lights still don't come on, I turn on the light in an adjacent room and use the ambient light to get out the step-stool, climb up and tap on the fluorescent tubes with my fingers until one lights up.
But I guess if I were really interested in "fixing the problem" I'd go spend some money at Home Depot and buy something reliable to replace the old tubes.
they want to control their own destinies and not be told what to do by the government
I agree completely. Why can't we get a candidate like that to run for President? I'm tired of the current administration's love for legislating every facet of our lives.
Awesome! Thanks. I'm especially glad to hear this since he'd recently gotten on that "piracy supports terrorists" trip.
Supposedly Ashcroft isn't going to be returning for a second term
Where did you hear this? Link, please! I want to believe it, but would like to see some evidence before I get my hopes up.
There's a group of us that dress up as pirates every year. One year, my SO and I decided to be a little different and go as software pirates. I wore a pirate outfit with a black cape with a bunch of free/demo CDs glued to the inside. My SO's pirate shirt had ads for software bootlegs in place of red stripes.
the "blindfolded taste test": it'll come out 50/50... which makes me wonder what a truly "blindfolded" political survey would show
How about a blindfolded political taste test?
The first Democratic presidential candidates debate was held in South Carolina last summer (I believe it was July). Several of the candidates visited the USC law school in August and September, and I was at the opening of Edwards' campaign headquarters here in September.
That's all to say that the campaigning really began during the last 4-5 months of 2003. But that's still a good chunk of the year and doesn't count for any prep time leading into the campaigning.
(Off-topic, I can't believe only a year ago not a single vote had been cast in the primaries and things were so different, more hopeful.)
It says on the Apple web site:
"Spent time organizing your photos using iPhoto on a Mac or either Adobe Photoshop Album 2.0 or Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 on a PC? iTunes 4.7 rewards your diligence by importing the albums you've created in iPhoto or collections created in Album or Elements."
To me, their reliance on Adobe products for Windows sounds like they have no plans to expand iPhoto beyond the Mac.
No kidding. I can sketch almost anything fairly well, but don't ask me to put a sphere on top of a cube in a 3D program. I even have trouble playing 3D computer games, constantly getting stuck in corners and staring up at the sky. I just deal better with two dimensions on a computer screen.
"Commission-only sales work" wasn't in the original list of "you should try these, and then you'll like IT" jobs in the original post
Tired of temping, desperate for a "full-time job," I worked for a while at a cemetery doing pre-need sales. That means calling unsuspecting people at home and convincing them to invest in a coffin, plot and marker package. I worked on commission, worked my ass off for a month, and sold nothing. I quit and went to work part-time at a theme park for a while, where at least I knew I'd get paid.
So I'd say cemetary salesperson is a worse job than IT manager. You have to have the morals of a slug to make money in that field.
I don't expect any career politician to actually document their position on everything and set themselves up to be held accountable to their constituency
When presented with the most recent state budget, our governor made a list of vetoes and included an explanation of why he vetoed each item. The list was published in the paper and online. It was very clear and made sense.
So naturally, the state congress quickly voted to override nearly all his vetoes. Heaven forbid we get rid of any pork in the budget! I am investigating whether my representatives voted to override the governor's vetoes. If they did, they're not getting my vote.
A new political action committee called IPac ("defending the public interest where culture and technology meet") has just compiled a list of six congressional candidates whom they believe to have good records on IP issues. If you're looking for a quick list of people to throw your support behind, here it is:
http://ipaction.org/candidates.html
Thanks! As a bittorrent newbie, I had never heard of suprnova and was having a hard time finding what I was looking for.
Where I think bittorrent really shines is in making local TV programs global. So you live in Indonesia but want to watch American TV? Now you can. Because the Internet has globalized communication, people want to access the same media as their online peers, regardless of physical location.
Right now, though, the biggest barrier I see for big-time online distribution of U.S. TV shows is the royalty system. Every time a commercial is aired, the actors and voice talent get a small royalty. The royalties negotiated for online distribution are much higher than those for TV and radio broadcasts. This is why so many radio stations went offline in 2001: they couldn't stream their ads. I don't expect streaming of TV shows would be much different.
If TV producers won't stream ads along with the show, I don't know where the money will come from. CBS/UPN (i.e. Viacom) has done a good job inserting minimally intrusive ads into the "extra footage" offered on their web sites. But I notice that the ads are typically the same 3 or 4 for the same sponsors, so they must have worked out a specific deal for those ads.
Finally found one comment which contains a link to this wikipedia page, so I'm posting this for my own reference.
The six candidates are obvious, if you think about it, representing all the major and major minor parties: Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, Green, and Constitution, plus Ralph Nader.
...like running into Jim Cantore in a hotel lobby.
When watching the 6:30 news earlier this week, I noticed that the reporter NBC assigned to this story was dressed in hiking gear and reporting from the mountain itself (as opposed to voicing over from the studio). At that point, there had only been a mention of increased activity but NBC were clearly not taking any chances - if something was likely to explode, they wanted to be there.
Which six? And where can I find the information you used to reach this conclusion? It would be interesting to see.
For keychain drives that truly are fashion statements, check out some of the finds over on shiny shiny, including one that looks like a cat, accompanied by the memorable headline "Store things in your pussy."
Forget Glucoboy, play Gluco Pong!
(I made this game and the Carb Counting one about 3 years ago for this juvenile diabetes web site.)
What impresses me about A9 is the interface design that puts the image search in the right sidebar next to the regular search. It helps narrow searches quickly, especially if you're searching for a person. When I type in my maiden name, I get a picture of myself in the sidebar. Anyone looking for me under that name would be able to find me immediately and cut through all the clutter of the genealogy sites.
by and large the good ones are still working, and we mostly saw marginal candidates.
I know what you mean. We're having trouble finding a Java developer here, even offering pretty good compensation. I figured that once the job opening was announced, we'd be swamped with applications but that hasn't been the case.
One complaint I hear from people who don't vote is, "I can't take the time off work." Though polls in the U.S. are generally open from 7AM to 7PM local time, I can see how this still might be a problem for people working long shifts and/or who have children that need to be looked after. And rarely is a 30 minute lunch break long enough to drive to your polling place, wait in line, vote, and drive back.
It would be neat if there were some way for people who have free time and flexible schedules to sub for people who want to vote but can't get free. A sort of job exchange to get out the vote.
Or, perhaps, it would be nice if employers would sign a pledge promising not to fire workers who needed to take an extra long lunch break on election day as long as they came back with the "I Voted" sticker.
My sis told me about a coworker of hers who discovered how to get connected to a real person as quickly as possible when calling her ISP. Instead of going through menu after nested menu, she just shouts obscenities loudly into the phone, and she's quickly connected to a service rep.