That reminds me of a test I did, when I was the senior tech in a crappy computer store many many years ago. He came in, we talked, he seemed to know his stuff. I wanted to see that he did, so I pulled the next customer machine to repair and gave it to him.
The motherboard was dead. We sold the absolutely lowest end crap that was possible, and I knew it. It was a job though, and the pay wasn't all that bad. He swapped motherboards, and that didn't fix it. I told him to put a different board in, and still it didn't fix it. He did everything right. As it turned out, both motherboards from the stock room were dead. That was kind of expected. We had about a 50% failure rate on those boards.:) Even though he failed the test, because he didn't get the machine working in about 15 minutes, he got the job. He did everything right, he just got broken parts. After we hired him, I warned him about the known failure rates. Most of it was the vendors fault, but some of it was our management. They didn't want to return any parts, so even though we tested it and showed that it had failed, they'd hand it back to us a couple days later as "new". We started tracking serial numbers on all broken parts, just so we'd know when they did that to us. That's part of working in a crappy computer store.
I know what you mean about harping on a bad question.
I interviewed for Google a few times. Once we started out with what I knew. I know nothing about Python. He asked specifically Python questions from there out. After a few of those questions I reminded him, "I know nothing about Python, but can answer your questions in a half dozen other scripting languages." He continued, so I continued on the "I don't know. I'm not a Python developer. I can get you an answer if I can take some research time on it." Finally he said "You don't have the skill set that I'm looking for." No shit. Nowhere in my resume does it say Python. I never claimed to know Python, and he could have saved us both 1/2 hour if he just accepted my answer to start with.
A following interview about a year later, I had a nice talk with the guy before the test. He said there is a holy war at Google, where half the company wants exclusively Perl, and half the company wants exclusively Python. This guy was Perl, so I did great with him. The following interview the next day caught me a little off guard. I wasn't feeling well to start with, and the guy went into "Tell me how Telnet works." I gave him the overview. Then the working description. Then the technical description. Through being asked about 8 times "Tell me how Telnet works.", I got down to opening of ports, the fundamentals of how TCP works, etc, etc. I got to the point was "I don't understand what you're looking for in an answer. Please clarify the question." His clarification was "what does Telnet do in detail." I told him that I had gone as deep as I could. I simply couldn't go any further. His broken english didn't help much either. I think he was an assembly programmer, and wanted me to spell it out on that kind of level.
Ya, I did a little Novell work way back when. I'm really glad it hasn't come up since. At most I tell people, "I touched it over a decade ago, and don't remember any of it now." I'm fairly sure there were printers shared to Windows desktops through a Novell print server, but my recollection is so vague, I couldn't tell you if it was NDPS or something else.:)
I have had interviewers harp on ADS, and other than an overview, I can't really get in depth. I'm a Linux guy. I can make a Windows machine work, but I don't want a Windows job. I never apply for Windows jobs. I don't want to be interviewed for a Windows job. If that's all the have to ask, then I'll sometimes answer them with, "I think you're looking for someone with a different skill set than myself.":) I know perfectly well that I'll end up removing viruses from an executive's Windows machine on occasion, but I prefer that to be because they trust me with their machine, not because it's my job. I don't mind doing favors because I can. I know it works both ways.:)
You can learn a lot about an applicant by actually talking to him. Slide through the standard questions, and ask about what he or she has done. If they have done interesting things, they'll love telling you about them. Ask questions from there, or go off to the side.
Myself, I like shaking applicants to see how they handle pressure. I just make up a random scenario, and see how they handle it. It's fun to build it up with a little backstory too. While they're answering, throw in "the COO is standing over your shoulder with the CEO on the phone, they need this resolved, we are losing about $1000 every minute this isn't working." It's amazing how easy the question can be, and some applicants will just freeze. But hey, the candidate that freezes for one department may be fine for another one without so much pressure, and some skilled guidance above them.
I had one who needed to consult the man page for my question. I told him "on page 8, it says -x does blah blah blah", which is what he needed from the man page. Of course, the page number was arbitrary. I'm not that good. The text may have been a little off, since I was just reciting what he needed to know. I'm not trying to destroy them in the interview, I just want to see if they can get a correct-ish answer together in a reasonable amount of time. Even if they're a little off, they would have found out when they tried it.
You hit the PhD's qualification on the 3rd part. It wasn't that he spent years at a university. It wasn't that he got his PhD. He spent years in the industry, and learned how things really work.
Consider this. I took an intro to computers course once. The teacher had a PhD in computer science. He didn't have the basic fundamentals of current computer technology, and recited the dated information from the book as fact, rather than being able to say "Oh, this book is outdated. He could count in Base 2. That I was almost impressed in. If he was using a cheat sheet during his lecture or not, I don't know. Over the course of the first few days, through various discussions, he realized that I was actually well briefed on modern computer technology, and he would ask me for clarification of topics and to assist students. When I wasn't doing that, I entertained myself by sitting in the back and writing stupid graphics programs in QuickBasic. I only used QB, because it was on the machines. Anything I could accomplish in an hour, I did, then I deleted it at the end of the day.
In time, since he was the department head, and most knowledgeable person on staff, I knew I wasn't going to learn anything there, and went back to freelancing. It may not have earned me a degree, but I did learn from doing real world work and troubleshooting. I made more money over the next 4 years than I would have wasted in school, and have been accomplishing more than my college educated peers since then. I've done tech support through C-level jobs. The last I heard, he was still teaching at that school.
Well, when I see people who's majors never apply to their real life jobs, then I can start to apply it out. Why spend 4+ years learning psychology or accounting to work a high level customer service job? English majors that start doing low end accounting. Really, other than doctors and lawyers, I haven't known too many people who have worked in the field that they studied for years.
It can be argued that they got a well rounded education, but since I'm fairly sure that English and math were required at some point during their 4 years of "higher learning", I should assume that they can write something resembling a grammatically correct document, or not completely fail at making their formal presentation to executives or business partners actually add up.
That doesn't apply to everyone, but it seems to always apply more to those who's claim to fame is "I graduated, I deserve a job." It's more like, "I spent a lot of money on my degree, the world owes me now."
I'm not talking down about people who go to school. There are plenty of smart people who did, but it's not because they spent years at a university, it's because they were already smart. We have been lead to believe that to be successful you must get a degree. It's simply not true. Generally, it's a money making scheme. Universities make an absolute fortune, and the return for the customer (student) is much less than it should be. The best thing I've heard from any university graduate is "I'm proud of myself." Good. Too bad you didn't find a better way to boost your ego than either spending tens of thousands of your families money, or putting yourself so in debt that you'll be paying for years to come.
You shouldn't have posted AC, you were actually insightful.
You did forget to mention when the instructor requires that you buy HIS book as required reading for the class, regardless of what ego-fluffing crap he had written. Most, but not all, instructors are teaching because they can't hack it in the real world of their chosen field. I've gotten this both from the instructors and from the idiots who are churned out of various universities who glow over their degree, but can't handle simple functions of their chosen profession. How can you spend years studying something and not have a clue of what you're doing?
For IT work, I'd hire someone who spent 2 years exploring their chosen field at home or at a lower level job and can explain topics in detail, rather than a graduate of a 4 year institution with their warm fuzzy diploma and no clue of how to really do the work.
Honestly, I've hired both, and found it to be more than abundantly true. 2 years of tech school, 4 years of university, or the guy who's installed every distro available just to see how they work?
The self-trained explorer at home turned out to be the best. They'll be more willing to honestly tell me where their weaknesses are, so I can tutor them as problems happen, and they will learn. For example, one guy told me, "Well, I don't know sendmail that well." Fine. It was a webhosting gig, but I generally managed the mail servers. I'd send him notes on my changes, and he'd ask questions. It wasn't long before I'd get notes in saying "I made this change, for this reason" to a primary mail server, and the changes would be correct.
The 2 year tech school grads came in with resumes listing all of our technologies, and telling me they knew their stuff. It was all regular industry stuff. We didn't reinvent the wheel, we simply used the existing technologies to their fullest. I asked about Cisco, and they both said "I successfully passed the Cisco class, I know how to work our equipment". Great. I needed an IP and password set on a new switch, and installed in a DC. I was going to make the rest of the changes before it was really used. It sat on the bench for a week until the first told me "I don't know how." {sigh}. I gave it to the second, who did the same thing. What? If you aren't guided through it by an instructor, you have no clue of how to operate it? It wasn't urgent, but it didn't need to sit idle on the bench for 2 weeks. I never liked leaving equipment in the office, when it could be in the DC ready to use in a pinch. They were trained to pass the tests, not how to practically operate anything. They wasted 2 years of their lives, the tuition money, and two months of my office space.
I handed it off to a guy that said "Well, I never used it, but I'll try.". It took him about an hour, but he did it right and asked me questions on preconfiguring ports for me. Above and beyond. I like that. I didn't want the ports done, I had my own config to lay over it for that. I just needed to be able to access it from the office.:)
Now, when I get to a position where I'm hiring again, my same rules will apply. Great if you have a degree, but you'd better have the practical application of the required technology before I'll consider you. So, a guy sitting at home for 2 years messing with it will always have preference over a guy who sat at a university for 4 years, unless the university guy can also show me that he's had a couple years of hands-on work with it.
American beer is anything but? I had experienced warm pisswater, cold pisswater, ice brewed pisswater, and as I started exploring the world of beer, I found myself very content with a variety of European beers. There's something to say for a beer that you can eat with a fork, that you don't piss out, but shit out as a nasty tar just as the reminder to you of how good it was.:)
I did get beyond the taste of American beer to find out that I can drink it like water, and while never getting drunk on it, I do get a weird little headache. I spent 3 days camping with some friends a while back, where the choices were American beer or water from the stream. I drank more than they did, and was left wondering why people drink it and pretend to be drunk.
Now, I tend to stay with liquor. A shot of something nice and strong, chased by a rum & coke that can only be described as "oh my god, is there any coke in that?". It keeps lightweights from stealing my drinks, so I'm pleased. I, an American, can hold my own in true Irish or German pubs, where they end up asking how long I spent in their country to be able to drink like I do. I have yet to have anyone hand me a drink that I couldn't drink right along with them. I have drank shots of drinks that I was then told "That's a sipping drink, it's way too strong to drink like that", but they always tell me after I ask for my second shot. If it's a sipping drink, why did you put it in a shot glass?
I should mention, I'm a lazy alcoholic. I don't go seeking drinks, but I won't refuse a drink should others be drinking too. Lately, that means a few drinks every few months. I didn't even drink for New Years or the 4th of July this year. Oh well. Maybe next New Years.:)
I've seen documentaries on Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster, and UFO's. Does that mean I should believe all the crap that's spewed about them? If they are real, there has been so many bogus accounts put out there, you'd never know when the truth was presented.
And yes, that was el Chupacabra that you saw outside your window last night. Beware! It's going to eat your goat, and then eat your SOUL!:)
I've navigated my entire house in pitch blackness. Ever tried to find a flashlight when the power goes out, it's pouring rain outside, at night (no stars, moon, or other ambient light)? Footsteps on wood floors are interesting, even without shoes. I remembered most of my environment, but could hear if I was going to miss a doorway by a few inches (or feet). Constant calls from a known location (like, the wife yelling "Did you find a flashlight yet!") helped anchor my distance and relative angle, and added to the echos to hear. Things like couches deadened the echo. I found it easier to close my eyes while I was doing it, even though it didn't matter because I couldn't see anyways.
Most of the time was environment recognition. I knew something should be at such a distance ahead of me. Not magic, nor echolocation, just the simply knowing my environment. I was pretty good at it, although I did occasionally fall short on things because I was taking smaller steps rather than finding myself face down on the floor because something was out of place.
I do this every night. The light switch is beside the door. There is no good place to put a lamp beside the bed, and I don't want a nightlight, so I turn off the lights, get undressed, and walk to bed without being able to see anything. I get a good reference of the room before I do it, so I don't have to wonder "Was the computer chair pushed in, or sitting out?"
Where I live, a vehicle can be considered a gift or abandon. If it's abandon and you can show that it's been on your property for such a period, you can petition the courts to title it to you. If it's a gift, you'd need to demonstrate that it was a gift. If the legal owner contests an action, then you'd be in a messy court battle. For example, they could say "I loaned him that car for a few weeks. He never returned it, and I couldn't find him or my car. I never reported it stolen, because I believed him to be a friend. Now he's trying to take ownership of the car." What was a simple gift now has put you on the bad end of a grand theft auto charge.
The same wouldn't apply to software source code that was mysterious and unofficially released. This sounds like someone who had access to the source code leaked it, although way too late to be useful.
There are plenty of roads around here that are safe. When I did bicycle, I picked and chose my roads fairly carefully. Busy road with cars doing 70mph+, probably not safe.:) I only stopped riding my bike because when I moved to LA, someone stole it. Me and my girlfriend at the time had enjoyed going for rides together. We found other things to fill the time.:)
I recognize the hazard of other drivers in my car too. I've managed to avoid quite a few accidents, either through skill or dumb luck (or a few combinations of both). I've also had my fair share of them. The last wasn't too bad, but it would have likely been a fatality on a motorcycle or bicycle.
I've helped to mitigate some of the dangers as much as possible. I modified my tail lights for higher visibility. With two almost identical cars, when I was stopped in traffic, the unmodified car had a much higher incident of near misses because the car behind me didn't notice I was stopped. That matched the rate for the other car before I modified it. Since then, not only have I had absolutely no near misses from the rear, but drivers notice me much sooner, and keep their distance. They're not obnoxious changes. They're just enough to catch someone's eye.:)
Now, if I could have horns on the side of my car with sensors to make them sound when other drivers get too close, I'd be happy.:) Every recent near miss for about the last year has been where a driver decides to change lanes towards me, oblivious to the fact that there's a car beside them.
You need to be attentive to your decisions and your environment. Are you riding a bicycle and creating a backup in traffic? It's likely you will cause problems. Really, I can't (and won't) give an environmental and situational awareness lecture here, so I'll stick with my previous statement. You are responsible for your own behavior.
Myself, I prefer not to go into gang bars and pick fights too. I avoid bad neighborhoods where I am the wrong color, and the odds of me getting shot within 1 hour are pretty good.
But hey, if you want to go to the worst drug infested part of town that you can find, waving around a fist full of cash, and screaming "what n***** thinks he can take this from me", well, have at it. It's your life, and you are still responsible for your own behavior.
Myself, I avoid things that are more than potentially harmful to myself, including putting myself on a tiny metal frame, and putting it in front of large high speed objects of any sort. I used to ride sidewalks down to a hiking/riding trail. It was about a mile to the trail, and then I don't even now how far the trail went from there. We used to ride it for miles.
As far as I know, only California allows splitting lanes. When I got out there, several people did it to me, and I thought they were completely nuts. I'd seen the occasional bike do it in other cities, and they were clearly nuts.
I had been told it was because the CHP was riding air-cooled Harley Davison's back in the day. They couldn't sit in the traffic without overheating, so the state passed a resolution allowing the police to split lanes. There was outrage from other air-cooled motorcycle owners who had the same overheating problems, so they modified the resolution to allow any motorcycle to do it. I don't know how legitimate the story is, but that's how I heard it.
Then again, as I was told by many people out there, the life expectancy of a motorcycle rider in Los Angeles county is 6 months. They'll either be badly injured or killed. Hell, I didn't feel safe in my car out there most of the time. It's not the speed they drive at, but how bad they do it. I saw lots and lots (and lots) of traffic jams. I had more near misses in traffic at 40mph or less in a few years, than I had cumulative in the rest of my life.
When I moved back to the East coast, I felt like I had forgotten how to drive fast. I hopped on I-75 to go somewhere, and the slow traffic was doing 85mph. Ahhh, I love the East coast. It took me a few weeks to remember to accelerate to 90mph on the on-ramps so I'd be sure to be up to the traffic speed.
> You're being simplistic. Have you or anyone >you cared about been in an accident? Even one at >45mph or less? There can be fantastic damage and >lasting physical ailments.
Yes I have, and yes I still feel it. It's amazing what shouldn't have hurt (and didn't at the time) will do to you for the rest of your life.
>I am talking about a mountain road where there >is a CLIFF over the side. The longer I am slowing >down traffic around me, the GREATER risk I am at >from other aggressive drivers. So are the people >around me. You conveniently ignore that.
I just posted just about the same thing, just with more words.:) When you have a 1000 foot drop on one side, and a rocky mountain on the other, neither looks like a good place to hit. If I have to chose, I get the heck out of the way.
I drive on open highways the same way. I usually drive pretty quickly, so cars almost never back up behind me. I prefer to end up in the large gaps between cars, where it's safe. I trust myself. I don't trust the rest of the drivers on the road. Multi-vehicle accidents can only happen when there's another vehicle around. If I'm in a single-vehicle accident, that's my own dumb fault.:)
In LA, there's a beautiful road called Angeles Crest Highway. There weren't a lot of things I liked about LA, but I liked that road, and the little pull-offs along it.
It's by no means a fast road. Coming from the 210, you don't get very far up it before the fastest you can go is about 50mph, and that's on the very short and rare straight parts. People go faster, and those are frequently the ones found 1000 feet below after they miss a turn. I liked driving fast through there, but within reason. The speed limits are almost there to say "no, really, don't go faster than this or you will die."
On that road, it's clearly marked that you MUST pull over at the next available place if there are 2 or more cars behind you. Frequently, you'll find someone driving at 15mph through there. They'll refuse to pull over, and you'll end up with a dozen cars in line. At 15mph, the cars are stacked up bumper to bumper, hoping he'll finally get out of the way. Someone in the back of the line will always be honking. Invariably, you'll have some car say 5 back in line try to pass to the front. We're talking on an "open" stretch a few hundred feet long, with a blind turn coming the other way, and a perfectly good chance that someone will be coming around that turn and THEY may be across the line because they're scared of going over the side.
Do I want to be #3 in line, when #5 pulls out and passes? Hell no. If he screws up, gets scared, or god forbid hits an oncoming car that none of us saw until the last second, he may shove MY car off the cliff. Sometimes I'd pull over, even though I was in the middle of the line, just so I was somewhere safe and away from them.
One day going up there, traffic was stopped. There happened to be a pull-off, so we stopped, and started walking to the front of the line. We realized what happened when we got farther up. The police had closed the road, and a rescue helicopter was landing because a car had gone off the side. It is, unfortunately, not a rare event.
Someone out there that I knew, who drove the road every day to come to work on his motorcycle once had a very aggressive driver come up behind him. His motorcycle was very fast (a Suzuki Hayabusa or GSX1300R, depending on where you live), but he wasn't stupid. He gave way to the other driver. A couple miles later, he found them, nose into the mountain. They were lucky, they the mountain, instead of going off the cliff. He stopped, and the driver asked "what happened". He told him, "You were stupid. You almost died. If you had gone right instead of left, you would have killed yourself and your girlfriend. What the fuck were you thinking?" Since they were stable and not going anywhere, he left them there and called for help when he got down to civilization.
So, do you want to be in front of the guy who's determined to push past you, or give him room so he can go screw up somewhere that you don't have to be part of the accident?
You know, just about every day I see this nice old couple on their pedal powered tricycles too. That's here where I live though. They ride their tricycles through the neighborhood where traffic is sparse and slow. I have seen them out on some of the busy neighborhood roads, but they're off in the bicycle lane, doing their whopping 3mph. They stop for stop signs, and wait for safe places to cross. I don't think they hear very well. I usually wave and say "hi", and they say "hi" back. I've said other things, and just get the wave and "hi". They're safe, responsible, and happy, so how can I complain about them? They also look to be damned close to 100 years old, so they've obviously been doing something right for a while.:)
Actually, the attitude you're throwing is "I'm going to throw myself in harms way, and then complain about it."
I choose not to walk in front of tractor trailers doing 60mph.
In California (or at least Los Angeles county) pedestrians have the right away. If one steps off the curb, all cars must stop. I've seen pedestrians do it just to prove they can. I've seen pedestrians do it, and prove they couldn't (by getting hit). When I crossed roads on foot out there, I stayed back from the edge so I wouldn't cause any other cars to brake needlessly. When there was a **SAFE** gap, I'd cross. Why? Because regardless of what you think the law is, or how the world should work, **YOU** are responsible for **YOUR** own behavior.
Is it safe to ride on a busy road where there isn't room to ride a bicycle? If not, don't do it. It's your life in your hands. If the route you want to take is so damned dangerous, find another route. There has to be more than one road in your little world, isn't there?
Actually, the legality of that depends on your state.
In California, it's legal for motorcycles to split lanes (pass between two motor vehicles who are side-by-side in adjoining lanes) as long as they are not doing more than 25mph faster than the other vehicles, and not faster than the speed limit.
I've seen that done right, where they're doing about 30mph, and the other traffic is doing about 5mph.
I've seen that done wrong, where they're doing about 120mph, and the other traffic is going about 65mph.
In the first case, I always moved over a little to give extra room. In the second case, I usually didn't know they were coming, nor which side they would be overtaking me on.
Neither is very smart. Riding side by side should be ok as long as they're not creating a hazard for themselves. In any case, regardless if the law says it's legal, the rider must consider if their action is creating a hazard for them.
I had a bicycle hit my car once. He was an insurance fraudster. I was stopped, waiting to turn out of a parking lot. He stopped to my right, where I could barely see him. I did observe that he didn't move for about a minute. A break in traffic finally came, I looked at him, I looked at the hole, and when I started to move, he road in front of me. I barely bumped him. The police gave HIM the ticket, since he was riding against the flow of traffic, AND acted intentionally to put himself in harms way. The same would happen if a pedestrian jumped in front of a slow moving car, except he had a bicycle too. I only managed to move about a foot before impact.
The insurance adjuster said that he had a record of doing this. He threatens to sue, and provides a huge bill for "damages". He actually said that replacing the kickstand on his bicycle cost $200, and wanted me to pay too. I spoke to the adjuster about it. He said they usually settle for about $300 to make them go away. Either that, or it goes to court, and then the judge laughs, and throws it out. It's not worth the insurance companies time with it, since they'll never get reimbursed their legal expenses. It's an easy way to make $300 a pop, if you can avoid getting killed in the process.
I've learned cyclists are the same as automobile drivers. Some are good and respectful. They'll stop for stop signs, and generally follow the rules of the road.
There are a lot of cyclists in my neighborhood (spanning about 25 sq miles), either for exercise, practice for events, or just going from point A to B.
Some ride straight down the middle of their lane with the flow of traffic, and move over to allow sufficient passing room.
Some completely disregard stop signs, flow of traffic, or that there are cars on the road. They're the same ones that'll clip pedestrians because they're "in the way". When a bicycle is doing 25mph, is it appropriate to run a stop sign, and cross 3 lanes of cars? I see that happen a lot. I almost had a head-on accident with a bicycle, who was riding against the traffic. I made a full stop to avoid hitting him. He swerved at the last second and yelled as he passed me.
I'm respectful of bicycles. When one is doing 25mph in a 30mph zone, and I have a turn coming up, I stay back a few car lengths and roll along with them at 25mph.
But, riding at 25mph on a 55mph road, in the middle of the lane, not yielding to anything, is not appropriate. If I were driving my car at 25mph on a 55mph road, I would be stopped and ticketed for blocking traffic.
I used to ride bicycles a lot. I stayed out of the way of motor vehicles, and they didn't run me over.:) It's a pretty simple concept. The same applies now when I'm driving a car, and there's a fully loaded tractor/trailer coming at me. Why the hell would I want to prove a point that I can be in front of him? Me and my car will go squish as if it wasn't there. Or, I can give him extra room.
Nah, it'll be the long living 25 pin parallel, 15 pin game connector, or the 9 pin serial. Those will never die. They come on virtually every computer.
Oh wait.. They did die. Years ago.
Technology is a fickle thing. As manufacturers decide to adjust things, things change. When USB first came out, there were few if any devices to use it with. It still showed up as one or two ports. Then as other manufacturers started adopting it, the number of ports on a single machine started to multiply.
That doesn't mean USB will survive. It just means it's popular right now. It too is doomed to go the way of the RLL hard drive, the bus mouse, and the SCSI scanner. Gone and frequently forgotten. It's kind of like the recent article with the 13 year old carrying a Sony Walkman cassette player. Sure, it was popular in the 80's, but you'd be hard pressed to find anyone using one today. Now that Polaroid is officially dead and gone, in 20 years most people won't even know what a Polaroid is.
I worked at a place where the boss decided installing GPS receivers in all of the work vehicles was a good idea. In theory (and only that) it was a good idea. The boxes decided on were from "GE Security". Basically, a hockey puck went on the dash. That wired to a receiver under the dash that transmitted GPS data over Sprint's network once every 5 minutes. It also reported engine on and off events. Based on the GPS data, it reported speed and direction. Based on their own data, it reported speed violations.
It was horribly flawed. For example, on a local expressway where it is impossible to make a U-turn, one driver was shown to constantly be changing directions, all the while maintaining 65mph. We knew his true direction, because we knew his destination, and we called him to ask "have you turned around at all during this trip?" He said "no".
Some of the drivers didn't like being tracked. The unit itself didn't store anything. If it was unable to transmit, it simply wouldn't send. On the next timed send event, it would attempt a send again. Mileage estimates were vague at best, even when the driver wasn't tampering with the device. A few drivers figured out that they could simply lay a static bag over the GPS antenna, and it either couldn't read the GPS signals, or it couldn't connect to transmit. Either way, they were invisible, and according to our own tracking were sitting at their last reported location. The drivers also knew that if their device appeared to be malfunctioning, we would investigate and have it repaired, so "disabling" it by covering the antenna was reserved for after hours use, or when they were rushing between sites. We had no way to tell if it was an intentional act, or the device simply couldn't send.
I was a bit upset at the purchase. I wanted to purchase one for testing. Instead, the sales rep got them on the entire fleet. {sigh} I wanted to build something more appropriate for our business needs, that wouldn't be as obvious or invasive for the drivers. For example, if the system pushed job information out to the drivers, and provided live driving directions, that would be very useful to them. It would have been a simple matter to store all events to transmit when the device could make a connection, or even a wifi connection when they came to the office to drop off paperwork. They wouldn't have to initiate anything themselves, it would be a simple matter that they drove close enough to the office to establish a wifi connection to one of our AP's, and update the server with the full log. Nope, we got a half-ass solution that didn't serve the bosses intended purpose.
So, $100 per vehicle setup and $50 per vehicle per month on a 2 year contract began. That's why CEO's should leave CIO tasks to the CIO.
For some reason, many people talk to me about many things. When I try to pretend that they are not talking to me, it usually turns out they are, and are offended by this.
It's rather unnerving at times, but I suspect will some day make for a long running show on something that will be called a "television". You'll understand more when the time comes.
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That reminds me of a test I did, when I was the senior tech in a crappy computer store many many years ago. He came in, we talked, he seemed to know his stuff. I wanted to see that he did, so I pulled the next customer machine to repair and gave it to him.
The motherboard was dead. We sold the absolutely lowest end crap that was possible, and I knew it. It was a job though, and the pay wasn't all that bad. He swapped motherboards, and that didn't fix it. I told him to put a different board in, and still it didn't fix it. He did everything right. As it turned out, both motherboards from the stock room were dead. That was kind of expected. We had about a 50% failure rate on those boards. :) Even though he failed the test, because he didn't get the machine working in about 15 minutes, he got the job. He did everything right, he just got broken parts. After we hired him, I warned him about the known failure rates. Most of it was the vendors fault, but some of it was our management. They didn't want to return any parts, so even though we tested it and showed that it had failed, they'd hand it back to us a couple days later as "new". We started tracking serial numbers on all broken parts, just so we'd know when they did that to us. That's part of working in a crappy computer store.
I know what you mean about harping on a bad question.
I interviewed for Google a few times. Once we started out with what I knew. I know nothing about Python. He asked specifically Python questions from there out. After a few of those questions I reminded him, "I know nothing about Python, but can answer your questions in a half dozen other scripting languages." He continued, so I continued on the "I don't know. I'm not a Python developer. I can get you an answer if I can take some research time on it." Finally he said "You don't have the skill set that I'm looking for." No shit. Nowhere in my resume does it say Python. I never claimed to know Python, and he could have saved us both 1/2 hour if he just accepted my answer to start with.
A following interview about a year later, I had a nice talk with the guy before the test. He said there is a holy war at Google, where half the company wants exclusively Perl, and half the company wants exclusively Python. This guy was Perl, so I did great with him. The following interview the next day caught me a little off guard. I wasn't feeling well to start with, and the guy went into "Tell me how Telnet works." I gave him the overview. Then the working description. Then the technical description. Through being asked about 8 times "Tell me how Telnet works.", I got down to opening of ports, the fundamentals of how TCP works, etc, etc. I got to the point was "I don't understand what you're looking for in an answer. Please clarify the question." His clarification was "what does Telnet do in detail." I told him that I had gone as deep as I could. I simply couldn't go any further. His broken english didn't help much either. I think he was an assembly programmer, and wanted me to spell it out on that kind of level.
Ya, I did a little Novell work way back when. I'm really glad it hasn't come up since. At most I tell people, "I touched it over a decade ago, and don't remember any of it now." I'm fairly sure there were printers shared to Windows desktops through a Novell print server, but my recollection is so vague, I couldn't tell you if it was NDPS or something else. :)
I have had interviewers harp on ADS, and other than an overview, I can't really get in depth. I'm a Linux guy. I can make a Windows machine work, but I don't want a Windows job. I never apply for Windows jobs. I don't want to be interviewed for a Windows job. If that's all the have to ask, then I'll sometimes answer them with, "I think you're looking for someone with a different skill set than myself." :) I know perfectly well that I'll end up removing viruses from an executive's Windows machine on occasion, but I prefer that to be because they trust me with their machine, not because it's my job. I don't mind doing favors because I can. I know it works both ways. :)
And those are the ones who I deeply respect.
You can learn a lot about an applicant by actually talking to him. Slide through the standard questions, and ask about what he or she has done. If they have done interesting things, they'll love telling you about them. Ask questions from there, or go off to the side.
Myself, I like shaking applicants to see how they handle pressure. I just make up a random scenario, and see how they handle it. It's fun to build it up with a little backstory too. While they're answering, throw in "the COO is standing over your shoulder with the CEO on the phone, they need this resolved, we are losing about $1000 every minute this isn't working." It's amazing how easy the question can be, and some applicants will just freeze. But hey, the candidate that freezes for one department may be fine for another one without so much pressure, and some skilled guidance above them.
I had one who needed to consult the man page for my question. I told him "on page 8, it says -x does blah blah blah", which is what he needed from the man page. Of course, the page number was arbitrary. I'm not that good. The text may have been a little off, since I was just reciting what he needed to know. I'm not trying to destroy them in the interview, I just want to see if they can get a correct-ish answer together in a reasonable amount of time. Even if they're a little off, they would have found out when they tried it.
You hit the PhD's qualification on the 3rd part. It wasn't that he spent years at a university. It wasn't that he got his PhD. He spent years in the industry, and learned how things really work.
Consider this. I took an intro to computers course once. The teacher had a PhD in computer science. He didn't have the basic fundamentals of current computer technology, and recited the dated information from the book as fact, rather than being able to say "Oh, this book is outdated. He could count in Base 2. That I was almost impressed in. If he was using a cheat sheet during his lecture or not, I don't know. Over the course of the first few days, through various discussions, he realized that I was actually well briefed on modern computer technology, and he would ask me for clarification of topics and to assist students. When I wasn't doing that, I entertained myself by sitting in the back and writing stupid graphics programs in QuickBasic. I only used QB, because it was on the machines. Anything I could accomplish in an hour, I did, then I deleted it at the end of the day.
In time, since he was the department head, and most knowledgeable person on staff, I knew I wasn't going to learn anything there, and went back to freelancing. It may not have earned me a degree, but I did learn from doing real world work and troubleshooting. I made more money over the next 4 years than I would have wasted in school, and have been accomplishing more than my college educated peers since then. I've done tech support through C-level jobs. The last I heard, he was still teaching at that school.
Well, when I see people who's majors never apply to their real life jobs, then I can start to apply it out. Why spend 4+ years learning psychology or accounting to work a high level customer service job? English majors that start doing low end accounting. Really, other than doctors and lawyers, I haven't known too many people who have worked in the field that they studied for years.
It can be argued that they got a well rounded education, but since I'm fairly sure that English and math were required at some point during their 4 years of "higher learning", I should assume that they can write something resembling a grammatically correct document, or not completely fail at making their formal presentation to executives or business partners actually add up.
That doesn't apply to everyone, but it seems to always apply more to those who's claim to fame is "I graduated, I deserve a job." It's more like, "I spent a lot of money on my degree, the world owes me now."
I'm not talking down about people who go to school. There are plenty of smart people who did, but it's not because they spent years at a university, it's because they were already smart. We have been lead to believe that to be successful you must get a degree. It's simply not true. Generally, it's a money making scheme. Universities make an absolute fortune, and the return for the customer (student) is much less than it should be. The best thing I've heard from any university graduate is "I'm proud of myself." Good. Too bad you didn't find a better way to boost your ego than either spending tens of thousands of your families money, or putting yourself so in debt that you'll be paying for years to come.
You shouldn't have posted AC, you were actually insightful.
You did forget to mention when the instructor requires that you buy HIS book as required reading for the class, regardless of what ego-fluffing crap he had written. Most, but not all, instructors are teaching because they can't hack it in the real world of their chosen field. I've gotten this both from the instructors and from the idiots who are churned out of various universities who glow over their degree, but can't handle simple functions of their chosen profession. How can you spend years studying something and not have a clue of what you're doing?
For IT work, I'd hire someone who spent 2 years exploring their chosen field at home or at a lower level job and can explain topics in detail, rather than a graduate of a 4 year institution with their warm fuzzy diploma and no clue of how to really do the work.
Honestly, I've hired both, and found it to be more than abundantly true. 2 years of tech school, 4 years of university, or the guy who's installed every distro available just to see how they work?
The self-trained explorer at home turned out to be the best. They'll be more willing to honestly tell me where their weaknesses are, so I can tutor them as problems happen, and they will learn. For example, one guy told me, "Well, I don't know sendmail that well." Fine. It was a webhosting gig, but I generally managed the mail servers. I'd send him notes on my changes, and he'd ask questions. It wasn't long before I'd get notes in saying "I made this change, for this reason" to a primary mail server, and the changes would be correct.
The 2 year tech school grads came in with resumes listing all of our technologies, and telling me they knew their stuff. It was all regular industry stuff. We didn't reinvent the wheel, we simply used the existing technologies to their fullest. I asked about Cisco, and they both said "I successfully passed the Cisco class, I know how to work our equipment". Great. I needed an IP and password set on a new switch, and installed in a DC. I was going to make the rest of the changes before it was really used. It sat on the bench for a week until the first told me "I don't know how." {sigh}. I gave it to the second, who did the same thing. What? If you aren't guided through it by an instructor, you have no clue of how to operate it? It wasn't urgent, but it didn't need to sit idle on the bench for 2 weeks. I never liked leaving equipment in the office, when it could be in the DC ready to use in a pinch. They were trained to pass the tests, not how to practically operate anything. They wasted 2 years of their lives, the tuition money, and two months of my office space.
I handed it off to a guy that said "Well, I never used it, but I'll try.". It took him about an hour, but he did it right and asked me questions on preconfiguring ports for me. Above and beyond. I like that. I didn't want the ports done, I had my own config to lay over it for that. I just needed to be able to access it from the office. :)
Now, when I get to a position where I'm hiring again, my same rules will apply. Great if you have a degree, but you'd better have the practical application of the required technology before I'll consider you. So, a guy sitting at home for 2 years messing with it will always have preference over a guy who sat at a university for 4 years, unless the university guy can also show me that he's had a couple years of hands-on work with it.
American beer is anything but? I had experienced warm pisswater, cold pisswater, ice brewed pisswater, and as I started exploring the world of beer, I found myself very content with a variety of European beers. There's something to say for a beer that you can eat with a fork, that you don't piss out, but shit out as a nasty tar just as the reminder to you of how good it was. :)
I did get beyond the taste of American beer to find out that I can drink it like water, and while never getting drunk on it, I do get a weird little headache. I spent 3 days camping with some friends a while back, where the choices were American beer or water from the stream. I drank more than they did, and was left wondering why people drink it and pretend to be drunk.
Now, I tend to stay with liquor. A shot of something nice and strong, chased by a rum & coke that can only be described as "oh my god, is there any coke in that?". It keeps lightweights from stealing my drinks, so I'm pleased. I, an American, can hold my own in true Irish or German pubs, where they end up asking how long I spent in their country to be able to drink like I do. I have yet to have anyone hand me a drink that I couldn't drink right along with them. I have drank shots of drinks that I was then told "That's a sipping drink, it's way too strong to drink like that", but they always tell me after I ask for my second shot. If it's a sipping drink, why did you put it in a shot glass?
I should mention, I'm a lazy alcoholic. I don't go seeking drinks, but I won't refuse a drink should others be drinking too. Lately, that means a few drinks every few months. I didn't even drink for New Years or the 4th of July this year. Oh well. Maybe next New Years. :)
I've seen documentaries on Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster, and UFO's. Does that mean I should believe all the crap that's spewed about them? If they are real, there has been so many bogus accounts put out there, you'd never know when the truth was presented.
And yes, that was el Chupacabra that you saw outside your window last night. Beware! It's going to eat your goat, and then eat your SOUL! :)
Who? What did he do?
I've navigated my entire house in pitch blackness. Ever tried to find a flashlight when the power goes out, it's pouring rain outside, at night (no stars, moon, or other ambient light)? Footsteps on wood floors are interesting, even without shoes. I remembered most of my environment, but could hear if I was going to miss a doorway by a few inches (or feet). Constant calls from a known location (like, the wife yelling "Did you find a flashlight yet!") helped anchor my distance and relative angle, and added to the echos to hear. Things like couches deadened the echo. I found it easier to close my eyes while I was doing it, even though it didn't matter because I couldn't see anyways.
Most of the time was environment recognition. I knew something should be at such a distance ahead of me. Not magic, nor echolocation, just the simply knowing my environment. I was pretty good at it, although I did occasionally fall short on things because I was taking smaller steps rather than finding myself face down on the floor because something was out of place.
I do this every night. The light switch is beside the door. There is no good place to put a lamp beside the bed, and I don't want a nightlight, so I turn off the lights, get undressed, and walk to bed without being able to see anything. I get a good reference of the room before I do it, so I don't have to wonder "Was the computer chair pushed in, or sitting out?"
That would depend on where you live.
Where I live, a vehicle can be considered a gift or abandon. If it's abandon and you can show that it's been on your property for such a period, you can petition the courts to title it to you. If it's a gift, you'd need to demonstrate that it was a gift. If the legal owner contests an action, then you'd be in a messy court battle. For example, they could say "I loaned him that car for a few weeks. He never returned it, and I couldn't find him or my car. I never reported it stolen, because I believed him to be a friend. Now he's trying to take ownership of the car." What was a simple gift now has put you on the bad end of a grand theft auto charge.
The same wouldn't apply to software source code that was mysterious and unofficially released. This sounds like someone who had access to the source code leaked it, although way too late to be useful.
There are plenty of roads around here that are safe. When I did bicycle, I picked and chose my roads fairly carefully. Busy road with cars doing 70mph+, probably not safe. :) I only stopped riding my bike because when I moved to LA, someone stole it. Me and my girlfriend at the time had enjoyed going for rides together. We found other things to fill the time. :)
I recognize the hazard of other drivers in my car too. I've managed to avoid quite a few accidents, either through skill or dumb luck (or a few combinations of both). I've also had my fair share of them. The last wasn't too bad, but it would have likely been a fatality on a motorcycle or bicycle.
I've helped to mitigate some of the dangers as much as possible. I modified my tail lights for higher visibility. With two almost identical cars, when I was stopped in traffic, the unmodified car had a much higher incident of near misses because the car behind me didn't notice I was stopped. That matched the rate for the other car before I modified it. Since then, not only have I had absolutely no near misses from the rear, but drivers notice me much sooner, and keep their distance. They're not obnoxious changes. They're just enough to catch someone's eye. :)
Now, if I could have horns on the side of my car with sensors to make them sound when other drivers get too close, I'd be happy. :) Every recent near miss for about the last year has been where a driver decides to change lanes towards me, oblivious to the fact that there's a car beside them.
You need to be attentive to your decisions and your environment. Are you riding a bicycle and creating a backup in traffic? It's likely you will cause problems. Really, I can't (and won't) give an environmental and situational awareness lecture here, so I'll stick with my previous statement. You are responsible for your own behavior.
Myself, I prefer not to go into gang bars and pick fights too. I avoid bad neighborhoods where I am the wrong color, and the odds of me getting shot within 1 hour are pretty good.
But hey, if you want to go to the worst drug infested part of town that you can find, waving around a fist full of cash, and screaming "what n***** thinks he can take this from me", well, have at it. It's your life, and you are still responsible for your own behavior.
Myself, I avoid things that are more than potentially harmful to myself, including putting myself on a tiny metal frame, and putting it in front of large high speed objects of any sort. I used to ride sidewalks down to a hiking/riding trail. It was about a mile to the trail, and then I don't even now how far the trail went from there. We used to ride it for miles.
As far as I know, only California allows splitting lanes. When I got out there, several people did it to me, and I thought they were completely nuts. I'd seen the occasional bike do it in other cities, and they were clearly nuts.
I had been told it was because the CHP was riding air-cooled Harley Davison's back in the day. They couldn't sit in the traffic without overheating, so the state passed a resolution allowing the police to split lanes. There was outrage from other air-cooled motorcycle owners who had the same overheating problems, so they modified the resolution to allow any motorcycle to do it. I don't know how legitimate the story is, but that's how I heard it.
Then again, as I was told by many people out there, the life expectancy of a motorcycle rider in Los Angeles county is 6 months. They'll either be badly injured or killed. Hell, I didn't feel safe in my car out there most of the time. It's not the speed they drive at, but how bad they do it. I saw lots and lots (and lots) of traffic jams. I had more near misses in traffic at 40mph or less in a few years, than I had cumulative in the rest of my life.
When I moved back to the East coast, I felt like I had forgotten how to drive fast. I hopped on I-75 to go somewhere, and the slow traffic was doing 85mph. Ahhh, I love the East coast. It took me a few weeks to remember to accelerate to 90mph on the on-ramps so I'd be sure to be up to the traffic speed.
> You're being simplistic. Have you or anyone
>you cared about been in an accident? Even one at
>45mph or less? There can be fantastic damage and
>lasting physical ailments.
Yes I have, and yes I still feel it. It's amazing what shouldn't have hurt (and didn't at the time) will do to you for the rest of your life.
>I am talking about a mountain road where there
>is a CLIFF over the side. The longer I am slowing
>down traffic around me, the GREATER risk I am at
>from other aggressive drivers. So are the people
>around me. You conveniently ignore that.
I just posted just about the same thing, just with more words. :) When you have a 1000 foot drop on one side, and a rocky mountain on the other, neither looks like a good place to hit. If I have to chose, I get the heck out of the way.
I drive on open highways the same way. I usually drive pretty quickly, so cars almost never back up behind me. I prefer to end up in the large gaps between cars, where it's safe. I trust myself. I don't trust the rest of the drivers on the road. Multi-vehicle accidents can only happen when there's another vehicle around. If I'm in a single-vehicle accident, that's my own dumb fault. :)
You're missing his point.
In LA, there's a beautiful road called Angeles Crest Highway. There weren't a lot of things I liked about LA, but I liked that road, and the little pull-offs along it.
It's by no means a fast road. Coming from the 210, you don't get very far up it before the fastest you can go is about 50mph, and that's on the very short and rare straight parts. People go faster, and those are frequently the ones found 1000 feet below after they miss a turn. I liked driving fast through there, but within reason. The speed limits are almost there to say "no, really, don't go faster than this or you will die."
On that road, it's clearly marked that you MUST pull over at the next available place if there are 2 or more cars behind you. Frequently, you'll find someone driving at 15mph through there. They'll refuse to pull over, and you'll end up with a dozen cars in line. At 15mph, the cars are stacked up bumper to bumper, hoping he'll finally get out of the way. Someone in the back of the line will always be honking. Invariably, you'll have some car say 5 back in line try to pass to the front. We're talking on an "open" stretch a few hundred feet long, with a blind turn coming the other way, and a perfectly good chance that someone will be coming around that turn and THEY may be across the line because they're scared of going over the side.
Do I want to be #3 in line, when #5 pulls out and passes? Hell no. If he screws up, gets scared, or god forbid hits an oncoming car that none of us saw until the last second, he may shove MY car off the cliff. Sometimes I'd pull over, even though I was in the middle of the line, just so I was somewhere safe and away from them.
One day going up there, traffic was stopped. There happened to be a pull-off, so we stopped, and started walking to the front of the line. We realized what happened when we got farther up. The police had closed the road, and a rescue helicopter was landing because a car had gone off the side. It is, unfortunately, not a rare event.
Someone out there that I knew, who drove the road every day to come to work on his motorcycle once had a very aggressive driver come up behind him. His motorcycle was very fast (a Suzuki Hayabusa or GSX1300R, depending on where you live), but he wasn't stupid. He gave way to the other driver. A couple miles later, he found them, nose into the mountain. They were lucky, they the mountain, instead of going off the cliff. He stopped, and the driver asked "what happened". He told him, "You were stupid. You almost died. If you had gone right instead of left, you would have killed yourself and your girlfriend. What the fuck were you thinking?" Since they were stable and not going anywhere, he left them there and called for help when he got down to civilization.
So, do you want to be in front of the guy who's determined to push past you, or give him room so he can go screw up somewhere that you don't have to be part of the accident?
You know, just about every day I see this nice old couple on their pedal powered tricycles too. That's here where I live though. They ride their tricycles through the neighborhood where traffic is sparse and slow. I have seen them out on some of the busy neighborhood roads, but they're off in the bicycle lane, doing their whopping 3mph. They stop for stop signs, and wait for safe places to cross. I don't think they hear very well. I usually wave and say "hi", and they say "hi" back. I've said other things, and just get the wave and "hi". They're safe, responsible, and happy, so how can I complain about them? They also look to be damned close to 100 years old, so they've obviously been doing something right for a while. :)
Actually, the attitude you're throwing is "I'm going to throw myself in harms way, and then complain about it."
I choose not to walk in front of tractor trailers doing 60mph.
In California (or at least Los Angeles county) pedestrians have the right away. If one steps off the curb, all cars must stop. I've seen pedestrians do it just to prove they can. I've seen pedestrians do it, and prove they couldn't (by getting hit). When I crossed roads on foot out there, I stayed back from the edge so I wouldn't cause any other cars to brake needlessly. When there was a **SAFE** gap, I'd cross. Why? Because regardless of what you think the law is, or how the world should work, **YOU** are responsible for **YOUR** own behavior.
Is it safe to ride on a busy road where there isn't room to ride a bicycle? If not, don't do it. It's your life in your hands. If the route you want to take is so damned dangerous, find another route. There has to be more than one road in your little world, isn't there?
Actually, the legality of that depends on your state.
In California, it's legal for motorcycles to split lanes (pass between two motor vehicles who are side-by-side in adjoining lanes) as long as they are not doing more than 25mph faster than the other vehicles, and not faster than the speed limit.
I've seen that done right, where they're doing about 30mph, and the other traffic is doing about 5mph.
I've seen that done wrong, where they're doing about 120mph, and the other traffic is going about 65mph.
In the first case, I always moved over a little to give extra room. In the second case, I usually didn't know they were coming, nor which side they would be overtaking me on.
Neither is very smart. Riding side by side should be ok as long as they're not creating a hazard for themselves. In any case, regardless if the law says it's legal, the rider must consider if their action is creating a hazard for them.
I had a bicycle hit my car once. He was an insurance fraudster. I was stopped, waiting to turn out of a parking lot. He stopped to my right, where I could barely see him. I did observe that he didn't move for about a minute. A break in traffic finally came, I looked at him, I looked at the hole, and when I started to move, he road in front of me. I barely bumped him. The police gave HIM the ticket, since he was riding against the flow of traffic, AND acted intentionally to put himself in harms way. The same would happen if a pedestrian jumped in front of a slow moving car, except he had a bicycle too. I only managed to move about a foot before impact.
The insurance adjuster said that he had a record of doing this. He threatens to sue, and provides a huge bill for "damages". He actually said that replacing the kickstand on his bicycle cost $200, and wanted me to pay too. I spoke to the adjuster about it. He said they usually settle for about $300 to make them go away. Either that, or it goes to court, and then the judge laughs, and throws it out. It's not worth the insurance companies time with it, since they'll never get reimbursed their legal expenses. It's an easy way to make $300 a pop, if you can avoid getting killed in the process.
I've learned cyclists are the same as automobile drivers. Some are good and respectful. They'll stop for stop signs, and generally follow the rules of the road.
There are a lot of cyclists in my neighborhood (spanning about 25 sq miles), either for exercise, practice for events, or just going from point A to B.
Some ride straight down the middle of their lane with the flow of traffic, and move over to allow sufficient passing room.
Some completely disregard stop signs, flow of traffic, or that there are cars on the road. They're the same ones that'll clip pedestrians because they're "in the way". When a bicycle is doing 25mph, is it appropriate to run a stop sign, and cross 3 lanes of cars? I see that happen a lot. I almost had a head-on accident with a bicycle, who was riding against the traffic. I made a full stop to avoid hitting him. He swerved at the last second and yelled as he passed me.
I'm respectful of bicycles. When one is doing 25mph in a 30mph zone, and I have a turn coming up, I stay back a few car lengths and roll along with them at 25mph.
But, riding at 25mph on a 55mph road, in the middle of the lane, not yielding to anything, is not appropriate. If I were driving my car at 25mph on a 55mph road, I would be stopped and ticketed for blocking traffic.
I used to ride bicycles a lot. I stayed out of the way of motor vehicles, and they didn't run me over. :) It's a pretty simple concept. The same applies now when I'm driving a car, and there's a fully loaded tractor/trailer coming at me. Why the hell would I want to prove a point that I can be in front of him? Me and my car will go squish as if it wasn't there. Or, I can give him extra room.
Nah, it'll be the long living 25 pin parallel, 15 pin game connector, or the 9 pin serial. Those will never die. They come on virtually every computer.
Oh wait.. They did die. Years ago.
Technology is a fickle thing. As manufacturers decide to adjust things, things change. When USB first came out, there were few if any devices to use it with. It still showed up as one or two ports. Then as other manufacturers started adopting it, the number of ports on a single machine started to multiply.
That doesn't mean USB will survive. It just means it's popular right now. It too is doomed to go the way of the RLL hard drive, the bus mouse, and the SCSI scanner. Gone and frequently forgotten. It's kind of like the recent article with the 13 year old carrying a Sony Walkman cassette player. Sure, it was popular in the 80's, but you'd be hard pressed to find anyone using one today. Now that Polaroid is officially dead and gone, in 20 years most people won't even know what a Polaroid is.
I worked at a place where the boss decided installing GPS receivers in all of the work vehicles was a good idea. In theory (and only that) it was a good idea. The boxes decided on were from "GE Security". Basically, a hockey puck went on the dash. That wired to a receiver under the dash that transmitted GPS data over Sprint's network once every 5 minutes. It also reported engine on and off events. Based on the GPS data, it reported speed and direction. Based on their own data, it reported speed violations.
It was horribly flawed. For example, on a local expressway where it is impossible to make a U-turn, one driver was shown to constantly be changing directions, all the while maintaining 65mph. We knew his true direction, because we knew his destination, and we called him to ask "have you turned around at all during this trip?" He said "no".
Some of the drivers didn't like being tracked. The unit itself didn't store anything. If it was unable to transmit, it simply wouldn't send. On the next timed send event, it would attempt a send again. Mileage estimates were vague at best, even when the driver wasn't tampering with the device. A few drivers figured out that they could simply lay a static bag over the GPS antenna, and it either couldn't read the GPS signals, or it couldn't connect to transmit. Either way, they were invisible, and according to our own tracking were sitting at their last reported location. The drivers also knew that if their device appeared to be malfunctioning, we would investigate and have it repaired, so "disabling" it by covering the antenna was reserved for after hours use, or when they were rushing between sites. We had no way to tell if it was an intentional act, or the device simply couldn't send.
I was a bit upset at the purchase. I wanted to purchase one for testing. Instead, the sales rep got them on the entire fleet. {sigh} I wanted to build something more appropriate for our business needs, that wouldn't be as obvious or invasive for the drivers. For example, if the system pushed job information out to the drivers, and provided live driving directions, that would be very useful to them. It would have been a simple matter to store all events to transmit when the device could make a connection, or even a wifi connection when they came to the office to drop off paperwork. They wouldn't have to initiate anything themselves, it would be a simple matter that they drove close enough to the office to establish a wifi connection to one of our AP's, and update the server with the full log. Nope, we got a half-ass solution that didn't serve the bosses intended purpose.
So, $100 per vehicle setup and $50 per vehicle per month on a 2 year contract began. That's why CEO's should leave CIO tasks to the CIO.
For some reason, many people talk to me about many things. When I try to pretend that they are not talking to me, it usually turns out they are, and are offended by this.
It's rather unnerving at times, but I suspect will some day make for a long running show on something that will be called a "television". You'll understand more when the time comes.
We prefer to be called "Time Lords", and keep your grubby hands off my Tardis!