> "Why can't they just keep up with the car to begin with?"
As mentioned above, high speed pursuits are extremely dangerous,and usually the police will want to back off if they are in a built-up area and they can track the perpetrator via other methods without aggravating them further.
>"but chance are the cost makes it very impractical."
As opposed to, say, smashing a patrol car or two, before slamming in to some unfortunate motorist who just happens to be crossing an intersection, America's Greatest Police Chases stylee?
"Besides, why should the police get all the fun toys?"
Because they're funded by the taxpayer to use all available resources in the fight against crime - so they have a budget for technoloy like this if it's going to prove cost effective (for example in reducing pursuit collisions).
"I'm getting the distinct sense that training is something I'm expected to take care of, on my own time. Is this the de-facto standard within IT, and for all jobs within IT? If so, how do you Slashdot readers keep up with your continuing education, while still maintaining a personal life? Is it naive to try to leave my work at work?"
Before you can fully answer the above, you need to establish your long-term career aspirations - the more ambition you have to progress, the higher investment you must make in your own resources.
As per several previous comments, you can expect a greater return on your personal development investment if you work for yourself than as an employee of a corporation. Thats not to say that the Corporations are bad - I've made a good deal of money out of them over the past 15 or so years, but always as an independent consultant.
Fundamentally, maintaining your skills is your own responsibility. I would, however, make a case for dispensation in your example where you are a payroll employee who has "acquired" responsibilities for which you are openly unqualified to undertake competently. Whilst you should ensure you receive a contribution towards your training, do not expect any residential courses on full pay - your employer pays you to work, not to learn how to do your job. It is reasonable, however, to expect your employer to cover the costs of any books or reference materials for self-study, and perhaps allow some time during working hours for study if your workload permits.
More reasonable employers will contribute towards certain courses, but expect nothing unless you are pro-active in presenting a case for any training assistance - no manager or employer is going to offer to spend money training someone who appears to be doing the job already.
Although the Industry in general prevails towards working long hours, with a poor work/life balance, you should always indicate assertively if you believe you are substantially under-resourced. Whilst IT budgets can be tight (priority is to generate a return for investors, not retrain existing staff), having the correct resources to do your job efficiently benefits the overall Company productivity and therefore is in the best interests of the shareholders.
Essentially, you have to love your job. If you don't; then find a niche you do love, or think about a career change. If you love your job, you have an assertive disposition, and you don't mind taking a few risks; then you might consider a long-term aim of working for yourself in a consultancy role.
"Slashdot has tiny 2-3 paragraph snippets. Is a two page article is too much for your atrophied attention span?"
The brief excerpts on Slashdot are generally sufficient for me to ascertain whether or not the source material is of interest - in which case I would click through to read the original article in its' entirety.
In my experience most good news providers adopt some variation of the same headlining strategy, regardless of their medium.
My personal preference as far as news sites are concerned are BBC News and Slashdot - both of which generally provide a clear and concise summary or excerpt; enough to accurately guage my likely interest in the full article.
I left University after first year to pursue a carrer in Electronics. I started off as a trainee and soon acquired enough experience to be on the top engineers wage for my company at the time. Had I continued studying, it would have taken me years to gain the experience that I would have missed.
At 23 years old, after leaving a well paid job for a major ISP, I set up a company to provide networking solutions. As I now regularly interview and employ both graduates and non-graduates, I can appreciate the advantages of both. Often a young school-leaver is easy to train, as they are genuinely interested in the work and want to learn. All too often, graduates come out of college and believe they have learned enough at college to start in at the deep end. Trying to train an employee who is hostile to the idea of going back to the fundamentals and learning everything from the beginning again is a tiring task.
I've got nothing against employing graduates, but they work under the same conditions as school-leavers, on the same salary. Although they may be able to fast-track to management, there is no preference in our company and a 17 year old who is good at his job has exactly the same prospects as a 25 year old finishing his degree and coming in to employment.
I can't function without at least one large whiteboard to translate what I'm thinking in to something I can look at on the wall while I'm documenting or working. The bigger the better as you can then scribble anything that comes in to your head without having to rub it out all the time then think "what did I just have there?"
One of the engineers I was working with in London this week was telling me that all the desks in their Chicago offices are made of whiteboard material, so not only can you have the usual network techie clutter, but you can scribble entire routing tables on your desk while using your £2,000 LCD 21" monitor your boss bought you in mono mode (green, of course) to emulate a 20-year-old terminal.... aah, bliss - I think I might go work for these guys!!
Re:I'd love to see such a system
on
Pirate DNS?
·
· Score: 2
>>what if nsi wanted to start using.music or >>something and a small segment of this 'pirate' >>system was already using it - wouldn't nsi be >>able to demand relinquishment of it with >>federally backed authority?
Although the original suggestion was to empower the "ordinary" internet user, if the sole intention was to take power away from NSI, the movement would require substantial funding to cope with the inevitable lawsuits. If, however, you could convince a sector such as the porn industry to back you (.sex,.xxx.amateur) then their interest in acquiring new tld's outwith the control of NSI might just generate the funding required.
On a more practical note, supposing NSI themselves, or any other body decided to administer such a system on a seperate port exclusively for the porn industry, this would make a huge selling point for ISP's anxious to restrict access to "adult material". Assuming all porn sites moved to the new system, ISP's would be able to offer a "family service" which only allows access to the old system, and an "adult service" which allows you to view as much smut as you want. If such a system were in place, I'm sure it wouldn't be long before the US and UK governments passed legislation forcing the porn sites on to the new system, making lazy parenting easier as you could then rest in the knowledge that all your kids can find on the net is instructions on how to make parcel bombs.
Personally, I'd like to see a seperate tld administered and used exclusively by bona-fide programmers and hacks. Then at least those of us who wanted could have our own "nerds network" and go back to the good ol' days. Hell, we could even restrict "our" network to using only gopher - that would keep the newbies at bay!!
Would be interesting to see if any of this is feasible.
I've got a great idea for an ecommerce site.... pay me 500 bucks a time and I'll post a full confession on the web for you, then when you eventually get to court, you can claim the jury were influenced by the "alledged" confession on my website and you can get away with it!!
I'm actually quite surprised to seee this was in Australia - usually it's the European Union who come up with all the madcap ideas in the name of the "Human Rights Act". Glad I'm British;-)
I was quite surprised to see your article posted here. Having never read Playboy (yes, honestly!) I thought it was all pictures and no words. I was even pleasantly surprised to discover that the article was well researched and well written. (I'll leave out my personal bias towards Debian).
What did get me thinking is why a magazine full of tits'n'ass would want to waste valuable picture space on a nerdy topic like Linux (I maintain it's "Lie-nucks" though - ask Linus;-)). Then I realised it's all tied in with the telecommuting revolution. Many years ago, no self-respecting programmer would contemplate coding before growing an uneven beard, and donning a cardigan and sandals before mumbling incoherently should any annoying coworkers interrupt. As Time has advanced, we have started working from home. As very few people actually code in COBOL anymore, the requirement for uneven beards and sandals has disappeared, but also this has drawn us towards Playboy.
Coding from home isn't like work anymore, all you need is a cold cup of coffee and sit down at your workstation and get on with it. Usually it's not until the first time the doorbell goes that I realise I'm actually sat naked at my desk - by the time I pull some pants on and answer the door the caller has gone. (This is the telecommuting equivilant of all those annoying co-workers) Obviously someone at Playboy has made the perfectly reasonable assumption that there are an army of naked men sitting naked at their desks doing work nobody seems to understand. After further research, Playboy discovered that the vast majority of these naked men were chanting about some kind of god called "Torvalds" Undeterred by the god-like status of our idol, the enterprising magazine decided to book Linus as their centrefold. Imagine the editors horror when a Scandinavian male software engineer turns up for the shoot. Realising that the average reader of Playboy might be somewhat shocked at the site of a full frontal Linus Torvals on the centre pages, they hastily changed their plan and asked the great Open Source Master what alternative article they could possible post.
That, my friends, is the honest truth on how Playboy come to be writing articles on Linux;-)
When a felon's not engaged in his employment, or maturing his felonious little plans, his capacity for innocent enjoyment is just the same as any honest mans - Gilbert and Sullivan
Splitting the stock isn't really such a big deal with the value in the high 200's, but I would certainly seriously consider buying in to Sony at the moment. Don't be fooled for a moment in to thinking that the Playstation 2 could bring down the entire Sony Corporation, but I do appreciate it will play a significant factor in their stock value of the next year or so.
Many consoles seem to have come and gone from the old Atari's to the Dreamcast, but Sony seem to have managed to convince enough people that Games Console = Playstation. You only have to take a look at the shops just before Christmas where the original Playstation was outselling even the Dreamcast in the UK!! Sony have got the best market position in this area at the moment, mostly because the Playstation Brand is recognized, even (and particularly) by non-gamers.
With the market profile the Playstations has at the moment, I believe many people will subconciously wander in to the "Buy Sony" ethos, in much the same way your average boss used to think "Buy IBM" or your end user "Buy the latest version of Windows". Sure, PS2 is going to appeal to the serious hardcore gamer, but it's going to be instantly recognizable to the occasional user, and the buy,play,forget market who are undoubtedly going to represent the vast majority of sales.
As for me, should be perfect timing - I'll have just about completed all 4 Tombraiders on my trusted old Playstation just in time to upgrade it:-) Oh, and get my broker to book me some Sony stock
I wouldn't join any club that would have me as a member
ISP's, Programming languages, Operating systems, CPU Architecture, Pretty coloured workstations... can you see a pattern developing here?
Everyone has their own personal favorites be they better or worse, faster or slower, and most people will defend to the death their personal choice even in the face of logical debate. I wouldn't be so naive to state for one moment that PERL is the definitive and only choice. It happens to be my personal favorite for many reasons. I'm always happy to learn new code, new tricks and new languages to get results but always consider the options within my current capabilities first.
One word I would prefer not to involve in this debate is the word "better". I wouldn't say that PERL is necessarily "better" than Java Servlets, nor vice-versa. What I would say is that I am comfortable with PERL, I can bodge a script together quickly and see results with the minimum of debugging time. Determining what language is "better" in a particular scenario depends very much on the programmer as much as on the language options themselves.
I'm quite sure that I've used PERL where Java Servlets may be mare efficient, possibly quicker and perhaps even more versatile. What is important to me is that I can achieve the end result I require, and I can hack and hack at the script to my hearts content should my end result change at any time. There may come a time when I decide that investing the time to learn Java to a high level is a valid use of my time, but for now I'll stick with what I know for as long as it works.
My advice would be not to start a holy war with both sides adamant their code is better. If it works and you're comfortable with it, use it. If you're struggling and perhaps starting out and wondering which path to choose, then listen to both sides and then decide. Most importantly, a script that works reliably is infinitely better than a flashy, high speed application riddled with bugs.
Incidentally, although you can see my obvious bias towards PERL, much of the work for my customers does actually contain Java Servlets - just that I don't personally write them. I have a team of 4, and don't particularly care how we achieve results as long as I have the backup and knowledge in my team to ensure our products work reliably and we can confidentally put our names to them.
I never forget a face Madam, but in your case I'l make an exception - Groucho Marx
It's not an advance in "using technology to avoid leaving the house" - my parents have just about managed it, themselves. Thousands of people have lived most of their lives that way without the benefit of professional caretakers.
I quite agree, I can think of several groups of people who have managed to go for years without leaving the house. The word "housebound" springs to mind for starters. I'm quite amazed that any self-respecting company would fall for a scam like this and can't help wondering what the shareholders think of their dividends sponsoring this scheme.
For quite some time now, even here in the quiet backwaters of England, the supermarkets have had online ordering and delivery. I assume this guy is trying to make some kind of point, apparently unaware that many people are forced to live this way, and have been for years without the luxury of having a choice.
I'd be interested to find out what this guy intends to do at the end of the year when all he has to show on his resumé is that he decided to stay at home for a year and effectively sponge off other peoples charity. I know who wouldn't get to interview if he came to me for a job!!
Veni, Vedi, Visa: I came. I Saw. I Did a Little Shopping.
Ok, so the Russians have nicked the name "Windows" for their beer... how about some subtle modifications to current beer slogans as a marketing ploy?
Windows 99.... refreshes the parts other beers don't reach (like the MSN homepage when you first install)
Windows 99.... Probably the best mugger in the world
Windows 99.... King of Fears
Windows 99.... It's Biller Time
Windows 99.... He who drinks Billy's thinks Willys
Windows 99.... Crash out with a fresh one
Windows 99.... End users wouldn't give a XXXX for anything else
Windows 99.... It doesn't get you drunk, leaves a foul taste in your mouth and costs too much but hey, your boss will like it!
I'll never assume that a rogue or a thief is a gentleman worthy implicit belief just because his attourney has sent me a brief, said I to myself said I - Gilbert and Sullivan
As I have the misfortune to be on site at 1am GMT on January 1st this year, I have resolved to take 4 bottles of Moet & Chandon in to work with me for 3 reasons.
1: If all goes well, no y2k problems occur and I can relax reading a book and sipping on my champagne to celebrate 3 years of effective y2k compliancy testing.
2: If all goes wrong, I want to be in a suitably inebriated state before explaining to the MD of a large railway company why he can't sell any tickets on January 1st as the servers are down.
3: If I can't get a train ticket home in the afternoon, I might as well stay in London and get drunk!!
My other resolutions are as follows:
1: Complete all 4 Tomb Raiders in one session without having to save, eat, drink, sleep or smoke.
2: Following the luctrative nature of the industry this year, I intend to mail all of my customers and the media to alert them of the little known "true millennium bug" when the new millennium actually starts on January 1st 2001. Hopefully the media will hype this to extreme levels and I can retire next year having charged the equivilant of the national debt of Uzbekistan simply to run scripts and putt little "true millennium compliant" stickers on everything I see.
3: Convince my mother that my job title is actually "Network Architect" in the hope she stops telling her friends her son "works in computers"
4: Invite all my co-workers round to watch "Wargames" yet again while talking about the "good old days" of 8" floppy disks, gopher and 300 baud accoustic cups connectic to such wonderful equipment as Dragons, Apricots and my all time favorite, the Commodore Pet.
5: Sneer at everyone who has not yet installed Gigabit Ethernet in their appartment purely to play Quake III with fellow nerds.
Slashdot Mirror
> "Why can't they just keep up with the car to begin with?"
As mentioned above, high speed pursuits are extremely dangerous,and usually the police will want to back off if they are in a built-up area and they can track the perpetrator via other methods without aggravating them further.
>"but chance are the cost makes it very impractical."
As opposed to, say, smashing a patrol car or two, before slamming in to some unfortunate motorist who just happens to be crossing an intersection, America's Greatest Police Chases stylee?
"Besides, why should the police get all the fun toys?"
Because they're funded by the taxpayer to use all available resources in the fight against crime - so they have a budget for technoloy like this if it's going to prove cost effective (for example in reducing pursuit collisions).
Before you can fully answer the above, you need to establish your long-term career aspirations - the more ambition you have to progress, the higher investment you must make in your own resources.
As per several previous comments, you can expect a greater return on your personal development investment if you work for yourself than as an employee of a corporation. Thats not to say that the Corporations are bad - I've made a good deal of money out of them over the past 15 or so years, but always as an independent consultant.
Fundamentally, maintaining your skills is your own responsibility. I would, however, make a case for dispensation in your example where you are a payroll employee who has "acquired" responsibilities for which you are openly unqualified to undertake competently. Whilst you should ensure you receive a contribution towards your training, do not expect any residential courses on full pay - your employer pays you to work, not to learn how to do your job. It is reasonable, however, to expect your employer to cover the costs of any books or reference materials for self-study, and perhaps allow some time during working hours for study if your workload permits.
More reasonable employers will contribute towards certain courses, but expect nothing unless you are pro-active in presenting a case for any training assistance - no manager or employer is going to offer to spend money training someone who appears to be doing the job already.
Although the Industry in general prevails towards working long hours, with a poor work/life balance, you should always indicate assertively if you believe you are substantially under-resourced. Whilst IT budgets can be tight (priority is to generate a return for investors, not retrain existing staff), having the correct resources to do your job efficiently benefits the overall Company productivity and therefore is in the best interests of the shareholders.
Essentially, you have to love your job. If you don't; then find a niche you do love, or think about a career change. If you love your job, you have an assertive disposition, and you don't mind taking a few risks; then you might consider a long-term aim of working for yourself in a consultancy role.
"Slashdot has tiny 2-3 paragraph snippets. Is a two page article is too much for your atrophied attention span?"
The brief excerpts on Slashdot are generally sufficient for me to ascertain whether or not the source material is of interest - in which case I would click through to read the original article in its' entirety.
In my experience most good news providers adopt some variation of the same headlining strategy, regardless of their medium.
My personal preference as far as news sites are concerned are BBC News and Slashdot - both of which generally provide a clear and concise summary or excerpt; enough to accurately guage my likely interest in the full article.
I left University after first year to pursue a carrer in Electronics. I started off as a trainee and soon acquired enough experience to be on the top engineers wage for my company at the time. Had I continued studying, it would have taken me years to gain the experience that I would have missed.
At 23 years old, after leaving a well paid job for a major ISP, I set up a company to provide networking solutions. As I now regularly interview and employ both graduates and non-graduates, I can appreciate the advantages of both. Often a young school-leaver is easy to train, as they are genuinely interested in the work and want to learn. All too often, graduates come out of college and believe they have learned enough at college to start in at the deep end. Trying to train an employee who is hostile to the idea of going back to the fundamentals and learning everything from the beginning again is a tiring task.
I've got nothing against employing graduates, but they work under the same conditions as school-leavers, on the same salary. Although they may be able to fast-track to management, there is no preference in our company and a 17 year old who is good at his job has exactly the same prospects as a 25 year old finishing his degree and coming in to employment.
I can't function without at least one large whiteboard to translate what I'm thinking in to something I can look at on the wall while I'm documenting or working. The bigger the better as you can then scribble anything that comes in to your head without having to rub it out all the time then think "what did I just have there?"
One of the engineers I was working with in London this week was telling me that all the desks in their Chicago offices are made of whiteboard material, so not only can you have the usual network techie clutter, but you can scribble entire routing tables on your desk while using your £2,000 LCD 21" monitor your boss bought you in mono mode (green, of course) to emulate a 20-year-old terminal.... aah, bliss - I think I might go work for these guys!!
>>what if nsi wanted to start using .music or
.xxx .amateur) then their interest in acquiring new tld's outwith the control of NSI might just generate the funding required.
>>something and a small segment of this 'pirate'
>>system was already using it - wouldn't nsi be
>>able to demand relinquishment of it with
>>federally backed authority?
Although the original suggestion was to empower the "ordinary" internet user, if the sole intention was to take power away from NSI, the movement would require substantial funding to cope with the inevitable lawsuits. If, however, you could convince a sector such as the porn industry to back you (.sex,
On a more practical note, supposing NSI themselves, or any other body decided to administer such a system on a seperate port exclusively for the porn industry, this would make a huge selling point for ISP's anxious to restrict access to "adult material". Assuming all porn sites moved to the new system, ISP's would be able to offer a "family service" which only allows access to the old system, and an "adult service" which allows you to view as much smut as you want. If such a system were in place, I'm sure it wouldn't be long before the US and UK governments passed legislation forcing the porn sites on to the new system, making lazy parenting easier as you could then rest in the knowledge that all your kids can find on the net is instructions on how to make parcel bombs.
Personally, I'd like to see a seperate tld administered and used exclusively by bona-fide programmers and hacks. Then at least those of us who wanted could have our own "nerds network" and go back to the good ol' days. Hell, we could even restrict "our" network to using only gopher - that would keep the newbies at bay!!
Would be interesting to see if any of this is feasible.
I've got a great idea for an ecommerce site.... pay me 500 bucks a time and I'll post a full confession on the web for you, then when you eventually get to court, you can claim the jury were influenced by the "alledged" confession on my website and you can get away with it!!
;-)
I'm actually quite surprised to seee this was in Australia - usually it's the European Union who come up with all the madcap ideas in the name of the "Human Rights Act". Glad I'm British
I was quite surprised to see your article posted here. Having never read Playboy (yes, honestly!) I thought it was all pictures and no words. I was even pleasantly surprised to discover that the article was well researched and well written. (I'll leave out my personal bias towards Debian).
;-)
What did get me thinking is why a magazine full of tits'n'ass would want to waste valuable picture space on a nerdy topic like Linux (I maintain it's "Lie-nucks" though - ask Linus;-)). Then I realised it's all tied in with the telecommuting revolution. Many years ago, no self-respecting programmer would contemplate coding before growing an uneven beard, and donning a cardigan and sandals before mumbling incoherently should any annoying coworkers interrupt. As Time has advanced, we have started working from home. As very few people actually code in COBOL anymore, the requirement for uneven beards and sandals has disappeared, but also this has drawn us towards Playboy.
Coding from home isn't like work anymore, all you need is a cold cup of coffee and sit down at your workstation and get on with it. Usually it's not until the first time the doorbell goes that I realise I'm actually sat naked at my desk - by the time I pull some pants on and answer the door the caller has gone. (This is the telecommuting equivilant of all those annoying co-workers) Obviously someone at Playboy has made the perfectly reasonable assumption that there are an army of naked men sitting naked at their desks doing work nobody seems to understand. After further research, Playboy discovered that the vast majority of these naked men were chanting about some kind of god called "Torvalds" Undeterred by the god-like status of our idol, the enterprising magazine decided to book Linus as their centrefold. Imagine the editors horror when a Scandinavian male software engineer turns up for the shoot. Realising that the average reader of Playboy might be somewhat shocked at the site of a full frontal Linus Torvals on the centre pages, they hastily changed their plan and asked the great Open Source Master what alternative article they could possible post.
That, my friends, is the honest truth on how Playboy come to be writing articles on Linux
When a felon's not engaged in his employment, or maturing his felonious little plans, his capacity for innocent enjoyment is just the same as any honest mans - Gilbert and Sullivan
Splitting the stock isn't really such a big deal with the value in the high 200's, but I would certainly seriously consider buying in to Sony at the moment. Don't be fooled for a moment in to thinking that the Playstation 2 could bring down the entire Sony Corporation, but I do appreciate it will play a significant factor in their stock value of the next year or so.
:-) Oh, and get my broker to book me some Sony stock
Many consoles seem to have come and gone from the old Atari's to the Dreamcast, but Sony seem to have managed to convince enough people that Games Console = Playstation. You only have to take a look at the shops just before Christmas where the original Playstation was outselling even the Dreamcast in the UK!! Sony have got the best market position in this area at the moment, mostly because the Playstation Brand is recognized, even (and particularly) by non-gamers.
With the market profile the Playstations has at the moment, I believe many people will subconciously wander in to the "Buy Sony" ethos, in much the same way your average boss used to think "Buy IBM" or your end user "Buy the latest version of Windows". Sure, PS2 is going to appeal to the serious hardcore gamer, but it's going to be instantly recognizable to the occasional user, and the buy,play,forget market who are undoubtedly going to represent the vast majority of sales.
As for me, should be perfect timing - I'll have just about completed all 4 Tombraiders on my trusted old Playstation just in time to upgrade it
I wouldn't join any club that would have me as a member
ISP's, Programming languages, Operating systems, CPU Architecture, Pretty coloured workstations... can you see a pattern developing here?
Everyone has their own personal favorites be they better or worse, faster or slower, and most people will defend to the death their personal choice even in the face of logical debate. I wouldn't be so naive to state for one moment that PERL is the definitive and only choice. It happens to be my personal favorite for many reasons. I'm always happy to learn new code, new tricks and new languages to get results but always consider the options within my current capabilities first.
One word I would prefer not to involve in this debate is the word "better". I wouldn't say that PERL is necessarily "better" than Java Servlets, nor vice-versa. What I would say is that I am comfortable with PERL, I can bodge a script together quickly and see results with the minimum of debugging time. Determining what language is "better" in a particular scenario depends very much on the programmer as much as on the language options themselves.
I'm quite sure that I've used PERL where Java Servlets may be mare efficient, possibly quicker and perhaps even more versatile. What is important to me is that I can achieve the end result I require, and I can hack and hack at the script to my hearts content should my end result change at any time. There may come a time when I decide that investing the time to learn Java to a high level is a valid use of my time, but for now I'll stick with what I know for as long as it works.
My advice would be not to start a holy war with both sides adamant their code is better. If it works and you're comfortable with it, use it. If you're struggling and perhaps starting out and wondering which path to choose, then listen to both sides and then decide. Most importantly, a script that works reliably is infinitely better than a flashy, high speed application riddled with bugs.
Incidentally, although you can see my obvious bias towards PERL, much of the work for my customers does actually contain Java Servlets - just that I don't personally write them. I have a team of 4, and don't particularly care how we achieve results as long as I have the backup and knowledge in my team to ensure our products work reliably and we can confidentally put our names to them.
I never forget a face Madam, but in your case I'l make an exception - Groucho Marx
It's not an advance in "using technology to avoid leaving the house" - my parents have just about managed it, themselves. Thousands of people have lived most of their lives that way without the benefit of professional caretakers.
I quite agree, I can think of several groups of people who have managed to go for years without leaving the house. The word "housebound" springs to mind for starters. I'm quite amazed that any self-respecting company would fall for a scam like this and can't help wondering what the shareholders think of their dividends sponsoring this scheme.
For quite some time now, even here in the quiet backwaters of England, the supermarkets have had online ordering and delivery. I assume this guy is trying to make some kind of point, apparently unaware that many people are forced to live this way, and have been for years without the luxury of having a choice.
I'd be interested to find out what this guy intends to do at the end of the year when all he has to show on his resumé is that he decided to stay at home for a year and effectively sponge off other peoples charity. I know who wouldn't get to interview if he came to me for a job!!
Veni, Vedi, Visa: I came. I Saw. I Did a Little Shopping.
Ok, so the Russians have nicked the name "Windows" for their beer... how about some subtle modifications to current beer slogans as a marketing ploy?
Windows 99.... refreshes the parts other beers don't reach (like the MSN homepage when you first install)
Windows 99.... Probably the best mugger in the world
Windows 99.... King of Fears
Windows 99.... It's Biller Time
Windows 99.... He who drinks Billy's thinks Willys
Windows 99.... Crash out with a fresh one
Windows 99.... End users wouldn't give a XXXX for anything else
Windows 99.... It doesn't get you drunk, leaves a foul taste in your mouth and costs too much but hey, your boss will like it!
I'll never assume that a rogue or a thief is a gentleman worthy implicit belief just because his attourney has sent me a brief, said I to myself said I - Gilbert and Sullivan
As I have the misfortune to be on site at 1am GMT on January 1st this year, I have resolved to take 4 bottles of Moet & Chandon in to work with me for 3 reasons.
1: If all goes well, no y2k problems occur and I can relax reading a book and sipping on my champagne to celebrate 3 years of effective y2k compliancy testing.
2: If all goes wrong, I want to be in a suitably inebriated state before explaining to the MD of a large railway company why he can't sell any tickets on January 1st as the servers are down.
3: If I can't get a train ticket home in the afternoon, I might as well stay in London and get drunk!!
My other resolutions are as follows:
1: Complete all 4 Tomb Raiders in one session without having to save, eat, drink, sleep or smoke.
2: Following the luctrative nature of the industry this year, I intend to mail all of my customers and the media to alert them of the little known "true millennium bug" when the new millennium actually starts on January 1st 2001. Hopefully the media will hype this to extreme levels and I can retire next year having charged the equivilant of the national debt of Uzbekistan simply to run scripts and putt little "true millennium compliant" stickers on everything I see.
3: Convince my mother that my job title is actually "Network Architect" in the hope she stops telling her friends her son "works in computers"
4: Invite all my co-workers round to watch "Wargames" yet again while talking about the "good old days" of 8" floppy disks, gopher and 300 baud accoustic cups connectic to such wonderful equipment as Dragons, Apricots and my all time favorite, the Commodore Pet.
5: Sneer at everyone who has not yet installed Gigabit Ethernet in their appartment purely to play Quake III with fellow nerds.