Just to clarify: when I say "entry level wages", I'm talking about "entry-level professional wages" (the kind one makes in one's first or second job out of college), not minimum wage.
The university I work for has been switching all of its systems (e.g. webmail, registration, grading, etc.) to one of those portal packages, one with limited browser support. To keep the message simple, they just tell everyone to use IE for it. Which means that I (the techie for the off-campus art-and-design college) have to go around explaining to my hundreds of Mac users that this means they should be using Safari (which works) instead of IE:Mac (which doesn't).
I've been longing for over a year for an excuse to take IE:Mac off our systems. It's missing basic features and it renders sites poorly. But you know users: some of them will keep using it regardless, out of habit. This announcement from MS is just what I've been waiting for; at the end of this school year, it goes away.
I'm an introvert, so the "outside" treatments for mild depression (e.g. join a club/church, reach out to friends and family) don't work well for me. So I do things that work in the safety of my hermitage.
I live almost 45 degrees north, so to help compensate for the lack of daylight, I set a couple lights in the house on timers to simulate summer daylight hours. So it's always light out (in the hallway) when I wake up at 6:30am. I assign myself some projects, including some I'll enjoy for their own sake (e.g. write that short story I've been mulling over in my head), and some that I'll enjoy having finished (e.g. clean the kitchen). I drink, but with a strict cap on the quantity.
I've developed some private holiday traditions. I buy myself a Solstice present (new digital camera this year). Every New Year's Eve since I stopped going to parties (which I only enjoyed when my partner was there with me, and he's not any more), I've spent the evening alone with a bottle of wine and some yummy snacks, doing something to "freshen up" my living space (e.g. reorganize my bookshelves, move the furniture around in the living room, relocate the server farm to another room).
Actually there is scientific support for this idea. In his book The Pursuit of Happiness, David Myers* cites a correlation between faith and happiness. The bullet-point version from his web site: "For many people, faith provides a support community, a reason to focus beyond self, and a sense of purpose and hope. Study after study finds that actively religious people are happier and that they cope better with crises." He has several articles about happiness online, which make for some interesting reading.
*If you've taken an introductory college Psych class, there's a good chance you used his textbook.
remember this ep of The Twilight Zone where this kid literally has "looks that kill." He can make anybody die who displeases him, just by looking at him. What makes him unhappy? Other people who don't look happy,
It sounds like you're talking about "It's a Good Life", featuring Bill Mumy and Cloris Leachman. The two of them also did a sequel for the latest Twilight Zone series a few years ago, with the kid all grown up with a daughter...
At the same time, this reminds me a lot of the hilarious series The Office. I mean, just because a boss is trying to be funny and cheer everyone up, doesn't mean he's succeeding...
Also, just because it's succeeding with some of the staff that doesn't mean it's making things more enjoyable for everyone. Some people might find the photo gags described in the article genuinely embarrassing... is that good for morale? The boss dressing in drag is the sort of thing that's going to be perceived differently by the straight men in the group than by any women or gay men (depending on how the guy behaves, the former might be creeped out by it, or the latter insulted by it). If the boss' idea of "fun" is Ace Ventura, and mine is Harold and Maude, introducing "fun" into the workplace - even if it goes over great with the Jim Carrey fans - is not going to make my job more enjoyable.
One of the reasons for "professionalism" in a work environment is that it helps to establish a common, neutral social atmosphere. For example, several years ago when a coworker and I started working a lot on weekends - the usual expectations of office conduct set aside - I got to see what this guy was really like (stained Confederate flag t-shirt, fag jokes), which made it more difficult for me to work with him. (And I'll bet that his discovery that I was a fan of the Smiths and the Cure didn't make him any more comfortable working with me.) I'm not saying that a work environment where everyone checks their personalities at the door is a good thing, but straying from traditional standards and encouraging everyone to let their hair down can have unintended negative consequences as well.
Maybe it does correlate with being smart though. You obviously were smart enough to get a job you enjoy.;)
Oh, no... that's just dumb luck. I got this job by being in the right place at the right time, knowing just the right people, and happening to have the exact qualifications they were looking for. If not for that, I'd still be stuck in a job I disliked with a boss I hated, cursing everyone who ever gushed about the limitless possibilities awaiting someone with my test scores. The only way "smart" entered into it was that, when offered my current job - with a pay rate that would mean earning $8K less per year - I negotiated the pay cut to only about $6K and had the wisdom to take it.
If there were a career that consisted of taking standardized entrance exams, I'd probably be rich. I missed only three questions on the PSAT, scored in the 99th percentile on SAT and ACT (all sections), got 98th (analytical and quantitative) and 99th (verbal) on the general GRE and 92nd on the CS GRE (despite almost not making it to the exam, as related elsewhere in this thread), and pulled off an 89th percentile score when I took the LSAT for kicks a few years ago without even knowing what kinds of questions would be on it.
The fact that I'm currently working part-time for not much better than entry-level wages (at the age of 40) suggests a lack of correlation between test scores and professional success. (I happen to like my job, though, so I'm not really complaining.)
In one of my math classes, I totally forgot how to do matrix math. Gone, out of my head as soon as I sat down. Every question involved matrix math so I ended up having to solve every freakin' question long hand. Luckily, no points were given for HOW you answered the question, though you did have to show your work.
That reminds me of what happened to me when I took the LSAT. I took the test on a dare, completely cold with no prep, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a bunch of complex logic problems on it. (Tom is taller than Mary. Mary is at least as tall as Fred. Jane and Tom are the same height. Etc.) "Heck, I can figure these out, easy!" I couldn't. I completely blanked on how to solve them. Damn things dragged my score down to the 89th percentile.
I wrote a paper (the 1/3-of-your-grade-for-the-course kind) for Post-Modernist Art class about Myst, as an example of a New Media installation piece. The prof loved it.
I was studying abroad in Aberdeen, Scotland my senior year, so my options for taking the GRE were somewhat limited. Fortunately it was being offered in Glasgow, a relatively short train ride away. Since the exam started first thing in the morning, I rode in the afternoon before, got directions to the university, and found a nearby room for the night.
But when I tried to locate the building where the exam would be administered, I discovered that I was at Strathclyde University, not the University of Glasgow, which is in an altogether different part of the city. By this time it was too late to get to the right university and find a place to sleep there.
This was all very much before MapQuest or anything of that sort existed, so I had to humiliate myself by explaining to people my stupid-foreigner mistake ("Y'all have more than one university?") to get help figuring out where exactly I needed to go and how to get there on time. After a brief, not-very-restful night's sleep, I got up before dawn the next morning (this was December in Scotland, after all), caught the very first bus of the day running from the one uni to the other, and sprinted the remaining few blocks to get to the testing room. I got to the door as the last person in line was being admitted, with about a minute and a half to spare.
I still managed to score in the 98-99th percentiles on the three general exams and 92nd percentile on the Comp Sci exam, so I guess the adrenaline of my frantic dash to the hall made up for my lack of sleep the night before.
Sorry, but if I wrote it, its MINE. Copyright law is clear on that. Its copyright ME the minute I write it. No notice necessary. Law trumps policy.
Yeah, but real law trumps imaginary law. In the real world, the things you create on company time with company resources in the course of your company-assigned duties, belong to the company. It's called "work made for hire" and if you knew a tenth of what you imagine you know about copyright law, you'd know this.
Most States have "at will" employment so you can be fired at any time. By the same token most companies will be found at fault in a lawsuit if it is shown they had discrimatory reasons for firing.
Yeah, but "discriminatory" is limited to a specific list of factors. You can legally be fired because "I don't like him" or even "He looks funny" (as long as the funniness of your face is not a trait of your race, ethnicity, gender, etc.) In most states "He's gay" is a valid reason. If it's not on the list in your state, it's a permissible reason. The employer doesn't have to prove that their reason was sound or even fair; the employee needs to prove that it was on a list of "Illegal Reasons".
And it's not that difficult for a an employer accused of firing someone on the basis of, say, race to come up with another justification for it (e.g. "He has an attitude problem.") Your mileage may vary depending on your judge and/or jury, but generally speaking, it is usually very difficult to prove illegal discrimination.
Actually, I was a very good boy, and closed up the office as if I were going to be back the next day. And at 4:59, I logged into the Administrator account on my desktop computer, deleted my account, and shut it down.
This turned out to be a good way to leave, because the following year the university I went to work for assigned me to do the tech support for a joint program with the community college I'd just left; I was suddenly working with the very same people again. Although things were strained between me and my ex-boss (for all the same reasons I'd quit), my former co-workers went above and beyond to make it work.
Some organisations will lock you out as a matter of policy as soon as you "betray" your intentions, but I've had much better treatment the last couple of times I left a job. Presumably because they knew I was trustworthy.
One employer left my key accounts in place (disabled) and hired me to do some consulting ("temp work", really) using those (re-enabled) accounts afterward.
The last place I quit amazed me at just how trusting they were: On my last day on the job (after giving notice), my boss, his managerial peers, and their boss were all unavailable, so I had to find a "responsible individual" in the department (a non-manager with more seniority than me) to give my keys to that afternoon. At the end of the day, I was actually left alone in the data center with both login and physical access to critical systems (to say nothing of the office kitchen and storage room). They trusted me to shut down my computer, turn off the interior lights, and lock the door behind me on the way out. (Which - considering that I was quitting in part because I hated how the place was run - was rather naive.)
I can't believe I'm seeing this kind of discussion here on Slashdot. I thought more or less everyone here agreed that Flash is the single largest scourge on the web (possibly, but only possibly, after MSIE).
Sorry to disappoint your faith in groupthink. Flash has legitimate, appropriate uses, such as creating sites that go beyond simple click-to-the-next-page interfaces. Just because it's frequently misused, or because you don't see any value in rich media and want it banned from the web, doesn't mean that everyone agrees with you.
My crystal ball shows me Fireworks and ImageReady merging into a single tool, bundled with Photoshop (to provide good web-export capabilities without shoving them into Photoshop)
and with Flash/Dreamweaver (to provide good bitmap generating/editing capabilities).
if they include.xxx when the US stops being a Christian Fundamentalist Republic.
Much of the opposition to.xxx comes from people not being drooling morons who don't understand either logic or human nature. Only a little, noisy pocket of resisistance is motivated by Christian Fundamentalism.
Slashdot Mirror
Not at all. It makes me happy. :p
Just to clarify: when I say "entry level wages", I'm talking about "entry-level professional wages" (the kind one makes in one's first or second job out of college), not minimum wage.
I've been longing for over a year for an excuse to take IE:Mac off our systems. It's missing basic features and it renders sites poorly. But you know users: some of them will keep using it regardless, out of habit. This announcement from MS is just what I've been waiting for; at the end of this school year, it goes away.
I live almost 45 degrees north, so to help compensate for the lack of daylight, I set a couple lights in the house on timers to simulate summer daylight hours. So it's always light out (in the hallway) when I wake up at 6:30am. I assign myself some projects, including some I'll enjoy for their own sake (e.g. write that short story I've been mulling over in my head), and some that I'll enjoy having finished (e.g. clean the kitchen). I drink, but with a strict cap on the quantity.
I've developed some private holiday traditions. I buy myself a Solstice present (new digital camera this year). Every New Year's Eve since I stopped going to parties (which I only enjoyed when my partner was there with me, and he's not any more), I've spent the evening alone with a bottle of wine and some yummy snacks, doing something to "freshen up" my living space (e.g. reorganize my bookshelves, move the furniture around in the living room, relocate the server farm to another room).
Actually there is scientific support for this idea. In his book The Pursuit of Happiness, David Myers* cites a correlation between faith and happiness. The bullet-point version from his web site: "For many people, faith provides a support community, a reason to focus beyond self, and a sense of purpose and hope. Study after study finds that actively religious people are happier and that they cope better with crises." He has several articles about happiness online, which make for some interesting reading.
*If you've taken an introductory college Psych class, there's a good chance you used his textbook.
It sounds like you're talking about "It's a Good Life", featuring Bill Mumy and Cloris Leachman. The two of them also did a sequel for the latest Twilight Zone series a few years ago, with the kid all grown up with a daughter...
Also, just because it's succeeding with some of the staff that doesn't mean it's making things more enjoyable for everyone. Some people might find the photo gags described in the article genuinely embarrassing... is that good for morale? The boss dressing in drag is the sort of thing that's going to be perceived differently by the straight men in the group than by any women or gay men (depending on how the guy behaves, the former might be creeped out by it, or the latter insulted by it). If the boss' idea of "fun" is Ace Ventura, and mine is Harold and Maude, introducing "fun" into the workplace - even if it goes over great with the Jim Carrey fans - is not going to make my job more enjoyable.
One of the reasons for "professionalism" in a work environment is that it helps to establish a common, neutral social atmosphere. For example, several years ago when a coworker and I started working a lot on weekends - the usual expectations of office conduct set aside - I got to see what this guy was really like (stained Confederate flag t-shirt, fag jokes), which made it more difficult for me to work with him. (And I'll bet that his discovery that I was a fan of the Smiths and the Cure didn't make him any more comfortable working with me.) I'm not saying that a work environment where everyone checks their personalities at the door is a good thing, but straying from traditional standards and encouraging everyone to let their hair down can have unintended negative consequences as well.
Oh, no... that's just dumb luck. I got this job by being in the right place at the right time, knowing just the right people, and happening to have the exact qualifications they were looking for. If not for that, I'd still be stuck in a job I disliked with a boss I hated, cursing everyone who ever gushed about the limitless possibilities awaiting someone with my test scores. The only way "smart" entered into it was that, when offered my current job - with a pay rate that would mean earning $8K less per year - I negotiated the pay cut to only about $6K and had the wisdom to take it.
If there were a career that consisted of taking standardized entrance exams, I'd probably be rich. I missed only three questions on the PSAT, scored in the 99th percentile on SAT and ACT (all sections), got 98th (analytical and quantitative) and 99th (verbal) on the general GRE and 92nd on the CS GRE (despite almost not making it to the exam, as related elsewhere in this thread), and pulled off an 89th percentile score when I took the LSAT for kicks a few years ago without even knowing what kinds of questions would be on it.
The fact that I'm currently working part-time for not much better than entry-level wages (at the age of 40) suggests a lack of correlation between test scores and professional success. (I happen to like my job, though, so I'm not really complaining.)
That reminds me of what happened to me when I took the LSAT. I took the test on a dare, completely cold with no prep, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a bunch of complex logic problems on it. (Tom is taller than Mary. Mary is at least as tall as Fred. Jane and Tom are the same height. Etc.) "Heck, I can figure these out, easy!" I couldn't. I completely blanked on how to solve them. Damn things dragged my score down to the 89th percentile.
I wrote a paper (the 1/3-of-your-grade-for-the-course kind) for Post-Modernist Art class about Myst, as an example of a New Media installation piece. The prof loved it.
But when I tried to locate the building where the exam would be administered, I discovered that I was at Strathclyde University, not the University of Glasgow, which is in an altogether different part of the city. By this time it was too late to get to the right university and find a place to sleep there.
This was all very much before MapQuest or anything of that sort existed, so I had to humiliate myself by explaining to people my stupid-foreigner mistake ("Y'all have more than one university?") to get help figuring out where exactly I needed to go and how to get there on time. After a brief, not-very-restful night's sleep, I got up before dawn the next morning (this was December in Scotland, after all), caught the very first bus of the day running from the one uni to the other, and sprinted the remaining few blocks to get to the testing room. I got to the door as the last person in line was being admitted, with about a minute and a half to spare.
I still managed to score in the 98-99th percentiles on the three general exams and 92nd percentile on the Comp Sci exam, so I guess the adrenaline of my frantic dash to the hall made up for my lack of sleep the night before.
Then maybe you shouldn't declare that your contract terms represent the law of the land. It makes you look like a idiot.
Yeah, but real law trumps imaginary law. In the real world, the things you create on company time with company resources in the course of your company-assigned duties, belong to the company. It's called "work made for hire" and if you knew a tenth of what you imagine you know about copyright law, you'd know this.
Yeah, but "discriminatory" is limited to a specific list of factors. You can legally be fired because "I don't like him" or even "He looks funny" (as long as the funniness of your face is not a trait of your race, ethnicity, gender, etc.) In most states "He's gay" is a valid reason. If it's not on the list in your state, it's a permissible reason. The employer doesn't have to prove that their reason was sound or even fair; the employee needs to prove that it was on a list of "Illegal Reasons".
And it's not that difficult for a an employer accused of firing someone on the basis of, say, race to come up with another justification for it (e.g. "He has an attitude problem.") Your mileage may vary depending on your judge and/or jury, but generally speaking, it is usually very difficult to prove illegal discrimination.
It was the Friday before Memorial Day weekend. My co-workers said "good-bye" individually as they each went home early.
This turned out to be a good way to leave, because the following year the university I went to work for assigned me to do the tech support for a joint program with the community college I'd just left; I was suddenly working with the very same people again. Although things were strained between me and my ex-boss (for all the same reasons I'd quit), my former co-workers went above and beyond to make it work.
One employer left my key accounts in place (disabled) and hired me to do some consulting ("temp work", really) using those (re-enabled) accounts afterward.
The last place I quit amazed me at just how trusting they were: On my last day on the job (after giving notice), my boss, his managerial peers, and their boss were all unavailable, so I had to find a "responsible individual" in the department (a non-manager with more seniority than me) to give my keys to that afternoon. At the end of the day, I was actually left alone in the data center with both login and physical access to critical systems (to say nothing of the office kitchen and storage room). They trusted me to shut down my computer, turn off the interior lights, and lock the door behind me on the way out. (Which - considering that I was quitting in part because I hated how the place was run - was rather naive.)
Sorry to disappoint your faith in groupthink. Flash has legitimate, appropriate uses, such as creating sites that go beyond simple click-to-the-next-page interfaces. Just because it's frequently misused, or because you don't see any value in rich media and want it banned from the web, doesn't mean that everyone agrees with you.
My crystal ball shows me Fireworks and ImageReady merging into a single tool, bundled with Photoshop (to provide good web-export capabilities without shoving them into Photoshop) and with Flash/Dreamweaver (to provide good bitmap generating/editing capabilities).
I think the word you're looking for is "supplant", meaning roughly "to take over the position of something else; to replace".
Mine don't blink.
Which prof was that? I can't imagine Herb Dershem saying that good code doesn't require comments.
Which is what makes every bit of "pro" argument you listed a waste of your typing skills.
Much of the opposition to .xxx comes from people not being drooling morons who don't understand either logic or human nature. Only a little, noisy pocket of resisistance is motivated by Christian Fundamentalism.