I drink around eight cups of coffee a day, along with a soda or two, and I definitely suffer from nasty withdrawal symptoms without my fix.
You, sir, are a member of the Caffeine Underacheivers Club of the World. Until you can regularly consume an average of three or four pots of coffee in day (30 to 40 cups) without experiencing caffeine intoxication, you have no idea what how "nasty" withdrawal can get.
I'm at that point, I admit it. Withdrawal, for me, starts after about eight hours without caffeine. I get a serious headache, quickly followed by nausea and a general flu-like feeling. Left unattended, it's damn-near incapacitating. Fortunately, a single cup of coffee vanquishes all symptoms within 30 minutes.
Anyway, is this caffeine withdrawal stuff really news to anyone? Anyone?
Going along with the general traffic statistics are some supposed demographics:
Craigslist attracts wealthier households, but recent growth is visible from lower-income groups.
Analysis of demographics of the Craigslist audience reveals that those earning a household
income of $150,000 a year or more were 68 percent more likely to visit a Craigslist Cities Web
site than All Other Classifieds Web sites in the four weeks ending Feb. 28, 2009. However, the
siteâ(TM)s recent growth is being fueled by lower-income segments, suggesting that Craigslist may
become less of a destination site for wealthy people and more of a necessity for lower-income
groups as the economy continues to sour.
But later in that same article:
... Through relationships with ISPs around the world, Hitwise's patented methodology
anonymously captures the online usage, search and conversion behavior of 25 million Internet
users....
Exactly how do they "anonymously capture" data and determine an average household income?
"... sometimes people toss the mouse down to the bottom of the screen when they're typing because they don't care where the mouse is..."
Many years ago -- about 25 years, maybe a bit more -- others realized the exact same thing: Users don't want to see the mouse while they're typing. The solution at the time was to simply hide the mouse pointer at the first touch of a printable key. Amazing!
Aerodynamics are important! I plan on coming into work tomorrow dressed entirely in low-friction spandex, complete with a skull-fitting hood and matching boots. Googles, too. That way, everyone will recognize that I'm on the fast track, slowing down for nothing, not even air resistance.
As a bonus, if my goggles are sufficiently dark, I can sleep through meetings as well.
"The bat eventually became 'Interim Problem Report 119V-0080' after the [Final Inspection Team] finished their walkdown," the memo said. "Systems Engineering and Integration performed a debris analysis on him and ultimately a Launch Commit Criteria waiver to ICE-01 was written to accept the stowaway."
Poor bat. Can we come up with a better name for him (or her) than 119V-0080? We're talking about the highest- and fastest-flying bat of all time, probably. A real name is definitely in order.
Wouldn't there be an ungodly number of false positives from a system like this?
... would work only if insurance companies were somehow compelled to report the names and license plates of insured motorists.
So the system would scan a license plate, see if it appears on the list of insured motorists and, if it doesn't, then fire off the ticket/fine? They would be basing this scheme on the absence of information?
I think the reason behind this is due to trust. Specifically, trust in the "it just works" history that Apple currently enjoys. Mac users are used to that, expect it, and believe that something like a new Safari will actually work and may even perform as advertised. They're willing to give it a try at an early stage. I did: I'm typing this reply now in the Safari beta. And hey, it does Just Work, at least so far.
Now, I'm not saying that Apple always deserves that level of trust. They've made mistakes in the past, some of them real doozies. But in general, the average Mac user has a fairly high regard for Apple products. More so than Microsoft users for Windows products, certainly.
'In some embodiments, the functions may include telephoning, video conferencing, e-mailing, instant messaging, blogging, digital photographing, digital videoing, web browsing, digital music playing, and/or digital video playing.'
Or, this is just Apple's attempt at filing a patent that is as broad as possible.
After seeing that I wrote out my resignation on vellum, sealed it with wax, and left it for my boss.
A resignation carved in hand-chipped stone is more durable, leaves a lasting impression, and can be used as a handy paperweight or doorstop after the dust settles.
To fill in the between-the-lines reading: The folks I'm referring to start with Google (or a book) and stop right there. They search for a solution that already exists (which is good) but, if it doesn't exist, one of two things happen:
They find a framework that does part of the job and proceed to customize the hell out of it. That can work out great, but all too often the customization is a nasty bundle of spaghetti code (to work around constraints in the framework) that never would have existed otherwise. Then it breaks when the maintainers update the framework.
They redefine the problem so that the framework solves everything neatly (MBA types and managers like this one best).
You have a good point in that a wheel shouldn't be invented twice. But if a 'wheel' doesn't exist then by all means invent it, don't try to shoehorn a square block of wood in there. My goal is to find those people who are able invent that wheel and, perhaps just as importantly, know when it needs to be invented. In my personal experience, the "Java mentality" doesn't seem to extend to that second bit.
I think refusing to hire someone solely because of their age is naive.
You are absolutely right. I don't care about age, height, skin color, gender, etc.. What I care about is flexibility and skill.
That said, from my own personal experience (which undoubtedly varies wildly from other people's experience), a candidate that learned how to program by writing Java code fails. When faced with a new programming task, the first thing they do is fire up Google.
Halfway through the book, and ...
on
Anathem
·
· Score: 4, Informative
... I agree with Max's review. I'm almost halfway through Anathem and it's simply not compelling at this point. The made-up words that littered the first part of the story were amazingly painful to slog through, at least in the beginning. I either don't notice them so much now or their usage is toned down a little. They're still irritating, though.
While I love Stephenson's earlier works, his later works are disappointing to me. If you could somehow plot a trend of his writing style, beginning with something like Snow Crash and continuing until the present, you'd find Anathem right on that trend line. If you've been reading his stuff all along, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. Anathem is like the Baroque cycle, but more so.
More specifically, 80% of marketers said their organizations share e-mail addresses with third parties, compared with 47% of security and privacy officers. Other examples: 65% of marketers said they would distribute a customer's cellphone number, while only 47% of privacy execs said their companies allowed the data to be shared. Forty-five percent of marketers believe their companies shared credit card data, compared with 32% of privacy officers, and 29% of marketers believe their firms distribute social security numbers, compared with 7% of privacy professionals.
Those numbers just back up what we all believed anyway, right? I mean, is this really news? Or just news with different numbers?
According to Computer Weekly, this is apparently not a new trend. In the TFA they link to one of their own articles from 2001 that says basically the same thing.
The TFA goes on to quote someone as saying, "We need to show [young people] the variety of roles in IT and the importance that IT carries today. IT is at the heart of business these days and there are real opportunities now to have a career in IT which will ultimately lead to a position on the board."
A position on the board? That is supposed to be "not boring"?
A de minimis exception for transactions of $10,000 or less and 200 transactions or less applies to payments by third party settlement organizations. The proposal applies to returns for calendar years beginning after December 31, 2010. Back-up withholding provisions apply to amounts paid after December 31, 2011. This proposal is estimated to raise $9.802 billion over ten years.
The summary says that the minimum reporting is under $10K (USD) or under 200 transactions, but the article shows an and.
Aside from that nitpick, how is this supposed to "raise $9.802 billion over ten years"?
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It may be just me, but I get really suspicious when a company in any business sponsors a survey and then uses the results to justify their own existence.
... IT workers [in the United States] can take heart in another CareerBuilder finding: They are less chubby than financial services and government workers. Fifty-three percent of financial workers said they have gained weight at their current jobs, while the number for government workers is 52 percent.
I guess if you're a sysadmin for the Internal Revenue Service then you're really screwed.
... Prices go up for Windows Vista models with faster processors.
The processors HP is using are made by Via Technologies Inc., the distant third-ranked player in the microprocessor space, and come in clock speeds up to 1.6 gigahertz....
I interpret that as saying that the non-Vista machines will be running a slower processor while the Vista versions get the 1.6GHz model. My son's Toshiba laptop, purchased this last Christmas, runs Vista at about that speed. It sucks. (That's a unanimous opinion among all members of our household, geeks and non-geeks alike. Even the cats hate it.)
Won't someone really think of the children for once?
Slashdot Mirror
You, sir, are a member of the Caffeine Underacheivers Club of the World. Until you can regularly consume an average of three or four pots of coffee in day (30 to 40 cups) without experiencing caffeine intoxication, you have no idea what how "nasty" withdrawal can get.
I'm at that point, I admit it. Withdrawal, for me, starts after about eight hours without caffeine. I get a serious headache, quickly followed by nausea and a general flu-like feeling. Left unattended, it's damn-near incapacitating. Fortunately, a single cup of coffee vanquishes all symptoms within 30 minutes.
Anyway, is this caffeine withdrawal stuff really news to anyone? Anyone?
What about waldo, coined by Robert A. Heinlein? That seems like a good candidate for this list.
But later in that same article:
Exactly how do they "anonymously capture" data and determine an average household income?
"... sometimes people toss the mouse down to the bottom of the screen when they're typing because they don't care where the mouse is ..."
Many years ago -- about 25 years, maybe a bit more -- others realized the exact same thing: Users don't want to see the mouse while they're typing. The solution at the time was to simply hide the mouse pointer at the first touch of a printable key. Amazing!
One of the little reasons I like my Mac.
I'm now typing so fast, spell-check can't keep up. Yeehaw!
Aerodynamics are important! I plan on coming into work tomorrow dressed entirely in low-friction spandex, complete with a skull-fitting hood and matching boots. Googles, too. That way, everyone will recognize that I'm on the fast track, slowing down for nothing, not even air resistance.
As a bonus, if my goggles are sufficiently dark, I can sleep through meetings as well.
Poor bat. Can we come up with a better name for him (or her) than 119V-0080? We're talking about the highest- and fastest-flying bat of all time, probably. A real name is definitely in order.
Wouldn't there be an ungodly number of false positives from a system like this?
... would work only if insurance companies were somehow compelled to report the names and license plates of insured motorists.
So the system would scan a license plate, see if it appears on the list of insured motorists and, if it doesn't, then fire off the ticket/fine? They would be basing this scheme on the absence of information?
For many reasons, that just doesn't seem right.
Only 15% actually know how much of the planet is covered in water (47% if you accept a rough approximation of the exact number)...
47%? Last I heard, it was between 70-75%. The top three results from Google for the query "earth covered by water" all say that as well.
Was that 47% derived using a different definition, or is TaeKwonDood a charter member of the Science Is Only For Nerds Club?
If you could actually do something with it, it would be pretty neat. Link to the source code, perhaps?
(I'm viewing it with Safari Beta on a Mac, so maybe the problem is just my browser.)
I think the reason behind this is due to trust. Specifically, trust in the "it just works" history that Apple currently enjoys. Mac users are used to that, expect it, and believe that something like a new Safari will actually work and may even perform as advertised. They're willing to give it a try at an early stage. I did: I'm typing this reply now in the Safari beta. And hey, it does Just Work, at least so far.
Now, I'm not saying that Apple always deserves that level of trust. They've made mistakes in the past, some of them real doozies. But in general, the average Mac user has a fairly high regard for Apple products. More so than Microsoft users for Windows products, certainly.
Or, this is just Apple's attempt at filing a patent that is as broad as possible.
A resignation carved in hand-chipped stone is more durable, leaves a lasting impression, and can be used as a handy paperweight or doorstop after the dust settles.
To fill in the between-the-lines reading: The folks I'm referring to start with Google (or a book) and stop right there. They search for a solution that already exists (which is good) but, if it doesn't exist, one of two things happen:
You have a good point in that a wheel shouldn't be invented twice. But if a 'wheel' doesn't exist then by all means invent it, don't try to shoehorn a square block of wood in there. My goal is to find those people who are able invent that wheel and, perhaps just as importantly, know when it needs to be invented. In my personal experience, the "Java mentality" doesn't seem to extend to that second bit.
You are absolutely right. I don't care about age, height, skin color, gender, etc.. What I care about is flexibility and skill.
That said, from my own personal experience (which undoubtedly varies wildly from other people's experience), a candidate that learned how to program by writing Java code fails. When faced with a new programming task, the first thing they do is fire up Google.
Those people tend to be under the age of 30.
The link to the actual Dr. Dobb's article is way more readable.
... I agree with Max's review. I'm almost halfway through Anathem and it's simply not compelling at this point. The made-up words that littered the first part of the story were amazingly painful to slog through, at least in the beginning. I either don't notice them so much now or their usage is toned down a little. They're still irritating, though.
While I love Stephenson's earlier works, his later works are disappointing to me. If you could somehow plot a trend of his writing style, beginning with something like Snow Crash and continuing until the present, you'd find Anathem right on that trend line. If you've been reading his stuff all along, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. Anathem is like the Baroque cycle, but more so.
Microsoft already bought search, with the acquisition of FAST.
This Yahoo thing is for web presence, not search.
What Privacy Policy?
Survey statistics from the real article:
Those numbers just back up what we all believed anyway, right? I mean, is this really news? Or just news with different numbers?
According to Computer Weekly, this is apparently not a new trend. In the TFA they link to one of their own articles from 2001 that says basically the same thing.
The TFA goes on to quote someone as saying, "We need to show [young people] the variety of roles in IT and the importance that IT carries today. IT is at the heart of business these days and there are real opportunities now to have a career in IT which will ultimately lead to a position on the board."
A position on the board? That is supposed to be "not boring"?
The summary says that the minimum reporting is under $10K (USD) or under 200 transactions, but the article shows an and.
Aside from that nitpick, how is this supposed to "raise $9.802 billion over ten years"?
It may be just me, but I get really suspicious when a company in any business sponsors a survey and then uses the results to justify their own existence.
I guess if you're a sysadmin for the Internal Revenue Service then you're really screwed.
Windows _____________ Can Hurt Security
Semantically equivalent to, "I drive a Pinto, but only in reverse."
Won't someone really think of the children for once?