I was once fired at 5:00pm Wednesday afternoon before the Thanksgiving weekend. The staffing company reasoned that since I had been showing signs of stress (hmm, really?), they didn't want me to do anything rash when they informed me that an 18-month temp-to-perm placement had been bought out by the customer.
Oh, and by the way, could I please leave now?
I ended up demanding two weeks notice (and pay) as a professional courtesy, since had I walked out I probably would not have gotten my last check. (They eventually agreed to pay me for two weeks.)
The officials said the outage is a natural occurrence and not related to terrorism. (cnn.com)
Oh, it's just a natural occurance for one of the most populated areas of the country to lose power. And it's not terrorism either? What, is it GW's fault (like everything else)?
WHEW! I can go back to sleep now.
a dot-commin', ASP-writin' cubicle dweller, I worked in an old warehouse where most of the time, the person you needed to talk to was in a different part of the building.
We used ICQ, sometimes quite a bit. I preferred it to people calling me about something that required a very short answer, especially while I was trying to get a website cranked out. It was also helpful to have ICQ mark you as away when your screensaver kicked in... that way, people know you're not at your desk. Or mark yourself as busy.
The main drawbacks we ran into: if for some reason our ICQ clients couldn't reach the main ICQ server, it wasn't much use. And, people would IM me, email me to ask why I wasn't answering ICQ, then call, then interrupt me at my desk. There's such a thing as being too accessible. Everyone has to buy into the idea of using IM *instead of* other more interrupting ways to talk to you.
If SCO (whose software I have not touched in several years) has a problem with the 2.4 and 2.5 kernels, fine. I'll run 2.6.whatever, and keep up with version changes.
SCO Unix is not an issue for me... sheesh, the last place I was at that even ran SCO switched to Linux years ago.
Bleh.
(btw, yes I know hollifeldinstitute.org is empty. it's summer. deal.)
my school's ACM chapter was on a tour of the local gas company's computer center. scattered among the big iron and other things was a single, orphaned IBM keypunch machine (sorry, don't remember the exact model). the tour guide, a 20+ year data processing guy, asked if anyone knew what it was.
I knew what it was; the only other person in the group who recognized it was the CS department chair, who was in his 60's at the time. talk about making a 29 year old feel old... sheesh!
I think it's a little ironic that when I tried to load up the newsforge article using mozilla 0.9.7 (mac os9), the article didn't appear. talk about your incompatibilities... I had to load up internet explorer to read RMS's editorial.
> I've heard a lot on/. about how Macs do not
> appeal to geeks
you'd be surprised how many geeky professional people are using ibooks and imacs, including techies. the old 'apple is about desktop publishing and education' idea is really getting to be ancient history. apple's a lot geekier than they were a couple of years ago, and that's a good thing.
> That's really the appeal of the (new) Mac
> experience to many geeks: top-notch consumer OS,
> with the Unix functionality built-in.
yeah, definitely. there's also a lot of good software produced for linux/bsd that will find users on os x... as mac users find that you, you'll see the two worlds merging even more.
> In fact, here in the Physics department, I've
> watched a fair amount of people switch from...
> [snip]... and just works right away, unlike
> (sorry) Linux.
amen. when I was working on pc's and nt, the first thing I had to do with a new machine was reinstall nt and spend hours finding and downloading new drivers. linux can be the same way, if you don't carefully select your hardware ahead of time. no such problem with imacs... you order 1,500 imacs, and they're all going to have the exact same hardware and software installed (correctly) when they arrive.
No, *nix doesn't need microsoft office. think about what a resource hog office usually is under windows; would you want that running on a workstation or multiuser machine? (keeping in mind that not all *nix boxen are dedicated to one user's desk.)
besides... I think people underestimate the number of business people that use macs at work. I visit 10-15 different companies a day, and I'd say about half of the offices I'm in are populated with iMacs. I don't see many people using *nix, unless I'm at a research facility or technical section of some sort... and they usually have a windows machine or two around anyway.
> Redhat's printtool has always worked fine for me,
> and it's easy to use.
amen, brother. my canon 'windows only' bubblejet printer is doing fine in its new life as a postscript printer thanks to printtool and ghostscript. I actually use it more for printing from my mac though, as it's shared via appletalk on my lan.
the computer science department had decided that the function of the cs department was to produce people who could get jobs. therefore, classes should be offered using microsoft development and OS tools whenever possible... in other words, the program was leaning more towards producing MCSE's than computer science graduates who knew little endian from O(n) from a hole in the ground. since most undergrad people wanted jobs that didn't involve asking if their customers would like fries, most undergrads happily went along with using microsoft tools; and since no one other than microsoft was giving free software to the department, no one else's products were discussed. the only other operating system that was even brought up (in a class called 'operating systems') was UNIX, and that consisted of a bunch of theory and some shell programming (bash); which was pretty much useless, because there was no comparison to windows... it's hard to see the merits of something that's standing alone.
I also remember speaking to a recruiter a while ago... in response to seeing both 'UNIX' and 'GNU/Linux' on my resume suggested I remove both and concentrate on what I knew about microsoft tools.
not necessarily. I knew several enlisted folks that had BS/BA degrees (and higher). in many cases, having a decent amount of civilian education can make a big difference when it comes time to promotions, especially for senior enlisted folks.
in any of the services, you might get a guaranteed job as a computer person, and end up working on a computer system that's older than you are. or you might end up pushing buttons. or you might end up doing a job that's directly related to being a civilian. there are no guarantees; the *only* thing a recruiter can guarantee you is that you'll get a certain career field (and only then if you have it *in writing, on the contract you sign*). also consider that many tech jobs are contracted out to civilians, so as a uniformed person you may not get to do the fun stuff anyway. (I'm not trying to talk you out of signing up, just trying to point out that the commercials you see on tv are not necessarily the way things are once you get there.)
note tha if you're going to be an enlisted person, that CS degree won't do anything but look good on the wall, at least to start with. you might ask the recruiters about commissioning opportunities.
another possible option you might consider is the reserve / national guard. being a part timer would allow you to get a foothold as a civilian IT person, plus get some good training and benefits as a military person. later on, if you decide you prefer the military, you can always switch over to active duty status. talk to a guard or reserve recruiter.
seems to me that people cutting off DSL because they're worried about paying the bills (heat, light, food, etc) is a whole lot different than cutting off the service because it's unreliable.
the use and acceptance of such protocols was made smoother because so many people had initial access to them through using bulletin board systems. if there hadn't been interest in discussing issues by posting text messages, for example, we may not have ever had slashdot. don't forget, in those days one didn't just call a local phone number with a mastercard handy and get ARPA access. the whole bbs culture was what came before the internet culture; we may today have the technology on arpanet, but I'm not sure we'd have the internet (technically and culturally) as we have it today if we hadn't been on bulletin boards first.
Slashdot Mirror
Guess I'll be keeping my iMac then, eh?
I was once fired at 5:00pm Wednesday afternoon before the Thanksgiving weekend. The staffing company reasoned that since I had been showing signs of stress (hmm, really?), they didn't want me to do anything rash when they informed me that an 18-month temp-to-perm placement had been bought out by the customer.
Oh, and by the way, could I please leave now?
I ended up demanding two weeks notice (and pay) as a professional courtesy, since had I walked out I probably would not have gotten my last check. (They eventually agreed to pay me for two weeks.)
and of course, that means the lightbulb works sometimes, doesn't work other times, and you don't get to know why.
Ye gods. We have a saying where I work... if you can't handle punching in and out using a web form, you oughtta not be working at a help desk.
:)
But that's just where I work.
Okay, RIAA made $2000.00 today. But where does that money go? To the artists of the songs she was sharing, or to the lawyers?
The officials said the outage is a natural occurrence and not related to terrorism. (cnn.com)
Oh, it's just a natural occurance for one of the most populated areas of the country to lose power. And it's not terrorism either? What, is it GW's fault (like everything else)? WHEW! I can go back to sleep now.
a dot-commin', ASP-writin' cubicle dweller, I worked in an old warehouse where most of the time, the person you needed to talk to was in a different part of the building.
We used ICQ, sometimes quite a bit. I preferred it to people calling me about something that required a very short answer, especially while I was trying to get a website cranked out. It was also helpful to have ICQ mark you as away when your screensaver kicked in... that way, people know you're not at your desk. Or mark yourself as busy.
The main drawbacks we ran into: if for some reason our ICQ clients couldn't reach the main ICQ server, it wasn't much use. And, people would IM me, email me to ask why I wasn't answering ICQ, then call, then interrupt me at my desk. There's such a thing as being too accessible. Everyone has to buy into the idea of using IM *instead of* other more interrupting ways to talk to you.
If SCO (whose software I have not touched in several years) has a problem with the 2.4 and 2.5 kernels, fine. I'll run 2.6.whatever, and keep up with version changes.
SCO Unix is not an issue for me... sheesh, the last place I was at that even ran SCO switched to Linux years ago.
Bleh.
(btw, yes I know hollifeldinstitute.org is empty. it's summer. deal.)
my school's ACM chapter was on a tour of the local gas company's computer center. scattered among the big iron and other things was a single, orphaned IBM keypunch machine (sorry, don't remember the exact model). the tour guide, a 20+ year data processing guy, asked if anyone knew what it was.
I knew what it was; the only other person in the group who recognized it was the CS department chair, who was in his 60's at the time. talk about making a 29 year old feel old... sheesh!
so good, in fact, others have been thinking along the same lines for a while now.
w ir edwomen991027.html
see this article
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/tech/WiredWomen/
for some information about infocharms.
in no particular order...
;-)
joust
pole position
tempest
ms pac man
dig dug
robotron 2084
galaga
some people smoke crack. I fire up mame.
maybe this is a dumb question, but didn't you at least try out the iBook before you bought it?
I think it's a little ironic that when I tried to load up the newsforge article using mozilla 0.9.7 (mac os9), the article didn't appear. talk about your incompatibilities... I had to load up internet explorer to read RMS's editorial.
I feel so violated now.
> I've heard a lot on /. about how Macs do not
...
... and just works right away, unlike
> appeal to geeks
you'd be surprised how many geeky professional people are using ibooks and imacs, including techies. the old 'apple is about desktop publishing and education' idea is really getting to be ancient history. apple's a lot geekier than they were a couple of years ago, and that's a good thing.
> That's really the appeal of the (new) Mac
> experience to many geeks: top-notch consumer OS,
> with the Unix functionality built-in.
yeah, definitely. there's also a lot of good software produced for linux/bsd that will find users on os x... as mac users find that you, you'll see the two worlds merging even more.
> In fact, here in the Physics department, I've
> watched a fair amount of people switch from
> [snip]
> (sorry) Linux.
amen. when I was working on pc's and nt, the first thing I had to do with a new machine was reinstall nt and spend hours finding and downloading new drivers. linux can be the same way, if you don't carefully select your hardware ahead of time. no such problem with imacs... you order 1,500 imacs, and they're all going to have the exact same hardware and software installed (correctly) when they arrive.
No, *nix doesn't need microsoft office. think about what a resource hog office usually is under windows; would you want that running on a workstation or multiuser machine? (keeping in mind that not all *nix boxen are dedicated to one user's desk.)
besides... I think people underestimate the number of business people that use macs at work. I visit 10-15 different companies a day, and I'd say about half of the offices I'm in are populated with iMacs. I don't see many people using *nix, unless I'm at a research facility or technical section of some sort... and they usually have a windows machine or two around anyway.
> and it's easy to use.
amen, brother. my canon 'windows only' bubblejet printer is doing fine in its new life as a postscript printer thanks to printtool and ghostscript. I actually use it more for printing from my mac though, as it's shared via appletalk on my lan.
windows only. heh. snicker.
the computer science department had decided that the function of the cs department was to produce people who could get jobs. therefore, classes should be offered using microsoft development and OS tools whenever possible... in other words, the program was leaning more towards producing MCSE's than computer science graduates who knew little endian from O(n) from a hole in the ground. since most undergrad people wanted jobs that didn't involve asking if their customers would like fries, most undergrads happily went along with using microsoft tools; and since no one other than microsoft was giving free software to the department, no one else's products were discussed. the only other operating system that was even brought up (in a class called 'operating systems') was UNIX, and that consisted of a bunch of theory and some shell programming (bash); which was pretty much useless, because there was no comparison to windows... it's hard to see the merits of something that's standing alone.
I also remember speaking to a recruiter a while ago... in response to seeing both 'UNIX' and 'GNU/Linux' on my resume suggested I remove both and concentrate on what I knew about microsoft tools.
evil empire, indeed. convert the children first.
so if http://www.kpmg.com/ were to link to slashdot, would the post that pointed out the situation be recursive?
I remember reading about using an altair and an am radio to generate music many years ago (in hackers (steven levy)).
still pretty cool... but not 'new'. this has been your cynical moment for today.
of course, those of us who don't run windows pc's appear to be SOL. grrrr.
/me goes back to q3a.
not necessarily. I knew several enlisted folks that had BS/BA degrees (and higher). in many cases, having a decent amount of civilian education can make a big difference when it comes time to promotions, especially for senior enlisted folks.
in any of the services, you might get a guaranteed job as a computer person, and end up working on a computer system that's older than you are. or you might end up pushing buttons. or you might end up doing a job that's directly related to being a civilian. there are no guarantees; the *only* thing a recruiter can guarantee you is that you'll get a certain career field (and only then if you have it *in writing, on the contract you sign*). also consider that many tech jobs are contracted out to civilians, so as a uniformed person you may not get to do the fun stuff anyway. (I'm not trying to talk you out of signing up, just trying to point out that the commercials you see on tv are not necessarily the way things are once you get there.)
note tha if you're going to be an enlisted person, that CS degree won't do anything but look good on the wall, at least to start with. you might ask the recruiters about commissioning opportunities.
another possible option you might consider is the reserve / national guard. being a part timer would allow you to get a foothold as a civilian IT person, plus get some good training and benefits as a military person. later on, if you decide you prefer the military, you can always switch over to active duty status. talk to a guard or reserve recruiter.
good luck, whatever you decide.
making n'sync cd's that cannot reproduce is a *good* thing.
seems to me that people cutting off DSL because they're worried about paying the bills (heat, light, food, etc) is a whole lot different than cutting off the service because it's unreliable.
the use and acceptance of such protocols was made smoother because so many people had initial access to them through using bulletin board systems. if there hadn't been interest in discussing issues by posting text messages, for example, we may not have ever had slashdot. don't forget, in those days one didn't just call a local phone number with a mastercard handy and get ARPA access. the whole bbs culture was what came before the internet culture; we may today have the technology on arpanet, but I'm not sure we'd have the internet (technically and culturally) as we have it today if we hadn't been on bulletin boards first.
hopefully that clarifies my rambling a little.