I have a friend who retired in his sixties and was then lured back into the work force by contractor rates he simply couldn't walk away from. Some companies had to have an experienced COBOL programmer no matter what it cost.
Still cheaper for a few years than "Let's quickly re-write the mission critical application in xyz++"
Yeah, it was going to be re-written at some point, but keeping the beast running until then was not optional.
Since we are listing age here... I'm 61 and I'm FAR more afraid of my own government than terrorists or other nations. I do believe we need intelligence services, a strong military, etc., but not at the cost of establishing a totalitarian police state in the U.S.
Oops! Too late, I suppose that boat has already sailed. A secure country doesn't need to be a police state. That's a fact.
I've also been writing software for 30+ years. Before that I was in construction. Many, many similarities between the two professions.
Short story: I took a construction management class many years ago. Knew most of it, but the real take away for me was change control. The presenter made the case that EVERY change must be charged for. Even changes that reduced the scope of the project. Sure, calculate the savings based on the estimate, but don't just stop there. Every change requires at least some time and effort. You must charge for that. If not, even tiny changes will eat away the profit.
A social/environmental collapse would still leave a MASSIVE amount of usable stuff just laying around. A single skyscraper would be a fantastic resource mine. Even a fairly large war doesn't make the insulated copper wiring suddenly vanish from buildings. You'd have to dig it out, but that's a very low tech activity.
Roads go to crap surprising quickly. I was in a workshop shortly after the Soviet Union collapsed. The presenter took a little time off topic to talk about a book and newsletter he was publishing in Russia. Entire city's were becoming accessible only by poor train service because the roads were simply going away. It made delivering a monthly newsletter quite problematic.
I'm 61 and billing around 160k a year. 30 years in the IT trade helps.
I'm constantly offered "opportunities" by the head hunters. Most aren't appropriate to my skill set, but there seems to be a lot of jobs in the Minneapolis area.
Frighteningly close to the truth. An example of Big Pharma and a corrupt lawmaker shows that the medical industry will try to regulate - charge for- anything that might work. For the sake of the children, of course.
"We" aren't moving that way at all. You might be, but I'm not. I don't live on FacePalm or anything like that. I use a phone to talk to my kids on the other side of the country, but that maintains human relationships. I teach and compete in judo. Choking someone works a lot better in person.
"We" all make our choices. Afraid of talking to people? Hide in the basement. Or simply live in the real world.
Yeah, except, uh, brushing your teeth won't prevent lung cancer.
There is a sugar/cancer tie in though. The insulin spike from sugar consumption promotes tumor growth. Not that the sugar itself is carcinogenic, but the subsequent insulin flooding exacerbates the cancer. I've known people with advanced cancer whose doctors told them this, they wen't completely off carbs and tumor growth slowed significantly.
The science is very clear on this and has been for a long time.
The problem is that "nutritionists" pay no attention to the actual science. "We don't need no steekin science! We KNOW that dietary fat and cholesterol are bad for you!"
The real science has been known for many years, all the way down to the eicosanoid hormone level. Endocrinologists know this stuff. General practice M.D.s don't. They just parrot the Statin salesmen.
Not enough yet to say it's as clearly a bad idea as female HRT, but for sure it isn't something men should run out and do without a careful and personalized discussion with a knowledgeable (actual) doctor.
Even endocrinologists, unfortunately, are not immune to cant and insurance industry pressure.
Too many of them just run insurance driven diabetes shops and ignore actual science in adherence to "conventional practice", i.e., not what works, but what is defensible in court.
Community colleges are not equipped to train people for high-paying coding jobs. They can teach you the basics, sure, but any kind of advanced programming skill comes from interning, mentorship and/or *gasp* actually sitting home and coding, coding, coding. All night, non-stop, my-brain-is-a-compiler-now coding. Most people aren't fit for that, and it's not a crime to point that out.
I have no degrees of any kind. No community college, not even high school. I started by teaching myself programming 30+ years ago. Found that even with the dumb ass mistakes I was making, I provided as much, and often more value to my employers as the CIS grads we hired.
When I started, I had some real life experience with accounting, working with people, making payroll for my own construction business. Stuff not generally part of any programming degree. As the years went by, I looked for training where I could find it like online courses.
I make 150k+ a year as a consultant. Nothing at all with formal education (if it's real and useful) but after 30 years in the industry, watching people come and go, by FAR the most important thing is aptitude and nerdiness. And by nerdiness, I mean exactly what you're talking about. Actually being interested in goofy shit like algorithm optimization, ferreting out OS API secrets, etc., just for their own sake, apart from the business need of the moment.
Marxism IS a religion. It's just doesn't have a spiritual component.
Priests(Marxist theoreticians), crusades, Inquisitions, enforced fervor, punishment for non-belief, holy books written by the founders(Marx & Engels), revered founders expressing revealed truth, etc.
Did I mention the part where many, many millions have been killed in trying to produce the true believer?
No kidding. When I had a '46 Dodge panel van, I once replaced a broken piston by pulling the oil pan and rotating the crankshaft enough to pull the piston out and replace it. Part of that was simply clearances but it's an example. I once replaced the slant 6 engine in a '72 van by myself in a parking space over a weekend.
I couldn't replace the spark plugs in my Expedition. I probably could given enough time and some specialized tools, but damn, what an ordeal it promised to be. On the other hand, I've done a boatload of residential wiring from knob and tube to modern. Almost all household electrical should be easy for anyone to do with a little reading. Most modern plumbing is also a lot easier than the old stuff.
It's a Bad Idea to have cops/building inspectors/government functionary decide who to screw whenever they feel like it. Far better to just have fewer stupid laws.
I know, there are always boundary situations, but fewer stupid laws is the best route to take.
What we have now is a situation where so many things are illegal no one can keep up. Then TPTB can simply prosecute the desired subgroup and leave their supporters/funders alone. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
I'm not against allowing adults to shoot, snort, sniff, smoke, drink or otherwise wallow in whatever they can want BUT...
Coming from a state where moonshine has been a long time pasttime, I can tell you that if push comes to shove, you'd rather deal with the DEA than the BATF.
Not just flaming here, but remember Waco? That whole thing was initiated over alleged tax issues. That's really what the permits are in the end. Tax issues. Don't forget that the BATF is the enforcement arm of Treasury. They don't fuck around.
No joke, unfortunately. A buddy of mine used to manage an air ambulance service for a large hospital. Mostly went alright, but every now and then the copter would go down. They flew at night sometimes, in mountainous terrain sometimes and in all kinds of weather. It was all too easy to hit a ridge or tower. Don't have to hit 'em hard either. A little unexpected nick of a tower or tree limb snag can be catastrophic.
If wind power is such a joke, people will realize it is a money losing proposition, and they will NOT invest in wind turbines
"People" don't invest much really. It's primarily funded from the government/utility complex. Damn little independent true free market investment in these massive farms.
Slashdot Mirror
Still cheaper for a few years than "Let's quickly re-write the mission critical application in xyz++" Yeah, it was going to be re-written at some point, but keeping the beast running until then was not optional.
Oops! Too late, I suppose that boat has already sailed. A secure country doesn't need to be a police state. That's a fact.
Short story: I took a construction management class many years ago. Knew most of it, but the real take away for me was change control. The presenter made the case that EVERY change must be charged for. Even changes that reduced the scope of the project. Sure, calculate the savings based on the estimate, but don't just stop there. Every change requires at least some time and effort. You must charge for that. If not, even tiny changes will eat away the profit.
A social/environmental collapse would still leave a MASSIVE amount of usable stuff just laying around. A single skyscraper would be a fantastic resource mine. Even a fairly large war doesn't make the insulated copper wiring suddenly vanish from buildings. You'd have to dig it out, but that's a very low tech activity.
We can still get at least some oil with 1800's tech. In some places oil still seeps out of the ground.
Roads go to crap surprising quickly. I was in a workshop shortly after the Soviet Union collapsed. The presenter took a little time off topic to talk about a book and newsletter he was publishing in Russia. Entire city's were becoming accessible only by poor train service because the roads were simply going away. It made delivering a monthly newsletter quite problematic.
I'm 61 and billing around 160k a year. 30 years in the IT trade helps. I'm constantly offered "opportunities" by the head hunters. Most aren't appropriate to my skill set, but there seems to be a lot of jobs in the Minneapolis area.
Frighteningly close to the truth. An example of Big Pharma and a corrupt lawmaker shows that the medical industry will try to regulate - charge for- anything that might work. For the sake of the children, of course.
How about pr0n and right hand motor control?
"We" aren't moving that way at all. You might be, but I'm not. I don't live on FacePalm or anything like that. I use a phone to talk to my kids on the other side of the country, but that maintains human relationships. I teach and compete in judo. Choking someone works a lot better in person. "We" all make our choices. Afraid of talking to people? Hide in the basement. Or simply live in the real world.
Yeah, except, uh, brushing your teeth won't prevent lung cancer.
There is a sugar/cancer tie in though. The insulin spike from sugar consumption promotes tumor growth. Not that the sugar itself is carcinogenic, but the subsequent insulin flooding exacerbates the cancer. I've known people with advanced cancer whose doctors told them this, they wen't completely off carbs and tumor growth slowed significantly.
And choice when it comes to our sugar, and that Joey Naylor, that is the definition of liberty.
I wish business and government would not collude to deny me the right to choose what I want to buy, e.g., sugar subsidies, tobacco subsidies, ObamaCare subsidies, etc.
The problem is that "nutritionists" pay no attention to the actual science. "We don't need no steekin science! We KNOW that dietary fat and cholesterol are bad for you!"
The real science has been known for many years, all the way down to the eicosanoid hormone level. Endocrinologists know this stuff. General practice M.D.s don't. They just parrot the Statin salesmen.
Not enough yet to say it's as clearly a bad idea as female HRT, but for sure it isn't something men should run out and do without a careful and personalized discussion with a knowledgeable (actual) doctor.
Even endocrinologists, unfortunately, are not immune to cant and insurance industry pressure.
Too many of them just run insurance driven diabetes shops and ignore actual science in adherence to "conventional practice", i.e., not what works, but what is defensible in court.
Nothing at all with formal education (if it's real and useful)...
I meant to say "Nothing at all wrong with formal education..."
I also don't have a typing/editing degree.
Community colleges are not equipped to train people for high-paying coding jobs. They can teach you the basics, sure, but any kind of advanced programming skill comes from interning, mentorship and/or *gasp* actually sitting home and coding, coding, coding. All night, non-stop, my-brain-is-a-compiler-now coding. Most people aren't fit for that, and it's not a crime to point that out.
I have no degrees of any kind. No community college, not even high school. I started by teaching myself programming 30+ years ago. Found that even with the dumb ass mistakes I was making, I provided as much, and often more value to my employers as the CIS grads we hired.
When I started, I had some real life experience with accounting, working with people, making payroll for my own construction business. Stuff not generally part of any programming degree. As the years went by, I looked for training where I could find it like online courses.
I make 150k+ a year as a consultant. Nothing at all with formal education (if it's real and useful) but after 30 years in the industry, watching people come and go, by FAR the most important thing is aptitude and nerdiness. And by nerdiness, I mean exactly what you're talking about. Actually being interested in goofy shit like algorithm optimization, ferreting out OS API secrets, etc., just for their own sake, apart from the business need of the moment.
Priests(Marxist theoreticians), crusades, Inquisitions, enforced fervor, punishment for non-belief, holy books written by the founders(Marx & Engels), revered founders expressing revealed truth, etc.
Did I mention the part where many, many millions have been killed in trying to produce the true believer?
Sounds like a religion to me.
Name one Islamic Nation where Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Atheists or anyone else is actually FREE to practice their religion (or lack thereof).
Singapore and Malaysia to name two. You can have about any religion quite publicly as long as you don't try to convert Muslims.
Not an ideal situation perhaps, but you openly practice non-Muslim religions in those countries.
I couldn't replace the spark plugs in my Expedition. I probably could given enough time and some specialized tools, but damn, what an ordeal it promised to be. On the other hand, I've done a boatload of residential wiring from knob and tube to modern. Almost all household electrical should be easy for anyone to do with a little reading. Most modern plumbing is also a lot easier than the old stuff.
My kind of UFO
What we have now is a situation where so many things are illegal no one can keep up. Then TPTB can simply prosecute the desired subgroup and leave their supporters/funders alone. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
I'm not against allowing adults to shoot, snort, sniff, smoke, drink or otherwise wallow in whatever they can want BUT...
Coming from a state where moonshine has been a long time pasttime, I can tell you that if push comes to shove, you'd rather deal with the DEA than the BATF.
Not just flaming here, but remember Waco? That whole thing was initiated over alleged tax issues. That's really what the permits are in the end. Tax issues. Don't forget that the BATF is the enforcement arm of Treasury. They don't fuck around.
No joke, unfortunately. A buddy of mine used to manage an air ambulance service for a large hospital. Mostly went alright, but every now and then the copter would go down. They flew at night sometimes, in mountainous terrain sometimes and in all kinds of weather. It was all too easy to hit a ridge or tower. Don't have to hit 'em hard either. A little unexpected nick of a tower or tree limb snag can be catastrophic.
If wind power is such a joke, people will realize it is a money losing proposition, and they will NOT invest in wind turbines
"People" don't invest much really. It's primarily funded from the government/utility complex. Damn little independent true free market investment in these massive farms.
Here you go: Elephant Low Freq Defense