Re:a series of well planned coincidences.
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yeah, for sure. if NOBODY wants to read it then it's likely they'll always have a copy there, alone, gathering dust, binding in beautiful condition, weiner dog aging gracefully in the cool darkenss of the stacks until some space conscious librarian has finally had it with this damned freeloading book anyway and it finally makes it's way to the periodic book sale where some unsuspecting victim will pick it up for a fraction of what i paid for it...
Re:a series of well planned coincidences.
on
Dive Into Python
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· Score: 1
Oddly enough I kind of liked the style of the book. Perhaps I just tend toward the unexciting, I dunno. I'd like to think that's not the case, but wouldn't we all? I suppose this is just a good example of why it's nice that there are options in reading -> different folks have different opinions about what's "boring" and what's not. I stand by what I said before, I thought it was a pretty good book. Maybe I just got pulled in by the weiner dog...
I've heard that the Pragmatic Programmer is good too, so I think I'll give it a read when I get some time. Grad school ends for me in December, so I guess January will have to do.
Re:a series of well planned coincidences.
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Dive Into Python
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· Score: 1
I meant "...if you don't want to BUY it..."
Re:a series of well planned coincidences.
on
Dive Into Python
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· Score: 5, Informative
Have you read The Practice of Programming by Brian Kernighan & Rob Pike? I thought it was a pretty good "why-to" sort of book that didn't spoon feed you anything, plus it gives examples/assignments in multiple languages so you can see the differences between them. If you haven't read this one, check it out. They probably have it at the library if you don't want to read it, but I'm glad I own a copy.
It's got to be safer for the folks firing the things off as well. Here's a link to a brief story about how the fireworks display where I live went haywire last summer. In a nutshell (and to quote the article) : " About one minute into the display a 10-inch shell malfunctioned, causing a large explosion and fire aboard the fireworks barge, resulting in a chain-reaction series of detonations to the approximately 3,800 fireworks shells. The explosions lasted several minutes and sent shells and burning debris in all directions."
This sucker just about blew up the barge the show was on, and there was mass confusion ensuing. I'm just sorry I missed it...I hear it was pretty wild, stuff going off all over the place and bystanders going apeshit trying to get away.
I went to see Jello sometime around 1987 or 88 (don't really remember). I do remember that he seemed genuinely unhappy to see the Geiger poster I presented him with, but he autographed it for me anyway... My friends thought it was kind of funny to watch him squirm after he had just made us squirm during his 1.5 hours of rant. I enjoyed his bit myself (and love the DKs), although it seemed like a lot of "punkers" hated him & the DKs in general. Seems like not much has changed since then...
...and if I'm lucky I'll get assigned to the case when I go on duty tomorrow. The thought of rummaging through her underwear drawer as part of the official investigation is exhilarating.
With the new definitions about how we can treat suspects I'll even look forward to "questioning" the "suspect" when I "catch" them. I hope I can pin it on that rich little boyfriend of hers.
one thing i wonder about when hearing about this type of thing is this: how often does this actually happen? i mean, how many people here are going to the types of sites (whatever the hell they are) that would post links of this sort? what sort of site posts this type of thing to begin with, and who are all the victims we're looking out for when we show our concern?
someone who knows ANYONE who this has actually happened to please enlighten me.
i don't disagree that it's bad to have these types of exploits as a possibility, but how much of a twist should you get into about it if it never actually happens outside of a laboratory?
this almost seems like getting upset becuase you don't have insurance that protects you from being struck by lightning while hanging out in places with known or suspected criminals and holding an umbrella.
i wish i could say i was, but that would be untrue. i just chose the username because they were (are) one of my favorite bands.
i was in a hippyesque reggae band called rasta rafiki which did a lot of touring & playing around the eastern us -- music festivals in upstate ny, bars anywhere from wash dc, pittsburgh, philly, up to boston & down to florida...broke up in 1996, so i've had some time to get over it.
i was a professional musician for 10 years, doing little else besides setting up & doing tours - sometimes over 250 shows a year. for a good while it was great but eventually it became more & more like "work" and less like "fun". when the band finally broke up i didn't gig with anyone for over a year just becuase i didn't want to.
now that i'm doing something else (programming computers, go figure) i've gotten into a few bands to play in recreationally and it's a blast. i've gotten to remember why it was i did all of that to begin with, plus (ironically enough) i can now afford the nice gear that i only wished i could have when i was actually doing it every day.
i think there's a lot to be said for enjoying your career, but there's certainly something to be said for keeping your "hobbies" (if you can call a lifelong obsession a hobby) separate. for me, the fact that i no longer need to care if i make money at a gig frees me to play whatever the hell i want rather than what "the masses" will want to consume. that sort of cushion makes it much easier to focus on music as expression (self-indulgence?) rather than as a commodity.
as an aside, music is certainly a great hobby for those of us who like free beer!
the teacher has no right to complain at all. if you want the money, do the work that pays the money. they don't keep career field average salaries a secret when you enroll in college.
i don't disagree that lots of professions are undervalued. i do, however, think that suggesting that a teacher is paid less than a doctor/lawyer/accountant is because more people want to be teachers is goofy. the other professions get paid more becuase it takes longer to gain the expertise & credentials to perform those tasks. i also think that not everyone has the ability to do all tasks. i'm not trying to insult teachers or anything like that. are you trying to suggest that everyone you know would make a great programmer or doctor, they just CHOSE to bag groceries or sell cigarettes at 4 am in a bad part of town instead?
i would be the last person to say that people get what they deserve - life isn't fair. so what. i would argue that a person is more likely to get what they want if they ask for it by name or do what the others who have achieved the same thing have done.
none of this really has anything to do with happiness. finding the job that best suits your intellect & desire is one part of it. not being too stressed out about making ends meet as a result of your career choice is a part of it. not being afraid to move on when you're unhappy is another part...
your basic inital statement is true, but all else is not equal. i think that another reason the professions you list get paid more is becuase A) they are more difficult or entail more responsibility - I would love to see my daughter's health teacher explain recursion, for example... hell, i'd like to see her (9th grade) math teacher explain it in an understandable way, and B) they require more training, which raises the bar. go practice medicine or accounting with a 4 year degree and see how long it takes you to get jailed.
a lot of lower paid jobs (not teachers in this case) are taken by people who are unwilling or unable to learn more complex tasks. this is fine, someone needs to pick the trash up after geek conventions, etc. there's no dishonor in any honest work, but it's naive to think that you'll be richly rewarded for something that requires no brain power, time investment, skill, or personal drive to accomplish.
this is not to say that any of the higher paid folks are happier becuase the added stress of a possibly more difficult job (like a doctor where a misdiagnosis == death) takes it's toll and money isn't going to change that...
i'm just rambling, but i still enjoy my programming job. i do get paid more than the guy who pumps my gas, and i deserve it. i may be more stressed out too, which i suppose i also deserve...
While we're recommending non-necessarily-new books, how about "The Gormenghast Novels" by Mervyn Peake. Incredible detail and very gothy-gloomy for all the youngsters out there...
I totally agree with the Gene Wolfe comments, he rocks.
Another seemingly ignored but great "speculative fiction" writer is Theodore Sturgeon. Read "More Than Human", thank me later...
Haven't read much "new" SF, much to my chagrin. I'm a busy boy these days, it seems.
can't argue with you about the bike being more sensible call for the problem than a segway, but management types don't have to make sense (and you know this to be true). the only real advantage a segway might have is in manuverability, but that is certainly not a proven point.
i don't know about the motorcycle being a viable alternative to a car though. i mean, sometimes yes, but not always. don't get me wrong, i like motorcycles (my current one is a 2003 fxdl and it ROCKS), but there are definately times when it doesn't work out (taking the family on vacation to places not polluted by power plants, etc).
i really don't know what the pollution point would be on an modern & relatively clean power plant producing the amount of power it would take to go the same distance as gas in an electric car so i can't really argue with you there either.
the metro will be a tough sell over here. my sister had one...
man, this sucks. i was feeling kind of argumentative and all i can come up with is "a motorcycle isn't as roomy as a car and sucks in the snow". i guess you win! have a nice day.
our company owns manufacturing facilities. large manufacturing facilites. we have facility supervisors & other employees who walk many miles on concrete to get around these facilities every day. some discussion has come up about getting segways for these folks to let our people get to workstations in a more timely manner when problems arise and to take some of the mileage off of these guys.
are there other possible solutions to their problem? of course, but why discount this one? it's easy to say that there's not a real "need" for these things, and if you write software or pull fiber for a living you probably DON'T need one, but i'd imagine the people saying that NOBODY needs one aren't the ones spending their careers on their feet... the guys we have that could actually use one of these didn't even know they existed.
Something unfortunate that seemed to happen to me is that my kids (9 & 14) are almost TOO old to dig it. The fact the the only Star Wars movies out on dvd are pretty weak has turned them off to the whole thing. In some way it seems that GL's plan backfired and he lost 2 potential fans by waiting so long and making a few lame movies rather than just putting the stuff out as he had it.
Who knows though, they may not have liked them anyway, although the oldest one liked the Hitchhiker's Guide so they're not totally immune to the draw of "speculative fiction".
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yeah, for sure. if NOBODY wants to read it then it's likely they'll always have a copy there, alone, gathering dust, binding in beautiful condition, weiner dog aging gracefully in the cool darkenss of the stacks until some space conscious librarian has finally had it with this damned freeloading book anyway and it finally makes it's way to the periodic book sale where some unsuspecting victim will pick it up for a fraction of what i paid for it...
I've heard that the Pragmatic Programmer is good too, so I think I'll give it a read when I get some time. Grad school ends for me in December, so I guess January will have to do.
I meant "...if you don't want to BUY it..."
Have you read The Practice of Programming by Brian Kernighan & Rob Pike? I thought it was a pretty good "why-to" sort of book that didn't spoon feed you anything, plus it gives examples/assignments in multiple languages so you can see the differences between them. If you haven't read this one, check it out. They probably have it at the library if you don't want to read it, but I'm glad I own a copy.
Interesting (coincidental) comment, considering that it's Bastille Day...
[movie switch]
You want an arm? I can get you an arm by 3:00 this afternoon...WITH a chip!
This sucker just about blew up the barge the show was on, and there was mass confusion ensuing. I'm just sorry I missed it...I hear it was pretty wild, stuff going off all over the place and bystanders going apeshit trying to get away.
In related news, ACME Fireworks' stock has risen a startling 22.5% since the announcement.
I went to see Jello sometime around 1987 or 88 (don't really remember). I do remember that he seemed genuinely unhappy to see the Geiger poster I presented him with, but he autographed it for me anyway... My friends thought it was kind of funny to watch him squirm after he had just made us squirm during his 1.5 hours of rant. I enjoyed his bit myself (and love the DKs), although it seemed like a lot of "punkers" hated him & the DKs in general. Seems like not much has changed since then...
With the new definitions about how we can treat suspects I'll even look forward to "questioning" the "suspect" when I "catch" them. I hope I can pin it on that rich little boyfriend of hers.
someone who knows ANYONE who this has actually happened to please enlighten me.
i don't disagree that it's bad to have these types of exploits as a possibility, but how much of a twist should you get into about it if it never actually happens outside of a laboratory?
this almost seems like getting upset becuase you don't have insurance that protects you from being struck by lightning while hanging out in places with known or suspected criminals and holding an umbrella.
i was in a hippyesque reggae band called rasta rafiki which did a lot of touring & playing around the eastern us -- music festivals in upstate ny, bars anywhere from wash dc, pittsburgh, philly, up to boston & down to florida...broke up in 1996, so i've had some time to get over it.
now that i'm doing something else (programming computers, go figure) i've gotten into a few bands to play in recreationally and it's a blast. i've gotten to remember why it was i did all of that to begin with, plus (ironically enough) i can now afford the nice gear that i only wished i could have when i was actually doing it every day.
i think there's a lot to be said for enjoying your career, but there's certainly something to be said for keeping your "hobbies" (if you can call a lifelong obsession a hobby) separate. for me, the fact that i no longer need to care if i make money at a gig frees me to play whatever the hell i want rather than what "the masses" will want to consume. that sort of cushion makes it much easier to focus on music as expression (self-indulgence?) rather than as a commodity.
as an aside, music is certainly a great hobby for those of us who like free beer!
probably not nearly as unpleasant either...i've definately had better days than THAT one! holy shit!
i don't disagree that lots of professions are undervalued. i do, however, think that suggesting that a teacher is paid less than a doctor/lawyer/accountant is because more people want to be teachers is goofy. the other professions get paid more becuase it takes longer to gain the expertise & credentials to perform those tasks. i also think that not everyone has the ability to do all tasks. i'm not trying to insult teachers or anything like that. are you trying to suggest that everyone you know would make a great programmer or doctor, they just CHOSE to bag groceries or sell cigarettes at 4 am in a bad part of town instead?
i would be the last person to say that people get what they deserve - life isn't fair. so what. i would argue that a person is more likely to get what they want if they ask for it by name or do what the others who have achieved the same thing have done.
none of this really has anything to do with happiness. finding the job that best suits your intellect & desire is one part of it. not being too stressed out about making ends meet as a result of your career choice is a part of it. not being afraid to move on when you're unhappy is another part...
a lot of lower paid jobs (not teachers in this case) are taken by people who are unwilling or unable to learn more complex tasks. this is fine, someone needs to pick the trash up after geek conventions, etc. there's no dishonor in any honest work, but it's naive to think that you'll be richly rewarded for something that requires no brain power, time investment, skill, or personal drive to accomplish.
this is not to say that any of the higher paid folks are happier becuase the added stress of a possibly more difficult job (like a doctor where a misdiagnosis == death) takes it's toll and money isn't going to change that...
i'm just rambling, but i still enjoy my programming job. i do get paid more than the guy who pumps my gas, and i deserve it. i may be more stressed out too, which i suppose i also deserve...
this statement is, of course, arkasm. (you wouldn't hit a guy for making a bad pun, would you?)
I totally agree with the Gene Wolfe comments, he rocks.
Another seemingly ignored but great "speculative fiction" writer is Theodore Sturgeon. Read "More Than Human", thank me later...
Haven't read much "new" SF, much to my chagrin. I'm a busy boy these days, it seems.
q: why can't helen keller drive?
a: because she's a wo- *thwack* ouch!
"...I don't even see the articles anymore. All I see are blondes, brunettes, redheads..."
can't argue with you about the bike being more sensible call for the problem than a segway, but management types don't have to make sense (and you know this to be true). the only real advantage a segway might have is in manuverability, but that is certainly not a proven point.
i don't know about the motorcycle being a viable alternative to a car though. i mean, sometimes yes, but not always. don't get me wrong, i like motorcycles (my current one is a 2003 fxdl and it ROCKS), but there are definately times when it doesn't work out (taking the family on vacation to places not polluted by power plants, etc).
i really don't know what the pollution point would be on an modern & relatively clean power plant producing the amount of power it would take to go the same distance as gas in an electric car so i can't really argue with you there either.
the metro will be a tough sell over here. my sister had one...
man, this sucks. i was feeling kind of argumentative and all i can come up with is "a motorcycle isn't as roomy as a car and sucks in the snow". i guess you win! have a nice day.
are there other possible solutions to their problem? of course, but why discount this one? it's easy to say that there's not a real "need" for these things, and if you write software or pull fiber for a living you probably DON'T need one, but i'd imagine the people saying that NOBODY needs one aren't the ones spending their careers on their feet... the guys we have that could actually use one of these didn't even know they existed.
Who knows though, they may not have liked them anyway, although the oldest one liked the Hitchhiker's Guide so they're not totally immune to the draw of "speculative fiction".
I must disagree. There is no holiday, however evil or pagan, that makes listening to Michael Jackson ok.
In fact, I can't think of ANY event, however profound, that could justify something like that.
Ah, but could it REALLY be a movie about pirates if it wasn't rated "Arrr"?