I have found several reasons to leave jobs, some good, some bad, but these days the primary sign that it is time to go is the massive,persistent, cramp behind my left shoulder blade and a tendency to gain weight. I'm halfway there now, and it's only been 4 months this time.
It is definitely worth looking at jobs as a way to make enough for you spend good time looking for another one. It is not a pholosophy that leads to a good retirement, but it does keep things interesting.
I would be curious to know what the average job length is among the regular readers here. (for the moment at least, this does not include freelancers.)
Damn! It's been a while, and unfortunately for me most of my pratchett collection is still in storage on the west coast. (of the u.s.) and I am currently stuck in the northeast kingdom.
I think that one of the most enjoyable moments I've had regarding a pratchet book, was after reading, I think it was "Reaper Man," where there was a description of the magic detector that consisted of an urn with several elephants around the rim. When magic was detected, a pebble would drop (well, shoot)out of the elephant which was pointing towards the source of the magic.(pib)
a couple of years after reading this, I was leafing through a catalog of ancient pottery, ( I believe it was chinese,) and there was a photograph of an ancient siesmometer. an urn with a bunch of elephants around the rim with a pebble balanced on the trunk. if there was an earthquake, the elephants in line with the direction of the source of the earthquake would drop their pebbles.
this was the point at which I really came to appreciate the depth of Pratchett's satire and observations. He doesn't just make them up, he references things which already are. I think that his insight into the mental condition is as great as his sense of historical trivia.
While I enjoyed Asprin's books (I tend to prefer the phule series to the M.Y.T.H series), the characters and stories he uses seem to be much more earnestly childish (childish is not a bad thing) and far less applicable as examples of humanity. They are definitely funny, but not, as the parent here says, deep. It's kind of like the difference between wit and humor. One definition of which Pratchett gave in an interview, (I can't remember where,) and another you can find in the movie "Ridicule" (french movie, VERY funny)
the other thing about Pratchett, is that his grammar isn't as condescending as Asprin (or for that matter, most children's book authors) "Hat full of Sky" and "Wee Free Men" , books that Pratchett deliberately aimed at the younger reader do NOT make any attempt to 'dumb down' the writing style because he is writing for children. he just chooses a topic that is of more direct interest to a child. i.e. the life of a pre-teen character.
you weren't around for the tosco fiasco a few years ago? [tosco refinery, big fire, near oakland] there was a refinery fire, and despite the fact that only a small percentage of the local gasoline stemmed from that refinery, prices went up. A lot. when it was noted that people still payed for the gas, the prices stayed up. [until somebody was finally sued for gouging...]
When prices go up, if the market can bear it, they don't go back down again. unless forced.
it's way too late, I actually flipped across a channel some time back and heard the members of the 700 club railing against the presence of daemons in UNIX variants...
somewhere there is a tutorial that I followed and lost, that shows how to install x11 to run from startup and remove the x11 icon from the doc as well as be able to default call x apps from the apple terminal....
I wish I could remember where it was... but basically it was down to -adding X11 to the start up bit of your account definition, -setting the DISPLAY environment to 0.0 in.profile or similar -adding an entry to the end of the x11 info.plist file ------------- NSUIElement 1 ------------- just before the last
there was also a bit about using the 'defaults' mechanism to allow you to emulate the normal xwindows mouseover action but I preferred not to do that so I have forgotten that bit
actually, this sounds a lot like the general practice of programming in pseudocode, and having (I guess) a translator turn it into the language of your choice...(why?)
I suppose the one major initial benefit would be to finally expose to most people that all languages essentially do the same thing. only the specific syntax is the difference. although in the interests of job security would we all want everyone to know that?
although a side effect might be to have languages start to look more like applescript...
personally, I think it would be kind of neat to have an editor that could, due to the formatting of the underlying code,) be much more clever about highlighting code blocks. and being able to view a representation of the program flow by backing out somewhat and seeing the whole program laid out graphically in front of you... wait, forget I said that, (does anyone know the number to the patent office?)
and why people use unlicensed copies of photoshop too...
some of the software gets chosen just because it's better, some because it's free. but some is chosen because they can get the version they would have had to pay for for free...
that particular industry (entertainment) is unusual in a way for always demanding the 'latest and greatest' (as opposed to say, the print industry, which, as an adopting industry, tends to lag behind. (witness quark and OSX) (I'm learning LISP, can you tell?)) and 'latest, greatest' is not usually what OSS and F software is about. (at least not according to many of the articles published around here recently.)
(the entertainment industry is also somewhat unusual in its ability to demand service and product in return for 'screen credit.' the story of electric image and ILM might be relevant here.)
the major reason cinepaint is popular in parts of hollywood is that same reason that many other things are popular in hollywood.
the producer doesn't have to pay for it.
news to people who follow entertainment industry trends.
people in that industry USE WHAT IS FREE. sorry to shout, but that's how it goes. why does this house use SGI? cause they were given it. why does this house use that? because they were given that. why does this house use linux? because they couldn't talk anyone into giving them something for free and this was the next best thing.
ILM and similar (especially early on,) got a lot of their hardware (and software) by telling the maker that they would announce the fact that they used it.
in the case of cinepaint and movies, the scriptability for multiple images in a sequence is a plus, but the big chooser is $795 -- $0
I know they are generally looked at askance, but things like smileys (copyrighted though some may be) can add a certain amount of clarity. One of the biggest problems with e-mail as a communication method is that people hear themselves speak what they are writing, and assume that the reader will hear the same thing.
Intonation is NOT generally communicated in writing.
Some of the biggest fights in the company I used to work for, which had an office in England and California, (8 hrs apart,) were due to people misunderstanding sarcasm which would have been obvious when spoken aloud.
On the other hand I support creative punctuation and capitalization too. Though I am restraining myself here for clarity.
it's not just canada, I used to live in italy, and the medication there was extraordinarily cheap by comparison.
the albuterol inhaler that I have been using for the last 20 years, at the time cost @$27 in the US, while at the same time the cost in italy for the same drug, was roughly equivalent to $1.50
this may be a larger than normal discrepancy, but insane nonetheless.
as far as I understand it, one reason for things like this is that the cost of the R&D is only amortized over the sales in the US, and not the rest of the world. largely because the drug companies expect the cost to be defrayed by the private insurance companies. as opposed to nationalized systems that would put them under much greater scrutiny.
Slashdot Mirror
isn't orange county in the north east?
I have found several reasons to leave jobs, some good, some bad, but these days the primary sign that it is time to go is the massive,persistent, cramp behind my left shoulder blade and a tendency to gain weight. I'm halfway there now, and it's only been 4 months this time.
It is definitely worth looking at jobs as a way to make enough for you spend good time looking for another one. It is not a pholosophy that leads to a good retirement, but it does keep things interesting.
I would be curious to know what the average job length is among the regular readers here. (for the moment at least, this does not include freelancers.)
Damn! It's been a while, and unfortunately for me most of my pratchett collection is still in storage on the west coast. (of the u.s.) and I am currently stuck in the northeast kingdom.
I think that one of the most enjoyable moments I've had regarding a pratchet book, was after reading, I think it was "Reaper Man," where there was a description of the magic detector that consisted of an urn with several elephants around the rim. When magic was detected, a pebble would drop (well, shoot)out of the elephant which was pointing towards the source of the magic.(pib)
a couple of years after reading this, I was leafing through a catalog of ancient pottery, ( I believe it was chinese,) and there was a photograph of an ancient siesmometer. an urn with a bunch of elephants around the rim with a pebble balanced on the trunk. if there was an earthquake, the elephants in line with the direction of the source of the earthquake would drop their pebbles.
this was the point at which I really came to appreciate the depth of Pratchett's satire and observations. He doesn't just make them up, he references things which already are. I think that his insight into the mental condition is as great as his sense of historical trivia.
While I enjoyed Asprin's books (I tend to prefer the phule series to the M.Y.T.H series), the characters and stories he uses seem to be much more earnestly childish (childish is not a bad thing) and far less applicable as examples of humanity. They are definitely funny, but not, as the parent here says, deep. It's kind of like the difference between wit and humor. One definition of which Pratchett gave in an interview, (I can't remember where,) and another you can find in the movie "Ridicule" (french movie, VERY funny)
the other thing about Pratchett, is that his grammar isn't as condescending as Asprin (or for that matter, most children's book authors) "Hat full of Sky" and "Wee Free Men" , books that Pratchett deliberately aimed at the younger reader do NOT make any attempt to 'dumb down' the writing style because he is writing for children. he just chooses a topic that is of more direct interest to a child. i.e. the life of a pre-teen character.
actually, in this context, 'soul' makes as much or more sense...
otherwise...
red dwarf!
does this mean we can now wire the monkeys directly to a wordprocessor?
and the amazing part is that karl rove, having admitted that, was just promoted...
don't you just love the fact that this happens, people see it happen, and no one notices.
but that's okay, condi rice will save us from those evildoe....................
Oil prices?
Down?
you weren't around for the tosco fiasco a few years ago? [tosco refinery, big fire, near oakland] there was a refinery fire, and despite the fact that only a small percentage of the local gasoline stemmed from that refinery, prices went up. A lot. when it was noted that people still payed for the gas, the prices stayed up. [until somebody was finally sued for gouging...]
When prices go up, if the market can bear it, they don't go back down again. unless forced.
c'mon that's the capitalist way.
it's way too late, I actually flipped across a channel some time back and heard the members of the 700 club railing against the presence of daemons in UNIX variants...
waitaminnit, offensive CAMEL?
one more to add to the old phrase,
"duct tape and vise grips, the wrong tools for every job."
i guess most people are unaware that the life, universe and everything is a zero index array...
I'm rather dissappointed, a sentence with the words "harder" and "penetration tester" in it and mine is the first comment about it?
I suppose it is a friday night...
somewhere there is a tutorial that I followed and lost, that shows how to install x11 to run from startup and remove the x11 icon from the doc as well as be able to default call x apps from the apple terminal....
.profile or similar-
I wish I could remember where it was... but basically it was down to
-adding X11 to the start up bit of your account definition,
-setting the DISPLAY environment to 0.0 in
-adding an entry to the end of the x11 info.plist file
-------------
NSUIElement
1
------------
just before the last
there was also a bit about using the 'defaults' mechanism to allow you to emulate the normal xwindows mouseover action but I preferred not to do that so I have forgotten that bit
actually, this sounds a lot like the general practice of programming in pseudocode, and having (I guess) a translator turn it into the language of your choice...(why?)
I suppose the one major initial benefit would be to finally expose to most people that all languages essentially do the same thing. only the specific syntax is the difference. although in the interests of job security would we all want everyone to know that?
although a side effect might be to have languages start to look more like applescript...
personally, I think it would be kind of neat to have an editor that could, due to the formatting of the underlying code,) be much more clever about highlighting code blocks. and being able to view a representation of the program flow by backing out somewhat and seeing the whole program laid out graphically in front of you... wait, forget I said that, (does anyone know the number to the patent office?)
and why people use unlicensed copies of photoshop too...
some of the software gets chosen just because it's better, some because it's free. but some is chosen because they can get the version they would have had to pay for for free...
that particular industry (entertainment) is unusual in a way for always demanding the 'latest and greatest' (as opposed to say, the print industry, which, as an adopting industry, tends to lag behind. (witness quark and OSX) (I'm learning LISP, can you tell?)) and 'latest, greatest' is not usually what OSS and F software is about. (at least not according to many of the articles published around here recently.)
(the entertainment industry is also somewhat unusual in its ability to demand service and product in return for 'screen credit.' the story of electric image and ILM might be relevant here.)
in less than a decade, sun will finally be right?
woohoo! buy stock now!
the major reason cinepaint is popular in parts of hollywood is that same reason that many other things are popular in hollywood.
the producer doesn't have to pay for it.
news to people who follow entertainment industry trends.
people in that industry USE WHAT IS FREE. sorry to shout, but that's how it goes. why does this house use SGI? cause they were given it. why does this house use that? because they were given that. why does this house use linux? because they couldn't talk anyone into giving them something for free and this was the next best thing.
ILM and similar (especially early on,) got a lot of their hardware (and software) by telling the maker that they would announce the fact that they used it.
in the case of cinepaint and movies, the scriptability for multiple images in a sequence is a plus, but the big chooser is $795 -- $0
I believe that quote is attributable to daedelus...
icarus' quote was more likely to be "what? what!?! oops... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA---!!"
I know they are generally looked at askance, but things like smileys (copyrighted though some may be) can add a certain amount of clarity. One of the biggest problems with e-mail as a communication method is that people hear themselves speak what they are writing, and assume that the reader will hear the same thing.
Intonation is NOT generally communicated in writing.
Some of the biggest fights in the company I used to work for, which had an office in England and California, (8 hrs apart,) were due to people misunderstanding sarcasm which would have been obvious when spoken aloud.
On the other hand I support creative punctuation and capitalization too. Though I am restraining myself here for clarity.
it's not just canada, I used to live in italy, and the medication there was extraordinarily cheap by comparison.
the albuterol inhaler that I have been using for the last 20 years, at the time cost @$27 in the US, while at the same time the cost in italy for the same drug, was roughly equivalent to $1.50
this may be a larger than normal discrepancy, but insane nonetheless.
as far as I understand it, one reason for things like this is that the cost of the R&D is only amortized over the sales in the US, and not the rest of the world. largely because the drug companies expect the cost to be defrayed by the private insurance companies. as opposed to nationalized systems that would put them under much greater scrutiny.
Until recently I worked as a logistic technician, (roadie) for cirque du soleil. a great way to spend a couple of years.
I also used to moonlight as a fire-eater. which after all this time is still the best hourly rate I ever managed...(>$125/hr.)
actually, I'm thinking of marketing the latter as a corporate team-building exercise, any takers?
homage is when you steal from someone who is dead,
influence is when you steal from someone who is alive,
plagiarism is when you steal from ME!