Well... That's certainly true. The uplink is about equal to a 56K connection (although it's a FULL 56K, not the 30-45K you actually get from phone lines) so online gaming is pretty much out. On the plus side, downloading is extremely fast once the initial request is made. Direcway says you'll get 200-400Kbps, but in practice, we've found it to be even faster than that. It's a really nice service. Streaming video comes through really, really well for example. And, downloads are fast. 20,30 megs in a couple of minutes. I like it.
Of course, if you're a gamer, you'd probably want a cablemodem. That's what I have at home. But Satellite is nice.
You have indeed addressed my points (if not invalidated them), and eloquently. However, I still think that operator-powered vehicles such as the ten-speed are going to be more effective for travel. Still, none of this is going to catch on until municipalities start creating protected bicycle (for example) only lanes, with some kind of concrete median between them and the car lanes. This has happened in spots in NYC, for instance, along the hudson around Chelsea. But it's not widespread.
Anyway, I guess it basically comes down to this: For the amount of money the Segway costs, with its limited range and capacity, and time to recharge, human powered vehicles seem like a much better buy. Think about it: a plain-jane ten-speed costs under a hundred bucks, is faster than the Segway, can carry more weight, and has an effectively infinite range. So why would anyone buy a Segway? Remember, again, that neither the Segway nor the bicycle can run on sidewalks so neither offers an advantage there (except for the bicycles superior brakes, that is).
Again, since everything with wheels has to travel in the road (well, except wheelchairs) and no one really wants to fight the SUV's for right-of-way, I think the Segway is doomed. Which is my whole point. Given that you have to use the road, or a bike lane, you just can't beat the basic utility and value of a bicycle. And, as you can see by looking out your window, nearly no one has chosen the bicycle over the SUV.
Leaving alone the other alternatives, skateboard, rollerblades, et al... The bike is the strongest alternative anyway.
Interesting conversation. Don't get me wrong, the Segway is neat, but I wouldn't want one myself. What I'd want is the little gasoline-powered scooter I saw a mechanical engineering major down in Arizona build. He was zipping around campus on the thing, doing maybe 30mph, way back in the early nineties. It had a little handlebar, with brakes, etc. Looked cool, and was made out of an old skateboard and some pipe.
And, of course, anyone with some mechanical skills can build one of those in a weekend. All it takes is a skateboard frame, a motor from a weed-whacker, a little length of bike chain, some fat rubber tires, some pipe, and some ten-speed bicycle parts (levers, etc). Not hard, maybe 200.00 worth of parts?
I think the Segway is more or less a conspicuous-consumption item.
I just had a thought; I could build a little scooter like that for around 200 bucks, and if I spread the wheels out in a wide enough pattern, it would be totally stable without all the weird electronics of the Segway. I'd power it with gasoline, it would have like, a thirty or forty mile range, it would be faster than the Segway, and it would have BRAKES... Hmm...
Nah. It still wouldn't be legal to put on the sidewalk. I'd get run over by a minivan or something.
Most people don't live within range of a central switching office, so DSL isn't available to them anyway. We're talking about a technology that is available to a lucky few who just happen to be in the right place to get the service.
Most people are going to end up with cable or satellite service, and eventually, many are going to migrate to the power companies' and their network-over-power-lines idea. If you haven't heard about this, it's probably going to be a relatively big deal one of these days. Lord knows what else they're going to come up with.
I've got cable, my folks have satellite... It costs around a hundred bucks a month, but you get a fast connection plus about a thousand television channels. You're stuck with one provider, but the service is generally pretty good.
I'm not saying this FCC ruling isn't unfortunate, I'm just saying it's going to affect a limited number of people, and ultimately, will be irrelevant. I strongly suspect DSL service is going to go the way of ISDN before too long.
Nah. Get satellite. My parents live in an area where there is no cable internet service, and no DSL. They got satellite, and it's wonderful. Slightly better than cable, too, because the up and downlinks are both encrypted between their dish and the satellite, which means (unlike cable) script kiddies can't use a sniffer to eavesdrop.
Check out www.direcway.com; they're a pretty good company I think. Bidirectional satellite, available anywhere in the northern hemisphere.
I disagree with some of your points. For instance:
1. To stop a skateboard, you step hard on the back, driving it against the ground and skidding to a stop (the front wheels are off the ground while you're doing this -- it takes some balance, but it does work).
2. To stop rollerblades, you put one at a 90 degree angle to the other and brake. Or you drag the toe. Or, if you're any good, you just do a quick circular spin and stop right there, turning your momentum into rotation. Works the same as in ice skating. Of course, common sense says don't be blading at a full-out run on the sidewalk.
3. Most bicycles have a marvellous invention called BRAKES. If you are bicycling at a reasonable speed, say, 15 mph or less, this shouldn't be a problem. By the way: No one with half a brain clamps down on the front brake only, so most people do NOT go over the handlebars.
I think you're building straw men here. It won't work; I've thought these arguments through. If one is sensible, and isn't riding like a mad, Manhattan courier, then he generally won't get into trouble. But I still wouldn't advise riding on the sidewalk; it's inconsiderate.
I'd like to mention also that the Segway doesn't exempt you from the laws of physics. If you're going too fast and you pull a sudden stop, you're going to end up flopping over the front of it, or losing your balance and doing some kind of undignified face-plant. Operator skill, I imagine, features heavily in this.
As far as going uphill, let's see how long that famous battery of yours lasts. I bet you wear it out pretty quickly. IN contrast, me and my bicycle can just shift to lower gears and power it out. Like I said, infinite range. How is your segway going to help you if work is 7 miles away? That's a fourteen mile round trip, and you'll run out of juice three quarters of the way home. My bike'll get me there though.
I respect your point of view, but I don't think you've countered my points yet.
Ah, but what makes you think standing on a non air conditioned Segway in the hot sun isn't going to make you sweat? You're going to sweat like a dog. You're going to be segwaying along, sweating away. Sweat, sweat, sweat. Ick, foo.
If it's hot, and you have to meet with clients, do as all others do and take a cab or drive. I drive, personally, because I live fifteen miles away from my job and it's easier than bicycling. And, of course, we got sixteen inches of snow the other day...;)
Alternative: Sew a Peltier cooler, a battery, and a network of coolant tubes into a zoot suit! I've been wanting to build an air conditioned zoot suit for the past three years. It would have to be orange, of course, and come with a two and a half foot wide "bomb throwing hat". Orange air conditioned zoot suit, peach colored silk shirt and hankerchief, and neon red tie! Yowza, babe.
Ok, just because this is one of my coolest stories, here's what happened (I SWEAR this was NOT my fault):
We were driving the hummer way out in the sticks, and it was winter so it was kind of cold. California cold, that is, which was maybe 40 or 50 degrees. But, still, chilly. So, the hummer is covered in mud, and I'm driving. The corporal says, Hey, get this thing wet; I don't want to clean off all this mud, dude. So, I was like, "Uh, OK."
(NOTE: the hummer course says you should go only 15-20mph off-road, and never cross water doing over 5mph, but NO MARINE ALIVE ever drives that slow).
Up ahead on the trail, there was a huge puddle about twenty or thirty feet wide. So, I got the hummer up to about thirty mph, and slammed into the puddle. Instant tidal wave! The hummer was soaked, and the mud came off. Great, right? So I thought that was kind of cool.
I took the wrong fork in the road a few dozen yards further on, and we were pointing more or less towards the main road through base. The corporal was like, "Dammit, not left! Right!" I was like, "Fine! Let me get it turned around."
Then I saw the puddle.
It wasn't that big, maybe twenty feet across. It didn't LOOK deep, and with the shine off it, I figured it for only maybe a foot deep. I gunned the hummer, up to 20 or 30, and said, "Cool! Another puddle!" The corporal yelled, "WHAT THE FU..." (colossal splash) "YOU FUCKING IDIOT!!!" and just like that, we were underwater. Well, only for a second. I saw the wave come up over the windshield, and then we popped out over the other side, almost catching some air in the process. Well, the corporal had kittens. "OUT! YOU'RE FIRED! Hey, YOU! You're driving..." So, we all changed places, and we pointed the hummer up this huge hill that led back to the main base road.
I was sulking in the back of the hummer when it suddenly stalled. "FUCK!" the corporal yelled. We let it coast back down to flat ground, and the corporal opened up the hood. He muttered, "I'll try and dry off the points, you assholes wait over there." I said to my friend, "Hey, aren't these diesels? Diesels don't have points." He said, "Let the corporal play. It's cool." So we waited while the corporal tinkered with the air cleaner, trying to find the "points", and after a minute, he jumped in and it turned over. "Get in, we're going back to base," he said.
As I was walking up to the hummer, I noticed a stream of oil, I mean a thick, solid stream, coming out of the exhaust pipe. "Wow," I said. "What wow?" the corporal asked. "I mean," I said, "I knew these things burned oil, but that's just extreme." He looked out at the squirting oil, and his knees went a little weak.
"Oh, sweet jesus... Jesus...," he muttered, "Aw, fuck..."
We rode back to base as fast as we could, so the hummer didn't drop dead on us, and we got out to give it a final wash. The corporal grabbed me and said, "Look, I signed for this sumbitch, and I'll check it back in. You don't say SHIT, you understand? It was FINE when we turned it in. Got it???" I was like, "Fine, fine, whatever you say, man. But don't you think we should..."
"NO!"
"Fine! Whatever you say, corporal."
So, ok, a couple of weeks later, he's down to lance corporal again, presumably for lying about the condition of the hummer (I TOLD him he should have filled out the form) and the gunny and first sergeant are giving me funny looks. The gunny asked me, while giving me the equivalent of a vulcan death grip, "Hey, I heard you had some fun in humvee school..." I was like, "Um... Yeah." He said, "Ok then," dismissed me, and the matter was dropped.
I hope so; being alone isn't that much fun. Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of time for gaming, programming, and anime, but still... It would be nice to have someone else around, you know?
1. Rollerblades are easier, work better, are more maneuverable, and a Lot Cheaper.
2. Bicycles go just as fast and have an effectively infinite range with no recharge necessary (except for that stop at the pub). And, are cheaper.
3. Skateboards can probably go just as fast, are just as maneuverable, don't have to be recharged... Etc.
4. People have had all of the above cheaper, better alternatives to the Segway, but they don't use them because they're dangerous to put in the street and are illegal to use on the sidewalk. Mainly because of the danger to pedestrians. Which is why the Segway won't be legal for sidewalk use either.
Result: The segway doesn't stand a chance. How could it? Can't put it in the road (you'll be roadkill), can't ride it on the sidewalk (you're just as dangerous to pedestrians as an inline skater)...
Kind of makes you wonder how much thought they put into this weirdo pogo-stick-looking thing. Are all the people in startup companies yes men? Did no one speak up and say, "Yes, but if they make riding things on sidewalks legal, can't I use my bike or rollerblades?"
irix said, about the Hummer H2, "It doesn't have half of the offroad capabilities of the real Hummer (HMMWV), which was selected by the U.S. military because it was the best wheeled offroad vehicle they could get."
Man, that's the truth. I was a US Marine, and went through Humvee school (Failed, for more or less killing a Humvee! That, friends, is Not Easy, it took complete submersion in a cold, six foot deep puddle out in the sticks, and driving up a hill at speed, and even that only cracked the engine block).
The REAL Humvee is made almost entirely of kevlar; it has a Lamborghini suspension; it has a 6.2 liter naturally aspirated diesel engine; it has a snorkel and the exhaust is pushed up seven feet so you can cross shallow rivers; it has a TWELVE SPEED automatic transmission (High, High lock, low, low lock, and the traditional 1,2,3,D for each drive setting); REAL runout tires, with plastic spines, that can withstand small arms fire; and it's completely waterproofed right down to the glow plugs.
The REAL Humvee can climb a 60 degree angle, WITH A TRAILER IN TOW. In High Lock. I know, because we did it. I used to watch Humvees climb firebreaks in Camp Pendleton. Straight up a freakin' mountain! They were amazing things. And, the hard-shell models are bulletproof.
I'd gladly give my left nut for one (in good working order, that is). Provided anasthesia was supplied.;)
The article was written by an apologist.
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Why Nerds Are Unpopular
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Let me tell you my view of things:
All my life, I've been one of the smartest kids in whichever school I've been in. I'm not saying this as a brag, but to frame the post: when I was 12, the state said my IQ was 138; later, when I took the SAT, I scored in the top two percent across the board. And, this was the OLD SAT, back in 1987, when it was significantly harder than it is today. I'm in Mensa, for what that's worth, and I'm a senior Programmer/Analyst. I think, I'm a pretty good one.
All my life I've been picked on without mercy -- until that is, I spent two unhappy years in the United States Marine Corps learning how to kill people. That seemed to change the balance of power quite a bit (for those who are wondering, yes, I got an honorable discharge, as a Gulf War vet, yes I was a Fleet Marine, Infrantry, and yes, I got it early -- long story).
I never consciously did anything to deserve the abuse, except trying to do well in school. But, that sometimes is enough. The other students hated me for it, for making them look less smart in comparison, for knowing answers they didn't know. Some of the teachers even hated me; I remember my fourth grade teacher humiliating me in class after my statement that ice ages were a periodic phenomenon (it was innocent, we were talking about it at the time). She told me very sternly that there was only "one great ice age". Then she brought over the "science teacher" who backed her up on that. It was amazing to me; I knew for a FACT that there have been several ice ages. In fact, she later admitted to my mother, during a parent-teacher conference in which my mother put her on the spot, that she didn't really know whether there were one or many, but she wasn't going to let some kid get the better of her. Typical.
Or I could tell you how my english teacher, an abusive asshole who was known for striking his students physically, gave me an F on an english paper for using the word "alas". He said, "Sixth graders just do NOT use the word alas!" So I used it in a sentence, and he sent me to the principal's office for being a smartass.
I could tell you how many times I was physically attacked by other kids, humiliated in various ways, hit and struck and threatened, how one guy pointed a.45 over/under derringer under my nose to freak me out one day... Then turned around, dumped out the bullets into his father's bureau drawer, and showed me the empty gun saying what a pussy I was. But, I saw the hollowpoints that had been there before. Nice, for a ten or eleven year old kid, huh? But that's New York for you.
I could go on and on, but you get the idea. The teachers were mostly hostile, the students were mostly hostile, and life was a living hell. I don't want to hear any crap about how it's just the system that makes this happen, or how the kids aren't actually evil. Let's make no bones about it. Most of the kids going to public schools are mean little bastards, plain and simple. And, the teachers don't care, so they have a free rein to do as they please. If you're smarter than they are, and you make them feel small, no matter how unintentionally you do it, you're going to be the target of their pathetic, cruel vengeance. And, that's what this is all about. Vengeance, for being smarter or more interested in studying. It's not about envy, it's not about desire. It's about hatred, and vengeance.
In high school, I lucked out: my parents had had enough of watching me get abused in the NYS public school system, so as of the eighth grade I went to a private school populated by rich kids. They picked on me a little, not so much for being smart, as for being poor. They made fun of my clothes and my virginity, mostly -- they were going to all these cool parties, doing drugs, drinking... I was home studying, and this made me suitable for teasing. But, thank God, it was nowhere near as bad as it was in public schools. Most of it was pretty harmless, and some of it was good-natured. And, I never got beat up by anyone. In fact, one of the only real problems I had was all the leftover hostility and paranoia from my years in the public school system!
The only really awful thing that happened to me in high school was a continuous torment by Jessica, who was supposedly the prettiest girl in the school (actually, she wasn't, but she was very pretty). She knew I liked her, so she tormented me continuously, trying to set me up for hideous pranks... For example, one time she tried to trick me into taking my clothes off with a dozen students hidden behind a door nearby -- I didn't fall for it, thank God. I opened the door and embarassed her little audience. Another time, she nagged me into taking her to a public dance in my junior year, and then didn't show up, so I had to listen to my "friends" Mike and Kevin take odds from people, bookie-style, as to whether she's going to show up. But even that wasn't that bad. Just kind of annoying, and hurtful. It was nothing like the beatings I had to deal with in public school.
I had a long and unhappy childhood, and the first ten years of my adult life were unhappy as well. I am not inclined to forgive any of the people who tormented me, nor am I inclined to write off their abuse as "just the structure of the system" or "something nerds get because they don't want to be popular". Abuse is abuse; the torment I received ultimately turned me into the crazy, celibate hermit I am today. And, I'll tell you, a society that vilifies people simply for being smarter, or a little more shabbily dressed, doesn't really deserve to be given the benefit of the doubt. Is high school like prison? Sure. Are the students like inmates? Sure. Does this mean that basic human nature, unrestrained, is cruel and vicious? Perhaps. But these are not excuses!
Sometimes I think I'll be alone until the day I die. I really only want to date someone who is in the same boat as me; I don't want to think about ever dating someone who, back in high school, was one of the abusive types I loathe so completely. My only hope is to hook up with a woman who in high school, was neutral (didn't associate with any cliques really, and didn't pick on anyone). I don't think it's going to happen, so I keep to myself, I work on my PC, and I program. It sustains me; my machines are better companions than any person (aside from my parents, who have always loved me) has ever been. I might buy a dog at some point. German Shepherds and Rottweilers are pretty smart, loyal, and friendly.
As a final thought, MY kids (if, that is, I ever have any) are going to private school as of grade six. NO FUCKING WAY are they going to put up with what I put up with. And, I'm going to dress them well, and teach them about what I call "social camoflage". If they can't fit in because they're smart, at least they'll be able to fake everyone out and get out with their skins (and minds) intact.
Amen to that -- I was picked on mercilessly because I was a physics geek in high school, and was 6 feet tall, 150 pounds.
So I joined the Marine Corps, as a Fleet Marine (1st Bn, 4th Marines, Westpac), got into a raid unit as a mortarman/company radio operator, and learned a lot of fairly cool commando-type stuff. I also bulked up significantly; I was about 240 when I got my discharge, and I'm up almost to 300 nowadays (I'm not particularly fat, either, although I could stand to lose some weight).
I don't recommend this course of action, particularly -- the USMC is a painful place for a nontraditional, free-thinker type, trust me, I know -- but being able to break a bully in half over your knee is a VERY comforting thing.
You can't tell online, without being able to see me, but I fill an entire doorway now, and my shoulders are so wide sometimes I have to turn sideways to enter smaller doors. On the plus side, no one ever picks on me anymore. On the minus, it breaks my heart, because I know I'll never be slender again so long as I live (you can't get rid of bone and muscle, once you've built it up). And, being psychologically able to kill, which is something that is pounded into every Marine, may or may not be a good thing. A little faustian maybe.
Cool! Ditto for me. I didn't notice what your nickname was until like, two or three posts in, and then I was like, "say WHAT? His name is WHAT?" I had to look twice!;)
You're A-OK, dude. Enjoy Bermuda -- I can't wait until summer, I miss the beach like nobody's business.
Ok, ok... Fair enough. My apologies for getting a little heated up (but, "twinkletoes"??? Harsh, man, harsh). I did figure you were putting the screws to me a little bit, maybe talking down to me a touch; I'm glad you're not like that. As you can guess, it's kind of a pet peeve of mine (long story).
This comment has made things a little more interesting. For one thing, the fact that you own your own company explains the quote you put in your first email, "stick it to da man, etc". That kind of set me off a little, seemed a little condescending. The thing is, I don't see the situation as being one of "the man" and "the rest of us". The way I see it, corporate America isn't something you can personify, it's faceless and amorphous -- and doesn't really have anything to offer the American worker anymore, because it's not loyal, or trustworthy, so it should be considered irrelevant and ignored. Note that I'm not against all private businesses, just corporate businesses. I think that once a board of directors and stockholders come into the picture, any semblance of loyalty and social contract is destroyed.
Now, I don't have a problem with small companies, privately owned. My reason for this is that when an individual owns and controls a business, you can build trust. It's not just about bottom line, the owner can choose to take a hit in a bad year instead of firing his people. He can decide to play fair, and treat them well. Try a stunt like that in corporate and the stockholders sue your ass.
Overall... The situation is lousy in IT. Corporate sucks, and aren't hiring anyway (a friend of mine recently was shown a two foot stack of resumes by a recruiter, with the comment "I can't find any of THEM a job either"). Small businesses aren't that common, and whether you can trust them is a crapshoot based on the type of person the owner is. Utility companies may seem solid, but someone else pointed out to me that they lay off at the drop of a hat.
What's left? Union positions in state and federal government, county jobs, academia... The pay isn't the highest, but it's a living wage (more than I can say for MOST jobs people have). So, you can serve society, get a steady, trustworthy paycheck, and end up with a solid retirement. What's bad about that? Sounds like a win-win situation to me. If you find a place to live where the cost of living is low you end up doing pretty well for yourself.
Frankly, I don't see the downside to my approach. Think about this; if I hook up with another civil servant, and she and I basically pool resources, we'll be in great shape. Also, think about this: no noncompetes, or nondisclosures, and anything we build on our free time belongs entirely to us. Where's the downside? Aside from the relatively low pay, I mean. One mild bummer is that the work isn't too challenging, but hey -- I've got plenty of time to do open source work so I'm happy.
Anyway, good luck with your company. It sounds pretty cool, and Bermuda sounds wonderful; that's at least as good as my gig. I'd bug out for somewhere warm, except I've got family in NY, and I think I have a pretty good thing going on here.
We were talking about how to spend your entire life in the IT business, not about how much "cooler" big cities are than rural areas or whether Lexus's cost more in NY than Tennessee. You're getting so far away from the point you're going to need Nasa to set you up with a re-entry vector.
The point here is, when it comes to a private-industry IT career, the well has been poisoned by private industry hiring practices. If you are still working in private-industry IT when you're forty, you're WAY out of the ordinary. Check the stats. For example, almost all (private industry) programmers older than 40 have left the field -- only about 2 percent are still active in it. This is pretty close to my heart, being 32, especially when the stats say that most programmers over 35 were finding it almost impossible to find work BEFORE the recession hit!
What we were talking about was how to be involved in IT *ALL YOUR LIFE*. As far as I can tell, the only way to pull that off is to get into government/civil service, or academia.
Because salaries are lower in these types of positions, you'll have to scale back your lifestyle expectations. This will mean moving to a less expensive, small-to-medium sized city.
I made other suggestions, geared towards smoothing the transition. I proposed a simpler, safer lifestyle as one way of ensuring that the transition works out for you. Staying out of debt, for example, so you don't have so much monthly overhead taken out of your salary. Getting an apartment instead of a house, so you can move if you need to, and you won't get your ass handed to you by an unexpected layoff. But they're mostly suggestions. Don't take "ONLY" so seriously.
You claim I lack perspective. That I'm proposing my little, rural solution and that I'm being naiive. I propose that it is YOU who are being naiive, and that I am getting much closer to the big picture than you are. I used to work in NYC. I know what all that is about, and I left it to move to Upstate New York (NOT the midwest or the south -- are ALL Boston types such elitist snobs?). Since I moved, my lifestyle has improved a hell of a lot. I'm having a lot more fun, and I'm more relaxed. I'm making decent money, I have a great job, and I'm happy.
If you ask me, I'm in much better shape than YOU are, your Lexus notwithstanding. Hell, who cares about a CAR? I'll take my little 2wd/4cyl pickup any day. I bet I get much better mileage than you do.
I'll leave you with a parting thought. Thirty years from now, when my wife and I are securely retired and going on vacation, visiting our kids, and so on, what are YOU going to be doing? You won't be able to count on your 401K plan; it'll have been plundered by your company's suits enron-style, if the stock market hasn't wiped it out. Your stocks are going to be dead meat; the market's in the shitter, and it'll take FOREVER to recover from this. Social Security won't be providing you with much more than 10% of your ending income. You, and all the other anti-union, anti-civil-service people out there, will be WORKING. And, I don't mean in good jobs, either: you'll take whatever you can get, so you can keep your house and rusting Lexus. If you're lucky, your kids will put you up in their guest room, but that's a long shot. And, I'll really, honestly, feel sad for you. Because I think it's a terrible thing. But I'm telling you how to escape your fate and you're treating me like a hick. So I won't be thinking about you TOO much.
So you claim that I slipped up on two items: renting instead of buying, and living in a cheaper area. I don't think I slipped up at all. Consider:
1. If you rent instead of buy, you're not tied to any one place and you haven't burdened yourself with a huge debt (the mortgage). I don't know about you, but I don't want to owe over a hundred thousand dollars to anyone, whether you think it's an investment or not!!!
2. Being able to move around when necessary means you're much more likely to follow the job market. You're freer. Many apartment leases now offer a clause letting you out of the lease if you get transferred or have to move for employment reasons. If you're stuck with a house, it takes months to sell the house, close, deal with the mortgage people, etc... Therefore, apartments are better. As long as you avoid living in places like New York City, you'll be just fine. I pay only 500/month for a huge two bedroom apartment with access to a nice swimming pool, tennis courts, basketball courts, laundry room... I have a parking spot SIX FEET away from my front door! Try getting something like THAT in NYC. Hint: it ain't possible.
3. As I said, the ideal is to live in an area where the cost of living is low. Yes, I am aware that this means you won't be making a hundred thousand a year. Cry me a river! The average salary here in the united states is only around 32K. You can live very comfortably for forty or fifty thousand a year, IF you avoid expensive areas (read: NY, LA, SF). You don't have to accept some shitty commute, you don't have to tolerate the crappy conditions of our giant cities, you just have to accept a slightly more modest income. By doing so, you take yourself out of the rat race and you find something more valuable: a life.
I PRACTICE WHAT I PREACH. I'm doing it right now. It DOES work, and I'm here to tell you, my lifestyle now is much better than the one I had when I made 20K a year more. I'm happier, I have more free time, my employer is more sane...
I like Japanese Manga and Anime, and I like european comics, but most American comics leave me completely cold and uninterested. The reason for this is very simple. Too many goddamn super heroes, and too many talking animals! I'm 32, not 13, for christ's sake. Costumes? Men in tights and capes?? Sword wielding aardvarks??? It's ridiculous! I'm into science fiction, cyberpunk, stuff like that, stuff which at least TRIES to be believeable, and obey a few laws of physics (remember those?). Don't talk to ME about "suspension of disbelief". A guy who gets blinded and suddenly develops RADAR is just silly. These things just Do Not Happen (tm).
Japanese comics are different. They're broken out by genre, so if you're a kid, you can go for the more youth-oriented stuff, if you're a techie you can lean towards their science-fiction/robots-and-tech genre, if you're serious minded, there are very serious manga about relationships and such, I mean it goes on and on. There's literally something for everyone. It's deep and multidimensional. It takes very little effort to plan your choices so you never encounter so much as a single superhero in tights.
Something similar is going on in European comics. I've seen a lot of interesing french stuff, like Jean-Paul Giraud's, for instance. Heavy Metal magazine offers ads for companies that sell collections, and I've seen a lot of interesting ones. Many seem to lean towards the sexy side, which is kind of cool. They're definitely made for adults.
And, here's another thing, one gigantic overriding fact that elevates European and Japanese comics above just about everything else. It seems to me that the Europeans and the Japanese (particularly the Japanese) are the last remaining people on Earth who seem to take their science-fiction seriously. Here in the U.S. you get an occasional science-fiction movie, and frequently, you have to settle for trash. The Japanese are so lucky -- their anime industry is CONSTANTLY making good science fiction. And, it really is good. I swear, if it wasn't for Anime, I'd have dried up and died of spiritual malnourishment from lack of sci-fi. What do I get here in the U.S? What, one or two movies a year?
So, there's my opinion. If the U.S. comics industry could just grow out of the stupid "men in tights" superhero thing, and knock it off with the sentient-animals thing (like the weird sword and sorcery aardvark -- what the hell was THAT about???) maybe they'd produce something I'd be interested in.
Having said that, there ARE some interesting independents out there. Just not nearly enough.
How to have a lifetime in IT (the ONLY way):
on
Lifetime Careers in IT?
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· Score: 2, Interesting
First of all, you ought to boycott private industry entirely. They're shipping all of our jobs overseas, outsourcing our projects, bringing in cheap foreign labor... Corporate America is out to get rid of us, and we might as well stop playing ball with them. So that's a start.
Second, avoid accepting any debt at all. Don't build up huge student loans (trust me, I know, I'm paying one off right now), don't abuse your credit cards, don't buy expensive cars or other consumer crapola. Debt is the modern analog of indentured servitude. Why do you NEED a 100K IT job? To cover your expenses. Lower your expenses, and you don't need that job! Cut all your fixed expenses, especially debts. Live somewhere relatively inexpensive, buy a used car, get your computer equipment on ebay... Get an apartment instead of a house. Eat out less. And so on.
Look for a job where you have reasonable hours and no noncompetes or IP agreements to sign. Make enough to cover your expenses, and program for open source projects, contributing to the community. Make it FUN again. Instead of putting in that sixty or seventy hour week in IT for a bunch of asshole suits who don't care if you live or die, move out to the country, take a forty hour week maintaining the computer system of the county courthouse, and spend your free time out at the lake with a friendly, perverse woman (or, if you're like me and lean towards celibacy, get a tan). You'll be happier. You'll live longer. You won't age as quickly, and you won't be as heavy because you'll have time to cook real food instead of the vending machine crap you live on right now.
If you want to continue to work in IT until you retire, and then get a retirement, all you have to do is get a civil service job. The pay isn't as high, but the benefits are spectacular. The people are nicer, the hours are shorter, the job is more fun... I could go on but you get the idea.
I make in the high forties, I work only 37 1/2 hours a week, and I have benefits you corporate guys can only dream of. Plus, MY retirement is going to be almost at full pay (I've already done the numbers).
Think about what I'm saying. What do you really owe these corporate assholes, anyway? What have they ever done for you? Get a state or county job in civil service. Work for your neighbors instead of some asshole corporation. Help your community, not some greedy fat-cat in a Mercedes.
Enough. Obviously nothing I tell you will have any effect. Continue to use your quaint, antiquated tools if you wish. I am not evangelical; I couldn't care less. But this is going to go on forever, and I have work to do.
I think the real problem is that patents USED to be limited to purely physical processes, like the manufacture of dynomite or the generation of electricity. Sometime during the past couple of decades, the idiots running things decided that it would be a good idea to patent business processes, which led to them thinking it would be a good idea also to patent software techniques (algorithms). Now anything at all can be patented -- any stupid assed idea you come up with, whether you've implemented a working prototype or not.
So, what's the point of doing anything at all? Some business-suited ass-sniffing dick-smoker probably has a patent on it, regardless of what you're trying to do. And, if you have any success at all, they'll come for you with their claws sharpened because they're too stupid to actually DO anything themselves. Worst of all, the rat-bastards have bought up a bunch of polititians, so you can bet they're going to try to make all patents eternal (i.e. terms of greater than 50 years), which means forget about ever inventing anything. Voila! America is no longer an innovative or interesting country, and we have to buy everything interesting from overseas. I'M PRETTY SURE THE FOUNDING FATHERS DIDN'T SEE THIS ONE COMING.
Patent reform can be handled very simply: go back to only allowing patents for physical processes, and require a working prototype for each patent application.
In comment:reply format, in response to Tablizer's statements:
Comment: "JavaBeans are Java-specific. Why not LISPbeans?"
Response: Fine. Show me some LISPbeans. If they do everything JavaBeans do, bully for you. I wouldn't personally use 'em -- I'm reminded of a quote, "Only effeminate programmers use more parenthesis than code". But, I guess this is a matter of taste. For the record, usually I use COM/DCOM/COM+. This is a non-java technology, btw.
Comment: "No, but databases do"
Response: You misunderstood completely. Yes, databases support transactions. However, using a transaction server you can handle transactions in code and handle errors much more gracefully. But I'm not going to teach you how to do that for the sake of this weird argument.
Comment: "Does that mean that Smalltalk is not OO?"
Response: No, it doesn't. But so few people are using it that I basically ignored it. Smalltalk, yikes. What do you drive, an Edsel?
Comment: "You have not established a need for object pooling."
Response: Because I thought you would understand the need. Object pooling is used to speed up response. A pool of objects is kept in memory so that new requests can be served without having to copy a new object into memory, initialize it and so on. It speeds things up. Does this clear the need up?
Comment: "Use something else to communicate thru a fireall. Use XML thru HTTP, for example."
Response: Again, you misunderstand. The IDEA is to have a nice little chunk of executable code which encapsulates an entire piece of your functionality, and which in theory has already been thoroughly debugged. You're connecting to a binary object which performs some task for you. You can simulate this with a script, but it still won't be quite as good (fast, secure, etc). And, you're going through your transaction server's interface, letting it handle transactions and object pooling, and so on. Another issue is, once you've solved something with object A, you can reuse object A in other projects without copying it or moving it anywhere. There's a lot of flexibility in this approach.
Now, this is getting a little silly. Either you don't understand the issues at all or you're trolling (I've suspected this is the case for a while now, but I've given you the benefit of the doubt). Maybe we should just "agree to disagree" and let the whole thing drop.
Tablizer said: "But Java is being heavily pushed for small and medium stuff also. Besides, show me some interconnectivity that Java does better than say Perl or Python or LISP, etc."
Does Perl/Python/LISP support enterprise javabeans, and all the useful encapsulation of functionality they represent? Do they support database transactions (ACID)? Since they're scripting languages and not fully OO, how would an application server do object pooling with them? Or any of the other tweaks that are common in J2EE? One common thing is to put either an EJB or an MTS object between a web server and a database (or some other resource), and use a firewall to limit access based on this. How would you do that using a scripting language?
Tablizer said, "That is called "off-site backups". You don't need Java to do off-site backups. In fact, I think most commercial databases offer built-in tools for just such things (or at least extensions)"
Tablizer, This whole subthread between you and me is based on the fact that you don't seem to understand why a company or government would have servers in more than one location. Right? Which implies that you've never worked for a large organization and you're just being dense and stubborn. So let's consider some cases in which a company or companies might have large, distributed systems with some degree of redundancy.
Some organizations will want to incorporate their own systems with another set of systems, for instance during a corporate merger. This will mean that there are multiple locations, all of which have their own servers, and which must now interoperate. Ok? I guarantee that all of Hewlett-Packard's and Compaq's records do NOT lie in a single server room in a building somewhere, and they do NOT rely on "off-site backups" for protection (although I'm sure they have them).
Large, multinational corporations have multiple locations in multiple cities, and there is almost certainly a great deal of redundancy in their systems. This is because (unlike you) they have considered the possibility of fire, or some other hazard, taking their servers out of commission. Thus, they have some degree of duplication of capabilities, and they have systems in place which synchronize records among their databases. Getting the picture yet? Which brings us to another point, which is that organizations of any significant size will do part of their business in one location, and part in another. Consider a large manufacturer for example. An organization like this may have corporate offices in NYC, Chicago, and L.A. all of which have the ability to handle transactions for the other two in the event of some sort of disaster. Also, they might have manufacturing plants in Kuala Lumpur, Thailand, and Taiwan, plus affiliated plants which produce parts and supplies for them. Those plants will have their own systems, and the affiliates will have THEIR own systems, ad infinitum. All of these systems will have to interoperate with the home offices in the States, and there might be some redundancy here, too.
If you're getting the picture yet, you'll understand that we're talking about really HUGE systems here. We're talking about companies like Chase Manhattan Bank, or General Motors, not a little dot-com with ten employees, here. Organizations with not just thousands, but tens of thousands of employees, in multiple locations across multiple countries (let alone states).
Now, perhaps you'll understand why your comment that all we need is a server rack and a tape drive for "off-site backups" isn't just naiive, but really, agonizingly, stupid.
Enterprise systems usually are very, very large. Their scope is generally greater than one person can fully follow at one time. This was the whole point of object oriented programming in the first place, and it's one reason why people love enterprise javabeans. When people talk about scalability, this is what they're talking about.
One server and an offsite backup do NOT an enterprise system make, any more than a matchbox car can run in the Daytona 500.
Now please think about this a little before you come back.
An A/C asked: "If they are "thin" clients, then you have a web-browser-like setup. So, do you mean "a bunch of fat clients all over the place"?"
Could be a mixture of both. There might be times you want a fat client. It depends on your application. But, you can have servers and clients in different locations -- legacy systems, locations and departments which want closer control over their data, weird political shit going on... You can get into some heavily weird, complex stuff.
Tablizer asked: "If it is on the Internet, then why does it have to be *geographically* distributed?"
You misunderstood my meaning. The main servers can be all in one location, like for instance your RDBMS, web server, and middleware. But the SYSTEM is distributed, because it contains client-server components (like client software running at various locations) browsers being one form of client of course, and so on... See what I mean? It's distributed because the people accessing it are all over the place. And, sometimes, a local office will have its own servers for one purpose or another, and they'll have to work with the servers at another location... You have to be flexible in your thinking here.
Think about it this way: what if you were a credit card company? You wouldn't want to do things YOUR way, putting everything in one building. Because then, Fight Club will come blow it up and destroy the debt record. So, instead, you duplicate your servers (so you can continue processing requests) and your data (so you don't "miss" any debtors)in every major city in the U.S. where you have a presence. And, you synchronize this data nightly. Then, when Brad Pitt blows up your main office, you just continue with business as usual, and file your insurance claim.
Slashdot Mirror
Well... That's certainly true. The uplink is about equal to a 56K connection (although it's a FULL 56K, not the 30-45K you actually get from phone lines) so online gaming is pretty much out. On the plus side, downloading is extremely fast once the initial request is made. Direcway says you'll get 200-400Kbps, but in practice, we've found it to be even faster than that. It's a really nice service. Streaming video comes through really, really well for example. And, downloads are fast. 20,30 megs in a couple of minutes. I like it.
Of course, if you're a gamer, you'd probably want a cablemodem. That's what I have at home. But Satellite is nice.
You have indeed addressed my points (if not invalidated them), and eloquently. However, I still think that operator-powered vehicles such as the ten-speed are going to be more effective for travel. Still, none of this is going to catch on until municipalities start creating protected bicycle (for example) only lanes, with some kind of concrete median between them and the car lanes. This has happened in spots in NYC, for instance, along the hudson around Chelsea. But it's not widespread.
Anyway, I guess it basically comes down to this: For the amount of money the Segway costs, with its limited range and capacity, and time to recharge, human powered vehicles seem like a much better buy. Think about it: a plain-jane ten-speed costs under a hundred bucks, is faster than the Segway, can carry more weight, and has an effectively infinite range. So why would anyone buy a Segway? Remember, again, that neither the Segway nor the bicycle can run on sidewalks so neither offers an advantage there (except for the bicycles superior brakes, that is).
Again, since everything with wheels has to travel in the road (well, except wheelchairs) and no one really wants to fight the SUV's for right-of-way, I think the Segway is doomed. Which is my whole point. Given that you have to use the road, or a bike lane, you just can't beat the basic utility and value of a bicycle. And, as you can see by looking out your window, nearly no one has chosen the bicycle over the SUV.
Leaving alone the other alternatives, skateboard, rollerblades, et al... The bike is the strongest alternative anyway.
Interesting conversation. Don't get me wrong, the Segway is neat, but I wouldn't want one myself. What I'd want is the little gasoline-powered scooter I saw a mechanical engineering major down in Arizona build. He was zipping around campus on the thing, doing maybe 30mph, way back in the early nineties. It had a little handlebar, with brakes, etc. Looked cool, and was made out of an old skateboard and some pipe.
And, of course, anyone with some mechanical skills can build one of those in a weekend. All it takes is a skateboard frame, a motor from a weed-whacker, a little length of bike chain, some fat rubber tires, some pipe, and some ten-speed bicycle parts (levers, etc). Not hard, maybe 200.00 worth of parts?
I think the Segway is more or less a conspicuous-consumption item.
I just had a thought; I could build a little scooter like that for around 200 bucks, and if I spread the wheels out in a wide enough pattern, it would be totally stable without all the weird electronics of the Segway. I'd power it with gasoline, it would have like, a thirty or forty mile range, it would be faster than the Segway, and it would have BRAKES... Hmm...
Nah. It still wouldn't be legal to put on the sidewalk. I'd get run over by a minivan or something.
Kind of a neat idea though.
Most people don't live within range of a central switching office, so DSL isn't available to them anyway. We're talking about a technology that is available to a lucky few who just happen to be in the right place to get the service.
Most people are going to end up with cable or satellite service, and eventually, many are going to migrate to the power companies' and their network-over-power-lines idea. If you haven't heard about this, it's probably going to be a relatively big deal one of these days. Lord knows what else they're going to come up with.
I've got cable, my folks have satellite... It costs around a hundred bucks a month, but you get a fast connection plus about a thousand television channels. You're stuck with one provider, but the service is generally pretty good.
I'm not saying this FCC ruling isn't unfortunate, I'm just saying it's going to affect a limited number of people, and ultimately, will be irrelevant. I strongly suspect DSL service is going to go the way of ISDN before too long.
Just my opinion...
Nah. Get satellite. My parents live in an area where there is no cable internet service, and no DSL. They got satellite, and it's wonderful. Slightly better than cable, too, because the up and downlinks are both encrypted between their dish and the satellite, which means (unlike cable) script kiddies can't use a sniffer to eavesdrop.
Check out www.direcway.com; they're a pretty good company I think. Bidirectional satellite, available anywhere in the northern hemisphere.
I disagree with some of your points. For instance:
1. To stop a skateboard, you step hard on the back, driving it against the ground and skidding to a stop (the front wheels are off the ground while you're doing this -- it takes some balance, but it does work).
2. To stop rollerblades, you put one at a 90 degree angle to the other and brake. Or you drag the toe. Or, if you're any good, you just do a quick circular spin and stop right there, turning your momentum into rotation. Works the same as in ice skating. Of course, common sense says don't be blading at a full-out run on the sidewalk.
3. Most bicycles have a marvellous invention called BRAKES. If you are bicycling at a reasonable speed, say, 15 mph or less, this shouldn't be a problem. By the way: No one with half a brain clamps down on the front brake only, so most people do NOT go over the handlebars.
I think you're building straw men here. It won't work; I've thought these arguments through. If one is sensible, and isn't riding like a mad, Manhattan courier, then he generally won't get into trouble. But I still wouldn't advise riding on the sidewalk; it's inconsiderate.
I'd like to mention also that the Segway doesn't exempt you from the laws of physics. If you're going too fast and you pull a sudden stop, you're going to end up flopping over the front of it, or losing your balance and doing some kind of undignified face-plant. Operator skill, I imagine, features heavily in this.
As far as going uphill, let's see how long that famous battery of yours lasts. I bet you wear it out pretty quickly. IN contrast, me and my bicycle can just shift to lower gears and power it out. Like I said, infinite range. How is your segway going to help you if work is 7 miles away? That's a fourteen mile round trip, and you'll run out of juice three quarters of the way home. My bike'll get me there though.
I respect your point of view, but I don't think you've countered my points yet.
Ah, but what makes you think standing on a non air conditioned Segway in the hot sun isn't going to make you sweat? You're going to sweat like a dog. You're going to be segwaying along, sweating away. Sweat, sweat, sweat. Ick, foo.
;)
If it's hot, and you have to meet with clients, do as all others do and take a cab or drive. I drive, personally, because I live fifteen miles away from my job and it's easier than bicycling. And, of course, we got sixteen inches of snow the other day...
Alternative: Sew a Peltier cooler, a battery, and a network of coolant tubes into a zoot suit! I've been wanting to build an air conditioned zoot suit for the past three years. It would have to be orange, of course, and come with a two and a half foot wide "bomb throwing hat". Orange air conditioned zoot suit, peach colored silk shirt and hankerchief, and neon red tie! Yowza, babe.
Oh! And, a pair of mirrored Ray-Bans. Of course.
Ok, just because this is one of my coolest stories, here's what happened (I SWEAR this was NOT my fault):
We were driving the hummer way out in the sticks, and it was winter so it was kind of cold. California cold, that is, which was maybe 40 or 50 degrees. But, still, chilly. So, the hummer is covered in mud, and I'm driving. The corporal says, Hey, get this thing wet; I don't want to clean off all this mud, dude. So, I was like, "Uh, OK."
(NOTE: the hummer course says you should go only 15-20mph off-road, and never cross water doing over 5mph, but NO MARINE ALIVE ever drives that slow).
Up ahead on the trail, there was a huge puddle about twenty or thirty feet wide. So, I got the hummer up to about thirty mph, and slammed into the puddle. Instant tidal wave! The hummer was soaked, and the mud came off. Great, right? So I thought that was kind of cool.
I took the wrong fork in the road a few dozen yards further on, and we were pointing more or less towards the main road through base. The corporal was like, "Dammit, not left! Right!" I was like, "Fine! Let me get it turned around."
Then I saw the puddle.
It wasn't that big, maybe twenty feet across. It didn't LOOK deep, and with the shine off it, I figured it for only maybe a foot deep. I gunned the hummer, up to 20 or 30, and said, "Cool! Another puddle!" The corporal yelled, "WHAT THE FU..." (colossal splash) "YOU FUCKING IDIOT!!!" and just like that, we were underwater. Well, only for a second. I saw the wave come up over the windshield, and then we popped out over the other side, almost catching some air in the process. Well, the corporal had kittens. "OUT! YOU'RE FIRED! Hey, YOU! You're driving..." So, we all changed places, and we pointed the hummer up this huge hill that led back to the main base road.
I was sulking in the back of the hummer when it suddenly stalled. "FUCK!" the corporal yelled. We let it coast back down to flat ground, and the corporal opened up the hood. He muttered, "I'll try and dry off the points, you assholes wait over there." I said to my friend, "Hey, aren't these diesels? Diesels don't have points." He said, "Let the corporal play. It's cool." So we waited while the corporal tinkered with the air cleaner, trying to find the "points", and after a minute, he jumped in and it turned over. "Get in, we're going back to base," he said.
As I was walking up to the hummer, I noticed a stream of oil, I mean a thick, solid stream, coming out of the exhaust pipe. "Wow," I said. "What wow?" the corporal asked. "I mean," I said, "I knew these things burned oil, but that's just extreme." He looked out at the squirting oil, and his knees went a little weak.
"Oh, sweet jesus... Jesus...," he muttered, "Aw, fuck..."
We rode back to base as fast as we could, so the hummer didn't drop dead on us, and we got out to give it a final wash. The corporal grabbed me and said, "Look, I signed for this sumbitch, and I'll check it back in. You don't say SHIT, you understand? It was FINE when we turned it in. Got it???" I was like, "Fine, fine, whatever you say, man. But don't you think we should..."
"NO!"
"Fine! Whatever you say, corporal."
So, ok, a couple of weeks later, he's down to lance corporal again, presumably for lying about the condition of the hummer (I TOLD him he should have filled out the form) and the gunny and first sergeant are giving me funny looks. The gunny asked me, while giving me the equivalent of a vulcan death grip, "Hey, I heard you had some fun in humvee school..." I was like, "Um... Yeah." He said, "Ok then," dismissed me, and the matter was dropped.
And, like I said, I failed humvee school.
I hope so; being alone isn't that much fun. Don't get me wrong, I have plenty of time for gaming, programming, and anime, but still... It would be nice to have someone else around, you know?
1. Rollerblades are easier, work better, are more maneuverable, and a Lot Cheaper.
2. Bicycles go just as fast and have an effectively infinite range with no recharge necessary (except for that stop at the pub). And, are cheaper.
3. Skateboards can probably go just as fast, are just as maneuverable, don't have to be recharged... Etc.
4. People have had all of the above cheaper, better alternatives to the Segway, but they don't use them because they're dangerous to put in the street and are illegal to use on the sidewalk. Mainly because of the danger to pedestrians. Which is why the Segway won't be legal for sidewalk use either.
Result: The segway doesn't stand a chance. How could it? Can't put it in the road (you'll be roadkill), can't ride it on the sidewalk (you're just as dangerous to pedestrians as an inline skater)...
Kind of makes you wonder how much thought they put into this weirdo pogo-stick-looking thing. Are all the people in startup companies yes men? Did no one speak up and say, "Yes, but if they make riding things on sidewalks legal, can't I use my bike or rollerblades?"
Tsk. Rich people are crazy.
irix said, about the Hummer H2, "It doesn't have half of the offroad capabilities of the real Hummer (HMMWV), which was selected by the U.S. military because it was the best wheeled offroad vehicle they could get."
;)
Man, that's the truth. I was a US Marine, and went through Humvee school (Failed, for more or less killing a Humvee! That, friends, is Not Easy, it took complete submersion in a cold, six foot deep puddle out in the sticks, and driving up a hill at speed, and even that only cracked the engine block).
The REAL Humvee is made almost entirely of kevlar; it has a Lamborghini suspension; it has a 6.2 liter naturally aspirated diesel engine; it has a snorkel and the exhaust is pushed up seven feet so you can cross shallow rivers; it has a TWELVE SPEED automatic transmission (High, High lock, low, low lock, and the traditional 1,2,3,D for each drive setting); REAL runout tires, with plastic spines, that can withstand small arms fire; and it's completely waterproofed right down to the glow plugs.
The REAL Humvee can climb a 60 degree angle, WITH A TRAILER IN TOW. In High Lock. I know, because we did it. I used to watch Humvees climb firebreaks in Camp Pendleton. Straight up a freakin' mountain! They were amazing things. And, the hard-shell models are bulletproof.
I'd gladly give my left nut for one (in good working order, that is). Provided anasthesia was supplied.
Let me tell you my view of things:
.45 over/under derringer under my nose to freak me out one day... Then turned around, dumped out the bullets into his father's bureau drawer, and showed me the empty gun saying what a pussy I was. But, I saw the hollowpoints that had been there before. Nice, for a ten or eleven year old kid, huh? But that's New York for you.
All my life, I've been one of the smartest kids in whichever school I've been in. I'm not saying this as a brag, but to frame the post: when I was 12, the state said my IQ was 138; later, when I took the SAT, I scored in the top two percent across the board. And, this was the OLD SAT, back in 1987, when it was significantly harder than it is today. I'm in Mensa, for what that's worth, and I'm a senior Programmer/Analyst. I think, I'm a pretty good one.
All my life I've been picked on without mercy -- until that is, I spent two unhappy years in the United States Marine Corps learning how to kill people. That seemed to change the balance of power quite a bit (for those who are wondering, yes, I got an honorable discharge, as a Gulf War vet, yes I was a Fleet Marine, Infrantry, and yes, I got it early -- long story).
I never consciously did anything to deserve the abuse, except trying to do well in school. But, that sometimes is enough. The other students hated me for it, for making them look less smart in comparison, for knowing answers they didn't know. Some of the teachers even hated me; I remember my fourth grade teacher humiliating me in class after my statement that ice ages were a periodic phenomenon (it was innocent, we were talking about it at the time). She told me very sternly that there was only "one great ice age". Then she brought over the "science teacher" who backed her up on that. It was amazing to me; I knew for a FACT that there have been several ice ages. In fact, she later admitted to my mother, during a parent-teacher conference in which my mother put her on the spot, that she didn't really know whether there were one or many, but she wasn't going to let some kid get the better of her. Typical.
Or I could tell you how my english teacher, an abusive asshole who was known for striking his students physically, gave me an F on an english paper for using the word "alas". He said, "Sixth graders just do NOT use the word alas!" So I used it in a sentence, and he sent me to the principal's office for being a smartass.
I could tell you how many times I was physically attacked by other kids, humiliated in various ways, hit and struck and threatened, how one guy pointed a
I could go on and on, but you get the idea. The teachers were mostly hostile, the students were mostly hostile, and life was a living hell. I don't want to hear any crap about how it's just the system that makes this happen, or how the kids aren't actually evil. Let's make no bones about it. Most of the kids going to public schools are mean little bastards, plain and simple. And, the teachers don't care, so they have a free rein to do as they please. If you're smarter than they are, and you make them feel small, no matter how unintentionally you do it, you're going to be the target of their pathetic, cruel vengeance. And, that's what this is all about. Vengeance, for being smarter or more interested in studying. It's not about envy, it's not about desire. It's about hatred, and vengeance.
In high school, I lucked out: my parents had had enough of watching me get abused in the NYS public school system, so as of the eighth grade I went to a private school populated by rich kids. They picked on me a little, not so much for being smart, as for being poor. They made fun of my clothes and my virginity, mostly -- they were going to all these cool parties, doing drugs, drinking... I was home studying, and this made me suitable for teasing. But, thank God, it was nowhere near as bad as it was in public schools. Most of it was pretty harmless, and some of it was good-natured. And, I never got beat up by anyone. In fact, one of the only real problems I had was all the leftover hostility and paranoia from my years in the public school system!
The only really awful thing that happened to me in high school was a continuous torment by Jessica, who was supposedly the prettiest girl in the school (actually, she wasn't, but she was very pretty). She knew I liked her, so she tormented me continuously, trying to set me up for hideous pranks... For example, one time she tried to trick me into taking my clothes off with a dozen students hidden behind a door nearby -- I didn't fall for it, thank God. I opened the door and embarassed her little audience. Another time, she nagged me into taking her to a public dance in my junior year, and then didn't show up, so I had to listen to my "friends" Mike and Kevin take odds from people, bookie-style, as to whether she's going to show up. But even that wasn't that bad. Just kind of annoying, and hurtful. It was nothing like the beatings I had to deal with in public school.
I had a long and unhappy childhood, and the first ten years of my adult life were unhappy as well. I am not inclined to forgive any of the people who tormented me, nor am I inclined to write off their abuse as "just the structure of the system" or "something nerds get because they don't want to be popular". Abuse is abuse; the torment I received ultimately turned me into the crazy, celibate hermit I am today. And, I'll tell you, a society that vilifies people simply for being smarter, or a little more shabbily dressed, doesn't really deserve to be given the benefit of the doubt. Is high school like prison? Sure. Are the students like inmates? Sure. Does this mean that basic human nature, unrestrained, is cruel and vicious? Perhaps. But these are not excuses!
Sometimes I think I'll be alone until the day I die. I really only want to date someone who is in the same boat as me; I don't want to think about ever dating someone who, back in high school, was one of the abusive types I loathe so completely. My only hope is to hook up with a woman who in high school, was neutral (didn't associate with any cliques really, and didn't pick on anyone). I don't think it's going to happen, so I keep to myself, I work on my PC, and I program. It sustains me; my machines are better companions than any person (aside from my parents, who have always loved me) has ever been. I might buy a dog at some point. German Shepherds and Rottweilers are pretty smart, loyal, and friendly.
As a final thought, MY kids (if, that is, I ever have any) are going to private school as of grade six. NO FUCKING WAY are they going to put up with what I put up with. And, I'm going to dress them well, and teach them about what I call "social camoflage". If they can't fit in because they're smart, at least they'll be able to fake everyone out and get out with their skins (and minds) intact.
Just my two cents.
Amen to that -- I was picked on mercilessly because I was a physics geek in high school, and was 6 feet tall, 150 pounds.
So I joined the Marine Corps, as a Fleet Marine (1st Bn, 4th Marines, Westpac), got into a raid unit as a mortarman/company radio operator, and learned a lot of fairly cool commando-type stuff. I also bulked up significantly; I was about 240 when I got my discharge, and I'm up almost to 300 nowadays (I'm not particularly fat, either, although I could stand to lose some weight).
I don't recommend this course of action, particularly -- the USMC is a painful place for a nontraditional, free-thinker type, trust me, I know -- but being able to break a bully in half over your knee is a VERY comforting thing.
You can't tell online, without being able to see me, but I fill an entire doorway now, and my shoulders are so wide sometimes I have to turn sideways to enter smaller doors. On the plus side, no one ever picks on me anymore. On the minus, it breaks my heart, because I know I'll never be slender again so long as I live (you can't get rid of bone and muscle, once you've built it up). And, being psychologically able to kill, which is something that is pounded into every Marine, may or may not be a good thing. A little faustian maybe.
Cool! Ditto for me. I didn't notice what your nickname was until like, two or three posts in, and then I was like, "say WHAT? His name is WHAT?" I had to look twice! ;)
You're A-OK, dude. Enjoy Bermuda -- I can't wait until summer, I miss the beach like nobody's business.
Ok, ok... Fair enough. My apologies for getting a little heated up (but, "twinkletoes"??? Harsh, man, harsh). I did figure you were putting the screws to me a little bit, maybe talking down to me a touch; I'm glad you're not like that. As you can guess, it's kind of a pet peeve of mine (long story).
This comment has made things a little more interesting. For one thing, the fact that you own your own company explains the quote you put in your first email, "stick it to da man, etc". That kind of set me off a little, seemed a little condescending. The thing is, I don't see the situation as being one of "the man" and "the rest of us". The way I see it, corporate America isn't something you can personify, it's faceless and amorphous -- and doesn't really have anything to offer the American worker anymore, because it's not loyal, or trustworthy, so it should be considered irrelevant and ignored. Note that I'm not against all private businesses, just corporate businesses. I think that once a board of directors and stockholders come into the picture, any semblance of loyalty and social contract is destroyed.
Now, I don't have a problem with small companies, privately owned. My reason for this is that when an individual owns and controls a business, you can build trust. It's not just about bottom line, the owner can choose to take a hit in a bad year instead of firing his people. He can decide to play fair, and treat them well. Try a stunt like that in corporate and the stockholders sue your ass.
Overall... The situation is lousy in IT. Corporate sucks, and aren't hiring anyway (a friend of mine recently was shown a two foot stack of resumes by a recruiter, with the comment "I can't find any of THEM a job either"). Small businesses aren't that common, and whether you can trust them is a crapshoot based on the type of person the owner is. Utility companies may seem solid, but someone else pointed out to me that they lay off at the drop of a hat.
What's left? Union positions in state and federal government, county jobs, academia... The pay isn't the highest, but it's a living wage (more than I can say for MOST jobs people have). So, you can serve society, get a steady, trustworthy paycheck, and end up with a solid retirement. What's bad about that? Sounds like a win-win situation to me. If you find a place to live where the cost of living is low you end up doing pretty well for yourself.
Frankly, I don't see the downside to my approach. Think about this; if I hook up with another civil servant, and she and I basically pool resources, we'll be in great shape. Also, think about this: no noncompetes, or nondisclosures, and anything we build on our free time belongs entirely to us. Where's the downside? Aside from the relatively low pay, I mean. One mild bummer is that the work isn't too challenging, but hey -- I've got plenty of time to do open source work so I'm happy.
Anyway, good luck with your company. It sounds pretty cool, and Bermuda sounds wonderful; that's at least as good as my gig. I'd bug out for somewhere warm, except I've got family in NY, and I think I have a pretty good thing going on here.
We were talking about how to spend your entire life in the IT business, not about how much "cooler" big cities are than rural areas or whether Lexus's cost more in NY than Tennessee. You're getting so far away from the point you're going to need Nasa to set you up with a re-entry vector.
The point here is, when it comes to a private-industry IT career, the well has been poisoned by private industry hiring practices. If you are still working in private-industry IT when you're forty, you're WAY out of the ordinary. Check the stats. For example, almost all (private industry) programmers older than 40 have left the field -- only about 2 percent are still active in it. This is pretty close to my heart, being 32, especially when the stats say that most programmers over 35 were finding it almost impossible to find work BEFORE the recession hit!
What we were talking about was how to be involved in IT *ALL YOUR LIFE*. As far as I can tell, the only way to pull that off is to get into government/civil service, or academia.
Because salaries are lower in these types of positions, you'll have to scale back your lifestyle expectations. This will mean moving to a less expensive, small-to-medium sized city.
I made other suggestions, geared towards smoothing the transition. I proposed a simpler, safer lifestyle as one way of ensuring that the transition works out for you. Staying out of debt, for example, so you don't have so much monthly overhead taken out of your salary. Getting an apartment instead of a house, so you can move if you need to, and you won't get your ass handed to you by an unexpected layoff. But they're mostly suggestions. Don't take "ONLY" so seriously.
You claim I lack perspective. That I'm proposing my little, rural solution and that I'm being naiive. I propose that it is YOU who are being naiive, and that I am getting much closer to the big picture than you are. I used to work in NYC. I know what all that is about, and I left it to move to Upstate New York (NOT the midwest or the south -- are ALL Boston types such elitist snobs?). Since I moved, my lifestyle has improved a hell of a lot. I'm having a lot more fun, and I'm more relaxed. I'm making decent money, I have a great job, and I'm happy.
If you ask me, I'm in much better shape than YOU are, your Lexus notwithstanding. Hell, who cares about a CAR? I'll take my little 2wd/4cyl pickup any day. I bet I get much better mileage than you do.
I'll leave you with a parting thought. Thirty years from now, when my wife and I are securely retired and going on vacation, visiting our kids, and so on, what are YOU going to be doing? You won't be able to count on your 401K plan; it'll have been plundered by your company's suits enron-style, if the stock market hasn't wiped it out. Your stocks are going to be dead meat; the market's in the shitter, and it'll take FOREVER to recover from this. Social Security won't be providing you with much more than 10% of your ending income. You, and all the other anti-union, anti-civil-service people out there, will be WORKING. And, I don't mean in good jobs, either: you'll take whatever you can get, so you can keep your house and rusting Lexus. If you're lucky, your kids will put you up in their guest room, but that's a long shot. And, I'll really, honestly, feel sad for you. Because I think it's a terrible thing. But I'm telling you how to escape your fate and you're treating me like a hick. So I won't be thinking about you TOO much.
How's THAT for perspective?
So you claim that I slipped up on two items: renting instead of buying, and living in a cheaper area. I don't think I slipped up at all. Consider:
1. If you rent instead of buy, you're not tied to any one place and you haven't burdened yourself with a huge debt (the mortgage). I don't know about you, but I don't want to owe over a hundred thousand dollars to anyone, whether you think it's an investment or not!!!
2. Being able to move around when necessary means you're much more likely to follow the job market. You're freer. Many apartment leases now offer a clause letting you out of the lease if you get transferred or have to move for employment reasons. If you're stuck with a house, it takes months to sell the house, close, deal with the mortgage people, etc... Therefore, apartments are better. As long as you avoid living in places like New York City, you'll be just fine. I pay only 500/month for a huge two bedroom apartment with access to a nice swimming pool, tennis courts, basketball courts, laundry room... I have a parking spot SIX FEET away from my front door! Try getting something like THAT in NYC. Hint: it ain't possible.
3. As I said, the ideal is to live in an area where the cost of living is low. Yes, I am aware that this means you won't be making a hundred thousand a year. Cry me a river! The average salary here in the united states is only around 32K. You can live very comfortably for forty or fifty thousand a year, IF you avoid expensive areas (read: NY, LA, SF). You don't have to accept some shitty commute, you don't have to tolerate the crappy conditions of our giant cities, you just have to accept a slightly more modest income. By doing so, you take yourself out of the rat race and you find something more valuable: a life.
I PRACTICE WHAT I PREACH. I'm doing it right now. It DOES work, and I'm here to tell you, my lifestyle now is much better than the one I had when I made 20K a year more. I'm happier, I have more free time, my employer is more sane...
At least try it before you discard the idea.
I like Japanese Manga and Anime, and I like european comics, but most American comics leave me completely cold and uninterested. The reason for this is very simple. Too many goddamn super heroes, and too many talking animals! I'm 32, not 13, for christ's sake. Costumes? Men in tights and capes?? Sword wielding aardvarks??? It's ridiculous! I'm into science fiction, cyberpunk, stuff like that, stuff which at least TRIES to be believeable, and obey a few laws of physics (remember those?). Don't talk to ME about "suspension of disbelief". A guy who gets blinded and suddenly develops RADAR is just silly. These things just Do Not Happen (tm).
Japanese comics are different. They're broken out by genre, so if you're a kid, you can go for the more youth-oriented stuff, if you're a techie you can lean towards their science-fiction/robots-and-tech genre, if you're serious minded, there are very serious manga about relationships and such, I mean it goes on and on. There's literally something for everyone. It's deep and multidimensional. It takes very little effort to plan your choices so you never encounter so much as a single superhero in tights.
Something similar is going on in European comics. I've seen a lot of interesing french stuff, like Jean-Paul Giraud's, for instance. Heavy Metal magazine offers ads for companies that sell collections, and I've seen a lot of interesting ones. Many seem to lean towards the sexy side, which is kind of cool. They're definitely made for adults.
And, here's another thing, one gigantic overriding fact that elevates European and Japanese comics above just about everything else. It seems to me that the Europeans and the Japanese (particularly the Japanese) are the last remaining people on Earth who seem to take their science-fiction seriously. Here in the U.S. you get an occasional science-fiction movie, and frequently, you have to settle for trash. The Japanese are so lucky -- their anime industry is CONSTANTLY making good science fiction. And, it really is good. I swear, if it wasn't for Anime, I'd have dried up and died of spiritual malnourishment from lack of sci-fi. What do I get here in the U.S? What, one or two movies a year?
So, there's my opinion. If the U.S. comics industry could just grow out of the stupid "men in tights" superhero thing, and knock it off with the sentient-animals thing (like the weird sword and sorcery aardvark -- what the hell was THAT about???) maybe they'd produce something I'd be interested in.
Having said that, there ARE some interesting independents out there. Just not nearly enough.
First of all, you ought to boycott private industry entirely. They're shipping all of our jobs overseas, outsourcing our projects, bringing in cheap foreign labor... Corporate America is out to get rid of us, and we might as well stop playing ball with them. So that's a start.
Second, avoid accepting any debt at all. Don't build up huge student loans (trust me, I know, I'm paying one off right now), don't abuse your credit cards, don't buy expensive cars or other consumer crapola. Debt is the modern analog of indentured servitude. Why do you NEED a 100K IT job? To cover your expenses. Lower your expenses, and you don't need that job! Cut all your fixed expenses, especially debts. Live somewhere relatively inexpensive, buy a used car, get your computer equipment on ebay... Get an apartment instead of a house. Eat out less. And so on.
Look for a job where you have reasonable hours and no noncompetes or IP agreements to sign. Make enough to cover your expenses, and program for open source projects, contributing to the community. Make it FUN again. Instead of putting in that sixty or seventy hour week in IT for a bunch of asshole suits who don't care if you live or die, move out to the country, take a forty hour week maintaining the computer system of the county courthouse, and spend your free time out at the lake with a friendly, perverse woman (or, if you're like me and lean towards celibacy, get a tan). You'll be happier. You'll live longer. You won't age as quickly, and you won't be as heavy because you'll have time to cook real food instead of the vending machine crap you live on right now.
If you want to continue to work in IT until you retire, and then get a retirement, all you have to do is get a civil service job. The pay isn't as high, but the benefits are spectacular. The people are nicer, the hours are shorter, the job is more fun... I could go on but you get the idea.
I make in the high forties, I work only 37 1/2 hours a week, and I have benefits you corporate guys can only dream of. Plus, MY retirement is going to be almost at full pay (I've already done the numbers).
Think about what I'm saying. What do you really owe these corporate assholes, anyway? What have they ever done for you? Get a state or county job in civil service. Work for your neighbors instead of some asshole corporation. Help your community, not some greedy fat-cat in a Mercedes.
Seriously.
Enough. Obviously nothing I tell you will have any effect. Continue to use your quaint, antiquated tools if you wish. I am not evangelical; I couldn't care less. But this is going to go on forever, and I have work to do.
Let's agree to disagree.
I think the real problem is that patents USED to be limited to purely physical processes, like the manufacture of dynomite or the generation of electricity. Sometime during the past couple of decades, the idiots running things decided that it would be a good idea to patent business processes, which led to them thinking it would be a good idea also to patent software techniques (algorithms). Now anything at all can be patented -- any stupid assed idea you come up with, whether you've implemented a working prototype or not.
So, what's the point of doing anything at all? Some business-suited ass-sniffing dick-smoker probably has a patent on it, regardless of what you're trying to do. And, if you have any success at all, they'll come for you with their claws sharpened because they're too stupid to actually DO anything themselves. Worst of all, the rat-bastards have bought up a bunch of polititians, so you can bet they're going to try to make all patents eternal (i.e. terms of greater than 50 years), which means forget about ever inventing anything. Voila! America is no longer an innovative or interesting country, and we have to buy everything interesting from overseas. I'M PRETTY SURE THE FOUNDING FATHERS DIDN'T SEE THIS ONE COMING.
Patent reform can be handled very simply: go back to only allowing patents for physical processes, and require a working prototype for each patent application.
'Course, I'm not bitter or anything...
In comment:reply format, in response to Tablizer's statements:
Comment: "JavaBeans are Java-specific. Why not LISPbeans?"
Response: Fine. Show me some LISPbeans. If they do everything JavaBeans do, bully for you. I wouldn't personally use 'em -- I'm reminded of a quote, "Only effeminate programmers use more parenthesis than code". But, I guess this is a matter of taste. For the record, usually I use COM/DCOM/COM+. This is a non-java technology, btw.
Comment: "No, but databases do"
Response: You misunderstood completely. Yes, databases support transactions. However, using a transaction server you can handle transactions in code and handle errors much more gracefully. But I'm not going to teach you how to do that for the sake of this weird argument.
Comment: "Does that mean that Smalltalk is not OO?"
Response: No, it doesn't. But so few people are using it that I basically ignored it. Smalltalk, yikes. What do you drive, an Edsel?
Comment: "You have not established a need for object pooling."
Response: Because I thought you would understand the need. Object pooling is used to speed up response. A pool of objects is kept in memory so that new requests can be served without having to copy a new object into memory, initialize it and so on. It speeds things up. Does this clear the need up?
Comment: "Use something else to communicate thru a fireall. Use XML thru HTTP, for example."
Response: Again, you misunderstand. The IDEA is to have a nice little chunk of executable code which encapsulates an entire piece of your functionality, and which in theory has already been thoroughly debugged. You're connecting to a binary object which performs some task for you. You can simulate this with a script, but it still won't be quite as good (fast, secure, etc). And, you're going through your transaction server's interface, letting it handle transactions and object pooling, and so on. Another issue is, once you've solved something with object A, you can reuse object A in other projects without copying it or moving it anywhere. There's a lot of flexibility in this approach.
Now, this is getting a little silly. Either you don't understand the issues at all or you're trolling (I've suspected this is the case for a while now, but I've given you the benefit of the doubt). Maybe we should just "agree to disagree" and let the whole thing drop.
Tablizer said: "But Java is being heavily pushed for small and medium stuff also. Besides, show me some interconnectivity that Java does better than say Perl or Python or LISP, etc."
Does Perl/Python/LISP support enterprise javabeans, and all the useful encapsulation of functionality they represent? Do they support database transactions (ACID)? Since they're scripting languages and not fully OO, how would an application server do object pooling with them? Or any of the other tweaks that are common in J2EE? One common thing is to put either an EJB or an MTS object between a web server and a database (or some other resource), and use a firewall to limit access based on this. How would you do that using a scripting language?
Tablizer said, "That is called "off-site backups". You don't need Java to do off-site backups. In fact, I think most commercial databases offer built-in tools for just such things (or at least extensions)"
Tablizer, This whole subthread between you and me is based on the fact that you don't seem to understand why a company or government would have servers in more than one location. Right? Which implies that you've never worked for a large organization and you're just being dense and stubborn. So let's consider some cases in which a company or companies might have large, distributed systems with some degree of redundancy.
Some organizations will want to incorporate their own systems with another set of systems, for instance during a corporate merger. This will mean that there are multiple locations, all of which have their own servers, and which must now interoperate. Ok? I guarantee that all of Hewlett-Packard's and Compaq's records do NOT lie in a single server room in a building somewhere, and they do NOT rely on "off-site backups" for protection (although I'm sure they have them).
Large, multinational corporations have multiple locations in multiple cities, and there is almost certainly a great deal of redundancy in their systems. This is because (unlike you) they have considered the possibility of fire, or some other hazard, taking their servers out of commission. Thus, they have some degree of duplication of capabilities, and they have systems in place which synchronize records among their databases. Getting the picture yet? Which brings us to another point, which is that organizations of any significant size will do part of their business in one location, and part in another. Consider a large manufacturer for example. An organization like this may have corporate offices in NYC, Chicago, and L.A. all of which have the ability to handle transactions for the other two in the event of some sort of disaster. Also, they might have manufacturing plants in Kuala Lumpur, Thailand, and Taiwan, plus affiliated plants which produce parts and supplies for them. Those plants will have their own systems, and the affiliates will have THEIR own systems, ad infinitum. All of these systems will have to interoperate with the home offices in the States, and there might be some redundancy here, too.
If you're getting the picture yet, you'll understand that we're talking about really HUGE systems here. We're talking about companies like Chase Manhattan Bank, or General Motors, not a little dot-com with ten employees, here. Organizations with not just thousands, but tens of thousands of employees, in multiple locations across multiple countries (let alone states).
Now, perhaps you'll understand why your comment that all we need is a server rack and a tape drive for "off-site backups" isn't just naiive, but really, agonizingly, stupid.
Enterprise systems usually are very, very large. Their scope is generally greater than one person can fully follow at one time. This was the whole point of object oriented programming in the first place, and it's one reason why people love enterprise javabeans. When people talk about scalability, this is what they're talking about.
One server and an offsite backup do NOT an enterprise system make, any more than a matchbox car can run in the Daytona 500.
Now please think about this a little before you come back.
An A/C asked: "If they are "thin" clients, then you have a web-browser-like setup. So, do you mean "a bunch of fat clients all over the place"?"
Could be a mixture of both. There might be times you want a fat client. It depends on your application. But, you can have servers and clients in different locations -- legacy systems, locations and departments which want closer control over their data, weird political shit going on... You can get into some heavily weird, complex stuff.
Gotta be flexible.
Tablizer asked: "If it is on the Internet, then why does it have to be *geographically* distributed?"
You misunderstood my meaning. The main servers can be all in one location, like for instance your RDBMS, web server, and middleware. But the SYSTEM is distributed, because it contains client-server components (like client software running at various locations) browsers being one form of client of course, and so on... See what I mean? It's distributed because the people accessing it are all over the place. And, sometimes, a local office will have its own servers for one purpose or another, and they'll have to work with the servers at another location... You have to be flexible in your thinking here.
Think about it this way: what if you were a credit card company? You wouldn't want to do things YOUR way, putting everything in one building. Because then, Fight Club will come blow it up and destroy the debt record. So, instead, you duplicate your servers (so you can continue processing requests) and your data (so you don't "miss" any debtors)in every major city in the U.S. where you have a presence. And, you synchronize this data nightly. Then, when Brad Pitt blows up your main office, you just continue with business as usual, and file your insurance claim.
See what I mean?