"A consultant is basically the guy you hire to do something that needs to be done, that you don't want to hire a qualified full time employee to do."
Well Duh! Every one of the projects you mentioned is a perfect job for a consultant. The reason they hire you in the first place is that they KNOW they cannot do it themselves (thus the mess and the good money). They also know they don't need to keep paying you forever (although I have been offered many permanent jobs AT THE SAME RATES, the last of which I took up about a year ago). Think about it, would you look for a guy who builds skyscrapers to tack a spare room on to your house, or would you pick a much cheaper local builder?
I agree "greenfield" projects are the best but they are not as common as 10yrs ago. Whatever the project it's up to you to find a way to make it enjoyable (something I learnt in another life as a labourer/factory worker). Personally I enjoy the feeling of satisfaction that comes from "getting the job done". Maybe the project falls into a heap again after I'm gone and they get another consultant to come along and fix what the PHB claims is the mess I left, but that's more often a reflection of the PHB's skills/personality and the entrophy inherent in IT. In no way does it diminishes my personal satisfaction.
Having said that, there are very few people who don't at sometime or another have Monday-itis.
I've been in the trade for ~20yrs total and (for now) being on the payroll suits me. I find a similar attitude works just as well for full-timers as it does for consultants. A PHB once offered me a veiled threat in a meeting by saying "principles are expensive", I replied with a simle "That's why your paying me the big bucks!", he cracked up laughing and dropped the issue.
"Sounds like the whole organization was rotten though, so it's hard to blame them."
As someone who spent a decade or so as a "fricking consultant" I don't find it hard to blame him. If Mr. $125/hr was a half competent consultant he should at the very least have email evidence to show that he tried to change this retarded procedure but was vetoed by his superior. If he has such evidence then rinse & repeat up the PHB ladder.
Just to be clear on the religion thing, I belive that in every group of like minded people there are zealots that do not represent the groups core beliefs but often manage to shout the majority down and hijack the groups agenda. My own "faith" tells me that the Universe "just is" and I think that people who insist on convincing others that there is/isn't a god have simply taken logic one step to far.
"It just goes to show you that books are subjective and the observer gets to determine what the artist meant in the end."
You are in good company, to paraphrase Plato: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder".
Since I am replying to an AC flaming me as a liar I don't expect an answer, but here goes anyway...
"Anyone hire a lawyer?"
Are you aware I am talking about a high school in Australia circa 1971, not a 21st century collage in the US?
"Parents go down and kick the shit out of the headmaster?"
Parents did arrive at the school after the kid was sent to a doctor and I never saw him again. Since I wasn't invited to the meeting I have no idea what took place but I was told he was expelled.
Or did this never actually happen?
That is quite likey the same question his parents asked him. It happened, in full veiw of myself and half a dozen other boys who were pissing about in music class and had been taken out into the hallway by the head when he came for a "surprise visit".
I assume the head had a reasonable story maybe..."some other kid did it and he was trying to find out who"...whatever. It was a different era, very few people took the word of a child over that of a teacher/cop/priest, and kids were smart enough to keep their mouth shut lest they recieve another beating for lying. My own farther who I love dearly was a gentle soul when compared to the majority of my friends parents, his worst punishment was a thin bamboo cane on a bare arse (like the ones Pakistani police carry and also a favorite of 60's school teachers), he never hit us with a closed fist and rarely slapped us up the side/back of the head....not an uncommon sight to see IN PUBLIC and a perfectly acceptable behaviour for a teacher/cop/priest.
What did the police do about it?.
My ex-wife's farther was an incestuous drunk who put all three of his kids in hospital numerous times, one time he put his wife into a three month coma when her liver shut down after a beating. The one time my ex ran away (~1973) the cops found her and told her to stop lying or she would be in more trouble.
BTW: The Brady bunch was not a documentry, it was pure fantasy.
As a parent I recognise the humour - it's exciting when they start to say MaMa or DaDa, it's an entirely different experience when they learn the word "no".
Which makes me think how many of the victims of abuse that are now adults would agree with this kind of censorship. My guess is not very many, most people who have confided this kind of thing to me would want it dragged out into the harsh glare of public opinion not locked up in a closet where it can continue unabated.
Absolutely correct, charaters in the book assumed the 3 Mrs. W's were witches and the W's never bothered to correct them. The "lesson" being: it doesn't matter what ignorant strangers think of you. That "lesson" BTW is also good advise to kids who get "cyber-bullied".
"What really sucks is that people pretend that A Wrinkle in Time is full of witchcraft"
Actually I think most who think that have not read it and like the "random strangers" in the book simply assume they know what it's about, kinda like nobody RTFA on slashdot. But yes the zealots who started the "book burning" campaign must have been "pretending" in the same way as many political/religious talk show hosts still do.
"hers is a "liberal" Christianity"
That is a much more likely motivation for the original "pretenders", particularly when you consider the books vintage.
Anyway I'm glad to see I am not alone in admiring the work, to this day it's still a fantastic kids book and I highly recommend it to any parent who wants to cultivate and inform their child's mind.
Thanks for the list and yes it is the one I was reffering to, (#32 was from memory). I grew up in Australia but I think our cultures are close enough that it would also show up on an Aussie list. The most notorious book from when I was a kid was Mao's "little red book", most of the kids at our school (including me) thought it must be about sex since we never saw a copy and adults told us it was "a disgusting book".
"Damned that foul mouthed and filthy minded Mark Twain"
That one spun me out too. I wonder how Shakespear's "bubble, bubble, toil and trouble" escaped their notice?
Yep, I love listening to songbirds. If you listen carefully at the right time of year you can hear younger songbirds perfecting their call. I think the fact that many animals communicate through body language is why the image on the Viking spacecraft shows a human with his hand raised in a freindly gesture.
Interesting, I never thought about a "feedback loop" in that way. But now you mention it, it makes (evolutionary) sense that important words (for a baby) would correlate to simple and consistent sounds the parents can pick out and reinforce.
"Ad hominem attacks are a really great way to make a scientific point, by the way."
The "idiotic" jab is actually a scientific appraisal of the AC's hypothetical senario but so as not to dissapoint, here is another "Ad hominem attack"....
You have failed to comprehend my OP in exactly the same way as the AC did, which is why I shouted the word LEARN.
I was thinking more along the lines of violence inflicted as "corporal punishment" (and I'm not talking a slap on the behind, I once witnessed my headmaster punch a 12yo kid and break his nose for "giving lip", he remaind head for another 2yrs after expelling the kid).
But yes I see your point and yes my parents would order a "shandy" (50/50 mix of lemonade and beer) for my brother and I when we went out for dinner. Here in Australia it is still legal for a gaurdian to order wine/beer for a child provided it is served with a meal. - But since few people know about the law it's a rare occurance these days.
The statistic that puts a lie to the "think of the children and cripple the net crowd" is that in 80+% of ALL cases of criminal child abuse, the child's tormentor is related to, or known and trusted by, the child's family.
"You are missing out something. Languages are not part of our DNA."
So where are all the talking animals Dr. Dolittle? If we are not pre-disposed to LEARN the language of our parents (adopted or otherwise) then how do explain the fact that it is a universal behaviour amoungs humans?
The rest of your post is an idiotic interpretation of what I said, which would explain why you posted as AC.
When I was a kid in the 60's one of the first books I remember reading and being totally absorbed by was called A wrinkle in time. A few years ago I was dismayed to find out that it was #32 on a list of books most frequently banned by US schools.
The thing I remeber most about the book is that it was an excellent and entertaining introduction to basic physics and geometry, apparently the thing that the "censors" disliked the most was the fact that witches were involved.
Seems to me that this kind of censorship can only end in tears. I could see an exception being make is for explicit (pre-pubecent) kiddy-porn, snuff-films and the like, since the material itself is evidence of a vile crime. OTOH: Leaving that material up has proven to be an excellent way to track down highly organised child abuse (re: Denmark in the 90's).
As a parent who kids are now adults, I agree that parents do/did have ligitimate concerns but somewhere in the back of my head is a voice that says Murdoch has more to do with this than your average parent. ("29,000 perverts deleted from MySpace" - today's coincidental headline).
As for growing up in a "dangerous world", I can assure you that what was "normal" behaviour in the 60's towards kids would now land you in jail.
"I get so annoyed when people talk about "hardwired" like we have some kind of genetic memory."
Genetics IS "memory", your DNA "remembers" what traits your parents passed on. It's in a baby's genes to "discover" their hands and practice moving them until the hands learn how to look after themselves (eg:touch typing).
Same with language, a baby's genes will make them pick up on the phonetic sounds made by it's parents and try to copy them. It is more difficult for an adult to learn a radically different language (eg Asian vs European) because the adult brain refuses to hear the different phonetics, the adult brain long ago rejected those sounds as irrelevant to language and no longer even hears them in speech. This is why you get almost universal mistakes such as "engrish".
Let's say that your "unatural" fishmato was shown to immunise those who ate it against all forms of cancer, aids, or some other modern day scourge - would you eat it?
"GM is not about feeding people. It's about starving people who can't afford to pay for your seeds."
GM is a tool, how it is used and by whom is a different issue alltogether. And speaking of starvation, didn't that nutcase Mugabe at one time reject a ship full of donated GM corn without bothering to ask his starving population what they thought?
Slashdot Mirror
"A consultant is basically the guy you hire to do something that needs to be done, that you don't want to hire a qualified full time employee to do."
Well Duh! Every one of the projects you mentioned is a perfect job for a consultant. The reason they hire you in the first place is that they KNOW they cannot do it themselves (thus the mess and the good money). They also know they don't need to keep paying you forever (although I have been offered many permanent jobs AT THE SAME RATES, the last of which I took up about a year ago). Think about it, would you look for a guy who builds skyscrapers to tack a spare room on to your house, or would you pick a much cheaper local builder?
I agree "greenfield" projects are the best but they are not as common as 10yrs ago. Whatever the project it's up to you to find a way to make it enjoyable (something I learnt in another life as a labourer/factory worker). Personally I enjoy the feeling of satisfaction that comes from "getting the job done". Maybe the project falls into a heap again after I'm gone and they get another consultant to come along and fix what the PHB claims is the mess I left, but that's more often a reflection of the PHB's skills/personality and the entrophy inherent in IT. In no way does it diminishes my personal satisfaction.
Having said that, there are very few people who don't at sometime or another have Monday-itis.
You're right it's a common mistake I make, I am a terrible speeeeler and even though I know it's incorrect I often don't pick up on it.
I've been in the trade for ~20yrs total and (for now) being on the payroll suits me. I find a similar attitude works just as well for full-timers as it does for consultants. A PHB once offered me a veiled threat in a meeting by saying "principles are expensive", I replied with a simle "That's why your paying me the big bucks!", he cracked up laughing and dropped the issue.
"The problem is, whether you are a $125 per hour consultant or $25 per hour consultant, the company that hired you isn't going to listen to you."
I don't doubt that happens but in my own experience I have rarely found it to be the case. Sure they don't always agree with me, but they do listen.
"Consulting is no fun, except the paychecks tend to be pretty good."
If your not "having fun" then get the fuck out of the kitchen.
I genuinely appreciate your blessing and whilst I don't share your ideal, life is indeed all about faith.
"Sounds like the whole organization was rotten though, so it's hard to blame them."
As someone who spent a decade or so as a "fricking consultant" I don't find it hard to blame him. If Mr. $125/hr was a half competent consultant he should at the very least have email evidence to show that he tried to change this retarded procedure but was vetoed by his superior. If he has such evidence then rinse & repeat up the PHB ladder.
"out of my Church's Library."
Just to be clear on the religion thing, I belive that in every group of like minded people there are zealots that do not represent the groups core beliefs but often manage to shout the majority down and hijack the groups agenda. My own "faith" tells me that the Universe "just is" and I think that people who insist on convincing others that there is/isn't a god have simply taken logic one step to far.
"It just goes to show you that books are subjective and the observer gets to determine what the artist meant in the end."
You are in good company, to paraphrase Plato: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder".
Since I am replying to an AC flaming me as a liar I don't expect an answer, but here goes anyway...
"Anyone hire a lawyer?"
Are you aware I am talking about a high school in Australia circa 1971, not a 21st century collage in the US?
"Parents go down and kick the shit out of the headmaster?"
Parents did arrive at the school after the kid was sent to a doctor and I never saw him again. Since I wasn't invited to the meeting I have no idea what took place but I was told he was expelled.
Or did this never actually happen?
That is quite likey the same question his parents asked him. It happened, in full veiw of myself and half a dozen other boys who were pissing about in music class and had been taken out into the hallway by the head when he came for a "surprise visit".
I assume the head had a reasonable story maybe..."some other kid did it and he was trying to find out who"...whatever. It was a different era, very few people took the word of a child over that of a teacher/cop/priest, and kids were smart enough to keep their mouth shut lest they recieve another beating for lying. My own farther who I love dearly was a gentle soul when compared to the majority of my friends parents, his worst punishment was a thin bamboo cane on a bare arse (like the ones Pakistani police carry and also a favorite of 60's school teachers), he never hit us with a closed fist and rarely slapped us up the side/back of the head....not an uncommon sight to see IN PUBLIC and a perfectly acceptable behaviour for a teacher/cop/priest.
What did the police do about it?.
My ex-wife's farther was an incestuous drunk who put all three of his kids in hospital numerous times, one time he put his wife into a three month coma when her liver shut down after a beating. The one time my ex ran away (~1973) the cops found her and told her to stop lying or she would be in more trouble.
BTW: The Brady bunch was not a documentry, it was pure fantasy.
"Either NASA is deliberately playing down a more serious issue, or we have some very incompetent saboteurs."
Third option: It's not just the pilots who are drunk.
Yes, my eldest son drove me bonkers with that one!
Response :)
"Pray tell, why was that a dumb thing to do?"
As a parent I recognise the humour - it's exciting when they start to say MaMa or DaDa, it's an entirely different experience when they learn the word "no".
Which makes me think how many of the victims of abuse that are now adults would agree with this kind of censorship. My guess is not very many, most people who have confided this kind of thing to me would want it dragged out into the harsh glare of public opinion not locked up in a closet where it can continue unabated.
"but the witches weren't ever witches"
Absolutely correct, charaters in the book assumed the 3 Mrs. W's were witches and the W's never bothered to correct them. The "lesson" being: it doesn't matter what ignorant strangers think of you. That "lesson" BTW is also good advise to kids who get "cyber-bullied".
"What really sucks is that people pretend that A Wrinkle in Time is full of witchcraft"
Actually I think most who think that have not read it and like the "random strangers" in the book simply assume they know what it's about, kinda like nobody RTFA on slashdot. But yes the zealots who started the "book burning" campaign must have been "pretending" in the same way as many political/religious talk show hosts still do.
"hers is a "liberal" Christianity"
That is a much more likely motivation for the original "pretenders", particularly when you consider the books vintage.
Anyway I'm glad to see I am not alone in admiring the work, to this day it's still a fantastic kids book and I highly recommend it to any parent who wants to cultivate and inform their child's mind.
I was not trying to rebutt the OP, the "you" in my post is generic, I agree totally with your post.
Thanks for the list and yes it is the one I was reffering to, (#32 was from memory). I grew up in Australia but I think our cultures are close enough that it would also show up on an Aussie list. The most notorious book from when I was a kid was Mao's "little red book", most of the kids at our school (including me) thought it must be about sex since we never saw a copy and adults told us it was "a disgusting book".
"Damned that foul mouthed and filthy minded Mark Twain"
That one spun me out too. I wonder how Shakespear's "bubble, bubble, toil and trouble" escaped their notice?
Yep, I love listening to songbirds. If you listen carefully at the right time of year you can hear younger songbirds perfecting their call. I think the fact that many animals communicate through body language is why the image on the Viking spacecraft shows a human with his hand raised in a freindly gesture.
"worded the sentence a tad clumsily."
I thought it was painfully obvious but I can accept that as a fair critisisim.
Interesting, I never thought about a "feedback loop" in that way. But now you mention it, it makes (evolutionary) sense that important words (for a baby) would correlate to simple and consistent sounds the parents can pick out and reinforce.
"Ad hominem attacks are a really great way to make a scientific point, by the way."
The "idiotic" jab is actually a scientific appraisal of the AC's hypothetical senario but so as not to dissapoint, here is another "Ad hominem attack"....
You have failed to comprehend my OP in exactly the same way as the AC did, which is why I shouted the word LEARN.
I was thinking more along the lines of violence inflicted as "corporal punishment" (and I'm not talking a slap on the behind, I once witnessed my headmaster punch a 12yo kid and break his nose for "giving lip", he remaind head for another 2yrs after expelling the kid).
But yes I see your point and yes my parents would order a "shandy" (50/50 mix of lemonade and beer) for my brother and I when we went out for dinner. Here in Australia it is still legal for a gaurdian to order wine/beer for a child provided it is served with a meal. - But since few people know about the law it's a rare occurance these days.
The statistic that puts a lie to the "think of the children and cripple the net crowd" is that in 80+% of ALL cases of criminal child abuse, the child's tormentor is related to, or known and trusted by, the child's family.
"You are missing out something. Languages are not part of our DNA."
So where are all the talking animals Dr. Dolittle? If we are not pre-disposed to LEARN the language of our parents (adopted or otherwise) then how do explain the fact that it is a universal behaviour amoungs humans?
The rest of your post is an idiotic interpretation of what I said, which would explain why you posted as AC.
When I was a kid in the 60's one of the first books I remember reading and being totally absorbed by was called A wrinkle in time. A few years ago I was dismayed to find out that it was #32 on a list of books most frequently banned by US schools.
The thing I remeber most about the book is that it was an excellent and entertaining introduction to basic physics and geometry, apparently the thing that the "censors" disliked the most was the fact that witches were involved.
Seems to me that this kind of censorship can only end in tears. I could see an exception being make is for explicit (pre-pubecent) kiddy-porn, snuff-films and the like, since the material itself is evidence of a vile crime. OTOH: Leaving that material up has proven to be an excellent way to track down highly organised child abuse (re: Denmark in the 90's).
As a parent who kids are now adults, I agree that parents do/did have ligitimate concerns but somewhere in the back of my head is a voice that says Murdoch has more to do with this than your average parent. ("29,000 perverts deleted from MySpace" - today's coincidental headline).
As for growing up in a "dangerous world", I can assure you that what was "normal" behaviour in the 60's towards kids would now land you in jail.
"I get so annoyed when people talk about "hardwired" like we have some kind of genetic memory."
Genetics IS "memory", your DNA "remembers" what traits your parents passed on. It's in a baby's genes to "discover" their hands and practice moving them until the hands learn how to look after themselves (eg:touch typing).
Same with language, a baby's genes will make them pick up on the phonetic sounds made by it's parents and try to copy them. It is more difficult for an adult to learn a radically different language (eg Asian vs European) because the adult brain refuses to hear the different phonetics, the adult brain long ago rejected those sounds as irrelevant to language and no longer even hears them in speech. This is why you get almost universal mistakes such as "engrish".
Let's say that your "unatural" fishmato was shown to immunise those who ate it against all forms of cancer, aids, or some other modern day scourge - would you eat it?
"GM is not about feeding people. It's about starving people who can't afford to pay for your seeds."
GM is a tool, how it is used and by whom is a different issue alltogether. And speaking of starvation, didn't that nutcase Mugabe at one time reject a ship full of donated GM corn without bothering to ask his starving population what they thought?