"With 10%+ unemployment (in the US), Step 1A might take a bit of time."
While I'll grant you that times are a bit tougher, there ARE jobs out there, and if you're good, you can get one without that much difficulty, you just have to be willing to travel/relocate to where the jobs are!! The biggest problem I've found with people needing to get a new job is, they're almost completely unwilling to move to where the new job is.
"As to original topic of programmers all being forced to not wear headphones, that is just something we all have to deal with. There are so many development houses where this is not allowed that you just have to deal with it unless you are going to spend your entire life at one company under one boss (not realistic). I suppose you could always ask the question at the end of an interview but that might come across as a little bit petty."
Hmm...I've never really heard of a place that would NOT let you listen to music when working..hell, on most of my previous jobs, they gave you computer speakers with your computer to listen to things, no headphones required.
Are you finding this new practice of banning music/headphones common where you live? What area do you live in? This is actually a new thing to me....
"Your flippant response really illustrates the attitude of the modern worker; I'll just do my job so I can continue to exist."
I'm not sure why you say this like it is a bad thing?
I mean, to me a job (ANY job) is nothing more than a means to earn as much money as possible to allow me to enjoy life on the level I like. It gives me money, which I then use to live in a nice place, buy cars and other toys, travel and chase women. Trust me, if I won the lottery tomorrow, I'd never consider working again since I'd no longer need a job to earn money. I'd spend my life full time having fun (traveling, partying, ridng my motorcycle around town, enjoying time with friends and family and chasing women).
But honestly, what more is a job than a means to an end?
"While I can accept that music would be less distracting that office chatter, I simply don't understand the concept that music is better than silence. I can work with music, but if I need to concentrate on something intensely, like a complex coding problem or making decisions based on a large amount of data, I need silence."
I guess it has to do with everyone's brain being wired differently.
Personally, I can hardly get anything done in silence, hell, I can't even get to sleep easily at night without something in the background. I go to sleep with my tv on as my 'nightlight'...it is at a low level, and I set the timer to turn off in about 1.5 hours. I drop right off to sleep it if it on, but, will toss and turn usually taking longer to crash in a totally dark room that is quiet.
I've almost always been this way, even in school, especially cramming for tests in college, I had to have my CD's playing in the background and/or the tv on. I would load up the changer with 6 disks....and it would play and I'd study...tapping my pen while reading, studying and writing...and a few hours later, I'd pause and notice the room had gotten quiet, and go throw more music on. Often if not music, the tv was on....if I had a quiet room with no distractions, I'd find my mind would wander from the task at hand...I'd start daydreaming or doodling or finding something else to do like learning to juggle (literally happened).
While I'm not quite as bad that way at work any more as I've gotten a bit older, it still goes with work. Heck, in years past, I used to joke that the reason people working around me wore headphones was because "I" did not...hehe...I prefer to play through speakers, it makes it easier for me to concentrate than with earphones in/on. I currently don't have speakers at work (hey, they used to give them out and I used them)...but, now I use my iPods...and have a pair of the high end Shure earphones I use. It helps me tune out things....even the phone ringing, which is nice...I can just periodically check the messages on the phone, get it done at once, and then go back to uninterrupted work.
I find people interrupting my concentration is the biggest distraction....I mean, I'm social and I love to talk with co-workers, and find it hard not to stop and join in when I hear interesting topics (which is most anything with me). I have to plug up and tune out to avoid that...
"The people who leaked this were EMPLOYEES. By leaking the documents they SHOULD be prosecuted. Its the same as any military member leaking information on any top secret project! They get court marshaled! The employees probably didn't post the documents to wikileaks, but even leaking them to a friend or relative is a violation of a contract they signed, even after they leave that job! When you're dealing with the government, breaking a contract sometime means you are breaking the law!"
But the trouble is here, they aren't just talking about going after the people who leaked it, but also the sites like wikileaks which just reposted the information. Once it is out in the clear...it shouldn't be a crime for anyone to look at or post it...it isn't secure anymore once it goes out to the public.
"With regard to DHS and TSA, there probably are. We won't hear about them, especially if the person who 'let them out' has a position of significance. Not that such a thing exists at either of these agencies...."
Correct me if I'm wrong, but, I thought pretty much with even secret documents...the crimes/penalties are to mishandling and letting it out on the govt. side, but, as far as I know there are no laws about doing anything with it once it is in the 'wild'. I mean, once it is out of security control, doesn't it by definition cease to be 'secret'?
"I watched "Plan 9 from Outer Space" recently - I had a similar reaction. Like, it wasn't particularly entertaining to watch how bad the thing was, rather, it was just really, really dull. The complete lack of potential to entertain the audience is the mark of a truly bad film."
But riffing in the MST3K styles makes them all watchable!!
"No I'm not joking. I honestly do not see the racial connection with Jar Jar.
And the fact that I don't see racism everywhere is no reason to try and insult me."
I agree. I mean, no, I didn't car for JJ either, but, I never saw anything racist about him either. I think some people just go outta their way trying to see racism in everything, and with everyone trying to not see color, I think trying to find it in everything hinders that cause.
"Disclaimer: I am married, so my arms would remain the same, but my wife would (through associated absorption) develop some massive jaw and tongue muscles......"
Yeah, but don't get her angry at you, she'll just wait for the moment, and get a death grip on you with her super human pussy muscles...and then what are you gonna do?
"I never use to see it. Now I see it everywhere (usenet, forums, emails, anything online). Even my MOM is writing that way in emails now. I tried asking a guy on a forum who writes in that style where he got it from. He couldn't (or wouldn't) tell me. I find it every distracting, and I hope it doesn't catch on."
I catch myself writing like that a lot on forums, and only recently has someone ever commented about it. I tend to do it, as that it seems to naturally reflect how I'm thinking when I write...I guess they are like pauses when I speak, and I type the thought in my head which are how they would be spoken.
At least I'm not saying "you know" every other word, now THAT is annoying...
"Of course I think what would really deter intelligent life from contacting us is the fact that we have had the capability of feeding, clothing, sheltering, and educating every last man, woman, and child on the planet since the Industrial Age and, for various reasons, have not done so. We also kill our own species more than any other creature on the planet and treat each other like dehumanized cogs-in-machines for the sake of our economic models (see what Erich Fromm had to say about alienation). We not only experience lies, manipulation, and other forms of treachery from our leaders and authorities, we expect it and accept it as normal.
By the standards of a truly advanced interstellar civilization, we must be quite barbaric indeed. "
Yeah, but, ain't it fun though?
I mean, at least if your towards the top of the heap that is...
"If you think the battery life sucks, wait till you get to the roaming charges."
Ok, I gotta ask...who gets roaming charges on an iPHone? I mean, the unlimited data plan has never been upcharged when I've traveled, and I've been driving all around, and I've seen the 'roaming signal' but, again...nothing extra on my phone bill from this, I could swear the plan said free roaming too??
Is this maybe just in some countries other than the US?
"If I one the lottery, I would continue to work..I would just come in a lot later!"
Wow....not me.
Last year I was between gigs for 7 months. My daily routine? I got up about 9am...went to the gym to exercise, came home, showered, and usually got on my motorcycle to ride around New Orleans, and eat..find something to do, and in the afternoon, I'd meet some friends after they got off work to have some beers. That was it pretty much, and I LOVED it!!
If I won the lottery tomorrow...I'd NEVER work again. I'd do pretty much what I described above, and occasionally, travel to somewhere fun like Key West or caribbean for the occasional vacation. I mean really, I got used to doing nothing it was a blast.
Sure, I like to piddle around at home with computers, I have servers I can mess with....but, really, I'd never work again. I had a taste of it without even having tons of money, and it is the way to go I can verify from experience.
I'd also heard that since so many states have opted 'out', I think CA was one of them...the current administration was thinking of trying to make some changes to make it more palatable.
Personally, I hope they can the whole damned thing...what are they going to do, really ban people from entire states for not having a real id drivers license?
"...and unless you're within staggering distance or have excellent 24/7 public transport then that means no drinking just in case."
Err, you lost me there. If I drove to the bar, I've GOT my car? I mean, if the jobsite isn't much further than my house, why not go ahead and drive to the job?
Ideal situation...have a laptop with you, at the bar, and just logon wireless (most bars down here in New Orleans now have free wireless just for stuff like this), and work from the bar, and then just go home as normal.
"While it's true that some people aren't cut out for management, that says nothing about what they want to do as a day-to-day job. Managing people is a lot different from onsite support for servers and network gear. If you prefer the latter to the former, a "promotion" to manager may seem like 7 kinds of hell."
What does it matter, really...in the end it is about nothing more than money. You work, to earn money, you get money to enable you to do the fun things in life (nice home, cars, women..whatever makes you happy in life). Unless you work for yourself, a job is just a job...a means to an end.
If something came across that doubled my salary, I'd be off like a shot and do it. I mean, really...if anyone here was independently wealthy, who would ever work again? Certainly not I.
I mean, even if you still like to do geek stuff..if you are wealthy enough live off the money you have, then anything you do is a hobby at that point, not work.
"Take it if they are going to pay you extra to be on call."
Yep, it is all about money. Nothing says you can't tinker/dabble with tech if you want, but, having more money is always a good thing. Just make sure and negotiate what you think your time is worth if they do want you available and 'on call'. Negotiate that you get paid at least straight time if you do get called in after hours, that will help insure that you aren't called for something that really isn't needed. You can get OT even if you are salaried, I've done it before on W2 gigs....just make sure and negotiate it in there. My time is VERY valuable to me, I don't give it away for free, and I've noticed when they have to pay me extra to come in, I have to come in less often....only in emergencies.
"When the US introduced a national driver's license database with the REAL ID Act, the reaction here was just as negative, so don't pretend that we are being hypocritical."
RealID was a horrible idea, many states refused to do it...it is dead in the water as far as I can tell.
We still do not have a National ID in the US at this time.
"Every country does that. It's called an ID card."
Interesting...where do you live?
There is no such national ID card in the USA. Hell, if you never drove a car, or left the country, even the state you live in wouldn't have a photograph on file for you. But even if you do have a drivers license (and I think in some states photo isn't actually required?), that is just the state with that information, it isn't shared with the feds or other states in any kind of national id database...at least, not yet.
"...not being able to make up new identities willy-nilly is the whole point."
Why?
I mean, at least in the US, as far as I know, it isn't against the law to be whomever you want to be. I believe there isn't any law against changing your identity. I know you can do it legally (legally as in binding and legal to use for things like applying for SS, etc). But as far as I know, there is no law out there requiring you to say you are Bob, if you feel like being Sammy or Cher the next day.
"I don't know, maybe some of us don't see every other human as a piece of meat, and like having a companion who will always be there. Maybe we find satisfaction in knowing someone intimately, and taking care of them, instead of having an endless parade of meaningless dates and shallow conversations. Maybe we find it deeply comforting to have someone love us despite knowing our worst faults, and to be able to do the same for them."
Wow...people still really try for that kind of thing? Well, good luck to you, hope you are one of the few people that finds someone like that. I don't put much faith in it anymore...you get that deep in with someone, and it goes bad, well, it is a wreck for everyone included. So, why bother...I've got friends for companionship, I don't really have a need to be that emotionally 'intimate' with someone else, I've never seen anything good come out of it...so, might as well have fun.
At the very least, I don't ever get tired of sleeping with the same chick night, after night...after night....
Slashdot Mirror
While I'll grant you that times are a bit tougher, there ARE jobs out there, and if you're good, you can get one without that much difficulty, you just have to be willing to travel/relocate to where the jobs are!! The biggest problem I've found with people needing to get a new job is, they're almost completely unwilling to move to where the new job is.
Hmm...I've never really heard of a place that would NOT let you listen to music when working..hell, on most of my previous jobs, they gave you computer speakers with your computer to listen to things, no headphones required.
Are you finding this new practice of banning music/headphones common where you live? What area do you live in? This is actually a new thing to me....
I'm not sure why you say this like it is a bad thing?
I mean, to me a job (ANY job) is nothing more than a means to earn as much money as possible to allow me to enjoy life on the level I like. It gives me money, which I then use to live in a nice place, buy cars and other toys, travel and chase women. Trust me, if I won the lottery tomorrow, I'd never consider working again since I'd no longer need a job to earn money. I'd spend my life full time having fun (traveling, partying, ridng my motorcycle around town, enjoying time with friends and family and chasing women).
But honestly, what more is a job than a means to an end?
I guess it has to do with everyone's brain being wired differently.
Personally, I can hardly get anything done in silence, hell, I can't even get to sleep easily at night without something in the background. I go to sleep with my tv on as my 'nightlight'...it is at a low level, and I set the timer to turn off in about 1.5 hours. I drop right off to sleep it if it on, but, will toss and turn usually taking longer to crash in a totally dark room that is quiet.
I've almost always been this way, even in school, especially cramming for tests in college, I had to have my CD's playing in the background and/or the tv on. I would load up the changer with 6 disks....and it would play and I'd study...tapping my pen while reading, studying and writing...and a few hours later, I'd pause and notice the room had gotten quiet, and go throw more music on. Often if not music, the tv was on....if I had a quiet room with no distractions, I'd find my mind would wander from the task at hand...I'd start daydreaming or doodling or finding something else to do like learning to juggle (literally happened).
While I'm not quite as bad that way at work any more as I've gotten a bit older, it still goes with work. Heck, in years past, I used to joke that the reason people working around me wore headphones was because "I" did not...hehe...I prefer to play through speakers, it makes it easier for me to concentrate than with earphones in/on. I currently don't have speakers at work (hey, they used to give them out and I used them)...but, now I use my iPods...and have a pair of the high end Shure earphones I use. It helps me tune out things....even the phone ringing, which is nice...I can just periodically check the messages on the phone, get it done at once, and then go back to uninterrupted work.
I find people interrupting my concentration is the biggest distraction....I mean, I'm social and I love to talk with co-workers, and find it hard not to stop and join in when I hear interesting topics (which is most anything with me). I have to plug up and tune out to avoid that...
But the trouble is here, they aren't just talking about going after the people who leaked it, but also the sites like wikileaks which just reposted the information. Once it is out in the clear...it shouldn't be a crime for anyone to look at or post it...it isn't secure anymore once it goes out to the public.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but, I thought pretty much with even secret documents...the crimes/penalties are to mishandling and letting it out on the govt. side, but, as far as I know there are no laws about doing anything with it once it is in the 'wild'. I mean, once it is out of security control, doesn't it by definition cease to be 'secret'?
But riffing in the MST3K styles makes them all watchable!!
And the fact that I don't see racism everywhere is no reason to try and insult me."
I agree. I mean, no, I didn't car for JJ either, but, I never saw anything racist about him either. I think some people just go outta their way trying to see racism in everything, and with everyone trying to not see color, I think trying to find it in everything hinders that cause.
As long as it isn't room 101...
Thank you, I too was wondering what the hell "DLC" was...the article didn't give anything telling what the TLA (Three Letter Acronym) was...
Actually..."Downloadable Content" is only two words, shouldn't the acronym be DC?
Apparently, it also causes your ass to atrophy....
I swear I used to have one....but, where/when did it go???
Yeah, but don't get her angry at you, she'll just wait for the moment, and get a death grip on you with her super human pussy muscles...and then what are you gonna do?
I catch myself writing like that a lot on forums, and only recently has someone ever commented about it. I tend to do it, as that it seems to naturally reflect how I'm thinking when I write...I guess they are like pauses when I speak, and I type the thought in my head which are how they would be spoken.
At least I'm not saying "you know" every other word, now THAT is annoying...
Yeah, but, ain't it fun though?
I mean, at least if your towards the top of the heap that is...
Ok, I gotta ask...who gets roaming charges on an iPHone? I mean, the unlimited data plan has never been upcharged when I've traveled, and I've been driving all around, and I've seen the 'roaming signal' but, again...nothing extra on my phone bill from this, I could swear the plan said free roaming too??
Is this maybe just in some countries other than the US?
Wow....not me.
Last year I was between gigs for 7 months. My daily routine? I got up about 9am...went to the gym to exercise, came home, showered, and usually got on my motorcycle to ride around New Orleans, and eat..find something to do, and in the afternoon, I'd meet some friends after they got off work to have some beers. That was it pretty much, and I LOVED it!!
If I won the lottery tomorrow...I'd NEVER work again. I'd do pretty much what I described above, and occasionally, travel to somewhere fun like Key West or caribbean for the occasional vacation. I mean really, I got used to doing nothing it was a blast.
Sure, I like to piddle around at home with computers, I have servers I can mess with....but, really, I'd never work again. I had a taste of it without even having tons of money, and it is the way to go I can verify from experience.
I'd also heard that since so many states have opted 'out', I think CA was one of them...the current administration was thinking of trying to make some changes to make it more palatable.
Personally, I hope they can the whole damned thing...what are they going to do, really ban people from entire states for not having a real id drivers license?
Err, you lost me there. If I drove to the bar, I've GOT my car? I mean, if the jobsite isn't much further than my house, why not go ahead and drive to the job?
Ideal situation...have a laptop with you, at the bar, and just logon wireless (most bars down here in New Orleans now have free wireless just for stuff like this), and work from the bar, and then just go home as normal.
What does it matter, really...in the end it is about nothing more than money. You work, to earn money, you get money to enable you to do the fun things in life (nice home, cars, women..whatever makes you happy in life). Unless you work for yourself, a job is just a job...a means to an end.
If something came across that doubled my salary, I'd be off like a shot and do it. I mean, really...if anyone here was independently wealthy, who would ever work again? Certainly not I.
I mean, even if you still like to do geek stuff..if you are wealthy enough live off the money you have, then anything you do is a hobby at that point, not work.
Yep, it is all about money. Nothing says you can't tinker/dabble with tech if you want, but, having more money is always a good thing. Just make sure and negotiate what you think your time is worth if they do want you available and 'on call'. Negotiate that you get paid at least straight time if you do get called in after hours, that will help insure that you aren't called for something that really isn't needed. You can get OT even if you are salaried, I've done it before on W2 gigs....just make sure and negotiate it in there. My time is VERY valuable to me, I don't give it away for free, and I've noticed when they have to pay me extra to come in, I have to come in less often....only in emergencies.
RealID was a horrible idea, many states refused to do it...it is dead in the water as far as I can tell.
We still do not have a National ID in the US at this time.
Interesting...where do you live?
There is no such national ID card in the USA. Hell, if you never drove a car, or left the country, even the state you live in wouldn't have a photograph on file for you. But even if you do have a drivers license (and I think in some states photo isn't actually required?), that is just the state with that information, it isn't shared with the feds or other states in any kind of national id database...at least, not yet.
Why?
I mean, at least in the US, as far as I know, it isn't against the law to be whomever you want to be. I believe there isn't any law against changing your identity. I know you can do it legally (legally as in binding and legal to use for things like applying for SS, etc). But as far as I know, there is no law out there requiring you to say you are Bob, if you feel like being Sammy or Cher the next day.
Wow...people still really try for that kind of thing? Well, good luck to you, hope you are one of the few people that finds someone like that. I don't put much faith in it anymore...you get that deep in with someone, and it goes bad, well, it is a wreck for everyone included. So, why bother...I've got friends for companionship, I don't really have a need to be that emotionally 'intimate' with someone else, I've never seen anything good come out of it...so, might as well have fun.
At the very least, I don't ever get tired of sleeping with the same chick night, after night...after night....