I'm nearsighted. When I take my glasses off or contacts out, every LED in the room is like the size of a full moon to me. It makes it very difficult to sleep. I finally went through and put black electrical tape on ever LED my my bedroom.
The white and blue LEDs are the worst because it always seems like they're the brightest. The single white LED on the front of an AppleTV is enough to light the whole room if you wake up in the middle of the night.
We have lots of engineering jobs in Huntsville, Ala. Most are with government contractors (the Army and NASA are very prominent in this town, along with every defense and space contractor you can think of), but there is a growing non-government tech sector here, too. Most of the contractors are in Research Park, while many of the non-tech companies are moving to or already are downtown. Downtown is quickly starting to become a really neat area.
Cost of living is extremely reasonable (I live in a 3,500 sqft house in a nice neighborhood and it runs me about $1,250 a month). Taxes are low, utilities are cheap, my commute is 15 minutes to and from the office. Great place to raise a family, too.
As far as things to do, we're never short of entertainment. If you like outdoors stuff, plenty of hiking, caving and water sports opportunities are nearby. And if you ever do get bored, Nashville and Birmingham are 1.5 hours in either direction. The beach is about a half-day drive too.
Yup, I'm a few miles south of you in Huntsville, and I live very, very well here. A 50+% pay raise to move to SF or SV looks nice until you really start to work the numbers and realize that you would actually come out worse off in many ways.
* A mortgage on a 3,500 square foot house, on a 1/3 acre lot in a very nice neighborhood runs me a hair over $1,200 a month. Including taxes and insurance. Everything except the HOA, and that's an extra $30 or so a month.
* I live in a nice family-oriented area with great schools. Don't have to worry about gang violence or anything. My biggest annoyance is the teen with the loud scooter.
* Utilities are dirt cheap thanks to TVA.
* Property taxes are dirt cheap. Income taxes are on the low side. Sales tax is a tad on the high side, but it's not bad.
* I have a 15 minute commute to and from the office every day, maybe 20 on a bad day. I'm home every night for dinner with my family.
And while Huntsville won't win any awards for high culture (although there is actually a surprisingly vibrant arts scene here considering its size, not really what I was expecting to find), Nashville and Birmingham are only 90 minutes away in either direction - great for a day trip. Atlanta or Memphis are weekend trips of a few hours away. And I can be on great beaches or hiking in the mountains in a few hours as well.
With my extra income, I can afford to save and do fun things. After our daughter was born, we needed a larger car, so we bought one and paid cash for it out of savings. We go skiing in West Virginia during the holidays. We did two weeks in Hawaii for our honeymoon, a week in London a few years and a week in Jamaica a couple years ago - all just because we wanted to. We're currently planning to go all out and go to Tahiti in a few years to celebrate our 10th. Also saving for the inevitable trip to Disney World once our daughter is old enough. A lot of this is possible because my cost of living here is so low that it allows me a large amount of discretionary income.
Of course, it's not without its problems. We have a real problem with severe weather here in the Spring, and it can be kind of rough sometimes (fun fact, Alabama at one time had more F-5/EF-5 tornadoes than any other state, and we're right in the middle of where they like to hit). Our politicians are really idiotic and can be counted on to say very, very stupid things. We have some pretty backwards laws. And, unfortunately, there is some level of truth to the stereotypes people have of Alabama (although they are pretty uncommon here in Huntsville - it's more of a rural thing), but it's also nowhere near the level people think it is either.
But, on the whole, every time I go to look at the tradeoffs, the math always works for me to stay put here. No one has yet shown me that I can live the equivalent lifestyle in SF or SV that I live here on an average developer's salary. People who live there... it just looks to me like they're working their asses off just to stay alive. Which I find sad; work is just one part of who you are. You should bet to enjoy your life too.
I'm also going to chime in with the "it's too expensive" issue. Flying is amazingly expensive. It's always been expensive, but the costs of aviation have risen along with everything else (and in some cases, much, much faster) while real wages... haven't.
At my local FBO, airplanes rent for between $110 and $170 an hour wet (with fuel) depending on the type and equipment. If you're a student, expect to pay between $25 and $50 an hour for instruction, and the average student (so I'm told) requires between 50 and 60 hours of instruction before they're ready to sit for exams. Add in about $200 for your medical and another $500 or so for leaning materials, another few hundred in miscellaneous costs, and the cost just get licensed is, at the low end, around $8,000 and can easily go in excess of $13,000+.
And then you've got your license. Then what? Have you looked at the cost of airplanes recently? There's a reason pretty much nobody buys airplanes anymore. Only clubs and flight schools own airplanes. You want something newer than 40 years old and seats 4 people, it will run you in excess of $50,000. And forget anything new. A new Cessna 172 currently goes for in excess of $300,000.
So yes. It's so expensive even to just learn to fly that it is effectively priced out of all the but (what's left of) the upper middle class and the wealthy.
But there's another issue, too, that I think warrants some attention: health.
So many things that are considered "common" diagnoses now and are easily treatable, such as high blood pressure, ADHD, depression, etc. are considered disqualifying conditions by the FAA. Even though many of these conditions are easily treatable by modern medicine, they're disqualifying for even a third-class (private pilot) medical certificate.
While the costs are what is primarily keeping people away from flying right now, the archaic medical certifying process used by the FAA is not helping.
If you think this is the first open source project for Alabama, you obviously have never heard of Gaim (now Pidgin) or Asterisk, both of which were started by Mark Spencer (an Auburn grad from Huntsville). Phorum also got its start in Huntsville as well.
To say that geothermal power has no environmental effects is to ignore our recent attempts at utilizing it.
In the 1980s, a flash geothermal plant at Beowawe in Nevada destroyed one of the largest geyser fields outside Yellowstone by lowering the water table and reducing the amount of heat available. The same thing happened at Steamboat Springs, Nevada.
* http://www.elkorose.com/geysers.html
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowawe,_Nevada
The same thing happened in New Zealand when geothermal power plants were constructed there.
* http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~glennon/geysers/world.ht m
There's also this list of geysers and other geothermal features that have been destroyed, in various ways, by man. Notice how many of them are due to geothermal drilling.
* http://www.wyojones.com/destroye.htm
I'm all for energy independence, and it may turn out that Geothermal has a role to play in it. But let's not delude ourselves into thinking that it has no effect on the environment.
Actually, IE does not render PNGs with transparency properly. The current version in common use (6.0) renders transparency in PNGs as a gray background.
I would hardly call Amtrak representative of rail transportation as a whole. Amtrak is a joke, both to Americans and to the rest of the world and, outside of the Northeast Corridor between D.C. and Boston, and maybe somewhere out on the west coast, is useless.
Meanwhile, rail forms the backbone of most developed nations, including France, Germany, and Japan. In case you weren't paying attention, a train also now links England and France via the Channel Tunnel. Bluntly put, America is the exception, not the rule.
Re:THANK YOU!
on
Just a Phone?
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· Score: 5, Insightful
Last time I went to buy a new phone (about 9 months ago), I was presented with a wide array of options at the local Cingular store.
All of them expensive and all of them with tons of things that I will never, ever use. In the meantime, the one I did buy (the closest I could come to a barebones model, an LG-4020), sounds like ass, drops calls, and is loaded with bells and whistles that I don't need.
Sure, it can play Beethoven, but it can't keep me connected to my girlfriend for more than 15 minutes.
Sure, it can surf the web, but it has a battery life that, even without use, doesn't last more than a few days.
Sure, it can get on AIM, but I have to cycle through all the ring volumes to put it on silent!
My old Kyocera was the closest I've come to a really good phone. One touch could put it on silent. The call quality was pretty good, the battery life was spectacular, and it didn't have all these extra features that I'll never use.
It just seems to me that designers and engineers could have better spent their time making a better telephone rather than making a telephone become something it isn't.
THANK YOU!
on
Just a Phone?
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
It's about time someone put an end to hardware feature creep on cellphones!
I don't need cameras, a million different ringtones, games, instant messenger, etc on my cellphone. All I ask of it is that it make reliable calls, have a somewhat long battery life, and be easy to read (I have a hell of a time reading the text on my LG) and use.
I purchased a Powerbook 5300 circa 1995 a few years ago at the University surplus auction for $20. Best twenty I ever spent - the thing is rugged and perfect for what I use it for (a MUD/chat client to follow me around the apartment. It usually sits in my kitchen so I can stay connected during RPs while cooking.:)
Having used TrebTK for years, I still think this is one of the best clients out there. If you're looking for pretty eye-candy or idiot-easy use, this ain't it. But for portability (I use it on my Windows, Mac, and Linux systems) and features, TrebTK can't be beat.:)
That's easy: Doom.
I got Doom when I was like 13 years old, and it glued me to our family's computer at the time. I played it for hours and hours, and after I had had enough of playing it, I downloaded WADs and hacks and played them, too. After I got bored with those, I started designing my own WADs.
When id released the source code, I had just turned 16 and was still crazy for the game. It immediately made me want to learn to program. I learned programming and generally messed around with the game, making cute little changes and addons.
I will graduate next year with a degree in Software Engineering. I blame Doom for my fascination with programming and designing games and for showing me the wonderful things I could do.
And yes, I still play Doom and still mess with the sourcecode. I can't wait for Doom3.:)
Slashdot Mirror
I'm nearsighted. When I take my glasses off or contacts out, every LED in the room is like the size of a full moon to me. It makes it very difficult to sleep. I finally went through and put black electrical tape on ever LED my my bedroom.
The white and blue LEDs are the worst because it always seems like they're the brightest. The single white LED on the front of an AppleTV is enough to light the whole room if you wake up in the middle of the night.
We have lots of engineering jobs in Huntsville, Ala. Most are with government contractors (the Army and NASA are very prominent in this town, along with every defense and space contractor you can think of), but there is a growing non-government tech sector here, too. Most of the contractors are in Research Park, while many of the non-tech companies are moving to or already are downtown. Downtown is quickly starting to become a really neat area.
Cost of living is extremely reasonable (I live in a 3,500 sqft house in a nice neighborhood and it runs me about $1,250 a month). Taxes are low, utilities are cheap, my commute is 15 minutes to and from the office. Great place to raise a family, too.
As far as things to do, we're never short of entertainment. If you like outdoors stuff, plenty of hiking, caving and water sports opportunities are nearby. And if you ever do get bored, Nashville and Birmingham are 1.5 hours in either direction. The beach is about a half-day drive too.
Yup, I'm a few miles south of you in Huntsville, and I live very, very well here. A 50+% pay raise to move to SF or SV looks nice until you really start to work the numbers and realize that you would actually come out worse off in many ways.
... it just looks to me like they're working their asses off just to stay alive. Which I find sad; work is just one part of who you are. You should bet to enjoy your life too.
* A mortgage on a 3,500 square foot house, on a 1/3 acre lot in a very nice neighborhood runs me a hair over $1,200 a month. Including taxes and insurance. Everything except the HOA, and that's an extra $30 or so a month.
* I live in a nice family-oriented area with great schools. Don't have to worry about gang violence or anything. My biggest annoyance is the teen with the loud scooter.
* Utilities are dirt cheap thanks to TVA.
* Property taxes are dirt cheap. Income taxes are on the low side. Sales tax is a tad on the high side, but it's not bad.
* I have a 15 minute commute to and from the office every day, maybe 20 on a bad day. I'm home every night for dinner with my family.
And while Huntsville won't win any awards for high culture (although there is actually a surprisingly vibrant arts scene here considering its size, not really what I was expecting to find), Nashville and Birmingham are only 90 minutes away in either direction - great for a day trip. Atlanta or Memphis are weekend trips of a few hours away. And I can be on great beaches or hiking in the mountains in a few hours as well.
With my extra income, I can afford to save and do fun things. After our daughter was born, we needed a larger car, so we bought one and paid cash for it out of savings. We go skiing in West Virginia during the holidays. We did two weeks in Hawaii for our honeymoon, a week in London a few years and a week in Jamaica a couple years ago - all just because we wanted to. We're currently planning to go all out and go to Tahiti in a few years to celebrate our 10th. Also saving for the inevitable trip to Disney World once our daughter is old enough. A lot of this is possible because my cost of living here is so low that it allows me a large amount of discretionary income.
Of course, it's not without its problems. We have a real problem with severe weather here in the Spring, and it can be kind of rough sometimes (fun fact, Alabama at one time had more F-5/EF-5 tornadoes than any other state, and we're right in the middle of where they like to hit). Our politicians are really idiotic and can be counted on to say very, very stupid things. We have some pretty backwards laws. And, unfortunately, there is some level of truth to the stereotypes people have of Alabama (although they are pretty uncommon here in Huntsville - it's more of a rural thing), but it's also nowhere near the level people think it is either.
But, on the whole, every time I go to look at the tradeoffs, the math always works for me to stay put here. No one has yet shown me that I can live the equivalent lifestyle in SF or SV that I live here on an average developer's salary. People who live there
I'm also going to chime in with the "it's too expensive" issue. Flying is amazingly expensive. It's always been expensive, but the costs of aviation have risen along with everything else (and in some cases, much, much faster) while real wages ... haven't.
At my local FBO, airplanes rent for between $110 and $170 an hour wet (with fuel) depending on the type and equipment. If you're a student, expect to pay between $25 and $50 an hour for instruction, and the average student (so I'm told) requires between 50 and 60 hours of instruction before they're ready to sit for exams. Add in about $200 for your medical and another $500 or so for leaning materials, another few hundred in miscellaneous costs, and the cost just get licensed is, at the low end, around $8,000 and can easily go in excess of $13,000+.
And then you've got your license. Then what? Have you looked at the cost of airplanes recently? There's a reason pretty much nobody buys airplanes anymore. Only clubs and flight schools own airplanes. You want something newer than 40 years old and seats 4 people, it will run you in excess of $50,000. And forget anything new. A new Cessna 172 currently goes for in excess of $300,000.
So yes. It's so expensive even to just learn to fly that it is effectively priced out of all the but (what's left of) the upper middle class and the wealthy.
But there's another issue, too, that I think warrants some attention: health.
So many things that are considered "common" diagnoses now and are easily treatable, such as high blood pressure, ADHD, depression, etc. are considered disqualifying conditions by the FAA. Even though many of these conditions are easily treatable by modern medicine, they're disqualifying for even a third-class (private pilot) medical certificate.
While the costs are what is primarily keeping people away from flying right now, the archaic medical certifying process used by the FAA is not helping.
If you think this is the first open source project for Alabama, you obviously have never heard of Gaim (now Pidgin) or Asterisk, both of which were started by Mark Spencer (an Auburn grad from Huntsville). Phorum also got its start in Huntsville as well.
To say that geothermal power has no environmental effects is to ignore our recent attempts at utilizing it. In the 1980s, a flash geothermal plant at Beowawe in Nevada destroyed one of the largest geyser fields outside Yellowstone by lowering the water table and reducing the amount of heat available. The same thing happened at Steamboat Springs, Nevada. * http://www.elkorose.com/geysers.html * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowawe,_Nevada The same thing happened in New Zealand when geothermal power plants were constructed there. * http://www.uweb.ucsb.edu/~glennon/geysers/world.ht m
There's also this list of geysers and other geothermal features that have been destroyed, in various ways, by man. Notice how many of them are due to geothermal drilling.
* http://www.wyojones.com/destroye.htm
I'm all for energy independence, and it may turn out that Geothermal has a role to play in it. But let's not delude ourselves into thinking that it has no effect on the environment.
Asterisk.
Actually, IE does not render PNGs with transparency properly. The current version in common use (6.0) renders transparency in PNGs as a gray background.
Microsoft releases free Windows development tools Monday November 07, @05:58PM Rejected
I would hardly call Amtrak representative of rail transportation as a whole. Amtrak is a joke, both to Americans and to the rest of the world and, outside of the Northeast Corridor between D.C. and Boston, and maybe somewhere out on the west coast, is useless.
Meanwhile, rail forms the backbone of most developed nations, including France, Germany, and Japan. In case you weren't paying attention, a train also now links England and France via the Channel Tunnel. Bluntly put, America is the exception, not the rule.
All of them expensive and all of them with tons of things that I will never, ever use. In the meantime, the one I did buy (the closest I could come to a barebones model, an LG-4020), sounds like ass, drops calls, and is loaded with bells and whistles that I don't need.
Sure, it can play Beethoven, but it can't keep me connected to my girlfriend for more than 15 minutes.
Sure, it can surf the web, but it has a battery life that, even without use, doesn't last more than a few days.
Sure, it can get on AIM, but I have to cycle through all the ring volumes to put it on silent!
My old Kyocera was the closest I've come to a really good phone. One touch could put it on silent. The call quality was pretty good, the battery life was spectacular, and it didn't have all these extra features that I'll never use.
It just seems to me that designers and engineers could have better spent their time making a better telephone rather than making a telephone become something it isn't.
It's about time someone put an end to hardware feature creep on cellphones!
I don't need cameras, a million different ringtones, games, instant messenger, etc on my cellphone. All I ask of it is that it make reliable calls, have a somewhat long battery life, and be easy to read (I have a hell of a time reading the text on my LG) and use.
Cellphone companies in America, please take note.
Mod parent up!
I purchased a Powerbook 5300 circa 1995 a few years ago at the University surplus auction for $20. Best twenty I ever spent - the thing is rugged and perfect for what I use it for (a MUD/chat client to follow me around the apartment. It usually sits in my kitchen so I can stay connected during RPs while cooking. :)
Having used TrebTK for years, I still think this is one of the best clients out there. If you're looking for pretty eye-candy or idiot-easy use, this ain't it. But for portability (I use it on my Windows, Mac, and Linux systems) and features, TrebTK can't be beat. :)
Here's a Google Cache for it.
That's easy: Doom. I got Doom when I was like 13 years old, and it glued me to our family's computer at the time. I played it for hours and hours, and after I had had enough of playing it, I downloaded WADs and hacks and played them, too. After I got bored with those, I started designing my own WADs. When id released the source code, I had just turned 16 and was still crazy for the game. It immediately made me want to learn to program. I learned programming and generally messed around with the game, making cute little changes and addons. I will graduate next year with a degree in Software Engineering. I blame Doom for my fascination with programming and designing games and for showing me the wonderful things I could do. And yes, I still play Doom and still mess with the sourcecode. I can't wait for Doom3. :)
"You're scientists were so concerned if they COULD they didn't stop to think if they SHOULD." - Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park.