I'll agree with TFA that he's richer than he should be. By a long shot. However, being willing to take risks because you have a million dollars laying around and being a successful entrepreneur are two completely different things. Having a parent who wishes he was a great entrepreneur who had all the advantages of Mr. Gates, I can definitely say that Gates must have done SOMETHING right.
It's not complete dumb luck, although it's partially there.
One of like nine options total is to see slashdot's news items. Strange? Not really. Suspicious? Yeah, kinda. I mean, why would Slashdot be picked among all the tech news sites out there....?
Four years ago, I had gotten laid off from my.com job, I had started playing Quake 3 RA about 80-105 hours a week, and I was 'looking for a job.' I ended up on my floor staring at the sunny day outside one afternoon, and thought, "What now, this sucks." I then went back to school - I was 22 at the time. If you're that far down, I suggest 2 things to start with:
1) Exercise.
2) A Plan To Get You Happy.
(1) is hard. You need to find something you enjoy doing for exercise. But if you're in a decent IT job, you'll be able to afford a few bucks to try some new stuff. And if you have a girlfriend / someone to try it out with, you're all good.
(2) is harder. I suggest 'What Color Is Your Parachute,' for starters, but I've decided to do a whole life change and so I'm seeing a career counselor @ 100 / hr once a week. Not all can afford this, but I'm living with my parents while I figure life out. If you're really that far down the depression train, you don't want drugs you want a change of viewpoint.
When you've got a brain the size of a planet, like most geeks, it's quite easy to see the outcome of all things. The pointlessness of it all. I'm going to go take a nap.
On-topic, my guess is that a big piece of it is that tech workers tend away, habitually and culturally, from physical exercise and good eating habits. I started doing yoga (cap?) a month and a half ago, and err... yeah. Speaking of changes in attitude and life style... Wow. My suggestion if you're feeling like crap is to go find a physical activity you enjoy (rock climbing, yoga, swimming, sex, etc.) and egage in it regularly. I suggest, as well, that it become rather easy for you to participate in, (which automatically excludes certain options for most people who spend enough time in front of a computer) so that you don't have to FORCE yourself to do it.
As an aside, I love Yoga, and my pot belly is going the way of the dodo, slowly.
Most of all, remember that being athletic and doing something physical every few days at LEAST is something that will make you feel better after a month or more of dedication. Funny how you can spend six months perfecting a rocket jump but be frustrated when you don't feel any change in your body after eating right for a few days....
And if you get that mental point where you think, "Jesus, I've been doing the same thing for ten seconds now and I can't stand it," physical activity will show you, eventually, that standing it is completely possible, and you will enjoy it later.
Agreed on most points, but I'll have to make a comment here about the Mod System:
I've either been smushed down into the 'obsessive refreshers' or metamoderated into oblivion for being off-color in my moderations. While I can see 'obsessive refresher' as being the problem, uh... yeah. Hope not, but I'm BORED here at work. I like to think that because I called the fifteenth 'gee, the iPod is cool' post in a string redundant and didn't have everyone on my side, I've been metamodded to oblivion. As the/. community changes to include more idiots / late adopters (like me, but I tried to keep my mouth shut until it was pretty obvious I was paying more attention than many of those posting) the moderation system will begin to become more mainstream and less well constructed for a quality standpoint. Taco, I think, was looking at revamping it last year, if you look at his journal, but he's become ensconced in WoW and I don't expect him to come back for a while. Patience, young skywalker, I guess. As 'hard' tech people become outnumbered on this site they'll either move or become more powerful, depending on how well it's managed. I've begun to see the movement - which is hard to do without actual traffic numbers, etc.... Paying attention to the comments and journals of people with the really low numbers leads me to believe that the overall community has changed drastically over the course of the last three years or so.
Just my off-topic two bits. I'm now pondering sending this commentary to Taco, but he's probably a lvl 40 orc now to my immense envy.
Easy to use, designed for anyone, free, and only profitable on the back end of the investment. The business models are approximately the same. If someone else weren't in control of / pushing behind this particular project, Google would have started one long ago. They're helping by giving a big shove on what they consider the most important part of this project, the Firefox Browser, but I'd bet on them helping to remove barriers to Ubuntu if they begin to appear.
Bloody unlikely. They've got enough cash on hand and legacy clients who still need tech support on buggy, crappy software that they'll be around for eons.
Err... is it not possible that you're looking at two DIFFERENT sites and it's just your small samples are causing this kind of conflict of information?
But some of my best friends are gorillas! I mean, c'mon! Bein' a gorilla has nothing to do with color of skin, it's an attitude and play style which, in the game of basketball, make me want to puke. I liked Magic. That man could PASS. That man could make a TEAM. That man could throw a basketball to someone perfectly placed for a lay-up four times out of five. Now, well, muscle your way into the key and make an impressive-looking dunk and you're a great player.... Effort should be put into getting yourself into place first, not moving the other guy out of the way.
Why I think of Shaq as a gorilla has more to do with his habits involving camping on the blocks than anything else, and nothing to do with skin color.
Good point. But who would you hand the Star Wars reins to then? John Woo? (actually, that would be kinda cool........ for the first few viewings) Rodriguez? The guy who redid Solaris? It seems that young directors don't have the ability to gain viewers and popularity like they did in the 70's anymore...
Err... Call me an ignorant goober, but I had thought that he'd get an oscar for some of the other stuff he's done - the Indiana Jones series, Jaws, Close Encounters, The Color Purple, ET, etc.
In my lifetime he's produced, well, a pile of hits in a pile of categories..... I was wrong, looking at his IMDB creds...... That doesn't change that he's a bit more versatile than Lucas has been in the past.
Well, I hear Andromeda Strain was well done (as well as possibly Damnation Alley), and I liked Blade Runner better than "Do Android Sheep..." or whatever... Starship Troopers was decently made (although, for a terrifyingly bad movie, go try S.T.2) There's a good percentage of SciFi that has been done decently...
It's rare to find a really well done movie, but you gotta love it when it happens.
Heh. I guess all it really takes is ONE studio thinking, "Gosh, this Niven guy wrote a lot of books, and they're pretty popular... If we got the rights to them and made him famous.........." to innundate us with decades of terrible movies. There'll probably be a line a mile long at Pratchett's funeral of studio execs saying, "Gosh, 30 books, each 150 pages long, that all have sold over a million copies? Gee, err... Never heard of 'em, but it sounds like we should do some business."
I want to see : Neuromancer made into a movie, Snow Crash made into a miniseries, and Neverwhere...
I've stopped watching professional and even college basketball because there are no artists left, only spoiled children hammering each other out of the way.
XXX getting billed as scifi:)
Or a whole decade of badly remade HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Or, just maybe, The Illuminatus Trilogy made into a movie. Now THAT is something I'd love to see tried.
Not to knock unions or guilds or anything, but if they're going to be that restrictive on certain levels (especially for something as silly as "you didn't give direction credit at the BEGINNING and instead put it at the END") isn't it just a case of driving away the more talented of their members? I mean, if Spielberg and Lucas aren't part of the guild, and they want to make some movies....... It's not really a matter of finding directors to work with them, I wouldn't think... Rodriguez? If you're kicking out your best members left and right for not paying extensive lip service to the rules, you deserve what's going to come to you.
I hear Rodriguez' recent movie was really good, and I've liked his other work in the past..... I'm not going to be on the Director's Guild's side on this one because he credited someone. Bitch about money. Don't complain that someone credited someone else or didn't in a way you didn't like.
Yes. That IS the coolest thing I've seen in a while. Were I still a web programmer, I would steal that stuff and hide it for a rainy day.... err... yeah, maybe 'borrow.':)
B.S.
At this point, Spielberg can do virtually anything he wants and not get kicked out of the director's guild. For directing Episode I they're going to kick him out? And not become a laughingstock? That's like the NBA unions kicking Shaq out. He may not be the BEST player ever, but he's certainly the biggest gorilla in the room for the moment.
I've heard about this too.... I've wanted Spielberg to direct one of these things FOREVER... Lucas is a fine director and all, but he doesn't have a line of Oscars across his wall for one of virtually every type of movie there is for a good reason.
My guess is that we're never going to see this because Lucas has been treating Star Wars as a meal ticket that requires no good direction for at least 20 years.
I like this particular quote, which I've found a few times in my ten minutes of searching:
"I wanted to do one 15 years ago and he didn't want me to do it. I understand why--'Star Wars' is George's baby...this is George's franchise, it's his cottage industry and it's his fingerprints," said Spielberg. "He knows I've got 'Jurassic Park' and 'Raiders'. But George has 'Star Wars' and I don't think he feels inclined to share any of it with me." (1)
My analysis : Lucas can't direct as well as Spielberg and knows it. Too bad, so sorry, but it ain't gonna happen.
Slashdot Mirror
I'll agree with TFA that he's richer than he should be. By a long shot. However, being willing to take risks because you have a million dollars laying around and being a successful entrepreneur are two completely different things. Having a parent who wishes he was a great entrepreneur who had all the advantages of Mr. Gates, I can definitely say that Gates must have done SOMETHING right.
It's not complete dumb luck, although it's partially there.
"I suggest, as well, that it become rather easy for you to participate in, " :P
Takes sex off the list for many, unfortunately
This isn't insightful, it's just plain wrong. 'Old Money' in the computer industry is a self-contradiction.
One of like nine options total is to see slashdot's news items. Strange? Not really. Suspicious? Yeah, kinda. I mean, why would Slashdot be picked among all the tech news sites out there....?
Four years ago, I had gotten laid off from my .com job, I had started playing Quake 3 RA about 80-105 hours a week, and I was 'looking for a job.' I ended up on my floor staring at the sunny day outside one afternoon, and thought, "What now, this sucks." I then went back to school - I was 22 at the time. If you're that far down, I suggest 2 things to start with:
1) Exercise.
2) A Plan To Get You Happy.
(1) is hard. You need to find something you enjoy doing for exercise. But if you're in a decent IT job, you'll be able to afford a few bucks to try some new stuff. And if you have a girlfriend / someone to try it out with, you're all good.
(2) is harder. I suggest 'What Color Is Your Parachute,' for starters, but I've decided to do a whole life change and so I'm seeing a career counselor @ 100 / hr once a week. Not all can afford this, but I'm living with my parents while I figure life out. If you're really that far down the depression train, you don't want drugs you want a change of viewpoint.
When you've got a brain the size of a planet, like most geeks, it's quite easy to see the outcome of all things. The pointlessness of it all. I'm going to go take a nap.
On-topic, my guess is that a big piece of it is that tech workers tend away, habitually and culturally, from physical exercise and good eating habits. I started doing yoga (cap?) a month and a half ago, and err... yeah. Speaking of changes in attitude and life style... Wow. My suggestion if you're feeling like crap is to go find a physical activity you enjoy (rock climbing, yoga, swimming, sex, etc.) and egage in it regularly. I suggest, as well, that it become rather easy for you to participate in, (which automatically excludes certain options for most people who spend enough time in front of a computer) so that you don't have to FORCE yourself to do it.
As an aside, I love Yoga, and my pot belly is going the way of the dodo, slowly.
Most of all, remember that being athletic and doing something physical every few days at LEAST is something that will make you feel better after a month or more of dedication. Funny how you can spend six months perfecting a rocket jump but be frustrated when you don't feel any change in your body after eating right for a few days....
And if you get that mental point where you think, "Jesus, I've been doing the same thing for ten seconds now and I can't stand it," physical activity will show you, eventually, that standing it is completely possible, and you will enjoy it later.
How much does THAT rox0r!?
If I trusted this machine at work to not have spyware on it, I'd order one now.
Blowfish rock.
Agreed on most points, but I'll have to make a comment here about the Mod System:
/. community changes to include more idiots / late adopters (like me, but I tried to keep my mouth shut until it was pretty obvious I was paying more attention than many of those posting) the moderation system will begin to become more mainstream and less well constructed for a quality standpoint. Taco, I think, was looking at revamping it last year, if you look at his journal, but he's become ensconced in WoW and I don't expect him to come back for a while. Patience, young skywalker, I guess. As 'hard' tech people become outnumbered on this site they'll either move or become more powerful, depending on how well it's managed. I've begun to see the movement - which is hard to do without actual traffic numbers, etc.... Paying attention to the comments and journals of people with the really low numbers leads me to believe that the overall community has changed drastically over the course of the last three years or so.
I've either been smushed down into the 'obsessive refreshers' or metamoderated into oblivion for being off-color in my moderations. While I can see 'obsessive refresher' as being the problem, uh... yeah. Hope not, but I'm BORED here at work. I like to think that because I called the fifteenth 'gee, the iPod is cool' post in a string redundant and didn't have everyone on my side, I've been metamodded to oblivion. As the
Just my off-topic two bits. I'm now pondering sending this commentary to Taco, but he's probably a lvl 40 orc now to my immense envy.
I respectfully disagree.
Ubuntu ~= LinuxOS.
Easy to use, designed for anyone, free, and only profitable on the back end of the investment. The business models are approximately the same. If someone else weren't in control of / pushing behind this particular project, Google would have started one long ago. They're helping by giving a big shove on what they consider the most important part of this project, the Firefox Browser, but I'd bet on them helping to remove barriers to Ubuntu if they begin to appear.
Bloody unlikely. They've got enough cash on hand and legacy clients who still need tech support on buggy, crappy software that they'll be around for eons.
Err... is it not possible that you're looking at two DIFFERENT sites and it's just your small samples are causing this kind of conflict of information?
But some of my best friends are gorillas! I mean, c'mon! Bein' a gorilla has nothing to do with color of skin, it's an attitude and play style which, in the game of basketball, make me want to puke. I liked Magic. That man could PASS. That man could make a TEAM. That man could throw a basketball to someone perfectly placed for a lay-up four times out of five. Now, well, muscle your way into the key and make an impressive-looking dunk and you're a great player.... Effort should be put into getting yourself into place first, not moving the other guy out of the way.
Why I think of Shaq as a gorilla has more to do with his habits involving camping on the blocks than anything else, and nothing to do with skin color.
Good point. But who would you hand the Star Wars reins to then? John Woo? (actually, that would be kinda cool........ for the first few viewings) Rodriguez? The guy who redid Solaris? It seems that young directors don't have the ability to gain viewers and popularity like they did in the 70's anymore...
Ever seen Close Encounters of The Third Kind?
Err... Call me an ignorant goober, but I had thought that he'd get an oscar for some of the other stuff he's done - the Indiana Jones series, Jaws, Close Encounters, The Color Purple, ET, etc.
In my lifetime he's produced, well, a pile of hits in a pile of categories..... I was wrong, looking at his IMDB creds...... That doesn't change that he's a bit more versatile than Lucas has been in the past.
Well, I hear Andromeda Strain was well done (as well as possibly Damnation Alley), and I liked Blade Runner better than "Do Android Sheep..." or whatever... Starship Troopers was decently made (although, for a terrifyingly bad movie, go try S.T.2) There's a good percentage of SciFi that has been done decently...
It's rare to find a really well done movie, but you gotta love it when it happens.
I ca.... Meh.
Heh. If you quit watching long enough in the past, you only have a vague idea who these people are :P
Heh. I guess all it really takes is ONE studio thinking, "Gosh, this Niven guy wrote a lot of books, and they're pretty popular... If we got the rights to them and made him famous.........." to innundate us with decades of terrible movies. There'll probably be a line a mile long at Pratchett's funeral of studio execs saying, "Gosh, 30 books, each 150 pages long, that all have sold over a million copies? Gee, err... Never heard of 'em, but it sounds like we should do some business."
I want to see : Neuromancer made into a movie, Snow Crash made into a miniseries, and Neverwhere...
I've stopped watching professional and even college basketball because there are no artists left, only spoiled children hammering each other out of the way.
XXX getting billed as scifi :)
Or a whole decade of badly remade HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Or, just maybe, The Illuminatus Trilogy made into a movie. Now THAT is something I'd love to see tried.
Uh....
Not to knock unions or guilds or anything, but if they're going to be that restrictive on certain levels (especially for something as silly as "you didn't give direction credit at the BEGINNING and instead put it at the END") isn't it just a case of driving away the more talented of their members? I mean, if Spielberg and Lucas aren't part of the guild, and they want to make some movies....... It's not really a matter of finding directors to work with them, I wouldn't think... Rodriguez? If you're kicking out your best members left and right for not paying extensive lip service to the rules, you deserve what's going to come to you.
I hear Rodriguez' recent movie was really good, and I've liked his other work in the past..... I'm not going to be on the Director's Guild's side on this one because he credited someone. Bitch about money. Don't complain that someone credited someone else or didn't in a way you didn't like.
Yes. That IS the coolest thing I've seen in a while. Were I still a web programmer, I would steal that stuff and hide it for a rainy day.... err... yeah, maybe 'borrow.' :)
B.S.
At this point, Spielberg can do virtually anything he wants and not get kicked out of the director's guild. For directing Episode I they're going to kick him out? And not become a laughingstock? That's like the NBA unions kicking Shaq out. He may not be the BEST player ever, but he's certainly the biggest gorilla in the room for the moment.
I've heard about this too.... I've wanted Spielberg to direct one of these things FOREVER... Lucas is a fine director and all, but he doesn't have a line of Oscars across his wall for one of virtually every type of movie there is for a good reason.
My guess is that we're never going to see this because Lucas has been treating Star Wars as a meal ticket that requires no good direction for at least 20 years.
I like this particular quote, which I've found a few times in my ten minutes of searching:
"I wanted to do one 15 years ago and he didn't want me to do it. I understand why--'Star Wars' is George's baby...this is George's franchise, it's his cottage industry and it's his fingerprints," said Spielberg. "He knows I've got 'Jurassic Park' and 'Raiders'. But George has 'Star Wars' and I don't think he feels inclined to share any of it with me." (1)
My analysis : Lucas can't direct as well as Spielberg and knows it. Too bad, so sorry, but it ain't gonna happen.