I'll be honest and say I've avoided MMORPGs until now. Frankly, I don't WANT to spend all weekend staring at a computer screen waiting for some bit of loot to drop.
Probably... Oh, 18, 20 hours of play in. Maybe less. And I'm at level 13, and haven't noticed the grind effect, and am making progress in the game without having to give up things like "girls" and "job" and "bathing".
It's just fun, and I don't have to make a second job out of it, or start dating it.
(Though I will note that those nice Blizzard boys really do need to get out a little more. Those night elf female characters... Er... That ain't right.)
And? Fluffy-bunny-land is somewhere over ======>there.
---- Just because you don't like a particular culture does not mean it is bad or dumb. Funny how geeks get so defensive when people criticize their culture but are so quick to assault others. ----
Geek culture?
What, penicillin?
I disapprove of "geek culture" as much as I do the preceding. Otherwise, I wouldn't wander conventions, etc, handing out flyers reading "Got Soap?" Stinky bastards. Why would I want to culturally identify with a bunch of people--largely male--who could in any way be associated with the phrase "I've never touched a woman before..."(Please see "Booth Babes" article a while back for reference. Drive on.) Let ALONE defend such a thing.
---- Now, I personally don't enjoy "hippy music" or white boy rasta posers either. And having been a raver for some time, I get equally frustrated with the "e-puddles" that form on the middle of the dancefloor. ----
I wouldn't have said "frustrated". Unless "frustration" involves "feeding their pikachu backpacks down their oversized pants", that is. Then I'm all down.
---- However, that in no way gives me the right to pass judgement on them. ----
Yes it does. We all pass judgment every day. On everything.
And I'm judging them to be freaky little buggers with unsavory personal habits and hygiene issues. Same with the stoners covered in tiedye and blacklight paint. Ew. Stinky.
I have the right to do so because y'know what? I'm not stinky.
---- They made their decisions, they are enjoying them, and that is what is important. ----
Not to me. I'm glad they're happy with themselves, but I fail to see the impact of this on me.
---- Don't put others down just because you don't believe in the same things they do or don't like something they do. Different strokes for different folks. ----
No, I'm putting them down due to lack of personal hygiene, obnoxious noisy habits, inability to logically process information, and general annnoyannce factor. What they like or believe has no bearing on my reasoning.
---- P.S. You insensitive clod. ----
Proudly representing ClodCo(tm) on the internet since 1993! (Or so. Maybe. I forget.)
Don't misunderstand. Dreads, in and of themselves, are not a bad thing. When done right, that is.
As for the internet thing... There's two kinds. There's the kind that just presents info on the things, and says "Here's this, and here's this, and they do this and this, and you'll want to do thus and so to not die."
Then there's the tie-dyed flashing homages to Jerry Garcia proclaiming that drugs are the answer to EVERYTHING, and why don't we love each other, man...?
The former is an encyclopedia. The latter should be burned.
Speaking as a slashdot reader, geek, and one who may have been known to--purely hypothetically speaking, of course--indulge in an occasional bit of recreational chemistry... (Though violently allergic to cannabis, it seems.)
Cannabis "culture" can f*ck right off. So can "psychedelic culture".
Feel free to use them. Some of it's REALLY fun. A lot. Repeatedly. I approve. (Assuming one is aware of the potential risks, etc.)
However, "psychedelic music" makes me itch, patchouli makes me gag, if I never see a dirty set of half-assed dreads on a white suburban boy again I'll be ecstatic, candy-ravers should have their own hunting season, and drum circles make me wish I owned a HMV so I could re-enact that line from Conan where he says "Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women." Vroom.
Sorry. I find it indefensible. It's as if I tried to create "beer culture" or "vodka culture" or maybe "swiss cheese culture" and pass it off as a valid lifestyle choice. Not to mention it spoils it for everyone who may want to try the substance in question but just can't stand the people who DO it.
Treat it like having a beer after work, y'know? Don't call it a "lifestyle" or a "culture" and then proceed to fail your hygiene check. I'm all down with being able to ingest whatever makes you happy. Have fun, just make sure to get the good stuff.
Obviously you don't have deaf parents or family like myself. Hanging up on someone just because they are deaf is like parking your car in a handicap spot or being a member of the KKK. This is completely crazy. Some people haven't been given the gift of hearing when they were born or had complications during birth to 3 years old. My dad had Scarlet Fever and because of that he lost his hearing. My mother, they just don't know. I think you guys could handle relay calls a little bit better like have them email you from a friends or family computer.
Sorry for the ranting but this just bothers me since i have been around the deaf community all my life.
-----quote----- Same thing with Photoshop. It's really expensive, and gets pirated a lot. Instead, people could have bought Paint Shop Pro or downloaded The Gimp. -----end quote-----
True, they indeed could have gotten PSP or The Gimp, but something tells me they wanted to actually be able to get some work done doing image processing, retouching, etc, etc.
Unless this is one of those "Gimp is as good as Photoshop" things. (I love those. They're so CUTE... Wrong, but cute.)
Shh. Acknowledging that there may actually be a use for this technology is strictly forbidden around here.
We ALL know that the only use for DRM is turning the people of the world into corporate drones, making us buy Windows, and exerting Evil Big Brother Control over our mp3 collections. I think there's something in there about "tracking beacons for the MPAA paratroopers", too.
Remember. Screaming absolutist frenzy over keywords. THAT'S the slashdot way!
I'm honestly not sure of the point you're trying to make. Yes, I do cheerfully put up with it. I fix my own car when I can, pay when I can't do it or--and here's the key--when someone can fix it better and faster. I have better things to do than spend 16 hours replacing my clutch when someone else can do it faster. Sure, they charge, but how much is 16 hours of my time worth, again? What matters is that I have the choice to fix it or pay, as I like. Yes, I realise that I could pay someone to fix my computer when it breaks. But it shouldn't break in the ways I describe. When you use a hammer, it shouldn't shatter; when you use a wrench it shouldn't bend; when you use the tools a software company gives you, they shouldn't do the electronic equivalent of self-immolation.
Someone new to computers will not use something they have to constantly fix. They will not use something that requires a level of artistry to manage. They want a toaster, something that just GOES, and to hell with "but its free and open! Its cool!"
We're geeks. Huge ones. We like these things. But we wouldn't find it acceptable to have to reassemble our toasters to fit white instead of whole wheat, or get knife v2.13.02-rev3 to cut bagels instead of muffins. Linux is in a situation where its getting wonderfully better, constantly. Portage, apt, etc etc all make things simpler. But we're still rewiring our toaster for white, and there's those of us who feel that it's better that way, and if someone can't do that they should just eat cold bread and like it.
This does not have to be hard. It does not have to require fiddling. Yes, WE like the fiddly bits, but few others do. Yes, we lose bragging rights if granny can make her machine do whatever with 2 clicks. We're no longer l33t. Normal people might be able to--gasp! Shock!--use something complex without the pain we go through and the hoops we jump through with a grin.
Call me a waaaaahmbulance.
Clicky means anyone can use it. "Just working" means they won't have to fix it or tweak it to keep it running. MS and Apple figured it out and proceeded to pwn everyone else, since despite the hideous, obvious flaws, it works like a damn toaster when you want, how you want, without chicken slaying.
We need to make it so you don't need to fuck with it, but have the freedom to do so if you want.
Its not "free as in speech" if we make people use it a certain way because we think its better, now is it? MS does that, we howl to the skies how they force "their way" down everyones throats, horror horror gibber froth.
I say we should try not to be that guy. Its happening, slowly, and I love it. But it needs more. GUIs are not evil. "Easy" is not bad, y'know?
Seriously. I mean, I like messing about with computers, OS flavors, etc, etc. I've currently got a couple different flavors of linux, looking for a third, and am thinking about a BSD. It's just lack of space for hardware that keeps me from having more toys. It's nice to use, it's powerful, it's flexible..
However, I'm not always in the mood to sit down and figure out why something doesn't work right. For instance, why Mandrake currently has told me three times in a row that my glibc is out of date. And upgraded it to the newest version each time. (Yes, using "mandrake update".) Oh, and doing so BROKE Mandrake Update. My OS update feature broke itself. I'm sure this is fixable, but why should I have to screw with it just to make the admin tools work again?
My mouse. It's got 5 buttons. Why the HELL would I want to install a program, tweak multiple files, and chant ominously just to get the side buttons working? I know how, sure. It's just I have better things to do.
I don't WANT to make my game work. I want my game to WORK. I don't want to have to make X program load properly, or hand-twiddle a configuration file. I want to open a damn document, view it, edit it, and save it with formatting. No, I don't want to learn TeX to do it. I know I CAN, but why do I have to?
Seriously. I'm a damn hobbyist, and I do these things for fun, and it still pisses me off that I have to spend more time playing with it to make it work than it does working. Updates shouldn't break things. Upgrades shouldn't cause triple-layered dependency hell. THere shouldn't be dependency hell at all. We hate "dll hell", why is fucking about trying to find just the right version of a given module acceptable? I mean, there's girls and liquor and music out there for me, why should I spend all my time fixing something that can just work? (I know it can. Apple did it. It's been done once, thus can be done again. It's just not BEING done.)
Choice? Screw choice! I want function! Would you drive a car if you had to put the damn wheels on every time you parked it? Would you put up with having to buy the correct grade of gas from JUST th right pump style, from the exact proper petrol chain, just to start the car in the morning?
For fuck's sake, the 2.6 upgrade, which I look forward to installing on GENTOO for the love of god, isn't covered by the documentation, requires a full replacement of the main module utilities, and Still might not work right. I CAN'T RTFM, since this shit isn't IN the FM to R.
I think you get the idea.
I love doing this stuff, and it STILL pisses me off and drives me to drink. What do you think your granny's going to do?
Go back to windows, or Mac, or something that does what she wants, when she wants it, and doesn't have to be babysat.
And enough with the goddamn text editors, people. I understand you like them, but I don't need 50 of them. Spend the time you used to put those on my distro app disk to make sure the distro doesn't randomly shit itself.
It functions reasonably well as a phone, isn't uncomfortable to use, and so far hasn't demonstrated any reception trouble or battery life issues. Data/PDA functionality is smooth, barring the lack of sync ability, however that is apparently forthcoming. The usefulness of things like an SSH application (forthcoming, they're doing OS updates right now.) goes without saying.
The plan is indeed $20 for unlimited data, and at least in the Seattle area the GPRS coverage is fairly seamless. ($30 no voice, but to my mind it's far more worth it to spring for a minimal plan and get a decent amount of minutes. I think I'm running ballpark 50-60 a month for more minutes than I use and all the GPRS I can handle.) I recommend it, highly.
Now, I WILL note that it's not a perfect device. The placement of the screen leaves a bit to be desired--I'd much prefer a clamshell or some form of cover over the screen. Belt-packs are bulky, and I'm uncomfortable just chucking it in a pocket sans a guard over the LCD. I keep getting earprints on the screen while talking on the phone, but if I could be bothered to find the headset it comes with, that'd not be a problem. It also needs a pipe key.
On the whole, however, it's a decent melding of lightweight PDA and phone. Sure, no excel, etc, but it'll check my email, get me to/., and pull up a pdf or.doc if I need it to. That's pretty much all I need from something I put in a pocket. The new OS update will do audio files (at least.aiff,.wav..rmf, and midi.) and gives it unicode, as well as a few other tweaks like a "forward" button on the browser. It's little, it's handy, and it's useful. It officially doesn't suck.
I'd like to direct your attention to a little website by a band some of you may have heard of.
E.N., while arguably having the massive train of name recognition and drooling fanboys behind them, is producing their latest album entirely sans the "music industry". They're recording independently, producing independently, and picking their own distributor. To my knowledge, the RIAA hasn't been NEAR them, not least because they're, well, German.
Costs money to do this? Sure. But send them 35 bucks (Well, Euros...) and you get cool stuff. Stuff well worth the 35 bucks. Stuff you can't get anywhere else, period. They're selling downloadable tracks, exclusive music, and email addresses from the site. (No, not THAT way.) Hell, check it out yourselves, I'm enough of a drooling fanboy as it is. And a LOT of people have been sending 35 bucks...
My point is, though, that they're getting something done without "The Recording Industry", and doing quite well by it.
I'd almost think that saying one can't produce music without "The Industry" is like saying one can't produce software without "The Industry".
And uh, dude, this IS/. here. Them's fightin' words...
(Author's note: No, I'm not affiliated. I just adore the music and think it's the greatest thing since buttered toast. I share.)
Are you kidding me? Okay is a HUGE understatement unless your Bachelors is in some bullshit field like art or theatre and youre trying to get a job in IT.
Huh. Bullshit?
Experience with massive "overtime" and thankless grinds? Check. (80 hours/week? Let's try 120 or so.)
High-stress situations where you get exactly one(1) chance to turn out a finished product for the actual consuming public? Check.
Knowing how to work effectively and peacefully with people you wish to disembowel with your fingernails? Check.
Doing tons of nasty, dirty, exhausting work and watching someone waltz in and take the credit? Checkcheckcheckitycheckfuckingcheck.
Being trained in effectively, quickly, and clearly communicating your ideas to a group of unfamiliar people, winning them over, and causing them to have a desired reaction? Check.
(I will, however, throw screaming knives of pain at my less than fortuitous date of entry into the job market. Yay dotcom explosion. Not.)
Yes, this isn't a degree in the sciences. I know this. I've considered going back for an MS in a number of different fields, just because I want to learn more about them and it'd be a "harder" field. (Harder in the "diamond" sense, not the "word problem" sense.)
However, I got a degree in a demanding field that I love, have learned a huge, stinking, whacking great load about working with actual other people in nasty real-life situations and having things come out the way they need to, and have cheerfully spent the last 10 years making computers something I eat, sleep, breathe, digest, excrete and adore (Not in that order.). I even have a job involving actual computers. It's not the BEST job involving computers, but it pays the bills, and given the wonderful economic climate of my home area, I think I'm doing reasonably--even if not incredibly--well.
I didn't get "taught theatre", I got taught how to think critically, communicate effectively, defend my thoughts and ideas against examination, and how to learn whatever I need to. Degree didn't teach me X technology or X language? Whatever, I know how to find the information I need to learn it, understand it, and make use of it. I'm of the opinion that the practiced ability to expand your sphere of knowledge easily is of far more value than simply having knowledge of one single piece of tech. (After all, when that tech changes, one needs to learn the new one...)
Having a "BS in Computer Science" doesn't mean you can do a damn thing with your mind, skills, or theoretical knowledge. I'd rather know I have the mental toolkit to find whatever knowledge I need than have a given set of letters after my name. (I will say nothing at this point about men, fishing, or the educational process. But you get the idea.)
And I just have to say, "BS+near MS+Published Thesis" is a hell of a long way past a simple "BS".
Slashdot Mirror
In the open beta, liking it quite a lot so far.
I'll be honest and say I've avoided MMORPGs until now. Frankly, I don't WANT to spend all weekend staring at a computer screen waiting for some bit of loot to drop.
Probably... Oh, 18, 20 hours of play in. Maybe less. And I'm at level 13, and haven't noticed the grind effect, and am making progress in the game without having to give up things like "girls" and "job" and "bathing".
It's just fun, and I don't have to make a second job out of it, or start dating it.
(Though I will note that those nice Blizzard boys really do need to get out a little more. Those night elf female characters... Er... That ain't right.)
Good for settling drunken bar arguments...
And mapquest. When you REALLY need it, and didn't bother to look it up before you left because "Oh, how hard can it be to find 73rd?"
Hell, those two things right there sold me on my Sidekick.
Destroy Droid and Stasis Field ruled.
The former annnihilated anything mechanical you found, while the other one... Well, nothing could move.
Yeah yeah, no zappy, but DAMN, were they powerful.
----
What a crock of flamebait.
----
And? Fluffy-bunny-land is somewhere over ======>there.
----
Just because you don't like a particular culture does not mean it is bad or dumb. Funny how geeks get so defensive when people criticize their culture but are so quick to assault others.
----
Geek culture?
What, penicillin?
I disapprove of "geek culture" as much as I do the preceding. Otherwise, I wouldn't wander conventions, etc, handing out flyers reading "Got Soap?" Stinky bastards. Why would I want to culturally identify with a bunch of people--largely male--who could in any way be associated with the phrase "I've never touched a woman before..."(Please see "Booth Babes" article a while back for reference. Drive on.) Let ALONE defend such a thing.
----
Now, I personally don't enjoy "hippy music" or white boy rasta posers either. And having been a raver for some time, I get equally frustrated with the "e-puddles" that form on the middle of the dancefloor.
----
I wouldn't have said "frustrated". Unless "frustration" involves "feeding their pikachu backpacks down their oversized pants", that is. Then I'm all down.
----
However, that in no way gives me the right to pass judgement on them.
----
Yes it does. We all pass judgment every day. On everything.
And I'm judging them to be freaky little buggers with unsavory personal habits and hygiene issues. Same with the stoners covered in tiedye and blacklight paint. Ew. Stinky.
I have the right to do so because y'know what? I'm not stinky.
----
They made their decisions, they are enjoying them, and that is what is important.
----
Not to me. I'm glad they're happy with themselves, but I fail to see the impact of this on me.
----
Don't put others down just because you don't believe in the same things they do or don't like something they do. Different strokes for different folks.
----
No, I'm putting them down due to lack of personal hygiene, obnoxious noisy habits, inability to logically process information, and general annnoyannce factor. What they like or believe has no bearing on my reasoning.
----
P.S.
You insensitive clod.
----
Proudly representing ClodCo(tm) on the internet since 1993! (Or so. Maybe. I forget.)
Don't misunderstand. Dreads, in and of themselves, are not a bad thing. When done right, that is.
As for the internet thing... There's two kinds. There's the kind that just presents info on the things, and says "Here's this, and here's this, and they do this and this, and you'll want to do thus and so to not die."
Then there's the tie-dyed flashing homages to Jerry Garcia proclaiming that drugs are the answer to EVERYTHING, and why don't we love each other, man...?
The former is an encyclopedia. The latter should be burned.
Hopefully, I'm being clear about the difference.
Speaking as a slashdot reader, geek, and one who may have been known to--purely hypothetically speaking, of course--indulge in an occasional bit of recreational chemistry... (Though violently allergic to cannabis, it seems.)
Cannabis "culture" can f*ck right off. So can "psychedelic culture".
Feel free to use them. Some of it's REALLY fun. A lot. Repeatedly. I approve. (Assuming one is aware of the potential risks, etc.)
However, "psychedelic music" makes me itch, patchouli makes me gag, if I never see a dirty set of half-assed dreads on a white suburban boy again I'll be ecstatic, candy-ravers should have their own hunting season, and drum circles make me wish I owned a HMV so I could re-enact that line from Conan where he says "Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women." Vroom.
Sorry. I find it indefensible. It's as if I tried to create "beer culture" or "vodka culture" or maybe "swiss cheese culture" and pass it off as a valid lifestyle choice. Not to mention it spoils it for everyone who may want to try the substance in question but just can't stand the people who DO it.
Treat it like having a beer after work, y'know? Don't call it a "lifestyle" or a "culture" and then proceed to fail your hygiene check. I'm all down with being able to ingest whatever makes you happy. Have fun, just make sure to get the good stuff.
(And stop HUGGING ME! STOP! BAD TOUCH!)
Obviously you don't have deaf parents or family like myself. Hanging up on someone just because they are deaf is like parking your car in a handicap spot or being a member of the KKK. This is completely crazy. Some people haven't been given the gift of hearing when they were born or had complications during birth to 3 years old. My dad had Scarlet Fever and because of that he lost his hearing. My mother, they just don't know. I think you guys could handle relay calls a little bit better like have them email you from a friends or family computer.
Sorry for the ranting but this just bothers me since i have been around the deaf community all my life.
My kingdom for a "-1, Missed the Point".
-----quote-----
Same thing with Photoshop. It's really expensive, and gets pirated a lot. Instead, people could have bought Paint Shop Pro or downloaded The Gimp.
-----end quote-----
True, they indeed could have gotten PSP or The Gimp, but something tells me they wanted to actually be able to get some work done doing image processing, retouching, etc, etc.
Unless this is one of those "Gimp is as good as Photoshop" things. (I love those. They're so CUTE... Wrong, but cute.)
You may have more luck if you spell it correctly.
"Mojito". It's essentially a rum and coke with lime.
Shh. Acknowledging that there may actually be a use for this technology is strictly forbidden around here.
We ALL know that the only use for DRM is turning the people of the world into corporate drones, making us buy Windows, and exerting Evil Big Brother Control over our mp3 collections. I think there's something in there about "tracking beacons for the MPAA paratroopers", too.
Remember. Screaming absolutist frenzy over keywords. THAT'S the slashdot way!
And this, folks, is why I don't miss working in a particular building in Seattle that a certain ISP closed.
I'm never ever EVER going to have to deal with a technology that could catch your shit on fire or kill you as you try to dl yet more porn.
I can't help but imagine the fun you get when you combine that, the satellite, and the "software" they spam out... Then I giggle relievedly.
I'm honestly not sure of the point you're trying to make. Yes, I do cheerfully put up with it. I fix my own car when I can, pay when I can't do it or--and here's the key--when someone can fix it better and faster. I have better things to do than spend 16 hours replacing my clutch when someone else can do it faster. Sure, they charge, but how much is 16 hours of my time worth, again? What matters is that I have the choice to fix it or pay, as I like. Yes, I realise that I could pay someone to fix my computer when it breaks. But it shouldn't break in the ways I describe. When you use a hammer, it shouldn't shatter; when you use a wrench it shouldn't bend; when you use the tools a software company gives you, they shouldn't do the electronic equivalent of self-immolation.
Someone new to computers will not use something they have to constantly fix. They will not use something that requires a level of artistry to manage. They want a toaster, something that just GOES, and to hell with "but its free and open! Its cool!"
We're geeks. Huge ones. We like these things. But we wouldn't find it acceptable to have to reassemble our toasters to fit white instead of whole wheat, or get knife v2.13.02-rev3 to cut bagels instead of muffins. Linux is in a situation where its getting wonderfully better, constantly. Portage, apt, etc etc all make things simpler. But we're still rewiring our toaster for white, and there's those of us who feel that it's better that way, and if someone can't do that they should just eat cold bread and like it.
This does not have to be hard. It does not have to require fiddling. Yes, WE like the fiddly bits, but few others do. Yes, we lose bragging rights if granny can make her machine do whatever with 2 clicks. We're no longer l33t. Normal people might be able to--gasp! Shock!--use something complex without the pain we go through and the hoops we jump through with a grin.
Call me a waaaaahmbulance.
Clicky means anyone can use it. "Just working" means they won't have to fix it or tweak it to keep it running. MS and Apple figured it out and proceeded to pwn everyone else, since despite the hideous, obvious flaws, it works like a damn toaster when you want, how you want, without chicken slaying.
We need to make it so you don't need to fuck with it, but have the freedom to do so if you want.
Its not "free as in speech" if we make people use it a certain way because we think its better, now is it? MS does that, we howl to the skies how they force "their way" down everyones throats, horror horror gibber froth.
I say we should try not to be that guy. Its happening, slowly, and I love it. But it needs more. GUIs are not evil. "Easy" is not bad, y'know?
I have to keep screwing with it.
Seriously. I mean, I like messing about with computers, OS flavors, etc, etc. I've currently got a couple different flavors of linux, looking for a third, and am thinking about a BSD. It's just lack of space for hardware that keeps me from having more toys. It's nice to use, it's powerful, it's flexible..
However, I'm not always in the mood to sit down and figure out why something doesn't work right. For instance, why Mandrake currently has told me three times in a row that my glibc is out of date. And upgraded it to the newest version each time. (Yes, using "mandrake update".) Oh, and doing so BROKE Mandrake Update. My OS update feature broke itself. I'm sure this is fixable, but why should I have to screw with it just to make the admin tools work again?
My mouse. It's got 5 buttons. Why the HELL would I want to install a program, tweak multiple files, and chant ominously just to get the side buttons working? I know how, sure. It's just I have better things to do.
I don't WANT to make my game work. I want my game to WORK. I don't want to have to make X program load properly, or hand-twiddle a configuration file. I want to open a damn document, view it, edit it, and save it with formatting. No, I don't want to learn TeX to do it. I know I CAN, but why do I have to?
Seriously. I'm a damn hobbyist, and I do these things for fun, and it still pisses me off that I have to spend more time playing with it to make it work than it does working. Updates shouldn't break things. Upgrades shouldn't cause triple-layered dependency hell. THere shouldn't be dependency hell at all. We hate "dll hell", why is fucking about trying to find just the right version of a given module acceptable? I mean, there's girls and liquor and music out there for me, why should I spend all my time fixing something that can just work? (I know it can. Apple did it. It's been done once, thus can be done again. It's just not BEING done.)
Choice? Screw choice! I want function! Would you drive a car if you had to put the damn wheels on every time you parked it? Would you put up with having to buy the correct grade of gas from JUST th right pump style, from the exact proper petrol chain, just to start the car in the morning?
For fuck's sake, the 2.6 upgrade, which I look forward to installing on GENTOO for the love of god, isn't covered by the documentation, requires a full replacement of the main module utilities, and Still might not work right. I CAN'T RTFM, since this shit isn't IN the FM to R.
I think you get the idea.
I love doing this stuff, and it STILL pisses me off and drives me to drink. What do you think your granny's going to do?
Go back to windows, or Mac, or something that does what she wants, when she wants it, and doesn't have to be babysat.
And enough with the goddamn text editors, people. I understand you like them, but I don't need 50 of them. Spend the time you used to put those on my distro app disk to make sure the distro doesn't randomly shit itself.
(Not bitter or anything, me...)
Heh.
Seattle.
Someone, thankfully before my time, came to work "bending" the dress code.
Didn't know you could just wear peanut butter...
Given that this would seem to be exactly what the concept of "Ask Slashdot" was invented for, I would hazard a reply of "Yes. Duh?"
Unless you're proposing that questions posed to the teeming masses of Slashdotia should be put where nobody will see them...
Just acquired a Sidekick via T-Mobile.
/., and pull up a pdf or .doc if I need it to. That's pretty much all I need from something I put in a pocket. The new OS update will do audio files (at least .aiff, .wav. .rmf, and midi.) and gives it unicode, as well as a few other tweaks like a "forward" button on the browser. It's little, it's handy, and it's useful. It officially doesn't suck.
I approve.
It functions reasonably well as a phone, isn't uncomfortable to use, and so far hasn't demonstrated any reception trouble or battery life issues. Data/PDA functionality is smooth, barring the lack of sync ability, however that is apparently forthcoming. The usefulness of things like an SSH application (forthcoming, they're doing OS updates right now.) goes without saying.
The plan is indeed $20 for unlimited data, and at least in the Seattle area the GPRS coverage is fairly seamless. ($30 no voice, but to my mind it's far more worth it to spring for a minimal plan and get a decent amount of minutes. I think I'm running ballpark 50-60 a month for more minutes than I use and all the GPRS I can handle.) I recommend it, highly.
Now, I WILL note that it's not a perfect device. The placement of the screen leaves a bit to be desired--I'd much prefer a clamshell or some form of cover over the screen. Belt-packs are bulky, and I'm uncomfortable just chucking it in a pocket sans a guard over the LCD. I keep getting earprints on the screen while talking on the phone, but if I could be bothered to find the headset it comes with, that'd not be a problem. It also needs a pipe key.
On the whole, however, it's a decent melding of lightweight PDA and phone. Sure, no excel, etc, but it'll check my email, get me to
--D
I'd like to direct your attention to a little website by a band some of you may have heard of.
/. here. Them's fightin' words...
E.N., while arguably having the massive train of name recognition and drooling fanboys behind them, is producing their latest album entirely sans the "music industry". They're recording independently, producing independently, and picking their own distributor. To my knowledge, the RIAA hasn't been NEAR them, not least because they're, well, German.
Costs money to do this? Sure. But send them 35 bucks (Well, Euros...) and you get cool stuff. Stuff well worth the 35 bucks. Stuff you can't get anywhere else, period. They're selling downloadable tracks, exclusive music, and email addresses from the site. (No, not THAT way.) Hell, check it out yourselves, I'm enough of a drooling fanboy as it is. And a LOT of people have been sending 35 bucks...
My point is, though, that they're getting something done without "The Recording Industry", and doing quite well by it.
I'd almost think that saying one can't produce music without "The Industry" is like saying one can't produce software without "The Industry".
And uh, dude, this IS
(Author's note: No, I'm not affiliated. I just adore the music and think it's the greatest thing since buttered toast. I share.)
And someday, that ability will be worth actual money, as opposed to the negative $big_amount_of_cash it's currently worth.
(I hate you Student Loan Fairy. And you seemed so NICE at the time...)
Are you kidding me? Okay is a HUGE understatement unless your Bachelors is in some bullshit field like art or theatre and youre trying to get a job in IT. Huh. Bullshit?
Experience with massive "overtime" and thankless grinds? Check. (80 hours/week? Let's try 120 or so.)
High-stress situations where you get exactly one(1) chance to turn out a finished product for the actual consuming public? Check.
Knowing how to work effectively and peacefully with people you wish to disembowel with your fingernails? Check.
Doing tons of nasty, dirty, exhausting work and watching someone waltz in and take the credit? Checkcheckcheckitycheckfuckingcheck.
Being trained in effectively, quickly, and clearly communicating your ideas to a group of unfamiliar people, winning them over, and causing them to have a desired reaction? Check.
(I will, however, throw screaming knives of pain at my less than fortuitous date of entry into the job market. Yay dotcom explosion. Not.)
Yes, this isn't a degree in the sciences. I know this. I've considered going back for an MS in a number of different fields, just because I want to learn more about them and it'd be a "harder" field. (Harder in the "diamond" sense, not the "word problem" sense.)
However, I got a degree in a demanding field that I love, have learned a huge, stinking, whacking great load about working with actual other people in nasty real-life situations and having things come out the way they need to, and have cheerfully spent the last 10 years making computers something I eat, sleep, breathe, digest, excrete and adore (Not in that order.). I even have a job involving actual computers. It's not the BEST job involving computers, but it pays the bills, and given the wonderful economic climate of my home area, I think I'm doing reasonably--even if not incredibly--well.
I didn't get "taught theatre", I got taught how to think critically, communicate effectively, defend my thoughts and ideas against examination, and how to learn whatever I need to. Degree didn't teach me X technology or X language? Whatever, I know how to find the information I need to learn it, understand it, and make use of it. I'm of the opinion that the practiced ability to expand your sphere of knowledge easily is of far more value than simply having knowledge of one single piece of tech. (After all, when that tech changes, one needs to learn the new one...)
Having a "BS in Computer Science" doesn't mean you can do a damn thing with your mind, skills, or theoretical knowledge. I'd rather know I have the mental toolkit to find whatever knowledge I need than have a given set of letters after my name. (I will say nothing at this point about men, fishing, or the educational process. But you get the idea.)
And I just have to say, "BS+near MS+Published Thesis" is a hell of a long way past a simple "BS".