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User: VAXcat

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  1. Not an issue for me.... on IT Workers Facing Layoffs Jolted By CEO's Message (computerworld.com) · · Score: 1

    I just retired after 42 years as a system programmer, the last 33 of them in the same company...now I get up around 10:30 or so and work on whatever hobby project I like....it's...nice. Very nice.

  2. Training that would help this old programmer..... on Ask Slashdot: What Training Helps Older Programmers Most? · · Score: 2

    I'm an old programmer (first computer I ever wrote programs on used punched card decks), and ideally the best training for me would actually be training for the hordes of younger programmers who have no real interest in programming except as a paycheck, and who don't have any real deep understanding of how computers work - and who also write very bad code. There was a time, a golden age in computing, where almost all the programmers were college trained engineers, scientists and mathematicians who were really interested in working with computers, and brought all sorts of deep skills to the table. Today, not so much...

  3. I like upsetting them too. One of them got so upset that he threatened that he was going to have Al Quaida come to my house and cut my head off with a sword. I just laughed and told him I live in Texas, and that if he was crazy enough to send someone armed with a knife to a gun fight, I was ready for them...

  4. OK, I think we've all seen the advice you should never talk to cops. Additionally, no matter what they tell you, never ever sing ANYTHING without your lawyer's advice. Signing the inventory sheet was an excellent admission of ownership of the illegally hacked cards. If the guy hadn't signed that, the cops would have had a tougher time proving who they belonged to.

  5. Re:So what's "Men Into Space"??? Chopped Liver?? on SciFi TV Series 'Space Patrol Orion' Celebrates Its 50th Anniversary (wikipedia.org) · · Score: 1

    Heh..I watched "Men into Space" when it was first run, when I was a preschooler. I thought that it was a documentary, and I really wanted to join the Space Corps when I grew up. I was bitterly disappointed when my older brother explained that it was fiction.

  6. Re:what he said on 400,000 GitHub Repositories, 1 Billion Files, 14TB of Code: Spaces or Tabs? (medium.com) · · Score: 1, Funny

    "Program logic should not be governed by invisible things." Funny, that statement also sums up my attitude about religion...

  7. The crash happened so fast.... on World's Largest Aircraft Crashes Its Second Flight (theverge.com) · · Score: 1

    They barely had time to polish up all the brightwork, update the log books, phone their friends and family, post about it on facebook, take a leisurely walk around the control cabin, watch some TV and then strap in to wait for the end.

  8. "You may return from 521 days in space, But when you return its the same old place And you tell me, you don't believe, We're on the eve of destruction?"

  9. Re:This is the same guy on Steve Wozniak Says Apple Must Fix iPhone 7 Bluetooth Or Revive Its Headphone Jack (afr.com) · · Score: 3, Informative

    You're right, except you got it backwards. Without Wozniak, Jobs would have wound up selling insurance, or used cars, or some self aggrandizing personal improvement scam.

  10. It's not what I call a scripting language. on Microsoft PowerShell Goes Open Source and Lands On Linux and Mac (pcworld.com) · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Powershell isn't really a scripting language - it's a command parser where all the commands are like "Disassemble-the_Complicated-Dictionary-using-impossible-Format".

  11. Re:"Existing ones who opt-in" on T-Mobile Brings Back Unlimited Data For All (cnet.com) · · Score: 1

    I'm not opting in. I use less than 1 GB of data a month and am not interested in paying any more form my two phones.

  12. Silliness.... on All Windows 10 PCs Will Support HoloLens Next Year (theverge.com) · · Score: 3, Funny

    This is silly,. Why would they add features to the PC interface that won't be available on my Windows Phone? If I can't use the same interface on both, I'm just not interested.

  13. It's like they tell you when you're learning navigation when studying to be a pilot. A new navigator with no experience, when trying to determine his location will do his calculations and draw a pinpoint on the map indicating the location. One with slightly more experience will draw a little circle around the point, allowing for some error. An experienced navigator will put his whole hand down on the map at the calculated point and say "We're somewhere around here".

  14. Re:Whatever happened to "location not found"? on Kansas Couple Sues IP Mapping Firm For Turning Their Life Into a 'Digital Hell' (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 1

    Coordinates 0 0?That's Zero Zero island. Is there a reason to suspect Colonel Bleep of all these crimes?

  15. This isn't a coincidence... on Soylent Coffee: Nootropics, Fat, Carbs, Protein -- But Will It Give You The Toots? (arstechnica.com) · · Score: 3, Informative

    Gotta love them using the name Coffiest. It's a name from a Frederik Pohl and Cyril Kornbluth science fiction book that lampooned marketing and consumers, "The Space Merchants". Here's a quote... "...here's what makes this campaign great in my estimation - each sample of Coffiest contains three milligrams of a simple alkaloid. Nothing harmful. But definitely habit-forming. After ten weeks the customer is hooked for life. It would cost him at least five thousand dollars for a cure, so it's simpler for him to go right on drinking Coffiest - three cups with every meal and a pot beside his bed at night, just as it says on the jar."

  16. Banned from tweeting on Olympics Committee Says Non-Sponsors Are Banned From Tweeting About the Olympics (gizmodo.com) · · Score: 4, Funny

    My good taste and good judgement bans me from tweeting about anything, ever.

  17. It reminds me... on Verizon To Disconnect Unlimited Data Customers Who Use Over 100GB/Month · · Score: 1

    This reminds me of a restaurant much favored by my crowd when we were in college. It had a prime rib buffet at a very reasonable price. It had a sign over the slicing board, "All you can Eat - $7.99" (it was a long time ago). One of my pals had an unquenchable hunger for prime rib, and would eat pounds and pounds of it at a sitting there. After a month of pretty frequent visits, one night, he finished a big plate of it, and ankled over to get his second serving. The owner was standing in front of the station and said "You can't have any more". "But the sign says, all you can eat!" my pal complained. The owner said "That's all you can eat" and just glowered at him until he left. That's pretty much what Verizon is doing.

  18. Re:The Finest Day.... on 47 Years Ago Today, Apollo 11 Landed On the Moon (foxnews.com) · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Funny, I remember it vivdly too, but not like that. I was in my room reading "Galactic Patrol" by EE "Doc" Smith. My mother interrupted me to call me in and make me watch the landing coverage on TV. I was really annoyed, because, compared to ripping through the spaceways with Kimball Kinnison, this lunar landing was boring small potatotes.

  19. Re:Well... on Is A Rational Nation Ruled By Science A Terrible Idea? (newscientist.com) · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Actually, I never read Brave New World as a dystopia. It sounded pretty sweet - plenty of responsibility free sex and drugs, no anxiety, and no pesky religion to muddy everything up and do the evil that religion does. Sounds great to me! I wish we were doing half so well now.

  20. Re:Bond, James Bond.... on China Finishes Building Its Alien-Hunting Telescope · · Score: 1

    This could be a great idea - the Chinese make contact and start dealing with extraterrestrials. It could be the first James Bond science fiction movie - he's never tangled with space aliens before.

  21. Hell, the US Government can't even do anything about "Bridget from Card Services", you expect them to be able to find and do something about these scammers?

  22. Re:borrowing more blatant in StarWars on What Star Trek Owes To Robert Heinlein · · Score: 1

    Start Wars also borrowed from Keith Laumer's stories - thecantina scenes were pure Laumer, and C3PO's behavior was pure Magnan.

  23. Re:Have Spacesuit favorite novel at MIT on What Star Trek Owes To Robert Heinlein · · Score: 1

    They recently were plans to make it into a movie - but it was going to star WiIl Smith as Kip. In which case, I'm glad it fell through.

  24. Re:Security through obscurity, that might work... on US Military Uses 8-Inch Floppy Disks To Coordinate Nuclear Force Operations (cnbc.com) · · Score: 1

    2600 referred to the 2600 Hz tone used to take control of a long distance trunk line, used by phone "phreaks" back in the day. The magazine was named after the tone.

  25. If they streamline it enough... on Microsoft Is Laying Off 1,850 to Streamline Its Smartphone Business (theverge.com) · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...maybe they will stop trying to make the Windows Desktop work like a Windows phone...