Whatever you do cablewise, take pictures of all walls after the cabling has gone and and before the drywall goes up. With the pictures (properly labelled and identified), you'll be able to tell what is behind/in every wall in case you need it. I took pictures before my house's drywall went up, and I've found the pictures very helpful several times.
I agree that the Mac version of Neverwinter Nights came out late, the expansion packs aren't officially for the Mac yet, and I'm sorry that you're having trouble getting a copy locally.
In the US, the Mac version is $45 vs. $30 for the PC version. Copies are fairly easy to get from most outlets that carry Mac stuff (CompUSA, Apple Stores, online at MacMall, MacZone, Amazon, etc).
The OpenKnights project has an auto-updater for the Mac version which also will auto-magically install the PC versions of the expansion packs for you.
Just continue doing your work and focus on what matters. Sure it's hard, and you do need to give yourself time to grieve and be pissed off. But, if you let yourself wallow in it and get distracted, you just increase your chances for being chopped soon. Focus on the interesting stuff and stuff that needs some mental thought so that you don't have enough time to wallow.
It does help to avoid getting into a bitching session with coworkers. Black topics and moods tend to multiply when you and others pay attention to them.
All that said, it's still a good idea to keep your resume polished and your ear to the ground.
Just imagine the scene at the bank when the intrepid couple goes to replace their cash:
"Umm, I want to replace my 20's because I was dumb enough to burn them in the microwave."
Actually, I'm not sure if banks will take seriously damaged cash. I know that there is a Dept of Treasury office that will replace damaged bills (as long as there is 51% of the bill left), but would a bank take a stack of them since they'd have to turn around and do the replacement? I imagine that the conspiracy couple would just love having to send their money into the government.
Controlling your computer by thought: could be bad
on
Mind Over Machine
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
It could be bad to be able to control your computer by thinking. Just imagine if you were sitting at your thought controlled computer when a "friend" comes up and asks, "hey, what's the command to delete everything recursively without confirmation?"
Then, before you know it, you've thought, "\rm -r *"
Okay, I saw something like this (minus the thought part) happen in real life once upon a time. A friend and I were just talking about people accidentally typing "\rm -r *" in the lab when suddenly, someone using the Sun boxes yelled "oh shit!" because he absentmindedly typed what we said.
So, when are we going to start seeing the complaints about how spam company owners are outsourcing to lower cost foreign providers and taking jobs away from good, hard working US spammers?
My preferred design tool is Canvas from ACD Systems (formerly Deneba). Canvas is a technical illustration oriented, jack of all trades vector based graphics program available on the Mac and Windows. Canvas is sort of a combination of a technical/precise version of Illustrator, Photoshop light (works with a number of Photoshop filters) for bitmap manipulation, and Pagemaker light all in one program. Imports and exports a wide variety of formats. Of particular interest in this case is the ability to export PDF and HTML. You can define HTML links on objects so that you can use that do create low fidelity prototypes or walkthroughs.
I usually create design "sketchbooks" in Canvas that contain my wireframe mockups and send them to the developers (and anyone else) as a self contained PDF document.
A few in our company use PowerPoint in a similar fashion, but with much less ease, capability and style.
Another tool that you should look at is Denim which is a tool for informal, early stage web site and UI design. Fairly useful and keeps things at an informal "sketch" level. Really requires a graphics tablet though.
I believe that the title that you're thinking about is EOS: Earth Orbit Stations. I played EOS on the Apple long ago and had fun for quite some time. The idea behind EOS was to run a company building stations in orbit. There were different types of stations that could be built depending on the number and type of modules included.
Assuming that you can find a firm (and there are plenty of good suggestions above), you absolutely need to make sure that you know what you are getting. You need to interview the firm and interview the exact people that will be on your project. Also, you need to know what the process and likelihood are that the people on your project will be switched out. I spent some time at a consulting shop, and it seemed common for the client to think that they were getting people experienced in the tool that we were implementing on their project when they ended up with experienced people who were new to that tool. Even if they got people experienced with the tool there was a fair amount of staff turnover from project to another project.
Also, you'll need to manage the development closely (in an almost XP style). None of this "here ya go, I'll see you in 2 months" sort of work. You want to monitor the work and truly be able to understand what they are doing even if they can code better than you are.
Finally, expect to spend a lot of money. Rates are way down from what they were a few years back, but a "few credit cards ready to be maxed out" may not cut it for the prototype development, let alone enough to deliver anything.
I don't think that the runway and fuel would be too much of a problem. The F18 doesn't need all that long of a runway. I actually saw one landed at a nearby municipal airport (Sugar Land Airport, in Texas) once. Strangest thing. Driving to work one morning, looked over, and saw the distinctive tail. The F18 was just parked there liked a normal aircraft.
3700 odd flight hours, many of Blue Angels type maneuvers. Probably some significant stress and wear on that airframe due to the type of flying. There probably was a good reason that aircraft was retired.
Also, the article should have read "F16 Fighting Falcon" for one of the upcoming aircraft, not "F16 Hornet"
It's better if Alias separated itself from the sinking ship that is SGI. SGI is really losing its ability to hold onto any market share very quickly, and it's better that Alias avoids getting sucked down with SGI in an implosion.
When my brother and I were kids/teens, we bought Transformer, Macross, and general Japanese anime toys. We kept most in good condition including the boxes.
Several years ago, I sold off most of them, including the ones that my brother didn't want, for a total of $2400 or so. Average per toy was about $150, and a couple went for $500 or so.
There are multiple factors which determine whether or not a keyboard might contribute to carpal tunnel syndrome or the less severe tendonitis.
The laptop may be working better for you because the laptop keyboard ends up being closer to the right height (elbows at your side, forming a 90 deg angle, wrists straight). You may also not be resting your wrists/palms on the keyboard or anything else (a no-no). I find that frequently having to bend my wrists horizontally to use the smaller keyboard to be an aggravating factor on the laptop. My favorite keyboard is my Kinesis keyboard which I've had for years.
Another factor may be your usage of a mouse with the keyboard but the laptop's trackpad or eraser doohicky when using the laptop.
The downside of a laptop is that your head and neck end up bending down all the time which can cause neck and shoulder pain. Laptop stands can help that problem, but you end up needing a keyboard.
"While I understand his frustrations, the reality is that there are a lot of people--*especially* a lot of techies--out there looking for work. And spending the time/energy to develop a complete narrative cover letter for each position you send your resume to is simply time prohibitive."
What else are the unemployed techies doing? And, the people receiving the resumes are also receiving a ton of resume-cover letter combos. Do you want to rely on luck (shotgun) or a targetted effort (sniper rifle)?
I was going to make a crack about an OfficeSpace like big mutual insurance company where I was consulting, but then I got to thinking a bit more. I think that we all probably have pretty good working environments, all things considered. Think about these environments (among others):
Working in an illegal diamond mine. Hot as hell, hard to breathe, little food, you get shot if you don't find anything or enough.
Picking through a trash dump in a third world city for anything that can be sold.
A brothel where mama-san or the russian mafia guy holds the keys to the locks and all of the cards (including your passport, if any).
Subsistence farming in the third world, particularly in a war torn region.
A sweatshop
Standing on a street corner hoping for day laborer work knowing that half the time you are going to get stiffed for pay.
Sitting on your butt at home because you've been out of work for 9 months.
A few years back, I remember there being some amazingly loud protests from some anti-nuclear power folks about the dangers of a deep space probe going up with a nuclear power source. Those folks were worried about the danger if the rocket blew up on the pad or the 1 in 100,000 or so chance the probe would hit the earth on one of its acceleration orbits.
Just imagine how happy these folks will be with a nuclear powered rocket, even if the scientific community claims that they are safe. After all, it's nuclear related, so it's gotta be bad!! (tongue firmly in cheek)
What business model is "right" changes. One business model may be the right thing to do initially, but, down the road, a slightly different (or a radically different) business model may become the right one. The companies that survive are the ones that can successfully change their business model as the situation changes.
For example, take GE. Initial business was build lightbulbs and things involving electricity (motors and such). If GE had only continued to build lightbulbs and electrical motors, it probably wouldn't exist or would be this little niche player. But, instead, GE now into almost everything under the sun including financial services (still mostly around power/device related, its core business).
Oh my god! It's another sign of the apocalypse! We're doomed!!!!
Hired as a local vs. hired as an expat
on
Exporting Myself?
·
· Score: 2, Informative
The reason the jobs are being exported is that the cost of labor is cheaper there. If you want to get hired as a local working those lower wages, you might have some advantage since you can set yourself up as the interface with those in the US. But, you will be making local salaries.
On the other hand, if you want to get hired as an expat (making US salaries), you're probably out of luck. The expats, especially the expat geek, who make a ton of money in a foreign land and get quite a few fringe benefits are rapidly disappearing. Best bet to be an expat is to get hired in the US and then get transferred to a different office. Even Saudi Aramco, who once really recruited in the US for expat postings in Saudi Arabia, is shrinking its US expat force.
So, at what point will it become more profitable to run How to Run a 419 Scam seminars than it will be to actually run a 419 scam? Okay judging by the fact that people still get taken in, quite a while, but I can see the infomercials now...
Slashdot Mirror
Whatever you do cablewise, take pictures of all walls after the cabling has gone and and before the drywall goes up. With the pictures (properly labelled and identified), you'll be able to tell what is behind/in every wall in case you need it. I took pictures before my house's drywall went up, and I've found the pictures very helpful several times.
I agree that the Mac version of Neverwinter Nights came out late, the expansion packs aren't officially for the Mac yet, and I'm sorry that you're having trouble getting a copy locally.
In the US, the Mac version is $45 vs. $30 for the PC version. Copies are fairly easy to get from most outlets that carry Mac stuff (CompUSA, Apple Stores, online at MacMall, MacZone, Amazon, etc).
The OpenKnights project has an auto-updater for the Mac version which also will auto-magically install the PC versions of the expansion packs for you.
Just wait till you get buy low budget porn cards. Then things will really take off.
Just continue doing your work and focus on what matters. Sure it's hard, and you do need to give yourself time to grieve and be pissed off. But, if you let yourself wallow in it and get distracted, you just increase your chances for being chopped soon. Focus on the interesting stuff and stuff that needs some mental thought so that you don't have enough time to wallow.
It does help to avoid getting into a bitching session with coworkers. Black topics and moods tend to multiply when you and others pay attention to them.
All that said, it's still a good idea to keep your resume polished and your ear to the ground.
Just imagine the scene at the bank when the intrepid couple goes to replace their cash:
"Umm, I want to replace my 20's because I was dumb enough to burn them in the microwave."
Actually, I'm not sure if banks will take seriously damaged cash. I know that there is a Dept of Treasury office that will replace damaged bills (as long as there is 51% of the bill left), but would a bank take a stack of them since they'd have to turn around and do the replacement? I imagine that the conspiracy couple would just love having to send their money into the government.
Then, before you know it, you've thought, "\rm -r *"
Okay, I saw something like this (minus the thought part) happen in real life once upon a time. A friend and I were just talking about people accidentally typing "\rm -r *" in the lab when suddenly, someone using the Sun boxes yelled "oh shit!" because he absentmindedly typed what we said.
So, when are we going to start seeing the complaints about how spam company owners are outsourcing to lower cost foreign providers and taking jobs away from good, hard working US spammers?
My preferred design tool is Canvas from ACD Systems (formerly Deneba). Canvas is a technical illustration oriented, jack of all trades vector based graphics program available on the Mac and Windows. Canvas is sort of a combination of a technical/precise version of Illustrator, Photoshop light (works with a number of Photoshop filters) for bitmap manipulation, and Pagemaker light all in one program. Imports and exports a wide variety of formats. Of particular interest in this case is the ability to export PDF and HTML. You can define HTML links on objects so that you can use that do create low fidelity prototypes or walkthroughs.
I usually create design "sketchbooks" in Canvas that contain my wireframe mockups and send them to the developers (and anyone else) as a self contained PDF document.
A few in our company use PowerPoint in a similar fashion, but with much less ease, capability and style.
Another tool that you should look at is Denim which is a tool for informal, early stage web site and UI design. Fairly useful and keeps things at an informal "sketch" level. Really requires a graphics tablet though.
I believe that the title that you're thinking about is EOS: Earth Orbit Stations . I played EOS on the Apple long ago and had fun for quite some time. The idea behind EOS was to run a company building stations in orbit. There were different types of stations that could be built depending on the number and type of modules included.
Assuming that you can find a firm (and there are plenty of good suggestions above), you absolutely need to make sure that you know what you are getting. You need to interview the firm and interview the exact people that will be on your project. Also, you need to know what the process and likelihood are that the people on your project will be switched out. I spent some time at a consulting shop, and it seemed common for the client to think that they were getting people experienced in the tool that we were implementing on their project when they ended up with experienced people who were new to that tool. Even if they got people experienced with the tool there was a fair amount of staff turnover from project to another project.
Also, you'll need to manage the development closely (in an almost XP style). None of this "here ya go, I'll see you in 2 months" sort of work. You want to monitor the work and truly be able to understand what they are doing even if they can code better than you are.
Finally, expect to spend a lot of money. Rates are way down from what they were a few years back, but a "few credit cards ready to be maxed out" may not cut it for the prototype development, let alone enough to deliver anything.
I don't think that the runway and fuel would be too much of a problem. The F18 doesn't need all that long of a runway. I actually saw one landed at a nearby municipal airport (Sugar Land Airport, in Texas) once. Strangest thing. Driving to work one morning, looked over, and saw the distinctive tail. The F18 was just parked there liked a normal aircraft.
3700 odd flight hours, many of Blue Angels type maneuvers. Probably some significant stress and wear on that airframe due to the type of flying. There probably was a good reason that aircraft was retired.
Also, the article should have read "F16 Fighting Falcon" for one of the upcoming aircraft, not "F16 Hornet"
It's better if Alias separated itself from the sinking ship that is SGI. SGI is really losing its ability to hold onto any market share very quickly, and it's better that Alias avoids getting sucked down with SGI in an implosion.
... if you wait long enough and they come back.
When my brother and I were kids/teens, we bought Transformer, Macross, and general Japanese anime toys. We kept most in good condition including the boxes.
Several years ago, I sold off most of them, including the ones that my brother didn't want, for a total of $2400 or so. Average per toy was about $150, and a couple went for $500 or so.
There are multiple factors which determine whether or not a keyboard might contribute to carpal tunnel syndrome or the less severe tendonitis.
The laptop may be working better for you because the laptop keyboard ends up being closer to the right height (elbows at your side, forming a 90 deg angle, wrists straight). You may also not be resting your wrists/palms on the keyboard or anything else (a no-no). I find that frequently having to bend my wrists horizontally to use the smaller keyboard to be an aggravating factor on the laptop. My favorite keyboard is my Kinesis keyboard which I've had for years.
Another factor may be your usage of a mouse with the keyboard but the laptop's trackpad or eraser doohicky when using the laptop.
The downside of a laptop is that your head and neck end up bending down all the time which can cause neck and shoulder pain. Laptop stands can help that problem, but you end up needing a keyboard.
I didn't know that you could patent money!
Or, is IBM paying them with something else? Peanuts? Filtering their spam for them?
What else are the unemployed techies doing? And, the people receiving the resumes are also receiving a ton of resume-cover letter combos. Do you want to rely on luck (shotgun) or a targetted effort (sniper rifle)?
Only if the unemployed english major isn't too bitter about being unemployed and having spent 4 years in college just to proof a techie resume.
Someone has already created a fairly retro, modern version of MULE: Space HoRSE published by Shrapnel Games.
I was going to make a crack about an OfficeSpace like big mutual insurance company where I was consulting, but then I got to thinking a bit more. I think that we all probably have pretty good working environments, all things considered. Think about these environments (among others):
A few years back, I remember there being some amazingly loud protests from some anti-nuclear power folks about the dangers of a deep space probe going up with a nuclear power source. Those folks were worried about the danger if the rocket blew up on the pad or the 1 in 100,000 or so chance the probe would hit the earth on one of its acceleration orbits.
Just imagine how happy these folks will be with a nuclear powered rocket, even if the scientific community claims that they are safe. After all, it's nuclear related, so it's gotta be bad!! (tongue firmly in cheek)
What business model is "right" changes. One business model may be the right thing to do initially, but, down the road, a slightly different (or a radically different) business model may become the right one. The companies that survive are the ones that can successfully change their business model as the situation changes.
For example, take GE. Initial business was build lightbulbs and things involving electricity (motors and such). If GE had only continued to build lightbulbs and electrical motors, it probably wouldn't exist or would be this little niche player. But, instead, GE now into almost everything under the sun including financial services (still mostly around power/device related, its core business).
Oh my god! It's another sign of the apocalypse! We're doomed!!!!
The reason the jobs are being exported is that the cost of labor is cheaper there. If you want to get hired as a local working those lower wages, you might have some advantage since you can set yourself up as the interface with those in the US. But, you will be making local salaries.
On the other hand, if you want to get hired as an expat (making US salaries), you're probably out of luck. The expats, especially the expat geek, who make a ton of money in a foreign land and get quite a few fringe benefits are rapidly disappearing. Best bet to be an expat is to get hired in the US and then get transferred to a different office. Even Saudi Aramco, who once really recruited in the US for expat postings in Saudi Arabia, is shrinking its US expat force.
So, at what point will it become more profitable to run How to Run a 419 Scam seminars than it will be to actually run a 419 scam? Okay judging by the fact that people still get taken in, quite a while, but I can see the infomercials now...