I've been a software developer for 20+ years, and a father for 18. I've worked at startups and big companies both, and never had any major conflicts.
My basic rule for surviving is simple: refuse to be exploited. I work very little overtime, and I never work on weekends (except when there's a very serious problem, which happens almost never). My career has gone quite well, and I've actually never been accused of being a slacker or anything like that (probably because I produce a lot).
Just say no to routine overtime; if you're a good worker during your 40-hour weeks, no sane boss would make a big deal about you wanting to have a life outside of work. If your boss does make a big deal about it, look for another job (or just ignore the unreasonable requests and keep doing good work; you'll probably outlast the bad bosses if you're a good worker).
By the way, I've found that hourly contracting is actually a good way to avoid unreasonable requests for overtime. If they ask you to stay late, just point out that it's costing them $75/hour extra (or whatever) and they'll probably back off.
Essentially, they use the photons to transmit a one-time pad, which is then used to encrypt the actual message (as I understand the press release, anyway). They notice if anybody intercepts their key transmission, and then don't use it at all.
This scheme might be subject to denial-of-service attacks by eavesdroppers, but I'm sure they've thought of that in their network design. Probably they can send the keys via alternate routes in case of interruption of a link.
RPN obvious isn't. Backwards to people it seems. (Star Wars I've watched times many, true.)
On the other hand, RPN does inspire near-religious devotion in some, especially those who used the early HP calculators back in the 70's. My engineer dad would have killed for one of those back in '74 or so, but they were too expensive at the time.
You forgot option g: hold down the shift key while inserting the CD.
Is there a way to make Windows prompt before auto-running a CD? Or to reverse the meaning of the shift key so that it only runs if you hold the key down (instead of vice-versa)? If not, that would be a good all-purpose workaround for all of the these autorun-based protection schemes. It would also prevent all those more-legitimate (but annoying) "enhanced CDs" from running unwelcome programs when I try to play them on my computer.
It would seem to me that the awards go to people/teams that have created great Open Source software, not evangelists.
Arguably the award for Gnu Arch was made to evangelists. They even go out of their way on their opening page (http://www.gnu.org/software/gnu-arch) to slam those who aren't true enough in their beliefs:
It is somewhat well known, these days, that some of the core developers of the Linux kernel are using a revision control system which is not free software. There is a need to create a free software alternative to that system and to do so is one of the goals of the arch project
While this article was nicely supportive of open-source software, the author misses the real problem of computerized voting: lack of auditability.
There is a growing consensus that, in order to be trustable, election machines have to produce a paper ballot that can be hand-counted in case a recount is required. See, for example this article for a authoritative discussion of the issues by a recognized expert in the field.
This quote from the article struck a nerve for me:
People who started using computers after the PC revolution have no idea about the miserable user experience that centralised computers imposed. Even the worst PC designs today feel positively liberating by comparison.
I started using computers about the same time Neilsen did (only 28 years ago for me:). One of the trends that keeps rearing its ugly head is the return to centralized computers. Nowadays they call them "Application Service Providers", or similar euphemisms, but every time I hear another story about how Oracle or IBM or some company like that is going to "simplify application management" by running some big application from a central server with remote PC clients, I cringe; I flash back to mainframes with green-screen CRT's and wonder why anybody would ever willingly go back to that sort of model. Individual PCs may be harder to deal with for non-technical users, but those with the skills to do their own software installation will always be better off when they don't have to rely on the Man Behind The Curtain to keep things working.
Although the main point of the article is tongue-in-cheek, I like the idea of calculating the actual economic cost of lives saved (or lost). (Especially interesting was that a blue-collar worker was worth more than a white-collar one in his data, although that's more a function of how the person perceives the value of safety than of how society values the person.)
It would be nice if this kind of economic analysis were applied (and publicized) for things like national health care. If the government spends a billion dollars to save 10 lives, we lose about 200 lives due to that money not being spent on other things (assuming it's used efficiently).
Maybe we should execute politicians whose districts receive more money than average (say $4.5 million more than average, since that was the "value" of a white-collar worker in the article).
We'd better hope the asteroid isn't inhabited; first we're going to shoot at the resident aliens, then we're going to bring them back to Earth?
Fred Hoyle must be turning over in his grave...
This is a step in the right direction (and maybe we should be practical and take what we can get), but...
Spammers can still use zombied PC's or throwaway ISP accounts to send out their spam, and they'll look good enough to pass the "caller-id" test.
I've thought about this problem some (although I'm not an email expert), and I believe that what is also needed is a way to throttle the email output of individual users (so that joeblow@yahoo.com can't send out thousands of emails a day). This would necessarily have to be done by each user's ISP; as a new user, only allow a few emails per day, and gradually raise the limit as the user gains trust (by not abusing his account).
The big problem with this approach is that every system that originates email has to cooperate. Those that don't can eventually be blacklisted by the rest of us, but it can only work if the big hosts like Yahoo, AOL, MSN lead the way. Also, this can only work if spammers can't forge the return address and/or origin of their emails, and the MS proposal seems to address this part of the problem at least.
The web is popular because it's easy to create web pages. The semantic web stuff strikes me as something that only someone with a PhD in semantics could love. IMO it violates the KISS principle.
I read the Peter Principle when I was in high school 30 years ago and took it to heart.
Throughout my career I've always insisted on remaining a programmer (not a manager). 25 years in, it's still working. They can't promote you to your level of incompetence if you won't let them.
It helps that CS and engineering salaries are so wildly inflated compared to other jobs (due to the persistent labor shortages). I've managed to make plenty of money despite my "lack of ambition".
Slashdot Mirror
My basic rule for surviving is simple: refuse to be exploited. I work very little overtime, and I never work on weekends (except when there's a very serious problem, which happens almost never). My career has gone quite well, and I've actually never been accused of being a slacker or anything like that (probably because I produce a lot).
Just say no to routine overtime; if you're a good worker during your 40-hour weeks, no sane boss would make a big deal about you wanting to have a life outside of work. If your boss does make a big deal about it, look for another job (or just ignore the unreasonable requests and keep doing good work; you'll probably outlast the bad bosses if you're a good worker).
By the way, I've found that hourly contracting is actually a good way to avoid unreasonable requests for overtime. If they ask you to stay late, just point out that it's costing them $75/hour extra (or whatever) and they'll probably back off.
This scheme might be subject to denial-of-service attacks by eavesdroppers, but I'm sure they've thought of that in their network design. Probably they can send the keys via alternate routes in case of interruption of a link.
On the other hand, RPN does inspire near-religious devotion in some, especially those who used the early HP calculators back in the 70's. My engineer dad would have killed for one of those back in '74 or so, but they were too expensive at the time.
Is there a way to make Windows prompt before auto-running a CD? Or to reverse the meaning of the shift key so that it only runs if you hold the key down (instead of vice-versa)? If not, that would be a good all-purpose workaround for all of the these autorun-based protection schemes. It would also prevent all those more-legitimate (but annoying) "enhanced CDs" from running unwelcome programs when I try to play them on my computer.
Arguably the award for Gnu Arch was made to evangelists. They even go out of their way on their opening page (http://www.gnu.org/software/gnu-arch) to slam those who aren't true enough in their beliefs:
It is somewhat well known, these days, that some of the core developers of the Linux kernel are using a revision control system which is not free software. There is a need to create a free software alternative to that system and to do so is one of the goals of the arch project
As a further exercise, find the real author's name and spell it correctly. (hint: several slashdotters have already posted it :)
There is a growing consensus that, in order to be trustable, election machines have to produce a paper ballot that can be hand-counted in case a recount is required. See, for example this article for a authoritative discussion of the issues by a recognized expert in the field.
Already, Australians have used the open-source strategy to build voting software for a state election, and it ran like a well-oiled Chevy.
The last Chevy I owned was a '74 Vega, and it burned a quart of oil every 100 miles. I guess that's what he's referring to here.
I started using computers about the same time Neilsen did (only 28 years ago for me :). One of the trends that keeps rearing its ugly head is the return to centralized computers. Nowadays they call them "Application Service Providers", or similar euphemisms, but every time I hear another story about how Oracle or IBM or some company like that is going to "simplify application management" by running some big application from a central server with remote PC clients, I cringe; I flash back to mainframes with green-screen CRT's and wonder why anybody would ever willingly go back to that sort of model. Individual PCs may be harder to deal with for non-technical users, but those with the skills to do their own software installation will always be better off when they don't have to rely on the Man Behind The Curtain to keep things working.
Minix was pirated from SCO! Quick, contact Darl!
His name is Silvio Berlusconi. Finally all thos years of listening to NPR pays off. :)
Does the silencer require a cooling fan of its own?
2. Place spam strips and 1 cup Louisiana-style hot sauce in a bowl. Mix until strips are coated.
3. Place strips on a baking sheet, leaving at least one inch between strips.
4. Bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes or until they start to smoke.
5. Serve with toothpicks, beer and televised sports.
Buffalo spam...yummy...
It would be nice if this kind of economic analysis were applied (and publicized) for things like national health care. If the government spends a billion dollars to save 10 lives, we lose about 200 lives due to that money not being spent on other things (assuming it's used efficiently).
Maybe we should execute politicians whose districts receive more money than average (say $4.5 million more than average, since that was the "value" of a white-collar worker in the article).
And make them use Linux, since we all know Linux is immune to viruses and worms.
We'd better hope the asteroid isn't inhabited; first we're going to shoot at the resident aliens, then we're going to bring them back to Earth? Fred Hoyle must be turning over in his grave...
Spammers can still use zombied PC's or throwaway ISP accounts to send out their spam, and they'll look good enough to pass the "caller-id" test.
I've thought about this problem some (although I'm not an email expert), and I believe that what is also needed is a way to throttle the email output of individual users (so that joeblow@yahoo.com can't send out thousands of emails a day). This would necessarily have to be done by each user's ISP; as a new user, only allow a few emails per day, and gradually raise the limit as the user gains trust (by not abusing his account).
The big problem with this approach is that every system that originates email has to cooperate. Those that don't can eventually be blacklisted by the rest of us, but it can only work if the big hosts like Yahoo, AOL, MSN lead the way. Also, this can only work if spammers can't forge the return address and/or origin of their emails, and the MS proposal seems to address this part of the problem at least.
"Ontology" does sound like a fringe religion, now that you mention it.
...is called "google"
The web is popular because it's easy to create web pages. The semantic web stuff strikes me as something that only someone with a PhD in semantics could love. IMO it violates the KISS principle.
Maybe the author is embedding his precious data in the article, and using Slashdot to archive it.
Or the sticky stuff might be green ink.
Throughout my career I've always insisted on remaining a programmer (not a manager). 25 years in, it's still working. They can't promote you to your level of incompetence if you won't let them.
It helps that CS and engineering salaries are so wildly inflated compared to other jobs (due to the persistent labor shortages). I've managed to make plenty of money despite my "lack of ambition".