A lot of the changes in that came in the 80's when the buisness trends changed. Instead of make stuff that people will buy, the trends changed to those of the corporate raiders - why make something? Buy the companies that make stuff, suck them dry, and leave before they crash completely so we can do it over again. In that kind of environment, non-buisnesspeople are seen as an expense instead of an asset (rather foolishly).
It's been the trend for the last 20 years or so. They are driven for the short term at the expense of being able to sustain operations and then find a new company when they see that their meal ticket is going to crash, they find another one.
Unfortunately, in a system like that, the demand for producers is low and the chances are that this won't stop until they've outsourced, offshored, and otherwise sold off everything they can for a buck and then find themselves replaced by people in another country who've really been running operations.
Only, by then, it will be too late and we'll all be screwed.
My favorite scene in that movie is Paul Rubens' never-ending death scene.
Amusingly enough, it was also the favorite scene of the girl who was working at the store when I ran across a copy and bought it. We joked about cheesy movies for a couple of minutes and I ended up getting the movie and my receipt, with the phone number of a rather attractive lass on it =]
If you like Brisco County Jr, you'd probably enjoy Firefly. There's a lot of the same type of humor. I can almost see Bruce playing Mal, the captain of Serenity.
I'm a fan of both, but didn't think about the similarities until you mentioned Brisco.
No argument from me on that. I agree wholeheartedly, actually.
The market as it stands is a joke. I've sent out countless resumes and have gotten interview for a few of the positions. Unfortunately, for most of those positions, the employer either lied about the job/salary or decided they were running an interrogation and torture chamber instead of an interview for a position (look under the Writings section of my website).
Hopefully I'll be able to make the acquaintance of a few companies at LinuxFest this weekend. With any luck, one of them might be interested in hiring me.
My favorite CS prof had an exception to the "don't call me after 10" rule.
Our labs were supposed to be open 24/7. Should we ever find them (or the building) locked, it was perfectly acceptable and encouraged that we call him no matter what time it was so that the building and labs could be opened.
Quite a statement, especially considering that he the undergrad chair.
Unfortunately, at one point I spent more time finding out that the documentation was wrong and then trying to figure out which parts I could trust than it would taken me to just figure it out on my own.
We all know that the best use for that wonderful piece of printing equipment is for making large banners containing photos of the boss in compromising positions and posting them in the entry way so that all of the saff will see it when they come in the next morning =]
I'm disappointed. As a BOFH, you should know better:P
I am a fan of documentation if it is done well. If it is not done well (is just plain wrong or looks like it was origionally written in chinese, translated by babelfish into spanish, and then into english), I'd rather not have it there to distract me. Unfortunately, I have tried to muck my way through documentation that fit the second definition of "bad". It's not something I advise.
I don't even mind making it, but the truth is that I'm usually not given the time I need to do it.
"We like to call ourselves professionsals, but compare our jobs to that of, say, a mechanical engineer. An engineer who jumps on the lathe and starts welding without designing and documenting what he's doing is little more than a skilled craftsman IMO - same for most of us IT guys." snip snip "even 1 afternoon a week to write it up is worthwhile in the long term"
That's a nice thought, but you'll find that the technical staff often isn't to blame. When you're understaffed and the world is constantly falling around your head because the beancounters see IT as a drain instead of an asset, you often don't *have* an afternoon to sit and write documentation. The time ends up being spent just trying to keep the place running and/or meeting the deadlines set by the pointy hairs.
almost $1/song is nuts especially when it's just a file on my computer, in a lossy format, with no physical presence whatsoever. That makes them about as expensive (if not more expensive) than the cost per individual song on a cd if you sat down and figured it out.
With the cd I get a physical piece of media, artwork, inserts, sound of a higher quality audio wise, and the ability to use it wherever I want instead of only being able to burn or copy it a few times.
I think I'll stick to cds - most of which I get used anyway.
Hey, it's all good. I'm just too used to hearing ra-ra (both here and in meatspace).
I don't care what party a leader is from as long as they do a good job and take care of their people. I tend to be a moderate on most things and "the world is all rosy" people who only focus on the positives and ignore the problems that are out there get to me.
The view doesn't have to be leftist. Just against the "popular" party line (where popular is determined by the people in charge who want to remain in charge and not have any dissent from anyone including their own people).
Believe it or not, there are conservatives out there that *really* don't agree with many of the things going on.
"Free speach zones" at political events far removed from the actual event, the PATRIOT act, Gitmo, and assorted and sundry other examples of political fun that impact a great deal of us.
I'd say it sounds like bending over and grabbing our ankles to me.
I don't know that I ever trusted the police where I am. Too many of them where I grew up were more than happy to frame people or "lose" "evidence" that they liked.
I used to wear hoodies all the time and I still occasionally wear a bandana when I train as it helps keep the sweat out of my eyes. I am not, nor have I ever been in a gang.
You've now been introduced to an exception to that rule.
I found myself in a situation like that. I didn't take the project for reasons that will become obvious in a moment.
I was called in by someone at a local company who wanted some functionality added to a program that they had. It turns out that he had promised his boss that he could do it (he'd had a whopping two one-night programming classes) and found himself well over his head. He didn't tell me this, of course. I was informed by someone else who works there before I ever showed up.
I walk into the place and go to his office, asking him what he wants done. His answer was to ask me how much it would cost (wanting a fixed number, not an $X/hour). After explaining to him that I couldn't give him any sort of estimate until I knew what the heck he wanted me to do, he answered in the same way, wanting to know what it would cost him.
I have to agree with the RentACoder comment. I was looking at it a while back as a possible way to have some money coming in when I didn't have any projects and was floored at what they were willing to pay for the work that they wanted. There were a few realistic projects there, but most of them were nuts and only wanted to spend a couple hundred bucks.
I was also amused not only that college students were advertising to have projects done for them, but that (at least at the time. it may not be there now) RentACoder had a SECTION for "school projects".
If you want all of the good songs from ZZ Top without much (if any - there are only a few songs on it that I don't care for) filler, their greatest hits album is actually really good. It's the only one I wanted to buy because it's got all of the songs I liked.
Being a relatively recent college grad (2004), I only have about 300-350 physical albums. I drool at your collection =]
With poker players, it's easy. In poker you aren't playing against the house but rather against other guests. The house simply takes a cut of the pot so no matter who wins, the house makes money.
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As either at the moment. As I said in response to a sibling post, I've done both in the past. My preference, however, would be to dev.
I don't use both titles. I generally use the dev title. It's just that I've done both and will take a job doing either at the moment.
It's a pragmatic thing rather than an "I am an uber geek god" thing.
A lot of the changes in that came in the 80's when the buisness trends changed. Instead of make stuff that people will buy, the trends changed to those of the corporate raiders - why make something? Buy the companies that make stuff, suck them dry, and leave before they crash completely so we can do it over again. In that kind of environment, non-buisnesspeople are seen as an expense instead of an asset (rather foolishly).
It's been the trend for the last 20 years or so. They are driven for the short term at the expense of being able to sustain operations and then find a new company when they see that their meal ticket is going to crash, they find another one.
Unfortunately, in a system like that, the demand for producers is low and the chances are that this won't stop until they've outsourced, offshored, and otherwise sold off everything they can for a buck and then find themselves replaced by people in another country who've really been running operations.
Only, by then, it will be too late and we'll all be screwed.
My favorite scene in that movie is Paul Rubens' never-ending death scene.
Amusingly enough, it was also the favorite scene of the girl who was working at the store when I ran across a copy and bought it. We joked about cheesy movies for a couple of minutes and I ended up getting the movie and my receipt, with the phone number of a rather attractive lass on it =]
If you like Brisco County Jr, you'd probably enjoy Firefly. There's a lot of the same type of humor. I can almost see Bruce playing Mal, the captain of Serenity.
I'm a fan of both, but didn't think about the similarities until you mentioned Brisco.
No argument from me on that. I agree wholeheartedly, actually.
The market as it stands is a joke. I've sent out countless resumes and have gotten interview for a few of the positions. Unfortunately, for most of those positions, the employer either lied about the job/salary or decided they were running an interrogation and torture chamber instead of an interview for a position (look under the Writings section of my website).
Hopefully I'll be able to make the acquaintance of a few companies at LinuxFest this weekend. With any luck, one of them might be interested in hiring me.
My favorite CS prof had an exception to the "don't call me after 10" rule.
Our labs were supposed to be open 24/7. Should we ever find them (or the building) locked, it was perfectly acceptable and encouraged that we call him no matter what time it was so that the building and labs could be opened.
Quite a statement, especially considering that he the undergrad chair.
If you check, my origional comment was posted at around 8pm. I think that qualifies as being "after work".
Unfortunately, at one point I spent more time finding out that the documentation was wrong and then trying to figure out which parts I could trust than it would taken me to just figure it out on my own.
That was not a fun day.
What a terrible waste of the plotter.
:P
We all know that the best use for that wonderful piece of printing equipment is for making large banners containing photos of the boss in compromising positions and posting them in the entry way so that all of the saff will see it when they come in the next morning =]
I'm disappointed. As a BOFH, you should know better
I am a fan of documentation if it is done well. If it is not done well (is just plain wrong or looks like it was origionally written in chinese, translated by babelfish into spanish, and then into english), I'd rather not have it there to distract me. Unfortunately, I have tried to muck my way through documentation that fit the second definition of "bad". It's not something I advise.
I don't even mind making it, but the truth is that I'm usually not given the time I need to do it.
"We like to call ourselves professionsals, but compare our jobs to that of, say, a mechanical engineer. An engineer who jumps on the lathe and starts welding without designing and documenting what he's doing is little more than a skilled craftsman IMO - same for most of us IT guys."
snip snip
"even 1 afternoon a week to write it up is worthwhile in the long term"
That's a nice thought, but you'll find that the technical staff often isn't to blame. When you're understaffed and the world is constantly falling around your head because the beancounters see IT as a drain instead of an asset, you often don't *have* an afternoon to sit and write documentation. The time ends up being spent just trying to keep the place running and/or meeting the deadlines set by the pointy hairs.
Low price for songs? Are you kidding me?
almost $1/song is nuts especially when it's just a file on my computer, in a lossy format, with no physical presence whatsoever. That makes them about as expensive (if not more expensive) than the cost per individual song on a cd if you sat down and figured it out.
With the cd I get a physical piece of media, artwork, inserts, sound of a higher quality audio wise, and the ability to use it wherever I want instead of only being able to burn or copy it a few times.
I think I'll stick to cds - most of which I get used anyway.
Hey, it's all good. I'm just too used to hearing ra-ra (both here and in meatspace).
I don't care what party a leader is from as long as they do a good job and take care of their people. I tend to be a moderate on most things and "the world is all rosy" people who only focus on the positives and ignore the problems that are out there get to me.
The view doesn't have to be leftist. Just against the "popular" party line (where popular is determined by the people in charge who want to remain in charge and not have any dissent from anyone including their own people).
Believe it or not, there are conservatives out there that *really* don't agree with many of the things going on.
"Free speach zones" at political events far removed from the actual event, the PATRIOT act, Gitmo, and assorted and sundry other examples of political fun that impact a great deal of us.
I'd say it sounds like bending over and grabbing our ankles to me.
acetylene (C2H2) is a hydrocarbon, so carbon based life could still be possible.
I don't know that I ever trusted the police where I am. Too many of them where I grew up were more than happy to frame people or "lose" "evidence" that they liked.
The joys of the good-ol-boy system.
I used to wear hoodies all the time and I still occasionally wear a bandana when I train as it helps keep the sweat out of my eyes. I am not, nor have I ever been in a gang.
You've now been introduced to an exception to that rule.
I found myself in a situation like that. I didn't take the project for reasons that will become obvious in a moment.
I was called in by someone at a local company who wanted some functionality added to a program that they had. It turns out that he had promised his boss that he could do it (he'd had a whopping two one-night programming classes) and found himself well over his head. He didn't tell me this, of course. I was informed by someone else who works there before I ever showed up.
I walk into the place and go to his office, asking him what he wants done. His answer was to ask me how much it would cost (wanting a fixed number, not an $X/hour). After explaining to him that I couldn't give him any sort of estimate until I knew what the heck he wanted me to do, he answered in the same way, wanting to know what it would cost him.
I just walked out chuckling and shaking my head.
I have to agree with the RentACoder comment. I was looking at it a while back as a possible way to have some money coming in when I didn't have any projects and was floored at what they were willing to pay for the work that they wanted. There were a few realistic projects there, but most of them were nuts and only wanted to spend a couple hundred bucks.
I was also amused not only that college students were advertising to have projects done for them, but that (at least at the time. it may not be there now) RentACoder had a SECTION for "school projects".
If you want all of the good songs from ZZ Top without much (if any - there are only a few songs on it that I don't care for) filler, their greatest hits album is actually really good. It's the only one I wanted to buy because it's got all of the songs I liked.
Being a relatively recent college grad (2004), I only have about 300-350 physical albums. I drool at your collection =]
It says explicitly in the article "Mini, who does indeed have a Microsoft blue badge, the type given to full-time staff."
There's your proof. He's got a blue badge and the reporter saw it.
I was refuting the casinos would never make any money part.
I agree that most people hate to admit that they lost money in vegas (which I find amusing) out of a sense of pride. Wasn't debating that point.
With poker players, it's easy. In poker you aren't playing against the house but rather against other guests. The house simply takes a cut of the pot so no matter who wins, the house makes money.