You're confusing a couple of things. The people that are always jacked in through their wearable computers were called Gargoyles, but they weren't antagonists in the novel (they were just considered to be tech addicted).
The "brain programming" came from the ancient babylonian tablet.
Unless you're talking about the brainwashed ones, the one that went through all the trouble to monitor their employees was the United States government (they paid so horribly that their people had to perform insane feats out of "loyalty")
Actually, it would be the employee demanding pay from the company that is forcing him to *not* work for a year after his termination/quit date.
In this day and age, most of us in the information technology field go to work for employers in similar fields, which would violate the previous employer's non-compete.
Having met Laporte, I can say that does sound like an example of his sense of humor.
I was impressed to have met a semi-famous person with a sane take on licensing (if you made it, choose what you want to do with it. if you want it open, that's cool. if you want it closed, that's fine too. just keep your evangelizing out of everyone else's face)
That's your claim. Other faiths hold that everything has what could be termed a soul.
Personally, I think the "we have souls and they don't" argument sounds like a means of justifying to ones self why it is okay to kill one thing but not another.
It was hilarious. I just kind of stood there and looked at the guy for a minute.
It turns out that his bosses had asked him if the functionality could be added and he responded yes, and that he could do it. He had taken two one-night classes on programming. It was rather amusing.
Predictably, he completely hosed it up and wanted someone to save him.
You know, that kind of reminds me of the behavior exhibited by a company that called me in to do some work on a piece of software that they wanted functionality added to.
They asked me what it was going to cost them before even agreeing to tell me what it is they wanted done (and wanted a solid estimate, not an $x/hour).
That had to be one of the weirdest, and shortest, negotiations for a project I've ever been on.
You are lucky. A lot of places don't foot the bill for *any* classes or seminars. They just assume that you'll magically know it the second it comes out.
Unfortunately, most employers don't want to do any on-the-job training at all. They want people who will both work cheaply and already have the skillsets that they are looking for.
They're really cutting their own throats because of it, but that's what happens when "buisness" people (who don't really know anything about buisness either) run the show.
The movie theaters are getting in on the same bandwagon as everyone else, price wise. After all, they figure that gas prices have trippled in that time period (I remember paying 90 cents/gallon my frosh year in college - 1998) so why shouldn't their ticket prices?
What it comes down to is the fact that they will charge what people will pay. If they think people will pay more, they'll charge more. The only way that will stop is if the whole thing comes crashing down because so few people see the movies that the theaters start to hemmorage money.
I find these comments of "they don't learn anything other than math" to be weird as well and I'm not in California (I'm in Ohio).
Yes, I had the standard calc, matrix theory, stats, algorithms, etc.
However, I also covered assembly (mine was on Motorola instead of x86), C/C++, some Scheme, operating systems, internetworking (from a former minion of Comer), databases, language and syntax creation, and quite a few other things including group software development for clients (from gathering requirements through completion).
Something tells me that these people are just looking for the worst examples or are pulling things out of their nether regions and don't know what they're talking about.
Unfortunately, however, the population of the great cats that existed in North America have been decimated. The lions have been killed off, the mountain lion population is thin (they used to be common in my state and now you almost never see one), and the same is true of the other large cat species here.
Plus, there's just something inherently amusing, to me at least, about the thought of people in LA or Central Park running away from a lion. =]
I still think it's funny that I got a lot of interest from girls in college because of the swords (I've trained martially since I've been a kid and was a member/pseudo-coach of the fencing team at my college).
There were other reasons too, but the swords one was just amusing. Swords lead to rabid fan-girls, and those just lead to general amusement in various and assorted ways.:P
Working from home helps cut down on the money spent on gas now that the prices have become prohibitive.
Renting dvd's also tends to end up being cheaper. Cost of getting to the theater, $10+/ticket in a lot of places, and soda, popcorn, etc. by the time it's all said and done, if more than one person is going to see the movie, it's actually cheaper just to buy the bloody thing in the store when it comes out on dvd.
Avoiding rude people is just kind of an added bonus.
I must have been a strange college student, because my PDA was pretty much my lifeline for a couple of years or so. It was compact and let me keep track of the following:
1. Classes (which often changed by the day) 2. Class assignments 3. Meeting and major project schedule for work 4. Meeting, contact info, etc for clients 5. Personal things that I needed to remember
I had a lot of things on my plate (70-80+ hours/week) and forgetting any of them could lead to Bad Things.
You don't seem to grasp the concept that there is a difference between mass-produced items (air conditioners, for example) where there are millions of them which are literally identical and unique systems which were built in order to satisfy a buisness requirement which is likewise unique.
There's a sizeable difference between those two things.
The unpleasant surprise of people buying you "really neat things" is part of the reason why I put up a wishlist section on my website. It lets people see things that they can safely buy for me.
Slashdot Mirror
You're confusing a couple of things. The people that are always jacked in through their wearable computers were called Gargoyles, but they weren't antagonists in the novel (they were just considered to be tech addicted).
The "brain programming" came from the ancient babylonian tablet.
Unless you're talking about the brainwashed ones, the one that went through all the trouble to monitor their employees was the United States government (they paid so horribly that their people had to perform insane feats out of "loyalty")
Actually, it would be the employee demanding pay from the company that is forcing him to *not* work for a year after his termination/quit date.
In this day and age, most of us in the information technology field go to work for employers in similar fields, which would violate the previous employer's non-compete.
Having met Laporte, I can say that does sound like an example of his sense of humor.
I was impressed to have met a semi-famous person with a sane take on licensing (if you made it, choose what you want to do with it. if you want it open, that's cool. if you want it closed, that's fine too. just keep your evangelizing out of everyone else's face)
That's your claim. Other faiths hold that everything has what could be termed a soul.
Personally, I think the "we have souls and they don't" argument sounds like a means of justifying to ones self why it is okay to kill one thing but not another.
It was hilarious. I just kind of stood there and looked at the guy for a minute.
It turns out that his bosses had asked him if the functionality could be added and he responded yes, and that he could do it. He had taken two one-night classes on programming. It was rather amusing.
Predictably, he completely hosed it up and wanted someone to save him.
I just kind of grinned as I walked out the door.
UD eh? Greetings from an alum of another supposed "party school" - Ohio University. =]
You know, that kind of reminds me of the behavior exhibited by a company that called me in to do some work on a piece of software that they wanted functionality added to.
They asked me what it was going to cost them before even agreeing to tell me what it is they wanted done (and wanted a solid estimate, not an $x/hour).
That had to be one of the weirdest, and shortest, negotiations for a project I've ever been on.
You are lucky. A lot of places don't foot the bill for *any* classes or seminars. They just assume that you'll magically know it the second it comes out.
Unfortunately, most employers don't want to do any on-the-job training at all. They want people who will both work cheaply and already have the skillsets that they are looking for.
They're really cutting their own throats because of it, but that's what happens when "buisness" people (who don't really know anything about buisness either) run the show.
The movie theaters are getting in on the same bandwagon as everyone else, price wise. After all, they figure that gas prices have trippled in that time period (I remember paying 90 cents/gallon my frosh year in college - 1998) so why shouldn't their ticket prices?
What it comes down to is the fact that they will charge what people will pay. If they think people will pay more, they'll charge more. The only way that will stop is if the whole thing comes crashing down because so few people see the movies that the theaters start to hemmorage money.
I find these comments of "they don't learn anything other than math" to be weird as well and I'm not in California (I'm in Ohio).
Yes, I had the standard calc, matrix theory, stats, algorithms, etc.
However, I also covered assembly (mine was on Motorola instead of x86), C/C++, some Scheme, operating systems, internetworking (from a former minion of Comer), databases, language and syntax creation, and quite a few other things including group software development for clients (from gathering requirements through completion).
Something tells me that these people are just looking for the worst examples or are pulling things out of their nether regions and don't know what they're talking about.
Koolaid started out as a thick, flavored syrup sold in little glass bottles. Mabey Cordial is slowly evolving into Koolaid =]
Unfortunately, however, the population of the great cats that existed in North America have been decimated. The lions have been killed off, the mountain lion population is thin (they used to be common in my state and now you almost never see one), and the same is true of the other large cat species here.
Plus, there's just something inherently amusing, to me at least, about the thought of people in LA or Central Park running away from a lion. =]
Don't sacrifice the secretaries, they're actually useful. Use an MBA instead. =]
Pure (distilled) water isn't an electrolytic solution. Tap water might work, but not well since it doesn't have much chlorine in it.
That was pig, not bull :P
With this one, we could hook it up to a few CEOs and we'd be set for life.
I still think it's funny that I got a lot of interest from girls in college because of the swords (I've trained martially since I've been a kid and was a member/pseudo-coach of the fencing team at my college).
:P
There were other reasons too, but the swords one was just amusing. Swords lead to rabid fan-girls, and those just lead to general amusement in various and assorted ways.
Working from home helps cut down on the money spent on gas now that the prices have become prohibitive.
Renting dvd's also tends to end up being cheaper. Cost of getting to the theater, $10+/ticket in a lot of places, and soda, popcorn, etc. by the time it's all said and done, if more than one person is going to see the movie, it's actually cheaper just to buy the bloody thing in the store when it comes out on dvd.
Avoiding rude people is just kind of an added bonus.
The response from my parents would have been "yes it is" frighteningly enough.
Their idea of time together was doing what they wanted to do while you came along and didn't disturb them. Really fun family.
Then again, their idea of my being selfish was not doing exactly what they wanted. go figure.
You don't even have to go that far. Just stop the tax breaks for companies that offshore things of that sort.
Poof. It's now *more* expensive to move the work overseas.
I must have been a strange college student, because my PDA was pretty much my lifeline for a couple of years or so. It was compact and let me keep track of the following:
1. Classes (which often changed by the day)
2. Class assignments
3. Meeting and major project schedule for work
4. Meeting, contact info, etc for clients
5. Personal things that I needed to remember
I had a lot of things on my plate (70-80+ hours/week) and forgetting any of them could lead to Bad Things.
You don't seem to grasp the concept that there is a difference between mass-produced items (air conditioners, for example) where there are millions of them which are literally identical and unique systems which were built in order to satisfy a buisness requirement which is likewise unique.
There's a sizeable difference between those two things.
*holds out the baggie*
:P
Find your two friends and get your butts back in there
(I love the songs, btw)
-a semi-recovered sysadmin
The unpleasant surprise of people buying you "really neat things" is part of the reason why I put up a wishlist section on my website. It lets people see things that they can safely buy for me.