So, if modern video games are to blame for people's violent behavior because they are acting out what they see, how come there were no incidents of people wearing blue and red suspenders and hitting things with large hammers or large apes kidnapping women back in the 80's?
I've known IQ tests are BS ever since I did a report on IQ testing in 5th grade. I wrote that being compared to the results gotten from some french kids nearly 80 something years ago was not a good way to show intelligence. Needless to say the teacher did not agree.
FWIW I've always consistently scored around 167 on any IQ test, from the standardized ones to newer more abstract ones. Which means only that I'm good at taking these tests, relative to whatever baseline was used to score by. Its a nice ego boost. But I know people who score lower and who are clearly (IMHO) smarter than me.
IQ tests are about as accurate as trying to make a test for how much you love somebody, and despite my wife's best efforts to that effect, it doesn't work either.:)
The reason all the dinosaurs are embedded in layers of sediment is because of the great flood (you know, the one that noah saved all the animals from by putting them on the ark) which killed all the dinos and then layered them in dirt and mud kicked up by the flood. This didnt happen slowly over millions of years but in 40 days during the rains and flooding.
And don't give me carbon dating or any other dating method because they vary so much from each other that they prove the world is only 5000 years old.
And don't tell me about single specimins of trees that reproduce by self cloning that are over 5000 years old. I'm not listening LALALALALALA....
Fill the store with servers and sell downloads instead.
With bandwidth restrictions on people's net access, there could be a business for walking in and downloading directly to your device. Still faster than over the net, its an incentive over piracy (speed, reliability). You could even have previous stations where you could quickly flip through movies and preview whatever you wanted (ie, fast-forward through it you like). To save more time you could rent the movie on a memory stick in your preferred format.
Never mind you could get things that arent on DVD or arent popular enough to stock normally. And no running out of DVD's.
It would be a risky business and it would have to be done just right. You'd probably want to rent video games (still probably some life yet in that business) too and also sell iPods and memory sticks and such.
This will pave the way for employers to pay as little as half as much for employing blacks, latinos and even white people, since they are clearly not capable of being expected to do any better. This will be great for business and a sorely needed stimulus for the economy! Imagine how much money businesses will save now, and you know that will be directly passed on to the consumer with lower prices for everybody!
Purely anecdotal and totally untested, but my hypothesis is this: with less need to actually remember things, we have more brain left over for purely abstract reasoning and logic.
My personal experience is that my memory sucks. I don't know if this is genetic, or just a result of being undisciplined about memorization when I was young and so now, in my middle age, its just the routine that I can't remember stuff. I always had trouble remembering and memorization was, and still mostly is, the primary tool used in public schools. However my logic and abstract reasoning has always been high, through the roof even. I would score high on such tests, as well as IQ tests. But I would fall flat on tests requiring lots of memorization (history, grammar, etc). I would even do bad on math, because I couldn't remember the formulas (or times tables). But I could logically figure it out. Sometimes over and over I would have to logically deduce how to solve a problem instead of just remembering the formula or method.
Today, with Google and the internet, I have to remember even less. Because I know I can find it. Or I can find somebody who knows. I am great with high concepts and abstracts knowing that I can just find the answer to the details when I need it (mostly).
So, I "blame" our information based modern society. I don't know how bad of a thing this is. It does worry me that people dont know how to do basic things anymore.
I, for one, welcome our Non-Prescription ADHD Medication User overlords.
But seriously. If I can ingest something that's going to improve my mind in some way without side effects, or with known side that I can manage, I'm sure as hell going to do it.
Almost all of us already do it and have been doing it for a very long time. Coffee. Aspirin (its much easier to think without a headache..). Ginseng. And probably a hundred other naturally occurring things. Even vitamins count. I personally feel I've even gotten benefits from LSD and Marijuana. If some current or future compound can improve my memory, my thinking speed, or reduce the amount of sleep I need, I'm all over it.
Now pardon me while I suck down a still legal monster energy drink and work all night long..
I have a history not unlike yours. Programming assembly on a Sinclair in the 80's. Trying to build an 8 bit SMP system from Z80's (before I knew what SMP was). Programming in C on my Amiga... but never got a job doing these. Then I worked for a bit as an engineering "intern" at Mcdonnel Douglas / Boeing while going to college. Decided I didn't want to do that for a living. I got lucky and along came the WWW and suddenly I could get jobs doing web sites and then programming. Coldfusion, PHP, Javascript, HTML, CSS, etc. I just learned Java to do Android apps. I had no problem getting jobs, and now with just a little Android experience I am literally getting flooded with job offers.
I think any kind of mobile dev is a win, whether its Javascript and jQuery mobile, Java or Objective-C (iPhone).
Don't be afraid to try some side projects either. You cant get success without trying. But not everyone gets to be a rockstar, either. I've got my side projects that I hope might hit the jackpot one day, in addition to my "day job".
I've also got backup plans. I have been leaning towards the idea of being a teacher of some sort. Maybe going back to college to get a better degree. Possibly volunteering to help at my daughter's high school where they are starting a new engineering program (EPIC) that looks super awesome (arduinos and micro arial vehicles and robots and oh my..). I realize there's not a ton of money in teaching, though.
Another option is cooking (I made a lovely beef marsalla stroganoff last night).
I find there are two kinds of "nerds" out there. The single minded machines who focus on one thing, and the well balanced people who know such a broad range of things that they can pick up almost any talent quickly and run with it. If you are one of the later, then you have nothing to worry about, as long as you embrace change and risk. If you are the former, well, I don't think programming is going away any time soon. Just go where the action is.
somebody's going to do it, eventually, if it hasnt already been done (and just not taken off yet). The person who does it probably wont be concerned with monetizing it, at least first, just like many other great creations.
There was (its been apparently abandoned) a low level research project called DSNP that sought to create the core of a distributed social networking system with a protocol that used encryption and public keys to allow secure, distributed social networks. Its a shame it has not gone anywhere (yet)... if I had the time and resources I would implement something on top of it. But alas, my "day job" doesn't care about such things..
Today, 99% of us (thats millions) are economic slaves (like indentured servants back then) to a small population (1%) of wealthy people who virtually own (lobbying) our political leaders (or ARE are leaders).
Almost 40, working as a developer for mortgage companies, with a growing family and living in an apartment.
We all know what happened to the mortgage industry and so my attempt at starting a software company evaporated with it.
Now some years later, I've just worked for various companies but haven't furthered my own projects. But, my income has steadily increased. My family has grown. Just in the last few months I was finally able to buy a home (thank you CHDAP).
I keep switching jobs not because I've wanted to but for other reasons (company downsizing or politics, company imploded, etc).
Right now, I'm beating off the job the offers and practically have to turn off my phone to get any work done because I get 15+ calls a day for job offers. And I'm not that great a programmer, either. There's just plenty of work apparently.
Sometimes I wonder how long this will last. Will my skills still be needed in 10 years? Will the robots take over by then? I don't know. I do know that I try to keep up with the latest technologies and keep my skills fresh. Will nobody want to hire a 50 year old? I don't know. Thus far, as far as I can tell, no job I've had even really knew how old I was when hiring me. I suppose I don't look my age.
It may sound silly or simplistic but really, just keep working. Work hard, be an honest worker, but don't kill yourself. Save some money. Spend time with your kids. I've had mostly telecommute jobs for the last 5 years so that helps with the family time. If you can start something on the side, do it. I plan on doing that, but it hasnt happened yet. Get an old car to restore so you have something non-computer to do.
Note: I was mostly talking about the 4 and 6 year olds. I don't think it strange at all that I don't let these two wander the neighborhood unsupervised.
No, they don't have anytime unrestricted access to the computer(s). Neither do they have such unrestricted unsupervised access to the kitchen. No, they don't get to eat whatever they want, use any tool they want, etc. Yes, I do make the rules and decide whats best for them. Go figure! Yep, sometimes I get "I hate you!" and "its not fair!" and that tells me I'm doing my job.
Also note that every child is different. The aformentioned 13 year old has many unique issues and has had many more restrictions than the other two have needed.
More generally, I'm talking about getting the basics down first. A 6 year old isn't ready for calculus, or power tools, or has any need for social networking on the computer. Unless of course you have a prodigy that has already learned the other math and is ready for calculus at 6.
I'm talking about balance and priorities here.
And, just "because all the other kids are doing it" is not a reason to let your kid do it. Really? Come on. I'm supposed to give in and let her have a facebook account because the other kids have them? At 10 years old? Yeah and I should give her a cell phone too, right? And a new car at 16? But the other kids have them! And I should let them eat McDonalds everyday and go to Disneyland every weekend and pay for every dance lesson or european vacation she asks for? Just because some other kid got that?
To summarize my point: automated censorship is bad (and somewhat impossible). Spending time with your kids and monitoring what they do is good. Letting them do whatever they want is bad. Teaching them to do the right thing when faced with a bad choice is good. Protecting them from bad stuff is good.
I am a computer nerd, and work on a computer all day. I love my gadgets.
My kids don't have a computer.
They are allowed to use the family computer, when supervised. Sometimes games for the little ones, or videos (entertainment or educational). The older one, of course, does research for school work, etc.
They are absolutely not allowed on Facebook. Period. This has been a major issue for the older one.
I look at it the same way I look at real life. I wouldn't let them walk the streets (even in my nice neighborhood) alone, why would I let them wander the internet alone? They may play in the yard or at a known and trusted neighbor's yard, supervised by other adults. This is analogous to a website I know and trust.
I don't lock all the doors in the daytime or keep them on leashes or make them wear blinders and earplugs and sometimes they hear bad words (I've got a potty mouth) or subjects they arent ready for. So we explain to them why its not ok for them, and maybe even I should try not to say bad words.
Facebook, for the older child, is a particular bone of contention. I look at Facebook the way I Iook at a bar. I wouldn't let my kid hang out in a bar alone either, or for that matter, even the local coffee shop I frequent.
Its just common sense.
I'm also against much computer use at a really young age. Little kids should be running around, playing with legos, learning how to socialize, etc. Not playing video games.
I really wonder sometimes, if computers had been what they are today when I was kid, if I would have ever learned to program one...
Really thats the issue.. whatever support you were willing to offer should have been put in writing and agreed on before work began.
The same sorts of things can happen during a project too. Get it all in writing. Clients love to change things as you go, and they'll do it until they break you if you don't tell them before hand they can't. IE, you give them say 3 mockups to choose from.. then once approved they can't come back at you and say thats all wrong we need the design changed. Same thing with the support. We all know you probably cant support the code forever without compensation, you have to tell them that or they will expect free support forever!
I'm actually pleasantly surprised that a majority of people in this country accept evolutionary theory. While its a little scary knowing that 46% are young earth creationists and thus pretty much have eschewed everything that science has taught us, at least I can say in any political debate that the majority of Americans believe in evolution and science and have found a way to reconcile that with their spiritual beliefs.
This is, at least, a step in the right direction.
Like I tell anyone on either side (theist/atheist, conservative/liberal, star trek/star wars, etc), you aren't doing yourself and your belief justice if you just piss off and insult and alienate yourself from the opposing view. You have to accept first, present later, and slowly over time allow the other side to come around. This is how christianity has spread so far.. by accepting people and assimilating them. Its why Jesus, no matter what else you believe, was at least one thing for certain: a brilliant marketer.
Completely unscientific, anecdotal evidence to support this:
I've always noticed throughout my life that the poorer families who's homes I visited almost universally had larger TV's and more gadgets. I would always stop and wonder how in the hell these families could even afford such colossally huge TV's or how the kids could have all these electronic toys and such.
And then (as a kid) I'd go home and watch TV on a little 13" TV and program my little computer (sinclair) or try to design a portable game computer (10 x 10 array of red LED's and Z80 cpu).
As an adult, I have to wonder if I'd been given all that crap as a child if I would have ever bothered to learn to program and such. My family was lower middle class, not poor but not wealthy either, but my parents were smart. And as a parent, as a geek parent with computers and tech in my daily use, I do not shower my kids with gadgets and let them watch TV all day. They use paper and crayons and are learning to read, write, and socialize before being taught to use more advanced tools.
There does seem to be a societal problem with too much technology where it doesn't need to be. And its all about the choices we make. Parents can choose how to raise their kids. I don't care what your excuse is. If you are poor or you are rich, you can teach your kids the same values, the same knowledge. Or you can let them be vegetables.
Lots of industrial systems use some form of vibrator... for increased... efficiency.
not just the industrial systems. i can think of one industry that uses various compact vibrators to reach certain goals faster and more efficiently than the standard process. it can also be used to reach those goals in quick succession. though using them for prolonged periods often leads to an eventual overall energy drain resulting in some extended downtime. so it's generally prudent to use them sparingly. it's an energy efficiency issue.
This has to be one of the best double entendre comments I have ever seen.
Its so good I bet there are a lot of people who would only see the straightforward meaning. And for the rest of us, we can't read it with straight face.
I reluctantly "upgraded" to an android phone, from a Palm Pre, only because the palm pre was wearing out (which is pretty much the only reason I upgrade my phones every 1.5 years). After 6 months, I wanted to go back to the Pre. Yes, apps were limited, but I dont use most of the apps on android anyway. I use email, messaging, and web 90% of the time, and WebOS integrated my communications so seamlessly and it multitasked so intuitively that I didnt much care that it did not have a million apps. And it had the ones I wanted anyway.. pandora, angry birds, etc.
Now I have another android phone, with Ice Cream Sandwich (the other one never got the upgrade), and its much much better than Gingerbread but still not as slick as WebOS. Close, though.
I think it would be a slam dunk for some company if they ported the WebOS GUI and built in apps (synergy) to run on top of Android. Then you'd get all the android apps, too. And if you had Android apps running inside of WebOS "cards", wow, that would be spectacular. Other handset companies have their own GUI extensions to Android, why not have WebOS?
Similar story for me and my previous employer.. there were only two of us programmers and a load of foreign outsourcers. Now, the issues with outsourcing were only part of the reason the company went down hard in flames (I won't get into those other reasons..).
We had some good outsourced people, intelligent, experienced and spoke good english. We had many more that did not fit into that classification. Here is what I noticed, by comparison:
When I've gone to interviews for other jobs where multiple other applicants where also there, I noticed about the same rate qualification among those people that I saw with the outsourcers the company I worked at actually employed. The difference being, at those interviews, 99% of those applicants were rejected for obvious (to me and the employer, not the applicants..) reasons.
The point is, that it seems people are much more willing to hire an outsourcer without properly checking them out. And so you end up with a lot of bad work.
That's all on top of the difficulties with language and culture, time zone differences, trying to communicate through skype or whatever instead of in person, etc.
I'm just glad I'm not staying up working all night trying to manage a team split across india, russia and china, and trying to make impossible deadlines; and then dealing with the client the next day trying to make excuses why something can't be fixed for another 24 hour cycle because we didn't want them to know everything was being outsourced...
Outsourcing is not the money-saving grunt-work avoiding hail mary pass so many people think it is. Its a potentially useful resource that has to be used properly.
I thought the article referred to here particularly interesting because it puts forth the idea that, essentially, NoSQL and Relational DB's are just two ways of looking at the same thing, and thus are both equally valid. Right now they are used situationally (at best) but I think you will see a convergence at some point with something "new" that can do both equally well using a common core and different wrappers around it.
Slashdot Mirror
I for one welcome our back entry... aww never mind.
So, if modern video games are to blame for people's violent behavior because they are acting out what they see, how come there were no incidents of people wearing blue and red suspenders and hitting things with large hammers or large apes kidnapping women back in the 80's?
I've known IQ tests are BS ever since I did a report on IQ testing in 5th grade. I wrote that being compared to the results gotten from some french kids nearly 80 something years ago was not a good way to show intelligence. Needless to say the teacher did not agree.
FWIW I've always consistently scored around 167 on any IQ test, from the standardized ones to newer more abstract ones. Which means only that I'm good at taking these tests, relative to whatever baseline was used to score by. Its a nice ego boost. But I know people who score lower and who are clearly (IMHO) smarter than me.
IQ tests are about as accurate as trying to make a test for how much you love somebody, and despite my wife's best efforts to that effect, it doesn't work either. :)
I, for one, welcome our face recognizing, database comparing, privacy and anonymity eliminating invasive marketing overlords...
You're an idiot.
The reason all the dinosaurs are embedded in layers of sediment is because of the great flood (you know, the one that noah saved all the animals from by putting them on the ark) which killed all the dinos and then layered them in dirt and mud kicked up by the flood. This didnt happen slowly over millions of years but in 40 days during the rains and flooding.
And don't give me carbon dating or any other dating method because they vary so much from each other that they prove the world is only 5000 years old.
And don't tell me about single specimins of trees that reproduce by self cloning that are over 5000 years old. I'm not listening LALALALALALA....
Fill the store with servers and sell downloads instead.
With bandwidth restrictions on people's net access, there could be a business for walking in and downloading directly to your device. Still faster than over the net, its an incentive over piracy (speed, reliability). You could even have previous stations where you could quickly flip through movies and preview whatever you wanted (ie, fast-forward through it you like). To save more time you could rent the movie on a memory stick in your preferred format.
Never mind you could get things that arent on DVD or arent popular enough to stock normally. And no running out of DVD's.
It would be a risky business and it would have to be done just right. You'd probably want to rent video games (still probably some life yet in that business) too and also sell iPods and memory sticks and such.
This will pave the way for employers to pay as little as half as much for employing blacks, latinos and even white people, since they are clearly not capable of being expected to do any better. This will be great for business and a sorely needed stimulus for the economy! Imagine how much money businesses will save now, and you know that will be directly passed on to the consumer with lower prices for everybody!
Out of some 10 or so electronic voting machines, 6 were not working.
So much for technology.
Purely anecdotal and totally untested, but my hypothesis is this: with less need to actually remember things, we have more brain left over for purely abstract reasoning and logic.
My personal experience is that my memory sucks. I don't know if this is genetic, or just a result of being undisciplined about memorization when I was young and so now, in my middle age, its just the routine that I can't remember stuff. I always had trouble remembering and memorization was, and still mostly is, the primary tool used in public schools. However my logic and abstract reasoning has always been high, through the roof even. I would score high on such tests, as well as IQ tests. But I would fall flat on tests requiring lots of memorization (history, grammar, etc). I would even do bad on math, because I couldn't remember the formulas (or times tables). But I could logically figure it out. Sometimes over and over I would have to logically deduce how to solve a problem instead of just remembering the formula or method.
Today, with Google and the internet, I have to remember even less. Because I know I can find it. Or I can find somebody who knows. I am great with high concepts and abstracts knowing that I can just find the answer to the details when I need it (mostly).
So, I "blame" our information based modern society. I don't know how bad of a thing this is. It does worry me that people dont know how to do basic things anymore.
Don't worry about it.
Everyone else will just have to accommodate you.
I, for one, welcome our Non-Prescription ADHD Medication User overlords.
But seriously. If I can ingest something that's going to improve my mind in some way without side effects, or with known side that I can manage, I'm sure as hell going to do it.
Almost all of us already do it and have been doing it for a very long time. Coffee. Aspirin (its much easier to think without a headache..). Ginseng. And probably a hundred other naturally occurring things. Even vitamins count. I personally feel I've even gotten benefits from LSD and Marijuana. If some current or future compound can improve my memory, my thinking speed, or reduce the amount of sleep I need, I'm all over it.
Now pardon me while I suck down a still legal monster energy drink and work all night long..
I'm 42 today, and feeling old.
I have a history not unlike yours. Programming assembly on a Sinclair in the 80's. Trying to build an 8 bit SMP system from Z80's (before I knew what SMP was). Programming in C on my Amiga... but never got a job doing these. Then I worked for a bit as an engineering "intern" at Mcdonnel Douglas / Boeing while going to college. Decided I didn't want to do that for a living. I got lucky and along came the WWW and suddenly I could get jobs doing web sites and then programming. Coldfusion, PHP, Javascript, HTML, CSS, etc. I just learned Java to do Android apps. I had no problem getting jobs, and now with just a little Android experience I am literally getting flooded with job offers.
I think any kind of mobile dev is a win, whether its Javascript and jQuery mobile, Java or Objective-C (iPhone).
Don't be afraid to try some side projects either. You cant get success without trying. But not everyone gets to be a rockstar, either. I've got my side projects that I hope might hit the jackpot one day, in addition to my "day job".
I've also got backup plans. I have been leaning towards the idea of being a teacher of some sort. Maybe going back to college to get a better degree. Possibly volunteering to help at my daughter's high school where they are starting a new engineering program (EPIC) that looks super awesome (arduinos and micro arial vehicles and robots and oh my..). I realize there's not a ton of money in teaching, though.
Another option is cooking (I made a lovely beef marsalla stroganoff last night).
I find there are two kinds of "nerds" out there. The single minded machines who focus on one thing, and the well balanced people who know such a broad range of things that they can pick up almost any talent quickly and run with it. If you are one of the later, then you have nothing to worry about, as long as you embrace change and risk. If you are the former, well, I don't think programming is going away any time soon. Just go where the action is.
somebody's going to do it, eventually, if it hasnt already been done (and just not taken off yet). The person who does it probably wont be concerned with monetizing it, at least first, just like many other great creations.
There was (its been apparently abandoned) a low level research project called DSNP that sought to create the core of a distributed social networking system with a protocol that used encryption and public keys to allow secure, distributed social networks. Its a shame it has not gone anywhere (yet)... if I had the time and resources I would implement something on top of it. But alas, my "day job" doesn't care about such things..
Anybody who's played Sim-City (the original) will tell you that building more and more roads doesn't fix your traffic problems...
This is true.
Today, 99% of us (thats millions) are economic slaves (like indentured servants back then) to a small population (1%) of wealthy people who virtually own (lobbying) our political leaders (or ARE are leaders).
Thats progress!
Almost 40, working as a developer for mortgage companies, with a growing family and living in an apartment.
We all know what happened to the mortgage industry and so my attempt at starting a software company evaporated with it.
Now some years later, I've just worked for various companies but haven't furthered my own projects. But, my income has steadily increased. My family has grown. Just in the last few months I was finally able to buy a home (thank you CHDAP).
I keep switching jobs not because I've wanted to but for other reasons (company downsizing or politics, company imploded, etc).
Right now, I'm beating off the job the offers and practically have to turn off my phone to get any work done because I get 15+ calls a day for job offers. And I'm not that great a programmer, either. There's just plenty of work apparently.
Sometimes I wonder how long this will last. Will my skills still be needed in 10 years? Will the robots take over by then? I don't know. I do know that I try to keep up with the latest technologies and keep my skills fresh. Will nobody want to hire a 50 year old? I don't know. Thus far, as far as I can tell, no job I've had even really knew how old I was when hiring me. I suppose I don't look my age.
It may sound silly or simplistic but really, just keep working. Work hard, be an honest worker, but don't kill yourself. Save some money. Spend time with your kids. I've had mostly telecommute jobs for the last 5 years so that helps with the family time. If you can start something on the side, do it. I plan on doing that, but it hasnt happened yet. Get an old car to restore so you have something non-computer to do.
You'll be fine.
Yep, we run a real gestapo here!
Note: I was mostly talking about the 4 and 6 year olds. I don't think it strange at all that I don't let these two wander the neighborhood unsupervised.
No, they don't have anytime unrestricted access to the computer(s). Neither do they have such unrestricted unsupervised access to the kitchen. No, they don't get to eat whatever they want, use any tool they want, etc. Yes, I do make the rules and decide whats best for them. Go figure! Yep, sometimes I get "I hate you!" and "its not fair!" and that tells me I'm doing my job.
Also note that every child is different. The aformentioned 13 year old has many unique issues and has had many more restrictions than the other two have needed.
More generally, I'm talking about getting the basics down first. A 6 year old isn't ready for calculus, or power tools, or has any need for social networking on the computer. Unless of course you have a prodigy that has already learned the other math and is ready for calculus at 6.
I'm talking about balance and priorities here.
And, just "because all the other kids are doing it" is not a reason to let your kid do it. Really? Come on. I'm supposed to give in and let her have a facebook account because the other kids have them? At 10 years old? Yeah and I should give her a cell phone too, right? And a new car at 16? But the other kids have them! And I should let them eat McDonalds everyday and go to Disneyland every weekend and pay for every dance lesson or european vacation she asks for? Just because some other kid got that?
To summarize my point: automated censorship is bad (and somewhat impossible). Spending time with your kids and monitoring what they do is good. Letting them do whatever they want is bad. Teaching them to do the right thing when faced with a bad choice is good. Protecting them from bad stuff is good.
I have kids, 4, 6 and 13.
I am a computer nerd, and work on a computer all day. I love my gadgets.
My kids don't have a computer.
They are allowed to use the family computer, when supervised. Sometimes games for the little ones, or videos (entertainment or educational). The older one, of course, does research for school work, etc.
They are absolutely not allowed on Facebook. Period. This has been a major issue for the older one.
I look at it the same way I look at real life. I wouldn't let them walk the streets (even in my nice neighborhood) alone, why would I let them wander the internet alone? They may play in the yard or at a known and trusted neighbor's yard, supervised by other adults. This is analogous to a website I know and trust.
I don't lock all the doors in the daytime or keep them on leashes or make them wear blinders and earplugs and sometimes they hear bad words (I've got a potty mouth) or subjects they arent ready for. So we explain to them why its not ok for them, and maybe even I should try not to say bad words.
Facebook, for the older child, is a particular bone of contention. I look at Facebook the way I Iook at a bar. I wouldn't let my kid hang out in a bar alone either, or for that matter, even the local coffee shop I frequent.
Its just common sense.
I'm also against much computer use at a really young age. Little kids should be running around, playing with legos, learning how to socialize, etc. Not playing video games.
I really wonder sometimes, if computers had been what they are today when I was kid, if I would have ever learned to program one...
Really thats the issue.. whatever support you were willing to offer should have been put in writing and agreed on before work began.
The same sorts of things can happen during a project too. Get it all in writing. Clients love to change things as you go, and they'll do it until they break you if you don't tell them before hand they can't. IE, you give them say 3 mockups to choose from.. then once approved they can't come back at you and say thats all wrong we need the design changed. Same thing with the support. We all know you probably cant support the code forever without compensation, you have to tell them that or they will expect free support forever!
I'm actually pleasantly surprised that a majority of people in this country accept evolutionary theory. While its a little scary knowing that 46% are young earth creationists and thus pretty much have eschewed everything that science has taught us, at least I can say in any political debate that the majority of Americans believe in evolution and science and have found a way to reconcile that with their spiritual beliefs.
This is, at least, a step in the right direction.
Like I tell anyone on either side (theist/atheist, conservative/liberal, star trek/star wars, etc), you aren't doing yourself and your belief justice if you just piss off and insult and alienate yourself from the opposing view. You have to accept first, present later, and slowly over time allow the other side to come around. This is how christianity has spread so far.. by accepting people and assimilating them. Its why Jesus, no matter what else you believe, was at least one thing for certain: a brilliant marketer.
Completely unscientific, anecdotal evidence to support this:
I've always noticed throughout my life that the poorer families who's homes I visited almost universally had larger TV's and more gadgets. I would always stop and wonder how in the hell these families could even afford such colossally huge TV's or how the kids could have all these electronic toys and such.
And then (as a kid) I'd go home and watch TV on a little 13" TV and program my little computer (sinclair) or try to design a portable game computer (10 x 10 array of red LED's and Z80 cpu).
As an adult, I have to wonder if I'd been given all that crap as a child if I would have ever bothered to learn to program and such. My family was lower middle class, not poor but not wealthy either, but my parents were smart. And as a parent, as a geek parent with computers and tech in my daily use, I do not shower my kids with gadgets and let them watch TV all day. They use paper and crayons and are learning to read, write, and socialize before being taught to use more advanced tools.
There does seem to be a societal problem with too much technology where it doesn't need to be. And its all about the choices we make. Parents can choose how to raise their kids. I don't care what your excuse is. If you are poor or you are rich, you can teach your kids the same values, the same knowledge. Or you can let them be vegetables.
Lots of industrial systems use some form of vibrator ... for increased ... efficiency.
not just the industrial systems. i can think of one industry that uses various compact vibrators to reach certain goals faster and more efficiently than the standard process. it can also be used to reach those goals in quick succession. though using them for prolonged periods often leads to an eventual overall energy drain resulting in some extended downtime. so it's generally prudent to use them sparingly. it's an energy efficiency issue.
This has to be one of the best double entendre comments I have ever seen.
Its so good I bet there are a lot of people who would only see the straightforward meaning. And for the rest of us, we can't read it with straight face.
Bravo.
I reluctantly "upgraded" to an android phone, from a Palm Pre, only because the palm pre was wearing out (which is pretty much the only reason I upgrade my phones every 1.5 years). After 6 months, I wanted to go back to the Pre. Yes, apps were limited, but I dont use most of the apps on android anyway. I use email, messaging, and web 90% of the time, and WebOS integrated my communications so seamlessly and it multitasked so intuitively that I didnt much care that it did not have a million apps. And it had the ones I wanted anyway.. pandora, angry birds, etc.
Now I have another android phone, with Ice Cream Sandwich (the other one never got the upgrade), and its much much better than Gingerbread but still not as slick as WebOS. Close, though.
I think it would be a slam dunk for some company if they ported the WebOS GUI and built in apps (synergy) to run on top of Android. Then you'd get all the android apps, too. And if you had Android apps running inside of WebOS "cards", wow, that would be spectacular. Other handset companies have their own GUI extensions to Android, why not have WebOS?
Similar story for me and my previous employer.. there were only two of us programmers and a load of foreign outsourcers. Now, the issues with outsourcing were only part of the reason the company went down hard in flames (I won't get into those other reasons..).
We had some good outsourced people, intelligent, experienced and spoke good english. We had many more that did not fit into that classification. Here is what I noticed, by comparison:
When I've gone to interviews for other jobs where multiple other applicants where also there, I noticed about the same rate qualification among those people that I saw with the outsourcers the company I worked at actually employed. The difference being, at those interviews, 99% of those applicants were rejected for obvious (to me and the employer, not the applicants..) reasons.
The point is, that it seems people are much more willing to hire an outsourcer without properly checking them out. And so you end up with a lot of bad work.
That's all on top of the difficulties with language and culture, time zone differences, trying to communicate through skype or whatever instead of in person, etc.
I'm just glad I'm not staying up working all night trying to manage a team split across india, russia and china, and trying to make impossible deadlines; and then dealing with the client the next day trying to make excuses why something can't be fixed for another 24 hour cycle because we didn't want them to know everything was being outsourced...
Outsourcing is not the money-saving grunt-work avoiding hail mary pass so many people think it is. Its a potentially useful resource that has to be used properly.
I thought the article referred to here particularly interesting because it puts forth the idea that, essentially, NoSQL and Relational DB's are just two ways of looking at the same thing, and thus are both equally valid. Right now they are used situationally (at best) but I think you will see a convergence at some point with something "new" that can do both equally well using a common core and different wrappers around it.