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User: JoeMerchant

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  1. Old guy remote on Ask Slashdot: Are We Older Experts Being Retired Too Early? · · Score: 1

    I am in my later 40s, and have been blessed to find my first remote work opportunity (coding) starting several months ago.

    My previous position involved leadership, mentoring, etc. etc. and as such required an in-office presence, even though the boss grumbled about my salary and didn't give me a title or job description that implied those things, that's what he was paying for and what he really wanted. They hired "cheap" overseas remote coders (in addition to the in-office staff), and generally got what they paid for.

    The position before that could have easily been 50% remote work, except the culture really didn't support it. Then, there was a startup I was talking to a few months back that asked the question "you don't need to come in and sit at a desk, do you?" They were looking to save on office space, and they needed to with their funding levels.

    All in all, there is plenty of age/price discrimination out there, places that would rather hire two younger/cheaper heads instead of one older/more expensive one - and as the "old guy" I can sing all day long about how you can benefit from the experience, but that doesn't always get me the job.

    As for remote work opportunities, from my perspective in the South-Eastern U.S., I feel like 90%+ of coders are still expected to come into the office, so if remote work is a requirement, you're amping up the competition by a factor of 10x or more, regardless of your age, beauty, experience or skill.

  2. Re: The only fix for vampire draw on Tesla Model S Has Bizarre 'Vampire-Like' Thirst For Electricity At Night · · Score: 1

    My Sony PS3 use(d - YLOD) 220 watts while sitting at XMB doing nothing.

    Which should be criminal, in my opinion.

  3. Re: The only fix for vampire draw on Tesla Model S Has Bizarre 'Vampire-Like' Thirst For Electricity At Night · · Score: 1

    So, is it measured discharge from the batteries to the rest of the systems, or is it internally consumed by them?

    5% of total charge sounds like more than any computer system should be able to consume in one night.

  4. Re:giving 1 million to your buddies on Salesforce.com To Review Controversial Hackathon Win · · Score: -1

    Life's not fair, film at 11.

  5. Re:Horse already left the barn on Is a Postdoc Worth it? · · Score: 1

    So many of the generation before me never went to university, they might have picked up some experience in the military or other practical OTJ training, and just worked up their reputation in the field.

    Good luck pulling that off in post 1990s North America.

  6. Re:Horse already left the barn on Is a Postdoc Worth it? · · Score: 1

    I worked for a little company, we ran on Federal grant money. We spent 90% of this money getting the product cleared for marketing by the FDA, basically using our Federal grant money to fill out Federal paperwork. It's a grand scheme.

  7. Re:Horse already left the barn on Is a Postdoc Worth it? · · Score: 1

    I've always viewed academia as an "inside/outside" proposition, you're on the outside until you've got tenure, which usually requires a PhD, political connections, and a death in the current "inside" population. As long as you're outside, you're dirt, to be used to support others as they take their great strides toward, well, whatever it is they do, as long as they keep the grant money flowing.

    The "inside" never held enough allure for me to pursue it seriously, it's much more fun to sit on the industry side of things and laugh at the absurdity.

  8. Re:Horse already left the barn on Is a Postdoc Worth it? · · Score: 2

    I got my MS, and I worked in "Industry" for about 12 years getting raises up to just under the $100K mark, then the company tanked.

    We worked with a research lab, they hired a revolving door of post-docs doing crazy technical stuff that I could probably pull off if I put some effort into it - I enquired about possibly taking over when the current one left - I had no concept that you could get your PhD and continue your "education" for years afterwards and still command the princely sum of just $30K/year...

    Next place I went in industry (same salary, better benefits, lower cost of living...) had some more relationships with postdocs, these were guys who got around on bicycles - in Ohio, doing very similar work to the industry side for less than 30% of the pay... you've gotta ask yourself why?

  9. Re:That explains Walmart on Geeks For Monarchy: The Rise of the Neoreactionaries · · Score: 1

    It fits Lennon well - actually, in a different aspect, it fits just about any mega-pop star pretty well - who's not a peasant compared to them?

  10. Re:That explains Walmart on Geeks For Monarchy: The Rise of the Neoreactionaries · · Score: 1

    And you think you're so clever and classless and free
    But you're still **** peasants as far as I can see
    A working class hero is something to be

    http://www.metrolyrics.com/working-class-hero-lyrics-david-bowie.html

  11. Re:I'll buy one... on Electric Cars: Drivers Love 'Em, So Why Are Sales Still Low? · · Score: 1

    You are forgetting, I have owned both of those vehicles continuously, for a period of 37 combined years. The reality is:

    Truck: 1 set of radiator hoses, 1 temp sender (early life failure), 1 ABS wheel sensor (early life failure), 1 set of shocks, 1 wheel bearing and spindle, 1 brake refurbishment, 1 transmission service, total cost around $3000. Also, 4 or 5 batteries at about $60 each, maybe 25 oil changes, and I forget how many sets of tires.

    The sports car has needed one alternator, one water pump, one timing belt, 2 total brake services, one clutch cylinder, one clutch replacement, one set of hoses, one radiator - hardly twenty $800 items, most ran around $400.

  12. Re:Telecommuter on Electric Cars: Drivers Love 'Em, So Why Are Sales Still Low? · · Score: 1

    Youngster, indeed. 1991 was the first year I could afford to buy a new car - so I did, just that once.

  13. Re:2 Words on Electric Cars: Drivers Love 'Em, So Why Are Sales Still Low? · · Score: 1

    Nobody needs extra horsepower, unless they're hauling heavy loads up steep grades, and even then you can usually get the job done with gear ratios.

    Yet, extra horsepower has sold at a premium for decades, higher cost to purchase, higher cost of operation and maintenance... go figure.

    I guess you could also argue that nobody needs to patronize the oldest profession, yet....

  14. Re:Telecommuter on Electric Cars: Drivers Love 'Em, So Why Are Sales Still Low? · · Score: 2

    Get a garage, the fun will last longer. My '91 is still going strong.

  15. Re:Range. That's #1. on Electric Cars: Drivers Love 'Em, So Why Are Sales Still Low? · · Score: 1

    I don't drive too far, too often, but when I do a typical trip is 50 miles out and 50 miles back, with no guarantee of a charging station "on the far side..." that makes a claimed 115 mile range.... unimpressive. Even at 150 miles of actual range, I'd feel restricted, and I don't think I'm driving all that far, am I?

  16. Re:I'll buy one... on Electric Cars: Drivers Love 'Em, So Why Are Sales Still Low? · · Score: 4, Informative

    They already do to the tune of $7500 per EV.

  17. Re:I'll buy one... on Electric Cars: Drivers Love 'Em, So Why Are Sales Still Low? · · Score: 3, Informative

    One big issue I have is battery life.

    I'm driving a 14 year old pickup truck, and a 23 year old sports car, both purchased brand new. Ya know the most common replacement component in both? Batteries.

    Yes, Lithium-Ion / Fe whatever is different from lead-acid. Do you hear any electric car company making a claim that their multi-thousand dollar battery packs are going to last anywhere near 14 years? How about 23?

  18. Re:2 Words on Electric Cars: Drivers Love 'Em, So Why Are Sales Still Low? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    One Word: Price.

    They look nifty, but for the price, you can have an extra nifty gas burning car - why spend $30K on an econobox when you can get a "real $30K car" instead?

  19. Re:Really? on Hammerhead System Offers a Better Way To Navigate While Cycling · · Score: 1

    I was mostly replying to the "threat of impending death" in the parent comment.... I stopped and read plenty of paper maps, and I'd bet I was safer than people attempting to use any modern form of GPS while "navigating on the move...", Hammerhead included.

    That said, Hammerhead represents an apparent improvement in usability for people who want a GPS on their bicycle.

    I want to want a GPS for my bike, cars, and wristwatch.... I just can't justify the inconvenience, for me. My life seems to rarely take me outside places that I don't know well enough to navigate without a map - even if GPS cost $0, it just isn't worth my attention to look at the device instead of the natural navigational cues - 99.9% of my "out and about in the world" time.

    I had an analogous experience when I was first given a Blackberry with (horribly slow G1.5 or something) web access. I had an hour to kill in the airport changing planes, and a dead watch battery, so I used the Blackberry to find a watch battery shop near my hotel - it took the whole damn layover to extract that info from Google / Maps, etc. via Blackberry. Granted, today on a 4G phone with a 5" screen, it might take more like 2-3 minutes. Back in real life, my hotel had a Concierge desk (though the regular front desk often works as well)... I stepped 10' out of the shortest path to my room, waited 15 seconds for the person in front of me to get their answer, held my arm up and pointed at the watch and asked "where can I get a battery." Net investment of 30 seconds and I got the same answer from the Concierge as I had extracted from the Blackberry....

    GPS and online maps have their place, in unfamiliar towns they're great for finding food, gas, etc. but it is truly more trouble for me to keep track of a widget and feed it electrical power than the benefit I get from it - most days. Circling back to the navigating unfamiliar territory on a bike application, I did a lot of that in Germany, it's amazing how easy it is to ask directions of people on the street, and equally amazing how efficient it is instead of trying to interpret a map - paper or electronic. Yes, yes, neither are 100% accurate, or available, but overall, I find the non-electronic solutions to be much more responsive and efficient.

  20. Re:Really? on Hammerhead System Offers a Better Way To Navigate While Cycling · · Score: 1

    Granted, Miami is mostly grid-based, but I used to explore on my bike starting from Coral Gables, pre-GPS, and find routes from Homestead up through Miami Beach - I think I spent about 1% of my exploration time finding dead-ends and the remainder of it pedaling through stuff that was either obvious without a map, or I already knew somehow or another. Trying to "beat that" efficiency with the "aid" of a GPS distraction doesn't seem like good odds.

    Places I have rented bicycles (LA, Switzerland, Hamburg/Denmark), fussing with a GPS would have distracted from enjoyment of the scenery. I did do a trek from Hamburg-Berlin in 1990, the West German ADAC maps at the time were a little inaccurate, but I was glad to have them there - total lack of useful road signage in the ex-East.

  21. Re:Really? on Hammerhead System Offers a Better Way To Navigate While Cycling · · Score: 1

    I find that the people who "really need" GPS are the same people who have the most trouble navigating with it.

    We have a 3G connected tablet, it can do real-time mapping, in the 2 years we have had it, it has actually helped find someplace about twice, been used as a curiosity about 4 times, and mostly sits in the trunk unused.

  22. Re:Really? on Hammerhead System Offers a Better Way To Navigate While Cycling · · Score: 1

    Those of us who started doing this before electronic navigation aid was available managed to survive long enough to spawn the next generation....

  23. Re:Really? on Hammerhead System Offers a Better Way To Navigate While Cycling · · Score: 1

    If you're going to Cadence cycle, do it somewhere the navigation problem has been solved - either by you or lead vehicles knowing the route, decent signage, or otherwise.

    If you're "exploring the unknown" get over the idea that you're going to get some extreme workout simultaneously. Tour De France riders are (almost always) not in it for a navigational challenge, even the leader.

  24. Re:Really? on Hammerhead System Offers a Better Way To Navigate While Cycling · · Score: 1

    It's not about reality, practicality, or anything like that. It's about market, perception, and price points... Judging by the initial interest, there's investment potential even if there's no practical use for it.

  25. Re:Really? on Hammerhead System Offers a Better Way To Navigate While Cycling · · Score: 1

    Try it somewhere like Germany, in towns you've never been in before.

    I did that, extensively, and the only way to get useful information from the map was to stop and read the map - and even then it was challenging.

    This, from someone who can navigate pretty much the entire state of Florida, including minor county roads, by automobile at 60mph+ without need for a GPS or map.

    I met a guy who was going "back-country" in Northern Norway - he used a map strapped to his handlebars in protective rain sleeving. Map in plastic worked there, where you get one new turn every 40km, in Denmark it was o.k., in Hamburg, forgetaboutit.