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User: Jaywalk

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Comments · 386

  1. Re:Completely different beasts on Public vs. Private Sector? · · Score: 1

    One caveat to this is that if you want to work on your own project after hours, you may be better off with a public sector job that allows you to work eight-hour days and a steady paycheck. The public sector is also less likely to require contract stipulations that surrenders intellectual property you develop on your own time.

  2. Re:Misleading on Paul Graham on Fighting Spam · · Score: 1
    Filtering is fighting after a fashion. The more spam is left unread, the less worth it has. The other suggestion someone made, putting fake names into HTML, is also useful since it increases the number of addresses the spammer must sift through to find a real address.

    Hmm. Maybe I should go and add a few dozen to my website now.

  3. Dumbells under the desk. on Exercise for Geeks? · · Score: 1

    Do curls and lifts when waiting for longer runs. It won't turn you into a hardbody, but it'll push back against the tendency to turn into a total vegetable.

  4. Re:Guard yourself, but don't quit tinkering! on Company Ownership of Employee Ideas · · Score: 1

    Better than sitting in the mountains, a coder shouldn't have a hard time supporting himself as an independent consultant. If you go independent and then establish a paper trail that shows the formation and elaboration of the concept on your own time, a prior employer would have a hard time proving you came up with the idea on their nickel.

  5. He should have sent it back with this . . . on Shrinkwrapped Books · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Dear sir,


    I have long been interested in Omnicare products and had hoped this book would have assisted me in becoming a customer, however, since the licensing terms forbid me from reading it (not being a current Omnicare customer) I am returning the book to you unopened . . .

  6. Re:OPen???? on Sony Proudly Rolls Out Spyware/Restrictions System · · Score: 1

    "Open" (as in your wallet).

  7. Screwups and recovery. on Motivating Your Co-Developers? · · Score: 2, Informative
    I do team lead sometaims and I hate to tell you this, but -- as others have pointed out -- you should have known about this long ago. Next time you're in the lead make sure you have code reviews and regular status reports with work broken up so there are regular deliverables. That is, all the stuff programmers hate to do, but there is a reason managers insist on it.

    But that's water over the dam. You have a project you need to get back on track -- and fast. The first step: have you told your boss? I'm not talking about blaming the other guys, I mean expressing a concern about the project schedule. If he finds out the hard way, he's going to be peeved at the project lead. (That would be you.) If you warn him now, he might actually be able to help. Perhaps he can assign additional resources, change project schedules or at least warn his superiors that there is trouble brewing. Any manager worth his paycheck realizes the value of having employees who give him a heads up when there is a problem that needs to be addressed.

    Next, sit down with your coders and talk out the problem. Again, don't let it come across as blame or they'll just get defensive. Make sure they understand the schedule and what the problem is. Maybe they can work extra hours or maybe there are problems they haven't mentioned. In either case, try to come up with a work plan that meets the schedule or comes as close as possible. Include some form of accountability so you'll know if the schedule is going to slip again.

    Finally, you're probably going to be clocking in some late hours. Keep an eye on that and make sure you leave the office when you have to, regardless of the schedule. Killing yourself won't get the project done and will just make the schedule slip worse in the long run.

    Illegitimati non carborundum. (Don't let the b******s wear you down.) :-)

    Good luck.

  8. Re:Chips or piracy on Chip a Playstation, Go to Jail · · Score: 1
    The troubling thing is the bit about "selling unauthorized computer equipment". Garby himself was copying someone else's product and selling it for profit. Open and shut case of copyright infringement. And he probably didn't care about what he was charged with, only the dollar amount of the fine.

    The problem is whether this conviction creates a legal precedent that the mod chips themselves are illegal.

  9. Re:Huh? (Use the past tense. . .) on AOL Time Warner Files Anti-Trust Suit against MS · · Score: 1

    AOL's contract to use IE expired in January of last year. I assume they've just been deciding whether or not they want to go to war. It looks like they've made up their minds.

  10. Re:interesting but a little late... on AOL Time Warner Files Anti-Trust Suit against MS · · Score: 1
    The "remedy" might be happening with or without the courts. Consider the following points:
    • Much of Microsoft's dominance in the browser market was caused by a deal where AOL bundled IE with AOL in return for a place on the Windows desktop. A deal which AOL no longer has any motivation to stick with.
    • There have been noises in the press about AOL buying out Red Hat.
    • Microsoft was able to crush Netscape because their main business -- selling operating systems -- allowed them to give away internet browsers for free.
    • AOL's main business -- selling internet access -- allows them to give away operating systems for free.
    • The main application for home users is no longer the shrink-wrapped application -- it is accessing the internet.
    Just a few observations. ;-)
  11. Interesting that Ratey is one of the authors. on L.A. Times Columnist Says Geek-Autism is a Good Thing · · Score: 2

    One of the authors of the "Shadow Syndromes" book -- the start of this whole brouhaha -- is also the author of "Driven to Distraction", a book about ADD. Ratey has ADD himself and is interesting because he sympathetic without being condescending. Having ADD myself, I found him to be the only author to take a sensible view of the matter. Face it, we know we're different; what's being "normal" got to recommend it? Isn't that the same as being "average"? And who wants to be just "average"? And if some of the stuff that makes it hard for other people to get along is the same stuff that gives us our unusual abilities, then big deal. Psychologists are still trying to figure out how the brain is wired. It wouldn't be at all surprising that wiring that causes problems in one situation actually helps in another. Even something as simple as being tall or short can be a help or a hinderance, depending on whether you're playing basketball or doing the limbo. When I researched ADD, I found a lot of things about it that explained features of who I am. Weirdly enough, two of the indicators for this "disability" are high intelligence and high creativity. It's also accompanied by the attention shifts and hyperfocus that are usually what people think about when they speak of ADD. Do I "suffer" from my ADD? Nope, but my wife sometimes does. The bottom line is simple: I'm manging my life and doing just fine, "disability" or not. If it makes feel better that I have a "disability" and you don't, then feel free. But I'm not dropping my billing rate because of it.