Very true. It's up to the advertisers to entice us to look at their ads by making them sexy or funny. Good TV examples of the former are Target and Old Navy. The best radio ads I've heard are for Portland's Widmer Brewery, where they claim that their competitors put cinder-blocks or kittens in their beer, or that another company's amber ale gets it's color from a woman named Amber who used to be a receptionist there.
Actually, I do like math and I did get my PhD in it. But I realized that I wasn't going to be a great researcher, and that writing software was a lot more fun (and a lot more lucrative).
When I was a PhD math student, I often annoyed professors by asking them about real-world applications, and usually got vague answers like the one quoted.
Now, instead of becoming a math professor, I've been writing software for 20+ years, and about the only math I've found useful is of the "0xa + 6 = 0x10" variety. (And yes, I know that some math is useful.)
I agree with you... But, I have money, and used to buy games when I had less; yet now I hardly buy any at all. My view is that the console games are mostly dull sequels, and getting games to work on Windows is a PITA (plus they're also mostly dull sequels).
My occasional gameplay nowadays consists of playing classic DOS games using ScummVM or Dosbox or Exult.
You have a point. OTOH, Portland, and lots of other higher-cost places, haven't had a lot of viable high-tech employment in the last few years. At least if you're in the Dalles, you (hopefully) won't need as much money to subsist on.
Personally, I've moved away from use of C++ serialization, and prefer to write custom "save" code. It may take longer, but it's easier to debug and to maintain upward compatibility.
A lot of non-techies don't realize how generic computer parts are. They think in terms of cars, where a BMW fuel-injector will be (or at least, ought to be) better-made and more advanced than that for a Ford.
My experience is that teamwork is great; but the people who talk the most about being a "team player" are usually the ones you don't want to work with.
Funny, but all my Windows experience has taught me is that Windows is the hard OS.
I also started out waaay back with 8-bit CPU's, then started using Unix before being forced into the MSDOS, and then Windows, worlds. What struck me from the very early days was how poor the MS products were, even compared to the old Z80 proprietary OS that I'd worked on.
My kids tease me that I "always have a beer bottle in my hand". But... for 2-3 days, it will be the same bottle. In other words, I'll go through about 4-6 oz. of beer per day (and not every day either). I like the taste (it's local microbrew), but never feel driven to drink huge amounts.
OTOH, once I take a bite of chocolate, I end up pigging down candy all evening.
I believe the reasoning behind the cap is that benefits are also capped. Why should someone making 100K/year have to pay the same as someone making 90K if they'll both receive the same benefits when they retire?
Note that while the people making $50K - $100K are fighting over this, the executives making $millions will hardly be affected, because most of their compensation is in the form of stock.
Probably nobody. People waste time with all sorts of things, from playing solitaire to reading Slashdot.
But one thing I don't do is work on open-source, because I don't want the company claiming the code as theirs. So I think this is a great policy, since it allows people to 'waste' time in a more productive fashion.
I'm not trying to be funny. But every time I step on a nail, it hurts. So I've learned to avoid stepping on nails, even though there might be one somewhere that will feel good when it pierces my foot.
Similarly, every version of Windows I've used hurts (and the pain lasts much longer than that from the nail).
Really? I used to try to buy American-made shoes, and they weren't any more expensive than the foreign brands. But within the last few years, they've completely disappeared.
Slashdot Mirror
Very true. It's up to the advertisers to entice us to look at their ads by making them sexy or funny. Good TV examples of the former are Target and Old Navy. The best radio ads I've heard are for Portland's Widmer Brewery, where they claim that their competitors put cinder-blocks or kittens in their beer, or that another company's amber ale gets it's color from a woman named Amber who used to be a receptionist there.
Actually, I do like math and I did get my PhD in it. But I realized that I wasn't going to be a great researcher, and that writing software was a lot more fun (and a lot more lucrative).
When I was a PhD math student, I often annoyed professors by asking them about real-world applications, and usually got vague answers like the one quoted.
Now, instead of becoming a math professor, I've been writing software for 20+ years, and about the only math I've found useful is of the "0xa + 6 = 0x10" variety. (And yes, I know that some math is useful.)
I agree with you... But, I have money, and used to buy games when I had less; yet now I hardly buy any at all. My view is that the console games are mostly dull sequels, and getting games to work on Windows is a PITA (plus they're also mostly dull sequels).
My occasional gameplay nowadays consists of playing classic DOS games using ScummVM or Dosbox or Exult.
If you can't build it yourself out of spare parts, you shouldn't be allowed to have one.
Does that also go for girlfriends?
Claiming "fair use" might work in this case, because I'm pretty sure the original Privateer won't run on any version of Windows past ME.
Hmmm... Is that the one where a bunch of people get stranded on an island? I seem to recall there was a professor, and a millionaire, and his wife...
You have a point. OTOH, Portland, and lots of other higher-cost places, haven't had a lot of viable high-tech employment in the last few years. At least if you're in the Dalles, you (hopefully) won't need as much money to subsist on.
CSer
Personally, I've moved away from use of C++ serialization, and prefer to write custom "save" code. It may take longer, but it's easier to debug and to maintain upward compatibility.
A lot of non-techies don't realize how generic computer parts are. They think in terms of cars, where a BMW fuel-injector will be (or at least, ought to be) better-made and more advanced than that for a Ford.
My experience is that teamwork is great; but the people who talk the most about being a "team player" are usually the ones you don't want to work with.
I've learned to do my scratching while reading Slashdot, thus resulting in no loss of productivity.
If I recall from Niven and Pournelle's The Mote in God's Eye, the Moties' ship used light-sails boosted by a laser from their home planet.
Funny, but all my Windows experience has taught me is that Windows is the hard OS.
I also started out waaay back with 8-bit CPU's, then started using Unix before being forced into the MSDOS, and then Windows, worlds. What struck me from the very early days was how poor the MS products were, even compared to the old Z80 proprietary OS that I'd worked on.
Mine was to read the dictionary, but it was too wordy. Then I tried the phone book: Lots of characters, but not much of a plot.
Very true.
My kids tease me that I "always have a beer bottle in my hand". But... for 2-3 days, it will be the same bottle. In other words, I'll go through about 4-6 oz. of beer per day (and not every day either). I like the taste (it's local microbrew), but never feel driven to drink huge amounts.
OTOH, once I take a bite of chocolate, I end up pigging down candy all evening.
I hate it when people who are on the winning side assume it's purely because of their own talents, and not due to luck or connections.
Sorry, but I've patented the "process of hiring legal experts to represent a given party in court".
I believe the reasoning behind the cap is that benefits are also capped. Why should someone making 100K/year have to pay the same as someone making 90K if they'll both receive the same benefits when they retire?
Note that while the people making $50K - $100K are fighting over this, the executives making $millions will hardly be affected, because most of their compensation is in the form of stock.
Probably nobody. People waste time with all sorts of things, from playing solitaire to reading Slashdot.
But one thing I don't do is work on open-source, because I don't want the company claiming the code as theirs. So I think this is a great policy, since it allows people to 'waste' time in a more productive fashion.
Hah! They may have patented "Hello, world!", but they forgot to do "hello world".
I'm not trying to be funny. But every time I step on a nail, it hurts. So I've learned to avoid stepping on nails, even though there might be one somewhere that will feel good when it pierces my foot.
Similarly, every version of Windows I've used hurts (and the pain lasts much longer than that from the nail).
Actually, that would be okay during rush hours. The average speed is probably 10mph.
That's the equivalent of using a Windows box on the internet.
A Windows box is fine for word-processing and playing games, just like a bicycle is fine for most roads.
Really? I used to try to buy American-made shoes, and they weren't any more expensive than the foreign brands. But within the last few years, they've completely disappeared.