Then there are the job ads with all kinds of baroque requirements (2 years J2EE 2.5431, Struts 23.skedoo, etc.) At least C++ developers don't get rejected because they've used GCC 3.0 but not 3.01.
Let me predict that we'll soon see jobs requiring "2 years Spring 2.309 and Hibernate 1.75, and don't bother applying if you haven't worked with those specific versions."
People have been doing the "kids these days" rant for millenia. I grew up in the 50's and 60's when few women worked outside the home, and I don't recall kids being perfect then, either. Where to do you think all those long-haired, hippie, student radicals came from?
You're right. I recall a couple calls to my insurance company:
Me: Why are my rates so high? I have a perfect driving record. Them: It's because you drive a sports car.... Me: I traded in the sports car for a VW Golf. Why did my rates go up even higher? Them: You have a new car now.
There's something very elegant about controlling your speed and direction by subtle changes in your balance. I'd never had any interest in snow sports, and was scared to even go on a ski lift. But once I saw some snowboarders effortlessly linking turns down a really steep slope, I knew it was something I wanted to do.
In some areas, air quality has improved since the 1950's. When I grew up in Los Angeles, there was a lot more pollution than now. Does that mean the sun should be brighter there than in the past?
We used to subscribe, but I finally realized that I couldn't stand them, and couldn't put much trust in their recommendations. Among the things that annoyed me:
1. They always seemed to prefer big cars (which seemed strange, as they also seemed to be pretty left-wing politically).
2. They never indicated that computer users had any real choice other Windows. I'd have thought that a consumer magazine would have at least mentioned the existence of free software.
3. Their food ratings were really just a matter of taste, and they always seemed to prefer high-fat items.
My mental image of a CR writer is someone who drives to the anti-nuclear-plant rally in a super-size SUV while snacking on a triple-scoop Ben-and-Jerry's ice-cream-cone.
True, but I'd guess that most British cars get 2-4x the mileage that Americans get, so the total commuting costs aren't that much greater.
I've done telecommuting twice in my life. Each time, 9 months was about the breaking point, where I noticed that I was still wearing a robe past noon and explaining my software to the cat.
I'm a long-time Linux user, and Linux does work very well and reliably for me. But no way am I an expert.
Example: Samba setup. I never remember a thing about this fairly complex procedure, and always end up fumbling through the man page and the example smb.conf file to get it working. But once it works, it continues to work forever. The only time I need to do it again is when I get a new machine, maybe 2-3 years later, and far enough in the future to forget whatever I learned.
I was in college through the 70's, and let me tell you, typewriters were not 'fine'. Make one mistake, and you could end up retyping an entire paper. And the first time I used a primitive line-editor on an HP3000 around 1977, it was obviously a huge improvement.
True, there could be some new technology that will make me need something faster than a 2.8Ghz machine (which you can get today for around $600), but what could it be? Not that many people are going to care about video editing, just as few people care about sound-editing (which current machines have made possible).
Yes, my first thought was that the new games will let you run around shooting things in higher-resolution. Wow.
I still think Sam and Max is a great game, but wouldn't call the graphics "minimal". That's a term I'd reserve for, say, King's Quest I or Maniac Mansion. Sam and Max actually looks pretty good if run with ScummVM with one of the scalers turned on.
No kidding. Here in Portland, where it rains every day, our last water bill was $240!! Looking at the details, it turned out the actual water portion was about $45, and the rest was for "surface management", ie, a tax to rebuild the sewer system. We also pay over $5000 property taxes, and had to pay over $1000 for a special county income tax.
I lived there the first 34 years of my life, and I feel for you. It's not just that you're struggling to get by on what should be a middle-class salary, but you get constant exposure to all the people driving $50K to their $XM homes in the hills. Where the #*$%#$ do so many people get so much money?
These sound like the ones in use in Portland. What I like about them is that they take credit cards. So you insert the card in the slot, select the # of hours you want, and then it prints a sticker that you put on the inside of your windshield. This means that there only needs to be one of these devices for several spaces.
When I interviewed for my current job, my manager's "technical test" was for me to implement a singly-linked list. Seemed pretty simple, and I guess I passed, but I've heard that a lot of people with shining resumes couldn't do it.
The big difference is that microwaves became progressively cheaper over time. The one we bought in the 70's was around $500. When it finally died a couple years ago, a replacement was $200.
Yes, for me, it's largely the hassle. My ISP runs BSD, provides telnet and ftp, and has always been Linux-friendly. My fear is that I'll end up spending an extra $25/month so some Bozo can tell me that anything that goes wrong is my fault because they only support Windows.
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I agree. It'd be like if a gun owner left his rifles sitting out on his front lawn, then claimed innocence when people were shot with them.
Yes, I remember that. There was a "Club of Rome" report that predicted shortages of almost everything withing the next 20 or so years.
Then there are the job ads with all kinds of baroque requirements (2 years J2EE 2.5431, Struts 23.skedoo, etc.) At least C++ developers don't get rejected because they've used GCC 3.0 but not 3.01.
Let me predict that we'll soon see jobs requiring "2 years Spring 2.309 and Hibernate 1.75, and don't bother applying if you haven't worked with those specific versions."
...and make slides. When you get home, put on a slide-show for your friends. Soon, you won't have any friends and the issue will go away.
People have been doing the "kids these days" rant for millenia. I grew up in the 50's and 60's when few women worked outside the home, and I don't recall kids being perfect then, either. Where to do you think all those long-haired, hippie, student radicals came from?
You're right. I recall a couple calls to my insurance company:
...
Me: Why are my rates so high? I have a perfect driving record.
Them: It's because you drive a sports car.
Me: I traded in the sports car for a VW Golf. Why did my rates go up even higher?
Them: You have a new car now.
There's something very elegant about controlling your speed and direction by subtle changes in your balance. I'd never had any interest in snow sports, and was scared to even go on a ski lift. But once I saw some snowboarders effortlessly linking turns down a really steep slope, I knew it was something I wanted to do.
I wonder if it would be possible (or desirable) to make this work with GTK+ or QT.
But most car dealers will give you a choice of stereos, often from different manufacturers.
In some areas, air quality has improved since the 1950's. When I grew up in Los Angeles, there was a lot more pollution than now. Does that mean the sun should be brighter there than in the past?
We used to subscribe, but I finally realized that I couldn't stand them, and couldn't put much trust in their recommendations. Among the things that annoyed me:
1. They always seemed to prefer big cars (which seemed strange, as they also seemed to be pretty left-wing politically).
2. They never indicated that computer users had any real choice other Windows. I'd have thought that a consumer magazine would have at least mentioned the existence of free software.
3. Their food ratings were really just a matter of taste, and they always seemed to prefer high-fat items.
My mental image of a CR writer is someone who drives to the anti-nuclear-plant rally in a super-size SUV while snacking on a triple-scoop Ben-and-Jerry's ice-cream-cone.
No, but a lot of American cars get 12-15 MPG.
True, but I'd guess that most British cars get 2-4x the mileage that Americans get, so the total commuting costs aren't that much greater.
I've done telecommuting twice in my life. Each time, 9 months was about the breaking point, where I noticed that I was still wearing a robe past noon and explaining my software to the cat.
I'm a long-time Linux user, and Linux does work very well and reliably for me. But no way am I an expert.
Example: Samba setup. I never remember a thing about this fairly complex procedure, and always end up fumbling through the man page and the example smb.conf file to get it working. But once it works, it continues to work forever. The only time I need to do it again is when I get a new machine, maybe 2-3 years later, and far enough in the future to forget whatever I learned.
I was in college through the 70's, and let me tell you, typewriters were not 'fine'. Make one mistake, and you could end up retyping an entire paper. And the first time I used a primitive line-editor on an HP3000 around 1977, it was obviously a huge improvement.
True, there could be some new technology that will make me need something faster than a 2.8Ghz machine (which you can get today for around $600), but what could it be? Not that many people are going to care about video editing, just as few people care about sound-editing (which current machines have made possible).
I'd guess that most of the bacteria would die when the curtain dries out.
Yes, my first thought was that the new games will let you run around shooting things in higher-resolution. Wow.
I still think Sam and Max is a great game, but wouldn't call the graphics "minimal". That's a term I'd reserve for, say, King's Quest I or Maniac Mansion. Sam and Max actually looks pretty good if run with ScummVM with one of the scalers turned on.
How about GnuArt?
No kidding. Here in Portland, where it rains every day, our last water bill was $240!! Looking at the details, it turned out the actual water portion was about $45, and the rest was for "surface management", ie, a tax to rebuild the sewer system. We also pay over $5000 property taxes, and had to pay over $1000 for a special county income tax.
I lived there the first 34 years of my life, and I feel for you. It's not just that you're struggling to get by on what should be a middle-class salary, but you get constant exposure to all the people driving $50K to their $XM homes in the hills. Where the #*$%#$ do so many people get so much money?
These sound like the ones in use in Portland. What I like about them is that they take credit cards. So you insert the card in the slot, select the # of hours you want, and then it prints a sticker that you put on the inside of your windshield. This means that there only needs to be one of these devices for several spaces.
When I interviewed for my current job, my manager's "technical test" was for me to implement a singly-linked list. Seemed pretty simple, and I guess I passed, but I've heard that a lot of people with shining resumes couldn't do it.
If I need a plumber to fix a faucet, I want someone who can just do it, not "manage" someone else to do it.
The same can be true in software. When someone presents me with a bug, I'll usually drop whatever else I'm doing and try to get a fix ASAP.
The big difference is that microwaves became progressively cheaper over time. The one we bought in the 70's was around $500. When it finally died a couple years ago, a replacement was $200.
Yes, for me, it's largely the hassle. My ISP runs BSD, provides telnet and ftp, and has always been Linux-friendly. My fear is that I'll end up spending an extra $25/month so some Bozo can tell me that anything that goes wrong is my fault because they only support Windows.