I actually read the article. He refers to http://dicegamers.com/catalog/44/michigan_red_eye these (but later learns they are knock offs). Either way, they are available for purchase as I had indicated. If you can find some off the shelf that are solid colors, sure it would a good way to go. But again, he's already solved the problem with the colored pips, there is no benefit (to him) to pursue a different type of die.
I agree that a die that has solid colored sides would be easier to read, however, the dice with colored pips are off-the-shelf parts. Even though it adds a little to the complexity (complexity which has already been solved, might I add), reduced on-going maintenance cost is probably worth it in this case. At some point, one or more of the 200 dice will wear (crack, chip, have a worn edge, etc.) and being able to go to Joe's Gaming Shop and buying replacement dice instead of ordering a custom set from Bob's Custom Die Works will be easier and cheaper.
I think it's worth the time anyway. Look at the original request.....casual programmer. Microsoft has catered to that market for quite a while (one of the reasons that VB was thought of as a "second rate" language at times -- and most enterprise developers I know disparaged "VB coders"). As a casual programmer, who wants to deal with make files and hand coding GUI's in a text editor or any of the stuff mentioned so far? Create a Solution file, Add one or more projects, set up a small local DB if needed, drag and drop the interface, code the events, step through the code in debug, and build the final solution. To me, Visual Studio is the easiest INTEGRATED development environment. Out of the "box", I can do everything I need to build complete apps with no tweaking required. I've used others and always found them missing *something* that I have to track down some plug-in or extra utility to accomplish.
For the original poster, I'd recommend Visual Studio Express. For anyone else that does serious programming......I still think that Visual Studio is a good development environment, but if you want to be a MS basher then get Eclipse (which I personally don't enjoy using, but it is widely supported and can eventually do everything you need after a lot of tweaking).
In the "good old days," we called that a clever hack. Solving a problem is about simplifying the problem space in any and every way possible. I've made similar "OCR" hacks when everything was going to be in a known font and size.
It's obvious why....I'm the center of the universe.
Assume the universe is infinite. If I look left, there is an infinite distance between me an the restaurant in that direction. If I look up, same thing, infinite distance. Right, down, forward, backward, same thing. The center of something is defined as the point where the distance between all opposing points is the same. Therefore, I am the center of the universe.
Not sure when you grew up, but TGIF http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TGIF_(ABC) was a success for ABC during my teenage years. Sure there are better timeslots, but "when I was a kid", we *did* stay home to watch TV on Friday.....and only went out occassionally (granted, I lived in a small-ish city of ~200K including surrounding communities).
What about the case where a SQL Injection attack (yeah, I know, devs should escape any user input before "executing" it) allows the hacker to see your answers to your security questions but not your password. Now *THEY* know it and *YOU* don't. They reset your password and you have no hope of ever recovering it (granted, it's hope that is limited to "I hope they don't reset my security questions!").
You could always use the same answer for every question (regardless)
From your bank: What was the name of your first pet? PASSPHRASE@bankdomain.com12345
From your e-mail: What is your mother's middle name? PASSPHRASE@emaildomain.com12345
From your favorite blog: What is your favorite color? PASSPHRASE@blogdomain.com12345
Not easily guessable without prior knowledge of the pattern, but easy enough for you to derive as needed. Now, the question would be whether or not they forward-only encrypt the answer and verify it much like a password or if it's stored in clear text that any numbnutz with DB access could poke around. Hopefully it's treated as secure as a password, but I could see a lot of places not treating it that securely (which is probably mentioned in the articles that I didn't read).
I stopped using Netscape when they bolted all of that "crap" on to it. Sure, the news/mail/editor/etc. were decent, but I wanted a BROWSER, not a Communicator.
Slashdot does have a "friend" concept. I'm sure it's underutilized (and hopefully all dev time is spent elsewhere if that's true), but that gives it a social aspect. I've added a couple of people as friends because I've found things they said to be in line with my views and having a similar interest. I haven't really tried to contact them, but I will occassionally look to see what they are commenting on in case I missed an article that would be of interest to me.
That the thing about homophones. If you don't know the etymology and there are no context clues, it's hard to tell the difference. I honestly appreciate the edification.
The idea of having a phone for a house, rather than for a person, is quaint but not very useful
But can be really useful when my house wants to tell me about a break-in. If I only had a phone for each person and no one is home, who would tell me? (And yes, I have an alarm with an IP module, but I still use POTS as a back-up.)
I would love to see more and more wireless devices become specialized network devices. Why can't my cordless phone do some magic VOIP in my house (even if the base still sends the signal over POTS)? The biggest hurdle is that wireless devices would get more expensive in the short run, so who would buy it?
Baby monitor: $40 or $150? The $150 won't interfere w/ my network, but who's going to pay that?
I think he's counting internship experience in that figure.....for that matter, I had relevant work experience after my Sophomore year in college. I wouldn't say it was a "year", but that summer, I worked at the local paper mill in their Plant Engineering department. Worked on a Core (think really big paper towel rolls) Cutter project that won several innovation awards in paper industry magazines.....I wrote the user interface and interfaced with a PLC (programmable logic controller) that would cut the cores to specific sizes. (This was way back in 1992.)
When it comes down to "brass tax", degrees (or certifications) don't mean anything. I've known plenty of [insert certification of the day] that knew their stuff and just as many that didn't. I've also known plenty of people without [insert certification of the day] that were good (and plenty that weren't). I think, because of the type of people this field attracts, that's the general feeling......we'd rather be surrounded by people that know their stuff and don't really care about degrees and certs. Certs are for the non-tech people, not the tech people.
And I'm surprised more people haven't mentioned Education Reimbursement as an option. Get the experience and let the company pay for your Masters. Where I've worked, completing the degree got you a bump in pay to go along with it.
Here in Texas, I know plenty of people where their BA is in the field they wish to teach. Then you get an alternative certification (the Education classes part of the Education degree, basically). You are limited in that you can only teach in the area you are qualified in (Math, English, History, etc.) unless you get a General certification, but my assumption is that you got the degree in that field because of your interest in the field.....
My wife's degree is in Psychology. She got her alternative certification for 4th-8th Generalist. She can teach any "core" class (Math, Science, English, Social Studies) for those grades. She's also got Special Education certs, she can teach Special Ed. at any grade level. She'll start her Masters soon (probably School Counceling or School Administration).
As for the OP's question, I haven't seen where a Masters makes you that much better off than your cube-mates in the business world. It might open the door quicker and get you a few thousand more in salary (less than 5K), but when we are looking to hire, we put more weight on relevant and valuable experience. We almost never look at the education section of the resume.....(I've evaluated candidates for multiple companies that I've worked for). Besides, many larger companies have education reimbursement (and the "reward" of a bump in pay when you get it). I had a friend get his MBA all on the company's dime and was rewarded with the bump in pay when he graduated. To me, that's the best option because you get the experience you need and the degree you desire. I'll probably go the education reimbursement route to get a graduate degree once my wife finishes her Masters.
Where I am, it seems more and more that No Child Left Behind has turned into "Everybody Passes". At some point, kids need to fail and see that there are consequences to their lack of interest in school. Granted, that child needs to be given the opportunity and proper instruction to succeed, but if the child doesn't do their homework and the parent spend no effort they need to see that they can fail. When all of your friends have moved up a grade and you are repeating, that might be motivation for you to get it in gear.
(Wife is an educator, three kids in the system)
I'd really like to see classes broken out by child's ability (Fast, medium, and slow learners). This would let special attention be brought to the kids that need it without dragging down the ones that don't.
Slashdot Mirror
I actually read the article. He refers to http://dicegamers.com/catalog/44/michigan_red_eye these (but later learns they are knock offs). Either way, they are available for purchase as I had indicated. If you can find some off the shelf that are solid colors, sure it would a good way to go. But again, he's already solved the problem with the colored pips, there is no benefit (to him) to pursue a different type of die.
That's why they are changing it to SyFy or CyFy or whatever it's supposed to be.....so people won't realize that it's still Fiction.
I agree that a die that has solid colored sides would be easier to read, however, the dice with colored pips are off-the-shelf parts. Even though it adds a little to the complexity (complexity which has already been solved, might I add), reduced on-going maintenance cost is probably worth it in this case. At some point, one or more of the 200 dice will wear (crack, chip, have a worn edge, etc.) and being able to go to Joe's Gaming Shop and buying replacement dice instead of ordering a custom set from Bob's Custom Die Works will be easier and cheaper.
I think it's worth the time anyway. Look at the original request.....casual programmer. Microsoft has catered to that market for quite a while (one of the reasons that VB was thought of as a "second rate" language at times -- and most enterprise developers I know disparaged "VB coders"). As a casual programmer, who wants to deal with make files and hand coding GUI's in a text editor or any of the stuff mentioned so far? Create a Solution file, Add one or more projects, set up a small local DB if needed, drag and drop the interface, code the events, step through the code in debug, and build the final solution. To me, Visual Studio is the easiest INTEGRATED development environment. Out of the "box", I can do everything I need to build complete apps with no tweaking required. I've used others and always found them missing *something* that I have to track down some plug-in or extra utility to accomplish.
For the original poster, I'd recommend Visual Studio Express. For anyone else that does serious programming......I still think that Visual Studio is a good development environment, but if you want to be a MS basher then get Eclipse (which I personally don't enjoy using, but it is widely supported and can eventually do everything you need after a lot of tweaking).
I'd say this was funny, but you got the format wrong.....999-99-9999
Are you sure it wasn't the two girls one cup game?
In the "good old days," we called that a clever hack. Solving a problem is about simplifying the problem space in any and every way possible. I've made similar "OCR" hacks when everything was going to be in a known font and size.
It's obvious why....I'm the center of the universe.
Assume the universe is infinite. If I look left, there is an infinite distance between me an the restaurant in that direction. If I look up, same thing, infinite distance. Right, down, forward, backward, same thing. The center of something is defined as the point where the distance between all opposing points is the same. Therefore, I am the center of the universe.
Not sure when you grew up, but TGIF http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TGIF_(ABC) was a success for ABC during my teenage years. Sure there are better timeslots, but "when I was a kid", we *did* stay home to watch TV on Friday.....and only went out occassionally (granted, I lived in a small-ish city of ~200K including surrounding communities).
What about the case where a SQL Injection attack (yeah, I know, devs should escape any user input before "executing" it) allows the hacker to see your answers to your security questions but not your password. Now *THEY* know it and *YOU* don't. They reset your password and you have no hope of ever recovering it (granted, it's hope that is limited to "I hope they don't reset my security questions!").
You could always use the same answer for every question (regardless)
From your bank:
What was the name of your first pet? PASSPHRASE@bankdomain.com12345
From your e-mail:
What is your mother's middle name? PASSPHRASE@emaildomain.com12345
From your favorite blog:
What is your favorite color? PASSPHRASE@blogdomain.com12345
Not easily guessable without prior knowledge of the pattern, but easy enough for you to derive as needed. Now, the question would be whether or not they forward-only encrypt the answer and verify it much like a password or if it's stored in clear text that any numbnutz with DB access could poke around. Hopefully it's treated as secure as a password, but I could see a lot of places not treating it that securely (which is probably mentioned in the articles that I didn't read).
[O_O]
Anyone have any hot grits?
George Foreman helps me get rid of that fat with his Lean Mean Grillin' Machine...... :)
So, if you pirate a game, does that mean they can get you for tax evasion?
WiiFit $99.99 + tax + fat tax, how appropriate.
I stopped using Netscape when they bolted all of that "crap" on to it. Sure, the news/mail/editor/etc. were decent, but I wanted a BROWSER, not a Communicator.
You mean, like pipes?
Pipes for local communication and tubes for global communication. Seems like a winner.
From your "profile":
coolsnowmen (695297) is all alone in the world.
Slashdot does have a "friend" concept. I'm sure it's underutilized (and hopefully all dev time is spent elsewhere if that's true), but that gives it a social aspect. I've added a couple of people as friends because I've found things they said to be in line with my views and having a similar interest. I haven't really tried to contact them, but I will occassionally look to see what they are commenting on in case I missed an article that would be of interest to me.
So the PHB can spend his time working on his golf game. (Oh, Oracle can help there, too, I'll bet.)
Where do you think most of the Oracle support contracts are negotiated?
That the thing about homophones. If you don't know the etymology and there are no context clues, it's hard to tell the difference. I honestly appreciate the edification.
The idea of having a phone for a house, rather than for a person, is quaint but not very useful
But can be really useful when my house wants to tell me about a break-in. If I only had a phone for each person and no one is home, who would tell me? (And yes, I have an alarm with an IP module, but I still use POTS as a back-up.)
I would love to see more and more wireless devices become specialized network devices. Why can't my cordless phone do some magic VOIP in my house (even if the base still sends the signal over POTS)? The biggest hurdle is that wireless devices would get more expensive in the short run, so who would buy it?
Baby monitor: $40 or $150? The $150 won't interfere w/ my network, but who's going to pay that?
I think he's counting internship experience in that figure.....for that matter, I had relevant work experience after my Sophomore year in college. I wouldn't say it was a "year", but that summer, I worked at the local paper mill in their Plant Engineering department. Worked on a Core (think really big paper towel rolls) Cutter project that won several innovation awards in paper industry magazines.....I wrote the user interface and interfaced with a PLC (programmable logic controller) that would cut the cores to specific sizes. (This was way back in 1992.)
When it comes down to "brass tax", degrees (or certifications) don't mean anything. I've known plenty of [insert certification of the day] that knew their stuff and just as many that didn't. I've also known plenty of people without [insert certification of the day] that were good (and plenty that weren't). I think, because of the type of people this field attracts, that's the general feeling......we'd rather be surrounded by people that know their stuff and don't really care about degrees and certs. Certs are for the non-tech people, not the tech people.
And I'm surprised more people haven't mentioned Education Reimbursement as an option. Get the experience and let the company pay for your Masters. Where I've worked, completing the degree got you a bump in pay to go along with it.
Here in Texas, I know plenty of people where their BA is in the field they wish to teach. Then you get an alternative certification (the Education classes part of the Education degree, basically). You are limited in that you can only teach in the area you are qualified in (Math, English, History, etc.) unless you get a General certification, but my assumption is that you got the degree in that field because of your interest in the field.....
My wife's degree is in Psychology. She got her alternative certification for 4th-8th Generalist. She can teach any "core" class (Math, Science, English, Social Studies) for those grades. She's also got Special Education certs, she can teach Special Ed. at any grade level. She'll start her Masters soon (probably School Counceling or School Administration).
As for the OP's question, I haven't seen where a Masters makes you that much better off than your cube-mates in the business world. It might open the door quicker and get you a few thousand more in salary (less than 5K), but when we are looking to hire, we put more weight on relevant and valuable experience. We almost never look at the education section of the resume.....(I've evaluated candidates for multiple companies that I've worked for). Besides, many larger companies have education reimbursement (and the "reward" of a bump in pay when you get it). I had a friend get his MBA all on the company's dime and was rewarded with the bump in pay when he graduated. To me, that's the best option because you get the experience you need and the degree you desire. I'll probably go the education reimbursement route to get a graduate degree once my wife finishes her Masters.
Where I am, it seems more and more that No Child Left Behind has turned into "Everybody Passes". At some point, kids need to fail and see that there are consequences to their lack of interest in school. Granted, that child needs to be given the opportunity and proper instruction to succeed, but if the child doesn't do their homework and the parent spend no effort they need to see that they can fail. When all of your friends have moved up a grade and you are repeating, that might be motivation for you to get it in gear.
(Wife is an educator, three kids in the system)
I'd really like to see classes broken out by child's ability (Fast, medium, and slow learners). This would let special attention be brought to the kids that need it without dragging down the ones that don't.