GWB just said that most people age 50 are not anywhere *close* to being in a financial position (investments, pensions, whatever) and that's a real problem.
You got that one right. My parents (both in their early 60s) are in the middle of a divorce. My dad has a decent retirement package, but my mom has ZILCH because she had a few different teaching jobs (none lasting more than 5 years, and teachers don't get Social Security) and some consulting on the side.
Now she's got a house to keep up (though she's trying to sell it), and only the money eked out from my dad.
I'm still in college, so I can't even completely support myself. By the time I have my student loans paid off, I'm probably going to start supporting them, as well... I hope they can last until then.
Here is a company which started in the founder's basement and solicited donations from its users. After a year or two of doing that, the volunteers who ran the organization realized it could actually be profitable.. and it is! Great to be making money on a purely internet service after the dot-com bust. (Disclaimer: I've been both a volunteer and a paid employee in the past - but I'm currently concentrating on finishing my degree.)
not ALWAYS crap failures...
on
F'd Companies
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· Score: 1
Thank you! I completely agree. Not everyone can afford a car, much less a newer car.
Only car I've ever had was a 12 year old minivan that burned oil like there was no tomorrow. Yeah, I don't like the pollution that causes. So I drove it as little as possible. But I still needed the car - and since it died a year ago, I've been stuck with a bike instead.
If you're too afraid to ride on the street, either find a route with a bike lane or forget the bike.
Thanks for your constructive critisism. Some of us don't have any other options, being too poor for a car and without decent public transport.
(Yes, it was below 0 yesterday, and if I hadn't found someone willing to give me a ride, I would have biked to the grocery store. Or perhaps found a way to make my food last - it's pretty f***ing cold out there.)
I'd be happy to ride my bike on the street instead of the sidewalk. I don't want to deal with walkers - Unfortunately, 2 things need to change to make this feasible:
1) F***ing drivers need to know that bicycles belong on the road. I have been sworn at more times than I care to count by drivers passing me (or swerving around - see #2). 2) Shoulders. They're good. It's bad for bikers when shoulders don't exist. I don't WANT to ride in the middle of traffic - it's easy for a car to maintain 35mph, but it's hard for me!
In the meantime, I will only ride on the road when the sidewalk is LESS safe (for me or re: pedestrians) or when there's NO sidewalk. (I guess that also makes it less safe..)
Thank you! I was looking for a way to phrase that.
There are good teachers, but they are not plentiful. There are plenty of mediocre teachers, which is OK, until you ask them to do something new. There are probably just as many bad teachers - some are just not good at teaching, (I think they tend to get fired after a year or two) and some who used to be good but gave up after they got tenure. These are the ones who really suck, as they stick around for decades and teach NOTHING useful.
Yup - I used to like the Nerve, too. (I grew up in Rochester.) But I was still in highschool when it got bought out - so I stopped listening to any radio for a while. Then someone introduced me to WBER. It's owned by Monroe BOCES, and most of their DJs are volunteers or part-time (underpaid) staff. It's got a great personality, and GREAT music - everything from Tool to U2 to Fatboy Slim to They Might Be Giants (probably not the best examples, but let's move on).
They also do (some) of their own research on what listeners want to hear: Every hour, there's a "test track" which is generally something you're not hearing anywhere else. Listeners can call in (or go to the website) and vote whether they want the song to get ditched, or get put into rotation.
Did I mention that, because they're owned by BOCES, they're non-profit, and don't have the normal ad structure? Instead, they have PBS-style sponsorship announcements every 45 minutes or so. The "ads" are either for local companies that fit the demographic (skate shops, etc), or for clubs & concerts, telling you who is going to perform and when. Way better than car salesmen or nation-wide-chain ads.
The best part? They broadcast online! (using RealPlayer, unfortunately, but I won't hold that against them.)
good point! And if it didn't come across, I am definitely for teaching kids (and others who want to know) about Linux. I just don't want to force it on them if they don't want it. I believe computers should be easy to use. For the most part, Linux isn't. Neither is Windows. Mac is closer, but it's not problem-free, either.
I only WISH I had gotten exposure to Linux in highschool. All I knew was it was another operating system, and it was "free"... but I'd never seen it.:)
You're quite right. I guess I clarified my point a little better in my journal entry.
I do like Linux. I think it's closer to the general public than it's ever been before. I also haven't used KDE in quite a while, so I believe you when you evangelize its ease of use.
I'm not a big fan of Windows. I'd rather use Mac or Unix, especially for development purposes. However, I think it still has a few bonuses over *nix, which are lessening with time: 1) more people know how to fix (or at least "fix") problems that the average luser might have. (The only live people I could go to with my Linux problems were my friends here at my school, who were big *nix geeks.) 2) You don't have to know anything special to install a new program. (This is generally much better in Mac than in Windows, but both tend to be better than Linux). I don't think most users can be bothered to learn apt-get or how to compile & link source code. The problem compounds itself when an application needs libraries which must be obtained seperately. And precious few binaries exist for Linux (last I checked). 3) Compatibility. I don't like it, you don't like it, but most people and most businesses still run Windows. My mother is upset when she can't run a (Windows) program a friend recommended, or when she can't open a specific version of Word docs which choke on Word 2001 (for Mac). The problem seems to compound itself with Linux, which is still rather poorly supported by larger software corporations.
As far as learning & usability - we're going to need to find our way to a middle ground between the condescending tone of Windows and the steep learning curve of Linux. (In my opinion, Mac is close - it makes the simple things simple, but lets you do the harder/complex stuff as well. You can feel free to disagree.)
My 4-year-old doesn't have any trouble at all using KDE, and you mean to tell me that a grown adult can't use it?
Yup. Kids (and young adults) pick up new things much more quickly, like languages or interfaces. A well-designed interface or program should be easy for the average adult to learn - not just geeks and kids. Kids also have less of a problem asking adults for help. Adults don't like to feel stupid, and trying to use Linux makes most people feel stupid.
Add to this the knowledge that adults tend to be more set in their ways, and are less likely to try (or stick with) new things, in favor of what's old and comfortable... and it seems clear that Linux has to do several things before it can be adopted by the masses. One of those things is, most likely, a better (perceived) compatibility with Windows.
Repeat after me: "CS does not equal programming." Computer Scientists do not all write code that will eventually be used by someone else.
Computer Science does not equal programming, it's true. However, even if you are hard CS, you do still do some programming (in this day and age), and you are bound to write SOMETHING that will be used by others.
Perhaps you're confusing CS with Software Engineering?
Yeah, there's currently no distinction between the two at my school. I think the CS curriculum is actually geared towards software engineering, with only a few theory classes. But I don't mind learning applied knowledge along with theory.
I was trying to give a broad overview of what I've learned and done. Maybe you can't read between the lines; here are some specifics:
I learned about the innards of my PC in my Assembly Language & Machine Organization class, and also in Operating Systems. You have to know what the parts are, and how they work, to even understand the rest of the work in those classes.
All the homework assignments in OSs were to make specific changes to the Linux kernel.
Another class for you: Programming Language Concepts. This is a sophmore-level class at my school in which you begin to design/implement a "new" programming language.
Did you notice I mentioned my senior project which incorporates a genetic algorithm? We've only been able to find one project that's remotely similar to the research we're doing.
I agree that intense study of HCI doesn't belong in the CS curriculum. However, I think every programmer should at least learn some of the basic lessons of HCI, since every programmer writes code that will eventually be used by someone else.
Well, it's especially confusing to me, since most of my friends tend to think of me as another one of the guys. It's weird when a guy suddenly notices I'm female, and then can't say anything sensible. I just want to get my work done - is there any way I can get around this without having a sex change or refusing to shower?
It's not that there aren't ANY jobs - it's just that they're rather rare.
Speaking of which, do you have any advice in seeking an entry-level job? I'm going to get my B.S. soon, and I'd like to actually get out of debt at some point.
Was that intended to be a compliment? I'd rather just get my work done - and when I've shown this by my actions, most guys can take the hint.
You must be one of the other type, who ignore the reason they're IN the class because something in their brains says "ooh... boobies..." and then shuts off.
Of course, the REAL reason why CS doesn't appeal to women is that it's a boy's club. The tools, methidology, culture, and framework are all designed by rather cloistered geeks for their own use in putting out a rather arcane end product.
Exactly. For a girl to do as well in CS as the boys do, she has to think like a boy (at least currently). I'm a girl who finds computers fascinating... but I don't want to have to take them all apart or muck with them every time they break. I don't want to have to learn all the details of a tool before I can use it. I'm interested in HCI, and getting computers to work better for people - which includes the tools used by programmers, not just the end products.
I agree. In many of my earlier CS classes, there were guys & girls who were just in it for the money, and didn't really care that much about what they were learning, or why. Most of those tended to get weeded out by the sophmore-level classes, though. (CS is harder than it originally looked to those people.)
I am an odd case - I switched into CS, and I am a woman. My original major was in the management department; when I decided I wanted to learn more about computers, I could have easily switched to an MIS degree. But I want to be taken seriously. So I became a CS major. It's been a long, hard year since I switched, but I don't regret it. I'm doing research on creating an adaptive website using a genetic algorithm, and I'm only one class short of graduating on time. I plan to go on to grad school in CS - I want to get a M.S. in Human-Computer Interaction.
I switched after the dot-coms tanked, and I knew it. The important thing for me is not whether I get a job in IT (not likely right now anyway), but what I've learned about how computers work. I can open up my PC and muck around with it now, if I wanted to. I can hold an intelligent conversation about the pros and cons of a language. I know how to customize a Linux kernel.
People always told me college was about becoming an educated person, not about getting a job. I didn't understand them until I became a CS major. For the first time in my life, I'm studying something simply because I enjoy it (although I might not agree while doing some of my assignments). I think my study of computer science has made me a more well-rounded person.
I know you're trying to be funny... but you know, I'm so poor right now that I would love to have a job with Microsoft. At least I would be able to pay both rent and student loans then.
Still, people are really slow to switch away from something familiar that "works".
The best example of this is, of course, the QWERTY keyboard layout. The standard for keyboards is a layout that was specifically designed to slow typists down! Even with decades of computer use, adoption of other keyboard layouts has not reached a critical mass.
Similarly, I plan to be getting my B.S. (and possibly my M.S.) before my boyfriend will be able to. If we get married in the next few years (likely, but not a given), I will be the one supporting (his sorry ass... er..) him, until he can get a full-time job. In the meantime, though, it's not too bad. He was able to help me out quite a bit last summer when I couldn't get a job (and he had two at the time).
Slashdot Mirror
GWB just said that most people age 50 are not anywhere *close* to being in a financial position (investments, pensions, whatever) and that's a real problem.
You got that one right. My parents (both in their early 60s) are in the middle of a divorce. My dad has a decent retirement package, but my mom has ZILCH because she had a few different teaching jobs (none lasting more than 5 years, and teachers don't get Social Security) and some consulting on the side.
Now she's got a house to keep up (though she's trying to sell it), and only the money eked out from my dad.
I'm still in college, so I can't even completely support myself. By the time I have my student loans paid off, I'm probably going to start supporting them, as well... I hope they can last until then.
Here is a company which started in the founder's basement and solicited donations from its users. After a year or two of doing that, the volunteers who ran the organization realized it could actually be profitable.. and it is! Great to be making money on a purely internet service after the dot-com bust. (Disclaimer: I've been both a volunteer and a paid employee in the past - but I'm currently concentrating on finishing my degree.)
I dunno, sometimes .com's can succeed wildly - where else could you find a company that went from hobby to millions of dollars in revenue in less than 4 years? (Yeah, I volunteered, then worked for them.. point's still valid).
Thank you! I completely agree. Not everyone can afford a car, much less a newer car.
Only car I've ever had was a 12 year old minivan that burned oil like there was no tomorrow. Yeah, I don't like the pollution that causes. So I drove it as little as possible. But I still needed the car - and since it died a year ago, I've been stuck with a bike instead.
Arg. Cars...so.. expensive..!!
If you're too afraid to ride on the street, either find a route with a bike lane or forget the bike.
Thanks for your constructive critisism. Some of us don't have any other options, being too poor for a car and without decent public transport.
(Yes, it was below 0 yesterday, and if I hadn't found someone willing to give me a ride, I would have biked to the grocery store. Or perhaps found a way to make my food last - it's pretty f***ing cold out there.)
I'd be happy to ride my bike on the street instead of the sidewalk. I don't want to deal with walkers - Unfortunately, 2 things need to change to make this feasible:
1) F***ing drivers need to know that bicycles belong on the road. I have been sworn at more times than I care to count by drivers passing me (or swerving around - see #2).
2) Shoulders. They're good. It's bad for bikers when shoulders don't exist. I don't WANT to ride in the middle of traffic - it's easy for a car to maintain 35mph, but it's hard for me!
In the meantime, I will only ride on the road when the sidewalk is LESS safe (for me or re: pedestrians) or when there's NO sidewalk. (I guess that also makes it less safe..)
Thank you! I was looking for a way to phrase that.
There are good teachers, but they are not plentiful. There are plenty of mediocre teachers, which is OK, until you ask them to do something new. There are probably just as many bad teachers - some are just not good at teaching, (I think they tend to get fired after a year or two) and some who used to be good but gave up after they got tenure. These are the ones who really suck, as they stick around for decades and teach NOTHING useful.
Yup - I used to like the Nerve, too. (I grew up in Rochester.) But I was still in highschool when it got bought out - so I stopped listening to any radio for a while. Then someone introduced me to WBER. It's owned by Monroe BOCES, and most of their DJs are volunteers or part-time (underpaid) staff. It's got a great personality, and GREAT music - everything from Tool to U2 to Fatboy Slim to They Might Be Giants (probably not the best examples, but let's move on).
They also do (some) of their own research on what listeners want to hear: Every hour, there's a "test track" which is generally something you're not hearing anywhere else. Listeners can call in (or go to the website) and vote whether they want the song to get ditched, or get put into rotation.
Did I mention that, because they're owned by BOCES, they're non-profit, and don't have the normal ad structure? Instead, they have PBS-style sponsorship announcements every 45 minutes or so. The "ads" are either for local companies that fit the demographic (skate shops, etc), or for clubs & concerts, telling you who is going to perform and when. Way better than car salesmen or nation-wide-chain ads.
The best part? They broadcast online! (using RealPlayer, unfortunately, but I won't hold that against them.)
good point! And if it didn't come across, I am definitely for teaching kids (and others who want to know) about Linux. I just don't want to force it on them if they don't want it. I believe computers should be easy to use. For the most part, Linux isn't. Neither is Windows. Mac is closer, but it's not problem-free, either.
:)
I only WISH I had gotten exposure to Linux in highschool. All I knew was it was another operating system, and it was "free"... but I'd never seen it.
You're quite right. I guess I clarified my point a little better in my journal entry.
I do like Linux. I think it's closer to the general public than it's ever been before. I also haven't used KDE in quite a while, so I believe you when you evangelize its ease of use.
I'm not a big fan of Windows. I'd rather use Mac or Unix, especially for development purposes. However, I think it still has a few bonuses over *nix, which are lessening with time:
1) more people know how to fix (or at least "fix") problems that the average luser might have. (The only live people I could go to with my Linux problems were my friends here at my school, who were big *nix geeks.)
2) You don't have to know anything special to install a new program. (This is generally much better in Mac than in Windows, but both tend to be better than Linux). I don't think most users can be bothered to learn apt-get or how to compile & link source code. The problem compounds itself when an application needs libraries which must be obtained seperately. And precious few binaries exist for Linux (last I checked).
3) Compatibility. I don't like it, you don't like it, but most people and most businesses still run Windows. My mother is upset when she can't run a (Windows) program a friend recommended, or when she can't open a specific version of Word docs which choke on Word 2001 (for Mac). The problem seems to compound itself with Linux, which is still rather poorly supported by larger software corporations.
As far as learning & usability - we're going to need to find our way to a middle ground between the condescending tone of Windows and the steep learning curve of Linux. (In my opinion, Mac is close - it makes the simple things simple, but lets you do the harder/complex stuff as well. You can feel free to disagree.)
My 4-year-old doesn't have any trouble at all using KDE, and you mean to tell me that a grown adult can't use it?
Yup. Kids (and young adults) pick up new things much more quickly, like languages or interfaces. A well-designed interface or program should be easy for the average adult to learn - not just geeks and kids. Kids also have less of a problem asking adults for help. Adults don't like to feel stupid, and trying to use Linux makes most people feel stupid.
Add to this the knowledge that adults tend to be more set in their ways, and are less likely to try (or stick with) new things, in favor of what's old and comfortable... and it seems clear that Linux has to do several things before it can be adopted by the masses. One of those things is, most likely, a better (perceived) compatibility with Windows.
good points, all of them.
Repeat after me: "CS does not equal programming." Computer Scientists do not all write code that will eventually be used by someone else.
Computer Science does not equal programming, it's true. However, even if you are hard CS, you do still do some programming (in this day and age), and you are bound to write SOMETHING that will be used by others.
Perhaps you're confusing CS with Software Engineering?
Yeah, there's currently no distinction between the two at my school. I think the CS curriculum is actually geared towards software engineering, with only a few theory classes. But I don't mind learning applied knowledge along with theory.
I agree that intense study of HCI doesn't belong in the CS curriculum. However, I think every programmer should at least learn some of the basic lessons of HCI, since every programmer writes code that will eventually be used by someone else.
Well, it's especially confusing to me, since most of my friends tend to think of me as another one of the guys. It's weird when a guy suddenly notices I'm female, and then can't say anything sensible. I just want to get my work done - is there any way I can get around this without having a sex change or refusing to shower?
It's not that there aren't ANY jobs - it's just that they're rather rare.
Speaking of which, do you have any advice in seeking an entry-level job? I'm going to get my B.S. soon, and I'd like to actually get out of debt at some point.
Was that intended to be a compliment? I'd rather just get my work done - and when I've shown this by my actions, most guys can take the hint.
You must be one of the other type, who ignore the reason they're IN the class because something in their brains says "ooh... boobies..." and then shuts off.
So true, so true...
Although I don't think my school will let you get away with that... However, I think very little of my knowledge will wind up making me "competent".
Of course, the REAL reason why CS doesn't appeal to women is that it's a boy's club. The tools, methidology, culture, and framework are all designed by rather cloistered geeks for their own use in putting out a rather arcane end product.
Exactly. For a girl to do as well in CS as the boys do, she has to think like a boy (at least currently). I'm a girl who finds computers fascinating... but I don't want to have to take them all apart or muck with them every time they break. I don't want to have to learn all the details of a tool before I can use it. I'm interested in HCI, and getting computers to work better for people - which includes the tools used by programmers, not just the end products.
Who do you think Grand Theft Auto 3 is marketed towards?
I agree. In many of my earlier CS classes, there were guys & girls who were just in it for the money, and didn't really care that much about what they were learning, or why. Most of those tended to get weeded out by the sophmore-level classes, though. (CS is harder than it originally looked to those people.)
I am an odd case - I switched into CS, and I am a woman. My original major was in the management department; when I decided I wanted to learn more about computers, I could have easily switched to an MIS degree. But I want to be taken seriously. So I became a CS major. It's been a long, hard year since I switched, but I don't regret it. I'm doing research on creating an adaptive website using a genetic algorithm, and I'm only one class short of graduating on time. I plan to go on to grad school in CS - I want to get a M.S. in Human-Computer Interaction.
I switched after the dot-coms tanked, and I knew it. The important thing for me is not whether I get a job in IT (not likely right now anyway), but what I've learned about how computers work. I can open up my PC and muck around with it now, if I wanted to. I can hold an intelligent conversation about the pros and cons of a language. I know how to customize a Linux kernel.
People always told me college was about becoming an educated person, not about getting a job. I didn't understand them until I became a CS major. For the first time in my life, I'm studying something simply because I enjoy it (although I might not agree while doing some of my assignments). I think my study of computer science has made me a more well-rounded person.
Funny, this didn't happen to me. I just installed Safari, but IE's still my default browser.... although I may change that soon. :)
I've never heard that before. Where did you find that? Does it take into account all the areas of the US that have more than average cloud cover?
I know you're trying to be funny... but you know, I'm so poor right now that I would love to have a job with Microsoft. At least I would be able to pay both rent and student loans then.
Still, people are really slow to switch away from something familiar that "works".
The best example of this is, of course, the QWERTY keyboard layout. The standard for keyboards is a layout that was specifically designed to slow typists down! Even with decades of computer use, adoption of other keyboard layouts has not reached a critical mass.
Similarly, I plan to be getting my B.S. (and possibly my M.S.) before my boyfriend will be able to. If we get married in the next few years (likely, but not a given), I will be the one supporting (his sorry ass... er..) him, until he can get a full-time job. In the meantime, though, it's not too bad. He was able to help me out quite a bit last summer when I couldn't get a job (and he had two at the time).