10:00 – It was 52.1F (11C) when I took Colin out around 0645 this morning, damp and puddles on the drive but not raining. Barbara is attending meetings and volunteering all day. Dinner tonight is leftover slow-cooker pork and mashed potatoes, all from long-term storage.
I just noticed this morning that in the next couple days I should pass 1.8 million total views since I started this WordPress blog back in mid-2011. I remember the good olde days when my journal page drew that many reads in a year or less. Over the two or three years, I’m averaging close to 1,000 reads per day (versus 5,000 to 6,000/day back in the GoD), with my biggest day at around 1,900 reads (versus 32,000 reads in the GoD, which is about what I do in month now). Of course, back then probably 80% or more of my readers were interested in what I had to say about computer hardware and software, which I don’t talk about much any more.
Barbara is still getting our garden lined up, literally. She has rows of planting pots lined up on tables in the garage, from larger ones that hold 5 or 10 liters of soil to those little trays that we’ll soon be starting some stuff in indoors.
We’ll put those inside the French doors to the back deck. I think they’ll get enough light there, and they’ll be warm and cozy. If they do need more light, I’ll point some 100W-equivalent LEDs at them. Those’ll work about as well as formal plant grow lights. We’ll be planting several things we didn’t try last year, including potatoes and garlic.
I also wanted to plant a few cows, chickens, and pigs, but Barbara tells me none of those will grow very well in our garden. Those and broccoli, which we tried last year with no results. Lori and several others told us that broccoli doesn’t do well here, but I’m still thinking about maybe planting a few landrace broccoli seeds just to see if they’re better-adapted.
* * * * *
hooray! Glad to see the garden is getting started.
I’m getting a nice tight head of broccoli on the stalk I already harvested once. Thought I’d harvest and leave it and see what happens. I figured I can always eat the leaves….
Had to replace one of the cukes I planted. It didn’t survive my handling as I transplanted it. Luckily, I’d only had room for 3 of the six plants in the flat in that bed.
Apple tree is starting to leaf. Yea!
We’re forecast for heavy/severe thunderstorms tomorrow so I better do some outdoor work today instead of sitting at the computer all morning.
I do want to recount my Rodeo experience in a bit more detail, as there were some prepper/security aspects. I know, ‘don’t be there’, but honestly that advice is simplistic and naive. We live in the world, evil can find you anywhere, and the kids deserve to experience the good [while it’s still here] so I won’t be a hermit.
n
(wife at least understood I was putting my body between the threat and the kids without too much prompting. she kept the kids wrangled- and behind me. that’s a real improvement in her situational awareness although she missed the threat.)
For those in the know:
NYC, Chicongo, LA, etc. are crowing about they are going to fight ICE, let crimmigrants roam free, etc. Are the cops really behind this? Is it the Libturdian city management only? I can’t believe the cops really support this knowing crimmigrants want to run on the rules of whatever shithole they came from.
President tRump may have started the Revolution.
I’m sure the mayors, chiefs of police, and city attorneys will be right in front, forming the human barricade to keep those nasty federal stormtroopers away from those poor, sweet, innocent dreamers.
Why is it, that when someone is described as a “community organizer” that NO ONE asks “what are they being organized to DO?”
Of course the answer is “to be used as a weapon and threat, by the ORGANIZER for the ORGANISER’s benefit.”
n
41 here today with a light rain drizzle and no wind. I was somewhat gobsmacked yesterday when I saw two guys hauling their sleds and augers out onto the bay ice. You wouldn’t catch me out there, but they’re probably clever locals and know more than me what is safe and what isn’t. Still.
“… back then probably 80% or more of my readers were interested in what I had to say about computer hardware and software, which I don’t talk about much any more.”
And prior to circa 2011 most of us here were probably more into computer hardware and software as an end in itself, fiddling with it, dealing with new technologies coming out, just as Jerry Pournelle was doing for decades. But in both cases it evolved into commentary and discussion on political, social and economic issues, almost always from a “right-wing” perspective. And the good old days of just talking about computer stuff has become us talking about it mainly because it’s just another set of tools for us to use for some larger purposes.
One might then conclude that the precipitous drop in readers over the years since it became a WordPress blog is either because of that change in and of itself, or all the liberals and lefties simply left.
I don’t really know; I’m just tossing some stuff against the wall to see if it sticks.
More chores and errands today involving laundry and a very small bit of shopping at a couple of stores, including the Wall-Mutt “superstore.” I should get the usual experience of seeing and interacting with the sorts of denizens to be found at those locations. Yesterday at the laundromat there were three 400-plus pound males under six feet, and three females likewise well under six feet. One of the males had a cowboy hat, and a chihuahua wearing a sweater. And the older female who runs the laundromat was wearing a gray sweatshirt with the words I LOVE TO SPOON. And the once probably half-decent-looking semi-MILF had a metal nose stud with a voice like gravel.
A fah cry from the pages of Vanity Fair and Hollyweird.
lol! Are the SS a bunch of pussies:
White House bomb scare evacuation ‘after man approaches building claiming to have explosives’
Here’s what should have happened:
Man: “I have exp…
SS: Blam! Blam! “So what?”
I see that some Open Source Project kicked out a developer for his unusual sex life. It turns out he is part of a BDSM community which is heavily dominated (pun intended) by activities unacceptable to the Politically Correct. It features males dominating (willing) females. One of the most popular books and films in a novel about sexual domination where the female has no choice. My understanding is that the BSDM community does have more concern for safety of the participants than does Fifty Shades of Grey. So Roman Polanski’s drugging a pubescent female doesn’t raise eybrows, and a more general sexual exploitation of pubescent males and females goes on behind the scenes in Hollyweird. Very few people care about that. Caitlyn Jenner is “woman of the year.” We compel Christians to bake wedding cakes for people Muslims would throw off a building.
I’m not endorsing or interested in the BDSM community. But it’s a free country, and I’m not interested in stopping consenting adults from doing things of which I do not approve.
I saw that nooz item, too, and wondered if the same decision would have been made had that guy’s particular BDSM “community” featured female domination instead. You know, where Mistress Wildcat beats up on fat old white guys and they love it.
Chickens are low maintenance. I grew up with chickens on our dairy farm and it was my responsibility from about age 5 to feed and collect eggs. Easy peasy. We also selected a fryer every month. Pigs are also easy to keep but smelly and messy and noisy. A friend has a pen made of portable sections that he will move from place to place. The pigs rooting and droppings create excelent vegitable beds after the hogs are moved out.
I do want to recount my Rodeo experience in a bit more detail, as there were some prepper/security aspects. I know, ‘don’t be there’, but honestly that advice is simplistic and naive. We live in the world, evil can find you anywhere, and the kids deserve to experience the good [while it’s still here] so I won’t be a hermit.
Between the carnival and the rodeo, there was probably 250K people there in a 200+ acre complex. It is incredibly high density.
The PC that we rebuilt yesterday is still having problems. I replaced the motherboard, cpu, ram, case, and video board (it is a Gigabyte 68X-UDH5 mb). I only kept the DVD burner and the Intel 240 GB SSD. The PC takes about five minutes to reboot. With that SSD and a Intel I7-2600K with 32 GB of ram, it should take only 15 seconds to reboot Windows x64 pro. All of the parts except the case were already used once on my shelf. I am going to order a new video board today and throw that ATI HD 6850 video board in the pond. And enough spare parts to build another whole PC.
Sigh. I hate hardware problems. Something is obviously faulting and timing out. I looked at the windows event log and nothing jumped out at me.
“I know, ‘don’t be there’, but honestly that advice is simplistic and naive. We live in the world, evil can find you anywhere, and the kids deserve to experience the good [while it’s still here] so I won’t be a hermit.”
I don’t think it’s simplistic and naive any more than it is to recommend not standing out in an open field during thunderstorm while holding a golf club over your head.
The risk of being in crowds has always been present. It’s worse now than it used to be, although still lower than some people believe, particularly if you are situationally aware as you are. Still, it’s an unnecessary risk. Obviously, you have to determine the risk/benefit for yourself. Something that’s an educational experience isn’t purely gratuitous like attending a sporting event or something similar.
It’s iOS update to 10.3 today. This is includes Apple’s new file system which is supposed to apply to macOS later on. I’ll try it on an iPad first to see if it gets bricked before trying on iPhone.
“I hate hardware problems. Something is obviously faulting and timing out. I looked at the windows event log and nothing jumped out at me.”
Someone like me or a bunch of other people on here might just keep fiddling with it, but as a biz owner/manager, I might have just gone out and gotten a new box by now.
WRT to being in crowds and events; I can see both viewpoints, assuming there are actually two viewpoints; you won’t catch me in crowds or events if I can help it and especially not if they’re all complete strangers to me. OTOH, there’s the kids. Do we raise them in an isolated and barricaded home-school environment where they are only allowed to interact with other kids from one’s own church? Assuming a church is in the mix somewhere, could also be one’s immediate ‘hood where the neighbors are well-known. Or is our society and culture still so wonderfully safe that we can routinely bring them to carnivals, ball games, Disney World, Six Flags, etc.? Regardless of one’s situational awareness capability?
I grew up in the 1950s in a small New England town out of Leave It To Beaver and Ozzie and Harriet, for the most part, with occasional dark moments. But I could walk to school, the library, swim lessons, or friends’ houses by myself at five, six, seven years old. Imagine doing that now.
And I hate that we can’t do that anymore with our kids and grandkids. But there it is.
As was described, the event mentioned, a rodeo, wore on, the crowd was changing, and the drinking escalated. Ugliness began rooting around in the undergrowth. Time to di-di-mau and ricky-tick. What if said ugliness wasn’t just rooting and snuffling in the background but exploded suddenly in one’s immediate vicinity? What if one’s route to the parking lot/area and one’s vehicle was cut off somehow? What if the crowd elements panicked?
But I wasn’t there, and Mr. nick is certainly situationally aware and was probably heeled, to boot. I know that my next-younger brother and my SIL took their daughters down to Disney World at least once or twice, with similar reasoning. Why prevent one’s kids from experiencing a few fun things while the getting is still good? And he is also situationally squared away. I just wouldn’t have done it, on the reasoning that the kids can find other fun things to do that don’t involve crowds and events of that size, and furthermore that we as contemporary Murkans seem to have come to expect that they should be able to have these experiences, when it ain’t necessarily so, as the song goes.
Something is obviously faulting and timing out. I looked at the windows event log and nothing jumped out at me.
Set the BIOS to show the POST codes. Find the one that system pauses on and use the web to lookup up the code for the motherboard. That may tell you the faulty component.
I replaced the motherboard, cpu, ram, case, and video board
Have you replaced the power supply? A low current output or low voltage may be causing problems.
I hate hardware problems too. I’m tempted to replace all our computers with Raspberry Pi 3 single board computers. If one stops working, pop out the Micro SD card and put it in a new Raspberry Pi 3. We use a few entertainment applications, and if not for those, I would have already made the switch.
Have you replaced the power supply? A low current output or low voltage may be causing problems.
We replaced the power supply in the old case first which did not help the old PC. The new case came with a new 500 W power supply. Which, I see is no longer sold.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000QAVVAM/
You grew up? Hmmph. I disapprove!
No, Lynn is the boss of a company. The best dollar/time tradeoff is to pull the hard drive and stick it in a new box. Possibly keep the old for spares or play with it in the evening in front of the TV if he enjoys it or something along those lines, but the boss has more lucrative uses for his work time than tracking down a frigging bad solder joint.
“When Women Stopped Coding”
http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/10/21/357629765/when-women-stopped-coding
“Modern computer science is dominated by men. But it hasn’t always been this way.”
“A lot of computing pioneers — the people who programmed the first digital computers — were women. And for decades, the number of women studying computer science was growing faster than the number of men. But in 1984, something changed. The percentage of women in computer science flattened, and then plunged, even as the share of women in other technical and professional fields kept rising.”
I don’t think that is quite the reason but they may be close.
Not even close. Programming? They were literally connecting jumper wires according to layouts done probably 99.999% of the time by, yes, men. I get so tired of hearing about Lady Ada, who was just a Babbage groupie. And Grace Hopper, who was probably just a reasonably competent computer person whose contributions have been grossly exaggerated by people with an agendum.
Connecting jumper wires and changing vacuum tubes didn’t make these women pioneers in computer technology any more than my books made me a pioneer in microprocessor design.
“Women in computing” in the early years were essentially typists: they’d keypunch the programs written by others.
At the next higher level of skill, many early “programmers”, male and female*, had a role very like that now filled by compilers and interpreters: they’d take the “instructions” specified by the analysts and write a few lines of COBOL or FORTRAN or possibly assembly language. In general this was an almost mechanical operation, and is one of the roots of the “common wisdom” that programmers are interchangeable commodities.
This started changing in the late 1980s, when computers got powerful and common and the demand for software developers got high enough to warrant the development of more capable languages and compilers and environments. And software became larger and more complex. And the majority of programmers worked solo or in relatively small shops rather than in large teams at banks and defense contractors. And the software developers needed to keep in mind multiple levels of the project at once, from the 30,000 foot view of “what is the feature supposed to do?” all the way down to “which of the 350 operating system functions is most appropriate to call here?” and all of the integer arrays currently in scope.
If women aren’t able to do that, and this is viewed as a societal problem needing a remedy, then the proper approach is to investigate why this is so. But no, of course we don’t do that. The typical politician, bureaucrat, or activist is not smart enough to come up with a plan to actually find and fix a problem. That’s why we get arbitrary quotas-but-they’re-not-called-quotas and fines for companies which don’t hire “enough” women or other favored groups.
* And any of the other genders we now recognize but which weren’t identified in those benighted days
My 91 year old aunt had a job during World War II using a slide rule to compute ballistic tables. Yes, my aunt was a computer before those jobs were eliminated by machines. My aunt wound up doing other things after the war. I am not even sure if the narrative above is true, but I suspect that if it is, the women who stuck with the computing after machines were able to do the dull boring computations moved to computer operations and programming. They would have retired about the time that the decline was reported to have happened.
Update: This is IMHO a far more plausible and reasoned explanation for the presence and decline of women in the computing field.
“When Women Stopped Coding”
http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/10/21/357629765/when-women-stopped-coding
“Modern computer science is dominated by men. But it hasn’t always been this way.”
Is that “npr” in the link “National Public Radio”? I’d better read that now before tRump kills NPR and shuts down their servers.
Where do the NPR thermodynamicists stand on global warming?
If they lie about one thing can we trust them on anything?
Is that how the discredited LAPD Det. Mark Furhman in the 1st OJ trial?
“Apple told to warn against charging phone in bath after man’s electrocution”
http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/iphone-charging-accident/
“Police who investigated the scene said they found an extension cord running between the hallway and the bathroom.”
Hopefully, this guy did not reproduce.
I see RBT and I had about the same thing to say. I approve!
Also, I didn’t address the article Lynn referenced. In short, the author was about 90-100% wrong.
Grace Hopper? The lady who invented Cobol? She should have been court martialed for that.
All hail Seymour Cray! All hail Niklaus Wirth!
Hey, that Seymour was huge hero in MPLS!
Oh yeah, we used to use Cray mainframes at work in the ’60s.
In the ’60s, you would have been using Seyour Cray designed machines made by Control Data Corporation. The CDC-6600 was introduced in 1964, and the CDC-7600 was introduced in 1969. Cray left CDC in 1972 and the Cray-1 wasn’t announced until 1975.
Someone like me or a bunch of other people on here might just keep fiddling with it, but as a biz owner/manager, I might have just gone out and gotten a new box by now.
We don’t buy new boxes. We buy very good components and build our own boxes. A side result of that is each is a Ferrari XXXXX Tesla made up of many different parts. I would never get an HP box or a ??? Too much adware and spyware on factory boxes.
Plus, I read XXXX skimmed this book by a Robert Thompson quite few years back and he said what we were doing was easy to do.
OTOH, the new ASUS zenbook flip laptop that I bought for my daughter is a thing of wonder. No cpu fan, 13 inch 1080p touchscreen, weighs less than 3 lbs, battery lasts over 10 hours, runs Windows 10 x64 with 8 GB of ram and a 512 GB SSD.
https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ZenBook-Flip-UX360CA-DBM2T-13-3/dp/B01GHQOD8U/
“We don’t buy new boxes. We buy very good components and build our own boxes.”
It sounds more like it’s YOU building those boxes. But like da man said, you da boss, you can do what ya want.
Just back from the laundromat and other errands; no real characters today, bummer. And the laundromat attendant closed up shop at 4 PM and just left; I was left alone, folding our stuff, no one else around. They have their radio or tapes or whatever playing pretty good oldies all day. Wall-Mutt was what I would classify as nearly deserted on a late afternoon weekday; I really dunno how they’re gonna stay in biz at that location, which is about as good as they could get; right off the interstate and on Route 7, between Montreal and Burlap. WTF?
35 now with no wind and fairly dense fog.
It sounds more like it’s YOU building those boxes.
Two of my guys do the hardware builds. I have to do our groupware ACT! install, it is tricky and requires a patch afterwards. But they both ran away on me last night to go do their stuff and I stayed here until 1130pm. This is the office managers pc and she has all kinds of stuff like a brother feeder scanner and an hp 3600DN printer that both require special software to run.
Building our hardware isn’t so bad. It is all the extra hardware and software that we use that just makes the customization time incredible.
“A lot of computing pioneers — the people who programmed the first digital computers — were women. And for decades, the number of women studying computer science was growing faster than the number of men. But in 1984, something changed. The percentage of women in computer science flattened, and then plunged, even as the share of women in other technical and professional fields kept rising.”
I don’t think that is quite the reason but they may be close.
I’ve always believed that most women are too smart to get involved with a field where the typical productive career has dwindled down to less than a decade, but that answer doesn’t get the big research dollars.
What about the guys? Guys are Tim “The Toolman” Taylor when it comes to vocation selection. Combine interest in the field with the single digit percentage of the general population who can actually do the work at a high level, and you end up with the current demographics of the software industry.
“…a field where the typical productive career has dwindled down to less than a decade…”
And I’m looking at YOU, OFD, and YOU, Mr. OFD’s next-younger brother…
Although to be fair, my brother’s UNIX career lasted thirty years, and then he was deliberately targeted and pushed out by an aggrieved psychotic minority manager guy. Who himself was fired a couple of years later, but that didn’t help my bro.
My crappy IT career lasted a grand total of 14 years out of 33 total, but if I subtract the grad skool and college bookstore job, 14 out of 27.
“…and you end up with the current demographics of the software industry.”
But see, that’s not acceptable. We need to have 52% female, 12% black, 14% Hispanic, 3% homosexual, and we’ll be working out the correct percentages for the differently abled and transgendering. Stay tuned.
I’ve been looking at the FIL’s federal income tax returns. I did not know that VA disability payments were not taxable. That really changes the picture.
Again, I am so glad that The Great State of a Texas does not have a state income tax. Just the paperwork savings alone is awesome.
I’ve been in the computer software industry for almost 42 years now. Directly and indirectly.
Just back from “Power Rangers”. Not a bad popcorn flick.
I won’t post any spoilers so Mr. Lynn won’t blow his stack. 😉
I’ve been in the computer software industry for almost 42 years now. Directly and indirectly.
You aren’t typical.
In prepping today, I note without other comment that primaryarms.com has Anderson AR lowers for $35 limit 2.
As for the GoD, I’d been on hiatus from this site for quite awhile until I saw the move to Sparta and prepping. Went back to about then and began reading the comments too until triggered by “apartment” to post something.
Built all my own desktops since 2004 or so. TigerDirect was surplus pricing parts sets for absolutely fiddly prices that matched my cashflow of the time. Reading Newegg reviews and when cashflow improved built some Maserati’s now collecting dust in the back room. Suffer with a remote keyboard mouse setup to a notebook wired up to the big screen in the living room now.
A friend took the Boeing tour a coupla months ago near Seattle. They forbade cell phones and other cameras. I’ve noticed that other ticket necessary places get grumpy about my “Mary Poppins” daypack thereby discouraging my appearance. A California trip for family matters a longish year ago had me getting well acquainted with the TSA drones with the Boy Scout items in that bag and an immediate stop at Home Depot at the far end to resupply the sharps for the duration.
I still think the Archie Bunker solution to air travel security wasn’t worthy of the laugh track Norman Lear added to it. (Arm everybody!)
A friend took the Boeing tour a coupla months ago near Seattle. They forbade cell phones and other cameras.
The Boeing tour takes tourists up to the catwalks above the airplanes in progress. They are more concered about a clumsy tourist dropping a phone onto a wing than losing trade secrets.
I still think the Archie Bunker solution to air travel security wasn’t worthy of the laugh track Norman Lear added to it. (Arm everybody!)
Hasn’t our host proposed giving all passengers a choice at the gate — Complementary roll of duct tape or monkey wrench? Which would you feel more comfortable using should it become necessary?
Me? I’m a redneck. I can always use duct tape.
“I did not know that VA disability payments were not taxable.”
Correct. But they nail us in other ways. As with SS and me; they’re taking $180 a month out of my SS to cover a student loan from 25 years ago. I’m waiting to see what other nasty surprises they have for me this next week.
WRT to current flicks to go see? I can’t think of any offhand. We have a movie theater over in the big city but it’s always the current crap; I may try to find something I can possibly stand watching just to see what it’s like inside and what the experience is like nowadays. Haven’t been in a movie theater since the late 90s.
“Which would you feel more comfortable using should it become necessary?”
I’m going with the monkey wrench, and a very large one, too. Batting practice!
“…Anderson AR lowers for $35 limit 2.”
There has been a flood of AR’s and AR-related merch for the past few years in this country. Prices have dropped quite a bit; look for another increase and more scarcity of some things next year leading up to the elections. Meanwhile more layoffs at various plants around the country, too. Now’s a good time to stock up on some things; like bolt carrier groups, barrels, upper receivers, tools to maintain and fix ’em, etc. Maybe some upper receivers in different calibers; I’m liking 6.5 Grendel for that.
If one is handy with a few tools and likes tinkering with stuff, one could do worse than get a C&R License and grab some surplus mil-spec hardware and play with it. I’m thinking SKS, Mauser, Mossy-Nugget, the Czech and Polish semi-auto pistols, etc. If one breaks something, no huge loss.
Mrs. OFD called; she got second place in the game she played today and she is now done, done, done. (Jeopardy). The guy who won had already played several games and was very good with the buzzer routine. But two of her main goals were to show her jewelry on tee-vee (she was wearing it) and do a plug for her employer/organization with their stuffed koala mascot. So those were a success. And as she was leaving she ran into a couple of excited audience members who turned out to be from friggin’ Glover, VT. Which is kinda wild. Glover is out in the sticks and is the HQ of the Bread & Puppet Theater stuff.
http://breadandpuppet.org/
Some years ago we also ran into fellow Vermonters way over on Grand Manan or PEI, I forget which, and the guy was a fellow state gummint drone, too.
I say this is all unusual because we rarely even see VT plates when we’re in other New England states. Once we cross the line into NH, NY, MA or CT, no more VT plates.
Pigs are also easy to keep but smelly and messy and noisy.
They are also smart, aggressive, and mean as hell. My daughter hated having them in the ICU at work.
“”Hasn’t our host proposed giving all passengers a choice at the gate — Complementary roll of duct tape or monkey wrench? Which would you feel more comfortable using should it become necessary?””
I’ll settle for a length of stout cord and a small metal tool.
I’ll even bring my own if they’ll just let me keep it.
I’ve been in the computer software industry for almost 42 years now. Directly and indirectly.
You aren’t typical.
That is what mom says too. But the wife says that I am a typical guy.
I know, the constant change and the outsourcing are very difficult to keep one’s skills in tune. The two heart incidents and the aging process are really messing with my ability to concentrate on getting tasks done whether they are managing the business or writing code.
I am currently in the sixth post-college job of my career. This job started in 1995 and I have expected it to end every week since then. The competition over the years has been fierce and the challenge of meeting two payrolls a month and paying the rent has never stopped. And the difficulty of managing highly skilled employees is always an amazing experience (mostly good, sometimes horrible).
I was invited to interview at Microsoft in 1987 ??? and turned them down since the job would be in Washington state. That may have been a mistake financially. I was invited to interview at Google in 2005 ??? and turned them down also (once they found out I was 45 that would have been over in a hurry).
You done pretty good, Mr. Lynn. I don’t have the intellect or stamina or ability to do all that by a long shot. Outstanding, and we all know you have other blessings to deal with there, too. I’d rather call them blessings than burdens. Dunno how you do it.
HATS OFF!
And bullets dodged as regards M$ and Google, I’d say.
Yes, 45 is where they have the sign that says:
ABANDON HOPE, ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE
My rodeo AAR got kinda long, so I made it a post.
As always, thanks to our gracious host for sharing the forum.
n
I don’t have the intellect or stamina or ability to do all that by a long shot.
Dude, don’t sell yourself short. Given the same opportunities, you just don’t know. I’ve been incredibly blessed and lucky. And sometimes had the courage to reach out when I saw an opportunity. None of my jobs have ever gone south for me like so many peoples jobs have, or I jumped to another job before they did.
And a jolly to end my night here:
http://www.daybydaycartoon.com/comic/535/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DayByDayCartoon+%28Day+by+Day+Cartoon+by+Chris+Muir%29
I’d highly recommend that solution for the 535; put ’em through some kinda TX ranch boot camp for a few weeks, maybe months, cull the herd, and send the ones who’ve grown a pair back to Mordor to do their fucking jobs. By rights, the Founders, and our Constitution, the 535 are supposed to be the primary ruling force, above the WH and SCOTUS. It’s gotten so twisted since the Great Eliminator went off the deep end.
Oh well, we can dream, and read the comics.
Back to my list of scut and grunge work here tomorrow but also a bit of IT box building of my own…
Pax vobiscum, fratres, et tempus fugit irreparabile…
I was invited to interview at Microsoft in 1987
I got called by a company in Albuquerque in 1978. They wanted my code that patched itself into MS-Basic to create Basic commands (WPRINT, BPRINT, HPRINT, etc.) to use with the Epson MX-80 printer. I don’t remember them identifying themselves or if they did I forgot but I think, as in SWAG, it was Microsoft. They had apparently purchased my code and wanted to know if I wanted a job. I said no as the pay was low, no benefits, no relocation money, and they were competing against IBM, ZENITH, DEC, etc., some really big players.
Was it a bad decision? Nope, knowing what I knew at the time it was the correct decision. I was at a point in my life I could not take risky ventures. Do I regret not taking the job? Nope.
I regret buying a trash-80 instead of Microsoft stock. I regret buying a trash-80 model 100 instead of Apple stock.
n
That whole “load the whole routine in your head & make tweaks in the code” thing is what finally burned me out. Quite simply, I don’t enjoy doing it any more. I’ve written some fairly complex systems, but I don’t want anything to do with it any more. Fortunately, I left it in the hands of some really bright guys (and one bright girl) who understood what I did and have carried on. That’s a decade-and-a-half I’ll never get back.
Now I manage a network and do a little coding. Because I can load the system in my head, I’m fairly effective. Because I don’t have to write whole systems, I’m a lot happier. I still do some complex SQL, but not a lot, and not often. When I have to look at code, I can. But if it’s too complex or would take too much of my attention, I turn it over to the programmer on the team and let him handle it.
As it stands, I spend a lot of my time making too many decisions. The coding decisions I leave to someone else. I now understand why Steve Jobs always wore a turtleneck & jeans.
RE: Don’t be there
Working with the LEO here in Memphis as part of my security role we are told that even though Memphis has multiple homocides per night, they almost all occur in a few known dangerous areas. Stay away from those areas and you are as safe as in the UK or Japan.
Sadly one of the “danger zones” is in Whitehaven where Graceland is located.
Safer, probably. That’s the problem with using composite figures to compare a diverse country like the US with the relatively monolithic cultures in Japan, Sweden, etc. In Sparta, Barbara and I are much less likely to be victims of violent crime than are residents of those countries.
Factoring out the inner-city warzones, you’ll find that you’re left with a peaceful country with very little violence.
I was invited to interview at Microsoft in 1987 ??? and turned them down since the job would be in Washington state. That may have been a mistake financially. I was invited to interview at Google in 2005 ??? and turned them down also (once they found out I was 45 that would have been over in a hurry).
No offense to DadCooks and RickH, but I was never so happy to leave any place as when I drove up the winding freeway out of the Columbia Gorge, leaving OR/WA State behind for good at the end of June 2014. That’s four years I can’t have back.
Speaking of years we can’t have back, I nominate my own four years working as an IT drone for state gummint up here, but at the time it was the quickest way to hit the ground running with a job when I got married and we bought our first house. And when I got there, they still had two DEC VMS machines running, hooked up to the Health Department’s VMS data center in Burlap. The writing on the wall became evident when a new biz mangler rolled in and mandated yanking the DEC stuff and putting in Windows NT on the servers. From there it was all downhill.
“Chickens are low maintenance. I grew up with chickens on our dairy farm and it was my responsibility from about age 5 to feed and collect eggs. Easy peasy.”
If one doesn’t have space for chickens, but still wants to keep poultry, quail can thrive in a hutch.
“That’s the problem with using composite figures to compare a diverse country like the US with the relatively monolithic cultures in Japan, Sweden, etc. In Sparta, Barbara and I are much less likely to be victims of violent crime than are residents of those countries.”
Wouldn’t it be more meaningful to compare your living in Sparta with someone who lives in a similar quiet/rural part of those countries? Neither of you is at significant risk…