I live along the river, there is a Naval Base on the Ocean and one up river. Coast Guard and Navy helicopters often travel between the two bases, moving stuff, patrolling, whatever. They often (many times per day) fly less than 300 feet above my house (I live near a bend in the river). When you are outside, you cannot hear the person next to you talk.

But it is all good. They pass very quickly and they give me a sense of security.

All of my editors do it for me.

I used to be religious about using a 2 space indent, but I no longer program in Python, so, now, who gives a flip?

Now I just want my code to look good. In Visual Studio, I do Ctrl-A, Ctrl-K, Ctrl-F, and I don't even know if it does tabs or spaces, and I don't care.

Also, I agree that those surveyed are incredibly underpaid.

I still have my OnePlus One. It works as good as my wife's I-Phone 6S. I have loaded every version on Oxygen and Cyanogenmod over the years. It is easy to backup, wipe, reset and start over. When it is no longer viable, I will get the OnePlus 5 (or 6 or 7 or 8).

I see no reason to get this "essential" phone whatsoever.

Lawyers, lawyers and more lawyers.

First get your idea, make proof of concept, market it to your niche.

Then hire programmers to make the idea into a full-blown revenue stream, hire marketers and an advertising team to drive up sales. Then get sued out of existence by IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, or SCO.

Most of success is NOT the GREAT IDEA. Most of success is getting people together to work on any feasible idea, then success is actually getiing a lot of people to want and to buy your idea, --- and then success is defending that idea against all those who want to take what you have.

Me? I just do what the boss says, I do not care about "making it big", there are just too many ulcers and heart attacks that go along with "success".

A wise man once said, "One measure of success is the amount time do you have to do the things you like doing."

I am willing to take the risk of BREAKING THE ECOSYSTEM to get rid of all human-biting mosquitoes. They are responsible for propagating malaria, dengue, West Nile virus, chikungunya, yellow fever, filariasis, encephalitis, and Zika. They probably have killed more humans than anything else, even cancer and war.

We should all store massive amounts of files that have nothing but random data in them.
Give them names like NuclearCode.doc, fill some of the empty space on our hard drives with them.
Attach them to every single Email and text we send.

The NSA computers would screech to a halt wading through all the noise,

How is this different than looking at my face?

Do you need a warrant to take my picture?
That can be incriminating. I just don't get it.

Sure, if you have my prints, you could plant them at a crime scene. (Difficulty level = High).
But if you have my photo, you can fabricate "witnesses" that say I did something. (Difficulty level = Low).

If you are even slightly fit, walking is not exercise.

If you are unfit, walking is a good start to becoming fit, but it won't take you all the way.

Fitness comes from challenging your muscles, from pushing your limits and from cardio-vascular work.
Strength can be built with resistance training (weights) and calisthenics (sit-ups, push-ups), but heart health only comes from cardio.

I dislike cardio as much as the next guy, the sweating, the panting, and the enormous amount of time it takes out of my day.
But I wanna live until we can transfer our intellect into machines (just kidding).
I do feel the best all day if I run in the morning, so at least that works for me.

I run all my Windows machines Virtually. I really like to be able to dedicate a core or two to each Virtual machine and still have enough left over for my Linux host OS.
Four cores just ain't enough for me. I'm looking forward to 128 core processors...

Two men are stranded on a deserted island. They do not speak the same language.

Should the less intelligent man learn the more intelligent person's language?
Or should the smarter person learn the other person's language?

Stop being such xenophobe and get out there. It is your planet after all, maybe you should learn all about it.

Presently I speak about 100 different COMPUTER languages. This has never helped me buy a watch in Quebec,a poncho in Mexico, or pick up a chick in Brazil. So far, I am only fluent in English.

I have been trying to learn Spanish for about a year now. It is slow going. I practice my sentences, I do quizzes on vocabulary, I watch and read Univision. I watch movie DVDs I know by heart in Spanish with Spanish subtitles. I am far better than I was before, and I will get there in time.

I just finished reading Trevor Noah's book "Born a Crime" and it has several relevant quotes on this subject:

“Nelson Mandela once said, 'If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.' He was so right. When you make the effort to speak someone else's language, even if it's just basic phrases here and there, you are saying to them, 'I understand that you have a culture and identity that exists beyond me. I see you as a human being” Trevor Noah, Born a Crime

“Language brings with it an identity and a culture, or at least the perception of it. A shared language says "We're the same." A language barrier says "We're different.” Trevor Noah, Born a Crime

“Language, even more than color, defines who you are to people.” Trevor Noah, Born a Crime

Bottom line, you are only here (on your planet) a short time, and language, even your own, enriches the experience, why not grab all you can?


I especially like the high oxygen concentration and low gravity you have here.

If you are geographically limited, like I have been many times, do not bother with head-hunters or job sites.

I have found the best way to find a job in a particular city is to go to Wikipedia and find the page of something like "Top 500 employers in Des Moines".

Then read through all of the employers, go to each of their web sites, find the "careers", "jobs" or "employment" links on those web sites.

Apply DIRECTLY to the employer for the job that is the best fit for you. This method has always been better than head hunters for me.

Also remember, most job descriptions were written by HR and are probably not accurate. Many are a company's "wish list". Do not worry if you do not meet all the criteria. I remember a company's job posting back in 2000 that was seeking a person with 4 years experience in Windows 2000. At that time, the only people that could meet the criteria were Microsoft employees.

I got married to someone pursuing her PhD. I have lived in 6 different cities, following her from job-to-job. Each time we moved, I was unemployed for a short period of time. I have worked 10 different jobs in that time. I have worked in power generation, telecommunications, national defense, state gov, been a college instructor, banking, investments, digital libraries, voice automation, search engines, city gov and for the school district. Each job has had its pluses and minuses, I have learned to "take it as it comes".

The biggest take away I have from this is, nothing it what it seems up-front. You have to work in a job or a particular industry before you can find if it is for you, or even tolerable.

It is really hard to stop watching TV. I have cut down to 3 shows a week.

I also stopped playing video games, especially on my phone.

These things are a big time-suck, a vacuous hole of waste.

Instead of video games, I have apps that are game-like, but educational. DuoLingo, MemRise, PianoSightReading, etc.

Instead of TV, I practice guitar, bass guitar, piano, and recently, violin. Also I workout and run everyday.

Basically, I am taking my previously wasted time and trying to better myself.

Try looking back. Did it really matter if Gilligan ever got off of that stupid island?
Did Hawkeye Pierce save more people because you tuned in?
Do you care if Al and Peg Bundy's kids ever moved out?

Twenty years from now, will you care if Sheldon every marries Amy?
Will you care if Mike Ross goes to jail or really becomes a lawyer?

Or, in twenty years, will you say, I should have been healthier, I should have read more, I should have learned a language.

Muscle burns more calorie than fat. Just to stay alive. So even when you are doing nothing, a muscular body burns more calories than a fat one.