That's what I said, but you said it more concisely. If this were code, your solution would probably have rated higher than mine. But, after many (too many) years as a developer now, I can say that programming is about as much an art as carpentry. You can do beautiful things with both, but in the end it is about the artifacts and how they are used. They *are* measurable, and providing decent metrics for software development *is* possible. The biggest problem is that we don't want to admit that it is just a really difficult problem; instead we give up. And giving up is what is BS.

The first big problem though is lack of metrics and insight into what developers are doing. I worked on a team and helped implement big brother software on a large development team's computers. The problem was that there was too much data and the company that implemented the software then tried to provide inadequate visualization (e.g. 40% of time was spent on JSP/Java editing, 10% on a web browser, etc.) and just knowing *what* people are working on is not enough. You have to have metrics based on the output, so looking at source control has to play a part. The other metric that is important is customer satisfaction, number of customers, and possibly the effect of features/solutions on the amount of money made. That is the tough part to correlate to the work done. But without metrics, surveys, etc. you have nothing. And as Edie Brickell once said, "There's nothing I hate more than nothing."

Measuring developer output/metrics effectively is a tough problem. Developers could solve it, but if they do, then they have to both change the way that they work and possibly work harder. Developers are smart enough to know that the metrics will be misused, even if the logic used to produce them is valid. Therefore, any solution will be ridiculed by the development community as insufficient, but the degree to which it is ridiculed will lessen as the solution improves. A solution though, is inevitable if development continues.

I wouldn't go that far. In the case of Hitchhiker's Guide, there was just no way to ever do Douglas Adams justice. When he was alive the first movie was made, which was absolute crap and involved a papier-mâché second head on Zaphod, but everything else was forgettable. The hollywood movie did a good job on the "so long and thanks for the fish" song, but the rest was forgettable. Now the fact that only a papier-mâché head and a completely overdone song about dolphins leaving the earth are remembered from the video versions of Hitchhiker's is classic, and Adams possibly would have liked that rather than them being hailed as the bees' knees.

Have you ever done tire sealant? No? That's why.

Someone griefed the hell out of it. Now they have to redo the whole f-ng thing.

Could get him a Kindle with audiobooks. Also, call Amazon and talk to a rep and ask to speak with someone there with experience in the blind using Kindles. It may be a small number of users, but they really need to support it, even if they can't read text books without getting into fights with the audiobook people. Or better yet, just an ipod shuffle. Good luck. The world can be quite an awful place for the blind, and they get shafted while other minority groups (of race, sex, sexual orientation, religion or lack of, drug legalization advocates) get all of the attention these days. It is sick, imo, that they get treated so poorly.

I thought real men just got up from the chair, went to the fridge, grabbed a PBR, popped it open, had a few gulps, said "ahhh", farted, then burped, then grabbed a wrench and started tuning their '57 chevy, after which they cleaned their gun, build a shed out back, killed a bear with their bare hands, shot a man, and then went to sleep by the campfire with one eye open.

Funny- I've never been able to get a horse to take me where I want to go, ever since I started driving that car.

"She has also variously called for more research on whether there is a link between ADHD and internet use, and has also questioned whether increases in autism might be down to too much screen time." No, the problem is that today we have to diagnose everything. Once you put a name on it, then doctors and pharmacists can help you "fix" it. Both a primary physician and a psychiatrist who specializes in ADHD recently told me that ADHD is overdiagnosed. When doctors that see it all the time tell you it is over diagnosed, then you should start to question whether we should just accept that the rate of ADHD is actually rising. In addition, Asperger syndrome is getting a lot of publicity in the past several years, and now there is even a main character in a popular TV show "Parenthood" that has it. If you are looking at the ground instead of into people's eyes now instead of "shy" they say you are borderline Asperger's. When will this madness stop? Why can't we just call people "hyper", "slow", "lazy", "shy", "wierd", "dumn", or "scary"? Those words carried less baggage with them and people didn't obsess about them. It is one thing if you can truly help someone get better, but in many cases it is just a label and another reason to feel like you were handed the short end of the stick rather than to give you reason to try to be normal on your own.

That wasn't a mistake, that was just a targetted emergency call- part of some A/B testing.

There. Fixed it for you.

I had a similar post a few years back. Guess what? I'm still working here and it still sucks. The only thing I can suggest is that if there are other things you are interested in, persue them. But first though, find another job, because you should only work for manipulative jerks if you have to. Then, did you ever want to get a degree in X? Why not go for it? Something else to think about is that there are a lot of health and/or spiritual conditions that can cause you to fill unfulfilled and unmotivated. Could you go workout at the gym or run more? Have you thought about seeing a doctor or other professional about your problems? It is best to work on all of these things, but most of all, start to focus on what makes you and those you love happy. And do it.

BAD advice. Get another job, THEN leave.

Why? Because he's good enough, smart enough, and doggone it, people like him.