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Comment Re:Use the printer at work (Score 1) 266

I chose a laser printer (someone else's) where "someone else's" means "the printer from work". My personal printing needs are so few I find it hard to justify getting my own printer and letting cartridges dry out and associated annoyances.

this, with how many journal articles I print (gawd, when will Kindle or Nook FINALLY come out with color e-ink!) one or two slices of paper for my personal use per year is negligible. Usually, they're just concert tickets but with a bar code, and dear lord I don't want my barcodes smeared into oblvion from an inkjet and useless when I get to the venue.

Comment Re:5 years (Score 1) 525

I did ten years. It's the greatest job in the world... except for the people.

This sounds like a specific case of the general rule-of-thumb I've known throughout my multiple jobs/careers, "XXX is a great place to work except for the customers". And here 'customers' is a euphemism for the people that pay your salary/wages in either a direct or indirect way. But maybe you were talking about your co-workers instead of the general public (which would be the military's "customers" IMHO)?

Comment books! (Score 1) 700

Oooh, one of the better Ask Slashdot's in a while IMHO.

To the OP:
The Elements of Style - Makes you a better writer after reading in one sitting
How to Win Friends and Influence People" - Previously mentioned, but essential. Still, it is mostly "don't be an asshole".
The Selfish Gene - Realize the REAL power and strength of Darwin's arguments. This shows how Natural Selection 'magically' creates order in a chaotic universe.
Flatland - Also previously mentioned but really essential for breaking your brain in a good way.
War and Peace - The first big "historical fiction" I'm aware of and yet rooted in reality with a great setting to boot (the Napoleonic invasions of Russia). It would be like me writing a book on WWII. The last 100 pgs or so are good but mostly a rant though.
Madame Bovary - This book is hysterical when you realize it is just an antiquated moral justification for why woman should not read books (especially romance novels). The story's still entertaining as I recall.
1984 and Animal Farm - The usual suspects and see the next to see I'm clearly an Orwell fan.
Down and Out in Paris and London - This is where I learned that the more you pay for food at a restaurant, the more hands have touched the food (among many other things). Also, working in a Parisian kitchen in the early 20th century is like working in fast food now.
Crime and Punishment"Crime and Punishment - Get inside the mind of a thrill killer and realize even crazy people think very rationally. This is helpful when you read the latest crazy doing something inconceivable in the news and now know it seemed very logical to them at the time.
The Doors of Perception and really anything by Aldous Huxley including Brave New World - The Doors of Perception is of course where the band "The Doors" got their name and it, and the collection of associated essays I read at the time, really bring together why people like shiny things -- i.e., they associate them with god or a higher-being intuitively. I love essentially everything Huxley wrote (with Brave New World my least favorite), but his essays are fucking great!
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" - Great story, sci-fi, and allegory, a la "Star Wars", wrt to the American Revolution.

in contrast though, don't read: Stranger in a Strange Land - Total shit, beyond the initial premise, which is good, the book is just gratuitous New Age bullshit and will rot your brain. The only value in this book is defining the term "grok" -- I know I'll get flamed for this but it's true...

I've got a few more, but I need to think about them more...

Comment Re:You Tell Me If You're Too Old; What Is Your Goa (Score -1, Flamebait) 418

Mod parent up because the answer is GP. OP was a mercenary for the bubble times and is not interested in tech, let him burn... Programming, like many professional fields, is one you have to continue to learn because the field develops. You can't just slide by with the crappy fad info your college was spinning through you when you were an undergraduate. This OP actually disgusts me a little and is a poor excuse for a techy...uggghhhh...

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