it's a public place where anyone can see what is going on at any point in time. there is no infringement of privacy if this is a public area, and with cameras being visible, there is no deception in the intent.

it's great, because parents can let their kids go to the park without the need to be supervised (assuming the kids live in a nearby neighborhood). i often rode my bike down the street to a neighborhood park when i was a kid, and i'm sure my parents would have appreciated the cameras at the time.

they ought to make the feeds publicly available, so parents could watch what is going on, as well as allow for residents to watch parades, public gatherings and other things from home.

people who get all pissy about this stuff make no sense to me.

"For years analysts have been insisting that Apple must introduce a cheaper iPhone, and soon.

i'm not going to read this story based upon the above quote. the iphone has been out for almost 2 years. you don't get to use the phrase "for years" when talking about something that technically isn't 2 years old. this is an attempt to make this story a bigger deal than what it really is.

with most of this stuff, it is not the drug that countries/governments are worried about. it is the culture that drugs generate and the crime that can be associated with it.

drugs seem to attract organized crime, and turn neighborhoods into very dangerous places. alcohol doesn't seem to attract crime, but it seems to bring out the idiot in people. i tend to think the idiot is less dangerous (in most cases)

personally, i don't do drugs. i enjoy a good drink from time to time, but i do so responsibly. but i know a lot of people who do drugs, and they are not quality people. they steal, lie & cheat their way through life. personally, i don't want that in my neighborhood.

if you would like to see what drug culture can do, visit the south-central or south-east side of a major american city (NYC, LA, St Louis, Atlanta, Chicago).

it's not the drugs i have a problem with. it is the culture that comes with them.

are you kidding me?

compared to the sausage-fest that makes up the typical IT office, this sounds awesome!

what happened to bicycles?

when i was in college (not too long ago), people still rode bikes. the only problem was in the snow, as people would try to ride up a steep hill and bust their ass. you wouldn't catch me in one of these segway things on a steep, snowy hill either tho.

this seems a little too "road 2.0" to me.

You can get better mileage out of a small CC motorcycle engine, go faster, and not look as much like an idiot.

I know a motorcycle is still gas, but a battery will be using up other energy somehow, and if you live in Oklahoma like I do, it's just coming from coal or oil.

better yet, just get a horse.

and to add, i love the idea that we (the US) give away a bunch of Chinese-made products, made by people who are probably in not-so-good working conditions. we can't even give away something made in America.

just wait till she plugs that iPod into a computer in the Buckingham network. i bet China has some sort of virus embedded in that thing. they are about to own MI6!!!

first, he gives the British PM a stack of DVDs (ultra lame). next, he gives the queen of england a friggin ipod (i'm sure she is really suave on computers...probably has a 24" iMac all modded out).

maybe next Obama will show up in Japan with some 20" rims for the PM there. "Runnin on dubs!!!"

this is so embarrassing. i would've expected it out of President Bush. i bet he got the queen a handgun (big ol' desert eagle), and he probably got Tony Blair a shot-glass set. but Obama? why is he pulling this crap?

i can understand where Google Reader can effectively block a bit of ad revenue, but Google Reader is only as good as the RSS feeds that feed it. if BBC, Guardian, or anyone else are pissed off about it, well, disabling their RSS feeds seems like a place to start.

i would also expect them to pay Google lots of money for using Google's search engine. that is a "free" service that Google provides, and it seems a bit hypocritical to want to boost revenue in advertising, yet not want to pony up money for services rendered.

i like the Guardian UK website too, but now i will avoid them.

it did die here in the US. the first 3 months of the Iraq war and the death of Anna Nicole-Smith is great proof in the failings of the US media system.

newspapers are dying because we can get all of our information online now. they are also dying because people are tired of partisan bullshit (i.e. Fox News, MSNBC, as well as several newpapers).

we are all getting the same, regurgitated crap from every source, why not get it for free on the internet.

that quote gives me a hard-on. nothing better could describe Apple and its defenders.

i've said this before.

people aren't buying as many CDs because they already have them all, and we have them backed up.

i buy a few albums a year, but that's about it. why so few? because i spent the last 10 years buying CDs of all of the bands that i like, and i now have them backed up to my computer. i no longer have to buy multiple CDs if i want to have convenient access to an album (one for my living room, one for work, and one for the car), and i don't have to buy another CD if my current one gets scratched.

thats why i dont buy CDs. i already have all of the ones i want, and if my CD breaks, i really don't care because i can make a new one or listen to my iPod.

i don't own a single piece of illegal music. my music library is 6,000 or so songs, and i paid for each one of them. that means they have gotten a lot of money out of me already.

so if the RIAA wants me to buy more, they need to quit putting out shitty music. they need to create radio stations with good music. give me a radio station that won't play a song more than once a day, doesn't play anything by Brittany Spears, Link Park, Nickelback, [insert lame band name here]..., and i would probably buy a lot more music, because i might actually hear something i like (or heaven-forbid something that is new, crosses boundaries, and is completely fresh).

"The problem is that smart people get very irritated working with fools."

as a 6'3", 300lb weight lifter, i often feel the same way with dealing with people weaker than me.

just because one is smart doesn't mean they get to be an ass. if so, then my size should entitle me to quite a bit of leniency in my behavior as well. but i have respect for others, and i am patient and willing to help people with their manual labor (as well as their code).

i disagree that there are fewer jobs for smart developers. i would just say that there are more jobs for bad managers.

i have worked around quite a few quirky coders, and i can learn to tolerate their quirks. but if you establish from the beginning that being an ass will get them called out, then they will be scared to act out.

i think i have some valuable input here (ironic (or typical), considering i am part of the "generation" being described...).

i am 25 years old, male, have my BS in CS, and have switched jobs 4 times in the last 4 years. i now make twice as much as when i left college, and i am what you would consider a "senior" developer.

i think the narcissism is completely true for my generation, albeit it is the fault of the generation before mine. granted i don't consider myself in the group that is the target of this topic, because i'm not that way. i have my cubicle, i make decent money (less than $100k but more than $60k), and i am pretty content with it. i don't need to go overseas. i am using a 3 year old computer to program with. my job isn't glamorous by any means. i'm sure i will remain this way for a few years, and that's fine with me.

the problem is what the parents of my generation have done.

• they started giving trophies to every team in little league (even the last place guys).
• they don't want their kids homework to be graded in red ink because it's bad for self-esteem.
• their children aren't obnoxious, spoiled dumbasses; they "just are trying to cope with A.D.D."
• they created TV shows like American Idol, America's Next Top Model, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Cribs, and other TV shows that glorify immediate wealth or immediate rises to the top.
• They don't spank their kids anymore
• They have taken any and all authority/power away from teachers, yet expect them to perform better

the generation before mine raised their kids to think that last place is just as much entitled to the benefits of first place. so is it so mind-blowing to think that a kid coming straight out of college is going to think he is entitled to something belonging to those who have worked harder and longer? his baby-boomer mommy and daddy did it to him/her.

i would also say, in my defense, that i think my generation is required to know much, much more than the generation in front of me. the depth and number of languages required by a recent college grad vs that of someone 10-20 years ago is night and day. truth be told, we have to know a ton now to be remotely marketable. that being said, college students should be researching this, and should be preparing themselves for such things.

as far as seniority goes, it is hit and miss. there are some senior guys at my job who are amazingly brilliant, and who i would not doubt for a second. but there are also a lot of stupid, older guys who don't do shit any more because they only know COBOL and maybe FORTRAN and can't comprehend object-oriented languages. they sit, earn $90k a year on their baseline gov't contracts, and ride it out 'til they retire.

I am younger, so this may be a more naive view of things, but i agree mostly with what people have been saying.

accepting shares of a company is dangerous territory. if i was offered 10% of my current company (small business) in order to stay for extra time, i would decline. as people have said, it is incredibly hard to know if your shares will be worth something, and even then, cashing in on them will be no easy task.

if you are seriously thinking about staying, get a 25-50% pay increase, ask for 5% in shares (just in case), and accept no less than 30 days a year of vacation time.

or perhaps you can do even better, and as icing on the cake, make them change their work environment that is something less miserable for you. there is something that is making your job miserable. use your power/influence in your current position to change it. get them to turn it into a job you would love.