It's both funny and true :-)
And I happen to be okay in Perl.

Excellent comment, as usual.

That sounds like a pretty caustic view of the world. Firstly, the title says to be an expert, not about "succeeding" in anything. And secondly -- as I read it -- you're equating success with earning money in business.

My biggest successes don't have anything whatsoever to do with the success as you describe it:
- I've grown to be a software craftsman
- I have become a gentle and present dad
- I've learned to handle money well
- I can have a nice relationship with a pretty woman
- I've conquered a depression

But please go on, and start "networking" to gain some of that empty success.

Java is just as fast?

Can you explain to me why it takes a minute to start Tomcat and deploy its (single) WAR file? But when I start my C++ server, including all its daemons, it takes a second or two?

You had me at data integrity :)

Yes., way too much information. But funny as hell.

Come on. The Mac Pro requires you to spend big bucks. It's not too much to ask Apple follow Intel's roadmap with the Mac Pro.

This link isn't working >:-(

Your wife is also waiting for this, so PUT DOWN THE BEER and you get yo sorry ass outta the pub and get home RIGHT NOW.

I'm from Europe and I didn't learn English in class. Instead I learned it from the AD&D (2nd edition) material. Together with a class mate who also had DM aspirations, we swapped and traded material through BBSes.

We were so far ahead of the class, the teacher would set us apart and just let us do whatever we wanted. As long as we whispered, we could talk and read separate from the rest of the class. Of course that got us nasty looks, but we got to talk for a solid two hours about Planescape or Forgotten Realms.

After class, we'd ask the teacher words that we couldn't find in the dictionary. He couldn't them either. I remember finding out what "to be marooned" meant, ahead of the teacher.

I also remember that me and my gaming buddy got an A- on our final exams. After the verbal part of the exam, the teacher said he was a bit disappointed in my verbal skills. But because he knew I had it in me, he'd give me an A-.

I stopped gaming when college started, I couldn't find a gaming group. After almost twenty years, I found out my current employer has a group of colleagues who regularly play Pathfinder, and I joined them. I'm playing a fifth level thief, and it's an absolute blast.

Thanks for sharing that, interesting.

I've seen managers cry because they had to fire people. I'm inclined to agree though, but more in terms of "take care of yourself first".

Just curious; in what business did you start in? IT probably, but what specific sector? Sysadmin, web scripting, telecom, etc? And has there been a time you'd rather have a salary?

I'm making the step from salaried man to freelancing soon, and I'm mighty curious.

(Ben je Nederlands?)

That's interesting... don't you feel more like an employee rather than a freelancer?

Because some people like their laptops as small and thin as possible, there's always demand for the next best, smallest but fastest thing.