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Comment Re:I ask candidates puzzles (Score 1) 672

In general - never *ever* filter someone out on one part of the interview. Except... if they go silent - instant fail. if they say to me - sorry, I can't think right now / could i have 5 minutes alone / could i get back to you later et cetera, not such a bad response. Going silent - always bad. If someone doesn't understand, doesn't know, needs help, and they don't tell me - then they don't fit on my team. Maybe they are great at their job, maybe they are awesome at some things, too bad, just too big a risk I'm afraid. BUT - that is because of my personality as much as theirs - I need people who will point out when they have a problem. Interviews aren't just about the candidate, they are about my team, the project they will be going to, the people they will be working with and me (assuming I will be managing them).

Comment I ask candidates puzzles (Score 5, Interesting) 672

But the idea isn't to get an answer - and I am very up front that I don't care about the answer, and I already know it anyway. What I do want to see is how someone approaches a problem that they don't know how to solve. I had one candidate ask me the answer, I already know it after all - immediately top of my hiring list, and she was an awesome hire. Another asked if they could use google on their phone - again a pretty much perfect answer. The puzzle is completely irrelevant, the ability to question, put forward ideas and not just say 'I don't know' or, even worse, go completely silent and get embarrassed that you don't know, is pretty fucking critical. IMHO.

I also look at samples of previous work, and we make all candidates carry out real world tasks along side us.

Comment Re:Warriors (Score 1) 646

My Father died (very) recently, after a relatively short time of being unwell (2 months). As a family we knew his wishes if he were to be in an effectively unrecoverable state - that he would prefer to not be put through agony just to go through futile care. His surgical team did everything they could for him, but knowing his and his families wish seemed confident in talking to us at the point where they could continue to carry out surgical work, but they felt there was no possibility of his ever recovering. We made, i think, a rational decision.

It was not easy, knowing wishes and discussing them with siblings and then our Mother and my Fathers siblings (large, close family), knowing when the treatment became futile, watching him die that last day - it was pretty much the fucking hardest thing I think I will ever do. But it *was* the better thing ultimately.

So - if people forgo futile treatment to spend time with family and to make the most of the time that remains then I would like to figuratively shake their hand for showing such a vast amount of bravery and *character*.
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Man Put On "No-Fly List" While In Air To NYC 300

An unnamed man flying from Nigeria to New York City found out he was added to a no-fly list somewhere above the Atlantic Ocean, when the plane stopped to refuel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Officials won't say what he did or why he was added to the list after he had already boarded a flight. He was not immediately charged with a crime and Customs and Border Protection will only say that he is a "potential person of interest." From the article: "The man, a citizen of Gambia, was not on the no-fly list when he boarded the aircraft in Dakar, Senegal, said a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly."

Comment Re:I just wonder... (Score 2, Informative) 300

Presumably you didn't even read the article, or think too much about the summary. This is NOT about a tax to support artists, it is the cost the ISP's will have in putting measures in place - and those costs will be borne by their customers.

Maybe you are taking it too it's logical conclusion (if this stops filesharing in the UK, then how much of the extra revenue will artists see). So maybe I am being harsh, in which case sorry. But I don't think that is the case.

Comment Re:Not really surprising. (Score 1) 111

Amazon are actually losing money on most of their $9.99 books (at least for the ones that are selling at the same time as hardbacks). They get them at the same price as the hardback, which is around $12.

I think Amazon are doing some bad things at the moment, but they are not driving the price up, they are making a loss to drive it down.

Comment Re:It's not the Kindle (Score 2, Interesting) 111

This is pretty much obviously not true. If it were then they would sell ebooks in a format that any other reader could use (pretty much ePub, at this point).

They don't, they use a proprietary format that no one else is able to use. Thus I assume that they are not *just* after selling electronic copies of books.

I don't remember the exact time line that the Kindle was released. I think that Sony hadn't yet started to move to ePub, and nor had many others. In which case they should have stuck to ereader or mobipocket. They even own one of those (I always forget which),

Comment Re:Greedy publishers (Score 1) 111

I had a similar idea, and did some initial work on it. Then along came the Netflix challenge, and I realised I was a) also lazy and b) didn't have anywhere near enough knowledge in the field. It seems a reasonable idea. Get people to review anything, align the users likes with others, then make recommendations. If it were that easy, surely someone would already be doing it...

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