"EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF TEST EQUIPMENT LIES"

Agreed. The map is not the territory. What you see on the scope is kinda sorta what might be going on. Don't trust it 100%.

I'm having a week like that. What hammer do you use?

Could also be a problem with an overly aggressive hole filling algorithm. http://www.mathworks.com/help/images/ref/imfill.html

I'd expect there's nothing nefarious going on. It's very likely an overly aggressive image processing algorithm.

*waves cane* Good! Begone you whippersnapper!

Knowing C, IMO, is a litmus test for someone who knows how computers work. Pointers, memory, file I/O, etc, aren't directly useful in higher level languages these days. But knowing they exist would help someone write smarter code.

get a degree. Programming jobs are heavily resume/GPA filtered. Unless you have someone on the inside ("who you know"), what you know will only get you so far. The great jobs, IMO, for a newbie, are best approached with a great GPA and transcript.

There is so much more to programming than just banging on a keyboard. Get a good discrete mathematical background, algorithms, data structures. Study the hardware level as well (don't sleep through Comp Arch like I did). For the best bang for your buck, dual degree CS with something else engineering related (mechanical, chemical, physics, etc). STEM is the big thing these days.

Do NOT bankrupt yourself or your future with crazy loans. Yes, "get a degree" and "don't bankrupt your future" are almost mutually exclusive these days. But even from a smaller college, a great GPA and transcript will get you in more doors.

'merica! f' yeah!

Thought of that Planet Money episode as soon as I saw the title. The TL;DL (too long; didn't listen) of the podcast is coins aren't continually circulated like paper bills. People throw them in jars and leave them there for months, years. So *more* coins than bills are actually needed in order to keep the normal supply circulating.

Amen. I discovered these by accident then bought a couple boxes last year from Amazon. I'm partial to the 0.4. I write small and these give the best, quickest lines of any pen I've used. By quickest meaning I don't have to slow down on rougher paper. Ink always lands on the paper nice and evenly.

Four years ago, single, bored, and lonely but financially ok.

Three years ago, met a great lady.

Two years ago, I proposed.

One year ago, we were married.

Now I'm happier than I've ever been in my life. Two stepsons, wonderful wife. Same great job as 4 years ago.

Life is good.

Open Sourcing CDE? Seriously? Would have possibly made a difference in 1998. But now? Except for historical interest, there's no point.

Was a so-so environment on HP-UX back in the day. Gloriously ugly.

As a spouse to a public school teacher and a volunteer in said underfunded schools, the schools would be better served if you sent them the $1 (or more) directly. Then all the other hands aren't skimming off the top.

We gave two Costco cubes of Kleenex as a Christmas gift to our school. You wouldn't believe the effusive thanks we got. Donate a box of printer paper and you'll be worshiped for a month.

(Yes, I bought a lottery ticket yesterday anyway. No, I still have to go to work on Monday.)

Maybe if we all wrote them a letter on the back of a US$10 bill they'd notice.

I "work" with color science. We have an X-Rite spectrophotometer just sitting around. Takes an artist's thinking, I suppose.

I ran into a paper a while back where the author captured spectrum of 100s of "natural" objects. Rocks, leaves, skin, etc etc. Made for an interesting chromaticity diagram.

I can't even remember when I signed up for /. Been a long long time.

I visit several times a day, nearly every day. Even when out in the boonies of the world (Yachats, OR), I found a way. Dial-up and Links were enough to get my slashdot fix.

I jokingly say I have a living will: if I don't check /. for six days consecutively, consider me brain dead and unplug the machines.

Thank you so much for being a huge part of my geek life these last many years. Best of luck in your future endeavor.