Comment: Re:Spontaneous outbreak of common sense (Score 2) 198
No surprise I left them later that year.
Frankly, I would have tendered my resignation in that hospital bed.
Bad move. Definitely wait until you get out of the hospital before resigning!
Comment: Re:3.5k was available for RAM in the Vic-20 (Score 1) 263
c64 emulators work really well. Just the other day I finished the first game I ever got. It was too difficult, but with snapshots I finally managed to see and hear the final show!
Comment: Re:Hourly income was $55,600 annually! (Score 3, Funny) 235
I want an hourly income of $55,600 too. I don't understand why they only work one hour a year, in their place I'd work a whole day!
Comment: Re:Boycott others on list - Start with NFL (Score 1) 204
Both MasterCard and Visa are on the list. I'd be happy with American Express or Diners Club or whatever, but living in Europe there's not much else than those two.
Comment: Re:Wheel Of Time (Score 2) 647
WoT is a short little series you should be able to finish on the flight.
Only if his flight takes a year or so and he can get the last book delivered to his seat!
For those who don't know, the first Wheel of Time book was released in 1990 and number 14 (which should be the last one) is currently predicted for late 2012.
Comment: Re:Neal Stephenson (Score 1) 647
And The Diamond Age is excellent for thinking about what might happen once we get nano-scale machines.
Comment: Re:Or you never visualized them in the first place (Score 1) 845
The 'guestimation' strategy fails at question 5 that has two answers that are very close to each other ($203.00 and $208.80). However, my mathematical instincts tell me that 203.00 is an unlikely outcome when multiplying with 29. I used a calculator to confirm my guess (as allowed by the test).
Rely on your instincts not your calculator; there's actually a catch there. It's probably designed specifically for students who stop division at the decimal point . . . or engineers who miss setting the scale with bc!
$ bc -q
288/40*29
203 - hey that is one of the four possible answers!
scale=5
288/40*29
208.80000 - but not the *right* answer....
Comment: Re:so? (Score 1) 435
The average COBOL programmer is also much older than the average Java programmer.
Maybe, but I work with a lot of COBOL programmers. Most of them are young and very good. While it's easy, it would be an error to assume that age is good. I have stared in horror at a fiftyish COBOL contract programmer displaying such blatant incompetence that we evoked a firing on the spot (in reality it took a few weeks). We think the person in question had no computer experience at all, but had been placed by the contract agency after a week or so of COBOL and nothing else . . .
Comment: Re:This isn't the first time... (Score 1) 1167
The Feds didn't like this...specifically for their contractors...the guys just plain worked too much.
Well my employer will not pay me overtime unless my boss says there's work to do that for some reason merits overtime! If he doesn't, I can stay late all I want, but I won't be paid a cent more. Is the federal government different somehow?
Comment: Re:From experience... (Score 1) 275
Very true, except you don't need a horrible commute. Having telecommuted for years, I think you have to have a clear disconnect between work and home. I have a five-minute drive (or a really relaxing 30-minute walk if I feel like it). It's long enough to make a real break, and that's all I needed.