$14

The whole "40 years old" thing was never about the 40. That's just people labeling quickly. The reall issue is the "forty years old" thing. See the difference?

You're motivated to learn programming, you're motivated to program. So are 20-somethings. The issue with "forty" isn't the "40", it's the house, the family, the mortgage, the problems, the settling, the vacations, the health, the long hours, the weird hours, the focus.

You've already said that you were motivated, that your entire life was changing. Everyone's got some illness, but yours pushed you into programming, not out of it. I'm not saying that you were a charity case, but clearly someone saw that you used to be a very dedicated and hard worker, and simply needed a new focus for health reasons. So your illness actually worked in your favour.

If you play your hand correctly, you'll promote the fact that you're a responsible, mature, and dependable adult, and you'll easily beat out the younger competition.

The only reason that older programmers have trouble is simply because it's a industry with an easy burn-out. If you learned to program professionally when you were 20, and you became proficient at 25, and you settled into your preferred languages/toolsets/environments at 30, then by 35 you aren't interested in new languages and new techniques, none of which are better than the old ones but they are more popular.

For example, I fit that bill. I'm nearly 35, and I refuse to switch to new languages. I haven't even heard of half of the languages that you listed. So I'll continue with what I enjoy, the way that I enjoy it. In my case, it's my business, so no one's going to fire me. But over time, I'll lose more and more opportunities simply because my language of choice isn't being taught in schools.

At the same time, I'll eventually get bored with my same-old-perfect-techniques after, what, 20 years of doing them? That seems reasonable. And I really won't be interested in starting from scratch learning new ways of doing old things and being at the bottom of the learning curve again.

So that's when I'll likely choose to throw out absolutely everything and pick a different career. In my case, having already paid off the house and the car and such, I'll probably jump around through really weird jobs, because "I always wanted to do ..."

But in your case, it's all new, it's all fun, and you're right on the edge of the fore-front of the industry. That's your asset. That's where you can easily beat me too.

Why does anyone, outside of the computer industry, need to know any of that?

The basic components of a computer are the computer, and the keyboard. There may be a box under the desk somewhere, about which no one cares. They have a gas pedal, and a steering wheel. The car goes, and it goes in the direction that I steer. Everything else is optional -- including the gas itself.

Networking is a term that's meant nothing for decades now. The same document can be viewed from multiple computers. That's networking. That's it. No one cares about the speedometer networking with their brakes. No one knows what ABS means.

Software, unless you're creating it, buying it, selling it, or testing it is meaningless. Computers can do things. They can be upgraded to do more things. No one cares about the software in their car.

Proprietary vs open source is industry jargon. There are six types of each, and unless you understand all twelve types, the only thing you can do is get screwed by someone who does. This coffee maker takes coffee. This coffee maker only takes little cups and no one knows what's in the cup. This coffee maker takes these puck-like things. This one has more buttons. This one filters your cheetah-anal-coffee through tampons and the flavour really comes through -- by the way, that exists, seriously.

Just teach them how to read a computer screen in general, if they don't already know how two-dimensional rectangles can overlap -- it's a "three-dimensional-surface", a cool physics paradox. Then teach them that each rectangle is a scope, and how to determine which one they're "in" at any given moment, so they don't always start reading from the top left of the monitor, instead of the window. Then teach them how to explore any random interface, so they feel comfortable browsing drop down menus and lists of links and right-click menus. Then you're done. Let them explore. As long as they don't take out their credit card for anything ever, they're good to go.

Oh, I've done that. It's an interesting number. In my case, it's about $150'000 of stuff, plus the house -- the mortgage includes fire insurance on the house anyway.

But have you ever read your plan? Replacement's covered, but not clean up of the rubble. Carp like that.

So by the time it's all said and done, the insurance still doesn't cover everything. And some catastrophes have other solutions -- like holding someone criminally accountable in court. It's annoying but it's there. And some insurance companies don't make it easy to claim anything. It's annoying but it's there.

And at $10'000 per year anyway, if you house burns down once every fourty years -- all the way to the ground -- then it still isn't worth the insurance! After-all, half the value of your house is the land, and it didn't burn down at all.

So sure, if you've got six children who play with matches alone, and you do your own amateur electrical work, then you might want to mitigate your risk. But if you're a person like me, with a modern house, the odds really are in my favour.

And should everything go horribly wrong, I've got friends and family to help me out too.

I've said it for decades now. Each and every single piece of insurance or warranty or extended warranty is always worth having. Each one makes sense and each one is beneficial. However, all of them is a dumb move, for everybody.

Look at your entire year. Look at every insurance you have, and every warranty you purchase, and every extended warranty you purchase. There's a great chance that you're spending over $10'000 per year on such things as a household. Think about mortgage insurance, life insurance, disability, health, car, washing machines, computers, televisions, carpets, couch stains, kitchen appliances, toilets, furnaces. Travel insurance. Dental.

Yes if your furnace breaks, you'd rather have the insurance cover it rather than spend what could be $3'000 to repair the furnace. Absolutely. But you've spent $10'000 that year on insurance and warranties. $3'000 is smaller.

Yes, everything can go wrong every time. But do they? Are you really worried that you'll have $10'000 worth of damage each year every year? That's a pretty sucky year! Think about it. My tvision broke, I needed medicine for a month, I couldn't pay my mortgage one month, my dryer broke, my furnace broke, my air conditioner broke, my fridge broke, my computer died, and my toilet cracked. I had two car crashes. My third car was stolen; my watch too. Oh yeah, and I died.

Hey, you can insure every second of your life, and never have any financial risk for anything. But really, I don't think that was ever the plan.

There is a lot between the countryside and the megalopolis. That's why I said 30 minutes not an hour.

And moving away from heavily-populated areas doesn't negate the 95%, it stretches out the 95%. Most cities are built on the water, or at the river, or on an island, or around some natural geographical item that limits how big the city can actually sprawl. So it grows inwardly and upwardly. Spreading the population out solves this problem because it allows the growth to be arranged geometrically.

And eventually, when you've got that many more people, you move again.

Heh, 30 minutes north for you!

...and leave. There are many places in the world where these problems don't exist. Most of them are about a 30 minute drive east of where you live now.

you've stayed in a city that's growing -- in density. that includes people, companies, buildings, as well as laws, cameras, crime, and traffic, and pollution, and dirt, and homeless, and tax.

30 minutes east, you'll find the number of people that your city had thirty years ago. you'll find even fewer cameras. you'll find that the city's laws don't exist or aren't enforced. you'll find plenty of internet, movies, groceries, neighbours, schools, hospitals, and -- get this -- roads. you'll find much less traffic. you'll find your mortgage less than half of what it was, and your home twice as big. you'll find less competition for jobs, less expensive service for everything, and even gas will be 3% cheaper (I haven't figured out why though).

and you can still always drive back into the city in 30 minutes. oh yeah, and the train is express, and is likely faster than your current commute anyway.

enjoy sharing your city life with a few million people and those who regulate them. life's a lot better with 95% fewer humans. you get more life.

cool that an entire county can offset my sanctions. cooler that it only offsets me and 20'000 like me. even cooler that 90% of wind lose money.

but coolest of all? you don't realize that's a loan, to be paid back eventually. now you're another 2 billion dollars in debt. smooth move.

I've had no trouble refuting your arguments. You're certainly right about a cute little nickname. But a consistent alias that represents you globally across time means that you can't abandon your arguments later. Anonymous means you can. Anonymous means you don't stand beside your arguments.

I'm not lying about the $200'000. I own a business, and spend over $40'000 annually on U.S. suppliers. I also organize a car club of 150 members, planning trips for the group. Each trip typically has members spending $1'000 per person including gas and food. Easy math dude.

In December, I cancelled the trips to the U.S., directing them elsewhere instead -- to peaceful places without any terrorism in their entire history.

In January, I contracted new suppliers for my business, to replace the U.S. ones. By the end of June, I'll have transitioned 80% of my business. By the end of the calendar year, 100%.

Welcome to consequences. Your country has serious problems, and you aren't solving any of them. Not housing, not education, not science, not deficit, not violence, and not death in your streets. You don't deserve my support, and you won't be getting my money.

What have you done to improve the situation in your country? I'm saying that it's reached the point where it's your responsibility. Either fix it or leave. It's simply no longer acceptable. You've literally got children being torn apart in the streets. Whatever you've done hasn't worked.

I imagine that I'm not the last one to pull out of supporting your failing economy. You can decide how many people, or dollars, it'll take before you decide that people like me matter. But judging by what I've seen you do recently, I presume you'll just let your country go down the drain until there's nothing left. You already don't have any money left. I wonder what's next.

You mis-understand. I don't live in your country. And I have zero intent to do so. Your economy isn't exactly the greatest now, and you're about to lose my business dollars and my tourism dollars. I'm responsible for approximately $200'000 annual dollars into your country. And I'm taking them away from you. You don't know how to read -- which is a different problem in your country. I'm currently purchasing your product. And this will be the last year that I do.

And like I said, not the middle east. There are certainly worse places to live. And there are many way better places. How can you possibly tolerate this? How many times in the last year has your news network spent days covering a single violent event? It's time to leave. Clearly you can't solve the problem.

And you may want to not be anonymous when you make an argument. They carries no weight if you won't admin to stating them.

I said this in December, I'm saying it again. I'm pulling out. I'm pulling out all of my money, my business, and my plans from your country. You simply don't deserve my money.

Once again, "we'll find out who did this, and we'll bring them to justice.".

You seem to be satisfied by prosecuting terrorists. Congrats. Your people die, and you win afterwards.

This isn't a security issue. It isn't a safety issue.

This is a social, cultural, economic, political, or financial issue. And you aren't bothering to even try to solve it.

I don't need you. And I'm not interested in your business anymore. Quite frankly, I spent all weekend working on a really tough, really expensive project. And if I find out that my client's customer is among the dead in boston, I'll be very upset when they don't pay my bill.

I can't imagine how many of my hard earned dollars that I've spent on U.S. products and services wind up turning into tax dollars to fund your emergency services and bomb clean-up crews. It's really not worth it to me.

In december, I asked you how many children need to die before you decide that things need to change. And you didn't do anything, didn't change any laws, and seem to have totally forgotten. So now I'm going to ask a new question.

What needs to happen before you decide that your country just doesn't deserve to have you any more. What needs to happen before you decide to leave. What will happen before you spin the globe and pick a beautiful part of the world where no terrorist attacks, international or domestic, have EVER happened? When will you move?

You don't deserve my money any more. I realize that now. I'm not sure that you ever did.

If you can comfortably program something semi-decent in C/C++, Perl and JavaScript, then you've got the skills to learn any modern programming language within two days. That should be your aim. Forget about "having contingencies". You don't need them. You need to be able to learn them quickly. That'll do. As a programmer, you're able to learn. That's the skill you have. That's the skill you'd need. Add an older language, like assembler, or fortran, and there's no programming language that you won't be able to learn in a single day, and master in a single month.

If you're not actually working with the old e-mails, and you don't mind waiting a few moments to search them, just keep the raw e-mails, in raw transmissible e-mail format, and be done.

They are nothing more than a whack of text files at that point. And they are properly formatted with headers and everything.

Want to seach? Full text search and you're done. Want to search by subject only" Simple regex search /^Subject\:.*?cucumber/ finds "cucumber" only on the subject line (yeah yeah, header folding exists, this isn't a regex lesson).

Every e-mail client from the birth of the first one until the death of the last one support raw e-mail formats. And you can probably just pipe them all to sendmail and send them all again.

All of that said, I'm a big proponent of forgetting the past. Hoarding is consistent with many psychological problems.