I hire programmers, and frankly at this point I am more inclined to hire an older programmer than a younger. The issue is about focus and discipline. Of course there are lots of young people who have learned how to focus on something for more than 30 seconds at a time, and I'm sure there are also some that have the self discipline to organize their life in ways that make them the most productive. But wisdom comes with age and for my particular management style someone who is self propelled and who has these qualities is desirable.

I think your only issue is going to be one of experience as you go forward with other job prospects. You'll just need to stand on what you have learned as someone who takes their career seriously, and is paying attention.

Aging parent who just wanted to e-mail her friends and write about her family tree. With the Windows laptop it was about once a week. "Do I right or left click on that?" "Outlooks says something about an error" "I forgot to shut it off last night, did I break anything?"

To iPad. I never hear from her now. People just don't understand how mind boggling awesome an iPad is for people who are not computer literate. iOS may have saved me from defenestration.

It really depends on your use case. Since the question was what I would change, my answer is nothing at all. I've probably had more than 20 "portables" over the years ranging from a suitcase-sized NEC with a gas plasma display to a Toshiba smaller than modern-day tablets. But the Apple Air (13") I have right now is completely perfect for what I want it for. Weighs almost nothing, has a wonderful display, the 128GB SSD is lots as I store most of my data in the cloud, battery life is pretty much all day long (had lots of meetings/workout sessions where I didn't have to fight with everyone else for the few power jacks in the room), keyboard is very good (and backlit), strong Wifi, runs cool and quiet, and sits stable on a desk despite it's size and weight.

I suppose if it had a built-in cellular data radio I would be happy with that, but it is rare that I need it and when I do I use an LTE USB modem.

The National Post has an excellent graphic of the worlds nuclear stockpile that helps to put things into perspective.

Totally correct, and thanks for replying. I was thinking of the airline industry exclusive of the actual flying of the plane. I have nothing but praise for the pilots and for that matter the air traffic controllers. I can remember a time when it wasn't uncommon to circle an airport for 20 minutes before landing. That just never happens now.

Re: Hard landings. Landed in Las Vegas on Sunday and actually bounced. First time for me. No complains though, no way in hell I could do it...

Let's face it. The reason people drag all of their worldly possessions with them as carry-on is because we don't trust the baggage handlers to not destroy/steal/lose our stuff. I see this every time I fly. People don't actually want to lug a 49.9 lb wheeled bag onto the plane and then try to find/lift/get help to put it in an overhead compartment.

The carry-on problem is being caused by the baggage problem. If you solve the baggage problem, TSA security would be checking small handbags or pocket change not hockey sticks, LAN party servers, thirty pairs of shoes, etc.

Oh, and charging people for checked bags is making the problem worse, not better. What is it about the airline industry that has made every decision maker involved utterly stupid? The only aspect of air travel I can think of that doesn't operate in a wrong-headed way are the mechanics who keep the planes from falling out of the sky.

{rant/}

I notice they do not include a picture of the wireheaded rats (only an artists impression). Probably wise. While I for one believe that the advancement of science to be the greatest height to which a rat could aspire, I have a feeling that others (and possibly the rats) do not feel the same way.

Not hard.

How do I change my Apple ID

You can also change the e-mail address on your Apple account. No loss of your previous purchases.

I think I would do this on anything where they had my CC info on file. Then pick a strong password for both your old and new e-mail address and wait for them to go away.

Yes, poor name, but the BBC recently put together a decent documentary about Hacktivists amongst other cyber security topics called The Hackers. Nothing in it may be news to you but it may be a useful resource for someone you know who doesn't understand the point or how it is done. True to the documentary form, they spent most of it on interviews with the people involved.

You didn't say what version of Windows you were running, so it's tough to tell what might be available to you from an accessibility standpoint. On the Mac you can invert colours, use greyscale, and alter the contrast of the screen as well as cursor size (in addition to the typical colour schemes, display brightness, etc). It sounds to me like you may be facing an uphill battle if you are trying to do this outside of what the OS supports directly.

Too bad you can't go anywhere...

One of the benefits of government-run everything is that big infrastructure is easier to mandate and implement. The downsides are, well, freedom...

So, I am not a big Eve fanboy (even though I do play), and I have criticized it publicly here on slashdot before (as SimCity in space (which has limited appeal)). And I would love to have good competition in the genre. But (and not to try to be an asshole here), your description of Eve misses the mark of what it is and if the concept you describe has put you off it may be you've misunderstood it from the outset.

You've probably heard it described as a sandbox. That is what it is. I've never seen a 1k x 1k battle, and frankly I've never seen more than a half dozen ships duking it out at a time, and I have never participated in any such battles of any size. What you do and what you see is your choice (that is the point). Elite (the original) had the concept of the sandbox insomuch as there were markets and systems and what you did in the universe was entirely up to you. I hope the games are similar in that way. The point I was making about the OP's remarks was where that sandbox breaks down, and my supposition is that Elite will put limits on the sandbox out of necessity because of the game mechanic the OP was espousing.

You do not ever have to grind in Eve (unlike most MMORPGs which require it to progress). In terms of ability Eve progression is done in real-time (the longer you are a subscriber the more you can progress), but again, in what skills you progress is a decision you can make for yourself. There is no "dps/tank/support" tracks and you should really choose just one or you're going to be lame, etc. There are hundreds if not thousands of skills and they affect how you perform in whichever of the hundreds of ships you choose to pilot, or industries you choose to get into or occupations you try to excel at.

It's not a grind, but it *IS* another job... :)

Is Elite going to excel at gameplay and also at the sandbox? I hope so, but I fear the challenges are huge. I agree with everyone here who has said that it is not enough money (or time). Eve is still working at getting the balance just right and they've been doing it for 10 years.

Wow. Two comments about this.

1. If you are saying they are two different games so they will appeal to different audiences I'm afraid you may be mistaken. Eve is very much based on the work that came before it (Elite, and Homeworld) and that particular genre of game is going to (and does) appeal to a very specific audience. Elite is going to be competing with Eve. If it can't, then it will die, and no amount of hoping it's something different will change that.

2. Eve (if the developers are to be believed) has the rolling dice mechanic you sited for practical network bandwidth, latency, and rendering reasons. The idea is that the client knows the parameters of every ship in the game and knows what commands are given to every ship and only transmits those commands to all of the other clients on-grid which subsequently renders them correctly. What Elite wants to do is allow you to fly the ship free-form. Fine, but that is a lot more information to transmit to each and every client on-grid (because you end up transmitting real-time coordinates). Good luck. Once Elite has 1000+ ship space battles with the mechanic you site as superior you may come back here and gloat. I suspect what you are able to do in-game will end up having to be artificially limited out of necessity and probably sold to you as a feature or design element.

I used to play Elite. I used to play Homeworld. I play Eve. And I sincerely hope to play Elite: Dangerous. But Elite will be competing with Eve for my monthly dollars, and they have some serious architectural challenges ahead of them.

"I've known people to not get promotions specifically on the grounds that they used too much of their sick time."

Without the context this phrase is not enough to base a judgement on. If a person is "sickly" meaning that they struggle all the time with illness then it is quite possibly the worst thing you can do to them to promote them into a role where they would either have more responsibility or were required to work harder. It may in fact kill them. For the employer it could mean that they just find it too much and quit and you would have to backfill their position. If your manager is making judgements about your work ethic based on statistical information about your sick days, then they are just a lazy, ineffective manager and should be fired by their manager.

"Some people literally cant afford to be sick, I.E. you don't work you don't get paid."

I pay my contractors when they're sick. In fact, I also give them vacation time that I pay them for if they are a long-term contractor. I want them to be healthy, happy and productive, not overworked and miserable. That just doesn't make sense.

I am a manager. Each year around this time of year I remind all of the people who work for me about the "I'm sick" policy. That policy is: "Don't come to work. I hate being sick, and if you give me the cold or a flu I'm going to be pissed off." I don't tell them they must work while they are at home, or that they shouldn't work while they are at home -- just like I don't tell them to brush their teeth or not. I expect them to use good judgement -- that is part of being a good employee. Being understanding and enabling your employees is being a good manager.

Good managers know their staff. If someone is not pulling their weight, you should know. If someone is putting in the extra effort, you should know. If you are making performance-related decisions about your staff based on statistics about their sick days you're a lazy-ass manager and YOUR manager should fire you. If you're working for someone who manages you like that, you should quietly start looking around.

IMHO, looking for the right job is as much about finding the right manager as it is about working in an occupation that you care about.

Caveat: If you are a manager and can't manage your staff properly because there is just too damn many of them, then YOU'RE manager is not doing his/her job... This is really simple, I have no idea why people find it such a mystery. People need to lead by example -- being a manager is not some kind of reward for a long successful career -- it's more responsibility and you need to step up to it.