Write a perl shell then, and see how it's received?

I've spent some time in jail and I agree....it's not fun. Definitely not a vacation. Also, when your in "jail", you are scared as shit because you don't know what's going to happen to you. You are still in the process of being arraigned, charged, and sentenced. "Jail" is not like the scenes you see on TV and movies of a bunch of laid back criminals playing cards and swapping cigarettes - it's shitting in a tin can with 20 other drunks and wifebeaters.

On the other hand, I have a relative in "prison", he's doing 2 years. It doesn't sound horrible. He's made friends, gets to exercise, and has alot of structure(which he needs).

Not arguing with the poster above, just pointing out that when they say jail is a vacation...maybe they are referring to prison, which isn't nearly as bad as jail. With the exception of things like maximum security, where you are kept in a cage alone for 23 hours a day.

The health problems I spoke about are because "boilermakers" are the people that work inside pressurized reactors in power plants. Alot of things to interact with your body in not-so-good-ways.

The others(pipefitters/ironworkers) I mentioned are just the health woes of your average working stiff.

In the Yukon(and the "north slope" of Alaska), rates are outrageous for electrical/welding/construction personnel, but the conditions are very harsh.

The increase in the northern portion of the USA is due to how powerful the influence of unions are. "Ironworkers", "Pipefitters", and "Boilermakers" are all unionized trades. When a company/contractor hires them, they know what they are getting. Being a journeyman of a union means several things:

1. You have 3-6 years of classroom training in your trade
2. You have 6000-12,000 hours of on-the-job training
3. You have all the applicable current certifications for your trade

In the north, those three unions have almost no non-union competition, and the rates are much higher.

In the south, there are alot of non-union companies competing with union trades, but you get shoddier results. I'm biased of course, because I am a member of the Ironworkers union(local 321).

Depends what you're doing on the ground. If you're welding pipe, about $2450 per week, and possibly an extra 400-700 weekly per diem depending who is hiring you.

If you're welding beams(non-pipe), about $1500ish per week, with the same per diem.

If you are welding boilers(which is more dangerous than all of the above in long-term health effects), you can expect $3500ish and up per week, with the same per diem.

Keep in mind those are just estimates where I live and work(Arkansas, Texas, mid-south), and if you travel north the rates go up nearly double once you reach WI & MI.

Your answer, it's called "welding school".

I can't be the only person hanging from a crane welding in new support beams on a bridge...also reminding myself to submit my kernel patches when I get home.

The pay by the way, is about the same. (30-50 for nubs, 50-100 for traveling pros)

We don't pay CS majors 65k a year out of school. You get less than half of that.

Reality is alot less comforting than your parents "computers are the future!" speech I imagine.

It does have it perks though, you will never put in a "hard days work", although you might have to press the buttons on your blackberry on the weekend.

I agree with you 100%. Banks I've worked with will hire Indian workers at 20k to network admin over 1000+ clients. That's a bare minimum 50k to a US worker. It's bullshit. I know about "hard times", but like you said, if it's hard times, then execs shouldn't be getting 7 figures.

Take is slow

damnit i can't stop! there is a "page 2" link at the bottom, but no page 3 =( and it's all in italian, but goddamn!

bwahahahahahahahaha.

..first one to register and create something like "seethebudget.com", mirror the gov page with forums, comments, and articles about specific parts of the budget - will be a millionaire.

Tons of folks logging on to bitch, moan, flame, and look at banner ads. Sounds like a winner =P

That makes far too much sense to ever pass. I don't know how our system can be changed without t

No, they are NOT programming languages. Don't ever delude yourself into thinking they are. A perl/python/ruby/whatever-you-learned-while-NOT-getting-a-cs program has no concept of memory management.

/agree

ready, it's got more work than any one human can pull off, and it's located at http://kernel.org/