Google is an aberration. I work with many different companies, and the average age can vary greatly according to culture. Google has a very young average age, heck I think half the males there can't even shave yet. Startups also tend to be very young. But then go take a look at medical technology companies. A much higher average age. Animation studios: very young. Petroleum engineering: higher age. Financial trading: somewhere in between. Military contractors: much older. Other miscellaneous companies I've seen have also ranged from the very young to long in tooth.

I am talking about the SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS in these companies.

I think the two factors that push the average age downwards are: 1) The trendiness and hipness of the company. Kids want to go work for Apple and Google, and not for IBM or Oracle. Older workers shy away from these because they feel uncomfortable. Then there's 2) the cultures at software companies that emphasizes newer languages, technologies and platforms. "Newer" being relative of course.

I used to think that too, until week before last. I'm a literature major who couldn't make it past second semester calculus. Until week before last I never needed to do any math in programming beyond arithmetic.

Then I landed on a project involving OpenGL. There's a heck of a lot of math there, and a lot of math/graphics jargon. What makes it even more frustrating are all the tutorials for beginners that assume you've majored in math and never bother explaining homogeneous coordinates, frustrums, etc. Almost as annoying as they're assuming you already know the syntax to glsl. I am good at geometry, and could write very complicated POVray models, but OpenGL has been kicking my butt due to my lack of linear maths.

When all you have is HTML/CSS/JS/AJAX, everything looks like a webpage.

My big gripe is Konqueror always losing cookie policies. It seems that every time Konqueror crashes it loses all cookie policies. It's like it deletes the rc file on startup or something. This wouldn't be quite so bad if it were not the fact that Konqueror crashes ALL THE TIME! I don't care how crappy the page or the plugin is, crashing is an unacceptable response.

I should be able to reject all cookies from a site ONCE, instead of having to tell Konqueror over and over and over again.

Unfortunately, the problem with economics is that it has TOO MUCH math in it. Or rather, it has too much math misuse.

There should be a large amount of statistics, but little calculus. That's because we're dealing with human beings and their obstinate free will. So much of modern economics is about making assumptions so that you can start applying some math to the problem. But the assumptions are often unwarranted, like micro's assumption of "perfect knowledge" that can only exist in a fantasy land.

Yes, you're going to have to do a shitload of math to get a degree in economics. But you shouldn't have to. Economics is not a hard science like physics, and should not be treated as such.

Okay, if the NSA is necessary, then we can get rid of the CIA, right?

Wouldn't it just be easier to abolish the NSA?

I would really like to learn higher math. For some reason it hit a brick wall at integrals in college. Took calculus twice, had to drop out both times. I just don't feel like a real geek without it. I've watched the "calculus in twenty minutes" video, and it's good, but it's just not the same as really knowing it. It's twenty years later, and the trig/pre-calc is extremely rusty, so it would take quite a bit to get back up to speed. Oh well. I'll live.

I love government inefficiency. It slows down the works. It's the next best thing to gridlock. When it comes to infringing my rights, taking my money, regulating my conduct, and snooping into my affairs, I want the government to be as inefficient as possible.

Do you guys really want the USPTO cranking out fifty thousand patents a day?

I got modded down as a troll. I'm sorry. You're right. We should all do what our masters tell us to. Can someone please mod me back up? I won't question my city council's received wisdom ever again.

It's a complementary color scheme. It's hard to get right, but it's very common. Although purple and orange aren't complementary, bluish-purple and yellowish-orange are.

... the law requires 40% live ground cover, so they should be given a citation.

All hail the Supreme Wisdom of the local lawmakers! They are wiser than us! They are better able to live our lives than we are ourselves! Whatever they say we must do without question! Do not question authority, worship it!

At least Barr has publicly apologized for several of his votes while sporting the R suffix. The insistence that the Libertarian Party only run immaculately conceived candidates is what keep them at the 0.5% of the vote level. When the Greens and Libertarians have a chance of winning office, then perhaps it's time to start worrying about their past lives. But until then a vote for McKinney or Barr would have sent a sent a message that the bozos the D and R parties put on the ballot are unacceptable.

Exposure to installed asbestos is safe. One time exposures to particulate asbestos is also reasonable safe. It is only repeated exposure to particulate asbestos that is a problem. People who have to deal with asbestos removal on a regular basis should be concerned, but if you're a homeowner who discovers asbestos in your textured ceiling, don't worry about it because you are safe.