Comment In other news... (Score 1) 1
A poll of lottery ticket buyers indicate that a good proportion expect to win.
Comment Simple solution (Score 1) 473
1. Have congress declare anything delivered by the USPS to have the same legal protections as the mail it currently delivers.
2. Establish email addresses that correspond to physical addresses; issue digital stamps.
3. Profit
Comment Forget "good", let the fittest survive (Score 1) 495
I generally avoid the whole debate of review or not to review. My rule of thumb is, let them use their own method, be it with peer review or not; if they're shipping faster and profiting more, I have something to learn. So what about the manager that wants to promote best practices? My answer is, it is hypothetically possible to data mine for best practices. Of course, you aren't any good data mining, and you don't understand productivity yourself, so your observations about best practices are either anecdotal or hopelessly biased; in short, you're doing more distraction than good. Case in point, the latest greatest plan to make the programmers productive never does ship more software. Oh sure, it produces lots of great stories for which the boss can never cough up data, but never more software.
Comment I Agree (Score 1) 221
One of those old Chinese stratagems says "Let the enemy's own spy sow discord in the enemy camp". In this case, the camp is one's own mind. If you find yourself falling into this trap too often, better to ignore the cacophony.
Submission + - When Smart People are Bad Employees
theodp writes: Writing for Forbes, CS-grad-turned-big-time-VC Ben Horowitz gives three examples of how the smartest people in a company can also be the worst employees: 1. The Heretic, who convincingly builds a case that the company is hopeless and run by a bunch of morons; 2. The Flake, who is brilliant but totally unreliable; 3. The Jerk, who is so belligerent in his communication style that people just stop talking when he is in the room. So, can an employee who fits one of these poisonous descriptions, but nonetheless can make a massive positive contribution to a company, ever be tolerated? Quoting John Madden's take on Terrell Owens, Horowitz gives a cautious yes: "If you hold the bus for everyone on the team, then you'll be so late that you'll miss the game, so you can't do that. The bus must leave on time. However, sometimes you'll have a player that's so good that you hold the bus for him, but only him." Ever work with a person who's so good that he/she gets his/her own set of rules? Ever been that person yourself?
Comment Say NOOOOoooo (Score 1) 426
You have to understand, when changes are allowed five minutes from or after the deadline, then by definition it is impossible to be on time, no matter how great a job you've done as programmer. I don't stay late, and I don't do overtime. Period. As a result, I'm always on time (of course, I do get my part done on time). Is that counter intuitive? If you've been in the trenches, you probably understand, the problem is not technical, it's social. As such, all it requires is a little backbone on your part to solve it.
* Do yourself a favor, say no and hold onto your dignity. Any programmer who won't stand up for themselves is just asking to be a punching bag, and those sort of relationships turn the manager into something worse.
* It's just last minute nerves, they'll get over it. The change wasn't important anyway. No, it really wasn't.
* You won't get in trouble for not "taking one for the team". Deep down, the guy asking for the change knows the reason for being late is his fault. If it was a genuine problem, he was either unprepared or didn't think things through thoroughly. Anyone looking into it will see that it's his fault, and after all, it's his butt on the line. At this point, cognitive dissonance will kick in, and they'll either decide the problem wasn't so bad, or it's OK to be a little late.
* You won't get rewarded for "taking one for the team".
Comment I've got a better story. (Score 1) 1134
So now the self-promoting guy who spends his time writing blogs about how bad the smart programmers smell gets the job done better? Yea, right.
The article reads like a typical journalistic straw man. Strange cave dwelling programmer is rude, smelly, and not at all chivalrous. Bad programmer (if you're not convinced yet that our antagonist is bad, the story will add other irrelevant, and probably untrue details to help persuade you, generally by trying to conjure an image of someone that's done you wrong). Wouldn't it be nice to be rid of them? (duh!) *sigh*, if only they weren't so in with the establishment (a set up for bringing down the expert). Something happens to show that programmer was just mediocre (hooray!). The brave consultant/knight saves the day. And they lived happily ever after.
This story is pure rubbish. First of all, there are plenty of talented, polite folks that bring the whole package to the table. I don't claim to be one, but I am fortunate enough to work with a few. Also, the consultant rarely succeeds in doing anything other than screwing things up while they firmly attach themselves to the money mammaries of whatever company they are milking.
Fortunately, the reverse story is generally true. Evil snake-oil consultant is latched on like a lamprey. Smart, humble, articulate, lemon scented programmer saves the day with a elegantly simple technical solution. Other programmers rejoice at their new found freedom. The new knowledge spreads through the technical ranks, elevating everyone's game.
One Billionth Halo 3 Game Played 50
adeelarshad82 writes "Bungie recently announced that Halo 3 has served its 1 billionth game. It's an important milestone which Halo 2 failed to reach. The billionth game was played at 6:36 PM PST last Saturday and lasted three minutes and 19 seconds. The total amount of active match time exceeds 64,000 years."
Frank O'Connor, director of the Halo franchise, also made comments recently teasing future Halo games.
Designer Babies 902
Singularity Hub writes "The Fertility Institutes recently stunned the fertility community by being the first company to boldly offer couples the opportunity to screen their embryos not only for diseases and gender, but also for completely benign characteristics such as eye color, hair color, and complexion. The Fertility Institutes proudly claims this is just the tip of the iceberg, and plans to offer almost any conceivable customization as science makes them available. Even as couples from across the globe are flocking in droves to pay the company their life's savings for a custom baby, opponents are vilifying the company for shattering moral and ethical boundaries. Like it or not, the era of designer babies is officially here and there is no going back."
How To Handle Corporate Blackmail? 675
An anonymous reader writes "I have been in a software engineering position at a large company for approximately seven years. Recently, for a variety of reasons, I accepted a new job working for a local software company. I have given my employer three weeks' notice, instead of the standard two, as a courtesy.
In return, it has been implied that, in spite my record of above-average performance appraisals and promotions, I will be marked as leaving the company 'on bad terms' if I refuse to extend my departure date further. With only three weeks remaining, I am hesitant to rock the boat by contacting our HR department, but this concerns me and seems like an extremely unethical practice. I live in an 'at-will' employment state, so I know that they have no legal recourse to keep me. I am concerned about the references they could give in the future; having spent a large majority of my career at this company, I will be dependent on them for references to verify my career experience.
Has anyone ever run into this kind of situation before?"
Coming Soon, 250 DVDs In a Quarter-Sized Device 209
Several readers have remarked on a new technique developed by scientists at UC Berkeley and University of Massachusetts Amherst that has the promise of achieving storage densities of 10 terabits per square inch. "The method lets microscopic nanoscale elements precisely assemble themselves over large surfaces. ... Xu explained that the molecules in the thin film of block copolymers — two or more chemically dissimilar polymer chains linked together — self-assemble into an extremely precise, equidistant pattern when spread out on a surface... Russell and Xu conceived of the elegantly simple solution of layering the film of block copolymers onto the surface of a commercially available sapphire crystal. When the crystal is cut at an angle... and heated to 1,300 to 1,500 degrees Centigrade... for 24 hours, its surface reorganizes into a highly ordered pattern of sawtooth ridges that can then be used to guide the self-assembly of the block polymers."
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