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Comment Power tools (Score 2) 179

> "All the engineers with prestigious degrees scoffed at him at first. But now they're all doing exactly the same thing...."

Yeah, that's most peoples' reactions when they see that they can replace manual labour with a power tool.

The 'real world' of software development does not involve spending 100% of your time shitting out prototypes and toy projects in a 48-hour timebox, so those engineers with prestigious degrees (and even the ones without prestigious degrees) are still going to be the ones called in to build the whole house while this nitwit is stuck making cutting boards and step stools out of kits using someone else's tools at the local woodworking shop.

Comment Re:Premature celebration (Score 1) 162

> On the Electrify America chargers, apparently this can take weeks or even months to fix basically anything.

Anytime I think about Electrify America, I end up thinking about this station of theirs at the Taco Bell in Ellensburg WA... a couple years ago, that stop was the first fast charger you could get to coming out of the mountains heading east from Seattle (or the last fast charger going into the mountains heading towards Seattle, if you like), and every time I went through there at least 2-3 of the stations would be out of service. One time I had an hour-long wait because there was a whole line of people running through the one charger that worked. Folks in line were cool with each other but understandably disappointed with things. One lady said she'd rented an EV that weekend to see what driving one was like and the experience of waiting for an open charger basically ruined the whole thing for her.

Compounding the problem was even if 3 of 4 stations were down, if you got on Plugshare and said you charged successfully at that 4th charger then that was a positive mark for the site overall. The effect is you'd be looking at this site that has an 8.5/10 and thinking "ok, that's pretty reliable" and you'd never know otherwise unless you scrubbed through the comments on people's check-ins.

I've since moved out of the area, and when I passed by Ellensburg for the last time I didn't even bother stopping through - just went the extra 35 miles down to Yakima and used the EA chargers at the local Wal-Mart instead, which were perfectly fine... looks like Ellensburg has a couple other options now, including at the local Pilot. I've used Pilot's chargers a couple times on the east coast and they've been decent. The one I used last weekend even had a trash can and windshield wiper next to it, which is not always something you can take for granted...

Comment Whiplash (Score 5, Funny) 207

> Tasks that once took weeks now must be completed in days, with less time for meetings and collaborative problem-solving, according to the engineers.

Amazon, pushing RTO: you need to spend more time collaborating face to face with your coworkers!

Amazon, pushing AI: you need to spend less time collaborating face to face with your coworkers!

Comment Re:Sperry Univac 90/30 and DECSystem-20 (Score 1) 192

I was at Ramstein for a while in the mid 90s. Looking back it seems like we were pretty well equipped, had multiple labs with Windows 3.1/95 computers, DOS computers, a couple random Macs. I got a look at the network room behind one of the computer rooms one time, that was my first up-close look at rack-mounted stuff. They were using a Sun Microsystems server to host the school website and peoples' midterm projects from the HTML programming class.

A few years before that, before the internet took off, I was at another base in Germany and there was one computer room full of old NCR computers from the mid-80s and the other computer room was basically just the row of Apple IIgs computers in the library. Most of the classrooms had a Zenith 248 computer in them which I think was just a basic hand-me-down from Uncle Sam. Those things chirped every time you pressed a key on the keyboard.

Comment This meeting should have been an email (Score 1) 125

> A thirty second conversation can replace an email back-and-forth that goes on for hours or even days," Dell writes.

He then proceeds to not elaborate why that thirty second conversation needs to be in person and not just over the phone, or how he intends for that thirty second conversation to not be a fifteen minute digression about the weather or sports or what we did last weekend on company time.

The saying is "this meeting should have been an email" - nobody with actual work to do ever says "this email should have been a meeting".

Comment Re: Limited power to change working situation... (Score 2) 348

I have had this at the office for the past six months and love it. I know anecdotal and all that, but I switch between standing and sitting a couple times and have felt really good since getting this. I seem to have eliminated the mid afternoon sleepiness, and now I'm also much more tired when I go to sleep at night so can't make it through an episode of anything on Netflix. Feeling more energy through the day and sleeping really well through the night.

Comment Nothing is new (Score 1) 805

Since before there were cell phones, a subset of people have generally been rude and uncaring about their behavior in regards to those around them. As I now have an infant to care for, I am acutely aware of those around me and do not wish my child to disrupt anyone's dinner at the local sit down eatery, or wherever. There are people who don't care how loud their child screams and/or causes a scene, and this was the case before mobile phone were ubiquitous. I usually pick up the child and move him away from those enjoying their dinner or activity if there is a period of fussiness and/or noisiness. I treat my mobile as gingerly as a child, apologizing for any noise or disruption and excusing myself if something is pressing. However, the use of a jamming device is an even higher level of rudeness, and I see it as the equivalent of someone else attempting to discipline my child for me. Regardless of how poor I may be at it, it's still my responsibility. It's difficult to go around smacking everyone in this world that you may find rude or insulting without recourse. And there's still such a thing as asking someone politely to knock it off.
Security

Submission + - IT Security Salaries Expected to Rise in 2011 (securityweek.com)

wiredmikey writes: IT security professionals in the United States can expect starting salaries to increase in 2011, according to a new salary report released today. The guide suggests larger increases in base compensation expected in high-demand segments including information security related positions. According to the report, companies are hiring security professionals to help foil fraud, prevent network breaches and comply with new regulations, to keep confidential information safe and secure.

The salary guide also notes that in addition to specific job-related skills and capabilities, businesses are looking for professionals with credentials such as CISSP, Check Point Security Administrator (CCSA) and Check Point Certified Security Expert (CCSE) — these certifications are often a ticket to a higher salary over standard experience and skills.

Space

Submission + - Recently Discovered Habitable World May Not Exist (sciencemag.org)

sciencehabit writes: Two weeks ago, U.S.-based astronomers announced the discovery of the first Goldilocks planet circling another star: just the right size and just the right temperature to harbor alien life. But yesterday at an exoplanet meeting in Turin, Italy, Switzerland-based astronomers announced that they could find no trace of the prized planet in their observations of the same planetary system.

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