curej

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, and then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Maybe I'm missing something. I thought you could do aggregations in Google Spreadsheets without using Fusion Tables?

Netbeans is my favorite Ruby editor, much to my own surprise. One thing I don't like, though, is how much extraneous autocomplete information it provides. If I'm in a controller and type the name of a model object and then type period, it shows a dizzying dropdown list of thousands of methods, including several hundred different versions of the "new" method. Maybe it's just me.

Recruiters are often the first victims in a downturn. So I would say the effect would be even more pronounced. Besides consolidation among smaller firms and layoffs of in-house recruiters, many independent recruiters have moved away from recruiting temporarily and may or may not return when the climate changes. This happened in the early 2000s also. The net effect is a dramatic drop in duplicated job postings on the major job boards which, to an outsider or a Techcrunch writer, is interpreted as a dramatic slump in tech hiring. As usual, statistics are easy to misinterpret depending on how willing you are to look beneath the surface.

Good point. There's been an increasing awareness of the ineffectiveness of the bigger job boards, of which Dice is certainly one, over the past year or so thanks to people like Nick Crocodilo. This may be as much or more a reflection of a long-term downward trend in postings on Dice and Monster, versus on smaller, more targeted job boards or more local ones like Craigslist. In their shortsighted attempt to feed on the fear and insecurity of their target audience regarding the economy and the job market, I would not be surprised if Techcruch has missed the opportunity to write about the more interesting but less obvious story behind the headline. Nor should I be surprised given the editorial style and attention-hungry focus of Techcrunch. Such a mindset tends not to produce a lot of thoughtful analysis for fear of losing the mass audience.

If they work in IT they have a much better chance of finding a job than anyone else does right now - because of the long-term trend of labor shortages in IT.

"The latest unemployment numbers for 2008 for computer software engineers is 1.6%...That's beyond full employment":

http://www.networkworld.com/cgi-bin/mailto/x.cgi?pagetosend=...

"The latest unemployment numbers for 2008 for computer software engineers is 1.6%...That's beyond full employment," says Josh James, Director of Research and Industry Analysis with TechAmerica. "Computer programmers' unemployment rate has gone up from 2.5% in 2007 to 3.7% in 2008. That's a sign that programming skills are easier to do from anywhere in the world. But the high-growth jobs include skills that are hard to send abroad such as systems integration and IT managers."

What's a good place to start learning about this, if you wanted to try it out? The site you linked to?

I have a suspicion I would suck at this or would not be willing to stick it through long enough to be successful - sounds like a lot of busywork - but I'm definitely curious to know more.

I was just going to make up the rules as I go along. I expect my users to exercise normal standards of good behavior or else incur my inevitable wrath :)

Besides, how am I supposed to figure out all the rules at the beginning. I don't know what direction the site is going to take even a month from now?

I understand your point but I'm afraid it requires me to make decisions about things before the paint is dry.

All very good suggestions. Thank you.

I've been trying to think of ways to illustrate the code in a graphical way but it's not really working for me. A conversational approach makes more sense. Thanks for all the tips.

There is some evidence of an unidentified OS being used internally at Google:

http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3788821

It would be interesting if it is actually Android. Could be a silver lining for Motorola now that they are focusing on Android single-mindedly:

http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/11/motorola-laying-off-thron...

I did some reading on this. Some practitioners claim they can bring about recovery of severe RSI in 3-5 visits. Does this sound realistic based on your experience?

I've had cross-fiber deep tissue massage (painful). ART sounds similar but I'll give it a try, thanks.

Found "(De)-Constructing Computer Guy" from a link in a Mike Robertson article. Thanks for the tip.

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_trai...

You are correct on both counts. I will consider how to approach these issues. Thank you.

Ah. Sorry. I misread you. Yes, you are probably right.

At my initial evaluation for my RSI problem, the physical therapist said she thought my typing/mousing was relatively inconsequential in light of my head-forward position, forward-sloping shoulders and asymmetrical back muscle development. She believed this had developed from poor posture and slouching while seated at the computer. I tried to pay attention to it but couldn't seem to translate my posture-in-my-head to my posture-in-reality. I considered using some kind of brace to try to hold my posture in check until I get used to a more upright posture but couldn't find anything that would be inconspicuous at work. The McKenzie book sounds very promising for my problem because it seems to address some of these undesirable physical developments that I have grown into from my computer lifestyle. I have already tried #2 although a lifetime habit of sleeping on my side is hard to kick - even on a low pillow I manage to turn onto my side. As for #3, I doubt I could manage to get permission to have one at work which is a pity because I have no problem paying for one and would like to try it out because so many people have recommended it. Thank you for pointing me to this book which I assume has helped you. I look forward to reading it.

I got kind of a chill when I read this. It hits close to home.

Interesting to hear that a chiropractor was successful for you. I've heard a lot of skeptical feedback on using them. The Pascarelli book is good - my physical therapist recommended it to me and the exercises were helpful (unfortunately I overdid some of the stretches and had to stop as a result - but I should probably re-incorporate some of them). Thanks.

I like it in theory but I find it hard to put into practice. I have very poor awareness of my body so when others recommend changes I usually feel like I'm already doing it the way they suggest. It's the same reason I sucked when I tried to learn swing dancing.

Yes. I'm constantly making adjustments but still have not hit on a comfortable setup. I think I need someone to monitor me while I'm working some day - or maybe videotape myself typing for a few hours.

You've obviously struggled with this a lot. A lot of ideas here to think about - some stuff I knew about but had forgotten - I have to keep churning this stuff over in my head and making different variations so it's good to think about what has worked for others. Thanks.

I do have very bad posture. Good suggestions - especially the workout suggestions - my trainer recommended those to me a year ago and I stopped doing them but it was probably a mistake. Those are changes I can easily make to my workout. The rest I didn't know about at all. Thanks.

Because of the auto-clicking software I use - and the fact that I only use trackpads - typing is more of an issue than clicking.

I do appreciate the offer but I have some psychological resistance to hypnosis - my mother has tried to get me to do it also but to no avail :)

The hand/arm stretches help but only up to a point. A lot of the tension I get seems to arise in the neck and upper back areas. I feel great when I get out of the gym or after a hot bath but I work in a pretty high pressure environment where I sometimes can't take breaks for hours at a time. Maybe that's the real problem. But I was hoping for a workaround.

Thanks, yes, I use Workrave and it has helped. But it's not a cure. I also use MouseTool (also free) so I don't have to click - just dwelling over an area causes the mouse to click. That's probably the biggest lifesaver I've encountered. I also use AutoHotKey to eliminate the alt-tab, ctrl-w and alt-f4 combinations which kill my left forearm. Another big help. As is Dragon NaturallySpeaking whenever I have to compose a long Word document or email. But, again, not a cure.

Not to be too demanding, but I'm wondering if anyone has found a way to overcome the problem entirely or if I should only hope for incremental improvements.