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In the author's specific example, the answer is everybody wants one of those cool security cameras, but no one wants to invest the time to learn some simple networking skills, such as using a router UI to find/assign an IP address... You can create a very nice system using a software package like Blue Iris so that your security cameras function with or without Internet access.
Back in the early 80s (pre-Blockbuster) there were independent video stores. They were great, because you could "reserve" a video for a night and they would hold it for you, unlike Blockbuster where you had to hover like a vulture by the return counter.... Anyway, back on topic, one of these independent video stores I believe was the source of several pirated movies as well, including a copy of "ET" filmed in the theater which was awful quality.
The average person's knowledge of routers and home networking probably stops just short of knowing how to assign static IPs, and definitely stops short of setting up a home VPN. If people knew how to do those 2 things, there might be less need to rely on "cloud" solutions like Ring. Blue Iris and a PC on the network is a great alternative...
Refreshing take on standups: https://youtu.be/2u0sNRO-QKQ?t=105
Exactly- if work doesn't pay, they don't get to play on my phone. I'd be willing to check work email sporadically, and it's unfortunate that doing so in any capacity means allowing an unknown admin "wipe my phone" privileges. Companies don't handle that stuff with any sort of finesse and mistakes happen. Ultimately email on a phone may be a moot point for software developers: We use more independent chat apps like Slack, no one worries about texting you, and it's hard to do anything really more involved than messaging without opening your laptop (which probably is provided by work).
you don’t know, despite living here since forever
A lot of tourists here in Memphis come to see Elvis Presley's house (Graceland), but many local residents have never been there, despite having some degree of connection to him. I met a couple from England on the street a few years back. They were eager to hear some stories about relatives and coworkers who met Elvis, but when asked about Graceland, I had to say 'Nope never been there'....
I think a lot of people just get excited about code for code's sake (vs code as a means to deliver a product) and get creative... It's not really a problem, unless your company culture sets up a natural conflict by highly valuing both knowing the latest shiny frameworks and also providing manufacturing-style time estimates to complete work...
I once worked at a place that reached DSL on the clock; no one understood the undocumented DSL (not even the programmers supporting it) but a few power users. I advocated re-writing rules in Python, using modern CI/CD techniques to allay fears of hard-coding. But it was too big of a philosophy change. The counter argument was "We don't want end users writing code!" but of course they were already writing code, just in a non-Google-able language...
Just like Disney World - they scan your finger print upon entry to the park. When you ask to opt out, they're like "Well you're going to need to step out of line over here and give my manager some information.."
Delta’s territory This feels like the opposite of the GDPR stories from a few months ago. Instead of all the "It's coming" hype and opt in agreements, the company just gets the info without a fuss...
When US and Japan car makers join forces:
The (Russo?) comment about multitasking brought to mind a discussion at work last month about AI taking over. I asked my younger 20-something co-workers if they had ever seen the movie "War Games".... One of them watched it and said he liked the movie, but when discussing specifics ("How about that big steel door in the side of the mountain!?") it was obvious he missed a lot of details due to multitasking. Netflix seems pretty smart in catering to this behavior, in that they removed on site reviews so just scan/skip/previewing a movie is the easiest way to see if it's good.
... and using a grill is often explicitly banned ...
Don't know if it is still the case, but last time I was in an apartment (early 2000s) there were also limitations for Internet and Television. DirecTV was popular at the time, I was the first to put a dish in a bucket on the balcony. The apartment managers said I had to take it down and use Comcast. Fortunately, when presented with a printout of the FCC rules they reneged and dishes started popping up all over the complex... Which didn't do great things for the brochure :)
I remember when these commercials came out, they seemed annoying - just corporate hype with nothing real. There was even a parody on some show (SNL?) that made fun of them: "Have you ever been seduced by your toaster? You will." Of course the real predictor from 1993 was Demolition Man: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnSIOlF132w
Yes, quality aside, the "stateful-ness" of tape is very useful. Using VHS is quicker to pick a show back up where you left off than DVD.
We had an odd thing in elementary school gym class - parachutes! We sat around a parachute on the floor, and the teacher would play a record (it was the 80s) that would tell us when to raise/lower our arms then swap places by running under it when it was above us.
Instagram-savvy version of the fake watches one sees being hawked on the sidewalks of tourist cities.
I bought a "Tagheuer" watch on the streets of NYC for five dollars. At a glance, it looked OK but by the end of a day's wear it had completely self destructed.
Removing this dongle is Apple's next "act of courage" :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_fvQpyuK78
More important than "big company" is the group of people you're working with at the big company. If you're working with some smart/motivated people and can avoid the management processes and overhead, it's a good combination of resources and autonomy. I worked in a group like this; we delivered projects and the managers stayed out of the way. They never said no to any training or software/hardware purchases. Then the bottom dropped out in 08....
Even without reading them, the books on my parents' shelves had an affect on me due to the wacky titles. They stuck in my mind and to this day, I can still remember them: "Blind Ambition" or "The Winds of War" or "The Greening of America" - seeing these as a kid caused me to ask lots of questions, i.e. who is John Dean and why is America turning green? :)
For a janitor, a non-compete would be ridiculous! As a software developer, it's annoying but survivable by switching industries. What's worse IMHO is a non-solicitation agreement. I worked at a business that was shutting down operations locally, and a bunch of people were leaving at all levels. One of the departing top execs wanted to hire our development team and we wanted to go. But due to his non-solicitation, he was afraid to even talk to us about any plans he had for at least a year. And by that time we all had to find other jobs...
This reminds me of a sci-fi story from a few years ago where people didn't want to own cars, since one just showed up when you needed it due to a combination of surveillance and fancy algorithms. Prediction:
Back in the late 80s, my high school had a decent number of programming courses which touched on logic, sorting algorithms, and so forth. But the most interesting course was with the Pascal teacher who also taught computer literacy 101. This teacher offered everyone who came to his computer club generous extra points. So he was able to fashion a very popular computer club with all the jocks/cheerleaders in attendance. Then [no joke] he would have us practice our social skills in talking to girls, etc while filming it on a video camera and playback on a projection TV for the group to critique.... Fun times!
Reminds me of a TV commercial from a few years ago: "Do you accept a collect call from we-had-the-baby-its-a-boy? No."
Don Draper said it best: "Do you want to build something, or help an accountant turn a dollar into a dollar and 10 cents?"
I can say from personal experience if Blackstone buys your company you'll be focusing on the second objective.
Once I accumulated so much rollover vacation time I decided "I'm not working Fridays anymore" which lasted for many months. I found out later someone had complained to my manager about this, since I was unreachable. That same company had experimented with a 7:30 - 11:30 schedule on Fridays (7:30 - 5:30 Mon-Thurs) which was great: you'd miss heavy traffic coming in and get a head start on every weekend. But someone in the field complained about corporate being unreachable and they ended that too.... The problem is the "flexible thinking" people always come up against the "Bill Lumberghs" of the world and everyone is pulled down to the lowest common denominator.
Ah yes, the Radar Range: https://youtu.be/uEywGpIt0vw?t=12
(That's Mike from Breaking Bad I think...)
Got so many praises from high school teachers for "typing" my papers, when in fact it was just faster to use WordStar on a 286. Cool article, wish I'd known about the double period note feature!
TL;DR version of this article:
1. Author complains her lazy nephew's approach to school (and resulting Political Science degree) did not result in a good paying job.
2. Author complains her other nephew's lack of a degree and previous chef jobs did not result in a good paying job.
3. Author advocates for community colleges, blames higher-ed for being "too rigid" for her nephews, and says how much better Germany and other European countries are at training.
Green boxes? Github graph?! Well heck I guess since the corporate dweebs weren't able to turn our craft into a commodity, we'll just have to do it for them. Yes, with kids you won't have as much time to hack around at the end of the day. But three generations from now everything you ever coded will be long forgotten, so kids are the better investment. (Pop quiz hotshot, do you know what your great-great grandfather did for a living?) On the practical matter of the original question, early to bed, early to rise...