Let me get this straight, we can't joke about any crime where anyone gets hurt? Remember Woody Allen's funny scene where he tries to rob a bank but his ransom notes says "I have a gub?" How about in Raising Arizona where he robs a convenience store for diapers then ends up having to flee on foot from the armed cashier, the police, and a pack of dogs? I guess these aren't funny because bank and convenience store robberies are serious and dangerous problems. I shutter to think how lame the world becomes if all humor has to be so bland not to offend anyone. Also, are victims of smartphone theft even bothered by this add? Has anyone actually asked them or are we on such a quest to not offend that we needlessly self-censor ourselves?
Posts by Art Deco
4 publicly visible posts • joined 8 Jan 2013
'Please, steal my phone' TV ads by T-Mobile US slammed by legal eagles
Handwriting beats PowerPoint's teaching power says MIT boffin
Friday 12th April 2013 15:43 GMT
Lectures
I only taught a few college classes but one thing I observed is that students have short attention spans. I was most successful when I alternated between lecturing for 10 minutes at the whiteboard and putting the cap on my marker, waking away from the board, and telling an amusing observation or anecdote related to the subject or encouraging questions. I think 10 minutes is about the limit of most college student's attention span so alternating between intense lecture and leisurely discussion worked best.
There are few things worse than professors reading power point presentations or simply reading the lecture notes they handed out to the class.
Friday 12th April 2013 15:42 GMT
Re: Degree of difficulty to decode
Legibility is actually a complex issue. Different fonts have different advantages depending on the situation. Bell Centennial is the font used in US phone books and was designed to be legible in very small sizes yet be tolerant of high speed printing and low quality paper; that is smuging, feathering, winnowing, etc. In my Atari 800 days I even had a font that allowed 80 columns on a TV screen though it took some practice to be able to read. In the case of education, visual interest is important. A font that is pleasing to the eye can help engage the reader. There are fonts that are legible in extremely small sizes that are frankly ugly and jarring to look at.
Legibility should be an aspect of fonts rather than a goal. A font should be beautiful to look at yet legible enough for its situation.
Which qualifications are worthwhile?
Tuesday 8th January 2013 17:04 GMT
Re: Don't bother....
Anonymous Coward: I'd stay there. I've worked in IT all my life and this golden, plush future with endless pots of cash is crap.
Well, the 1990's were pretty good. I remember getting big raises and bonuses every year and calls every week from recruiters trying to steal me from my current employer with promises of more interesting work and/or more money. The years leading up to Y2K, management was throwing money at IT like never before. I expected to retire comfortably by the time I was 50.
Then early 2000 everyone discovered that they had more computer power, storage, and bandwidth than they needed and since we upgraded all the hardware and software preparing for Y2K that there wasn't enough work. Management no longer looked at IT as a resource to invest in but rather an expense to be cut. Most shops fired half of their IT staffs and used the threat of pink slips to get the employees who remained to work harder, longer, and for less money.
IT was a pretty good ride in the 90's but now the party is over. I managed to stay employed but I haven't had a raise in 10 years and now I'm under so much stress and so overworked that it is straining my family life and ruining my sanity and health.
I feel thoroughly stuck. I'm too close to retirement to realistically change fields but IT is getting to be such a drag.
If IT is what you really really want to do than go for it. As I like to say, no mater how crowded the field there is always room at the top. If you want to get into IT for good pay, nice work environment, and a good career/life balance than you are probably barking up the wrong tree.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
