Posted on November 25th, 2009%
Being the father of a 4-year old has reminded me of the difficulty we all have with the concept of waiting. It’s hard enough for adults; it’s nearly impossible for kids.
In their defense, kids have the deck stacked against them. Patience is learned; some kids take a long time to learn it, and some never do. Kids have a poor concept of time, and of time differences. Worst of all, kids often seek instant gratification, the yang to waiting’s yin.
The actions of kids, and the language of their parents, has come to reflect the difficulty of waiting. Consider the following quotes, which every parent can relate to:
“Can you wait until you get home before opening that?”
“Please wait for your sister to finish before leaving the table.”
“Wait ’till your father gets home…“
As adults, waiting doesn’t get easier. We spend an incredible amount of time waiting. We wait for doctors, traffic signals, and commercials to . . .
→ Read More: The waiting is the hardest part
Posted on November 19th, 2009%
“Optimize your code for maintainability before optimizing for performance.” – Matthew Cochran, Microsoft MVP
So true… it deserves its place right next to YAGNI!
. . .
→ Read More: Technology quote of the Day
Posted on November 2nd, 2009%
I’ve recently started working with Outlook Redemption, an excellent alternative to direct MAPI calls. Some of the other devs on my team wrote some libraries that use it, complete with unit tests. All the code and unit tests run fine on my machine (VS2008, 64-bit Windows).
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. . .
→ Read More: The Visual Studio hosting process and 64-bit Windows
Posted on November 1st, 2009%
From the Wall Street Journal Online, Oct 30 2009: White House Data Shows 650,000 Jobs From Stimulus:
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration said Friday that the government’s fiscal stimulus program has helped create or save almost 650,000 jobs…
The new jobs figure — 640,329 specifically — represents direct stimulus spending through Sept. 30 on projects or activities…
[T]he reports cover only $160 billion of the $339 billion in stimulus spending that has occurred through Sept. 30.
I’m not an economist or a mathematician or a politician, but I can do basic math:
$160 billion divided by 640,329 equals $249,871.55 per job created or saved.
As a comparison: the median full-time salary for a U.S. worker was $27,756 in 2005 (source).
Why does it cost $250,000 to create or save a job in a market where the average worker makes under $30,000? Can someone explain to me . . .
→ Read More: Bad government: Spending $250,000 to create or save one job
