As cool as the song is, pity: it's been used by Rush Limbaugh for years to make cruel fun of real homeless people.

It's funny how defensivly hostile the brass gets when issues like the truth come up. They will go on for hours about military standards of truth, and how truthful they must be because they have high standards.

I learned from the Vietnam war's "five-o-clock follies" that military brass will tell falsehoods without reservation.

But, as with the police, our system won't work if they lie, so we pretend that we trust them and they pretend to be trustworthy.

Most people get pretty irate when you ask them to define their words more precisely. ( "You're just arguing semantics," as if semantics were unimportant. )

The trouble is that most people pay little attention to the language they swim in.

Good scientists and engineers share an expectation of precision of thought, evidenced by clear semantic boundries. It's exasperating trying to talk about deep, nuanced or complex topics with someone who uses words like paint rollers.

The very best programmers are quite linguistically clear. Read RMS for an object lesson.

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also, corporate language encourages ambiguity and discourages clarity. This is a problem.

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..... and PERL is the creole inner-city patois pidgin slang of computing. Bon appetit!

DEAD-ON-RIGHT:

Kip Leitner about the need for a common language/semantics. Too many people assume you understand what they mean, and few people have the confidence to press for more clarity.

lee_sf about lots of P.M. to developer communication time. Communication takes time and courage, and many managers are too lazy and/or cowardly. ( having both is a trademark of the bully manager. )

Having a manager who actually does their job is a joy.

CYNICAL-DEPRESSED-OVER-GENERALIZED-PSEUDO-WISDOM-FROM-PROGRAMMERS-WHO-SHOULD-HAVE -CHANGED-FIELDS-LONG-AGO:

you know which writers belong to this set. Pity them, regardless of the size of their banks accounts. To avoid becoming them, leave bad projects early.

RIGHT-BUT-OFF-TOPIC:

roGER about programming not really being creative. Creativity is a sales pitch to fill a programming job, or a conceit that some silly coders have. Of course most programming work really is more engineering then research or art. It would be better to have an engineer's approach.

But when you say:> "if the software engineer tells you something is unique or has never been done before, tell him (it's always invariably him) that he's a liar."

There can be so many possible combinations of features/functions that even though the steps have been done before, the particular sequence in question might not have been done.

Or the programmer might not know about the prior art. ( sic :)

Or it really might be new. ( hard to believe, but a few new things are done each year.)

BULLY-MANAGER-FROM-HECK:

- SR. knock that chip off your shoulder, eh?

I'm sure you've kicked enough workers asses to feel justified in your "sure-fire" approach, but you're not adding to the knowledge base here; you're just pounding your chest.

INSCRUTABLE-ENCRYPTED-HELLO?:

david sugarman. Not to be snarky in the least but, what the heck are you trying to say?

WHAT GIVES ME THE RIGHT TO PRONOUNCE SUMMARY JUDGEMENT ON OTHER WRITERS?

Confidence. That and a decent suit can get you a job bossing others.

Impeachment isn't mean to punish a President. Being President isn't a right, after all.

Impeachment is meant to stop him from punishing us.

This is getting pathetic. We think the only "viable" candidates are the ones the media talks about because these candidates the only ones who get the media talking, and we expect the rest of the nation to be so unconcerned and unserious that only a "buzzed" candidate can win, right?

Well we wouldn't need to worry about campaign finance reform if we would just rip our eyes and ears away from the "Boob Tube" and start thinking for ourselves.

And stop being so concerned about "viability." This is one way we get spun into thinking the way others want us to think.

Golden Boy sez the truth, Islamic terrorism is well funded all right, but not by regular working Muslims. Islamic Terrorism is funded by George Bush's patron saints; the Saudi Royal Family.

George Bush, working hard for the Saudis, NOT the American people.

Right on,Jimmycarl, that's what I thought when I read this; are media heads are so stupid as to think the President can dismiss the Vice President?

What's funny is that the people who dis marijuana smokers with snide comments like "I prefer reality" are the same people who think we found WMDs in Iraq.

Attention blind, insanely naive people on the left: Just because large numbers of us are furious with Republicans, it does NOT mean we won't vote for them if the alternative is Democrats.

Carly, you may be a very nice person, but you're cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Nice people with "good hearts" may make good neighbors, but voting on that basis is foolish.

Not to draw too fine a point, but it's well known that the evil one, ( Adolf Hitler, who else? ) was in person quite a nice and pleasant man. George Bush certainly would have given him the "good heart" seal of approval.

The evil one's history of underhanded and devious actions were a better voter's guide then his sincere charm.

"It's possible that bitching about the way the iPod has changed the way I listen to music isn't a legitimate gripe about the iPod at all."

Oh come on, it's the only gripe with beef you offer; much more legitimate then consumerist whining about features.

A society that respects only commercial arguments is pathetic.

It's too bad that our most noteworthy technical accomplishments of the recent past are cheaper tools to entertain the masses.

but would like you to think they're making some kind of deep intellectual journey.

Pop intellectuals are shallower then they seem.