Letters to the Editor
dawn
Published Letters: 13 Editor's Choice: 1
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Lucky Louie
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I also gave up on Lucky Louie. As Jay said, it is just not funny. It is not that I'm a watermelon-slicer. Our last family reunion ended with my sister and I yelling at eachother about incidents 30 years ago. But I have no doubt we could write a funnier show than Lucky Louie.
My favorite show to watch marathon-style on DVD is the BBC verison of 'The Office'. That is the most addictive show I have ever seen. Even if I think I'm going to stop watching for a little while, the theme music pulls me back in. That 'Handbags and Gladrags' selection was sheer genius, like the rest of the show.
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Racial Problems Solved?
[Read the article: Awkward discussions of race and Obama]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I was most struck and dismayed at Simon's assertion that Obama's election would somehow be the sign that all of America's racial problems were solved. Talk about a stretch. If that would be the conventional wisdom - electing one black president wipes the slate clean - then I almost hate to see Obama win.
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Another Lifestyle Choice
[Read the article: Sexing up computer science]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think the idea of changing the prerequisites for computer science degrees makes a lot of sense. I went to college in the mid-70s when computer science majors were few. I majored in psychology, but took a couple of programming classes and have been a programmer my whole career. If I had had to emphasize math or electrical engineering I would never have entered the field. I am never going to write an operating system or invent a new language, but neither are at least 90% of the other programmers employed today. The vast majority of us work developing applications, the design and implementation of which can be learned by anyone with a decent education in any field. Areas of specialty can be taken as a major or, as in my case (flight simulators), are learned through experience.
But I think the main thing that holds girls back from pursuing this career in the first place is the thing that has driven many women friends of mine from it, and that it that it is very difficult to excel and still have a ‘normal life’. Even though it is actually quite possible, and even preferable, to write good code during a reasonable 8 to 10 hour work-DAY, the dominant programming culture (male dominated) dictates that you ‘work’ a lot more than that. I have found that most of this time is used very inefficiently, but when you try to stick to normal working hours, no matter how productive you are compared to the guy in the next cube working until 2 am, you are not looked at as a ‘team player’. This culture prevents women from having the kind of social life or family life they prefer. Also, at times there are good reasons, such as equipment sharing, for needing flexible employees willing to work evenings, nights, and weekends. Many women are unwilling or unable to work these kinds of hours.
I’m not willing either anymore. I recently left programming for a 9am-6pm job in systems analysis with evenings and weekends off. I do miss the creative joys of programming, but I love the time off. I got a life.
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CA involvement
[Read the article: Building the stonewall]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I read Drum's post, in which he also included a little walk down memory lane to remind us what was going on in the pre-911 days of the Bush presidency. He did not mention the big story in the news at that time, the California energy crisis, followed closely by the Enron meltdown. I think you are excactly right to link these two things to Cheney's secrecy, whether or not there was anything sinister going on at the energy task force meetings.
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Cupcakes
[Read the article: National Review's new tough guy, Mark Hemingway]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I suggest calling the fake-machos 'Cupcakes', in honor of Camp Cupcake, the base Bush visited on Labor Day.
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Cupcakes clarified
[Read the article: National Review's new tough guy, Mark Hemingway]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Just to make it clear, Camp Cupcake is the nickname bestowed on the base by the Marines themselves to denote its nature as a cushy, safe place to be. Just the place for these types to go and then be able to say 'I went to Iraq'. Jonah Goldberg would love it.
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All iPhone users not crybabies
[Read the article: If you care about your rights, don't buy an iPhone]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]All iPhone users are not complaining about this. I'm sure I am not the only one who has chosen not to hack my iPhone for this very reason. Apple has a contractual obligation to ATT to do whatever they can to prevent hacking, just as they have an obligation to honor their contracts with music companies to limit the distribution of music sold on iTunes. We have no way of knowing the penalites Apple would face if they did not live up to these obligations. Is Apple supposed to risk the whole business to satisfy hackers? That would be absurd.
Anyone with any software experience knows that changes made 'off the reservation' with no configuration management run the risk of being incompatable with future officially released changes. Even if they wanted to Apple could not coordinate their firmware changes with those of the widespread hacker community.
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Free campaign advice - a good Hillary response to "B-word "
[Read the article: McCain raising funds off of "B-word" incident]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I would love to see her say, in the debate tonight, with appropriate tough attitude:
I saw one of Sen. McCains' supporters called me a b****. Very insulting - for future reference, that's SENATOR b****!!!