patrick.net

I don't think firemen and policemen need more money from us. Don't they already get great death benefits from their respective fire/police departments? (I guess I'm speaking as a leftist - I can't help but think there are much more worthy and important causes than housing homeless pets and giving comfortably off firemen's widows more money).

I'm not at all surprised at the age discrimination problem. The reality is that for the vast majority of people, the ability to quickly memorize large amounts of new information drop off greatly after you're 40. It's made up somewhat by improved experience and (hopefully) work ethics. In addition, you just can't work 40+ year olds as hard, they have families.

It's not bad enough every stockbroker on both coasts and every looney tune w/ a "revolutionary e-mail search engine" is hitting you up, you need THIS?

I didn't mean to "dis" anyone with a real appreciation for opera etc. it's just that most arts that require THAT much subsidizing become dead arts. With the "b**mer death clock" ticking each passing moment might spell the end for the smphony as well?

When people mention "the classics" I just assume they're talking about Magic Sam at the Ann Arbor Blues Festival?

astrid,

Agreed on the "networking" thing.

We had a local sheriff (Damon Coates, great guy) break up a family dispute and took a "slug" in the jaw. What's weird, is that he *didn't die! Now he's disabled for life, is not entitled to a full pension and had lots of rehab. just to function in a wheel chair. There are cases where it's needed.

DinOR,

My understanding is that fire and police departments also give good disability benefits.

Obviously, if there is a real need for charity, then money should be going in and properly dispersed to people in need. But I see too many people who donate thoughtlessly, and their donations are really feel good self esteem boosters.

Astrid,

Cops and firemen actually don't have great benefits, usually. Depends on municipality and whatnot. But I like that those foundations give scholarships/etc, to kids who might not have enough to go to college because their parent(s) were hurt /killed in a relatively thankless job that makes us all safer.

And no, I don't have the stickers/license plates. They don't come in motorcycle size. ;)

SFBB,

In that case, you might want to look into veterans and veterans' families right now. They would certainly fit your bill.

(Though I would argue the safety part...but that's a leadership issue. American soldiers deserve better from this country)

astrid,

Oh no argument there! Why do you think we have so many Rose City officers on "disability"! Had Damon been a State Trooper or PDX cop he would've been well cared for. He actually just lost an election and his desk job so he was just another county deputy when injured.

SQT, welcome back. Can you write a thread with a sci-fi twist? :)

LILLL,

As far as Patrick.net's experts can figure the average flipper isn't aware of what a computer IS (let alone Zillow) as evidenced by their behavior.

There is no way I will give money to the homeless on the street. And I will never donate out of sympathy or compassion.

Charities should be highly focused on a cause. To me, it is all about reason and nothing about emotion.

It is much better to help education and medical research.

CB,

Ohhhh! Just like those "I Support Law Enforcement" bumper stickers at fund drives! (I'll take TWO!)

"There is no way I will give money to the homeless on the street"

Unless they're honest. I saw a kid in downtown Portland (all 6 blocks of it) with a sign that said:

"I'm ugly, nobody likes me and I need a beer"

A dollar toward your worthy cause Sir!

Ohhhh! Just like those “I Support Law Enforcement” bumper stickers at fund drives! (I’ll take TWO!)

Law enforcement is also something I would support. Especially those "keeping teens out of trouble" programs.

“I’m ugly, nobody likes me and I need a beer”

Huh?

If he said "I need a bear" maybe I would change my mind. Teddy bears are so cute.

DinOR

11-99 foundation costs like $1800 so I've never seen it on a Jetta, my favorite stickers says "If I say I support law enforcement, will you still give me a ticket".

I thought about marketing a ribbon sticker that says "Support the Chinese ribbon makers" instead of "Support our troops".

I thought about marketing a ribbon sticker that says “Support the Chinese ribbon makers” instead of “Support our troops”.

How about a bumper sticker that says "Bumper stickers are for loosers" :)

(I am perfectly fine with bumper stickers and will get some leter.)

He even suspected that I had weapon on me.

Washington state allows open carry, right?

I guess sometimes I do look intimidating, but probably only to idiots.

I guess sometimes I look like a harmless idiot, so people are quite nice to me.

I’ve pretty much given up my dream of becoming a fox/deer hunter.

I may still learn to hunt just for the experience. But my wife will let me hunt only if a can find uses for all the animal parts. That is difficult.

Perhaps I will just play laser-tag with bears.

"Bumper stickers are for losers"

One time I was at a stop light and there was this guy with a mid 70's VW Rabbit (spewing noxious diesel exhaust) and he had a bumper sticker for every bleeding heart cause on the planet.

So we're sitting there waiting for the light to change and I said "Hey dude, if you had a job you could afford a car that didn't rely on bumper stickers to hold it together!" (Wife slides further into seat).

Nice post SP. Not preachy, not judgemental, not condescending; a window into how another group might think.

Seems like a lot of money from Real Estate is moving into Stocks. I guess stocks are prepping for a big fall, wish i had money to short some stocks.

That was regarding donations, a few posters got in there before I finished.

But a 47 year old applying for a Ajax or ROR “senior developer” job stands almost zero chance regardless of how good they are.

Most Forty-something that has senior developer jobs get their jobs through referrals, at least that's the people that I know. I agree with Randy that it would be difficult to just interview and get these jobs, lots of hiring managers favor young single people than those that have families. Funny a lot of younger kids stay late but they also get to work late, and they don't stay late on Fridays.

SP,

If the lay-off's at HP's Corvallis plant are any indication I'd have to say no. Another town lousy w/newbie realtors.

I believe that is called “sarcasm”, not a chance to get away.

A friend told me that a cop asked his friend, "You were as fast as a plane. Are you a pilot?"

His friend showed him a pilot's license. The cop laughed and let him go.

Otherwise, being honest and respectful gives you the best chance of leaving without a ticket.

I got let go because I told the cop I had just come from Krispey Kreame. He thought it was funny. It was actually true.

He then told me to keep it under 80 to not draw attention to myself.

Gotta love California.

I usually drive near or below speed limit.

" I know how to use a TRS80 and took a lot of classes learning how to program in Applesoft Basic, but I don’t include the skills on my resume since I know that they are about as worthless as the ability to use or program Lotus products…"

I would include that somewhere at the begining in your resume ... summary section.

Such as ... "Since my first Apple 2e programming in HS (197x) I have been...."

I would have guessed that. You seem like a mellow dude who would rather not spread himself out on the street.

SP

There are others, and many I'm not sure about or wouldn't know about.

You can find lifer techs in all of the telcos and in many vendors in the telecom universe. There are usually a good number in banking in the big banks' IT centers. A lot of those are in SF, Chicago and NYC. Also in defense and security related companies.

The problem with the tech companies is often they're too dynamic, and end up spinning out old techs, and the workers along with them. Even so, there are a lot of older guys at places like Sun and Oracle, and increasingly Microsoft. But many of these guys grew up with those companies so it's not certain how that will all work out. Same thing in computer games; there are tons of 30 something and early 40 something game programmers, but we'll see how many are left after the next business cycle in games since most of these guys got into it after the last major cycle.

As a digression, a have a theory that India will not fare well when their gargantuan crop of techs ages. Their system will need to go through some traumatic liberalisation to rival the US' dynamic "flexible labor market". I rather think as all those workers age they'll demand enormous support and protections.

"5. Y!"

So your statement would be true for any company whose name starts with a Y...

For those of you who were as clueless as I was about the whole '11-99" thing:

11-99 Foundation License Plate Frame - Culture of Corruption?

Or the 'I support law enforcement' decals. That's the trailer park version of that 11-99 thing I guess.

A lot of those types of charities are scams BTW.

I believe the ticket was voided because I haven’t heard from the court since.

Go clear it up. You do not find out later that you have an outstanding warrant.