I'm an electrical engineering grad student. My university combines electrical engineering and computer engineering into one department, where students can choose to be either EEs, CEs, or double major. The CEs get a lot more programming than I did, as I was focused far more on hardware as an EE. But the required programming classes I did take started us off on C, then assembly, then Cplusplus,then I eventually took electives in perl and python. Since this order of learning is all I've ever known, can anyone comment on what I may have missed like this? The whole thing felt very rushed in my opinion. Most of our programming clases revolved around programming PIC and AVR microcontrollers to perform tasks like a basic calculator, or a little keypad with passwords, or an led dimmer/pwm controller.

My widgets are not passing qual because of one bottleneck spec. This article says I should get rid of that tough spec. As an engineer in the semiconductor industry, this article's line of reasoning would get me fired. The widgets must be improved, not the standards lowered.

Is there an improvement to be made in software to rectify this?

I haven't passed the bar, but I know a little bit...

Opening line paying homage to JayZ, clever.

I feel compelled to weave through night traffic with this in my earbuds on my motorcycle. Preferrably through a tunnel.

All i can think of is robgronkow.ski

While i personally enjoy his standup, it can sometimes feel outdated as he is one of the kimgs of "and whats the deal with airline food" jokes, which are somewhat old hat and uninspiring for many.

While I'm not opposed to this feature, I also kind of like that this current system encourages people to take notice of users and who they are.

I mean I'm on chrome on my iPad right now...

While personally very entrenched on the apple side of the fence in terms of my hardware expenditures, I find googles approach to peaceably developing earnestly good design regardless of platform refreshing and admirable. Can anyone think of other instances of companies or firms that develop REAL quality content on a competitor's platform when said company also has its own competing platform (android) that it is trying to market? I tend to be a consumer that latches on to companies that "get it" and am curious to expand my base. This question is not meant to be limited to software.

One thing I like about this article, and one thing I would caution against:

-NotPhil chose a particularly good paragraph to highlight. As a twentysomething male NRA member raised in rural america, there is a large psychological mechanism that drives most of us- the idea that our particular skill and sense of responsibility with firearm usage makes us unique among the general populace. There is an elitist, superhero-like complex that is associated with that, where our hobby and our time has been devoted just so as to effectively prepare us for protecting the innocent in a crisis. Even if you forget for a moment the fact that this is probably a fallacy of hubris, there is still another problem... If everyone acted as a skilled protector, there would be many gunmen attempting to subdue the original gunman, creating a chaotic situation in which the initial agressor becomes startlingly hard to identify.

-One thing I would like to caution against... The author takes a leap in logic to which I cannot subscribe. He assumes that police training results in a greater firearm proficiency level than an average citizen. While possible, my experience is that the most impressive member of any gun club or range outclasses law enforcement by a staggering margin, and that a typical cop falls somewhere near the median in terms of accuracy and placement among the gun club regulars. Only those members of law enforcement that take on shooting as a hobby as well as a part of their work approach the level of the pure hobbyists.