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Xagest
02:34 AM

In reply to Black Friday Deals: The Only List You Need
Next year, you guys need to put this stuff in a spreadsheet...
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ninjagin
02:17 AM

In reply to Astronauts Sneak Turkey Into the Space Station
Funny, I always thought Jesus lived in Spain, where they make paella for Spanish Thanksgiving, a celebration of the historic meeting of a guy from Madrid who had a flat metal pan and nothing to eat, and another guy from Barcelona who had a lot of rice and seafood but no decent flat metal cookware. They decided to cooperate one afternoon and made supper together, but got into a heated argument afterwards. The guy from Barcelona beat up the guy from Madrid with his fists, until he was purple. The guy from Madrid beat up the guy from Barcel0na with a red-hot slotted spoon used to stir the paella, until he was striped red. Then they apologized to each other and drank a lot to forget their pain and each went home very plump but not feeling very good. This is the origin of Spanish Thanksgiving, and also why Madrid's scarf color is purple and Barcelona's is red striped. Most people never think about Spanish Thanksgiving, partly because it is overshadowed by pushy Americans with their inelegant sweetened squash and homely bean casseroles and common cranberry condiments and quaint ways of stuffing ducks inside chickens inside turkeys and all that, but it is a real holiday, as real as can be, and that is something we can all be thankful for.
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Jacubious
01:04 AM

In reply to How a Self-Educated HS Dropout Became the Youngest Manager at Apple
Part of it is finding a good opportunity. My current employer was able to look past my lack of training in the industry to see that I was a good candidate for the position. I feel fortunate that my boss hired me with that kind of perspective as it seems pretty rare.

And on the topic of university and education; if you can combine that thirst for knowledge in a good educational setting, it can be nirvana. Reading through the course calender is like walking through a Candy-shop as a child. Sitting in discussions about topics that have kept you up at night is an amazing experience. University certainly isn't for everyone, but there are good reasons it is valued.
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Edited by Jacubious at 11/27/09 1:05 AM Jacubious was starred Jacubious was unstarred

Benguin
12:25 AM

In reply to Stair Dismount iPhone Game Hands On (Verdict: Sadistic Fun)
I'm going to have to check it out. Is it the same devs as the original?

... also I'm sure you probably just forgot, but a mention of the price and a link the iTunes store would be nice. I wouldn't usually complain, but since that info is usually in these reviews I just wanted to point out the small oversight. Which for the record, it's $2.99 [itunes.apple.com]
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Edited by Benguin at 11/27/09 12:26 AM Benguin was starred Benguin was unstarred

Torley
12:16 AM

In reply to How a Self-Educated HS Dropout Became the Youngest Manager at Apple
As an intense autodidact who rarely finds my energy for learning eclectic topics (virtual worlds, electronic music production, procedural texture creation, domestic automation, typography, VHS artifacts, neuroscience, etc.) matched with a likeminded soul — but am exceedingly grateful when I do — this does look like a "wonderful read". I'll check it out further on Amazon.

James sounds like an exception, so this is definitely not applicable to everyone, but those who can relate (and may feel doubt if they're following the right path) will surely leap up and do *jazz hands* like myself. After all, exceptions are exceptional.

I give thanx, James and Gizmodo!
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stevewoz
12:16 AM

In reply to How a Self-Educated HS Dropout Became the Youngest Manager at Apple
We had a few other young managers without a college degree when we started.

I was thankful that HP let me design calculators because I had the ability to, even though I had no degree.

Getting that 'paper' does give you a place and time to develop and learn on your own at the same time.

And getting my degree later on gave me a place to identify myself with. It's like the 'paper' is a symbol of who I am more than testimony that I'm smart enough to do a job. It's something desirable for emotional reasons, in other words.
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dragon:ONE
12:05 AM

In reply to Gift Guide for Design Lovers
Only way I'd want a gadget case is if it was that fancy-pants new case Apple's using on their iPods for point-of-sale with the card swipe and barcode scanner on it.
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dagamer34
12:02 AM

In reply to How a Self-Educated HS Dropout Became the Youngest Manager at Apple
As great as these stories are, I think people seem to forget that the world was a MUCH different place 20-30 years ago. Might I remind you that 10 years ago, similar stories from Google and Yahoo! were from PhD candidate students, not high school dropouts.
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Dreamwriter
01:23 AM

@dagamer34: The world isn't really all that different. It's sorta different in that there is more competition for jobs right now, but that's a temporary state and a lot of tech jobs are still really needing people. And 9 years ago I got into my dream job as a game programmer with no college degree - I taught myself to program the Gameboy Color, made a demo game, and started interviewing around showing them my demo and discussing how I wrote it. Tech companies are smart, they know that a degree is less important than actual real-world experience.

Heck, I still don't have a degree - I've used all my spare time learning new programming techniques, learning to develop for new game systems (popular and not), etc. As long as you keep learning, you can keep yourself in the game doing what you want.
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craftmike
01:29 AM

@dagamer34: True. 1987 was a good time to be THIS guy in THAT place. I intend to read the book, but I'll probably view it through the filter of Macolm Gladwell's Outliers.
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Wilson Rothman
03:08 AM

@craftmike: Hate to just sound provocative, but you might be better off viewing Gladwell's Outliers through the filter of James' book.
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quayzar
12:01 AM

In reply to NES Netbook
As a kid I had an original GameBoy back pack. This makes me want to see if I can find it.
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quayzar
11/26/09

In reply to Check Your Receipts When You Exit Radio Shack
Considering that the Radio Shack POS can at times be a POS I find it much more likely that the POS just cocked up than someone trying to pull a fast one. I remember one of our capture pads died daily needing to be reset while we moved the ticket to a different POS. It would crash during times that were the most inconvenient such as mobile activations during the signature capture stage. But regardless of that info could you imagine a Radio Shack employee saying; ha, I just made you donate money to a cancer charity. What kind of evil scheme is that? When I worked there last year we did the same thing. I made no extra money and there were no problems other than some people tapping the wrong button on the capture pad.
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ReconToaster misses garnett :(
11/26/09

In reply to How a Self-Educated HS Dropout Became the Youngest Manager at Apple
Ugh. I don't think reading this would really encourage me to bring up those straight Cs.

The institutions established by our society might suck, but only those who manage to get through them will ever be in a position to put an end to them.
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dingus
11/26/09

@ReconToaster misses garnett :(: I'm adding this to my Amazon wishlist and will pick it up once I finish my degree. I already did one round of drop-out-of-college-and-land-a-professional-career and did well by it, but I need the stupid piece of paper this time.
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ilovexspin
11/26/09

In reply to Let's Sing About Safer Sext (NSFW)
Maybe your little admirer should read this post loud and clear
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BubbleF**kingBuddy
11/26/09

In reply to The Best Gadgets
I can't believe the COWON S9 got no love in the PMP section. It straight-up blows the iPod Touch and Zune HD out of the water.
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Duckspwn
11/26/09

In reply to Gift Guide for Design Lovers
Starting at 195$? I didn't know that you were payed an ounce of gold per article you wrote Mr. Diaz.
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Kaiser-Machead
11/26/09

In reply to A Taste of Home via a Laptop and a Movie
State of the badass art....
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