| Chance for a Million! Was: Penis Enlargement [message #33434] |
Sun, 05 January 2003 20:29  |
David Fanning
Messages: 11724
Registered: August 2001
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Senior Member |
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Hi Folks,
It is a well-known fact that independent IDL consultants don't
eat all that well at *any* time of the year, but they pretty
much starve for the two weeks around Christmas as their
faithful customers abandon them to head off to climates
warmer or colder than here for some well-deserved time off.
Normally, it's not a problem. I'm only too happy to join them
somewhere warm where we can play tennis, or somewhere cold
where we can ski, but this year... well, let's just say even
the spiked eggnog didn't offer much holiday cheer. :-(
So I worked. I guess that is the good news. I've spent the past
several days writing articles for my web page. If you haven't
checked there for awhile, there are 25 or so new articles,
a couple of new programs, etc. I was going to clean things
up a bit, get rid of old articles, etc., but then someone
asked the ol' "Device, Decomposed" question today, so you never
know. I left all the old ones there. *Somebody* might need them.
http://www.dfanning.com/
The bad news is that I have a depository of ideas that I draw
from when I get an itch to write an article and there are
about 250 files in this directory! (From about 287 when I
started the other day.) It occurred to me that even if I
did an article a day, it would take me at least a year to
get caught up!
It takes roughly an hour to write each article, what with
the research, the editing, and, finally, testing of the code.
Some articles take considerably longer, a few don't take that
long. But it's pretty much an hour every time I sit down to
write one.
Then I realized that most of the articles I write these days
aren't my ideas at all. They are YOUR ideas! I steal them all
from here. :-)
So I sorta put two and two together and I wondered if you
wouldn't want to write your own damn articles. :-)
Here is my idea. If each of you volunteered to write 2-3
articles this year, we could probably make considerable
headway on the backlog. I'd give you all the raw material,
an HTML template, everything you need to get started.
(Some of you have already written articles, and I have to
tell you, they are some of the best on the site! I appreciate
your effort.)
Here is what you would have to bring to the table.
1. A philanthropic spirit and willingness to pay (in some way)
for what you ordinarily get for free. Think NPR radio.
In this case, time is money.
2. A sense of humor. Otherwise, what's the point?
3. A willingness to work with a crabby, egocentric, and anal
editor. (I've suggested to the Chairman that he might think
about retirement, but he won't hear of it.)
I'm not going to beat you around the ears to make you do it.
I enjoy it, and I'll slog along at my own pace. But I wanted
to give everyone the opportunity. You will learn a LOT about
IDL by doing it. You will make a contribution to the newsgroup.
You might even get some well-deserved recognition. I guarantee
you won't make any money.
You probably know how to find me. :-)
Cheers,
David
--
David W. Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Phone: 970-221-0438, E-mail: david@dfanning.com
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
Toll-Free IDL Book Orders: 1-888-461-0155
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| Re: Chance for a Million! [message #33475 is a reply to message #33434] |
Wed, 08 January 2003 12:51  |
David Fanning
Messages: 11724
Registered: August 2001
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Senior Member |
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Mark Hadfield (m.hadfield@niwa.co.nz) writes:
> OK. Where do I start?
Alright, our first volunteer! He gets a free copy of my
next book, whenever I write it. :-)
Under separate cover you will receive three text files
and an article template.
The Files:
bitwise_operators.txt - Piece of cake (10 minutes, max).
list_matching.txt - JD's done all the work, will have to
figure out what he means (0.5hr - 2 weeks).
extending_obj_methods.txt - right up your alley (1.0 hr).
Send them back to me. I'll have a quick looky-see
and run them by the Chairman. If he approves, I'll
get them on the site that day. If you are *really* anal,
you can make sure they pass muster with the HTML
police:
http://www.htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/
The template has a place to insert an image. If your
article doesn't use images, you can delete this bit.
Put your name in the "Author" part. And I'll be sure
to make a note of it where people can see it. You will
have to add your own PayPal account information. :-)
Thanks, Mark!
Cheers,
David
--
David W. Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Phone: 970-221-0438, E-mail: david@dfanning.com
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
Toll-Free IDL Book Orders: 1-888-461-0155
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| Re: Chance for a Million! [message #33515 is a reply to message #33434] |
Tue, 07 January 2003 06:58 |
btupper
Messages: 55
Registered: January 2002
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Member |
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On Mon, 06 Jan 2003 16:35:58 -0700, JD Smith <jdsmith@as.arizona.edu>
wrote:
>
> I have to say I feel somewhat misrepresented in my caricatured
> diatribe against for loops. Perhaps suitable placement of the phrase
> "tongue in cheek" in the prologue would suffice to make it clear that,
> when it comes to looping in IDL, reason and experience, rather than
> blind devotion to a particular belief system, must be your faithful
> guides.
>
Hi JD,
Well, now, hold on a minute; you can look at this another way. I
think that David has, perhaps, learned your lesson of pragmatism quite
well. At first he was going to loop through each article idea - but
now he's dabbling in an array based approach to producing articles -
parsing out the job in chunks! The approach is efficient,
thoughtful, and uses the appropriate tools at hand! You should be
quite pleased with your student's progress.
Cheers,
For i = me, theRestofMe Do Ben
P.S. Note that it is likely that David will still loop through each
article checking for that certain style, spelling errors, grammatical
crashes and book orders.
PPS Do Ben sounds a tad too much like Du Bious.
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| Re: Chance for a Million! [message #33517 is a reply to message #33434] |
Mon, 06 January 2003 16:32 |
David Fanning
Messages: 11724
Registered: August 2001
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Senior Member |
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JD Smith (jdsmith@as.arizona.edu) writes:
> I have to say I feel somewhat misrepresented in my caricatured
> diatribe against for loops. Perhaps suitable placement of the phrase
> "tongue in cheek" in the prologue would suffice to make it clear that,
> when it comes to looping in IDL, reason and experience, rather than
> blind devotion to a particular belief system, must be your faithful
> guides.
The first thing you learn in a storytelling class is
(1) Don't ever apologize, (2) Don't ever explain, (3) and
don't ever, ever tell them you're only joking. It just ruins
the whole illusion. :-)
Cheers,
David
--
David W. Fanning, Ph.D.
Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
Phone: 970-221-0438, E-mail: david@dfanning.com
Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.dfanning.com/
Toll-Free IDL Book Orders: 1-888-461-0155
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| Re: Chance for a Million! [message #33518 is a reply to message #33434] |
Mon, 06 January 2003 15:35 |
JD Smith
Messages: 850
Registered: December 1999
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Senior Member |
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On Sun, 05 Jan 2003 21:29:14 -0700, David Fanning wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> It is a well-known fact that independent IDL consultants don't eat all
> that well at *any* time of the year, but they pretty much starve for the
> two weeks around Christmas as their faithful customers abandon them to
> head off to climates warmer or colder than here for some well-deserved
> time off.
>
> Normally, it's not a problem. I'm only too happy to join them somewhere
> warm where we can play tennis, or somewhere cold where we can ski, but
> this year... well, let's just say even the spiked eggnog didn't offer
> much holiday cheer. :-(
>
> So I worked. I guess that is the good news. I've spent the past several
> days writing articles for my web page. If you haven't checked there for
> awhile, there are 25 or so new articles, a couple of new programs, etc.
> I was going to clean things up a bit, get rid of old articles, etc., but
> then someone asked the ol' "Device, Decomposed" question today, so you
> never know. I left all the old ones there. *Somebody* might need them.
>
> http://www.dfanning.com/
>
> The bad news is that I have a depository of ideas that I draw from when
> I get an itch to write an article and there are about 250 files in this
> directory! (From about 287 when I started the other day.) It occurred to
> me that even if I did an article a day, it would take me at least a year
> to get caught up!
>
> It takes roughly an hour to write each article, what with the research,
> the editing, and, finally, testing of the code. Some articles take
> considerably longer, a few don't take that long. But it's pretty much an
> hour every time I sit down to write one.
>
> Then I realized that most of the articles I write these days aren't my
> ideas at all. They are YOUR ideas! I steal them all from here. :-)
>
> So I sorta put two and two together and I wondered if you wouldn't want
> to write your own damn articles. :-)
>
> Here is my idea. If each of you volunteered to write 2-3 articles this
> year, we could probably make considerable headway on the backlog. I'd
> give you all the raw material, an HTML template, everything you need to
> get started. (Some of you have already written articles, and I have to
> tell you, they are some of the best on the site! I appreciate your
> effort.)
>
> Here is what you would have to bring to the table.
>
> 1. A philanthropic spirit and willingness to pay (in some way)
> for what you ordinarily get for free. Think NPR radio. In this
> case, time is money.
>
> 2. A sense of humor. Otherwise, what's the point?
>
> 3. A willingness to work with a crabby, egocentric, and anal
> editor. (I've suggested to the Chairman that he might think about
> retirement, but he won't hear of it.)
>
> I'm not going to beat you around the ears to make you do it. I enjoy it,
> and I'll slog along at my own pace. But I wanted to give everyone the
> opportunity. You will learn a LOT about IDL by doing it. You will make a
> contribution to the newsgroup. You might even get some well-deserved
> recognition. I guarantee you won't make any money.
>
> You probably know how to find me. :-)
I have to say I feel somewhat misrepresented in my caricatured
diatribe against for loops. Perhaps suitable placement of the phrase
"tongue in cheek" in the prologue would suffice to make it clear that,
when it comes to looping in IDL, reason and experience, rather than
blind devotion to a particular belief system, must be your faithful
guides.
JD
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| Re: Chance for a Million! [message #33566 is a reply to message #33475] |
Wed, 08 January 2003 13:03 |
Mark Hadfield
Messages: 783
Registered: May 1995
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Senior Member |
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"David Fanning" <david@dfanning.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.18863d343433e270989a9c@news.frii.com...
> Mark Hadfield (m.hadfield@niwa.co.nz) writes:
>
>> OK. Where do I start?
>
> Alright, our first volunteer! He gets a free copy of my
> next book, whenever I write it. :-)
Oops, I meant to reply by email, not on the group. Now everyone's going to
know I haven't done what I promised, not just David. (I seem to remember
volunteering something about "how to use READ_ASCII templates" in June
2001.)
> ...
> list_matching.txt - JD's done all the work, will have to
> figure out what he means (0.5hr - 2 weeks).
> ...
Piece of cake. 2 years max.
--
Mark Hadfield "Ka puwaha te tai nei, Hoea tatou"
m.hadfield@niwa.co.nz
National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA)
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