stackoverflow was a huge success, and after almost 2 years from its launch, it only made sense to open the engine to other topics.

They’d already done it with serverfault.com, superuser.com, and a short lived paid version, which is now closed.

StackExchange 2.0 is a place where you can propose new sites (that’ll use the stackoverflow engine) and let the community build them (without owning it yourself, like in the paid version) and make them great.

I’ve already proposed 3 sites that I feel are totally needed:

• Gaming: Why stop in the game itself? Head over there and ask how to achieve 100% completion on a particular game, the differences between a console and a computer game, or just answer other people questions and have fun. If you’re like me (totally addicted to gaming) and you don’t get enough from the games by just playing them, this site is for you.
• Writing: I’ve always wanted to write, but I have way too many questions as a beginner. I’m hoping this site will help me make it more than a hobby, and perhaps help other people in the same situation too.
• Science Fiction: What is there to say? Q&A on science fiction… which geek wouldn’t want this?

You can help make them a reality by following and committing to them, click on the links on the proposals names and start participating, the whole world could benefit from it!

En las últimas elecciones del 26 de Junio del 2009 me di cuenta demasiado tarde que a las autoridades de mesa se les olvidó sellarme el DNI, dejando constancia que había asistido a la votación. Como ahora es necesario tenerlos para casi cualquier trámite (y porque tengo que renovar mi pasaporte), me preocupaba esta cuestión, al punto de pensar en hacer el dni nuevo.

Me comentaron que se podría ir a la junta electoral, ya que ellos tienen constancia de las votaciones, a pedir el sello.

Hoy fui, y no puedo creer lo fácil que fue el trámite! Como no encontré nada de información en internet, quiero dejar este post para que alguien en la misma situación se beneficie en el futuro (ahí mismo me comentaron que esto pasa más seguido de lo que uno piensa).

Hay que ir directamente, sin turno, sin nada, al palacio de tribunales, por la entrada de Tucumán de 7:30 a 13:30 hs. En el mostrador que se ve bajando una escalerita, hay un señor muy amable el que, explicándole la situación, te indica a que oficina ir (al final del pasillo hacia nuestra derecha, doblar a la izquierda, y es la última oficina: Consulta de Padrones).

En la consulta de padrones, hay unas mujeres, también increíblemente amables, que te piden el DNI, la escuela donde votaste (que yo no sabía así que lo consultaron en un libro), se fijan en los registros, y te agregan el sello.

Todo el trámite fue menos de 15 minutos, versus hacer el DNI de nuevo, que lleva 2 meses de anticipación para pedir el turno, más llevar toda la documentación necesaria, más pagar los $35, más la espera de la confección.

Ya tengo mi DNI actualizado, y ya puedo seguir con mis trámites. Siempre recuerden verificar el DNI luego de votar!

Lately I’ve been reading an interesting blog about a girl that sees the world pretty much as I’d like to see it, and one excerpt from the latest post caught my attention

(…)

Even though there was an extremely slim chance of me and my place being in any danger, I packed up my stuff and evacuated. The way people are saved in huge disasters is through prompt and thorough reactions. If I had waited until I was in danger, I would have contributed to clogging the single freeway, lost more of my stuff, and put others in danger too. The proper response to an emergency is not denial, not panic, but rational, precautionary steps.

Emphasis mine.

That’s one piece of advise we could extrapolate to everything, I think, and I’d like to bring it to my field: Programming.

How many projects have you worked on, where it’s very smooth and quiet at the beginning, just to plunge into chaos towards the end? I know I have worked on many. Don’t you think it would be better to take that approach? Not falling in denial and panic, but taking steps to guarantee the success, or at least minimize loses. There are some books on that topic that are very interesting.

What about if you are in a job you don’t like? Are you going to wait until it’s unbearable and you have to go job hunting in a hurry because you can’t take it anymore? No. Rational, precautionary steps. Start slow, start searching when you have the time to search well, research, compare, decide with facts.

What about any other aspect of life?

HACKED!

Hi Master (: Your System pwned By Turkish Hackers

BlueLine pwns you!

WhiteCode, LiZZard, with me in here

WE WERE HERE

Hacked by DarKLord ;)

I was just reading one of my favorite blogs, and stumbled across its last post, where it talks about the software industry.

I thought I’d share it, as it explains quite perfectly exactly how I feel too.

Take a look at this response from Joel to someone who’s thinking about leaving the industry

Although the tech industry is not immune, programming jobs are not really being impacted. Yes, there are fewer openings, but there are still openings (see my job board for evidence). I still haven't met a great programmer who doesn't have a job. I still can't fill all the openings at my company.

Our pay is great. There's no other career except Wall Street that regularly pays kids $75,000 right out of school, and where so many people make six figures salaries for long careers with just a bachelors degree. There's no other career where you come to work every day and get to invent, design, and engineer the way the future will work.

Despite the occasional idiot bosses and workplaces that forbid you from putting up Dilbert cartoons on your cubicle walls, there's no other industry where workers are treated so well. Jesus you're spoiled, people. Do you know how many people in America go to jobs where you need permission to go to the bathroom?

Stop the whining, already. Programming is a fantastic career. Most programmers would love to do it even if they didn't get paid. How many people get to do what they love and get paid for it? 2%? 5%?

It’s true that he’s talking about the US, but the same applies here in Argentina… you gotta love building software!

Acá en Iceberg siguen buscando gente como hace un tiempo, pero ahora cambiaron las prioridades de búsqueda.

Las nuevas prioridades de búsqueda son éstas:

Developers (Ref. DEV)
Profesionales o estudiantes de la carrera de sistemas con experiencia mínima de 1 año en programación de aplicaciones sobre plataforma.NET (C#, ASP.net y/o VB.Net) y Web Services. Con conocimientos del idioma inglés.
 
Estudiantes de Sistemas (Ref. ES)
Que estén iniciando su carrera laboral. Con ganas de aprender y aceptar nuevos desafíos. Interesados en el desarrollo de aplicaciones con nuevas tecnologías que requieran metodología para grandes clientes. Preferentemente que hayan programado en algún lenguaje

Analista de QA (Ref. QA)
Profesionales o estudiantes avanzados de carreras de Sistemas, con experiencia mínima de 1 año desempeñándose como QA.
Dentro de sus responsabilidades están la detección y reporte de errores. La ejecución, desarrollo y documentación de los casos de prueba funcional. La Gestión y realización del seguimiento del circuito de bugs, entre otros.
Debe poseer manejo de herramientas Microsoft y bases de datos SQL Server / Oracle. Dominio del idioma inglés.

Como siempre, si les interesa postularse, me contactan y me mandan un CV, para ser reenviado a RRHH

After almost a year since my last chair broke, and using a standard wooden chair to program, with all the disadvantages that brings, I finally settled for a new one.

Here's the new member of the family

It's called Melej High and I bought it in Materyn, which offered me a good customer service.

It's great because you can adjust the seat distance to the back side, allowing my legs to fully rest on it, instead of just supporting half of them like the standard ones. The only thing I regret is that the arm pads cannot be regulated, like a few others I saw, but overall this one had a few more advantages over them.

I recommend you invest on a quality chair, after all, as a programmer, it's where you spend most of your time

This sounds great! At least in theory, will it be as good as it sounds?

Only time will tell...

http://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/index.html

UPDATE: Download chrome here

UPDATE2: First impression, not good:

UPDATE3: Apparently it's a problem with Symantec Endpoint Protection... and I cannot uninstall it at work, so I'll have to wait until fixed

Today I received my newest order at amazon. I wanted to buy some recommended programming books, and I took the opportunity to order some science fiction ones as well, the total amount was a little high, but who can put a price to knowledge and good reading?

Look how happy I am

The books are these:

The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master

The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition)

Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition

Rendezvous with Rama

Rama II: The Sequel to Rendezvous with Rama

Rama Revealed

The Garden of Rama

The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke

I'm not even sure I'm going to like the Rama series, but well... what if I did and didn't have the other books?

I'll let you know how good they are after I read them, in the meantime you can look up reviews in the internet if you are interested...

(When I first opened "Don't make me think" I read: "Help! My boss wants me to ____ - When bad design decisions happen to good people" and I immediately thought it must be worth its weight in gold)

No, this is not a post about that old problem with the same name, this is about a new Website

I've been beta testing for a few days Jeff Atwood's new venture, and I must say, it's promising. It is a site made and maintained by programmers, for programmers... kind of like a wikipedia meets experts-exchange, but free.

The beta is supposed to end at the end of the month, so that means that it will open to the general public (at least that's the current rumor) next month.

In the meantime, here are some screenshots