My first "real job" was a bit of contract work reverse engineering the control program for a company that made wheel balancers. It was their own software, running on their own hardware, and they had to hire someone to come in and tell them how it worked. Ten years from now, that C64's going to have a VGA to holographic display converter plugged into it. Edit: And like chromedog wrote, those old hardware control routines run fine on the antique Z80 and Motorola 68000 era chips. It survived burn in, it's probably going to live forever. :)
Well, yeah, the guy who wrote that code retired about 10 years before you got that job, and it's too expensive to build that custom hardware anymore! no doubt!
I used to work on some impressively monolithic pensions management software, there were some real deep magic parts of the code that were only understood by maybe 2 guys in the whole company who had been there since day 1, to the point that there was real worry about what would happen should one of them retire... it's just gonna keep growing and growing...
Well, slight dog update: At the current rate of drama, at SK Towers we could very well end up adopting Biscuit (wife's parents' dog) in the next couple of months. Life is busy enough at the moment, but we really don't want to see her shipped off to the RSPCA or anything like that just because they couldn't be arsed :/
The girlfriend and I got a dog last summer since her parents' had pups. She is a gorgeous steel-colored pitbull that looks more like a labrador because she is so slender. Originally I was worried because pits are huge and we live in a 1/1 apartment, but after 7 months she has remained no taller than 1 foot at the shoulder. She is well-behaved except for being a bit over-enthusiastic and trying to jump on new people she meets, due to the constant training we give her. If we tell her to sit and wait to be greeted she does so most of the time, and plays well with other dogs at the park.. At the same time, several of the others in that litter have already had major issues and fights that have ended with grave injuries. The point is, a dog's environment makes all the difference in its behavior.
On the subject of dangerous dogs, my colleague's husband is a military dog handler, they have 3 of the 40kg fur missiles at home. Apparently some new guy has been pissing off just about everyone in the dog unit, so my colleague has just ordered some bitch pheramones/scent so they can put it on the guys clothes. I'll update when the results are in.
growing up my grandparents always had pitbull terriers which were their favourite breed. I had friends who were scared of them but they were super friendly dogs
Only 40kg? feed those poor starving critters! (I swear, most of the dogs on base in the Navy were more like 70kg, except for that one adorable Beagle used as a nose dog on the subs...) That should be ... entertaining.
A conservative guess on my part. Fluffy as they are, I've yet to have the balls to pick one up xD I approve of this pun.
I love dogs as much as the next guy. I own a large breed. I currently work with MPCs and have worked with military dogs from several armed forces. Most handlers I've met, and a lot of large breed owners, agree that certain dogs have literally been bred to to be aggressive or dangerous in some way. You can certainly train a dog away from breed/behavioral tendencies, but there are absolutely breeds that are naturally more dangerous than others.
Yeah, like French Poodles, and any of the bred-tiny dogs. French Poodles were guard dogs back in the day, and don't like anyone even talking to their person. Tiny dogs have literally had the ability to read canine body language bred out of them, so are 'naturally' bossy (and generally too stupid to live, picking fights with animals big enough to eat them whole). Rottweilers and Pit Bulls, however, suffer from asshole owners. If I lived in a place that allowed pets, I'd at least consider a rescue pit bull or rottie. Even though my dog preference is a Labrador Retriever. Very smart and really like to work (work = fetch, etc). I'd need to go find a good dog trainer, though, because I want a Lab (and/or an upland bird dog) for hunting support.
Being a great trainer, (or paying for a great trainer) is essential. As is actually working your dog. Working dogs need work to be happy. I'm definitely not suggesting that many dogs don't suffer from terrible owners. In fact, I 100% agree with this. I just think some folks get carried away, or are maybe just naive, to claim no dog breed is naturally dangerous. Pits (and many other dogs) are included in this. That doesn't mean you can't have a lovely Pit as a pet, though it does mean extra work for the owner/trainer. (Constant extra work and love).
We have a couple with rat-things (chihuahua) that often walk them past our place. Not usually an issue, we have no pets for them to go off at. However the neighbours on either side have a) Kelpies and b ) greyhounds. Both lots are very gentle dogs (and/or dumber than housebricks), usually just wanting attention or play. The rat-things go absof**kinglutely mental when they walk past either house. They're the equivalent of your little mate who can't handle his beer getting aggro at the pub bouncer (who's a 6' Maori around 115kg of muscle and tatts). Who you have to physically DRAG away before he starts something that WILL leave him in the ER (We all have one of these, or know one. The ones who don't back down when provoked - even when that provocation is imaginary).
