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I actually think the problem with programming and age is that it's not very healthy. I've sat on my ass for so long I'm not convinced I will live into old age.

I actually think the problem with programming and age is that it's not very healthy. I've sat on my ass for so long I'm not convinced I will live into old age. I'm only in my mid 30s and I already have high blood pressure, a bad back, bad eyes, my brain is scrambled from too many inane emails and meetings, etc. Babbage had the advantage of being able to think on his feet and not have 1000 distractions. I know a lot of old tinkerers, including my grandfather. I don't know a lot of old office stiffs, they seem to die of heart attacks and strokes. Two of my uncles were career programmers, and they are a mess, health-wise.

kenjackson 16y ago
Yeah, when the walk from my desk to the candy bar vending machine started to make me perspire is when I thought I should start exercising more. Now I jog to the candy bar vending machine -- I think it's helping. :-)
mcav 16y ago
There's nothing inherently unhealthy about being a programmer. If you take care of yourself, you can still program a lot without adverse health effects: - Take regular breaks - Practice good ergonomics - Exercise regularly - Eat healthily - Avoid stress (meditate or find another way to relax) You can let any career push you into an unhealthy lifestyle. Programming doesn't sentence you to an unhealthy, overweight, aching shorter life. It's all about taking care of yourself. It's good practice to maintain your code. Treat your body like source code that you have to maintain for your entire life.
konad 16y ago
If you think Babbage had no distractions you know little of Mr Babbage : Organ grinders .... the worst of the "thousand nuisances that made it impossible for the householder to enjoy any quiet" .... such "instruments of torture" had cost him a quarter of his working life. At one point he tallied 165 nuisances in 90 days. his 1871 obituary in the London Times notes that he lived to be almost 80 "in spite of organ-grinding persecutions." http://www.futilitycloset.com/2009/04/14/quiet/ http://www.futilitycloset.com/2009/04/14/quiet/ Because of his campaigns against street music, buskers deliberately turned up at his lodgings to annoy him, even following him down the street.
- maxawaytoolong 16y ago
  That is a truly awesome bit of historical trivia.
- forensic 16y ago
  thank god we now have ipods but seriously babbage should have stuck some beeswax in his ears alternatively, he could live in a tower like a proper wizard

kenjackson 16y ago

Yeah, when the walk from my desk to the candy bar vending machine started to make me perspire is when I thought I should start exercising more. Now I jog to the candy bar vending machine -- I think it's helping. :-)

mcav 16y ago

There's nothing inherently unhealthy about being a programmer. If you take care of yourself, you can still program a lot without adverse health effects: - Take regular breaks - Practice good ergonomics - Exercise regularly - Eat healthily - Avoid stress (meditate or find another way to relax) You can let any career push you into an unhealthy lifestyle. Programming doesn't sentence you to an unhealthy, overweight, aching shorter life. It's all about taking care of yourself. It's good practice to maintain your code. Treat your body like source code that you have to maintain for your entire life.

konad 16y ago

If you think Babbage had no distractions you know little of Mr Babbage : Organ grinders .... the worst of the "thousand nuisances that made it impossible for the householder to enjoy any quiet" .... such "instruments of torture" had cost him a quarter of his working life. At one point he tallied 165 nuisances in 90 days. his 1871 obituary in the London Times notes that he lived to be almost 80 "in spite of organ-grinding persecutions." http://www.futilitycloset.com/2009/04/14/quiet/ http://www.futilitycloset.com/2009/04/14/quiet/ Because of his campaigns against street music, buskers deliberately turned up at his lodgings to annoy him, even following him down the street.

maxawaytoolong 16y ago
That is a truly awesome bit of historical trivia.
forensic 16y ago
thank god we now have ipods but seriously babbage should have stuck some beeswax in his ears alternatively, he could live in a tower like a proper wizard