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My company uses users in exactly this way - each of the develoment teams in our area has a business person working with them. They might well be doing other things as well, but the important thing is that when we have questions about how something should work, they're sitting there at the desk able to help, provide ideas, etc. It works amazingly well.

For more info on it, see here

You'll find it useful to have an addendum to the design document:
A user.

We work in teams of 5/6 people + one user/business expert.

That way when we hit inconsistencies in the design, or missing details, we turn and say "Bruce, does this mean X or Y?" (and he usually says "Z").

Note: They aren't all called Bruce. Yours may have a different name.

If you want a further idea about our working practices, take a look at an article I wrote here

Now I can watch the watchers!

Heavy metal?

You forgot CAKE!

the good thing about google, is they don't white out area 51. see http://www.livejournal.com/community/the_unexplain ed/37956.html#cutid1 here for more

Mysterious Area 51 revealed by Google maps? http://www.livejournal.com/community/the_unexplain ed/37956.html#cutid1 Is it just me, or has this week been extremely google centric??

As far as political discussion goes, I generally tend to stick to online forums like Livejournal's politicsforum and gop_vs_dem. They actually have intelligent active participants on all sides (liberals, neocons, republicans, communists, and even the occasional self-proclaimed fascist), unlike slashdot's politics section where everybody who isn't liberal or libertarian gets modded down. From politicsforum in particular I've learned a lot about current political issues, and have even changed my stance on several issues.

As far as political discussion goes, I generally tend to stick to online forums like Livejournal's politicsforum and gop_vs_dem. They actually have intelligent active participants on all sides (liberals, neocons, republicans, communists, and even the occasional self-proclaimed fascist), unlike slashdot's politics section where everybody who isn't liberal or libertarian gets modded down. From politicsforum in particular I've learned a lot about current political issues, and have even changed my stance on several issues.

"Seriously, $100... why, when you could probably organise computers for India for free with a little international logistics and som..... wait..."

"Actually scratch all that I just remembered we are capitalists. Silly me."

Oh boy, does that ever strike a chord for me. I just ranted about how hard it is to get decent equipment in the developing world last weekend.

Honestly, the big problem is not whether people would actually buy such a device, but how they would go about buying one. You see, shopping online is not an option if you're not online(!). Nor are there handy factory outlet stores in the places where these things are most useful. Governments do some things very well; one of those things is business and/or technology development. They generally don't know jack****, however, about little details like sales channels and marketing.

If I could get in touch with a supplier of these (or any similar competing device), I'd order a dozen right now. I'd easily be able to sell them on my next trip into the villages.

Well done debian, you've gone and elected a jerk to office. Nicely done.

I'd like to quote JWZ's comment on this issue, Please choke on a bucket of cocks. Thank you.

So, Branden. How's that going?

Nothing like getting excited about getting your own money back. The fruits of your own labor.

Taxation Equals Slavery.

A story about a man I met who understood this.

I feel the same about people who read blogs as I do about people who read tabloids. If you don't want to read it, then don't look. If the information is a little too personal for you than never go back, it may be informative for somebody.

The problem isn't me reading a blog entry about me. I already know where I live, what my ID numbers are, etc. etc. The problem is that I can't stop somebody else reading that.

This issue is bigger than just personal info valuable to strangers, too. I've had a bitter ex-g/f post intimate personal e-mails on her blog from the time we were going out, and with a large dose of editing, taking out of context, and outright lies thrown in for good measure. She knew damn well that several close friends of mine also read that blog, and would think less of me after reading what she wrote (or her adapted version of what I had once written).

The real killer is that despite the blog host being a big name, they didn't give a shit. In fact, after the ex made the post "private" (which didn't stop our common friends from reading it) when I wrote to her and asked her to remove the comments, the LJ admins then claimed (in response to my formal complaint) that they couldn't access that area of the database, and therefore couldn't do anything about the post. All of which helped me and my relationships with some formerly close friends not at all.

So, what am I supposed to do? I live in the UK, so I'm hardly going to pay hundreds of $$$ to hire a US attorney and pursue a defamation suit against my ex in the US just to get LJ to take the post down, am I? But without any official, international regulation of this area of the Internet, the damage was done all the same, and it hurt a lot more than posting any credit card number would have.

Freedom of speech is a valuable thing, but it is not the only valuable thing, and it is far too powerful to be an absolute.

The Boingboing link is just a summary which links to the real thing.

OK, maybe my thoughts on this matter are a bit simplistic, but if you consider the Malthusian Catastrophe (sometimes known as the Malthusian Dilemma), it boils down to two things:

1. Our planet has limited resources
2. We're using them

While, in theory, some would argue we should adopt economies based upon sustainability rather than growth, I think it's more realistic to say that this will only happen when we have no choice. In the meantime, in our never-ending quest for resources, we can look at those two bullet points and notice that the real limiting factor isn't "resources", but "our planet."

I certainly don't believe we can solve our population problems via space exploration, nor do I think it's likely we're soon going to be in a position to utilize enough space-based resources to make a difference at the bottom of our gravity well. However, we can still spread the human race further and increase our chances of survival (as mentioned in the article) by ensuring that some humans are not dependent on our planet's resources.

But as a last ditch effort to sway those Harvard business school types who really don't understand the long-term benefits we get from space exploration, here's a short list of technologies have been directly a direct result or space research or greatly enhanced by said research:

• Air quality monitors used in smokestacks
• Better structural analysis technologies
• Energy efficient insulation
• Freeze-dried food
• Machinery lubricants
• Many new medical techniques
• New hydroponics techniques
• Scratch resistant lenses
• Semiconductors
• Smoke detectors
• Solar energy
• Water purification systems
• Weather forecasting
• And many more ...

I've ranted a bit more about this in one of my journals.

Fans

> I live in detroit and I agree.... why novi?
> They could have done Troy or even downtown...

Because although I'd had the idea of doing this for years, Tracy Worcester had experience (con chair of ConFusion in 2000) and had con staff she could call on in the area. She lived in Ypsilanti.

Our first year, we were in Warren.

Oddly enough, Tracy's thinking about being con chair again next year, which should seriously rock...

I have been ever since about two weeks after the con...See my LiveJournal entry on the subject for why I didn't at first, and why I do now.

Seconded!

Unlikely we'll get it though, it was not cheap to produce and while its ratings weren't bad, they weren't good enough.

But hey! At least we're getting Season Two of Venture Bros!

I've been doing something similar for the past six months. I purchased a fifteen passenger van in Colorado -- refurnished the interior with bed, closet, kitchen, pullout laptop desk, girlfriend, and surfboard storage racks -- and shipped it to Maui. It's been great. Net access is pretty good over cell modem, or we can wardrive when we want to download a movie torrent. :) I've been working three hours a week teaching physics for food money, and windsurfing tons. Journal and pics here:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/mauitian/

I thought, looking at a lot of these, that they would be things someone might legitimately buy, if for a conversation piece if nothing else. I wonder if Aprl Fools' day joke might double as a way to actually sell things.

After all, I'm giving away Google Gulp caps for free -- I got one in the mail last night, see -- but I hear some people are selling them on eBay.

This clearly isn't an April Fools joke because I got one in the mail yesterday.

On a completely unrelated note, wouldn't you agree that it's better to take someting and run with it rather than just shout "I got the joke!"

I spent some time consulting with my staff over where the source of your issues came from, regarding notacon's quality. After checking the location of the Holiday Inn and consulting my star chart, I think we've been able to triage your issues.

It's not usually known, but when you have a number of cosmic arrangements, specifically the pyramid shape of the nearby Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame and the metal plate in Nick Farr's head, something that is commonly referred to as a "dimensional rift" occurs. Unlike the cinematic portrayals of this rift (which are WAY off base, by the way), there is usually not a burst of orchestra music and vibrating white light. Instead, doors and hallways seem pretty much the same, although if your mind is open you can see it immediately. Closed minds, structured as they are to find the bad in everything and to look at the world as a big loving silver platter waiting for them to grab with thier chubby, slick fingers, will walk around unawares for a good amount of time.

Were you to not have gone through this portal, I suspect you would have seen Notacon as it was: a combination of talks, social gathering, and events stretching far into the night. For my own part, I recall a particularly good poker game played with a number of intelligent people, conversation topics flailing about like a trauma victim and the pot slowly rising between us. Of course, the real currency in that game were the ideas, but I digress.

In the actual reality of notacon, I happily attended a number of excellent talks, including my own. This is good, because my lack of attendance would have surely brought the talk down to the level that you experienced in NotNotacon, the portal dimension we figure you were in. The next time you think you might be there, check the labels of Snapple Iced Tea: they're blue instead of a brown-yellow mix.

My own talk, which is up for enjoyment both here and here, covered an excellent example of the merging of at and technology in what is commonly known as the ANSI art scene. I like to think we were engaging, multi-media, and intense. Of course, in the NotNotacon dimension, I believe our talk was replaced with a riveting account of ordering a sandwich. C'est la vie, as we say in the metaphysical sciences.

What concerns me, of course, is that, like your unawareness of the dimensional portal you found yourself in, you've been unable to give examples of conventions that NotNotacon can aspire to. Surely, giving helpful information instead of a litany of wild-eyed negatives will improve the world at large, if for no other reason than to gain the vital "Junior J. Junior III" market often described in articles in "Hacker Convention Monthly".

My staff at textfiles.com and I send our condolences that you spent your 5-hour jaunt in the alternate dimension and hope that your open-mind exercises will prevent this sad occurrence from happening in the future.

Okay, let's see...

Livejournal runs on mySQL (with memcached), and has had 970k users update their LJs in the past week. Assume that on average, each journal gets 10 views in that one week (it's probably higher, as there are some really large communities). That's 9.7 million page views in a week, or ~ 40 million a month. Plus the people who just browse and don't have an account.

Slashdot itself uses mySQL..I have no clue about the pageviews, though I know it's in the millions a month.

Google is a mySQL customer. As is Dow Jones, the people that publish the Wall Street Journal and its online editions. So is the NYSE, NASA, the US Census Bureau, everyone's beloved AOL, the Associated Press, Texas Instruments, among plenty others.

Just because mySQL doesn't work for your project doesn't mean it doesn't for others. Not to mention that it's free and ships with almost every major Linux distro out there.

I hear you. Someone else in this thread mentioned LiveJournal, so I found the site and clicked on their latest posts link to have a look. OMFG. I have never seen such mind-numbing drivel in all my life. These people really, truly think that someone else on this planet cares when they got up in the morning, or just exactly how drunk they got last night, or what incredibly cute thing their cat just did, or even (Cthulhu help us) their "poetry". Un-be-fucking-lievable. For the good of the species, I just hope that they succumb to alcohol poisoning before they figure out how to reproduce...

threaten to kill the president on your blog and see how much "freedom" and "free speech" you have in America then ?

you keep using that word , but you do not know what it means

Out of curiousity, do you have any idea how they got your information? If they stole one of your cards, it could have been anywhere you used it. But they had two of your cards.

(This is discussed a bit on his first post about it, but my question isn't answered.)

I believe he is. At least, the picture on his blog matches the picture over at perlmonks.

The article on thesmokinggun.com that MSNBC mentions is here, which includes an archived link to the flash clip Weise made about shooting people. Also, his band's message board was located at http://6sik6.proboards25.com/, but it has since been taken down. No Google Cache of it either.

Kind of scary stuff... for the most part he seemed like a fairly normal kid.

The article on thesmokinggun.com that MSNBC mentions is here, which includes an archived link to the flash clip Weise made about shooting people. Also, his band's message board was located at http://6sik6.proboards25.com/, but it has since been taken down. No Google Cache of it either.

Kind of scary stuff... for the most part he seemed like a fairly normal kid.

I call on Microsoft to to take the lead in cleaning up the patent mess starting with patent 6101499. Bill Gates has established himself as a leader in philanthrophy through the Gates foundation; Microsoft is surely capable of helping lead the fight to clean up the IP system by example.

David Andersen
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Carnegie Mellon University

Re: iPoddery / tweaking ...

I had the same thoughts about an iPod (overpriced, unnecessary), but was recently swayed by a good price on a 20GB iPod and an annoying plastic clamshell that was part of the deal, full of nifty accessories (battery pack, protective carrying pouch, etc), and also by the announcement of the Apple photo-reading accessory, so it becomes a photobank for a digital camera. So ... now I have an iPod. Can't say it gets daily use yet (only a few weeks old, and I got it mostly for the hard drive functions ... maybe I'll eventually become addicted to it as a music player, too), but it's a cool device, and now has my list of addresses, some music, some old radio shows, etc. all on it. (The text-storage function is a smart feature -- thanks, Apple engineers!)

For the record: with just a very little bit of tweaking, I got it working nicely with Fedora Core 3, using the application gtkpod. And what I did barely qualifies as tweaking -- just shuffling around a place where the documentation doesn't address the way Fedora names devices. The hard work was all done by the gtkpod and Fedora developers.

So now, if I plug my iPod into a USB slot on the computer, it's automatically mounted, and shows up on the desktop, and is usable as an ordinary external drive. If I start gtkpod, I can add / subtract songs to its playlist. Theoretically, I could add "playlists" to it, too, but I'm behind on the portable music thing, and not really sure yet quite how those work. (So sue me. I'd rather pick my music by the song than have a pre-arranged set list, but Hey. That's a rant in itself.)

I've seen the iTunes software that comes with the iPod running only for a few minutes, so I can't compare it deeply to gtkpod, except that gtkpod is not about connected to the iTunes Music Store, only for dealing with / putting onto the iPod music that you already have in MP3 or other iPod-friendly formats. But I've never used the iTunes store, so I'll just sit here and be blissfully ignorant.

Setting up this machine the way I want it was not bad; it took a few days of getting used to certain Red Hat things; can't say I'm an expert in the way of Fedora yet, but I found some nice tutorials that let me set up (among other things) MP3 playback, which I need if I'm going to listen to Nero Wolfe mysteries at night :) Overall, little tweaking is needed to make it a perfectly nice, usable desktop, though. (IMO, YMMV.)

timothy

In case you haven't seen Troy (or even if you have), go here and read Troy in 15 minutes

There is also a Van Helsing in 15 minutes as well, if you like this sort of thing.

I should warn you though, don't drink anything that will burn your nose while you read these...

--
my monitor is still dirty

In case you haven't seen Troy (or even if you have), go here and read Troy in 15 minutes

There is also a Van Helsing in 15 minutes as well, if you like this sort of thing.

I should warn you though, don't drink anything that will burn your nose while you read these...

--
my monitor is still dirty

In case you haven't seen Troy (or even if you have), go here and read Troy in 15 minutes

There is also a Van Helsing in 15 minutes as well, if you like this sort of thing.

I should warn you though, don't drink anything that will burn your nose while you read these...

--
my monitor is still dirty

Atlanta, GA (GNAAP)
-GuyNiguere

GNAA members were able to breathe a sigh of relief as fellow nigger Brian Nichols came home after a lengthy ordeal. He was charged with rape which is a common southern tactic to eradicate our kind. While on trial in an Atlanta courtroom and bravely liberated himself to make a run for the GNAA worldwide headquarters on the Niger River, during the struggle he overcame the repression of a police officer, a half-Jewish judge, and a full jew reporter. He then stole a green Honda Accord and was last reported waving his thick-veiny nigger cock in the direction of the courthouse and screaming "lol Jews" repeatedly.

I contacted the GNAA legal department and was immediately told by legal council chairman g0sp-hell "(Mr. Nichols) did the right thing, it is against our laws to stand trial for any crimes committed by members in any other venue but ours, in addition Mr. Nichols has admitted to having sex with a female creature which will be punished by forcing him to sit through a slide-show of Latvian internet art. His actions, however, are not tantamount to rape as he did yell "surprise" before penetration."

I have been told by anonymous sources within the GNAA that Mr. Nichols is recovering from his sentence and has been put to work manually crapflooding suicide notes on livejournal.com.

White media story can be found here: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050311/D88OT3J00 .html.

About Atlanta:

Despite being a sprawling metropolis and spawning one of the largest media conglomerates the world has seen Atlanta, GA is still just an airport hub and still discourages niggery in all its forms.

About livejournal.com:

livejournal allows homosexuals and emo kids the freedom to post douchebag ramblings for other douchebags to enjoy. It is actually one of the original blog sites that have given birth to the disgusting journalism trend towards second-hand rants being considered valid news sources.

About GNAA:
GNAA (GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) is the first organization which gathers GAY NIGGERS from all over America and abroad for one common goal - being GAY NIGGERS.

Are you GAY ?
Are you a NIGGER ?
Are you a GAY NIGGER ?

If you answered "Yes" to all of the above questions, then GNAA (GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) might be exactly what you've been looking for!
Join GNAA (GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) today, and enjoy all the benefits of being a full-time GNAA member.
GNAA (GAY NIGGER ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA) is the fastest-growing GAY NIGGER community with THOUSANDS of members all over United States of America and the World! You, too, can be a part of GNAA if you join today!

Why not? It's quick and easy - only 3 simple steps!

• First, you have to obtain a copy of GAYNIGGERS FROM OUTER SPACE THE MOVIE and watch it. You can download the movie (~130mb) using BitTorrent.
• Second, you need to succeed in posting a GNAA First Post on slashdot.org, a popular "news for trolls" website.
• Third, you need to join the official GNAA irc channel #GNAA on irc.gnaa.us, and apply for membership.

Talk to one of the ops or any of the other members in the channel to sign up today

Unfortunately, he's dead. Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead.

Unfortunately, he's dead. Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead.

Unfortunately, he's dead. Dead, dead, dead, dead, dead.

Is that money I smell? Welcome to Slashdot where we advertise gadgets and technology you must have and the lawsuits behind them. I love my iPod I couldn't live without it. Isn't the war in Iraq great? Oh yeah, Klerck is dead. Ho hum.

Materialism.

I spent my week putting in overtime because my job demands it. Spent 60 hours just so I would have a job to buy stuff I enjoy.

Petit Materialism.

I log into Slashdot to tell everyone the joys of Apple computing. I paid a lot for my Mini-Me Mac but it was worth it! I feel so great I must tell the world.

GDP is going up. Humanity is going down.

I had an idea like that at one point, but that the Revolution might use Augmented Reality, and be a portable system that you could wear. But I'm thinking that this is very unlikely at this point.

I believe that the Revolution will support more than 4 player ports

LiveJournal confirms: klerck is dead.

http://www.livejournal.com/users/nihilistic_kid/56 7411.html?thread=5994099#t5994099
It's like I always say, "Slashdot is full of morons."

I don't know who is stupider, the people who read the article and think that I'm "complaining" or those who think that they can just say "I didn't do it" and destroy the evidence and get away with it.

Collary fact: klerck is now dead.

Collary fact: klerck is now dead.

The RIAA is to America what worms are to Klerck.

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW .WIDE!

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW .WIDE!
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW .WIDE!
I like wide posts, don't you? Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy. Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy. Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy. Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy. Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy. Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy. Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy. Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy. Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy. Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy. Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy.

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW .WIDE!

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW .WIDE!
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW .WIDE!
I like wide posts, don't you? Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy. Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy. Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy. Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy. Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy. Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy. Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy. Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy. Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy. Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy. Rest in peace, Klerck/Kevin Ealy.

I just heard some sad news on talk radio. Slashdot troll Kevin "Klerck" Ealy was found dead in his Goose Creek, SC home this morning. There were no more details. Even if you didn't enjoy his homosexuality, there's no denying his contribution to Slashdot culture. Truly a troll icon.

I just heard some sad news on talk radio. Slashdot troll Kevin "Klerck" Ealy was found dead in his Goose Creek, SC home this morning. There were no more details. Even if you didn't enjoy his homosexuality, there's no denying his contribution to Slashdot culture. Truly a troll icon.