Well, to an extent, the second statement is true...government makes money from auctions of seized property and goods, including that taken from the mafia.
There still might be something else thrown in the middle there, from your brokerage firm. These servers are simply going to be responsible for the transactions on the exchange themselves.
it seems like a console you can just play periodically without being a die-hard
This was one of the biggest reasons for me to go from the PSP to the DS Lite. As a father with a full time job as an SA and classes part time to advance at work, I don't have the time to sit and wait for a game to load forever(MLB), require multiple hours to advance(Splinter Cell), or basically just not be as much fun as one would hope. The PSP basically equates to a portable PS1 from what I could see in the gameplay. The fact that it offers internet connectivity when on a LAN is great, if you're in a hotel without your laptop, but it's not enough to make it worthwhile.
The DS Lite offers a great, quick, fun library with games for every level of play, from the extremely involved, such as FF. This, along with the portability of the DS as compared to the PSP and the less extreme charge times, helped me to switch. It's nice to be able to pick up a DS game for $30 -$40 and know it's going to be enjoyable in most cases. Whether this is because of the different methods of input from voice to touch, is up to the user. It is, however, clear to me that the DS Lite was a better fit for my life. Not only do get the fun of the games, but I also get the fun of knowing that my wife sneaks into my bag and plays the DS when I am not looking.
This model applies if you are willing to wait a year or more to play the games. Generally, until then, "used" games are $5 less than their new instance. It makes me want to throw up when I walk into the two EB / GS stores in the local mall and see the way they organize the racks and price the used games. It wouldn't be an issue if they actually gave decent value for the games they are buying back, but they don't. Yes, I understand the stores need to make a profit and that a majority of that profit comes from resale of used games, but there is a better way to make a profit than to overcharge for the used titles. Do a volume business, like WalMart, with a lower profit margin on each game and push to sell more. This would bring people in that would otherwise avoid the store due to the pricing issues.
Do a quick search for machines under $500 at Walmart.com. Surprisingly, there are systems that are offered with different linux installations such as LinSpire and Xandros. After looking at this yesterday, I was a bit surprised, as most people to whom the machines are to be sold would have no idea what linux was, being as they don't sell "linux applications" at WalMart.
I agree that there is a benefit to reading outside of your "age-appropriate" level. When I was 10, I picked up novels that I saw in a bookstore and my father would be more than happy to oblige getting it for me to read. It's important to develop a reading habit and love in a child at an early age. The only thing that frightens me about the OLPC model for book distribution is that kids will associate reading with being in front of a PC to do it. There is nothing quite like getting a new book in your hands as a kid and looking at the cover, reading those first few pages, etc. The way that an ebook is delivered removes that experience from the equation. There's also the eyestrain from reading a book on a PC over a prolonged period of time to deal with as well. While it's a great idea to get the OLPC initiative into action and deployed, it is also going to cause all kinds of debates and overall bitching as time goes on.
But it isn't his place or right to "interpret" the law. He's trying to circumvent checks and balances if you feel that he is using the statement to put his own interpretation on the law. The branches of government are supposed to check each other to protect the interests of the people and therefore the country. Seems like that's kind of defeated if he is just going to make it up as he goes along, a la the wiretap mess that came about just recently.
Unreasonable, to me anyway, would include signing a statement that makes it ok to first open someone's mail on a suspicion or whim and then get a warrant. This is akin to punching someone in the face because you think they're someone you don't like and then asking if they are in fact that person afterwards, because you weren't really sure in the first place. I support the US and it's enforcement of certain laws, etc, but ol' G.W. may just be losing his mind. He used his signing statement to contradict what actual document he was signing said. Makes you wonder how much of the stuff he signs is actually being read by him.
One day at work, we had this same discussion. Would it be possible for a Windows user who just does email, web browsing and word processing to differentiate between Windows XP with customized layouts and themes and that of an Ubuntu install. Basically, you sit them down and say "Here's the browser, here's the email and here is the word processor and they would be more than happy. Ubuntu does a file structure similar to the My Documents folder in the/home/username/ layout. The word processor would be exactly the same if she is already using Open Office. It's interesting how coddled people have become because only one of many options was smashed into your face when you walked into BestBuy or Circuit City. It's also interesting how people who feel that switching would be too hard can sit down at a Mac and feel right at home, even though it's different than their old standby.
Just because it's farmed out to a contractor doesn't mean it's going to save any money. I went from working for Dept of Treasury to working for one of their contractors, doing LESS work overall on the same project, and got about a ten thousand dollar raise. Point is, many contractors are billed out at insanely high hourly rates over that which their government counterparts are being paid.
The government process and BS doesn't get removed when you bring in contractors either. It actually gets more convoluted and difficult to navigate. Once a contractor comes onto the project, there are more meetings on what should be done, who should do it, is it in the contract or the SLA to do that...blah blah blah. This just adds to more overall time being spent to get something done that someone working for the government and being paid on the proper GS scale could have done. The only problem in that is that government jobs aren't really on par with what someone who is skilled and motivated can make in the private sector. Working for a government agency isn't the great thing that it once was. This means that there may not be the bodies in place to throw into the positions that would be required of staffing a full datacenter on this scale.
While it's true that it's tough to switch people, many people wouldn't be able to tell you why they "need" Windows. Windows is just what they know. To test it out, give out some LiveCDs of various Linux distros when you go out and about for the holidays. I know Christmas and Hannukah are already over, but parties last well through this weekend. Take a CD and tell them to just pop it in and give it a try. Chances are, they will like it. This is especially true if you explain the security factor to them. Although many people wouldn't be able to make a true switch without some help, such as partitioning and ability to access previously saved files, many are willing to try something new without much of a fight. Although Ubuntu may not be for every Windows user, there are a lot of them who would be better served by the things that Ubuntu can offer.
We reported earlier today that Square Enix would be holding a conference to announce a new Dragon Quest game, but no one quite expected the bomb shell they dropped: Dragon Quest IX, the next sequel in the officially numbered series and not a spin-off, will be arriving on the Nintendo DS. - from Article
I am by no means a fanboy of any of the consoles or software companies out there. I have at one point owned almost every major system since the NES. I had an XBOX for a couple years that I bought for Halo 2. I gave the XBOX to my brother and had traded in the PS2, which I had traded in a GC to get, to get the XBOX in the first place. I got screwed on the 360 launch and sold it a week after I finally got it, having never opened it. This left me consoleless for a while until I got the itch to get a PSP.
I began to realize something when using the PSP, I don't have a ton of time to devote to gaming. The games that were available for the PSP were involved and required a significant portion of time to enjoy. I traded the PSP and two games in straight up for a DS Lite and think that it was one of the best deals I have ever gotten. The games that I have are fun, intuitive and don't require a ton of time to play. The interface for a number of the games, using the stylus, adds something new and allows for an enhanced gameplay experience. The DS Lite got me pumped for the Wii, which I have had since launch day. I have been able to play the system a bit more than I normally would due to the interactive gameplay and intuitive nature of the controls, which got my wife interested in playing Wii sports. Not only does the system offer great titles in wii sports and TP, it also allows for people who would normally never touch a controller to get involved. This is what the PS2 developers are shooting for with games like DDR and Guitar Hero.
People should buy a system based on what they are looking to do, not based on the media blitz that it gets. The enjoyability of a game has nothing to do with how shiny or pretty it is.
I went to two WalMarts just in passing on Saturday afternoon. There were people lined up at 2PM for a midnight release. I figured this was out, as there were already enough people in those lines to suck up the shipments. Called Target, smaller store, to see how many they would be getting...42. SWEET!!! Went to Target at 4:45 AM for the 7:30 AM hand out of tickets only to be told by the almight list holder at the front of the line that they were full, even though there were only 20 or so people in line. His excuse was that there were people who put their name on the list and were elsewhere at the moment. BS, but whatever. Went to KMART and was one of four guys in line. More people showed up, but they only had four. I heard stories in line about the terrible nature of people and moron managers from the night before, but I can say that if you were just a bit persistent, this launch was much easier on consumers than the PS3 launch ever had the chance of being. I didn't really fear that I was going to get robbed at gunpoint for my Wii, especially since they are supposedly going to be restocked shelves by Friday.
It might be a good idea to support an OS that you have had such a large number of people beta testing for the last several months. While not all of these people probably ran out and purchased a Zune yesterday, a good number may have. How do you think Suzy HomeMaker whose husband installed Vista on their home pc feels now that she can't use the brown brick she just brought home from the local WalMart?
The majority of the readers of this forum sit and laugh at the stupidity of this, but the average customer would be extremely upset by something like this and call M$ to say "My Zune is broken!!!! What do I do???" All the while freaking out and getting more upset.
Just in general, it's a good idea to make something compatible with the products you plan to release in say the next quarter. Six months would be a stretch, but three I don't think is too much to ask for in the case of compatibility.
"What're we going to do tonight Brain?"
"The same thing we do everynight Pinky, attempt to take over the WORLD!!!!!"
Things can be tough, but you have to deal...
on
IT and Divorce?
·
· Score: 1
I currently work as a SysAdmin. The job is a good distance from my home, like upwards of two hours. When I applied for the job, the main goal was to be able to move closer to family and friends and the job. I have been working for this company for about a month and during that time I have been staying at my parents house with my 3 month old son Tuesday through Thursday nights and going home on weekends and Monday nights. After reading all of this, my outlook has completely changed. My wife and I had an argument last night about a subject that is directly related to the situation that we are in. She states that I am unable to finish projects that I start around the house because of my previous schedule and our current living situation. I know that it is because I am a bum when I get home and just want to relax, but I also know that if I don't take action I could lose my wife. Children change the equation significantly in a marriage and life in general. My son is my life, second only to my wife. It is for him that I took this job, to be able to provide better for both he and his mother. It is tough to balance the time away and time together in the current situation, but it is an extremely important part of life. Just because you can't balance things out and get along on your wife, you can't blame that on your profession, no matter how much you want to.
The new statistics point to many new candidates for the Dateline specials on child predators!
MySpace is a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad place according to the local newsman!
This will just lead to more fear mongering on the nightly news. Anyone who listens to O & A will completely understand where this is coming from.
"Are you normal? Find out at 11!"
Vista seems to do that to a bunch of people. I downloaded it when they released the beta to the public a few months ago. It proceeded to set my system clock 40 years ahead, rendering the Vista install worthless and unable to be accessed. I deleted that partition and went to Ubuntu because of my disgust with the M$ response. Their answer was basically, "Bummer, it's a beta." I had changed the clock back through the bios, but once the licensure for the beta had "expired" according to the system, there was nothing I could do with it. I have been a happy ubuntu camper ever since. The only thing Ubuntu can't do that my Windows instances could is view newer flash sites. My wife was skeptical at first, as she didn't see all of the clutter that was once there in Windows and couldn't immediately find her files. She quickly warmed to it and doesn't have any desire to use Windows now. It is a simple OS that the average user wouldn't be able to differentiate between.
While the parent of this thread may not be calling for simple things such as toner replacements and finding the "any" key, this does not mean that other companies do not do this. While your situation may be one specific way, it can't be used as the rule. If the company has fifty clients and they all "promise" that they won't make stupid service calls like that, there are more than likely a few fibbers in there. So because the owner of the IT outsourcing firm took everyone's word for it, he/she is eating money on every call out to the client site for something as simple as taking a machine out of the box and plugging it in.
Services like this might be good for the small business that doesn't really have a focus on their use of technology, but for a larger company, this is a disaster waiting to happen. IT departments in any business that "depends" on their technology are, in my opinion, necessary. I know that it is much easier to have the person I am trying to help with their "my computer won't let me get to share A" problem right in my building rather than VPN'ing in from another state. Some people just don't understand computers. For those, there is flat pricing of fixing the issue. If you knew how to do it, you wouldn't have to pay someone else to do it and wouldn't be getting charged this higher rate.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, to an extent, the second statement is true...government makes money from auctions of seized property and goods, including that taken from the mafia.
The Bezos numbers are the corporate line for Amazon and their fax line.
Isn't English English known as The Queen's English?
This article is date July 24, 2006...I might be wrong, but this would make it a bit outdated and probably not worthy of being on the frontpage of /.
There still might be something else thrown in the middle there, from your brokerage firm. These servers are simply going to be responsible for the transactions on the exchange themselves.
This model applies if you are willing to wait a year or more to play the games. Generally, until then, "used" games are $5 less than their new instance. It makes me want to throw up when I walk into the two EB / GS stores in the local mall and see the way they organize the racks and price the used games. It wouldn't be an issue if they actually gave decent value for the games they are buying back, but they don't. Yes, I understand the stores need to make a profit and that a majority of that profit comes from resale of used games, but there is a better way to make a profit than to overcharge for the used titles. Do a volume business, like WalMart, with a lower profit margin on each game and push to sell more. This would bring people in that would otherwise avoid the store due to the pricing issues.
Do a quick search for machines under $500 at Walmart.com. Surprisingly, there are systems that are offered with different linux installations such as LinSpire and Xandros. After looking at this yesterday, I was a bit surprised, as most people to whom the machines are to be sold would have no idea what linux was, being as they don't sell "linux applications" at WalMart.
I agree that there is a benefit to reading outside of your "age-appropriate" level. When I was 10, I picked up novels that I saw in a bookstore and my father would be more than happy to oblige getting it for me to read. It's important to develop a reading habit and love in a child at an early age. The only thing that frightens me about the OLPC model for book distribution is that kids will associate reading with being in front of a PC to do it. There is nothing quite like getting a new book in your hands as a kid and looking at the cover, reading those first few pages, etc. The way that an ebook is delivered removes that experience from the equation. There's also the eyestrain from reading a book on a PC over a prolonged period of time to deal with as well. While it's a great idea to get the OLPC initiative into action and deployed, it is also going to cause all kinds of debates and overall bitching as time goes on.
But it isn't his place or right to "interpret" the law. He's trying to circumvent checks and balances if you feel that he is using the statement to put his own interpretation on the law. The branches of government are supposed to check each other to protect the interests of the people and therefore the country. Seems like that's kind of defeated if he is just going to make it up as he goes along, a la the wiretap mess that came about just recently.
Unreasonable, to me anyway, would include signing a statement that makes it ok to first open someone's mail on a suspicion or whim and then get a warrant. This is akin to punching someone in the face because you think they're someone you don't like and then asking if they are in fact that person afterwards, because you weren't really sure in the first place. I support the US and it's enforcement of certain laws, etc, but ol' G.W. may just be losing his mind. He used his signing statement to contradict what actual document he was signing said. Makes you wonder how much of the stuff he signs is actually being read by him.
One day at work, we had this same discussion. Would it be possible for a Windows user who just does email, web browsing and word processing to differentiate between Windows XP with customized layouts and themes and that of an Ubuntu install. Basically, you sit them down and say "Here's the browser, here's the email and here is the word processor and they would be more than happy. Ubuntu does a file structure similar to the My Documents folder in the /home/username/ layout. The word processor would be exactly the same if she is already using Open Office. It's interesting how coddled people have become because only one of many options was smashed into your face when you walked into BestBuy or Circuit City. It's also interesting how people who feel that switching would be too hard can sit down at a Mac and feel right at home, even though it's different than their old standby.
Just because it's farmed out to a contractor doesn't mean it's going to save any money. I went from working for Dept of Treasury to working for one of their contractors, doing LESS work overall on the same project, and got about a ten thousand dollar raise. Point is, many contractors are billed out at insanely high hourly rates over that which their government counterparts are being paid. The government process and BS doesn't get removed when you bring in contractors either. It actually gets more convoluted and difficult to navigate. Once a contractor comes onto the project, there are more meetings on what should be done, who should do it, is it in the contract or the SLA to do that...blah blah blah. This just adds to more overall time being spent to get something done that someone working for the government and being paid on the proper GS scale could have done. The only problem in that is that government jobs aren't really on par with what someone who is skilled and motivated can make in the private sector. Working for a government agency isn't the great thing that it once was. This means that there may not be the bodies in place to throw into the positions that would be required of staffing a full datacenter on this scale.
While it's true that it's tough to switch people, many people wouldn't be able to tell you why they "need" Windows. Windows is just what they know. To test it out, give out some LiveCDs of various Linux distros when you go out and about for the holidays. I know Christmas and Hannukah are already over, but parties last well through this weekend. Take a CD and tell them to just pop it in and give it a try. Chances are, they will like it. This is especially true if you explain the security factor to them. Although many people wouldn't be able to make a true switch without some help, such as partitioning and ability to access previously saved files, many are willing to try something new without much of a fight. Although Ubuntu may not be for every Windows user, there are a lot of them who would be better served by the things that Ubuntu can offer.
In TFA, it says that the title is the actual DQ IX, not a spinoff.
I am by no means a fanboy of any of the consoles or software companies out there. I have at one point owned almost every major system since the NES. I had an XBOX for a couple years that I bought for Halo 2. I gave the XBOX to my brother and had traded in the PS2, which I had traded in a GC to get, to get the XBOX in the first place. I got screwed on the 360 launch and sold it a week after I finally got it, having never opened it. This left me consoleless for a while until I got the itch to get a PSP. I began to realize something when using the PSP, I don't have a ton of time to devote to gaming. The games that were available for the PSP were involved and required a significant portion of time to enjoy. I traded the PSP and two games in straight up for a DS Lite and think that it was one of the best deals I have ever gotten. The games that I have are fun, intuitive and don't require a ton of time to play. The interface for a number of the games, using the stylus, adds something new and allows for an enhanced gameplay experience. The DS Lite got me pumped for the Wii, which I have had since launch day. I have been able to play the system a bit more than I normally would due to the interactive gameplay and intuitive nature of the controls, which got my wife interested in playing Wii sports. Not only does the system offer great titles in wii sports and TP, it also allows for people who would normally never touch a controller to get involved. This is what the PS2 developers are shooting for with games like DDR and Guitar Hero. People should buy a system based on what they are looking to do, not based on the media blitz that it gets. The enjoyability of a game has nothing to do with how shiny or pretty it is.
I went to two WalMarts just in passing on Saturday afternoon. There were people lined up at 2PM for a midnight release. I figured this was out, as there were already enough people in those lines to suck up the shipments. Called Target, smaller store, to see how many they would be getting...42. SWEET!!! Went to Target at 4:45 AM for the 7:30 AM hand out of tickets only to be told by the almight list holder at the front of the line that they were full, even though there were only 20 or so people in line. His excuse was that there were people who put their name on the list and were elsewhere at the moment. BS, but whatever. Went to KMART and was one of four guys in line. More people showed up, but they only had four. I heard stories in line about the terrible nature of people and moron managers from the night before, but I can say that if you were just a bit persistent, this launch was much easier on consumers than the PS3 launch ever had the chance of being. I didn't really fear that I was going to get robbed at gunpoint for my Wii, especially since they are supposedly going to be restocked shelves by Friday.
It might be a good idea to support an OS that you have had such a large number of people beta testing for the last several months. While not all of these people probably ran out and purchased a Zune yesterday, a good number may have. How do you think Suzy HomeMaker whose husband installed Vista on their home pc feels now that she can't use the brown brick she just brought home from the local WalMart? The majority of the readers of this forum sit and laugh at the stupidity of this, but the average customer would be extremely upset by something like this and call M$ to say "My Zune is broken!!!! What do I do???" All the while freaking out and getting more upset. Just in general, it's a good idea to make something compatible with the products you plan to release in say the next quarter. Six months would be a stretch, but three I don't think is too much to ask for in the case of compatibility.
"What're we going to do tonight Brain?" "The same thing we do everynight Pinky, attempt to take over the WORLD!!!!!"
I currently work as a SysAdmin. The job is a good distance from my home, like upwards of two hours. When I applied for the job, the main goal was to be able to move closer to family and friends and the job. I have been working for this company for about a month and during that time I have been staying at my parents house with my 3 month old son Tuesday through Thursday nights and going home on weekends and Monday nights. After reading all of this, my outlook has completely changed. My wife and I had an argument last night about a subject that is directly related to the situation that we are in. She states that I am unable to finish projects that I start around the house because of my previous schedule and our current living situation. I know that it is because I am a bum when I get home and just want to relax, but I also know that if I don't take action I could lose my wife. Children change the equation significantly in a marriage and life in general. My son is my life, second only to my wife. It is for him that I took this job, to be able to provide better for both he and his mother. It is tough to balance the time away and time together in the current situation, but it is an extremely important part of life. Just because you can't balance things out and get along on your wife, you can't blame that on your profession, no matter how much you want to.
The new statistics point to many new candidates for the Dateline specials on child predators! MySpace is a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad place according to the local newsman! This will just lead to more fear mongering on the nightly news. Anyone who listens to O & A will completely understand where this is coming from. "Are you normal? Find out at 11!"
Vista seems to do that to a bunch of people. I downloaded it when they released the beta to the public a few months ago. It proceeded to set my system clock 40 years ahead, rendering the Vista install worthless and unable to be accessed. I deleted that partition and went to Ubuntu because of my disgust with the M$ response. Their answer was basically, "Bummer, it's a beta." I had changed the clock back through the bios, but once the licensure for the beta had "expired" according to the system, there was nothing I could do with it. I have been a happy ubuntu camper ever since. The only thing Ubuntu can't do that my Windows instances could is view newer flash sites. My wife was skeptical at first, as she didn't see all of the clutter that was once there in Windows and couldn't immediately find her files. She quickly warmed to it and doesn't have any desire to use Windows now. It is a simple OS that the average user wouldn't be able to differentiate between.
While the parent of this thread may not be calling for simple things such as toner replacements and finding the "any" key, this does not mean that other companies do not do this. While your situation may be one specific way, it can't be used as the rule. If the company has fifty clients and they all "promise" that they won't make stupid service calls like that, there are more than likely a few fibbers in there. So because the owner of the IT outsourcing firm took everyone's word for it, he/she is eating money on every call out to the client site for something as simple as taking a machine out of the box and plugging it in. Services like this might be good for the small business that doesn't really have a focus on their use of technology, but for a larger company, this is a disaster waiting to happen. IT departments in any business that "depends" on their technology are, in my opinion, necessary. I know that it is much easier to have the person I am trying to help with their "my computer won't let me get to share A" problem right in my building rather than VPN'ing in from another state. Some people just don't understand computers. For those, there is flat pricing of fixing the issue. If you knew how to do it, you wouldn't have to pay someone else to do it and wouldn't be getting charged this higher rate.
Touche! That has to be the funniest thing I have heard all day. Thank you