Here's my problem. My university nixed computer labs 2 years ago. Tuition has still gone up, and they hiked the cost of printing on their network as well. Did getting rid of the computer labs save me any money? I haven't seen a dime, and the laptop they claim I can use instead is now 4 years old, and is not designed to run engineering software. Great educational opportunity here... Universities exist to take your money.
Lucky you at Virginia Tech. Here at the University of Dayton, engineering majors were forced to buy the same laptops as the rest of the college, which were sold through a contract for well above market cost. That was freshmen year of course, when all you needed to do was use word, email, and maybe excel. In addition, my freshmen year, there were computer labs. Wonderful workstations without all the crap on them that ran autocad, matlab, and various other engineering software. Big screens, fast graphics cards, and plenty of RAM.
Fast forward to today... My now 4 year old craptop is barely fast enough to load office 2007 in a decent amount of time. Throw in numerous hardware problems, a replaced power supply, and a dieing battery, using the laptop is a miserable experience. And then try running Civil3D on a 4 year old laptop. I take a bathroom break after I start the application. Maybe go grab a snack after I open a file. And then spend the next hour praying the application doesn't crash while I work.
So why don't I go to the computer lab? Oh right, they nixed that 2 years ago (RIP 1960-2007?). For our class usage, we have 6 computers of the Pentium 4 class era with 512MB of RAM. The engineering IT department insists that our laptops are more than capable of running Civil3D and refuse to allow us access to the "Graduate Student Computer Lab", which sits empty during the day because most grad students have night classes.
So in summary, yes every student has a laptop, but they bought them when they came in freshman year. They probably won't use them for real work until junior/senior year when they are 3+ years old. This is hardly an ideal situation. Throw into the mix that the laptop had crappy integrated graphics, slower and less memory, and a low power processor, and you'll be lucky to run engineering applications.
Oh boy does that piss me off. My girlfriend does this, and she got mad at me when she lost data. Don't freaking save FOLDERS in the desktop, that's where SHORTCUTS GO!!! Seriously all your files go in My Documents (just Documents for newer Windows), the desktop is for shortcuts and the wallpaper.
4) I don't want your fucking shortcuts placed all over the fucking place. I don't want it on my desktop, my quick launch bar, and in the start menu. Even worse, don't reinsert your fucking desktop icon after installing updates (I'm looking straight at you Adobe!).
Footnote: Adobe, there is no reason to have a shortcut to Adobe Reader anyway, for it is absolutely fucking useless to open the application by any means other than opening a pdf file. I do not want your icon on my desktop, and if I delete your icon, I do NOT give you permission to put it back on an update.
Microsoft, while I'm ranting... I'm glad you think that Microsoft applications are above my preferences. Apparently my custom system font is not up to the high standards of Microsoft Office, and thus you ignore what I want and force me to conform to what you think is right.
I agree with your point about AIG, but you have to realize that Shell is taking the smaller risk option here, which is more stable. They have operated an oil business for quite a while, and I'm pretty sure they can survive for quite a while on the oil business model.
Jumping out of the renewable energy business just shows that they don't have the capital to invest in new sources of energy right now (could be related to the AIG thing maybe?).
There's the problem, it hasn't all been discovered yet. We aren't refilling it, we are discovering more. I have no doubts that there is only 10 years left of oil in currently tapped wellfields, but is it really that hard to grasp that new technologies allow us to reach deeper (and sideways) for oil that was previously out of reach? Also, new alternatives open up as the price goes up, such as the tar sands in Canada (which have more oil reserves than the Middle East).
Or he could have gotten a ton of old pentium III class machines for free from whoever still has one, and set up a beowulf cluster of those. If you are concerned about cost, why are you suggesting a Mac?
This is productive discussion (in my opinion), so I'll continue it.
Capitalism is based on the idea of free choice. In a monopoly situation, there is only once choice: Have or have not. This is not freedom. Where do monopolies come from? I do not agree that monopolies are required. You cite the power grid, yet there are power companies out there who don't own any lines and continue to sell power. The power lines and telecommunications should be owned by local governments, as they should be free for all to use, like roads are today. Then power companies could sell energy to any consumer connected to this universal grid. Oil companies share pipelines every day. You keep track of what goes in and what comes out, and it really doesn't matter whose it is at the end, because it should be the same product.
Most of the monopolies that have existed got ahead of their competition by government intervention. One of the first cartels was the railroad industry, who was given land through emminent domain. Also the telecos were given the same thing for their communication lines. This is what happens when the government helps a corporation purchase infrastructure. It hinders competition.
I don't know what happens at other oil companies, but at mine, we have done nothing to stifle competition. In fact, our company has moved to embrace ethanol, and despite its price compared to gasoline at the moment, we are working to get E15 at all pumps. As far as the government enacting anti-oil legislation, it just won't happen, and it shouldn't. If you want to protest oil go for it, but don't force it on me.
No arguments with your market bubble statement. But government regulation is part of the problem. They have created at least as many of the bubbles as the free market.
As far as the SUVs go. The government doesn't have to punish them... They punished themselves when gas was $4 a gallon. If it bites them in the ass later, it's not my fault, why should I pay for it? When big brother gets involved, he prevents stupid people from doing things, but he also hurts the average American as well. Legislating to protect the dumbest 10% doesn't help anybody (see No Child Left Behind).
As far as the middle east, I do realize there is fertile land and it is the cradle of civilization, but they do not have the resources to maintain their current standard of living without oil. They will go back to being farmers and nomads. I agree with you that we've meddled far too much in the middle east, and the rest of the world for that matter. Since WWII, America thinks we are World Police (America... Fuck Yeah). However, this hurts our economy as well as everyone else's.
It's high time the US government started reading the constitution and upholding the ideals that this country was founded upon. You might recall a statement that says that any power not granted to the federal government is left in the hands of the states. How many amendments after 10 try to take extra powers away from the states? How many current federal laws specifically take away state sovereignty? When is the last time the federal government did anything useful for this nation?
I don't want to start a flame war, because you make some good points. First of all, I have no problems with the EPA. And I wouldn't call forcing companies to properly dispose of their waste as a tax. I consider companies to be leasing land from the government. Thus they are to be held financially responsible for any damage they do to the land.
Capitalism does not naturally create monopolies. They are naturally created, but if there is a monopoly, then capitalism is not present. Also, security and freedom are assigned monetary value in capitalism. Not everyone may agree on the price, but at some level you have to decide if your security and freedom are worth paying taxes to the US. You can always move somewhere else if the tax burden is too high (which is why American car companies build cars in Mexico).
I was in the US when gas was 4 dollars a gallon. And I am trying to be part of the solution. I am currently in school, but I am opening myself up to flames by saying that I co-op, and have a job after graduation for an oil company. I do hope that by working to improve the transportation of oil and products (the area in which I work), I can help to bring cheaper gas to your car for year to come.
The company is upstream and downstream, and yes, oil extraction creates huge profits when oil prices are high. But we'd rather have oil prices low like they are now. Then we can make money on the refining process and even more so, from the retail items in the convenience stores. And I know it's hard to believe, but even employees working for oil companies cringe at the pump when gas is expensive. The number one question at company wide meetings was if we could get discounts for employees, and it was repeatedly denied (they used to do that, but too many people abused the system).
Don't blame the middle east and oil companies for families of 2 buying big ass SUVs to drive 20 miles of highway to work every day. That was fiscally irresponsible and wasteful even if gas is $2 a gallon. I drive a modest 10 year old Chevy Malibu and it gets fairly good mileage. When it becomes to expensive to operate, I want to get a turbodiesel. Diesel truly is the better technology. It has a higher energy density, is more efficient, and now that ULSD is required, it is a much cleaner fuel (one of the few good government mandates I might add).
I agree that the middle east is getting less money with oil cheap now, but the problem is not that the middle east is getting money, but how they are using the money. They are being stupid with their money, for when their oil dries up they will go back to being a barren desert with no means of sustaining a modern economy. Rather than trying to take money away from them, we should encourage them to invest in a better infrastructure and improvement so that it will cost less money in the long run to maintain standard of living.
Ahh yes... Big brother knows best. People don't make good decisions on their own. They need someone else to make decisions for them.
Consumers are complacent about fossil fuels, but they are not complacent about their wallets. Why do we continue to buy fossil fuel cars? Because they are the cheapest technology right now.
Take an economics course. Government mandates HURT ECONOMIES. There is no exception to this rule. The government produces nothing and does not act in the best interest of the people with tax dollars.
As far as your points below: 1) yes, and as it becomes cheaper, electric cars will become viable, but they aren't today 2) once again, fossil fuels getting more expensive will move us towards electric cars, but today oil provides the cheapest energy and that allows us to use the savings to invest in the next energy source 3) Regardless of where the oil comes from, it costs money. Us not buying it from the middle east will not stop terrorism. They will simply sell to China. The problem in the middle east is a lack of education and unfair governments. You are suggesting we bring that here rather than fix the real problem. 4) Yes, CO2 is bad for the environment, we need to mitigate the effects of this. However, the effects are HUGELY blown out of proportion, with Al Gore being a major contributor. I suggest that we focus on switching from coal to nuclear, which is economically viable and will reduce carbon output much more than electric cars.
Oh wait, the government is preventing nuclear power plants from being built an operated efficiently... Maybe your theory is flawed after all.
Actually, it was a torrent of flowers being downloaded. The value of the flowers was assumed to be if every single download represented a lost purchase.
That's why my significant other doesn't know my slashdot ID...
She also doesn't care to know, as she will not hesitate to tell me to shut up if I mention slashdot at all. Though she did get me a slashdot hat for my birthday last year, maybe next thing you know will be nudity combined with hot grits?
I enjoyed the game immensely in the first couple of levels. Playing the game in a dark room with headphones would literally send shivers down your spine. But seriously, the could have made random location spawns. It got old when you knew to turn around every time you walked into a room because an enemy would spawn behind you.
Or that full health lying in the corner... Just leave it, you're better off at 30% than the ass raping that will open up in the room if you go for it. Programming a trap for health is a dick move, either give me the health, or don't.
The easiest way to strip it was to never install WMP10 in the first place. Stick with WMP9. What, Ruckus requires the latest version of WMP? Just run Ruckus (and the installer) in Win2k compatibility mode, and voila, WMP check gone.
Thank you MS for artificially limiting WMP10+ to not run on Win2k, and thank you Ruckus for supporting Win2k and being stupid enough for compatibility mode to keep us from upgrading our DRM.
Or maybe I just want a phone that I can backup my contacts from. I don't expect to pay a contract for a PDA. I also don't want to shell out a couple hundred bucks for a phone. I don't need it to be a mass storage driver, I just want to be able to save and edit my contacts on a computer. Is that too much to ask for?
Seriously, is there a reason I need a 200+ phone to get a mass storage driver available in $2 flash drives?
Funny, my Katana II I bought specifically because the sales guy told me it charged via USB. Sure enough, it has a USB micro connector (not very common), but I got a cable, and low and behold, it won't charge plugged into a computer. It will charge in a power only outlet though.
Asshattery, that's what I call that. Why wouldn't you make it charge from a computer? Also, if it has a USB cable (one that they use to transfer my contacts and such), why can't I have drivers to access the data on my phone? Oh right, Sprint wants to charge an arm, leg, and my left nut to access my own data.
Could be... My brother lives in Kenai and I was able to check the information last night just fine. I think what happened is that every news network picked up on it today.
Slashdot Mirror
Here's my problem. My university nixed computer labs 2 years ago. Tuition has still gone up, and they hiked the cost of printing on their network as well. Did getting rid of the computer labs save me any money? I haven't seen a dime, and the laptop they claim I can use instead is now 4 years old, and is not designed to run engineering software. Great educational opportunity here... Universities exist to take your money.
Lucky you at Virginia Tech. Here at the University of Dayton, engineering majors were forced to buy the same laptops as the rest of the college, which were sold through a contract for well above market cost. That was freshmen year of course, when all you needed to do was use word, email, and maybe excel. In addition, my freshmen year, there were computer labs. Wonderful workstations without all the crap on them that ran autocad, matlab, and various other engineering software. Big screens, fast graphics cards, and plenty of RAM.
Fast forward to today... My now 4 year old craptop is barely fast enough to load office 2007 in a decent amount of time. Throw in numerous hardware problems, a replaced power supply, and a dieing battery, using the laptop is a miserable experience. And then try running Civil3D on a 4 year old laptop. I take a bathroom break after I start the application. Maybe go grab a snack after I open a file. And then spend the next hour praying the application doesn't crash while I work.
So why don't I go to the computer lab? Oh right, they nixed that 2 years ago (RIP 1960-2007?). For our class usage, we have 6 computers of the Pentium 4 class era with 512MB of RAM. The engineering IT department insists that our laptops are more than capable of running Civil3D and refuse to allow us access to the "Graduate Student Computer Lab", which sits empty during the day because most grad students have night classes.
So in summary, yes every student has a laptop, but they bought them when they came in freshman year. They probably won't use them for real work until junior/senior year when they are 3+ years old. This is hardly an ideal situation. Throw into the mix that the laptop had crappy integrated graphics, slower and less memory, and a low power processor, and you'll be lucky to run engineering applications.
Oh boy does that piss me off. My girlfriend does this, and she got mad at me when she lost data. Don't freaking save FOLDERS in the desktop, that's where SHORTCUTS GO!!! Seriously all your files go in My Documents (just Documents for newer Windows), the desktop is for shortcuts and the wallpaper.
Can I add 4?
4) I don't want your fucking shortcuts placed all over the fucking place. I don't want it on my desktop, my quick launch bar, and in the start menu. Even worse, don't reinsert your fucking desktop icon after installing updates (I'm looking straight at you Adobe!).
Footnote:
Adobe, there is no reason to have a shortcut to Adobe Reader anyway, for it is absolutely fucking useless to open the application by any means other than opening a pdf file. I do not want your icon on my desktop, and if I delete your icon, I do NOT give you permission to put it back on an update.
Microsoft, while I'm ranting... I'm glad you think that Microsoft applications are above my preferences. Apparently my custom system font is not up to the high standards of Microsoft Office, and thus you ignore what I want and force me to conform to what you think is right.
And don't call Shell stupid because they won't build renewable energy plants that have poor (if any) return on investment.
I agree with your point about AIG, but you have to realize that Shell is taking the smaller risk option here, which is more stable. They have operated an oil business for quite a while, and I'm pretty sure they can survive for quite a while on the oil business model.
Jumping out of the renewable energy business just shows that they don't have the capital to invest in new sources of energy right now (could be related to the AIG thing maybe?).
There's the problem, it hasn't all been discovered yet. We aren't refilling it, we are discovering more. I have no doubts that there is only 10 years left of oil in currently tapped wellfields, but is it really that hard to grasp that new technologies allow us to reach deeper (and sideways) for oil that was previously out of reach? Also, new alternatives open up as the price goes up, such as the tar sands in Canada (which have more oil reserves than the Middle East).
More importantly, WTF is dickering? A combination of dicking around and tinkering? Wouldn't that just be what nerds do when they are bored?
They do if they smoke enough pot...
Or he could have gotten a ton of old pentium III class machines for free from whoever still has one, and set up a beowulf cluster of those. If you are concerned about cost, why are you suggesting a Mac?
This is productive discussion (in my opinion), so I'll continue it.
Capitalism is based on the idea of free choice. In a monopoly situation, there is only once choice: Have or have not. This is not freedom. Where do monopolies come from? I do not agree that monopolies are required. You cite the power grid, yet there are power companies out there who don't own any lines and continue to sell power. The power lines and telecommunications should be owned by local governments, as they should be free for all to use, like roads are today. Then power companies could sell energy to any consumer connected to this universal grid. Oil companies share pipelines every day. You keep track of what goes in and what comes out, and it really doesn't matter whose it is at the end, because it should be the same product.
Most of the monopolies that have existed got ahead of their competition by government intervention. One of the first cartels was the railroad industry, who was given land through emminent domain. Also the telecos were given the same thing for their communication lines. This is what happens when the government helps a corporation purchase infrastructure. It hinders competition.
I don't know what happens at other oil companies, but at mine, we have done nothing to stifle competition. In fact, our company has moved to embrace ethanol, and despite its price compared to gasoline at the moment, we are working to get E15 at all pumps. As far as the government enacting anti-oil legislation, it just won't happen, and it shouldn't. If you want to protest oil go for it, but don't force it on me.
No arguments with your market bubble statement. But government regulation is part of the problem. They have created at least as many of the bubbles as the free market.
As far as the SUVs go. The government doesn't have to punish them... They punished themselves when gas was $4 a gallon. If it bites them in the ass later, it's not my fault, why should I pay for it? When big brother gets involved, he prevents stupid people from doing things, but he also hurts the average American as well. Legislating to protect the dumbest 10% doesn't help anybody (see No Child Left Behind).
As far as the middle east, I do realize there is fertile land and it is the cradle of civilization, but they do not have the resources to maintain their current standard of living without oil. They will go back to being farmers and nomads. I agree with you that we've meddled far too much in the middle east, and the rest of the world for that matter. Since WWII, America thinks we are World Police (America... Fuck Yeah). However, this hurts our economy as well as everyone else's.
It's high time the US government started reading the constitution and upholding the ideals that this country was founded upon. You might recall a statement that says that any power not granted to the federal government is left in the hands of the states. How many amendments after 10 try to take extra powers away from the states? How many current federal laws specifically take away state sovereignty? When is the last time the federal government did anything useful for this nation?
I don't want to start a flame war, because you make some good points. First of all, I have no problems with the EPA. And I wouldn't call forcing companies to properly dispose of their waste as a tax. I consider companies to be leasing land from the government. Thus they are to be held financially responsible for any damage they do to the land.
Capitalism does not naturally create monopolies. They are naturally created, but if there is a monopoly, then capitalism is not present. Also, security and freedom are assigned monetary value in capitalism. Not everyone may agree on the price, but at some level you have to decide if your security and freedom are worth paying taxes to the US. You can always move somewhere else if the tax burden is too high (which is why American car companies build cars in Mexico).
I was in the US when gas was 4 dollars a gallon. And I am trying to be part of the solution. I am currently in school, but I am opening myself up to flames by saying that I co-op, and have a job after graduation for an oil company. I do hope that by working to improve the transportation of oil and products (the area in which I work), I can help to bring cheaper gas to your car for year to come.
The company is upstream and downstream, and yes, oil extraction creates huge profits when oil prices are high. But we'd rather have oil prices low like they are now. Then we can make money on the refining process and even more so, from the retail items in the convenience stores. And I know it's hard to believe, but even employees working for oil companies cringe at the pump when gas is expensive. The number one question at company wide meetings was if we could get discounts for employees, and it was repeatedly denied (they used to do that, but too many people abused the system).
Don't blame the middle east and oil companies for families of 2 buying big ass SUVs to drive 20 miles of highway to work every day. That was fiscally irresponsible and wasteful even if gas is $2 a gallon. I drive a modest 10 year old Chevy Malibu and it gets fairly good mileage. When it becomes to expensive to operate, I want to get a turbodiesel. Diesel truly is the better technology. It has a higher energy density, is more efficient, and now that ULSD is required, it is a much cleaner fuel (one of the few good government mandates I might add).
I agree that the middle east is getting less money with oil cheap now, but the problem is not that the middle east is getting money, but how they are using the money. They are being stupid with their money, for when their oil dries up they will go back to being a barren desert with no means of sustaining a modern economy. Rather than trying to take money away from them, we should encourage them to invest in a better infrastructure and improvement so that it will cost less money in the long run to maintain standard of living.
Ahh yes... Big brother knows best. People don't make good decisions on their own. They need someone else to make decisions for them.
Consumers are complacent about fossil fuels, but they are not complacent about their wallets. Why do we continue to buy fossil fuel cars? Because they are the cheapest technology right now.
Take an economics course. Government mandates HURT ECONOMIES. There is no exception to this rule. The government produces nothing and does not act in the best interest of the people with tax dollars.
As far as your points below:
1) yes, and as it becomes cheaper, electric cars will become viable, but they aren't today
2) once again, fossil fuels getting more expensive will move us towards electric cars, but today oil provides the cheapest energy and that allows us to use the savings to invest in the next energy source
3) Regardless of where the oil comes from, it costs money. Us not buying it from the middle east will not stop terrorism. They will simply sell to China. The problem in the middle east is a lack of education and unfair governments. You are suggesting we bring that here rather than fix the real problem.
4) Yes, CO2 is bad for the environment, we need to mitigate the effects of this. However, the effects are HUGELY blown out of proportion, with Al Gore being a major contributor. I suggest that we focus on switching from coal to nuclear, which is economically viable and will reduce carbon output much more than electric cars.
Oh wait, the government is preventing nuclear power plants from being built an operated efficiently... Maybe your theory is flawed after all.
Ahh, posting a flamebait against an oil company gets you a +5 insightful despite a total lack of insight.
Actually, it was a torrent of flowers being downloaded. The value of the flowers was assumed to be if every single download represented a lost purchase.
I am a civil engineer, and I can tell you I would definitely enjoy killing rats with a bobcat...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobcat_(equipment)
That's why my significant other doesn't know my slashdot ID...
She also doesn't care to know, as she will not hesitate to tell me to shut up if I mention slashdot at all. Though she did get me a slashdot hat for my birthday last year, maybe next thing you know will be nudity combined with hot grits?
It's too late. I just ripped off your idea and started a company to do just that.
The morning commute wouldn't be bad. It's getting home that would suck...
I enjoyed the game immensely in the first couple of levels. Playing the game in a dark room with headphones would literally send shivers down your spine. But seriously, the could have made random location spawns. It got old when you knew to turn around every time you walked into a room because an enemy would spawn behind you.
Or that full health lying in the corner... Just leave it, you're better off at 30% than the ass raping that will open up in the room if you go for it. Programming a trap for health is a dick move, either give me the health, or don't.
The easiest way to strip it was to never install WMP10 in the first place. Stick with WMP9. What, Ruckus requires the latest version of WMP? Just run Ruckus (and the installer) in Win2k compatibility mode, and voila, WMP check gone.
Thank you MS for artificially limiting WMP10+ to not run on Win2k, and thank you Ruckus for supporting Win2k and being stupid enough for compatibility mode to keep us from upgrading our DRM.
It's ok, the Mods must have overshot us by a week and a half...
Or maybe I just want a phone that I can backup my contacts from. I don't expect to pay a contract for a PDA. I also don't want to shell out a couple hundred bucks for a phone. I don't need it to be a mass storage driver, I just want to be able to save and edit my contacts on a computer. Is that too much to ask for?
Seriously, is there a reason I need a 200+ phone to get a mass storage driver available in $2 flash drives?
Funny, my Katana II I bought specifically because the sales guy told me it charged via USB. Sure enough, it has a USB micro connector (not very common), but I got a cable, and low and behold, it won't charge plugged into a computer. It will charge in a power only outlet though.
Asshattery, that's what I call that. Why wouldn't you make it charge from a computer? Also, if it has a USB cable (one that they use to transfer my contacts and such), why can't I have drivers to access the data on my phone? Oh right, Sprint wants to charge an arm, leg, and my left nut to access my own data.
Could be... My brother lives in Kenai and I was able to check the information last night just fine. I think what happened is that every news network picked up on it today.