Robots are great tools but are incredibly limited to what they can do on their own. A human being working with a robot can do tremendously more than a robot (aka. machine) can do alone. That is not to say that we should not send robots ahead of human beings with a limited goal to set up some limited infrastructure. I could imagine sending a source of electric generation (not sure if nuclear is feasible without lots of water), a few habitat modules, a few storage modules, some vehicles, a few general purpose machine shops (for recycling, tools, some place to build stuff on the fly), and a few resource modules (containing raw materials that wouldnt be easily available locally).
The first generation of one way earth-martians are going to be the ones who need to figure out how to make Mars work for humans. Until human beings can exist on Mars without supplies from earth, Mars will be like Greenland was to the vikings in the 10th century or Antarctica to modern man. I mean, lets take a look at Antarctica. Its on the same planet, but we do not colonize it because it is so difficult to inhabit. Mars is colder than Antarctica. Mars is farther away than Antarctica. Mars does not have a breathable atmosphere like Antarctica. Mars does not have water like Antarctica. You can also come back from Antarctica. Antarctica is larger than the continental United States. Antarctica has LOTS of resources that is worth while for human beings to have. The gravity on Antarctica will not cause bone mass loss in human beings.
Worth while endeavor, but the real question is regarding the pay off.
Why assume that the employee is a criminal? Many people get terminated because of bad relationships with their managers every single day. Very few of those people resort to criminal activities against their previous employers, even if they have the ability to do so. I suppose everyone should suspect secretaries of publishing address books, bank statements, inventories, employee social security numbers, etc., all over the internet because they had access to that information all along. How about janitors? They go through garbage. How many things dont get shredded? Perhaps every business should conduct documentation accounting practices because who knows what the janitor might know.
Seriously. This is a bit over exaggerated. Most IT professionals have invested tens of thousands of dollars in their education and training, as well as years into a profession that doesnt really have any value outside of their relevant field. Treating every employee who gets fired as a potential criminal is stupid, and is a good sign that you do not want to work for that business. Everyone who ever works for a company has potential to cause damage to some degree... some employees more than others. But to treat your network as if that person has "rooted and back doored" it is just bad business (fairly disruptive too, considering in many cases its best to take some systems off line if you believe they've been compromised).
The schools have very little to do with the performance of the students. Its all about the communities that form the student bodies. You can dump a trillion dollars into Los Angeles schools and your still going to have neighborhoods with high murder rates, teen pregnancy, and high school drop outs. You know why? Because the communities are so completely dysfunctional and broken that no amount of "school" is going to fix it.
Last week a 15 year old and a 16 year old were shot to death in South East LA. Didnt even make the front page of the news papers. Just two more "latino youths". I'm absolutely appalled at the murder rate of young black and latino's in Los Angeles. Who's in control of LA? Who's been in control of California for quiet some time? Who's been in control of our government for the past 18 months? Why are these problems being swept under the rug instead of fixed? Where is all the money going?!? 1 Trillion dollars and still cities like LA are littered with killing fields. The dead: Black and Latino boys. Hows that hope and change working out?
Yeah, the UN is a great organization. I know I want countries like Iran, North Korea and Pakistan involved in setting policy here in the United States.
I mean, we all know how accountable the UN is, right? Remember during the last UN election when you voted for... oh wait... you didnt. Vote for anyone in the UN. Super governments like the UN are a very, very bad idea.
TFA seems to takes only one possible zombie scenario; the dead rising from the grave. Most of the more well thought out zombie scenarios seem to have zombies as a secondary effect of a primary event. Take for example "Omega Man" where most of the population is killed off by the virus, while a large group turns into zombies, and a small group is simply immune. The primary catastrophe is the collapse of modern society due to massive population decreases. The surviving humans, even without the pressure of an undead predator, will get a fresh new perspective of mother nature.
Modern military forces, rednecks, pistol toting fudge packers, and inner city ghetto rats will have to survive their friends, families, and loved ones suddenly turning into rabid flesh eating zombies. Soldiers seldom have access instant access to their firearms off the battle field (take a look at Fort Hood massacre), even Rednecks have to put down their weapons long enough to get into the beer dispensary and the fudge packers have to use all fours to get it on. The suddenness of the outbreak will go a long way to determine the successfulness.
Reducing western living individuals to a pre-agrarian life style (lets face it, with less than 10% of the population still practicing agriculture in western societies), the threat of an unsleeping, undying, fleshing eating cannibal that can withstand tremendous amounts of trauma, would be extreme difficult to cope with. Most likely, these zombies would be infesting the "prime real-estate" where they formerly lived, forcing the surviving humans out into the "wilderness" where life will be even more difficult. The plains, pastures, and farm lands that humans have sought, cleared and planted will now be the swarming grounds of this now "super predator".
Depending on the type of zombie, human beings will be unable to hold up in fortresses forever. Fresh water will be scarce. Fresh water that is safe to access will be even more so. Human beings will not only have to contend with the zombies, but with each other as well. Without the ability to grow food, humans will be forced to keep groups small and force them to protect the few sources of food that they have regular access. Without growth in numbers... western society will devolve. All of our great advances will be lost. Zombies win, we lose.
Its a funny liberal problem. Constitutionally, this ship should be fine as it is out side of US territorial boundaries. Yet, Liberals hate the constitution so much that they have pretty much made it obsolete through lots of crafty word smithing and judicial activists. This leads to a US government that is pretty much without any limit as to what it will do outside of getting its elected politicians unelected.
So the Hollywood lobby goes to its locally elected politician Howard Berman (democrat, california) goes sends a facebook message to his buddy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, "Hey Nancy. My friends over at Lucas Arts just sent me a text message saying there is a boat off the coast giving away its latest Star Wars movie. Anything we can do about it?"
Nancy Pelosi sends an IM to Ike Skelton of the House Armed Sevices Committee "Need pir8 boat off coast removed k? Msg Howie! ttfn!!! NP!"
So after a few short correspondence meetings with CNN, MSNBC, and NBC (forget Fox, they hate pirates and hollywood) to run some stories about children of move grips starving because of trillions of dollars movie piracy, the US Navy comes to the rescue by snatching an evil "pirate ship", the owner gets rail roaded for every stupid thing he's ever done (or they just make shit up), and gets his ass thrown in jail. After a few months of litigation (because said movie studios need to make someone else pay for their lawyer fees) on completely unrelated laws (because liberals are fucking fantastic at making laws mean absolutely whatever they want) they pretty much take this guy to the washers.
Yes. Fossil fuels are incredibly dangerous. Forget the heavy metals that are required for the batteries, which are also quiet limited, and much, much more toxic to life as we know it. Sure, plants might like a nice baking green house earth, but most everything dies from all the fun things that go into big batteries.
This was only a test of the Global Emergency Response System. Had this test yielded the appropriate outpouring of funding into UN coffers, I'm certain that the FUD associated with H1N1 would have been amplified accordingly. From every HR letter to other not to mention memorandums, H1N1 was touted to be a potential epidemic that was to rival the biblical death of the first born of Egypt (hence H1N1 was suppose to kill off young children en masse).
Of course, many of the early reports of young people dying were kept VERY vague, not mentioning that many of the individuals were illegal immigrants (not necessarily important for this particular matter, other than lack of historical medical histories) with pre-existing illnesses. Later on it was found out that many of the declared H1N1 diagnosis were false, and some of the deaths were not the real cause of death, just that people who died also had H1N1.
Saying that the global response system was effective in containing H1N1 from becoming a devastating plague is suspect at best. 10,000's of thousands of people die from seasonal flu every year and there is pretty much nothing the WHO can do about it, aside from offering a russian roulette vaccination regimen. I'm not criticizing vaccinations, I'm simply saying that if H1N1 was a deadly as it was touted, and as virulent as the common cold, the death toll would have been MUCH higher.
Some small defense contracting firm cant get its shit together enough to get the CIA to consider purchasing its software. They probably dont have people who know the procurement process well enough to get a start (or anyone with enough pull to push for its procurement). Then they claim to open source the software to try and get it through the door in a different way, probably in hopes of a support contract for future development.
Then, instead of discussing in greater detail the problems they had selling the software, they bitch about other notable failures in government contracting as if they are stuck in the same boat.
Isn't that the way of the left? If your successful, you only did so through treachery. You are evil because you do not give to the poor. If you give to the poor, you do so only for your ego. If you give it all away and become destitute your a pathetic fool. If you try to succeed and fail, your a joke and a loser worthy of ridicule.
This loathing of success is so pervasive, it even spreads even to those who are successful in providing a product "free to everyone". Only because that one person has set himself apart.
Everyone who keeps on bashing at Linus and the other "ego's" are just pissed off because their success somehow shows your the haters ineptitude. Of course, its only in your head and in your heart.
A lot of company aren't cheap asses, but instead like to make the most from their money. Companies that provide support to open source products need to figure out better ways to generate cash. Our shop is heavily open source, but we also pay for software. We put the money we do not spend on things like operating systems into more hardware. The money doesn't "disappear" or go under some rich white guys mattress. It goes into more resources to accomplish the core goal of the company which is to sell a product (which isn't computer related, but the saved money still gets invested into IT).
Here is the secret that Red Hat is missing, and other open source companies are quickly figuring out. And since I dont ever plan on being an owner of a software company, I'll tell the world for free. Turning "open source software" into an "appliance" is where all the real money is going, and is the reason why Apple, a HUGE consumer of open source, is a multi-billion dollar company, and Red Hat is more and more becoming yesterdays news.
I am an "American Worker" (as opposed to one of the other pretend social classes), who wakes up at 4am, drives 1 hour to arrive at my job at 5am, and then work till 4pm, to drive home for 5pm. I have a score of network switches, a hundred servers, multiple SAN's and tape libraries, documentation to create and maintain, logs to review, security audits to perform, management to manipulate into doing the right thing, firewall policies to write, implement, test, and further document... and thats just the stuff I havent blanked out. Then when I come home I have a wife to tend to, an adoption process (which thus far has consumed well over 120 hours in just 4 short months, with only 2-3 more months to go), and household chores to complete. Not to mention charity work, distant family to communicate with, and entertain fleeting thoughts of entertainment. Somehow, I am going to have to shove "exercise" back into that schedule, before I die of some work related death sentence. By the end of the day I get between 4-6 hours sleep, before i have to wake up and start doing it again.
I'd never, ever, be able to do it without coffee.
On the weekend I can go without coffee if I can get enough sleep (8-10 hours). Of course, weekends are for getting the non work related things which couldnt be completed during the week.
This is what the gparent meant about caffine addiction being an American problem. To be honest, I wouldnt trade it in for a longer life living in a bankrupt sun belt socialism.
How is this "insightful"? Companies have so many different criteria for hiring and retaining employees why is external personal conduct so seemingly extreme? Because a business or government entity has a code of conduct that extends beyond the work place, doesnt make you a "slave" to that company or government entity. Being captured at gun point, put in shackles, and forced to perform some sort of service against your will (the consequences being corporal punishment or death) is slavery. Dont like the job requirements, dont work there.
The 1st Amendment protects peoples freedom of speech from the Federal government, not from the consequences of private entities in society. You should be able to say whatever you want without the government penalizing you (without causing unjust harm), but that doesnt mean everyone should be forced by the government to have to listen to your stupidity, or be impartial towards you.
Businesses should fire people who are too stupid to understand the impact of their actions on their company. If you work in a business... lets say something in the First Responder, or Public Safety industry... perception and image is extremely important. Public confidence goes a long way in making First Responders life easier, and safer. This can be clearly seen in areas where police are viewed as brutal (no one snitches on crime), where first responders never show up (Flavor Flav's, "9/11 is a joke in your town").
The constitution applies largely to restricting the Federal Government, not private citizens.
I wish I wouldnt have blown all my mod points today or I would have modded you up. Your dead right. Implementing something the wrong way is similar to building a mansion on the sand. Understanding the sheer destructive force of a kludge is what separates the senior engineers (and sysadmins in particular) from the rest. This is why you get a crusty veteran shooting down all your bright ideas without ever really explaining it. Because its a game of chess, kludges lead to checkmates... but only the pro's can see that far ahead.
I can speak for this. I know people who have saved their project over 100,000 dollars in hardware alone (not to mention the associated procurement costs) by networking with other IT people in the hyper-mega-global corporation. Simply put, his small project was beginning to blossom with a limited budget, and they needed a relative small SAN in order to expand. A friend he had made in another department was upgrading to a faster, larger SAN, and selling off the old SAN. Over a cup of coffee the two admins quickly figured out that the old SAN would work perfectly for their needs, and cost a fraction of buying a new, but similar SAN.
I'm sure many stories like this can be exchanged. As parent stated,
All comes down to bad management. And what I mean by bad management, is management that does not understand how intricate IT is to their bottom line, and does not plan accordingly. IT is just as important as accounting, or HR. If you neglect it, the problems will cost you down the road.
It doesn't matter what line of business you are in. If you do not understand the role has to play in your company, then you need to hire someone who can help you figure that out, or simply be replaced by someone who can.
Unfortunately, the hyper inflated concept of the unflinching, tireless, resolute worker is best left as a relic of the industrial revolution. Never in the course of human history, outside of the industrial revolution, has a human being been expected to produce "something" for 8 straight hours a day, 5 days a week (and for some more than that). Such simple minded focus strips the mind of creativity; creativity which has dramatically advanced and improved the human condition.
I am a hard core capitalist and stalwart industrialist, but I am also a pragmatist. Non stop, widget production, should be left to the factory worker who needs to follow a standard script. Expecting an IT professional, a researcher, or an engineer to simply keep producing something measurable with each minute of the day shows a complete lack of understanding of your resources. I forget what the name of the study was, but it took three sports teams and show the level of performance improvements over a team that 1) vacationed for a week, thinking about the upcoming game, 2) team that unceasingly trained for the upcoming game, 3) team that sporadically trained for the upcoming game. turns out the vacationing team that spent some time visualizing the upcoming game, produced the greatest results, with the team that trained too hard had the smallest improvements.
Long story short, expecting factory worker performance from skilled workers, is as foolish as expecting a successful heart transplant surgery from a line backer.
Why do you believe that you have an inherent right to not have to pay for damage that your actions cause? If burning Coal to power your home causes property damage due to acid rain and erodion etc. from global warming, you are most definitely liable to pay for that damage. Society has no obligation to shield you from the consequences of environmental damage caused by your actions.
I call bull shit on this. Please point out exactly where the damage is, and prove that it is caused by my use of air conditioning/heating my home, as opposed to natural cycles which have occurred throughout the history of the earth. Remember, its not "Global Warming" anymore, its "Climate Change". An ubiquitous catch all phrase which assigns any negative changes in nature to the life style of industrialized nations. Receding glaciers? Global Warming. Rising water levels? Global Warming. Hurricanes? Global warming! Blizzards and cold summers... uh... er... Climate Change!!!
And besides, if your so damn concerned about "climate change", power down your computer now. I'm quiet certain you have no idea exactly how much CO2 polution your causing just getting to your favorite internet sites (all those servers and switches using electricity from evil coal powered plants). I mean, you should have to pay for all this damage your doing.
I know all of you eco-leftists are full of shit because I can still see your bullshit on the internet, which causes tons of "CO2 pollution". You all are still driving cars, living in buildings, using petrol products (yes, plastics and all), and electricity which comes from coal fired plants. If you "really" believe the end is neigh, start practicing what you preach.
Because the only way for most companies to reduce carbon emissions is to reduce the amount of business they do, and for most small and medium sized business, this is a death sentence. All proposed solutions lead to economic collapse for all those involved, especially as the solution is implemented globally (pray China doesnt buy into cap and trade).
"Carbon Credits" may be presented to fulfill a fantasy of tree hugging hippies (I mean that in the nicest sense possible), but in all reality it is the greatest and most destructive grab for power in human history. Despite all of the negative press associated with modern living (pollution, crime, inequality, etc.), people are living longer, better lives, everywhere (except for the few places that are still practicing early 20th century communism such as North Korea and Cuba, and even Cubans are living longer). Advancements in science and technology are moving a long at break neck speeds (relative to any other time frames outside the 20th century), and all of these advancements are built on proceeding advances.
Carbon Credits attacks the basic blocks that made the progress of the 20th century possible; access to cheap electricity and cheap petroleum. While its true both of these sources of fuel have negative qualities (pollution, danger of extraction, storage, etc.), they have gone a LONG towards connecting the world, and improving the quality of life; everywhere. Once "carbon credits" begin to dramatically increase the scarcity for these two life blood components of modern life, things are going to change, and not for the better.
Betting on "breakthroughs" in "green xyz" is a bad strategy. How are people going to come up with great new inventions when they can no longer afford electricty? Or when Universities have to increase the cost of admissions because the price of utilities has "necessarily skyrocketed", who is going to be able to attain a degree? There will be those who can afford to, but history has shown repeatedly that those who have money and power really have no reason to try to change the world... because the world is already working in there favor. From Edison to Bell, many of the great innovators and inventors have come from humble origins to change the world. While their inventions may have change the way the world lives, the businesses that they created have grown large, and stagnant, but provided mediums which helped lift other inventors to prominence years down the line.
This carbon credit scheme is not going to favor the Bells and the Edisons before they were rich. Carbon Credits are going to favor the AT&T's, the Goldman Sachs, and the Enrons of the world, while creating a barrier to entry so high that no new businesses will come into being, and the ones that exist will be "too big to fail".
Slashdot Mirror
Robots are great tools but are incredibly limited to what they can do on their own. A human being working with a robot can do tremendously more than a robot (aka. machine) can do alone. That is not to say that we should not send robots ahead of human beings with a limited goal to set up some limited infrastructure. I could imagine sending a source of electric generation (not sure if nuclear is feasible without lots of water), a few habitat modules, a few storage modules, some vehicles, a few general purpose machine shops (for recycling, tools, some place to build stuff on the fly), and a few resource modules (containing raw materials that wouldnt be easily available locally).
The first generation of one way earth-martians are going to be the ones who need to figure out how to make Mars work for humans. Until human beings can exist on Mars without supplies from earth, Mars will be like Greenland was to the vikings in the 10th century or Antarctica to modern man. I mean, lets take a look at Antarctica. Its on the same planet, but we do not colonize it because it is so difficult to inhabit. Mars is colder than Antarctica. Mars is farther away than Antarctica. Mars does not have a breathable atmosphere like Antarctica. Mars does not have water like Antarctica. You can also come back from Antarctica. Antarctica is larger than the continental United States. Antarctica has LOTS of resources that is worth while for human beings to have. The gravity on Antarctica will not cause bone mass loss in human beings.
Worth while endeavor, but the real question is regarding the pay off.
He's just another violent, racist, Tea Party activist.
Right?
Yeah! I feel the same way about people who are against the military.
Why assume that the employee is a criminal? Many people get terminated because of bad relationships with their managers every single day. Very few of those people resort to criminal activities against their previous employers, even if they have the ability to do so. I suppose everyone should suspect secretaries of publishing address books, bank statements, inventories, employee social security numbers, etc., all over the internet because they had access to that information all along. How about janitors? They go through garbage. How many things dont get shredded? Perhaps every business should conduct documentation accounting practices because who knows what the janitor might know.
Seriously. This is a bit over exaggerated. Most IT professionals have invested tens of thousands of dollars in their education and training, as well as years into a profession that doesnt really have any value outside of their relevant field. Treating every employee who gets fired as a potential criminal is stupid, and is a good sign that you do not want to work for that business. Everyone who ever works for a company has potential to cause damage to some degree... some employees more than others. But to treat your network as if that person has "rooted and back doored" it is just bad business (fairly disruptive too, considering in many cases its best to take some systems off line if you believe they've been compromised).
But to each their own.
The schools have very little to do with the performance of the students. Its all about the communities that form the student bodies. You can dump a trillion dollars into Los Angeles schools and your still going to have neighborhoods with high murder rates, teen pregnancy, and high school drop outs. You know why? Because the communities are so completely dysfunctional and broken that no amount of "school" is going to fix it.
Last week a 15 year old and a 16 year old were shot to death in South East LA. Didnt even make the front page of the news papers. Just two more "latino youths". I'm absolutely appalled at the murder rate of young black and latino's in Los Angeles. Who's in control of LA? Who's been in control of California for quiet some time? Who's been in control of our government for the past 18 months? Why are these problems being swept under the rug instead of fixed? Where is all the money going?!? 1 Trillion dollars and still cities like LA are littered with killing fields. The dead: Black and Latino boys. Hows that hope and change working out?
http://projects.latimes.com/homicide/blog/page/1/
Yeah, the UN is a great organization. I know I want countries like Iran, North Korea and Pakistan involved in setting policy here in the United States.
I mean, we all know how accountable the UN is, right? Remember during the last UN election when you voted for... oh wait... you didnt. Vote for anyone in the UN. Super governments like the UN are a very, very bad idea.
TFA seems to takes only one possible zombie scenario; the dead rising from the grave. Most of the more well thought out zombie scenarios seem to have zombies as a secondary effect of a primary event. Take for example "Omega Man" where most of the population is killed off by the virus, while a large group turns into zombies, and a small group is simply immune. The primary catastrophe is the collapse of modern society due to massive population decreases. The surviving humans, even without the pressure of an undead predator, will get a fresh new perspective of mother nature.
Modern military forces, rednecks, pistol toting fudge packers, and inner city ghetto rats will have to survive their friends, families, and loved ones suddenly turning into rabid flesh eating zombies. Soldiers seldom have access instant access to their firearms off the battle field (take a look at Fort Hood massacre), even Rednecks have to put down their weapons long enough to get into the beer dispensary and the fudge packers have to use all fours to get it on. The suddenness of the outbreak will go a long way to determine the successfulness.
Reducing western living individuals to a pre-agrarian life style (lets face it, with less than 10% of the population still practicing agriculture in western societies), the threat of an unsleeping, undying, fleshing eating cannibal that can withstand tremendous amounts of trauma, would be extreme difficult to cope with. Most likely, these zombies would be infesting the "prime real-estate" where they formerly lived, forcing the surviving humans out into the "wilderness" where life will be even more difficult. The plains, pastures, and farm lands that humans have sought, cleared and planted will now be the swarming grounds of this now "super predator".
Depending on the type of zombie, human beings will be unable to hold up in fortresses forever. Fresh water will be scarce. Fresh water that is safe to access will be even more so. Human beings will not only have to contend with the zombies, but with each other as well. Without the ability to grow food, humans will be forced to keep groups small and force them to protect the few sources of food that they have regular access. Without growth in numbers... western society will devolve. All of our great advances will be lost. Zombies win, we lose.
I said capture, not sink.
Its a funny liberal problem. Constitutionally, this ship should be fine as it is out side of US territorial boundaries. Yet, Liberals hate the constitution so much that they have pretty much made it obsolete through lots of crafty word smithing and judicial activists. This leads to a US government that is pretty much without any limit as to what it will do outside of getting its elected politicians unelected.
So the Hollywood lobby goes to its locally elected politician Howard Berman (democrat, california) goes sends a facebook message to his buddy, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, "Hey Nancy. My friends over at Lucas Arts just sent me a text message saying there is a boat off the coast giving away its latest Star Wars movie. Anything we can do about it?"
Nancy Pelosi sends an IM to Ike Skelton of the House Armed Sevices Committee "Need pir8 boat off coast removed k? Msg Howie! ttfn!!! NP!"
So after a few short correspondence meetings with CNN, MSNBC, and NBC (forget Fox, they hate pirates and hollywood) to run some stories about children of move grips starving because of trillions of dollars movie piracy, the US Navy comes to the rescue by snatching an evil "pirate ship", the owner gets rail roaded for every stupid thing he's ever done (or they just make shit up), and gets his ass thrown in jail. After a few months of litigation (because said movie studios need to make someone else pay for their lawyer fees) on completely unrelated laws (because liberals are fucking fantastic at making laws mean absolutely whatever they want) they pretty much take this guy to the washers.
Good luck with your new pirate boat business!
Yes. Fossil fuels are incredibly dangerous. Forget the heavy metals that are required for the batteries, which are also quiet limited, and much, much more toxic to life as we know it. Sure, plants might like a nice baking green house earth, but most everything dies from all the fun things that go into big batteries.
This was only a test of the Global Emergency Response System. Had this test yielded the appropriate outpouring of funding into UN coffers, I'm certain that the FUD associated with H1N1 would have been amplified accordingly. From every HR letter to other not to mention memorandums, H1N1 was touted to be a potential epidemic that was to rival the biblical death of the first born of Egypt (hence H1N1 was suppose to kill off young children en masse).
Of course, many of the early reports of young people dying were kept VERY vague, not mentioning that many of the individuals were illegal immigrants (not necessarily important for this particular matter, other than lack of historical medical histories) with pre-existing illnesses. Later on it was found out that many of the declared H1N1 diagnosis were false, and some of the deaths were not the real cause of death, just that people who died also had H1N1.
Saying that the global response system was effective in containing H1N1 from becoming a devastating plague is suspect at best. 10,000's of thousands of people die from seasonal flu every year and there is pretty much nothing the WHO can do about it, aside from offering a russian roulette vaccination regimen. I'm not criticizing vaccinations, I'm simply saying that if H1N1 was a deadly as it was touted, and as virulent as the common cold, the death toll would have been MUCH higher.
I have a different take on it.
Some small defense contracting firm cant get its shit together enough to get the CIA to consider purchasing its software. They probably dont have people who know the procurement process well enough to get a start (or anyone with enough pull to push for its procurement). Then they claim to open source the software to try and get it through the door in a different way, probably in hopes of a support contract for future development.
Then, instead of discussing in greater detail the problems they had selling the software, they bitch about other notable failures in government contracting as if they are stuck in the same boat.
Nothing to see here, move along.
Isn't that the way of the left? If your successful, you only did so through treachery. You are evil because you do not give to the poor. If you give to the poor, you do so only for your ego. If you give it all away and become destitute your a pathetic fool. If you try to succeed and fail, your a joke and a loser worthy of ridicule.
This loathing of success is so pervasive, it even spreads even to those who are successful in providing a product "free to everyone". Only because that one person has set himself apart.
Everyone who keeps on bashing at Linus and the other "ego's" are just pissed off because their success somehow shows your the haters ineptitude. Of course, its only in your head and in your heart.
A lot of company aren't cheap asses, but instead like to make the most from their money. Companies that provide support to open source products need to figure out better ways to generate cash. Our shop is heavily open source, but we also pay for software. We put the money we do not spend on things like operating systems into more hardware. The money doesn't "disappear" or go under some rich white guys mattress. It goes into more resources to accomplish the core goal of the company which is to sell a product (which isn't computer related, but the saved money still gets invested into IT).
Here is the secret that Red Hat is missing, and other open source companies are quickly figuring out. And since I dont ever plan on being an owner of a software company, I'll tell the world for free. Turning "open source software" into an "appliance" is where all the real money is going, and is the reason why Apple, a HUGE consumer of open source, is a multi-billion dollar company, and Red Hat is more and more becoming yesterdays news.
I am an "American Worker" (as opposed to one of the other pretend social classes), who wakes up at 4am, drives 1 hour to arrive at my job at 5am, and then work till 4pm, to drive home for 5pm. I have a score of network switches, a hundred servers, multiple SAN's and tape libraries, documentation to create and maintain, logs to review, security audits to perform, management to manipulate into doing the right thing, firewall policies to write, implement, test, and further document... and thats just the stuff I havent blanked out. Then when I come home I have a wife to tend to, an adoption process (which thus far has consumed well over 120 hours in just 4 short months, with only 2-3 more months to go), and household chores to complete. Not to mention charity work, distant family to communicate with, and entertain fleeting thoughts of entertainment. Somehow, I am going to have to shove "exercise" back into that schedule, before I die of some work related death sentence. By the end of the day I get between 4-6 hours sleep, before i have to wake up and start doing it again.
I'd never, ever, be able to do it without coffee.
On the weekend I can go without coffee if I can get enough sleep (8-10 hours). Of course, weekends are for getting the non work related things which couldnt be completed during the week.
This is what the gparent meant about caffine addiction being an American problem. To be honest, I wouldnt trade it in for a longer life living in a bankrupt sun belt socialism.
How is this "insightful"? Companies have so many different criteria for hiring and retaining employees why is external personal conduct so seemingly extreme? Because a business or government entity has a code of conduct that extends beyond the work place, doesnt make you a "slave" to that company or government entity. Being captured at gun point, put in shackles, and forced to perform some sort of service against your will (the consequences being corporal punishment or death) is slavery. Dont like the job requirements, dont work there.
The 1st Amendment protects peoples freedom of speech from the Federal government, not from the consequences of private entities in society. You should be able to say whatever you want without the government penalizing you (without causing unjust harm), but that doesnt mean everyone should be forced by the government to have to listen to your stupidity, or be impartial towards you.
Businesses should fire people who are too stupid to understand the impact of their actions on their company. If you work in a business... lets say something in the First Responder, or Public Safety industry... perception and image is extremely important. Public confidence goes a long way in making First Responders life easier, and safer. This can be clearly seen in areas where police are viewed as brutal (no one snitches on crime), where first responders never show up (Flavor Flav's, "9/11 is a joke in your town").
The constitution applies largely to restricting the Federal Government, not private citizens.
I wish I wouldnt have blown all my mod points today or I would have modded you up. Your dead right. Implementing something the wrong way is similar to building a mansion on the sand. Understanding the sheer destructive force of a kludge is what separates the senior engineers (and sysadmins in particular) from the rest. This is why you get a crusty veteran shooting down all your bright ideas without ever really explaining it. Because its a game of chess, kludges lead to checkmates... but only the pro's can see that far ahead.
Will citizen scientists help explore Uranus?
waka waka
I can speak for this. I know people who have saved their project over 100,000 dollars in hardware alone (not to mention the associated procurement costs) by networking with other IT people in the hyper-mega-global corporation. Simply put, his small project was beginning to blossom with a limited budget, and they needed a relative small SAN in order to expand. A friend he had made in another department was upgrading to a faster, larger SAN, and selling off the old SAN. Over a cup of coffee the two admins quickly figured out that the old SAN would work perfectly for their needs, and cost a fraction of buying a new, but similar SAN.
I'm sure many stories like this can be exchanged. As parent stated,
All comes down to bad management. And what I mean by bad management, is management that does not understand how intricate IT is to their bottom line, and does not plan accordingly. IT is just as important as accounting, or HR. If you neglect it, the problems will cost you down the road.
It doesn't matter what line of business you are in. If you do not understand the role has to play in your company, then you need to hire someone who can help you figure that out, or simply be replaced by someone who can.
Unfortunately, the hyper inflated concept of the unflinching, tireless, resolute worker is best left as a relic of the industrial revolution. Never in the course of human history, outside of the industrial revolution, has a human being been expected to produce "something" for 8 straight hours a day, 5 days a week (and for some more than that). Such simple minded focus strips the mind of creativity; creativity which has dramatically advanced and improved the human condition.
I am a hard core capitalist and stalwart industrialist, but I am also a pragmatist. Non stop, widget production, should be left to the factory worker who needs to follow a standard script. Expecting an IT professional, a researcher, or an engineer to simply keep producing something measurable with each minute of the day shows a complete lack of understanding of your resources. I forget what the name of the study was, but it took three sports teams and show the level of performance improvements over a team that 1) vacationed for a week, thinking about the upcoming game, 2) team that unceasingly trained for the upcoming game, 3) team that sporadically trained for the upcoming game. turns out the vacationing team that spent some time visualizing the upcoming game, produced the greatest results, with the team that trained too hard had the smallest improvements.
Long story short, expecting factory worker performance from skilled workers, is as foolish as expecting a successful heart transplant surgery from a line backer.
Why do you believe that you have an inherent right to not have to pay for damage that your actions cause? If burning Coal to power your home causes property damage due to acid rain and erodion etc. from global warming, you are most definitely liable to pay for that damage. Society has no obligation to shield you from the consequences of environmental damage caused by your actions.
I call bull shit on this. Please point out exactly where the damage is, and prove that it is caused by my use of air conditioning/heating my home, as opposed to natural cycles which have occurred throughout the history of the earth. Remember, its not "Global Warming" anymore, its "Climate Change". An ubiquitous catch all phrase which assigns any negative changes in nature to the life style of industrialized nations. Receding glaciers? Global Warming. Rising water levels? Global Warming. Hurricanes? Global warming! Blizzards and cold summers... uh... er... Climate Change!!!
And besides, if your so damn concerned about "climate change", power down your computer now. I'm quiet certain you have no idea exactly how much CO2 polution your causing just getting to your favorite internet sites (all those servers and switches using electricity from evil coal powered plants). I mean, you should have to pay for all this damage your doing.
I know all of you eco-leftists are full of shit because I can still see your bullshit on the internet, which causes tons of "CO2 pollution". You all are still driving cars, living in buildings, using petrol products (yes, plastics and all), and electricity which comes from coal fired plants. If you "really" believe the end is neigh, start practicing what you preach.
Because the only way for most companies to reduce carbon emissions is to reduce the amount of business they do, and for most small and medium sized business, this is a death sentence. All proposed solutions lead to economic collapse for all those involved, especially as the solution is implemented globally (pray China doesnt buy into cap and trade).
"Carbon Credits" may be presented to fulfill a fantasy of tree hugging hippies (I mean that in the nicest sense possible), but in all reality it is the greatest and most destructive grab for power in human history. Despite all of the negative press associated with modern living (pollution, crime, inequality, etc.), people are living longer, better lives, everywhere (except for the few places that are still practicing early 20th century communism such as North Korea and Cuba, and even Cubans are living longer). Advancements in science and technology are moving a long at break neck speeds (relative to any other time frames outside the 20th century), and all of these advancements are built on proceeding advances.
Carbon Credits attacks the basic blocks that made the progress of the 20th century possible; access to cheap electricity and cheap petroleum. While its true both of these sources of fuel have negative qualities (pollution, danger of extraction, storage, etc.), they have gone a LONG towards connecting the world, and improving the quality of life; everywhere. Once "carbon credits" begin to dramatically increase the scarcity for these two life blood components of modern life, things are going to change, and not for the better.
Betting on "breakthroughs" in "green xyz" is a bad strategy. How are people going to come up with great new inventions when they can no longer afford electricty? Or when Universities have to increase the cost of admissions because the price of utilities has "necessarily skyrocketed", who is going to be able to attain a degree? There will be those who can afford to, but history has shown repeatedly that those who have money and power really have no reason to try to change the world... because the world is already working in there favor. From Edison to Bell, many of the great innovators and inventors have come from humble origins to change the world. While their inventions may have change the way the world lives, the businesses that they created have grown large, and stagnant, but provided mediums which helped lift other inventors to prominence years down the line.
This carbon credit scheme is not going to favor the Bells and the Edisons before they were rich. Carbon Credits are going to favor the AT&T's, the Goldman Sachs, and the Enrons of the world, while creating a barrier to entry so high that no new businesses will come into being, and the ones that exist will be "too big to fail".