There is a valid point here about VFR vs IFR experience. But it works both ways... Pilots who spent minimum time on VFR then went straight to lots of IFR-intensive commercial jet flying tend not to look out of the window so much, and even then don't always correctly interpret what they see. Pilots who spent, and still (typically as a hobby) spend a lot of time flying VFR can still make mistakes, (a long, wide runway is easy to confuse with a short, narrow one, for example), but generally would be the ones I'd prefer to be with in a tricky VFR approach. Some of them have really poor IFR skills, however...
My anecdote; flying right seat in a C130 on short finals - all the numbers are good and we're cleared to land. Me keeping quiet as I was called in due to an emergency, and have no experience on type.
I suggest to the boss that going around might be a good idea - he snaps that "everything looks fine" That's when I pointed out that something big and heavy was busy rotating off the same runway, and coming our way... Guess the other guys were not looking out of their windows either... (They'd screwed up big time; downwind takeoff and on the wrong runway.)
For you racist idiots here - all pilots involved were highly-trained by the military and white Anglo-Saxons:)
Lame attempt to spice up the intro. It's the same in many countries, including many democracies such as France, India...
Regardless of your constitutional rights, I suggest it's also a very bad idea in the US of A.
That said, I have travelled and worked a lot in the USA and Russia, plus other more 'exotic' spots such as the Middle East, (including Israel), North Africa, Central and South America.... Never had any problem with the police or other officials, at all... (Indeed, one time in the USA, the officer who stopped me for doing an illegal u turn coming out of a "gentleman's bar" was kind enough to escort me to the hotel, since I did not know the way and my colleagues were totally hammered...)
Hi, oldtimer here. I know plenty of recent and 'more productive tools', as well as the older stuff. Also, I know the correct usage of "let's"...which your modern tool appears to have missed. (Clue: "let us" rather than "allows")
Sometimes the tool is the thing behind the keyboard.
Since it will be less error-prone, and potentially cleaner, than a human. After all, robotic hip replacement has been around for a while, and has proven both faster and better....
You'd have to be pretty damn confident to sign up for a robotic vasectomy, tho...
It depends. There are certainly people with an agenda, or the just deranged, on wikipedia as indeed there are here on/. They need something more robust to deal with the problem, like voting or moderation, not just a 'talk' page.
Having said that, I've contributed a little, mostly on obscure technical subjects that I know about, and have not been too bothered.
Biggist gripe is the editing system for citations and stuff, especially for the kind of non-expert user that wiki needs to grow.
"The government's view is that anything we can think of, we can compel you to do."
Seems pretty spot-on. Unless people challenge these illegal activities, they'll just keep on and on. After all, they have pretty-much unlimited resources compared to most private entities, and no real pressure to justify their usage. Your tax dollars at work.
So, cleaning up after a Level 7* disaster is hard? (*Only two ever recorded, the other being Chernobyl ) Not surprising, although perhaps they should be targeting 'hotspots' rather than trying to get the overall levels down to an unrealistically low score.
Of course, if only a small fraction of this amount had been spent on the plant before the accident, then it could have been avoided.
Whilst I'm generally for nuclear power, this is a sad example of why much higher standards should genuinely apply to nuclear than to other industries. Well done, as proven by the US Navy and, *gasp* the French, nuclear power can be safe, convenient and *double gasp* low-polluting and profitable.
But corners must not be cut, since the consequences are so severe.
Image if some "terrerist" [sic] group had managed this amount of contamination. There would be massive and lasting outcry, and the guilty soon found and punished.
I don't see any Tepco Execs swinging from the trees...
Disagree. My wife and I are both past 50, hardly 'fashion victims'. I'm a BSD neckbeard, she's a lawyer. We both have iPhones, Android phones, laptops and seriously powerful workstations. We find ourselves using the our tablets more and more... For example, typing this by the pool on the pad...much more convenient than the 'phone, (too small for my old fingers and eyes), or the laptop...just too big and heavy...
In fact, it's quite an interesting read, and an insight into 'modern' politico thinking...
Behind the politeness... "ask for some specific" " I would be grateful if you could consider this request as a matter of urgency
They're actually 'asking' (i.e. trying to direct) the ISPs specific actions...
"Will the other three ISPs consider making a commitment to adopting this approach [experimental browser intercept] - even before it has been trialled"
Who in their right mind would commit to that? What if it totally bombs; they're still going to implement it?
"The prime minister expects customers to be required to prove their age/identity before any changes to the filters are made"
Why? Is he an internet security expert now?
"The prime minister would like to be able to announce a collective financial commitment from industry to fund this campaign."
Yeah, I bet he would. "Look voters, I screwed some of your cash out of your ISPs in the name of the children!"
"The prime minister believes that there is much more that we can all do to improve how we communicate the current position on parental internet controls and that there is a need for a simplified message to reassure parents and the public more generally. Without changing what you will be offering (ie active-choice +), the prime minister would like to be able to refer to your solutions are "default-on" as people will have to make a choice not to have the filters (by unticking the box). "
Pure spin. The whole thing reeks of micromanagement and backroom arm-twisting. Plus of course, if the entire thing goes wrong, the Gov gets to blame the ISPs!
What sane legislator would seriously want to associate themselves with the hucksters at Golden Spike? They've as much chance of getting you to the moon and back as the YMCA. Look at the linked site, it's mostly full of invitations to contribute cash and otherwise "contribute"...
On the overall cost and technology, it's suspiciously thin, apart from saying it can pretty much be done with available, commercial technology. Kind of. Yeah right.
I'd love to go to the moon, but I don't have a spare 20 billion lying around, (the rough cost of each previous moon landing). My guess is few people do.
Migrant workers, indeed the poor generally, typically get ripped off by people like Western Union, since they have little choice. So, this could be a good thing, as long as some sudden exchange-rate swing does not wipe out the credit. (Although transfer times should be short, reducing the voltility risk). The cost of buying the bc credit needs to be reasonable, too.
Of course, once this gets popular, Govs will cry "OMG terrerists!!" and regulate it to death or just shut it down...
Since this should indeed be news for nerds, I actually read not only TFA but also the linked Balmer article. Whilst it is popular to rubbish the guy on only flimsy grounds here, reading that memo an eye-opener.
Inspirational leaders formulate a clear, federating vision, which they articulate with passion and in few words.
Their subordinates, if aligned and competent, require no clarification before setting out the revised strategy for their teams, and then getting things done.
I see none of this in the memo. For example...
Going forward, our strategy will focus on creating a family of devices and services for individuals and businesses that empower people around the globe at home, at work and on the go, for the activities they value most.
Seriously, does that actually mean anything, to anyone here? MS is a hardware and services company now?
Err.. If YOU hire someone who cant perform a particular job, its YOUR fault, not the fault of the person who was hired
Quite true. The problem is, frequently the people doing the hiring don't check for competency, and the multi-layered outsourcing model has too many intermediaries who don't give a damn.
Then you as PM are stuck with a team you never met, who are just a bunch of poor dumb bastards who've been fucked over just as badly as you have.
Anecdote: On one project where I was PM, I insisted on conducting Skype interviews with the proposed programming team. I guess nobody was concerned, since I'm just an old neckbeard who understands nothing about the latest web technologies, right? Well, I spent some time putting together a competency-checking questionnaire, and validated it with a couple of guys, who found it "tough but fair". All of the interviewees failed. Yup, all of them.
Again, not the fault of the poor guys who were put into that situation by their incompetent, dishonest management.
BTW, my "thanks" were being fired from that project. Shoot the messenger, etc. Found out later the project went 2 years late and 250% budget.
But if I were a private equity firm looking to buy a piece of crap like this, I'd certainly ask what plans exist to produce the next generation of senior techs to keep the place going. As it is, it's musical chairs, at some point a buyer will get stuck with no chairs left.
Thanks. Insightful, refreshingly non-racist and in my experience totally true.
I've seen the same thing many times, especially when doing "due dilligence". The trouble is, the financial guys don't like it when you put it on the risk log with a big dollar number next to it. The head of IT is swiftly wheeled in to present great things like "technology roadmaps" and "contingency plans", (which are normally complete BS), and the entire thing is swept under the carpet.
..."These locations are typically the homes or businesses of suspected unsafe gun owners"
Suspected?
I'm all for crowdsourcing; it's fine for things like OpenStreetMap, for example. Here, though, it's clearly open to dangerous abuse. If you just look at the example on the linked site, "new neighbour leave guns unsecured around kids", well, the bad guys will be dropping round to collect those asap, right? How about if someone labels me as such, for a "joke" or worse, and then the same bad guys come round to my place when my wife is there alone? And beat the crap out of her since she cannot produce the guns, because there are none?
If you have reasonable suspicion that someone is behaving badly with guns, your duty is to call the cops, not update some damn stupid app.
Meanwhile, France has urged EU-US trade talks be delayed amid the fallout from secrets leaked by Mr Snowden.
The talks are due to begin on Monday but claims that the US bugged EU diplomatic offices in the US, and spied on internal computer networks, have upset transatlantic relations.
French government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Berkacem said the talks should be suspended for 15 days to enable mutual trust to be restored.
Yet at the same time it is claimed that the French potentially violated the diplomatic priviledges of the President of an interntionally-recognised, non "axis-of-evil", democratic nation-state in order to please the USA?
Looks like genuine 'realpolitik' at its cynical best; we're pissed that you're spying on us, but we'll still help you collect your "bad guy" in case we need you to return the favour in the future. Just like what happened when NZ gave back the Rainbow Warrior killers so fast...
Bottom line: Why is this spying stuff so persistent and pervasive? Because everybody in power wants it...
To think that farm workers provided a vital clue to eradicating smallpox, when Jenner (and others) noticed that after infection with the less dangerous 'cowpox' they were effectively immune.
David Pann, general manager of Microsoft’s Search Advertising Group, said in an interview that advertisers don’t have to do additional setup to participate.
Well whoopee! Thanks David. Considered your next career move yet? Better jump before your guys get the memo from SB saying that "all your staff are belong to us".
On a more serious note, I've been resisting installing the "update" from Microsoft which wanted to add "Bing search" functionality to my WIndows 7 machine...wonder if this lovely feature will also be thus rolling out to 7 users in the future?
Why do they keep trying to "social " us?
on
Motorola Is Listening
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
What is this crap, and why do they always get it wrong?
Yes, I do want to seamlessly sync my mail, sms and contacts across my devices. Except none of the solutions proposed really do that well... (Or maybe I'm not typical, having multiple PCs and mobile devices, including iOS and Android?)
Photos too? Hell, why not. Picasa from Google used to be OK...
But now, after the "success" of FB, it seems that you can't have simple sync solution anymore; everybody is pushing unwanted, privacy-leaking, "social" features down our throats.
I think what we need is to get people to use the ones they have first, before we start swapping 'em out...
Of course, this is probably not the scenario envisaged; probably the other way round. Which raises the question; we don't have enough donors as it is - what do you do, save potentially many lives with separate heart, kidney, liver etc. transplants, or give some lucky person a "new" body?
As always, SciFi predicted all this - coming soon to a private clinic near you; old rich dudes coming out from an extended stay with suspiciously-young bodies at same time as "missing persons" list grows...
Slashdot Mirror
There is a valid point here about VFR vs IFR experience. But it works both ways...
Pilots who spent minimum time on VFR then went straight to lots of IFR-intensive commercial jet flying tend not to look out of the window so much, and even then don't always correctly interpret what they see.
Pilots who spent, and still (typically as a hobby) spend a lot of time flying VFR can still make mistakes, (a long, wide runway is easy to confuse with a short, narrow one, for example), but generally would be the ones I'd prefer to be with in a tricky VFR approach.
Some of them have really poor IFR skills, however...
My anecdote; flying right seat in a C130 on short finals - all the numbers are good and we're cleared to land.
Me keeping quiet as I was called in due to an emergency, and have no experience on type.
I suggest to the boss that going around might be a good idea - he snaps that "everything looks fine"
That's when I pointed out that something big and heavy was busy rotating off the same runway, and coming our way...
Guess the other guys were not looking out of their windows either...
(They'd screwed up big time; downwind takeoff and on the wrong runway.)
For you racist idiots here - all pilots involved were highly-trained by the military and white Anglo-Saxons :)
Why did this get modded down?
It's an AC being both funny AND informative!
Lame attempt to spice up the intro.
It's the same in many countries, including many democracies such as France, India...
Regardless of your constitutional rights, I suggest it's also a very bad idea in the US of A.
That said, I have travelled and worked a lot in the USA and Russia, plus other more 'exotic' spots such as the Middle East, (including Israel), North Africa, Central and South America....
Never had any problem with the police or other officials, at all...
(Indeed, one time in the USA, the officer who stopped me for doing an illegal u turn coming out of a "gentleman's bar" was kind enough to escort me to the hotel, since I did not know the way and my colleagues were totally hammered...)
Be polite. It works.
Indeed. Makes one's beard verily bristle...
Hi, oldtimer here.
I know plenty of recent and 'more productive tools', as well as the older stuff.
Also, I know the correct usage of "let's"...which your modern tool appears to have missed.
(Clue: "let us" rather than "allows")
Sometimes the tool is the thing behind the keyboard.
Since it will be less error-prone, and potentially cleaner, than a human.
After all, robotic hip replacement has been around for a while, and has proven both faster and better....
You'd have to be pretty damn confident to sign up for a robotic vasectomy, tho...
It depends. There are certainly people with an agenda, or the just deranged, on wikipedia as indeed there are here on /.
They need something more robust to deal with the problem, like voting or moderation, not just a 'talk' page.
Having said that, I've contributed a little, mostly on obscure technical subjects that I know about, and have not been too bothered.
Biggist gripe is the editing system for citations and stuff, especially for the kind of non-expert user that wiki needs to grow.
"The government's view is that anything we can think of, we can compel you to do."
Seems pretty spot-on. Unless people challenge these illegal activities, they'll just keep on and on.
After all, they have pretty-much unlimited resources compared to most private entities, and no real pressure to justify their usage.
Your tax dollars at work.
So, cleaning up after a Level 7* disaster is hard?
(*Only two ever recorded, the other being Chernobyl )
Not surprising, although perhaps they should be targeting 'hotspots' rather than trying to get the overall levels down to an unrealistically low score.
Of course, if only a small fraction of this amount had been spent on the plant before the accident, then it could have been avoided.
Whilst I'm generally for nuclear power, this is a sad example of why much higher standards should genuinely apply to nuclear than to other industries.
Well done, as proven by the US Navy and, *gasp* the French, nuclear power can be safe, convenient and *double gasp* low-polluting and profitable.
But corners must not be cut, since the consequences are so severe.
Image if some "terrerist" [sic] group had managed this amount of contamination.
There would be massive and lasting outcry, and the guilty soon found and punished.
I don't see any Tepco Execs swinging from the trees...
So you're suggesting that this could lead to the disappearance of Fox?
Bring it on!
Disagree.
My wife and I are both past 50, hardly 'fashion victims'.
I'm a BSD neckbeard, she's a lawyer.
We both have iPhones, Android phones, laptops and seriously powerful workstations.
We find ourselves using the our tablets more and more...
For example, typing this by the pool on the pad...much more convenient than the 'phone, (too small for my old fingers and eyes), or the laptop...just too big and heavy...
That sounds great, unfortunately, as reported here recently, the payroll system is borked...
In fact, it's quite an interesting read, and an insight into 'modern' politico thinking...
Behind the politeness...
"ask for some specific"
" I would be grateful if you could consider this request as a matter of urgency
They're actually 'asking' (i.e. trying to direct) the ISPs specific actions...
"Will the other three ISPs consider making a commitment to adopting this approach [experimental browser intercept] - even before it has been trialled"
Who in their right mind would commit to that? What if it totally bombs; they're still going to implement it?
"The prime minister expects customers to be required to prove their age/identity before any changes to the filters are made"
Why? Is he an internet security expert now?
"The prime minister would like to be able to announce a collective financial commitment from industry to fund this campaign."
Yeah, I bet he would. "Look voters, I screwed some of your cash out of your ISPs in the name of the children!"
"The prime minister believes that there is much more that we can all do to improve how we communicate the current position on parental internet controls and that there is a need for a simplified message to reassure parents and the public more generally. Without changing what you will be offering (ie active-choice +), the prime minister would like to be able to refer to your solutions are "default-on" as people will have to make a choice not to have the filters (by unticking the box). "
Pure spin. The whole thing reeks of micromanagement and backroom arm-twisting.
Plus of course, if the entire thing goes wrong, the Gov gets to blame the ISPs!
What sane legislator would seriously want to associate themselves with the hucksters at Golden Spike?
They've as much chance of getting you to the moon and back as the YMCA.
Look at the linked site, it's mostly full of invitations to contribute cash and otherwise "contribute"...
On the overall cost and technology, it's suspiciously thin, apart from saying it can pretty much be done with available, commercial technology. Kind of. Yeah right.
I'd love to go to the moon, but I don't have a spare 20 billion lying around, (the rough cost of each previous moon landing).
My guess is few people do.
Migrant workers, indeed the poor generally, typically get ripped off by people like Western Union, since they have little choice.
So, this could be a good thing, as long as some sudden exchange-rate swing does not wipe out the credit.
(Although transfer times should be short, reducing the voltility risk).
The cost of buying the bc credit needs to be reasonable, too.
Of course, once this gets popular, Govs will cry "OMG terrerists!!" and regulate it to death or just shut it down...
Since this should indeed be news for nerds, I actually read not only TFA but also the linked Balmer article.
Whilst it is popular to rubbish the guy on only flimsy grounds here, reading that memo an eye-opener.
Inspirational leaders formulate a clear, federating vision, which they articulate with passion and in few words.
Their subordinates, if aligned and competent, require no clarification before setting out the revised strategy for their teams, and then getting things done.
I see none of this in the memo. For example...
Going forward, our strategy will focus on creating a family of devices and services for individuals and businesses that empower people around the globe at home, at work and on the go, for the activities they value most.
Seriously, does that actually mean anything, to anyone here? MS is a hardware and services company now?
Although (as seen here on /.) that's not been going too well for them lately, at least publicly.
But time, and the "law" is on their side.
And of course, they don't even have to physically go there to find out what's going on.
Showcase something smart, but borderline legal, and maybe you'll get a call after the conf. "inviting" you to join the team.
Err.. If YOU hire someone who cant perform a particular job, its YOUR fault, not the fault of the person who was hired
Quite true. The problem is, frequently the people doing the hiring don't check for competency, and the multi-layered outsourcing model has too many intermediaries who don't give a damn.
Then you as PM are stuck with a team you never met, who are just a bunch of poor dumb bastards who've been fucked over just as badly as you have.
Anecdote: On one project where I was PM, I insisted on conducting Skype interviews with the proposed programming team. I guess nobody was concerned, since I'm just an old neckbeard who understands nothing about the latest web technologies, right?
Well, I spent some time putting together a competency-checking questionnaire, and validated it with a couple of guys, who found it "tough but fair".
All of the interviewees failed. Yup, all of them.
Again, not the fault of the poor guys who were put into that situation by their incompetent, dishonest management.
BTW, my "thanks" were being fired from that project. Shoot the messenger, etc.
Found out later the project went 2 years late and 250% budget.
But if I were a private equity firm looking to buy a piece of crap like this, I'd certainly ask what plans exist to produce the next generation of senior techs to keep the place going. As it is, it's musical chairs, at some point a buyer will get stuck with no chairs left.
Thanks. Insightful, refreshingly non-racist and in my experience totally true.
I've seen the same thing many times, especially when doing "due dilligence".
The trouble is, the financial guys don't like it when you put it on the risk log with a big dollar number next to it.
The head of IT is swiftly wheeled in to present great things like "technology roadmaps" and "contingency plans", (which are normally complete BS), and the entire thing is swept under the carpet.
So...
..."These locations are typically the homes or businesses of suspected unsafe gun owners"
Suspected?
I'm all for crowdsourcing; it's fine for things like OpenStreetMap, for example.
Here, though, it's clearly open to dangerous abuse.
If you just look at the example on the linked site, "new neighbour leave guns unsecured around kids", well, the bad guys will be dropping round to collect those asap, right? How about if someone labels me as such, for a "joke" or worse, and then the same bad guys come round to my place when my wife is there alone?
And beat the crap out of her since she cannot produce the guns, because there are none?
If you have reasonable suspicion that someone is behaving badly with guns, your duty is to call the cops, not update some damn stupid app.
From the BBC article...
Meanwhile, France has urged EU-US trade talks be delayed amid the fallout from secrets leaked by Mr Snowden.
The talks are due to begin on Monday but claims that the US bugged EU diplomatic offices in the US, and spied on internal computer networks, have upset transatlantic relations.
French government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Berkacem said the talks should be suspended for 15 days to enable mutual trust to be restored.
Yet at the same time it is claimed that the French potentially violated the diplomatic priviledges of the President of an interntionally-recognised, non "axis-of-evil", democratic nation-state in order to please the USA?
Looks like genuine 'realpolitik' at its cynical best; we're pissed that you're spying on us, but we'll still help you collect your "bad guy" in case we need you to return the favour in the future. Just like what happened when NZ gave back the Rainbow Warrior killers so fast...
Bottom line: Why is this spying stuff so persistent and pervasive? Because everybody in power wants it...
To think that farm workers provided a vital clue to eradicating smallpox, when Jenner (and others) noticed that after infection with the less dangerous 'cowpox' they were effectively immune.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Jenner
Mankind's ability to abuse and abase the scientific gifts of such great men is seemingly limitless.
David Pann, general manager of Microsoft’s Search Advertising Group, said in an interview that advertisers don’t have to do additional setup to participate.
Well whoopee! Thanks David. Considered your next career move yet?
Better jump before your guys get the memo from SB saying that "all your staff are belong to us".
On a more serious note, I've been resisting installing the "update" from Microsoft which wanted to add "Bing search" functionality to my WIndows 7 machine...wonder if this lovely feature will also be thus rolling out to 7 users in the future?
What is this crap, and why do they always get it wrong?
Yes, I do want to seamlessly sync my mail, sms and contacts across my devices.
Except none of the solutions proposed really do that well...
(Or maybe I'm not typical, having multiple PCs and mobile devices, including iOS and Android?)
Photos too? Hell, why not. Picasa from Google used to be OK...
But now, after the "success" of FB, it seems that you can't have simple sync solution anymore; everybody is pushing unwanted, privacy-leaking, "social" features down our throats.
Just please fucking stop!
Apart from reminding me of the "so bad it's great" 'The Thing With Two Heads'...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069372/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
I think what we need is to get people to use the ones they have first, before we start swapping 'em out...
Of course, this is probably not the scenario envisaged; probably the other way round.
Which raises the question; we don't have enough donors as it is - what do you do, save potentially many lives with separate heart, kidney, liver etc. transplants, or give some lucky person a "new" body?
As always, SciFi predicted all this - coming soon to a private clinic near you; old rich dudes coming out from an extended stay with suspiciously-young bodies at same time as "missing persons" list grows...