Yeah, probably. I think I like my old fashioned ignition key even more now. (Of course, the so-called state of the art push button ignition systems weren't even an option on my 12 year old Jeep.) Just turn that key to "Off" and a problem like this would have been simply solved.
``Manufacturers just want you to buy another to replace yours which is designed to break soon.''
And it's software, too. I'm sure most/.ers saw the article about Office 2013 being tied to a specific system... for life. Fatal laptop problem that requires replacement? You'll need to buy a new copy of Office as well; no re-installation of your copy of Office on your new laptop allowed. (Frankly, I think MS is going to have to do an about face on that policy unless they want to lose home customers in droves.) My wife -- who owns the only computer in the house that runs Windows -- was disgusted when she read that. She won't be a repeat Office customer after learning that.
"I don't have time for The Office because it's 30 minutes long (zzz)."
I don't have time for The Office because a.) it's not really funny and b.) after working in an office for nine hours a day, why in the hell would I find it entertaining to watch stupid office workers work for the worst boss on the planet?
A Dilbert cartoon is just the right dosage of office stupidity. An entire novel about office work? Pass.
I wish that Congresscritters...
on
The Return of CISPA
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
...or their staffs knew half as much about technology as the average teenager.
Whoever wrote the bill knows exactly what the intent of all this monitoring and exchange of data is for. And those people did another masterful job of training these elected buffoons to spout crap like "it's only ones and zeros" to divert attention from that intent.
Maybe someone should ask Rogers exactly what an alphabetic character looks like when it is transmitted across the internet. (My guess is that he doesn't care unless he's getting a campaign contribution as a reward for knowing that.)
All the low-hanging fruit -- i.e. discoveries -- have mostly been discovered and what remains requires the "big science" projects like CERN that involve hundreds or thousands of scientists. Or... today's scientists just don't measure up to the Einsteins, Bohrs, et al. (OK... I've got on my Nomex longjohns on... fire away.)
Years ago, I interviewed with a company that went through the standard technical questions, how one solved problems, etc. This was for a company that claimed they were putting together a team to pursue new business in a new area. When we got to the end of the technical interview and started discussing the next steps, they told me that their hiring process was to have each candidate put together a business plan that they would evaluate at in the next interview. Ri-i-i-ight. I politely declined to write their business plan for them when they called me to schedule a follow-up interview.
The first thing that came to mind when I saw that company name was the problems I had a few years ago with a chronically tight piriformis muscle that, for long time, resisted nearly all my attempts to stretch it to gain relief. The problem with that muscle, when it decides to cramp up on ya, is that it, literally, is a major a pain in the ass.
Personally, I'd contact a lawyer with a background in "IP" law to write them a flowery letter that, in essence, tells them to stuff it. I rather doubt that their configuration files could be considered protected by "IP" law but you never know so it'd be best to let a lawyer look into it.
(Yeah... those quotation marks reveal a little something about my attitude toward the concept of so-called "intellectual property".)
While I haven't read my phone all that carefully lately, I seem to recall that we (Americans) were paying a little extra each month so that the phone companies could provide internet access to rural areas. And, if memory serves, this charge started back in the '90s. That we still have piss poor internet access in rural areas after about 20 years of the phone companies collecting this extra charge is nothing of criminal.
What would they do here? It's not like the education they've received is appreciated by American businesses. I just saw an ad for an IT internship that required a Bachelor's degree (Master's degree preferred!). Not working toward the degree... actually had the degree. (My favorite example is the car rental agency that insisted on a four-year degree as a requirement to work the counter at the local agency; I'll bet those grads were glad they busted their tail in college for that plum job.) American corporations are seriously delusional nowadays.
Some years ago I recall hearing an old Nick Drake song (like there's any other kind) on a Fox comedy and there was no mention of it in the credits. There are probably more instances of this happening. I haven't watched Glee since my daughters got tired of it. Do they normally mention in the credits the artists whose songs they use in the show? For a while there used to be short comments at the end of some programs saying that songs by a particular artist were used. But I haven't seen/heard that sort of thing lately.
1.5 billion heartbeats for someone who has a constant heart rate of 72bpm would, according to this theory, only have them living for 39.6 years. So color me skeptical.
And frankly, if my heart rate never deviated from 72bpm, I can't say I'd call that living. I'm still going out for a run tomorrow morning.
... though I doubt he'll pay attention: Deleting my Facebook account.
Ads on the right-hand side of the page aren't enough. They now feel a need to insert them into my news stream. (To be fair, the frequency of those has dropped off considerably. But if it starts up again, I'll probably be telling FB see ya.)
... pigs will fly. This is probably the stupidest gun control idea I've ever heard.
A gun with all these bells and. whistles would cost a small/medium fortune. GPS is not all that accurate that it necessarily be able to tell when this gun is inside a school or some other area where guns are banned. (Will you need to plug your gun into a USB port to update the maps after every city planning, zoning meeting, or city council meeting where gun-restricted zones are defined? And I don't mean your town's planning meeting. I mean all of 'em. Everywhere.) A regular guy who wants a gun in the house for protection won't be able to defend the family if the kids are at home.
... about an electronics course taught by someone named "Fried". (Years ago we used to razz a friend who had a pair of Fried speakers -- "Hey dude... your speakers are fried!" -- so maybe it's an age thing that makes it funny.)
Uh... turn that around and ask "Does the person at HR who wants to use Skype for interviews know how the internet works?" Just because the someone in HR was able to use Skype with another HR employee down the hall and, since it worked fine over the corporate LAN, figures it'll work fine for everyone is just asinine. I've seen web developers do just that and then wonder why remote users on the sales team (you know... the folks who make the company money) complain that the app is awful. Now the HR types are at it. Sorry but seeing Oprah interview celebrities using Skype doesn't make it commonplace or even possible for many, if not most, people.
I can totally understand the applicant's frustration when something that is completely out of his control results in their not getting a job. Even worse when it's someone who might not have the finances available to invest in state-of-art networking and video just to get interviews. Just because some HR type saw something on TV or in a movie and figures it must be commonplace and so affordable that even new graduates or unemployed will have it.
...trying to support end-users over the phone when they're using an interface like this? Help Desk turnover has always been very high (I once saw someone hired to work the HD leave for lunch and never come back -- on their first day). I hate to think of the level of stress they're going to be subjected to having to walk someone through problems when applications are running on Win8/Metro.
"...quite impressive if you manage to hit photons with an RPG."
Who'd need the accuracy to hit photons when the transmitter or receiver is an easier target? Plus, taking out the data link hardware would be too obvious and easy to fix. A highly focused microwave beam that disrupts the link at seemingly random intervals would be more fun.
... seems to have become a lost skill for many people (if they had it in the first place).
Someone getting into serious trouble due to relying on a computerized map isn't really news. Americans might recall that family travelling in Oragon (Washington?) who took directions from their automobile GPS and were directed onto a logging road during a storm. They were unable to find a cellular signal because of either the terrain or the storm had taken out the towers (probably the former). The husband died trying to backtrack on foot to the main road to get help. His wife either didn't make it or was nearly frozen.
GPS can be a great tool but I wouldn't venture into places like unfamiliar rural and, especially, wilderness areas without a decent topo map of the area and use the GPS position to find out where I am on the map rather than rely on some digital map. That takes planning though and it seems that the GPS maps are convincing people that they don't need to do that any more. Unfortunately, people will die until the lesson has been learned.
"Ya know, that's what a lot of people say... Until they own an Apple product."
I wonder how of those people feel that way because they believe that the higher cost means it must be the best product they could have purchased. There's no lack of suckers out there that fall for this or there wouldn't be products like Pear audio cables or even Monster Cable's horribly overpriced products. I have to agree with the GP's comment about it being mostly about the cachet of owning an iProduct.
"95% of my incoming calls are reception asking if I want to speak to somebody trying to sell me something."
You just made the case for keeping the business's phone on your desk. Otherwise the sales people you normally deal with at work will be calling you at your mobile number when you're on vacation, etc.
Slashdot Mirror
Or two colors: Black and green|amber|white
Yeah, probably. I think I like my old fashioned ignition key even more now. (Of course, the so-called state of the art push button ignition systems weren't even an option on my 12 year old Jeep.) Just turn that key to "Off" and a problem like this would have been simply solved.
And it's software, too. I'm sure most /.ers saw the article about Office 2013 being tied to a specific system... for life. Fatal laptop problem that requires replacement? You'll need to buy a new copy of Office as well; no re-installation of your copy of Office on your new laptop allowed. (Frankly, I think MS is going to have to do an about face on that policy unless they want to lose home customers in droves.) My wife -- who owns the only computer in the house that runs Windows -- was disgusted when she read that. She won't be a repeat Office customer after learning that.
I don't have time for The Office because a.) it's not really funny and b.) after working in an office for nine hours a day, why in the hell would I find it entertaining to watch stupid office workers work for the worst boss on the planet?
A Dilbert cartoon is just the right dosage of office stupidity. An entire novel about office work? Pass.
...or their staffs knew half as much about technology as the average teenager.
Whoever wrote the bill knows exactly what the intent of all this monitoring and exchange of data is for. And those people did another masterful job of training these elected buffoons to spout crap like "it's only ones and zeros" to divert attention from that intent.
Maybe someone should ask Rogers exactly what an alphabetic character looks like when it is transmitted across the internet. (My guess is that he doesn't care unless he's getting a campaign contribution as a reward for knowing that.)
All the low-hanging fruit -- i.e. discoveries -- have mostly been discovered and what remains requires the "big science" projects like CERN that involve hundreds or thousands of scientists. Or... today's scientists just don't measure up to the Einsteins, Bohrs, et al. (OK... I've got on my Nomex longjohns on... fire away.)
Years ago, I interviewed with a company that went through the standard technical questions, how one solved problems, etc. This was for a company that claimed they were putting together a team to pursue new business in a new area. When we got to the end of the technical interview and started discussing the next steps, they told me that their hiring process was to have each candidate put together a business plan that they would evaluate at in the next interview. Ri-i-i-ight. I politely declined to write their business plan for them when they called me to schedule a follow-up interview.
Piriform.
The first thing that came to mind when I saw that company name was the problems I had a few years ago with a chronically tight piriformis muscle that, for long time, resisted nearly all my attempts to stretch it to gain relief. The problem with that muscle, when it decides to cramp up on ya, is that it, literally, is a major a pain in the ass.
Personally, I'd contact a lawyer with a background in "IP" law to write them a flowery letter that, in essence, tells them to stuff it. I rather doubt that their configuration files could be considered protected by "IP" law but you never know so it'd be best to let a lawyer look into it.
(Yeah... those quotation marks reveal a little something about my attitude toward the concept of so-called "intellectual property".)
While I haven't read my phone all that carefully lately, I seem to recall that we (Americans) were paying a little extra each month so that the phone companies could provide internet access to rural areas. And, if memory serves, this charge started back in the '90s. That we still have piss poor internet access in rural areas after about 20 years of the phone companies collecting this extra charge is nothing of criminal.
What would they do here? It's not like the education they've received is appreciated by American businesses. I just saw an ad for an IT internship that required a Bachelor's degree (Master's degree preferred!). Not working toward the degree... actually had the degree. (My favorite example is the car rental agency that insisted on a four-year degree as a requirement to work the counter at the local agency; I'll bet those grads were glad they busted their tail in college for that plum job.) American corporations are seriously delusional nowadays.
Some years ago I recall hearing an old Nick Drake song (like there's any other kind) on a Fox comedy and there was no mention of it in the credits. There are probably more instances of this happening. I haven't watched Glee since my daughters got tired of it. Do they normally mention in the credits the artists whose songs they use in the show? For a while there used to be short comments at the end of some programs saying that songs by a particular artist were used. But I haven't seen/heard that sort of thing lately.
Or correct.
1.5 billion heartbeats for someone who has a constant heart rate of 72bpm would, according to this theory, only have them living for 39.6 years. So color me skeptical.
And frankly, if my heart rate never deviated from 72bpm, I can't say I'd call that living. I'm still going out for a run tomorrow morning.
Ah... someone beat me to it. (Great old movie.)
... though I doubt he'll pay attention: Deleting my Facebook account.
Ads on the right-hand side of the page aren't enough. They now feel a need to insert them into my news stream. (To be fair, the frequency of those has dropped off considerably. But if it starts up again, I'll probably be telling FB see ya.)
... pigs will fly. This is probably the stupidest gun control idea I've ever heard.
A gun with all these bells and. whistles would cost a small/medium fortune. GPS is not all that accurate that it necessarily be able to tell when this gun is inside a school or some other area where guns are banned. (Will you need to plug your gun into a USB port to update the maps after every city planning, zoning meeting, or city council meeting where gun-restricted zones are defined? And I don't mean your town's planning meeting. I mean all of 'em. Everywhere.) A regular guy who wants a gun in the house for protection won't be able to defend the family if the kids are at home.
Sheez...
... there are predictions that robots will take most peoples' job in the not-to-distant future? Now they want to take little Johnny's job as well?
When attempting a typing record nowadays, do they deduct all the words underlined with red squigglies from your total?
Uh... turn that around and ask "Does the person at HR who wants to use Skype for interviews know how the internet works?" Just because the someone in HR was able to use Skype with another HR employee down the hall and, since it worked fine over the corporate LAN, figures it'll work fine for everyone is just asinine. I've seen web developers do just that and then wonder why remote users on the sales team (you know... the folks who make the company money) complain that the app is awful. Now the HR types are at it. Sorry but seeing Oprah interview celebrities using Skype doesn't make it commonplace or even possible for many, if not most, people.
I can totally understand the applicant's frustration when something that is completely out of his control results in their not getting a job. Even worse when it's someone who might not have the finances available to invest in state-of-art networking and video just to get interviews. Just because some HR type saw something on TV or in a movie and figures it must be commonplace and so affordable that even new graduates or unemployed will have it.
...trying to support end-users over the phone when they're using an interface like this? Help Desk turnover has always been very high (I once saw someone hired to work the HD leave for lunch and never come back -- on their first day). I hate to think of the level of stress they're going to be subjected to having to walk someone through problems when applications are running on Win8/Metro.
Who'd need the accuracy to hit photons when the transmitter or receiver is an easier target? Plus, taking out the data link hardware would be too obvious and easy to fix. A highly focused microwave beam that disrupts the link at seemingly random intervals would be more fun.
... seems to have become a lost skill for many people (if they had it in the first place).
Someone getting into serious trouble due to relying on a computerized map isn't really news. Americans might recall that family travelling in Oragon (Washington?) who took directions from their automobile GPS and were directed onto a logging road during a storm. They were unable to find a cellular signal because of either the terrain or the storm had taken out the towers (probably the former). The husband died trying to backtrack on foot to the main road to get help. His wife either didn't make it or was nearly frozen.
GPS can be a great tool but I wouldn't venture into places like unfamiliar rural and, especially, wilderness areas without a decent topo map of the area and use the GPS position to find out where I am on the map rather than rely on some digital map. That takes planning though and it seems that the GPS maps are convincing people that they don't need to do that any more. Unfortunately, people will die until the lesson has been learned.
"Ya know, that's what a lot of people say... Until they own an Apple product."
I wonder how of those people feel that way because they believe that the higher cost means it must be the best product they could have purchased. There's no lack of suckers out there that fall for this or there wouldn't be products like Pear audio cables or even Monster Cable's horribly overpriced products. I have to agree with the GP's comment about it being mostly about the cachet of owning an iProduct.
... that I may, someday, be able to find a use for that old 3-button DEC hockey puck mouse I have down in the basement. Cool.
You just made the case for keeping the business's phone on your desk. Otherwise the sales people you normally deal with at work will be calling you at your mobile number when you're on vacation, etc.