I am surprised that a company like Boeing has not attempted to break into the privatized space arena.
There are US companies in this arena, but Boeing is too big and corporate for it. Big companies like guaranteed profits, not high-risk high-reward ventures like private space flight.
Of course the question of legitimacy comes up when you look at the business practices of the.com bubble era. If you look at many of those business practices, could you *honestly* say those were legit jobs?
Only in the sense that most cheating was done by manager types, not technical people.
Five years ago, if you were l33t (= had a few technical skills you could show off), you could work for a.com and get big bucks just for showing up. Now that most.coms are.deads, getting money for technical skills is harder.
It makes sense that as legit jobs are harder to get, some people, especially those who got addicted to the easy money, will look for non legit work.
Actually, with US frame houses (a lumber frame with masonite siding that looks like cardboard on stereoids), a window would be overkill. Just stick a pen knife through the wall, remove the siding, remove the insulation and repeat for the inside wall. If you can pass through a 16 inch crack, this will get you inside most houses.
Another Slashdot story that is going to change my life. Why is it after 3 years I'm still doing the same stinking job, same stinking money eh?
Maybe because you expect/. to change your life? The.com boom is over, get over it. Find a job you enjoy, or one you can stand. Then, to enjoy yourself, get a life. It's amazing how unimportant work is once you have a kid.
Call me naive, but surely there's no such thing as an independent study?
What? Are you saying that politicians aren't interested in fair and unbalanced reports? What are you going to say next? That the political system (any political system) tends to favor one set of interests over another?
If we can't trust the politicians to be honest, who can we trust (I know, the answer is "almost everybody else will be better").
NASA has been under budgeted, over managed, and terribly inefficient for decades. Having the government run space flight might have been a good idea during the cold war, when it was important to remind the world that everything the Russians can do we can do better. Today, it is not.
There are cheaper ways to get to LEO (Low Earth Orbit). There are private enterprises which try to get to space in a way that is economically viable. Economically viable means that you don't have to beg Congress for dollars and then use whatever contractors, locations, etc. you need to provide the right pork to the right congress-person. Instead, you can focus on doing what ought to be done.
What do we need manned flight to LEO for? It's close enough that we can remote control everything that a robot can do. Robots that are cheaper and more expendable. Let us send robots and find ways to use it to build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to the skies.
Eventually, we'll need manned space flight to get to resources that are too distant for a remote controlled mission. But now is not the time. Now what we need is less public excitement and more investor excitement. Less spectacles and more value creation.
I know so many people who work hard to make that company profitable, but don't get any kinds of benifits and are forced to take 100 unpaid days off every year.
Then why do those contractors stay there? Tech jobs are harder to get than they used to be, but if you're stuck in a dead end job like that why not learn a new skill?
Make yourself indispensible, or be dispensed with.
So, Microsoft has the power to prevent other companies from giving you something for answering a quiz about their advertising. So what? It's not like it's a particularly nice technique, just a crutch for advertisers that don't have a way to be interesting.
I'm afraid this joke might become a bit stale if/when the Chinese government decides to use their new found ability to throw rocks from great heights and Tibet us. It's a far cry from manned orbit to Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but it can be done.
I know, I know, I'm paranoid - but I'm an Israeli, it's in my upbringing.
Countries such as these need to be slowly integrated rather than being thrust onto the Internet because that's what everyone else does. I say fix the social problems in these countries first.
The Internet is a tool, not panacea. However, you can't wait with giving people technology until their social problems are fixed - social problems are never fixed, just alleviated. </p>
Seriously, most of the 3rd world is held back by governments. Internet access would allow people there to bypass their government for a lot of things. IMAO that'll improve the relative status of hackers and entrepaneurs at the cost of the status of politicians and generals.
Inefficient governments and corruption and just plain evilness are not just a part of the third world, in fact America does a darn fine job of promoting all of them.
It's a matter of degrees. I don't have any reason to think the US government is any more efficient than the Indian government, but it is less relevant. A lot of things which are handled by private enterprise here are government function over there (such as telecommunication, if I remember correctly).
BTW, that doesn't mean America isn't promoting them. Foreign aid is usually given to foreign governments, which in many parts of the world (not India) simply mean the ruling group of gangsters. It just helps them oppress their people and stay in power.
Hmm I guess a few centuries of colonial rule, overopulation and western greed have nothing to do with it.
How rich was India BEFORE Colonialism? Blaming Colonialism is the simplest trick in the book, but that's often just an excuse. Take Israel, for example - a country which used to be a British colony.
What about putting the e-mail archive in a different country, nominally outside your control (you have to go through a person in that country to access the e-mail)? Then it would take a court order in that country to get the e-mail revealed. If that country has privacy laws, like the Neatherlands, it should be safe.
At least until we've had a century (or two, or three) to observe technologies like CD-ROM will we know how they'll work for long-term storage. Until then, don't bet the farm. The problem is that certain things, like audio or video content, can't be printed on paper in human readable form - there are just too many bits. For personal use, I'll use CDRs and back them up every few years. For institutions who can afford the price of the hardware, etched metal disks (readable with a laser) would probably work best. In any case, any content worth preserving is worth preserving in a publicly accessible format (no Word files for me!).
Slashdot Mirror
I thought they made cost-plus contracts illegal for the government, but I could be wrong.
I am surprised that a company like Boeing has not attempted to break into the privatized space arena.
There are US companies in this arena, but Boeing is too big and corporate for it. Big companies like guaranteed profits, not high-risk high-reward ventures like private space flight.
Try Baen. They do not require an agent, and they are looking for new authors.
I already changed my major from CS to secondary education. I don't have to fear my job being sent off to another country in education.
With Web Based Training and teleconferencing, I wonder if education will eventually be outsourced.
Ori, taking a break from writing WBT courseware.
Of course the question of legitimacy comes up when you look at the business practices of the .com bubble era. If you look at many of those business practices, could you *honestly* say those were legit jobs?
Only in the sense that most cheating was done by manager types, not technical people.
Five years ago, if you were l33t (= had a few technical skills you could show off), you could work for a .com and get big bucks just for showing up. Now that most .coms are .deads, getting money for technical skills is harder.
It makes sense that as legit jobs are harder to get, some people, especially those who got addicted to the easy money, will look for non legit work.
Actually, with US frame houses (a lumber frame with masonite siding that looks like cardboard on stereoids), a window would be overkill. Just stick a pen knife through the wall, remove the siding, remove the insulation and repeat for the inside wall. If you can pass through a 16 inch crack, this will get you inside most houses.
Hi,
e ber)?
Does anyone know of a right wing science fiction writer?
John Ringo (http://www.johnringo.com/)? David Weber (http://www.baen.com/author_catalog.asp?author=dw
Baen has a few.
Bye,
Ori
Another Slashdot story that is going to change my life. Why is it after 3 years I'm still doing the same stinking job, same stinking money eh?
/. to change your life? The .com boom is over, get over it. Find a job you enjoy, or one you can stand. Then, to enjoy yourself, get a life. It's amazing how unimportant work is once you have a kid.
Maybe because you expect
Hi,
Call me naive, but surely there's no such thing as an independent study?
What? Are you saying that politicians aren't interested in fair and unbalanced reports? What are you going to say next? That the political system (any political system) tends to favor one set of interests over another?
If we can't trust the politicians to be honest, who can we trust (I know, the answer is "almost everybody else will be better").
Bye,
ORi
Hi,
NASA has been under budgeted, over managed, and terribly inefficient for decades. Having the government run space flight might have been a good idea during the cold war, when it was important to remind the world that everything the Russians can do we can do better. Today, it is not.
There are cheaper ways to get to LEO (Low Earth Orbit). There are private enterprises which try to get to space in a way that is economically viable. Economically viable means that you don't have to beg Congress for dollars and then use whatever contractors, locations, etc. you need to provide the right pork to the right congress-person. Instead, you can focus on doing what ought to be done.
What do we need manned flight to LEO for? It's close enough that we can remote control everything that a robot can do. Robots that are cheaper and more expendable. Let us send robots and find ways to use it to build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to the skies.
Eventually, we'll need manned space flight to get to resources that are too distant for a remote controlled mission. But now is not the time. Now what we need is less public excitement and more investor excitement. Less spectacles and more value creation.
Just my 2c worth,
Ori
Hi,
I know so many people who work hard to make that company profitable, but don't get any kinds of benifits and are forced to take 100 unpaid days off every year.
Then why do those contractors stay there? Tech jobs are harder to get than they used to be, but if you're stuck in a dead end job like that why not learn a new skill?
Make yourself indispensible, or be dispensed with.
So, Microsoft has the power to prevent other companies from giving you something for answering a quiz about their advertising. So what? It's not like it's a particularly nice technique, just a crutch for advertisers that don't have a way to be interesting.
I'm afraid this joke might become a bit stale if/when the Chinese government decides to use their new found ability to throw rocks from great heights and Tibet us. It's a far cry from manned orbit to Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but it can be done.
I know, I know, I'm paranoid - but I'm an Israeli, it's in my upbringing.
The Internet is a tool, not panacea. However, you can't wait with giving people technology until their social problems are fixed - social problems are never fixed, just alleviated. </p>
Seriously, most of the 3rd world is held back by governments. Internet access would allow people there to bypass their government for a lot of things. IMAO that'll improve the relative status of hackers and entrepaneurs at the cost of the status of politicians and generals.
It's a matter of degrees. I don't have any reason to think the US government is any more efficient than the Indian government, but it is less relevant. A lot of things which are handled by private enterprise here are government function over there (such as telecommunication, if I remember correctly).
BTW, that doesn't mean America isn't promoting them. Foreign aid is usually given to foreign governments, which in many parts of the world (not India) simply mean the ruling group of gangsters. It just helps them oppress their people and stay in power.
Hmm I guess a few centuries of colonial rule, overopulation and western greed have nothing to do with it.
How rich was India BEFORE Colonialism? Blaming Colonialism is the simplest trick in the book, but that's often just an excuse. Take Israel, for example - a country which used to be a British colony.
What about putting the e-mail archive in a different country, nominally outside your control (you have to go through a person in that country to access the e-mail)? Then it would take a court order in that country to get the e-mail revealed. If that country has privacy laws, like the Neatherlands, it should be safe.
At least until we've had a century (or two, or three) to observe technologies like CD-ROM will we know how they'll work for long-term storage. Until then, don't bet the farm. The problem is that certain things, like audio or video content, can't be printed on paper in human readable form - there are just too many bits. For personal use, I'll use CDRs and back them up every few years. For institutions who can afford the price of the hardware, etched metal disks (readable with a laser) would probably work best. In any case, any content worth preserving is worth preserving in a publicly accessible format (no Word files for me!).