Yes, It frustrates me frequently that useful, non-contentious (ie. not hippa, ssn, pci, DoD etc.) data seems to make a one-way trip into the corporate oracle system to be held hostage there by the dbas for not much good reason than they want to ensure perpetual employment.
There are plenty of good ways in which this data could be made available. Hell; save it periodically to a flat text file, but don't lock people out of it. You're the guardian of the data, not its gaoler and I'm willing to bet that the people that want access to the data have their reasons.
I don't like to see childish attacks on anyone either. But it seems to me that the only reason the church is taking these strides is because it has been attacked on these issues in the past.
Do you imagine that the church would have made these statements without external pressure ?
Hell no, this is simply to inoculate the church against the inevitable progress in tolerance, and discovery and to try and carve out some future relevance.
Seems like the rock of the church is being eroded by the water of enlightenment - and about time too.
After the progress made with XP-SP3, it is expected that with the upcoming XP-SP4, Vista will finally be a big improvement over XP and everyone will be pleased to upgrade.
first - buy the damn $2000 box. It's worth it in sleeping soundly.
Second, I find this fascinating that instead of storing energy to use later, we instead use the power of the utility company as a market maker to sell energy when we have it and buy it when we don't.
Surely smart slashdotters can come up with some other way of converting energy to value that can be traded. For example, can excess solar power be used to sequester carbon or synthesise gasoline or do some other valuable work that could be later redeemed for cash or credit to offset the utility bills - can I earn a carbon credit and sell it to the utility company ?
I, for one, think this is excellent progress. Previously "losing" information on this scale would have needed a major fire, or a move between administrative buildings or a flood or similar catastrophe.
We can now achieve all of this without the hassle of packing information into boxes and mis-lableing them, and without the human cost of employing the four horsemen of the apocalypse to manage IT.
I have an XO and I'm thrilled with it, and so is my 6yr old.
But there are annoyances beyond it being sluggish (which is perhaps to be expected with the low-end hardware)
The mouse goes random every now and again. The XO does not turn off reliably. Drawings get "out of control" as you draw a rectangle and it seems to go in any direction except where you want to put it. The paradigm of fetching a picture from the journal to paste into a document is just too time consuming. WiFi to a gateway has "issues".
It seems to me that if OLPC could make what's there work well, then a lot of issues about MS vs Linux would dry up.
When you close the laptop cover, turn the catches to the right. Then when the thief opens it, the gas canister contents are released and death or at least unconciousness follows soon after
Be sure to also fill the laptop with gold coins and store a dagger in the PC card slot.
Not only will this safeguard the laptop, but beautiful women will be drawn to you.
So what happens if you refuse to give a sample. Can that be used as evidence against you - can you be pinned down and have the DNA sucked out of you ?
DNA seems to be the final argument settler. The thing that no defense can be mounted against - your DNA at the scene - guilty ! It's going to take a few cases being overturned to lose that gloss and limit it's use in evidence.
It seems to me that it's only a matter of time before governments have all the DNA they need, as someone pointed out. They don't need it from all of us, just enough to see who's related to whom.
So perhaps what's needed is not so much railing against the collection of DNA, but more imposition of rules to govern how that information can be used and collected and stored.
To my mind, one could argue that such a delicate and important thing as an internet link had no place on the ocean floor, which ships have plowed up with anchors for centuries.
The cable is at least partially unsuited to the environment undersea and ship owners should not be forced to up their insurance to cover breaking it.
Instead a more robust cable design, or a better way of laying it are required.
I keep seeing new ways to do the same old things; perform a credit transaction, store a health record, track inventory etc. Many of these requirements have changed little for decades if not centuries, and new requirements like enhanced security are easily accomodated in a centralized environment.
The original systems created to satisfy these requirements were lightweight and efficient to run on the machinery of the time and easily managed by virtue of being centralized. By contrast, many new solutions are bloated and hard to manage because of their de-centralised nature and the need to use whatever networking protocol was simplest to implement regardless of its suitability for the task. God forbid that anyone has to look at a terminal font to get information from a system - if it's not in Times new Roman then it's just not proper information.
The sole purpose for the replacement of the older systems seems to have been "because we wanted a GUI" to make it un-neccessary to train our users or because companies thought that they could axe experienced network admins and terminal equipment that they perceived to be 'locking them' to a vendor. Now I see that in many cases the management of large systems has been "de-skilled" and involves such a cocktail of technologies that nobody knows quite how it all hangs together (least of all how secure it all is).
Best just throw in more resources to make the IT problem go away, at least it's spread over several bills so it seems easier to pay for...
M$ does well convincing people that by maintaining Group Policy with Active Directory, an organization can do things like 'disable all write access to removable media' in a secure and centrally managed way that cannot be circumvented in any way by the user.
Whether that's true or not, there are probably many organisations that have bet the ranch on it.
If Linux had a (reasonably) foolproof way of enforcing this and other enterprise friendly features, it would turn a lot of heads.
So, for example, after MLK Jr wrote his "I have a Dream" speech and delivered it from the steps of the Lincoln memorial, the TV and radio networks who recorded it at the time have copyright over their recordings of it, but who has copyright over the speech itself - surely MLK's heirs ?
Surely I can't make a cover version of "Dark Side of the Moon" without getting permission from Messrs. Pink and Floyd.
It sounds like I have some terribly confused idea of what copyright is.
How many DNA samples would they need before the gaps could be plugged ? For example, if you have Mom and Dad's DNA, surely you can infer quite a lot about Junior's DNA.
It troubles me that DNA is seen as the final argument settler. No-one is having their DNA sequenced here, can the Elecrophoresis tests really be that accurate in showing a DNA match ? How hard would it be to fake one - no-one would ever question DNA as proof of guilt, it's not possible to defend against the match.
There are some great stories of recovery from a life of crime here - I wish they could be modded up higher than 5, just for sheer courage.
After all - I need do nothing to cause anything original that I write or say to be copyright, would that not extend to patterns that I make as I walk around, or sequences of web sites I visit or some other such original act that I perpetrate.
What if it turned out that the sequence of URLs I visited was a poem.
slashdot.org/there/was/a/young/man/from/Venus google.com/who/had/an/enormous... etc.
So what does it do when you're not interacting with it. Does it crayon on the walls ? pull the hair of other AI kids ? Or does it just play alone alongside the other machines ? A four year old should be interacting with its peers by now.
By IT skills, there is a lot of talk about being competent in multiple languages, understanding of sox and licencing issues etc. So academic skills. I have to ask - why did you let your IT system get into such an un-manageable mess (nickle and diming the upgrade process I would imagine)
When I scanned the responses here I did not see much mention of being willing to attend in the middle of the night whenever some system needs bottle feeding, or being led out as a human sacrifice whenever a sales guy needs to 'get tough on outages'. What family person needs that ?
Many IT roles require judgement, high skill levels, disciplin, and dedication (to the job, not to loved ones) that should be rewarded with high pay. Otherwise the people with those qualities will simply find more productive, less invasive work.
First the keyboards came for my handwriting, reducing it to a scrawl
Then the speed dial came for number memory - I used to be able to memorize #s for friends and family, no more
then the GPS came for spacial awareness. I just follow the voice now.
Now they're coming for my other memories. Pretty soon I won't be able to recognize a begonia without help from a computer.
Slashdot Mirror
I hope you're not contemplating reading the instructions - they'll revoke your /. id...
..."Have you experienced a similar situation?"...
Yes, It frustrates me frequently that useful, non-contentious (ie. not hippa, ssn, pci, DoD etc.) data seems to make a one-way trip into the corporate oracle system to be held hostage there by the dbas for not much good reason than they want to ensure perpetual employment.
There are plenty of good ways in which this data could be made available. Hell; save it periodically to a flat text file, but don't lock people out of it. You're the guardian of the data, not its gaoler and I'm willing to bet that the people that want access to the data have their reasons.
I read the article, I understood most of it (I think). I agree, as I read it I was constantly thinking...
1) Closed source does not seem to justify it's price tag based on better quality
2) Windows seemed to be damned by feint praise from time to time (the comments were great - they were spell checked...)
How can I rid myself from the gut feeling that the author had an agenda ?
For all I know this is a scholarly and unbiased report, but it's an article of faith rather than any conviction I got from reading TFA.
What I most liked about it were some of the pointers indicating what to look for in good coding. I hope he never runs this report on any of my code !
I tried...
Looks like a Kerberos howto
And we don't have to justify them to anyone.
It's what we do with them that matters...
Einstein clearly had a practical application for his belief and the intellect, will and perseverance to act upon it. These are all acts of faith.
The theists don't have a monopoly on faith (or morality etc...)
I can only aspire to Einstein's faith and dedication, never mind his capabilities.
surely this should be scriptable...
/.
How do I create an auto-flame script in
It would save time and I might even get first post.
I don't like to see childish attacks on anyone either. But it seems to me that the only reason the church is taking these strides is because it has been attacked on these issues in the past.
Do you imagine that the church would have made these statements without external pressure ?
Hell no, this is simply to inoculate the church against the inevitable progress in tolerance, and discovery and to try and carve out some future relevance.
Seems like the rock of the church is being eroded by the water of enlightenment - and about time too.
So is the pope God's representative on Earth, or God's representative for everywhere outside of heaven ?
After the progress made with XP-SP3, it is expected that with the upcoming XP-SP4, Vista will finally be a big improvement over XP and everyone will be pleased to upgrade.
first - buy the damn $2000 box. It's worth it in sleeping soundly.
Second, I find this fascinating that instead of storing energy to use later, we instead use the power of the utility company as a market maker to sell energy when we have it and buy it when we don't.
Surely smart slashdotters can come up with some other way of converting energy to value that can be traded. For example, can excess solar power be used to sequester carbon or synthesise gasoline or do some other valuable work that could be later redeemed for cash or credit to offset the utility bills - can I earn a carbon credit and sell it to the utility company ?
I, for one, think this is excellent progress. Previously "losing" information on this scale would have needed a major fire, or a move between administrative buildings or a flood or similar catastrophe.
We can now achieve all of this without the hassle of packing information into boxes and mis-lableing them, and without the human cost of employing the four horsemen of the apocalypse to manage IT.
We should all be thankful.
I have an XO and I'm thrilled with it, and so is my 6yr old.
But there are annoyances beyond it being sluggish (which is perhaps to be expected with the low-end hardware)
The mouse goes random every now and again. The XO does not turn off reliably. Drawings get "out of control" as you draw a rectangle and it seems to go in any direction except where you want to put it. The paradigm of fetching a picture from the journal to paste into a document is just too time consuming. WiFi to a gateway has "issues".
It seems to me that if OLPC could make what's there work well, then a lot of issues about MS vs Linux would dry up.
This was solved by Q long ago...
When you close the laptop cover, turn the catches to the right. Then when the thief opens it, the gas canister contents are released and death or at least unconciousness follows soon after
Be sure to also fill the laptop with gold coins and store a dagger in the PC card slot.
Not only will this safeguard the laptop, but beautiful women will be drawn to you.
So what happens if you refuse to give a sample. Can that be used as evidence against you - can you be pinned down and have the DNA sucked out of you ?
DNA seems to be the final argument settler. The thing that no defense can be mounted against - your DNA at the scene - guilty ! It's going to take a few cases being overturned to lose that gloss and limit it's use in evidence.
It seems to me that it's only a matter of time before governments have all the DNA they need, as someone pointed out. They don't need it from all of us, just enough to see who's related to whom.
So perhaps what's needed is not so much railing against the collection of DNA, but more imposition of rules to govern how that information can be used and collected and stored.
To my mind, one could argue that such a delicate and important thing as an internet link had no place on the ocean floor, which ships have plowed up with anchors for centuries. The cable is at least partially unsuited to the environment undersea and ship owners should not be forced to up their insurance to cover breaking it. Instead a more robust cable design, or a better way of laying it are required.
I wonder if they'll actually use the word "backdoor" in the comments to the code they contribute, or is there a more fashionable word nowadays ?
I keep seeing new ways to do the same old things; perform a credit transaction, store a health record, track inventory etc. Many of these requirements have changed little for decades if not centuries, and new requirements like enhanced security are easily accomodated in a centralized environment.
The original systems created to satisfy these requirements were lightweight and efficient to run on the machinery of the time and easily managed by virtue of being centralized. By contrast, many new solutions are bloated and hard to manage because of their de-centralised nature and the need to use whatever networking protocol was simplest to implement regardless of its suitability for the task. God forbid that anyone has to look at a terminal font to get information from a system - if it's not in Times new Roman then it's just not proper information.
The sole purpose for the replacement of the older systems seems to have been "because we wanted a GUI" to make it un-neccessary to train our users or because companies thought that they could axe experienced network admins and terminal equipment that they perceived to be 'locking them' to a vendor. Now I see that in many cases the management of large systems has been "de-skilled" and involves such a cocktail of technologies that nobody knows quite how it all hangs together (least of all how secure it all is).
Best just throw in more resources to make the IT problem go away, at least it's spread over several bills so it seems easier to pay for...
M$ does well convincing people that by maintaining Group Policy with Active Directory, an organization can do things like 'disable all write access to removable media' in a secure and centrally managed way that cannot be circumvented in any way by the user.
Whether that's true or not, there are probably many organisations that have bet the ranch on it.
If Linux had a (reasonably) foolproof way of enforcing this and other enterprise friendly features, it would turn a lot of heads.
So, for example, after MLK Jr wrote his "I have a Dream" speech and delivered it from the steps of the Lincoln memorial, the TV and radio networks who recorded it at the time have copyright over their recordings of it, but who has copyright over the speech itself - surely MLK's heirs ? Surely I can't make a cover version of "Dark Side of the Moon" without getting permission from Messrs. Pink and Floyd. It sounds like I have some terribly confused idea of what copyright is.
How many DNA samples would they need before the gaps could be plugged ? For example, if you have Mom and Dad's DNA, surely you can infer quite a lot about Junior's DNA. It troubles me that DNA is seen as the final argument settler. No-one is having their DNA sequenced here, can the Elecrophoresis tests really be that accurate in showing a DNA match ? How hard would it be to fake one - no-one would ever question DNA as proof of guilt, it's not possible to defend against the match. There are some great stories of recovery from a life of crime here - I wish they could be modded up higher than 5, just for sheer courage.
Is it not copyright ?
After all - I need do nothing to cause anything original that I write or say to be copyright, would that not extend to patterns that I make as I walk around, or sequences of web sites I visit or some other such original act that I perpetrate.
What if it turned out that the sequence of URLs I visited was a poem.
slashdot.org/there/was/a/young/man/from/Venus
google.com/who/had/an/enormous... etc.
So what does it do when you're not interacting with it. Does it crayon on the walls ? pull the hair of other AI kids ? Or does it just play alone alongside the other machines ? A four year old should be interacting with its peers by now.
By IT skills, there is a lot of talk about being competent in multiple languages, understanding of sox and licencing issues etc. So academic skills. I have to ask - why did you let your IT system get into such an un-manageable mess (nickle and diming the upgrade process I would imagine)
When I scanned the responses here I did not see much mention of being willing to attend in the middle of the night whenever some system needs bottle feeding, or being led out as a human sacrifice whenever a sales guy needs to 'get tough on outages'. What family person needs that ?
Many IT roles require judgement, high skill levels, disciplin, and dedication (to the job, not to loved ones) that should be rewarded with high pay. Otherwise the people with those qualities will simply find more productive, less invasive work.
You get the people you deserve...
They were planning to send it all to America for free at one point.
First the keyboards came for my handwriting, reducing it to a scrawl Then the speed dial came for number memory - I used to be able to memorize #s for friends and family, no more then the GPS came for spacial awareness. I just follow the voice now. Now they're coming for my other memories. Pretty soon I won't be able to recognize a begonia without help from a computer.