I don't see how it is possible to make any conclusion with respect to whether or not we have a say in matters, UNTIL we actually say something. By this, I mean that a large number of voters stop feeling sorry for themselves, take a serious look a candidates that do not receive corporate funding, and then VOTE for them.
After this, it is incumbent on the electorate to monitor the performance of their new representative - if the key issue is not being addressed, recall them.
Unfortunately it has become a bit more complex than that because the definition of terrorism keeps changing. For example, in Maury County, Tennessee, Sherwin Smith, a deputy director for the state's Department of Environment and Conservation told a group of residents that complaints about water quality that department deemed unsubstantiated, could be considered an act of terrorism. Protesting something like the XL Pipeline? Terrorism.
"it'll be done when it is done" isn't the only thing that an agile customer has to go on. There are high and mid-level estimates that give them a general idea. If you're doing something other than SCRUM (like Kanban), you can use cycle time to determine a completion timeline. With a little bit of metrics analysis, you can even provide a probability that you'll be able to meet a particular time estimate.
Two other things that will make a HUGE difference is whether or not you have a committed product owner, and how much control you have over external dependencies. With respect to product owners, people can't just say, "here build this," and then disappear until it's finished. I've been there. It sucks. If there is one reason an agile project will fail, this is it. Product owners need to be fully engaged.
Finally, if the agile project is executed correctly, timelines shouldn't be *that* big a deal because the product owner is receiving delivery of the highest priority features along the way. I realize there are ways that this can be sidetracked (if, for example, the product owner decides that a delivered feature needs to be re-designed because of a faulty assumption), but that's what agile is supposed to accommodate.
It's a very big stretch, in my opinion. What they're saying is tantamount to asserting that every time I load different plates onto a printing press, it becomes a "new machine". Nope.
The entire country *could* take Amazon, Google, and Apple by the nuts and make them *beg* to pay taxes, but we just don't have that kind of resolve as a citizenry. I think things are moving in the right direction with new mobile apps like Buycott, but seriously....can't people give up their sense of convenience for just a little bit so that we can work to correct some *major* problems with the current political/social structure?
The ideologies aren't corrupt, the people and system are. The cycle is the same...big companies fund mainstream candidates who use the corporate money flood the airwaves with ads about why you should vote for them (which are typically 80% - 90% horseshit, since they don't contain anything substantive). This is typically all people listen to, so they naturally restrict themselves to the worst choices they could make. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Yahoo needs to succeed - Google needs competition, especially since it owns so much internet real estate. Put another way, users need alternatives to Google so that it doesn't become a single, monolithic central clearing house for just about everything you do in your life.
I've vowed to use only one Google service at a time. In other words, I will not be using any other services until I close my YouTube account. There are many alternatives for searching, and much of the other stuff Google offers just isn't that useful to me. I feel bad for the people who have gained some kind of dependency on this crap.
I have a couple of Android tablets, and while I don't use ANY of the vendor-supplied bloatware, I'm very close to jail breaking both of them so that I can install what I want and get rid of all the fluff.
My browser is locked down. Aside from footprint tracking, everything else is either blocked, or deleted every time the browser is closed. It's less convenient, but certainly a lot safer.
I second the fan idea - we had a box fan in our dorm room, and it worked quite well. I now have a floor-standing fan in my bedroom. I really don't need it on, but I find that it's so much easier to fall asleep to a soft, low-key monotonous sound.
I personally believe that the Android security model is a step in the right direction, but what it should do is allow the user to determine which of the permissions they will *allow* an app to use, not simply tell the user which permissions the app is *going* to use. This means that apps will need to be written slightly differently, but it may also mean that they will need to work harder to justify the permissions they need.
Redhat was the first, then I dipped into Gentoo for a bit, I think there was a short period where I used freebsd (for routing/firewall), and my last was Ubuntu - which I'm not particularly fond of. At work, it's pretty much redhat.
Or, service providers that host posted content could simply say, "Show us real, direct proof that you're the copyright holder, and then we'll take down the offending material."
Neither do I, and every time I hear about a new release of this phone or that phone, and how it requires this contract or that contract at the stated price, I smile and remind myself how much money I've saved.
They get rich with their own work, ideas and effort in relation to use of their capital, and the ones who still have the riches learn to be careful how they use it or they lose it.
I disagree. I think many of them get rich off the work and ideas of others. Take your average CEO for example.
Yep. This is Capitalism, where workers are forced to accept the same wages for over a decade while costs for everything continue to rise..
This is true for most workers but not all - those in the top 1% or so have seen significant increases in their income. I know you probably meant to exclude the super-rich, but I think it is important to remind people that the same wage stagnation isn't affecting everyone across the board.
No confusion, just more choices. I happily purchased one of the 7" Galaxy Tabs, and I have no regrets. I use it *every day*. I do, however, plan on getting one of the new Asus Transformers when they are released in October. Another non-Apple alternative that I'm happy exists.
That's the key, I think - as soon as Americans can learn to ignore the mainstream campaign spew (thus rendering large corporate support completely useless), it will start moving things back the other way.
Slashdot Mirror
Micromanagement is every bit as good as open space.
I don't see how it is possible to make any conclusion with respect to whether or not we have a say in matters, UNTIL we actually say something. By this, I mean that a large number of voters stop feeling sorry for themselves, take a serious look a candidates that do not receive corporate funding, and then VOTE for them.
After this, it is incumbent on the electorate to monitor the performance of their new representative - if the key issue is not being addressed, recall them.
Unfortunately it has become a bit more complex than that because the definition of terrorism keeps changing. For example, in Maury County, Tennessee, Sherwin Smith, a deputy director for the state's Department of Environment and Conservation told a group of residents that complaints about water quality that department deemed unsubstantiated, could be considered an act of terrorism. Protesting something like the XL Pipeline? Terrorism.
There's a legal term for this: due process.
I think this is exactly what Google is afraid of.
"it'll be done when it is done" isn't the only thing that an agile customer has to go on. There are high and mid-level estimates that give them a general idea. If you're doing something other than SCRUM (like Kanban), you can use cycle time to determine a completion timeline. With a little bit of metrics analysis, you can even provide a probability that you'll be able to meet a particular time estimate.
Two other things that will make a HUGE difference is whether or not you have a committed product owner, and how much control you have over external dependencies. With respect to product owners, people can't just say, "here build this," and then disappear until it's finished. I've been there. It sucks. If there is one reason an agile project will fail, this is it. Product owners need to be fully engaged.
Finally, if the agile project is executed correctly, timelines shouldn't be *that* big a deal because the product owner is receiving delivery of the highest priority features along the way. I realize there are ways that this can be sidetracked (if, for example, the product owner decides that a delivered feature needs to be re-designed because of a faulty assumption), but that's what agile is supposed to accommodate.
It's a very big stretch, in my opinion. What they're saying is tantamount to asserting that every time I load different plates onto a printing press, it becomes a "new machine". Nope.
The entire country *could* take Amazon, Google, and Apple by the nuts and make them *beg* to pay taxes, but we just don't have that kind of resolve as a citizenry. I think things are moving in the right direction with new mobile apps like Buycott, but seriously....can't people give up their sense of convenience for just a little bit so that we can work to correct some *major* problems with the current political/social structure?
The ideologies aren't corrupt, the people and system are. The cycle is the same...big companies fund mainstream candidates who use the corporate money flood the airwaves with ads about why you should vote for them (which are typically 80% - 90% horseshit, since they don't contain anything substantive). This is typically all people listen to, so they naturally restrict themselves to the worst choices they could make. Lather, rinse, repeat.
>> From where I sit, it doesn't look like anybody in Washington DC has a damned clue what it means to really work
If that's the case, then Washington DC and the 1% have a lot in common.
Yahoo needs to succeed - Google needs competition, especially since it owns so much internet real estate. Put another way, users need alternatives to Google so that it doesn't become a single, monolithic central clearing house for just about everything you do in your life.
I've vowed to use only one Google service at a time. In other words, I will not be using any other services until I close my YouTube account. There are many alternatives for searching, and much of the other stuff Google offers just isn't that useful to me. I feel bad for the people who have gained some kind of dependency on this crap.
I have a couple of Android tablets, and while I don't use ANY of the vendor-supplied bloatware, I'm very close to jail breaking both of them so that I can install what I want and get rid of all the fluff.
My browser is locked down. Aside from footprint tracking, everything else is either blocked, or deleted every time the browser is closed. It's less convenient, but certainly a lot safer.
I second the fan idea - we had a box fan in our dorm room, and it worked quite well. I now have a floor-standing fan in my bedroom. I really don't need it on, but I find that it's so much easier to fall asleep to a soft, low-key monotonous sound.
I personally believe that the Android security model is a step in the right direction, but what it should do is allow the user to determine which of the permissions they will *allow* an app to use, not simply tell the user which permissions the app is *going* to use. This means that apps will need to be written slightly differently, but it may also mean that they will need to work harder to justify the permissions they need.
Redhat was the first, then I dipped into Gentoo for a bit, I think there was a short period where I used freebsd (for routing/firewall), and my last was Ubuntu - which I'm not particularly fond of. At work, it's pretty much redhat.
Now if ONLY Asus could meet its current commitments - I'm still waiting for a Transformer Prime.
Or, service providers that host posted content could simply say, "Show us real, direct proof that you're the copyright holder, and then we'll take down the offending material."
which is Dolphin is the best browser on the mobile platform
Used to be. Firefox now has an (alpha) implementation of noscript, so I'm there. I use it on a tablet, so others mileage may vary.
Even more ridiculous is the notion that they should be distinguishable at 10 feet. How many people use their tablets from 10 feet away?
>> I don't even own a cell phone
Neither do I, and every time I hear about a new release of this phone or that phone, and how it requires this contract or that contract at the stated price, I smile and remind myself how much money I've saved.
You aren't modify the EULA, you're presenting EA with an EUCA (End User Customer Agreement). :D
They get rich with their own work, ideas and effort in relation to use of their capital, and the ones who still have the riches learn to be careful how they use it or they lose it.
I disagree. I think many of them get rich off the work and ideas of others. Take your average CEO for example.
Yep. This is Capitalism, where workers are forced to accept the same wages for over a decade while costs for everything continue to rise..
This is true for most workers but not all - those in the top 1% or so have seen significant increases in their income. I know you probably meant to exclude the super-rich, but I think it is important to remind people that the same wage stagnation isn't affecting everyone across the board.
No confusion, just more choices. I happily purchased one of the 7" Galaxy Tabs, and I have no regrets. I use it *every day*. I do, however, plan on getting one of the new Asus Transformers when they are released in October. Another non-Apple alternative that I'm happy exists.
There are other candidates, you know.
That's the key, I think - as soon as Americans can learn to ignore the mainstream campaign spew (thus rendering large corporate support completely useless), it will start moving things back the other way.