System reliability is not your responsibility (thus you cannot be blamed for crashes)
Users don't require system access (thus they are ambivalent about forgotten passwords)
IT is not a strategic force within the company (thus allowing for lax scheduling)
Yet, IT needs to be so necessary as to preclude budget cuts (impossible if preceding requirements are met).
I think you* need to re-evaluate having a career in Information Technology. If it matters, it hurts when it's down. Some people just don't need the stress, others eat it up. The best solve the problems. (I'm a stress eater, to be honest).
*=(not you personally, but those who agree with your statements)
I received the following message from a San Diego-based representative:
Robert,
I have word back from our engineers that the database we are using does not appear to have Rancho Santa Margarita as an existing city. However, we do have an update of the database coming and they tell me that it should be fixed at that time.
Thanks,
So, the fix is coming and those of us in brand-spanking new cities will be brought in out of the cold by Ricochet.
Here's another database design danger: out of date validation contraints. I doubt you'd really want to alienate people in brand new communities, especially since such people usually have a high discretionary income and tend to be early adopters. ..Instead, the out of date databases will surely have Compton, CA well covered and having lived within 2 or 3 miles of Compton prior to moving to RSM I can suggest that the demand for highspeed mobile Internet access is not quite a priority in Compton.
Then do as half of the world does and abbreviate Santa to St. - it's not unheard of, you know..
What part of exact match did you not understand? No abbreviations worked the times I tried. (The usual abbreviation is "RSM", BTW.)
Since they're checking the entered city name and state against a Zip Code lookup, why don't they just require a Zip Code and provide the city and state from the look up table? Or, why not ask "Did you mean 'Rancho Santa Margarita'?" as a follow up when the Zip Code look up failed?
It's just an annoying example of sloppy form/database design imposing artifical barriers to prospective clients.
Also, RSM is a fairly affluent area. The median house price last month was $330k -- which is for a modest-sized 3BDRM home of around 1700 sqft on a small lot. Even at $40 - $50 per month, having Ricochet at any price will require some disposable income. Why alienate any potential customers by artifical constrainsts?
Note: I am assuming that Ricochet is not enforcing a business decision to slough off inquiries from communities with overly long and pretentious names. Perhaps my assumption is wrong and Ricochet truly intends to filter out communities with names that cannot be entered exactly within 20 characters. Shrewd.
Unconsidered implications of database constraints often lead to unintended enforcement of quasi-business rules. My complaint against CITY name fields is an example; another would be databases that require one or more entries in an ORDER table to add a CUSTOMER record (I've seen it), which logically would define "customer" as one who places one or more orders, but makes it impossible to add prospective customers to the database. While such a rule may be intended (especially if there is another table for prospects), but likely this is not due to a business rule but to an anal retentive database designer who tirelessly enforces strict semantical rules...and thereby fails to model true business rules. Sometimes the ARs are wrong, as in the 21 CHAR limit on CITY NAME.
Exactly right -- the Internet is a big technology expo. Most of the stuff on the Internet is related to technology (er, the PG and lower rated sites, at least), which makes sense because the people publishing to the web like technology (generally).
This is why geeky things named with common words appear at the top of Google searches. Examples:
After their threat to ditch Macworld Boston, you have to wonder why Apple is pulling out of these expos?... maybe it is the folks at IDG?
Maybe it's the Internet obviating the need for a place to showcase new technology!
I was at Comdex this year. Very sparse on Wednesday--and the locals were not liking the downturn in business. AAMOF, the most encircled booth on the floor was the metallic flashlight booth. Even the tap dancers on the way into the Microsoft "wing" had more people standing in front of it than any other display booth I saw that day.
I had to reflect on the fact that nothing interesting was released that hadn't already been seen on the Internet. Nothing. Apple only needs one big media blitz a year (and it's easier to have a lot to show once a year than many times a year). ..so why waste the millions it would cost?
For such a vile creature you certainly are sure of yourself.
While I've heard others claim drop outs on trains, etc., my experience in Southern CA was as I described. This was not a one-time event. I drove the 5 from the 405 to the 605 daily as a Ricochet subscriber. It afforded constant connection on the route (PuTTY and its ilk don't abide connection drops nicely). I admit I wasn't testing the bandwidth all the time (dslreports.com thanks me, I'm sure) but the basics of an always available connection between Lake Forest, CA and Lakewood, CA was as real as you're crude.
Having been a Ricochet subscriber up until they went dark (sucked) I am as excited as all heck that they are back live in San Diego (less than an hour from me in South Orange County). My radio is still charged and I turned it on a couple weeks back (just to see if something unannounced was happening!) only to see the bright red glow of No Service.
I am a current T-Mobile HotSpot subscriber but hopping from Starbucks to Starbucks is nothing like cruising I-5 between the 405 and 605 with a steady 128K connection posting on Slashdot, Instant Messaging friends and running PuTTY sessions to the web farm (while driving. ..oops). What a difference to be able to CHOOSE which establishment to park myself (rather than being forced to be at or really near a Starbucks). Seal Beach had particularly good coverage and there was this pub called Hennesseys. ..anyway. . . So, I use T-Mobile HotSpots, but long for Ricochet to be back on is SoCal.
One annoyance about the Ricochet site, though. On the page to find out if the service is available at your address the city name field is limited to 20 characters AND the query only works if the city name and state exactly match the Zip Code look up value. So? Well, since 1999 there is a city in the US with a name larger than "Truth Or Consequences", NM: Rancho Santa Margarita. I happen to live there.
Back in the day database designers used the fact that ToC, NM was, at that time, the largest city name in the US to set CITY name fields to 21 (or 19 if they didn't include spaces for some reason) characters (i.e., CITY varchar(21) default Null). Rules of Thumb are great, until hit with the hammer of reality. I can't tell you how many databases choke on the CITY name being larger than 21 characters. I have seen so many MS SQL and Oracle error pages it's not funny (well, it is).
Ricochet's form is set for 20 characters (weird) and chokes on incomplete city names. I know my city isn't served yet, but the way to get on the "tickle" list is to check out your location __successfully__ and then be added to the list.
Please, please tell every database/form designer you know to only require a Zip Code, match partial city names, or increase the CITY field to accomodate the "brevity challenged" new developments in SoCal.
try opera on zaurus..will make you feel like getting one..
No kidding. My company is in the medical marketplace and I develop applications based on handhelds to support our other products. Currently we use Palm technology for physicians, but we're unhappy with the capabilities of the (IMHO) glorified organizer.
We were heading towards using the PocketPC and aiming our application at PocketIE. This has been in the works since the end of August. Our biggest problem is PocketIE--it's more closely related to MSIE 3.0 than any other browser, and that just doesn't give us enough "power" to make a rich user interface.
Monday before last I met the Zaurus people at a medical seminar in San Diego. Before then I had heard about the Linux-based Zaurus but hadn't paid attention to it. The first thing I heard that Monday was "Opera browser"--so I took a look. It's not a stripped down browser, it's the full browser. That stopped me cold.
To make a long(er) story short(er) my company is about to bet the farm on the Zaurus (the only PDA I'm aware of that tech support can SSH into. ..) and Opera.
If you're developing handheld applications and want a real platform to develop towards take a look at the Zaurus.
Fortunately for you, your attacker was a kook and not a respected authority in your community. I think, however, that don't understand what impact a concerted libel attack can have on not just your own feelings but on others' reaction and prejudice toward you, esp. when the attacking party is held in regsrd as an expert in the community in which you operate.
Unfortunately I speak with experience in this matter (even personally). That kind of malicious attack cannot be simply ignored if one desires to continue to participate in one's community.
People do this to Yahoo and AOL everyday. Unless the company doesn't KEEP logs, then they have them. It won't make the forum responsible for the slander/libel just because they comply with the logs -- the phone company (a real common carrier) turns over logs all the time on subpena without endangering their common carrier status.
Slander/libel isn't a crime it's an actionable civil offense, where the remedy is financial. Why money? That's all courts can deal in. They cannot restore reputation nor return the goose feathers to the opened pillow (as they say).
But, a large civil judgement is only possible when (1) the litigant doesn't fight the charge--not what you want to have happen, or (2a) cannot use the unassailable defense of "truth", and (2b) cannot prove they were ignorant of the falsehood of their accusation, and (2c) cannot prove they acted without malice or an intent to cause harm through the false accusations. In other words: libel cases are rarely won, but when they are won (outside of summary judgement) they speak volumes -- especially when the award is high.
So, in light of libel and slander, you can refute (but who listens? Bad news is exciting), ignore (and appear guilty), or litigate. Just be sure you can make the case.
The Dell is nice, but I can't wait to get my hands on a new Zaurus.
I'm lookging to migrate a Palm OS app to a new platform that is handheld and browser based. I had been thinking to go PocketPC and develop towards PocketIE (which is closer to MSIE 3.0 than anything else), until I saw a pre-release of the new Zaurus at a medical technology seminar recently.
Its hardware is very similar to the new Dell, with the exceptional addition of the sliding case with thumb board. Better yet, it comes with a powerful version of the Opera browser.
Of course, it's based on Linux already, so no need to wipe PokeyPC off first. I saw the office-app components (RTF editor, Excel-like thingy) but didn't really get a good look at the overall system. I hope to remedy that shortly.
(FYI - The Zaurus, made by Sharp inspired my title)
For my early positions I did have the written tests. More excruciating are the "out of the box" tests given by potential co-workers who are trying to trip you up and make you look stupid.:)
But as I've moved up, it's been more about what I have done and what I want to do.
Look,tech jobs, esp. entry level and near-entry level are basically grunt jobs using the brain the way a ditch-digger uses his back. You're hired for how much dirt you can dish in a day. As you grow and mature, you'll be hired for other reasons. Sucks when you start out, but once you've made it, it makes sense. ..kinda.
My uncle, a hospital pharmacist, tells me that "anti-bacterial" soap dishes make fantastic incubators for bacteria. ..this after someone got curious and decided to perform a culture test on regular soap versus "anti-bacterial" soap. E-coli in particular seemed to feed on the "anti-bacterial" soap. . .
The US agreed to turnover (not return -- because there was no canal until the US built it) the canal to the Panamanians during Nobel Peace Prize Winner President Jimmy Carter's administration in the late 1970s. In the 1980s, during the administration of Berlin Wall Smashing, Soviet Union Collapsing President Ronald Reagan the US banned CFCs, hairspray, common forms of refrigerants, etc., to combat the growing threat of global warming.
However, the US was remiss in stopping the eruptions of a number of volcanoes throughout the world since Carter's decision and it is these eruptions which have deposited more greenhouse gas and particulates in our atmosphere than all the bad hair in the 70s and 80s could muster.
So, maybe you have a point. Maybe Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton and now Bush 43 have ignored the volcanoes so that we could sail aroung Canada instead of through the Chinese-run Panama Canal.
You betcha. Great anaylsis. (Note my.sig)
Re:I remember when it was the best...
on
Altavista Renewed
·
· Score: 1
I remember when AltaVista was the best. I also remember when AOL allowed its users, with special permission, to search using Gopher and Archie; later it allowed access to a thing called the WWW.
I haven't used AOL since 1994 when I found direct ISP service and I haven't used AltaVista since 1999 when I found Google.
Slashdot Mirror
- System reliability is not your responsibility (thus you cannot be blamed for crashes)
- Users don't require system access (thus they are ambivalent about forgotten passwords)
- IT is not a strategic force within the company (thus allowing for lax scheduling)
- Yet, IT needs to be so necessary as to preclude budget cuts (impossible if preceding requirements are met).
I think you* need to re-evaluate having a career in Information Technology. If it matters, it hurts when it's down. Some people just don't need the stress, others eat it up. The best solve the problems. (I'm a stress eater, to be honest).*=(not you personally, but those who agree with your statements)
- Robert,
So, the fix is coming and those of us in brand-spanking new cities will be brought in out of the cold by Ricochet.I have word back from our engineers that the database we are using does not appear to have Rancho Santa Margarita as an existing city. However, we do have an update of the database coming and they tell me that it should be fixed at that time.
Thanks,
Here's another database design danger: out of date validation contraints. I doubt you'd really want to alienate people in brand new communities, especially since such people usually have a high discretionary income and tend to be early adopters. . .Instead, the out of date databases will surely have Compton, CA well covered and having lived within 2 or 3 miles of Compton prior to moving to RSM I can suggest that the demand for highspeed mobile Internet access is not quite a priority in Compton.
Hi, neighbor! Damn. I've given enough information to identify myself to a neighbor who calls himself "Psyko". Time to move! :)
What part of exact match did you not understand? No abbreviations worked the times I tried. (The usual abbreviation is "RSM", BTW.)
Since they're checking the entered city name and state against a Zip Code lookup, why don't they just require a Zip Code and provide the city and state from the look up table? Or, why not ask "Did you mean 'Rancho Santa Margarita'?" as a follow up when the Zip Code look up failed?
It's just an annoying example of sloppy form/database design imposing artifical barriers to prospective clients.
Also, RSM is a fairly affluent area. The median house price last month was $330k -- which is for a modest-sized 3BDRM home of around 1700 sqft on a small lot. Even at $40 - $50 per month, having Ricochet at any price will require some disposable income. Why alienate any potential customers by artifical constrainsts?
Note: I am assuming that Ricochet is not enforcing a business decision to slough off inquiries from communities with overly long and pretentious names. Perhaps my assumption is wrong and Ricochet truly intends to filter out communities with names that cannot be entered exactly within 20 characters. Shrewd.
Unconsidered implications of database constraints often lead to unintended enforcement of quasi-business rules. My complaint against CITY name fields is an example; another would be databases that require one or more entries in an ORDER table to add a CUSTOMER record (I've seen it), which logically would define "customer" as one who places one or more orders, but makes it impossible to add prospective customers to the database. While such a rule may be intended (especially if there is another table for prospects), but likely this is not due to a business rule but to an anal retentive database designer who tirelessly enforces strict semantical rules...and thereby fails to model true business rules. Sometimes the ARs are wrong, as in the 21 CHAR limit on CITY NAME.
This is why geeky things named with common words appear at the top of Google searches. Examples:
- apple
- putty
- starfish
- ginger
- beans
The first sites listed for these common words are technology sites. Wierd, isn't it?Maybe it's the Internet obviating the need for a place to showcase new technology!
I was at Comdex this year. Very sparse on Wednesday--and the locals were not liking the downturn in business. AAMOF, the most encircled booth on the floor was the metallic flashlight booth. Even the tap dancers on the way into the Microsoft "wing" had more people standing in front of it than any other display booth I saw that day.
I had to reflect on the fact that nothing interesting was released that hadn't already been seen on the Internet. Nothing. Apple only needs one big media blitz a year (and it's easier to have a lot to show once a year than many times a year). . .so why waste the millions it would cost?
While I've heard others claim drop outs on trains, etc., my experience in Southern CA was as I described. This was not a one-time event. I drove the 5 from the 405 to the 605 daily as a Ricochet subscriber. It afforded constant connection on the route (PuTTY and its ilk don't abide connection drops nicely). I admit I wasn't testing the bandwidth all the time (dslreports.com thanks me, I'm sure) but the basics of an always available connection between Lake Forest, CA and Lakewood, CA was as real as you're crude.
I am a current T-Mobile HotSpot subscriber but hopping from Starbucks to Starbucks is nothing like cruising I-5 between the 405 and 605 with a steady 128K connection posting on Slashdot, Instant Messaging friends and running PuTTY sessions to the web farm (while driving. . .oops). What a difference to be able to CHOOSE which establishment to park myself (rather than being forced to be at or really near a Starbucks). Seal Beach had particularly good coverage and there was this pub called Hennesseys. . .anyway. . . So, I use T-Mobile HotSpots, but long for Ricochet to be back on is SoCal.
One annoyance about the Ricochet site, though. On the page to find out if the service is available at your address the city name field is limited to 20 characters AND the query only works if the city name and state exactly match the Zip Code look up value. So? Well, since 1999 there is a city in the US with a name larger than "Truth Or Consequences", NM: Rancho Santa Margarita. I happen to live there.
Back in the day database designers used the fact that ToC, NM was, at that time, the largest city name in the US to set CITY name fields to 21 (or 19 if they didn't include spaces for some reason) characters (i.e., CITY varchar(21) default Null). Rules of Thumb are great, until hit with the hammer of reality. I can't tell you how many databases choke on the CITY name being larger than 21 characters. I have seen so many MS SQL and Oracle error pages it's not funny (well, it is).
Ricochet's form is set for 20 characters (weird) and chokes on incomplete city names. I know my city isn't served yet, but the way to get on the "tickle" list is to check out your location __successfully__ and then be added to the list.
Please, please tell every database/form designer you know to only require a Zip Code, match partial city names, or increase the CITY field to accomodate the "brevity challenged" new developments in SoCal.
Not only big as a post, but the biggest X10 add I've ever seen!
Your kids and mine, man, your kids and mine.
Beer frees speech.
- try opera on zaurus..will make you feel like getting one..
No kidding. My company is in the medical marketplace and I develop applications based on handhelds to support our other products. Currently we use Palm technology for physicians, but we're unhappy with the capabilities of the (IMHO) glorified organizer.We were heading towards using the PocketPC and aiming our application at PocketIE. This has been in the works since the end of August. Our biggest problem is PocketIE--it's more closely related to MSIE 3.0 than any other browser, and that just doesn't give us enough "power" to make a rich user interface.
Monday before last I met the Zaurus people at a medical seminar in San Diego. Before then I had heard about the Linux-based Zaurus but hadn't paid attention to it. The first thing I heard that Monday was "Opera browser"--so I took a look. It's not a stripped down browser, it's the full browser. That stopped me cold.
To make a long(er) story short(er) my company is about to bet the farm on the Zaurus (the only PDA I'm aware of that tech support can SSH into. . .) and Opera.
If you're developing handheld applications and want a real platform to develop towards take a look at the Zaurus.
Best-kept secret in the PDA market today.
You should change your name from T3kno to Pyro.
Whether or not I like to -- I already have! *burp*
Unfortunately I speak with experience in this matter (even personally). That kind of malicious attack cannot be simply ignored if one desires to continue to participate in one's community.
Slander/libel isn't a crime it's an actionable civil offense, where the remedy is financial. Why money? That's all courts can deal in. They cannot restore reputation nor return the goose feathers to the opened pillow (as they say).
But, a large civil judgement is only possible when (1) the litigant doesn't fight the charge--not what you want to have happen, or (2a) cannot use the unassailable defense of "truth", and (2b) cannot prove they were ignorant of the falsehood of their accusation, and (2c) cannot prove they acted without malice or an intent to cause harm through the false accusations. In other words: libel cases are rarely won, but when they are won (outside of summary judgement) they speak volumes -- especially when the award is high.
So, in light of libel and slander, you can refute (but who listens? Bad news is exciting), ignore (and appear guilty), or litigate. Just be sure you can make the case.
Oh, expect it to be expensive.
How did the inclusion of the word 'shat' in your surname affect your youth? Did the anger toward your ancestral name fuel your early acting career?
on a new Zaurus.
I'm lookging to migrate a Palm OS app to a new
platform that is handheld and browser based. I had
been thinking to go PocketPC and develop towards
PocketIE (which is closer to MSIE 3.0 than
anything else), until I saw a pre-release of the
new Zaurus at a medical technology seminar
recently.
Its hardware is very similar to the new Dell, with
the exceptional addition of the sliding case with
thumb board. Better yet, it comes with a powerful
version of the Opera browser.
Of course, it's based on Linux already, so no need
to wipe PokeyPC off first. I saw the office-app
components (RTF editor, Excel-like thingy) but
didn't really get a good look at the overall
system. I hope to remedy that shortly.
(FYI - The Zaurus, made by Sharp inspired my title)
But as I've moved up, it's been more about what I have done and what I want to do.
Look,tech jobs, esp. entry level and near-entry level are basically grunt jobs using the brain the way a ditch-digger uses his back. You're hired for how much dirt you can dish in a day. As you grow and mature, you'll be hired for other reasons. Sucks when you start out, but once you've made it, it makes sense. . .kinda.
My uncle, a hospital pharmacist, tells me that "anti-bacterial" soap dishes make fantastic incubators for bacteria. . .this after someone got curious and decided to perform a culture test on regular soap versus "anti-bacterial" soap. E-coli in particular seemed to feed on the "anti-bacterial" soap. . .
However, the US was remiss in stopping the eruptions of a number of volcanoes throughout the world since Carter's decision and it is these eruptions which have deposited more greenhouse gas and particulates in our atmosphere than all the bad hair in the 70s and 80s could muster.
So, maybe you have a point. Maybe Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton and now Bush 43 have ignored the volcanoes so that we could sail aroung Canada instead of through the Chinese-run Panama Canal.
You betcha. Great anaylsis. (Note my .sig)
I haven't used AOL since 1994 when I found direct ISP service and I haven't used AltaVista since 1999 when I found Google.
Tell me you don't really scp .ISOs. . .please. . .