I have confirmation at least 3 stateside soldiers cannot reach my website, DarkPoetry.com, while on military networks.
The reason is probably that many have posted opinions on the Iraq war, and I have personally posted humorous images which could be considered anti-Bush.
Frankly, contractors are all in it for themselves by the nature of the relationship, as is the company, but only the stupid ones would do anything that negatively impacts the company they are working for.
In many years of contracting I've always found it better to consider the impact on the company (price expectations, etc) as a factor in every job, and this has been rewarding in that when the company does well, I do well and continue to get to work with people that I enjoy a positive working relationship with.
I do avoid working for project managers with hostile outlooks though. Some managers are just unreasonable (wishing to exploit you as if you were slave labor) and not worth it. They are very easy to spot at the start for the most part.
A few of these are justifiably pessimistic, having been taken advantage of previously, these types are usually ok once they see you have the right work ethic, etc.
Spencer has put a heavy dose of fear into Mediacom and the commercial cable industry which has become used to monopolies. We didn't force them out, we just made them compete and competition is good for you know who.
It's no surprise that they have been trying to convince lawmakers to outlaw municipal utilities getting into communications.
Be sure to let your state/fed reps know how you feel about their anticompetitive actions!
In Spencer IA where I moved a few years ago we have a municipal communications system.
< $60/month now buys:
Basic cable 2 regular phone lines 5 Mbit Broadband w/static IP (and choice from 4 bw providers)
I am of the opinion that other small towns should do the same, we had a big bond sale, laid the fiber, and forced the ruling (Mediacom) price gouger's rates down to something reasonable so they didn't get pushed out entirely.
So we aren't lining the pockets of Mediacom execs any longer, now we're treating ourselves.
I don't know how well this would work in a more corrupt (larger) governmental organization, but with proper oversight it's likely to be better than what you guys currently suffer under.
Not to mention some of the lowest electric rates in the state.
The reason we did this was because the local cable company had spent decades gouging on the prices on cable and having crappy service and we finally had enough of it and built our own system.
Mediacom still is around, but now charging fair prices. This municipal effort INCREASED COMPETITION, breaking the monopoly the phone and cable companies enjoyed for so many years.
I'm a firm believer in Municipal Utilities, if you have the chance to write a letter to your congresspeople by all means do it now.
Be consistent, set realistic goals, reward good results generously and find out what kind of manager you prefer to be.
Books on the subject are plentiful and you'll find it worthwhile to spend a little time reading about management styles and techniques. Many bright minds have studied this subject and have some good insights. You might start with "Contemporary Management" by Jones & George. You should be able to pick up a copy on ebay cheap.
Everybody's different, and have their strengths and weaknesses. Until you study the subject a bit with yourself in mind you won't know what needs improvement.
BayStar hasn't withdrawn its demand that SCO return its money and BayStar's lawyers, he said, <B>still haven't told SCO's lawyers how SCO breached their contract</B>. So McBride figures BayStar doesn't have a legal leg to stand on and won't be able to get its money back.
Competition is great for prices, and so is a citizen based non profit venture.
In my small hometown of Spencer Iowa after tolerating years of a tyrannical cable company we chose to make our own municipal system.
Now we have $5/month basic cable, phone lines through the municipal system are almost half the price of the corporate competition, the whole city now has access to broadband (via a series of private providers), and the system should pay for itself in a matter of years not decades.
The old cable company, no longer able to gouge on their prices, has cut rates to well under those of surrounding communities, and runs slander ads against the municipal system on a regular basis in the newspapers.
It would do larger cities good to take a page out of our manual, if they could fight off the corporate control over city hall.
What are we going to sell to these nations that will provide income to our middle class people?
Weapons?
Do you propose having our unemployed middle class take factory jobs and drop down a notch? I'm sure the rich will do well by this, but the rest of us won't.
Sorry, but I'm not buying it. We need to keep good jobs here in our own country.
A much better name
on
ClusterKnoppix
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
From the site
OpenMosixKnoppix didn't quite sound good, so I called it ClusterKnoppix;)
I would propose the moniker "Cloppix"
Brings to mind images of a certain powerful one eyed giant...
Slashdot Mirror
I have confirmation at least 3 stateside soldiers cannot reach my website, DarkPoetry.com, while on military networks.
The reason is probably that many have posted opinions on the Iraq war, and I have personally posted humorous images which could be considered anti-Bush.
In other news donkeys start tuning in to Slashdot in record numbers...
Frankly, contractors are all in it for themselves by the nature of the relationship, as is the company, but only the stupid ones would do anything that negatively impacts the company they are working for.
In many years of contracting I've always found it better to consider the impact on the company (price expectations, etc) as a factor in every job, and this has been rewarding in that when the company does well, I do well and continue to get to work with people that I enjoy a positive working relationship with.
I do avoid working for project managers with hostile outlooks though. Some managers are just unreasonable (wishing to exploit you as if you were slave labor) and not worth it. They are very easy to spot at the start for the most part.
A few of these are justifiably pessimistic, having been taken advantage of previously, these types are usually ok once they see you have the right work ethic, etc.
Thanks for the reply.
Spencer has put a heavy dose of fear into Mediacom and the commercial cable industry which has become used to monopolies. We didn't force them out, we just made them compete and competition is good for you know who.
It's no surprise that they have been trying to convince lawmakers to outlaw municipal utilities getting into communications.
Be sure to let your state/fed reps know how you feel about their anticompetitive actions!
In Spencer IA where I moved a few years ago we have a municipal communications system.
< $60/month now buys:
Basic cable
2 regular phone lines
5 Mbit Broadband w/static IP (and choice from 4 bw providers)
I am of the opinion that other small towns should do the same, we had a big bond sale, laid the fiber, and forced the ruling (Mediacom) price gouger's rates down to something reasonable so they didn't get pushed out entirely.
So we aren't lining the pockets of Mediacom execs any longer, now we're treating ourselves.
I don't know how well this would work in a more corrupt (larger) governmental organization, but with proper oversight it's likely to be better than what you guys currently suffer under.
Greetings, You may feel free to borrow my design:
In my small town of Spencer, IA we have a municipal provider of electricity, cable TV, phone, and broadband.
Phone costs $10.50/mo per line.
Basic Cable costs $5.00/mo
3Mbit/sec broadband costs $27.50/mo.
Not to mention some of the lowest electric rates in the state.
The reason we did this was because the local cable company had spent decades gouging on the prices on cable and having crappy service and we finally had enough of it and built our own system.
Mediacom still is around, but now charging fair prices. This municipal effort INCREASED COMPETITION, breaking the monopoly the phone and cable companies enjoyed for so many years.
I'm a firm believer in Municipal Utilities, if you have the chance to write a letter to your congresspeople by all means do it now.
Note that these are the older trailers, if you want the newest ones you gotta use the flash...
Here are two direct links,
One to the HUGE trailer
One to the SMALL trailer.
Quicktime format. See the site for the in-between ones and read the source code on the pop-up.
The trouble is that banks have to order 1000 of them at a time, and few are willing to bother with it so they will probably stay fairly rare.
Be consistent, set realistic goals, reward good results generously and find out what kind of manager you prefer to be.
Books on the subject are plentiful and you'll find it worthwhile to spend a little time reading about management styles and techniques. Many bright minds have studied this subject and have some good insights. You might start with "Contemporary Management" by Jones & George. You should be able to pick up a copy on ebay cheap.
Everybody's different, and have their strengths and weaknesses. Until you study the subject a bit with yourself in mind you won't know what needs improvement.
Certainly seems to be calling attention to his work, doesn't it?
Yea... right.
As you can't spell knew without the k.
Hm, this may disappoint you.
Uh yea, burning holes in the earth's ionosphere is really going to upset the sun.
And put a standard index.html in all the directories so that people won't see the directory listing shown by Apache.
Or, for the rest of us who know how to configure apache...
Options -Indexes
in apache.conf (or wherever apache -V says the conf is)
Competition is great for prices, and so is a citizen based non profit venture.
In my small hometown of Spencer Iowa after tolerating years of a tyrannical cable company we chose to make our own municipal system.
Now we have $5/month basic cable, phone lines through the municipal system are almost half the price of the corporate competition, the whole city now has access to broadband (via a series of private providers), and the system should pay for itself in a matter of years not decades.
The old cable company, no longer able to gouge on their prices, has cut rates to well under those of surrounding communities, and runs slander ads against the municipal system on a regular basis in the newspapers.
It would do larger cities good to take a page out of our manual, if they could fight off the corporate control over city hall.
Has everybody forgotten the "Best Viewed With Netscape" buttons?
Why hasn't anyone thought of making a very cool looking series of "Looks Best With Mozilla" buttons?
Green is good (fastest) and red is bad (slowest)
HTH
The first electronic digital computer. Well, the rebuilt replica anyway if you happen to come through my home state. =)
What are we going to sell to these nations that will provide income to our middle class people?
Weapons?
Do you propose having our unemployed middle class take factory jobs and drop down a notch? I'm sure the rich will do well by this, but the rest of us won't.
Sorry, but I'm not buying it. We need to keep good jobs here in our own country.
I would propose the moniker "Cloppix"
Brings to mind images of a certain powerful one eyed giant...
I don't have a mirror but these guys sure do