Here is a question that I just thought of...Which is worse, that the government is trying to snoop on you without your knowledge, or that a business can usurp the power of the government, and refuse to comply for 'business' reasons.
Remember, the RIAA and MPAA are both carrying out their little crusades in the name of 'business' reasons.
Internet gambling already is estimated to be a billion-a-year industry and is growing rapidly.
Followed by this one: Internet gambling is estimated to be a $600 million-a-year industry skyrocketing to as much as $3 billion by the year 2002, according to industry analysts.
Who's the twit who threw in the first figure for that extra 'bite' that the article needed?
One of the reasons I can bear my ridculously stupid job is that I have vents to relax, most of which do not involve a computer at all. I ride my mtn bike, I walk my huskies, I take vacations, twice a year, and the only reason I bring my cell is because it is a convenience, and handy for emergencies.
Don't let work encroach on your personal life, especially when you choose to be doing something else. When I am riding, my boss cant get ahold of me, my WIFE even knows its pretty much futile to try to reach me when I am out. When I am done, thats when I'll be back to deal with all of the s**t of life, and no sooner.
I have to keep an eye on myself, and my s/o does it for me as well, to not let myself get burned out on work. I like what I do for a living, but its not the only thing I want to do in life. Just my 0000 0010 cents worth.
IANAL, but the last time I checked, it's a FEDERAL CRIME to open mail that is not addressed to you. Be it mail that inadvertantly shows up in your box or mail in the case mentioned above.
The postal service are the ONLY ones who have the power to open mail before it is delivered, and even then it takes an act of congress or something like that.
Since when did Compaq decide what will and wont disappoint users? Let's face it, once chips hit the 300-350MHz mark, you cant REALLY tell the difference between a 350 and a 700. I for one would probably soil my shorts to get a laptop that could run for the entire workday without being plugged in. Add that to my new 3com 11Mbps PC Card and I can work anywhere in my office for the whole day. I can sit in a closet and avoid users without sacrificing the ability to cruise Slashdot for hours on end!
At least here in Phoenix, like the guy below in VA, the DMV here in AZ has gone to online renewals. You can still go in if you like waiting around, but everything has been automated. I think the only thing you really have to go in for is to get your pic taken for the license.
Maybe we can get them to start accepting speeding tickets online (Not that I have any:-))
Seems like pretty cool stuff, My dual P-Pro takes about 3 minutes to boot into Linux, would be nice if that went quite a bit faster.
It would be nice if things like this could make it into the mainstream, as the PC architecture in general could use a total overhaul, considering a brand spankin new PC now is built on the same technology that it was 12 years ago. Would be worthwhile to get rid of that antiquated IRQ system, eh?
A good way to find out is to see how long it is until they find that the MP4 format infringes on their copyrights.
My guess? MP4 goes the way of the dodo in 6 mos. BUT, a newer, higher quality version will come out in its place shortly thereafter. The only difference is that the new one will have some poor encryption all over it and a spinning MPAA logo at the bottom of the frame.
As you can see from the topic above, this has been turned into a dead horse for Slashdotters to beat.
But why must we as the people who made the internet so popular by using it the way it was meant to be used, have to suffer at the hands of (insert **AA organization here), so that they can make a bigger buck? I for one am sick and tired of busting my ass, day in and day out, so that those in positions above me can make more money off of what I do?
I've had it! I was raised right, I know the difference between right and wrong, yet the people who insist on making decisions for me, cant seem to see how passing laws based on how much money such-and-such corporation gave them is immoral.
I think it's time we throw out this gov't and get a new one.
My advice, get out while you can
on
Too Old To Code?
·
· Score: 1
Here's a suggestion:
I am getting started in software design and engineering because its fun, I like doing it, its very rewarding, and generally pays pretty well. I'm 24.
However, I don't plan to be doing this forever, at least as a means of supporting myself. I will always have the desire to do it, but even at 24, I am getting burned out on the rat-race. Every one of us has seen the pressure that employers to be better than our coworkers, to the point of back-stabbing each other and fighting for raises and respect that we ALL deserve.
I am only 24, and I already have to fight for jobs with people who are younger than me, and those who are older, yet I keep hearing about this abundance of jobs that is out there for people like me. It doesn't make them any less qualified than me, or more, people are getting into this business younger and younger all the time. Employers are always looking for a way to inflate their paycheck, and if it means paying some college grad 20k/yr less than the guy who is 45 and knows what he is doing inside and out, they wont think twice about it.
Just this last month, I found out that I busted my ass for 10 mos straight only to get a whopping 2.1% raise. My boss just got a nice 10% raise because of all the money he saved in the dept this last year. Imagine that.
I don't plan on being in the business more than 8-11 more years, I want to use what I make now to make some sound investments, get a team of Siberians, move to Alaska, and not have to look at a computer for money ever again.
My personal goal is to learn more about encryption. I love the idea of the way that the system works (in a perfect world). Somebody writes something to be secure, somebody breaks it, then somebody else writes something even better than the first. It's viscious cycle, but it increases the level of security for everyone, and pushes us (me) to progress in our abilities.
That and I have a twisted sense of humor and I love a good practical joke. Good programming skills can be used to entertain people who truly appreciate a good joke
Reminds me of something my brother told me a while back...."Certification is a way for idiot managers to feel better about hiring incompetent people."
We have an MCSE in our group, he's a shining example. He asked me for the administrator password to get into a 95 box. I laughed at him and it took him 2 days to figure out how to bypass the security on the 95 machine.
Here is the problem that I have, anyone else chime in if they have these issues, too.
I work in an NT/Novell house, Our backend corporate servers are old telco mainframes (anyone who works for anything related to Bell knows what I am talking about) Therefore, my current area of expertise is with NT system administration (I'm not a Minesweeper Consultant and Solitaire Expert). I dabble with Linux at home (Red Hat) and I am getting better with it all the time. Red Hat classes and certification are something I am very interested in. However, my boss is very stingy when it comes to spending money on anything but new toys for his office, and there is no way that I will get training for something that we dont use, even though, I can, and already have, come up with decent and good uses for it in our workplace.
It's amazing that corporate America went so out of their way to invest in every Linux IPO out there, yet they dont take the OS itself seriouly.
This may be a bit off topic, but I need some help on this. Norton/Symantec/McAfee etc all use signature scanning, i.e. it will only detect a virus if it already knows it exists. Whereas, I know there are other virus scanners out in the world that scan by a profile, or rather, type of virus (worm, boot-sector, etc).
I am personally extremely tired of having to panic for the latest virus and scrambling to McAfee.com every time some script-kiddie makes something that he thinks is 31337, so that everyone can ph33r his skills.
Question is, does anyone know what the names of some of these profile scanners are? I had an email a while back with the info, but it seems to have gone the way of the dodo.
For instance, wouldnt it be nice if Network solutions could haul off and revoke all the stupid domain names that point to pr0n? (www.whitehouse.com springs to mind)
IF Network Solutions could be trusted to do the right, ethical and moral thing, this would also pretty much eliminate cybersquatting of the worst kind. But, as we have seen from NetSol's past reputation, they cannot be trusted to do anything resembling ethical behavior. (can you say "Sure, everyone can be a registrar, but we still own the master DB, and will enforce this when we please)
This poicy will be abused, not if, but when, and I truly feel sympathy for this little guy out there on the web who might be trying to make some money for him/herself and gets stepped on by big bad NetSol.
Unfortunately, I am not as fortunate as the other posters today, as our call in help desk for our region (western US) consists of 9-10 people, for 15,000 users. And 95% of the time, those 9-10 people refuse to do any troubleshooting whatsoever, often referring pointless issues to me and my colleagues (tier II and III support). There are 4 of us for @1300 users. So I guess the ratio holds the same, of real technicians to users, that is. But it only works when you have significantly competent people working in the trenches, versus the "Star Trek Ensign" holding up the front line with a Tech Support for Dummies book.
I just returned home from work to find that my copy of napster has been disabled by the weenie police.
here's the kicker, and I don't know if anyone else had this problem, but the weekend in question that NetPD claims to have gathered data on napster users, I WAS ON VACATION, WITH MY COMPUTER POWERED OFF!!!
Do you realize that we are on the brink of seeing the first company that was singlehandedly destroyed by another company? Not just a company that wasnt running their business right and failed because of it, but the RIAA setting their sights on Napster as 'the enemy' and taking action on it.
AND, with the exception of a 7 second blurb by Kurt Choder on MTV, has there been any media coverage of this mess? that would be a resounding NO. I'm not saying that my local news station should be carrying the same news that/.'ers like to see, but CNN, Nightly news, etc. NOTHING.
I read further down that the music industry had been found guilty of price fixing or something like that? if its true, post a link to the story, i'd love to have a gander at that.
The RIAA is claiming up to 6 BILLION in damages, as much as $80,000 PER cd that mp3.com had on their server for use.
I tell you what, I want to be a judge, so that I can be so blatantly blind to the truth about anything that I can overlook the fact that with figures like that, it is very clear that the RIAA is not after the difference between right and wrong, and that they are going for MONEY, and lots of it.
Aren't there laws against lawsuits like this? Suing your neighbor for 2 million for their dog doo on your yard. Any decent judge in the world would throw that out, why is this any different? The RIAA is certainly throwing around loads of dog doo, aren't they?
I already removed all of the Metallica (one of my favorite bands) from my hard drive, as I don't want to support them, or their work since their frivolous lawsuit against Napster.
When will big business realize one very key point of our world: YOU CAN'T UN-INVENT SOMETHING!
Slashdot Mirror
It's not fair use to use the name DVD unless its been sanctioned by the MPAA.
Just kidding, felt like being a smart-ass for a bit. :-)
How appropriate that after they announce that they are suing over this thing, that they get SlashDDoS'ed by having it posted here...uncanny..
Good point.
Remember, the RIAA and MPAA are both carrying out their little crusades in the name of 'business' reasons.
Internet gambling already is estimated to be a billion-a-year industry and is growing rapidly.
Followed by this one: Internet gambling is estimated to be a $600 million-a-year industry skyrocketing to as much as $3 billion by the year 2002, according to industry analysts.
Who's the twit who threw in the first figure for that extra 'bite' that the article needed?
One of the reasons I can bear my ridculously stupid job is that I have vents to relax, most of which do not involve a computer at all. I ride my mtn bike, I walk my huskies, I take vacations, twice a year, and the only reason I bring my cell is because it is a convenience, and handy for emergencies.
Don't let work encroach on your personal life, especially when you choose to be doing something else. When I am riding, my boss cant get ahold of me, my WIFE even knows its pretty much futile to try to reach me when I am out. When I am done, thats when I'll be back to deal with all of the s**t of life, and no sooner.
I have to keep an eye on myself, and my s/o does it for me as well, to not let myself get burned out on work. I like what I do for a living, but its not the only thing I want to do in life. Just my 0000 0010 cents worth.
Too bad Home Depot (the main listed offender) has THREE referring pages to not let you out of. I always liked HomeBase more anyways.
The postal service are the ONLY ones who have the power to open mail before it is delivered, and even then it takes an act of congress or something like that.
Just my 0000 0010 cents worth.
Since when did Compaq decide what will and wont disappoint users? Let's face it, once chips hit the 300-350MHz mark, you cant REALLY tell the difference between a 350 and a 700. I for one would probably soil my shorts to get a laptop that could run for the entire workday without being plugged in. Add that to my new 3com 11Mbps PC Card and I can work anywhere in my office for the whole day. I can sit in a closet and avoid users without sacrificing the ability to cruise Slashdot for hours on end!
Maybe we can get them to start accepting speeding tickets online (Not that I have any:-))
It would be nice if things like this could make it into the mainstream, as the PC architecture in general could use a total overhaul, considering a brand spankin new PC now is built on the same technology that it was 12 years ago. Would be worthwhile to get rid of that antiquated IRQ system, eh?
The Answer is 'yes'. Ever heard of the BOFH? 'nuff said :-)
My guess? MP4 goes the way of the dodo in 6 mos. BUT, a newer, higher quality version will come out in its place shortly thereafter. The only difference is that the new one will have some poor encryption all over it and a spinning MPAA logo at the bottom of the frame.
But why must we as the people who made the internet so popular by using it the way it was meant to be used, have to suffer at the hands of (insert **AA organization here), so that they can make a bigger buck? I for one am sick and tired of busting my ass, day in and day out, so that those in positions above me can make more money off of what I do?
I've had it! I was raised right, I know the difference between right and wrong, yet the people who insist on making decisions for me, cant seem to see how passing laws based on how much money such-and-such corporation gave them is immoral.
I think it's time we throw out this gov't and get a new one.
I am getting started in software design and engineering because its fun, I like doing it, its very rewarding, and generally pays pretty well. I'm 24.
However, I don't plan to be doing this forever, at least as a means of supporting myself. I will always have the desire to do it, but even at 24, I am getting burned out on the rat-race. Every one of us has seen the pressure that employers to be better than our coworkers, to the point of back-stabbing each other and fighting for raises and respect that we ALL deserve.
I am only 24, and I already have to fight for jobs with people who are younger than me, and those who are older, yet I keep hearing about this abundance of jobs that is out there for people like me. It doesn't make them any less qualified than me, or more, people are getting into this business younger and younger all the time. Employers are always looking for a way to inflate their paycheck, and if it means paying some college grad 20k/yr less than the guy who is 45 and knows what he is doing inside and out, they wont think twice about it.
Just this last month, I found out that I busted my ass for 10 mos straight only to get a whopping 2.1% raise. My boss just got a nice 10% raise because of all the money he saved in the dept this last year. Imagine that.
I don't plan on being in the business more than 8-11 more years, I want to use what I make now to make some sound investments, get a team of Siberians, move to Alaska, and not have to look at a computer for money ever again.
That and I have a twisted sense of humor and I love a good practical joke. Good programming skills can be used to entertain people who truly appreciate a good joke
We have an MCSE in our group, he's a shining example. He asked me for the administrator password to get into a 95 box. I laughed at him and it took him 2 days to figure out how to bypass the security on the 95 machine.
I work in an NT/Novell house, Our backend corporate servers are old telco mainframes (anyone who works for anything related to Bell knows what I am talking about) Therefore, my current area of expertise is with NT system administration (I'm not a Minesweeper Consultant and Solitaire Expert). I dabble with Linux at home (Red Hat) and I am getting better with it all the time. Red Hat classes and certification are something I am very interested in. However, my boss is very stingy when it comes to spending money on anything but new toys for his office, and there is no way that I will get training for something that we dont use, even though, I can, and already have, come up with decent and good uses for it in our workplace.
It's amazing that corporate America went so out of their way to invest in every Linux IPO out there, yet they dont take the OS itself seriouly.
I am personally extremely tired of having to panic for the latest virus and scrambling to McAfee.com every time some script-kiddie makes something that he thinks is 31337, so that everyone can ph33r his skills.
Question is, does anyone know what the names of some of these profile scanners are? I had an email a while back with the info, but it seems to have gone the way of the dodo.
For instance, wouldnt it be nice if Network solutions could haul off and revoke all the stupid domain names that point to pr0n? (www.whitehouse.com springs to mind)
IF Network Solutions could be trusted to do the right, ethical and moral thing, this would also pretty much eliminate cybersquatting of the worst kind. But, as we have seen from NetSol's past reputation, they cannot be trusted to do anything resembling ethical behavior. (can you say "Sure, everyone can be a registrar, but we still own the master DB, and will enforce this when we please)
This poicy will be abused, not if, but when, and I truly feel sympathy for this little guy out there on the web who might be trying to make some money for him/herself and gets stepped on by big bad NetSol.
With the rumors of M$ doing a DDOS attack on slashdot, maybe we can hire NetPD to use their 5000 chimpanzees software to find the culprit?
Unfortunately, I am not as fortunate as the other posters today, as our call in help desk for our region (western US) consists of 9-10 people, for 15,000 users. And 95% of the time, those 9-10 people refuse to do any troubleshooting whatsoever, often referring pointless issues to me and my colleagues (tier II and III support). There are 4 of us for @1300 users. So I guess the ratio holds the same, of real technicians to users, that is. But it only works when you have significantly competent people working in the trenches, versus the "Star Trek Ensign" holding up the front line with a Tech Support for Dummies book.
here's the kicker, and I don't know if anyone else had this problem, but the weekend in question that NetPD claims to have gathered data on napster users, I WAS ON VACATION, WITH MY COMPUTER POWERED OFF!!!
Go Figure.
AND, with the exception of a 7 second blurb by Kurt Choder on MTV, has there been any media coverage of this mess? that would be a resounding NO. I'm not saying that my local news station should be carrying the same news that /.'ers like to see, but CNN, Nightly news, etc. NOTHING.
I read further down that the music industry had been found guilty of price fixing or something like that? if its true, post a link to the story, i'd love to have a gander at that.
I tell you what, I want to be a judge, so that I can be so blatantly blind to the truth about anything that I can overlook the fact that with figures like that, it is very clear that the RIAA is not after the difference between right and wrong, and that they are going for MONEY, and lots of it.
Aren't there laws against lawsuits like this? Suing your neighbor for 2 million for their dog doo on your yard. Any decent judge in the world would throw that out, why is this any different? The RIAA is certainly throwing around loads of dog doo, aren't they?
I already removed all of the Metallica (one of my favorite bands) from my hard drive, as I don't want to support them, or their work since their frivolous lawsuit against Napster.
When will big business realize one very key point of our world: YOU CAN'T UN-INVENT SOMETHING!