Exactly. The car was basically rock solid until the radiator hose popped off one day. That led the the overheat, which probably led to the cracked head gasket (hard to say, since it was a few weeks later.)
I miss my Taurus. We called it "The Scullymobile" because it looked exactly like every car ever driven on The X-Files. I got it used with 14k miles on it, and it was basically built like a brick.
Eventually I had a minor engine overheat (radiator line popped off) which eventually led to a cracked head gasket, which led me to replace the car. I still miss it.
Aside from slightly raised borders around each key, the Atari 400's keys lay completely flat, devoid of tactile response; users could not physically tell if they successfully pushed one. Atari compensated for this by making the computer generate a click from an internal speaker every time users depressed a key.
Of course, recent products solve this problem by removing the raised border, thus eliminating the very last bit of tactile feedback. Go, progress!
(Yeah, I know, it's not a full size computer, blah blah blah. Still.)
Plus, FAST doesn't really qualify as a recursive acronym. The F in the acronym FAST stands for the word fast, not for the acronym itself. Contrast with GNU (GNU's Not Unix), or PINE (Pine Is Not Elm) or...
If you aren't gonna be the best, don't put scripts in place to punish the people that are.
I don't want to take issue with the main gist of your post, with which I agree 100%. But I think it would be a mistake to assume that surviving a round of layoffs necessarily means that you're one of "the best." I've seen plenty of competent folks get laid off while incompetent ones stay on for one reason or another.
Joshua: Greetings, Professor Falken. Stephen Falken: Hello, Joshua. Joshua: A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?
. For a major company-wide high-load system, virtualization is absolutely not what I would be looking at. It's also fantastic for testing environments.
Heh.
A while back I worked at a very large IT consultancy. We were being asked to respond to an RFP for virtualizing (using commodity hardware and VMware) a truly massive number of systems, running services ranging from a departmental CVS box to enterprise Sun hardware running "several million lines" of Java code systems for fine tuning corporate promotions.
No, I have no idea why the application was that large, either.
But the kicker was when we made our requests for additional information. We were supplied with a list of applications/services, and a list of servers on which they ran. When we asked them to actually relate the one to each other, they told us that we didn't need that information in order to do our estimates. I mean, really, the conversation was very like this:
"We want you to virtualize this system. How much will it cost?" "Okay... um, what are the hardware specifications?" "You don't need to know that."
Eventually, I found out that the hardware vendor was grumpy because they thought our cost estimate (I use the term loosely) was too high. I responded that they could put down whatever they wanted as long as they kept my name off it. And they did. Fortunately, I got out before we had the chance to win or lose that contract. (Eventually, they lost - which is a good thing, because if they'd won it, they would have been inviting the client to saddle up and ride hard.)
In my experience as a systems engineer, the biggest problem we've had with virtualization is that too many people who don't understand it well view it as a magic wand that you can wave to make all your capacity & provisioning problems disappear.
"Hey! We need a new server to run Blah version 3.0!" "No problem! Sammy can create a new virtual server!" "Oh wait - my bad. We actually need a whole farm." "That's okay, he can whip up a whole batch of them!"
Ad nauseaum. About the worst I've heard was a clueless manager asking me if the resource requirements for Oracle 10g could be relaxed because we were running it on VMware. I actually found myself calling a "come to Jesus" meeting in which I explained, in as simple terms as I could, that "making the system virtual" doesn't mean that hardware requirements go away. Very, very few applications get faster when you put them on equivalent hardware, only virtualized.
To me, and this is probably the engineer in me speaking, the arbitrary designation of the end of the year as a time to make life adjustments is very odd. If there is a problem in your life or something that needs changing, it seems like you should work to correct that whenever you discover it.
That's certainly sensible, but that doesn't mean that you need to throw out the baby with the bath water. Many people find it useful to schedule periods of reflection and re-evaluation periodically: that concept is a staple of such organizational systems as Getting Things Done. Designating a time for taking a hard look in the mirror can be useful because people often won't do it at all if not presented with a deadline, even a self imposed one.
"Famous name"? Please. Chuck Norris did a cheesy 90s television show and some bad Kung Fu movies. If it wasn't for Chuck Norris Facts, he would have faded into an obscurity brought about by late-night reruns and informercials for TotalGym.
Okay, not like I really feel like defending the guy, but be a little fair. When Norris retired from competitive karate tournaments, it was with a record of 65-5, which isn't precisely anything to sneer at. Also, whatever your opinion of kung fu flicks in general, I think you'd have to concede that "Return of the Dragon" is a pretty important piece of the genre, even if Norris only played the heavy in it.
Evidently, that "someone" was Keith Moon, of The Who.
He contiuned: "And what actually happened was Keith and John went off and left Me behind, they were gonna go and form a band with Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page called Led Zeppelin." Townshend also revealed that is was Moon that came up with the name Led Zeppelin, adding that the only reason the band didn't materialise was because he found out about the others' plans.
While I agree with dog vacination and all, which includes the fines, i highly disagree with giving a person JAIL TIME for a crime that literally does not define that person as harmful to scociety.
I'm not saying that the OP deserved jail time. But do consider the severity of the event. Here's a description of what the course of rabies in a human looks like:
In humans, the course is similar. After a symptom-free incubation period that ranges from 10 days to a year or longer (the average is 30 to 50 days), the patient complains of malaise, loss of appetite, fatigue, headache, and fever. Over half of all patients have pain (sometimes itching) or numbness at the site of exposure. They may complain of insomnia or depression.
Two to 10 days later, signs of nervous system damage appear, hyperactivity and hypersensitivity, disorientation, hallucinations, seizures, and paralysis. Death may be sudden, due to cardiac or respiratory arrest, or follow a period of coma that can last for months with the aid of life-support measures.
I agree, Joe Shmoe who neglected to stick a tag on his dog doesn't deserve severe punishment. But if you're gonna have a dog, get it vaccinated. Because if he becomes infected with rabies and bites someone, it's your responsibility, and that does make you harmful to society.
I'm not quite sure what the problem is here. You have a dog, you're required to get it rabies shots. Once you demonstrated that you'd done so, the charges were dismissed. Is it that you think the penalties for owning a potentially rabid animal are too stiff, or just personally annoyed that you got called on not having documentation?
I know it's outre to point out how trite and overdone these gift guides are, so I'll let the folks at Gizmodo take a poke at it for me.
To test how lemming-like guide-makers were in picking all the same stuff, I chose 10 popular tech toys--iPhone, iMac, MacBook, any iPod, TomTom GPS, any game console (Wii, Xbox 360 or PS3), Vizio HDTV, Slingbox, any Blu-ray or HD DVD player, and any Canon PowerShot or Sony Cyber-shot camera--and checked which of the major guides were serving them up. Here's how the mainstream gift lists panned out...
The FACT is that oil is still damned cheap in a relative sense. Even with our absurd gas taxes, a gallon of milk at the store is cheaper than a gallon of gasoline.
And this is strange because...
To anticipate this and insist that everyone drive uncomfortable little economy cars TODAY simply because 'eventually' we'll need to actually delays the point when we will HAVE to abandon the petro system.
Your canard about "uncomfortable little economy cars" aside - if upping fuel economy standards prolongs the amount of time we have until fossil fuels become non-viable, isn't that a good thing?
The Good Guys had excellent stock including the superb Loewe HD TVs, good sales every so often, and the salemen didn't entirely suck. The bastard child of the merger was that CompUSA began pushing LCD big screens but almost no other A/V equipment.
I was really puzzled when that happened. It was particularly odd because it was clear none of the sales staff really had any experience with the TVs beyond what any other teenaged kid would know. Of course, that's about how I felt about their experience with everything else, so...
On the other hand, my wife and I got a very sweet discount there on a Samsung flat panel with a boatload of inputs, so I can't exactly complain.
I don't know any "responsible parent" that would let their child go under the supervision of another adult without first speaking with said adult and sorting out things like not allowing them access to violent or pornographic media.
Seriously? You expect that the parents of a ten year old will say things like, "Hey, Chuck, you're not going to let my kid watch any porn, are you?"
Being a "responsible parent" isn't hard because parents don't want to do right by their kids. It's hard because they have differing opinions as to what constitutes "doing right," or even "responsible." Finding out where those differences lie can cause a lot of friction between adults.
Slashdot Mirror
Of course, one of his most memorable roles was looking down into a pit filled with snakes.
"Asps. Very dangerous. You go first."
Exactly. The car was basically rock solid until the radiator hose popped off one day. That led the the overheat, which probably led to the cracked head gasket (hard to say, since it was a few weeks later.)
I miss my Taurus. We called it "The Scullymobile" because it looked exactly like every car ever driven on The X-Files. I got it used with 14k miles on it, and it was basically built like a brick.
Eventually I had a minor engine overheat (radiator line popped off) which eventually led to a cracked head gasket, which led me to replace the car. I still miss it.
My wife and I did that for the first time this last year, and didn't regret it once. I'd recommend it to anyone.
(Well - okay. A couple times I found myself saying, "seriously, who eats that much bok choi?" But other than that it was great.)
Of course, recent products solve this problem by removing the raised border, thus eliminating the very last bit of tactile feedback. Go, progress!
(Yeah, I know, it's not a full size computer, blah blah blah. Still.)
Plus, FAST doesn't really qualify as a recursive acronym. The F in the acronym FAST stands for the word fast, not for the acronym itself. Contrast with GNU (GNU's Not Unix), or PINE (Pine Is Not Elm) or...
Oh wait - nobody cares. Nevermind.
Just wait until someone dies because an important piece of their medical history was missing at a critical time. I think that'll get the ball rolling.
(And no, I'm not looking forward to that.)
I don't want to take issue with the main gist of your post, with which I agree 100%. But I think it would be a mistake to assume that surviving a round of layoffs necessarily means that you're one of "the best." I've seen plenty of competent folks get laid off while incompetent ones stay on for one reason or another.
Hmm. Sounds familiar...
Heh.
A while back I worked at a very large IT consultancy. We were being asked to respond to an RFP for virtualizing (using commodity hardware and VMware) a truly massive number of systems, running services ranging from a departmental CVS box to enterprise Sun hardware running "several million lines" of Java code systems for fine tuning corporate promotions.
No, I have no idea why the application was that large, either.
But the kicker was when we made our requests for additional information. We were supplied with a list of applications/services, and a list of servers on which they ran. When we asked them to actually relate the one to each other, they told us that we didn't need that information in order to do our estimates. I mean, really, the conversation was very like this:
"We want you to virtualize this system. How much will it cost?"
"Okay... um, what are the hardware specifications?"
"You don't need to know that."
Eventually, I found out that the hardware vendor was grumpy because they thought our cost estimate (I use the term loosely) was too high. I responded that they could put down whatever they wanted as long as they kept my name off it. And they did. Fortunately, I got out before we had the chance to win or lose that contract. (Eventually, they lost - which is a good thing, because if they'd won it, they would have been inviting the client to saddle up and ride hard.)
In my experience as a systems engineer, the biggest problem we've had with virtualization is that too many people who don't understand it well view it as a magic wand that you can wave to make all your capacity & provisioning problems disappear.
"Hey! We need a new server to run Blah version 3.0!"
"No problem! Sammy can create a new virtual server!"
"Oh wait - my bad. We actually need a whole farm."
"That's okay, he can whip up a whole batch of them!"
Ad nauseaum. About the worst I've heard was a clueless manager asking me if the resource requirements for Oracle 10g could be relaxed because we were running it on VMware. I actually found myself calling a "come to Jesus" meeting in which I explained, in as simple terms as I could, that "making the system virtual" doesn't mean that hardware requirements go away. Very, very few applications get faster when you put them on equivalent hardware, only virtualized.
That's certainly sensible, but that doesn't mean that you need to throw out the baby with the bath water. Many people find it useful to schedule periods of reflection and re-evaluation periodically: that concept is a staple of such organizational systems as Getting Things Done. Designating a time for taking a hard look in the mirror can be useful because people often won't do it at all if not presented with a deadline, even a self imposed one.
My kingdom for mod points. Bravo, sir.
If only you could see the things I've seen with your eyes.....
</response>
You know... you're right. I happen to hate his politics with a passion, but there's little doubt in my mind that his heart is in the right place.
I retract that statement and apologize. (You know, as if Chuck cares what I think of him.)
Okay, not like I really feel like defending the guy, but be a little fair. When Norris retired from competitive karate tournaments, it was with a record of 65-5, which isn't precisely anything to sneer at. Also, whatever your opinion of kung fu flicks in general, I think you'd have to concede that "Return of the Dragon" is a pretty important piece of the genre, even if Norris only played the heavy in it.
Pity he's such an ass.
I'm not saying that the OP deserved jail time. But do consider the severity of the event. Here's a description of what the course of rabies in a human looks like:
I agree, Joe Shmoe who neglected to stick a tag on his dog doesn't deserve severe punishment. But if you're gonna have a dog, get it vaccinated. Because if he becomes infected with rabies and bites someone, it's your responsibility, and that does make you harmful to society.
I'm not quite sure what the problem is here. You have a dog, you're required to get it rabies shots. Once you demonstrated that you'd done so, the charges were dismissed. Is it that you think the penalties for owning a potentially rabid animal are too stiff, or just personally annoyed that you got called on not having documentation?
BANK EMPLOYEE: (typing on a check) So, people hire you to break into their places... to see if you can break into their places?
BISHOP: It's a living.
BANK EMPLOYEE: (looks at check, hands it to BISHOP with sympathetic expression) Not a very good one.
Alternative choices after the jump.
And this is strange because...
Your canard about "uncomfortable little economy cars" aside - if upping fuel economy standards prolongs the amount of time we have until fossil fuels become non-viable, isn't that a good thing?
I was really puzzled when that happened. It was particularly odd because it was clear none of the sales staff really had any experience with the TVs beyond what any other teenaged kid would know. Of course, that's about how I felt about their experience with everything else, so...
On the other hand, my wife and I got a very sweet discount there on a Samsung flat panel with a boatload of inputs, so I can't exactly complain.
But I still have the utmost confidence in the mission.
Daisy, Daiiiiisyyyyy.
Seriously? You expect that the parents of a ten year old will say things like, "Hey, Chuck, you're not going to let my kid watch any porn, are you?"
Being a "responsible parent" isn't hard because parents don't want to do right by their kids. It's hard because they have differing opinions as to what constitutes "doing right," or even "responsible." Finding out where those differences lie can cause a lot of friction between adults.