Computer: My local white-box store / parts place. Great service, good new hardware. They even will let you order a custom one online, and just pick it up, if you want to minimize human contact. Perfect.
Best option yet: A frickin' Mac. You can even get that at Compusa, too.
As for your sig: Who defines too much? The same people who define 'decent?' The MPAA is all assed up, but you picked a shitty non-reason to hate them.
Consice statement. Coherent, insightful point. A well written statement.
However, it left me with a taste in my mouth that just said 'bogaboga is a tard', and it was your use of "M$". It's a matter of respect, the same kind of respect you show a shotgun or a pit bull, however much you dislike them.
Now, most of the asshats that say M$ are just that, asshats. You, on the other hand, have mastered punctuation and closing the italic tag. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to just write Microsoft, or, if you are in a rush, MS.
The difference is that we, as a multi-billion dollar corporation can pick and choose the jobs we choose to bid, and only select the ones that we are uniquely qualified for, and can command a higher margin.
An individual worker, on the other hand, does not have the same level of resources. The closest an individual construction worker gets to having someone on their side is a union. For federally funded works (at least in my industry) there is the Davis-Bacon wage rules, which stipulate the minimum wages for each type of craft. In some areas, this approximates the union wages, in some areas, it is below, and in some areas (right to get fucked^H^H^H^H^H^H work states) it is a moot point since there are no unions. The Davis-Bacon rates set a level playing field for contractors; it prevents us from getting overly competitive at the cost of our employees.
*Of course, this only isolates the lowest bidder, not the person/entity best suited for the job, a major flaw in this system that I see
Well, in the area I work in (Heavy Civil construction - roads, bridges, tunnels, etc.) contractors are usually required to be prequalified. In fact, the more technical the work, the stricter the prequals get. Tunnel prequals and cable stay / suspension bridge prequals are quite intimidating. Things like: contractor shall have performed similar work in the past five years, still employ key personnel (cable stay engineer, TMB superintendent) and make them available for the job. You are required to submit these with the bid, or your number gets thrown out and it goes to the second lowest guy.
Now, most jurisdictions do this, but it's a state-by-state kind of thing so YMMV.
So you spent more on SuSe Pro then an OEM copy of Windows XP Home would have run you.
OEM Copy.
Way to compare apples and lugnuts. This would be the same MS who gives deep discounts to the OEMS, discounts that you and me cannot buy on our own?
Also, to the grandparent post: The fact that they still have the 50BN (as opposed to spending it or, say, offering dividends) does not prove that they are good at ripping people off. All it proves is that they have some fiscal responsibility and can hold onto cash.
Why don't I see many falling bridges then (Tacoma Narrows and such remarkable but isolated examples aside?)
Tacoma is a great example. You can boil the failure down to one simple premise: Moisseiff did something radical and untested. That is, he dropped the tried and true stiffening truss (the technical name for the big deep truss that suspension bridges use for supporting the deck) and used new-fangled plate girders made possible by new welding technologies, among other things.
We also only get one shot. It's like building only your prototype chip and having it work right, Every Time. As such, we engineer the living hell out of it.
That is, since usually only governments can afford bridges,... succeeding at CivE allows for a larger margin in price (cost of implementation) than semiconductors because you can charge more when your comany knows it will get the job? I'm not saying that's the case -- I'm asking.
Very far from the truth. Pretty much all state and federal work is let in a sealed bid system - all of the contractors get the same set of plans, and we all submit a number in a sealed envelope. The lowest number wins. The high margins have to do with risk. Most all of these contracts are 'hard money' - you don't get to go back for more money unless you can prove it's the owner's fault. Because of that, the risks (and monies for contingencies) are higher.
I have noticed that the percentage of practicing engineers lacking common sense is much lower.
You must not be a Civil.
We still have all of our common-sense lacking engineers, they are all structural designers. As a construction engineer, one of the most common and most painful conversations begins with "So, how in the hell did you plan on us getting that big ass piece way up there? We're fresh out of the Magic-Fucking-Flying-Shoring (patent pending)." Unfortunately, quite a few seem to think that gravity isn't a factor until construction is done.
I think your comment actually reinforces the OP's sentiment. In every group, there are excelent people. I work with some draftsmen, and some are just CAD monkeys, but we have one who is, well, gifted. Problem is, there are just too many drawings to only hire the gifted ones - they are in short supply.
I don't know. What if you are a construction company? A good, cold beer at the end of a hard day can be very, very nice.
Hell Yeah. As a construction Engineer, I can definitely say that the only thing we do more intensely than work is drink.
No seriously- my first day on the job: Boss comes up to me at about 3:00, gives me a twenty, and says, "Beer. 4:30. Conference Room. There better be at least a six pack of Heineken." He then turns around a walks off.
To build on this point, there has been work on making KDE (Including sound and other bits) run on Solaris and Mac OSX / OpenDarwin. KDE is not reliant on Linux.
I know that GMOME runs on Solaris (Funny thing about being sponsored by Sun...), not sure about OSX, so this probably applies to them as well.
The rotary, in it's big-ass Massachusetts form, is one of the most interesting traffic control devices - part fun, part terror, with all of the lane changing and bluffing that Massachusetts is famous for, WITHOUT LINES.
The rotary is a last choice for traffic engineers without the sack to design a 8-way free for all (like Kelly Square in Worcester).
Slashdot Mirror
When I can easily [whine deleted] forget it.
Shit, that's easy.
Took less than five minutes.
Keyboard:
Hope Compusa's easy enough for you.
Yeah, the service sucks, but hey.
Computer:
My local white-box store / parts place.
Great service, good new hardware.
They even will let you order a custom one online, and just pick it up, if you want to minimize human contact. Perfect.
Best option yet:
A frickin' Mac.
You can even get that at Compusa, too.
As for your sig:
Who defines too much? The same people who define 'decent?' The MPAA is all assed up, but you picked a shitty non-reason to hate them.
It is to laugh.
It is to learn some grammar.
Damn it man, you almost had it.
Consice statement. Coherent, insightful point. A well written statement.
However, it left me with a taste in my mouth that just said 'bogaboga is a tard', and it was your use of "M$". It's a matter of respect, the same kind of respect you show a shotgun or a pit bull, however much you dislike them.
Now, most of the asshats that say M$ are just that, asshats. You, on the other hand, have mastered punctuation and closing the italic tag.
Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to just write Microsoft, or, if you are in a rush, MS.
The difference is that we, as a multi-billion dollar corporation can pick and choose the jobs we choose to bid, and only select the ones that we are uniquely qualified for, and can command a higher margin.
An individual worker, on the other hand, does not have the same level of resources. The closest an individual construction worker gets to having someone on their side is a union.
For federally funded works (at least in my industry) there is the Davis-Bacon wage rules, which stipulate the minimum wages for each type of craft. In some areas, this approximates the union wages, in some areas, it is below, and in some areas (right to get fucked^H^H^H^H^H^H work states) it is a moot point since there are no unions.
The Davis-Bacon rates set a level playing field for contractors; it prevents us from getting overly competitive at the cost of our employees.
*Of course, this only isolates the lowest bidder, not the person/entity best suited for the job, a major flaw in this system that I see
Well, in the area I work in (Heavy Civil construction - roads, bridges, tunnels, etc.) contractors are usually required to be prequalified. In fact, the more technical the work, the stricter the prequals get. Tunnel prequals and cable stay / suspension bridge prequals are quite intimidating.
Things like: contractor shall have performed similar work in the past five years, still employ key personnel (cable stay engineer, TMB superintendent) and make them available for the job.
You are required to submit these with the bid, or your number gets thrown out and it goes to the second lowest guy.
Now, most jurisdictions do this, but it's a state-by-state kind of thing so YMMV.
This is a great man.
I have over 0x800 posts.
Dude, 0 times anything is still zero.
You're not impressing anybody.
So you spent more on SuSe Pro then an OEM copy of Windows XP Home would have run you.
OEM Copy.
Way to compare apples and lugnuts.
This would be the same MS who gives deep discounts to the OEMS, discounts that you and me cannot buy on our own?
Also, to the grandparent post:
The fact that they still have the 50BN (as opposed to spending it or, say, offering dividends) does not prove that they are good at ripping people off. All it proves is that they have some fiscal responsibility and can hold onto cash.
Shit, it is that simple.
Thanks.
Ok, how about this go to http://debianhardened.sourceforge.net/ and read all the documentation they have (hint, there isn't any),
OK, that's what we call 'security through obscurity'. See no evil, hear no evil, all that.
He's talking about cats.
... you agree with him.
Apparently, according to your comments, dogs from shelters are hardy, so
Also, as a cat guy, I'd like to point out that dogs spread the FUD, but cats leave it in the litter box. So there.
Seriously.
I've definitely got to reword my sig; some AC makes the same stupid comment just about every time I post. Suggestions?
And on a good day, both.
Nothing throws the old guys for a loop like doing stress calculations is kips per square meter.
I think you meant this link for expose.
Kompose is pretty cool, too. It's a little slow on my P2-400, but hey. Definitely recommend it.
Why don't I see many falling bridges then (Tacoma Narrows and such remarkable but isolated examples aside?)
... succeeding at CivE allows for a larger margin in price (cost of implementation) than semiconductors because you can charge more when your comany knows it will get the job? I'm not saying that's the case -- I'm asking.
Tacoma is a great example. You can boil the failure down to one simple premise: Moisseiff did something radical and untested. That is, he dropped the tried and true stiffening truss (the technical name for the big deep truss that suspension bridges use for supporting the deck) and used new-fangled plate girders made possible by new welding technologies, among other things.
We also only get one shot. It's like building only your prototype chip and having it work right, Every Time. As such, we engineer the living hell out of it.
That is, since usually only governments can afford bridges,
Very far from the truth. Pretty much all state and federal work is let in a sealed bid system - all of the contractors get the same set of plans, and we all submit a number in a sealed envelope. The lowest number wins. The high margins have to do with risk. Most all of these contracts are 'hard money' - you don't get to go back for more money unless you can prove it's the owner's fault. Because of that, the risks (and monies for contingencies) are higher.
Korganizer uses iCal as well.
Gotta love the open-source reuse concept.
I have noticed that the percentage of practicing engineers lacking common sense is much lower.
You must not be a Civil.
We still have all of our common-sense lacking engineers, they are all structural designers.
As a construction engineer, one of the most common and most painful conversations begins with "So, how in the hell did you plan on us getting that big ass piece way up there? We're fresh out of the Magic-Fucking-Flying-Shoring (patent pending)."
Unfortunately, quite a few seem to think that gravity isn't a factor until construction is done.
I think your comment actually reinforces the OP's sentiment. In every group, there are excelent people. I work with some draftsmen, and some are just CAD monkeys, but we have one who is, well, gifted. Problem is, there are just too many drawings to only hire the gifted ones - they are in short supply.
I don't know. What if you are a construction company? A good, cold beer at the end of a hard day can be very, very nice.
Hell Yeah.
As a construction Engineer, I can definitely say that the only thing we do more intensely than work is drink.
No seriously- my first day on the job: Boss comes up to me at about 3:00, gives me a twenty, and says, "Beer. 4:30. Conference Room. There better be at least a six pack of Heineken." He then turns around a walks off.
'Course, I can't seem to find anything that says Solaris is Unix certified, either.
Other than the 14 Solaris entries here? That's not counting the 8 for CDE compliance.
Noticably absent are any Linux / Apple entries. Not that this really means a damn, but it's easy enough to check your story.
"Outsourcing says there is also a drive to follow the sun, to allow them to offer services 24/7 (24 hours, seven days a week)."
For such a buzzword driven article, they have to explain 24/7? Damn.
They won't vaccinate me until they pry my beer from my cold, passed-out hands.
Oh, Wait...
To build on this point, there has been work on making KDE (Including sound and other bits) run on Solaris and Mac OSX / OpenDarwin. KDE is not reliant on Linux.
I know that GMOME runs on Solaris (Funny thing about being sponsored by Sun...), not sure about OSX, so this probably applies to them as well.
Nobody got cut off.
Seriously, the simulated cars stay in their lanes. Since when does that happen?
The rotary, in it's big-ass Massachusetts form, is one of the most interesting traffic control devices - part fun, part terror, with all of the lane changing and bluffing that Massachusetts is famous for, WITHOUT LINES.
The rotary is a last choice for traffic engineers without the sack to design a 8-way free for all (like Kelly Square in Worcester).