The real difference between now and 1000 years ago is that 1000 years ago unless somebody was in a position of power, a single person had a reasonable chance of killing two, maybe three other people in a single go before he was taken out. Today a single person can kill thousands.
I'm not saying that it's justification for the limitation of human rights, but don't pretend that the most dangerous difference between now and 1000 years ago is the threat to freedom. Freedom was only a dream to most people 1000 years ago.
The subject of generic statements only matters in context. It matter what "HE" posted because what I said doesn't mean what you implied it did in the context of the conversation. All that so you could go off on a barely coherent rant.
You're a classic case of somebody being so outraged that the can't pay attention.
That's a ridiculous assertion. Companies don't think two years out anymore. If it doesn't add to next quarter's revenue they don't bother planning for it. It's not a conspiracy. It's simply that it costs less money to build junk, and that does appear on next quarter's bottom line. Two years from now are you going to buy a replacement from the same company that made the piece of crap that only lasted two years last time you bought one?
We hear about all the ridiculous cases, but do you have any credible evidence that the majority of these people being sued are innocent? I'm all for helping defend innocent people, but if they're in violation of the law the solution to the problem is to get the law changed; not to help people get away with breaking it.
Spiffy, but I believe the challenge was: offer one example of a governmental entitity above the municipal level granting a right-of-way for undergroud cabling through private property, especially one which would not result in a record of the right-of-way at the municipal level.
I gave you three example of ways it could happen. The assertion is that if laws exist to allow such a case, they have most likely been used in the past. We wouldn't have telephone infrastructure in this country if they hadn't. If you want a specific example, hire a paralegal. I don't have time for that.
At any rate, condemnation for the purpose of creating a right of way involves a process which includes compensating the property owner
Not necessarily. Though unlikely, fair compensation could be found to be $0 if there was no provable net loss of property value. Also, if compensation was paid to a prior owner the current owner would have no recollection of the event.
filing the change to the property where the property records are kept
Now it's clear you have very little experience with this stuff. Let me put it to you this way. The word 'kept' has a very different meaning when it comes to local government kept property records than it does in the real world. If it didn't, you wouldn't have to have a title search done. You could just go get a copy of all the records. What do you think they research when you pay for a title search? And you're still insisting that there was a survey done. There almost never is...
Keep being condescending though. It'll make you more right.
Rights of way can be granted through both state and federal eminent domain law. They can also occur when a right of way is granted legislatively for public lands that are then sold for private use, or when state or federal highway rights-of-way are used for buried cable.
Search google for "telephone right-of-way condemnation". Add 'state' or 'federal' on the end.
You're on crack! Its very hard to get a mortgage or title insurance without having a survey done.
You're just plain wrong. You don't need to have a survey done to do a title search. The results of a title search aren't necessarily available to the buyer if the search is done by the financial institution or the title insurance company. This is generally because, in order to save money, the company doing the search doesn't actually produce a comprehensive report like you would get from a survey. The only thing they would report is a list of things that would make the property unattractive to the lender. Rights of way would not qualify in most circumstances. Rights of way granted above the municipal level might not be listed on the deed anyway, and thus wouldn't turn up in a survey.
Also, the reason people aren't buying high-def movies is that most people don't have HDTVs yet, and of those that do, many find up-sampled DVDs to be high enough quality to satisfy their needs (They probably bought the HD set to watch football, and not movies anyway).
You read the tech news or the gaming blogs, or whatever you read (Slashdot apparently).
Sony hasn't even come close to losing its 'quality rep' in the eyes of the average consumer. If you don't know people who want the PS3, you probably hang out with a very specific crowd. I know a lot of people, and many of them know I'm a serious gamer with a rep of buying almost all of the platforms. One of the first questions people have been asking me over the last few weeks when I talk to them is "Do you have a PS3 yet?". (I don't, and have no current plans to buy one). The blame for the laptop battery fiasco has fallen squarely on Dell in the public eye. Nobody is asking if the laptop they're about to buy has a Sony battery in it; they're just making sure it doesn't say "Dell" on the lid. The plain fact of the matter is that it takes a couple of generations of poor products for a company to lose its quality rep with the general public. If they fix their issues they could probably get through this only losing face with the tiny percentage of tech savvy people with enough discipline to maintain a boycott (all 250 of them).
Incidentally, Sony stereos have always sucked, but they still make the best TVs on the market.
The reason should be called "Microsoft Syndrome". Seriously. I'm not even trying to troll.
Thanks to the prevalance of bugs in what has become an essential piece of software which runs on most computers, consumers and businesses have become accustomed to frequent failures in their electronic devices.... Sure, there was buggy software before, but it never captured the business of so many users. Windows was really the first electronic product to become so widespread and accepted containing as many flaws as it did, and thus deserves the honorary naming rights even if they've fixed many of the issues now. It had gotten to the point around the Windows ME time that now, when Sony or Dell screw up every few months, it seems like nothing in comparison. Think about it. "It crashes a lot less now" is considered high praise for a computer these days. Cameras, cell phones, etc, are little computers, and resemble computers enough that people have the same expectations of them. Many such devices are kind enough to live up to those low expectations.
Apparently Microsoft doesn't remember what happens when they intentionally prevent their operating system from running on third party platforms.
Re:fallacies don't exist within methodologies
on
You Call This Agile?
·
· Score: 1
Anyway: lots of critics against agile methods come from people who don't want to be agile. No offense. But if agile sucks for you, then very likely because you are not fit enough.
That's a big honken' load of bull.
First of all, I never said Agile sucks for me. I wouldn't know. I've only viewed these environments from the outside. It has nothing to do with being 'fit' enough, it has to do with the fact that I like to balance my work with the rest of my life instead of burning out young like the know-it-alls that think they're superstars. The funny thing is, I seem to get just as much work done as they do... Anyway... On to my point...
When people implement Agile techniques, they don't reward or benefit the people actually accomplishing work, they select the people who appear to be accomplishing work. I know some Agile supporters, people who I've hear describe others as 'unfit' for Agile development, who thing they are hot shit because they work constantly and produce tons of code. I've seen these people have engineers who take a "learn-than-do" approach to their work thrown out for not producing. These people learn everything they need to know about the problem and implement a tactical solution. They are far, far more productive than the Agile workoholics, but they don't appear to be being productive, so they are removed from the environment.
Let's take your basketball analogy one step further. You don't work your players so hard they can't stand up for the next game, do you? You don't leave your best guy on the court the whole game.. He comes of to sit on the bench for a few minutes now and then. It doesn't matter though, because at the end of the game, his numbers are there.
versions of other critical dependancies are also possible to document
They're also typically open source, so you can just ship them with your product.
But as long as linux gamers are willing to do the work for them by getting the product to run under Wine, why should a company bother spending money on a port?
I've had no problem returning anything, EVER. Even with no receipt.
Either you've never opened the package, or you've never tried to return anything.
I used to shop at EB frequently. I'd spend thousands of dollars per year in my local store, and had friendly conversations with the employees. Then it changed. The return policy changed to exchanges for the same title only if the package was opened. The PC game selection dwindled. The manager admitted they sometimes had to turn away customers on release days if they didn't have a pre-order even if they had enough copies in stock in order to help convince the customer that they should pre-order next time.
And I'm pretty sure preorders exist so people like me reserve Gears of War there rather than try my luck getting it at Fry's or Best Buy
I'm 100% sure that you're wrong. Pre-orders exist because, unlike with every other form of media, the store cannot return unsold copies. If they could, they'd order more than enough and send back the rest (probably just the discs, and trash the packaging. Similar to how bookstores just send back the covers). Since it costs between $2 and $3 to print, press, and package a game and the associated materials, there is no reason not to make extras and allow returns minus the $3 cost.... But they don't and thus you have to pre-order because a small retailer like Gamestop can't take the hit if a $60 title doesn't sell.
Pre-orders for consoles are different than pre-orders for games. The only reason they sell pre-orders for hardware is to get you in the store twice. You're very likely to buy something each time, and since they make almost no margin on the hardware itself they need the extra boost. Otherwise it doesn't matter to them if you line up for the release, or if you line up for the pre-order. Both would have sold out in minutes anyway. As an added benefit, if they don't get enough units to cover your pre-order, they've still got you locked in as a customer and prevent the sale (with the profitable associated add-ons) from going to a competitor.
Additionally, it is almost never the case that the bulk of a game's sales occur on release day. Only super-hyped games have front-loaded sales, and the super hyped games are exactly the titles that are in stock in large quantites at Wal-Mart and Target. (Why would you try Fry's or BestBuy? Pick a retailer with high volume, or in the case of BestBuy, one that doesn't suck.) To use your Gears of War example, my local Target had twenty copies in stock the day after release. Purchasing one was no big deal.
Not to mention I walked in to EB Games at 10:00 on Sunday to pick up my preordered Wii, rather than camp out at Best Buy.
How long did you camp out for the pre-order?
Re:fallacies don't exist within methodologies
on
You Call This Agile?
·
· Score: 1
Agile will not succeed in environments where anyone in that chain does not have the "Agile" mindset.
So the methodology can't cope with a few bad apples?
Chances are that in any group of 10 or more people, one or more won't carry their weight. This will either be due to incompetence, malice, or most likely, unexpected external events that take the team member away from their work. Nevermind that you included the customers in the chain. Most projects don't get off the ground unless you start with the customer as a theoretical entity...
None of these team-wide fad methodologies ever pan out. The fact of the matter is that you can't tell a good (engineer|manager|developer) with years of experience in getting the job done correctly a certain way to suddenly do their job in a different way and expect good results. Most of these things have the same unspoken purpose anyway: to verify to the people on top that the people on the bottom are working as much as humanly possible. Unfortunately, the real goal should be a successful project.
Slashdot Mirror
The real difference between now and 1000 years ago is that 1000 years ago unless somebody was in a position of power, a single person had a reasonable chance of killing two, maybe three other people in a single go before he was taken out. Today a single person can kill thousands.
I'm not saying that it's justification for the limitation of human rights, but don't pretend that the most dangerous difference between now and 1000 years ago is the threat to freedom. Freedom was only a dream to most people 1000 years ago.
The subject of generic statements only matters in context. It matter what "HE" posted because what I said doesn't mean what you implied it did in the context of the conversation. All that so you could go off on a barely coherent rant.
You're a classic case of somebody being so outraged that the can't pay attention.
Since when is "Hewt and his fascist, crooked friends" "the American constituency"?
He wasn't bashing Newt. go read his post.
Pot, meet kettle.
Please go read the comment of mine that you replied to, and then get off your high horse.
No he's just partaking in some of the trendy America bashing that everybody else is doing these days.
I'm sure if he told us where he lived we'd realize he's from a utopian society with unlimited freedom and no politicians that have outrageous views.
Clearly his opinions are unchecked.
Oh, wait...
That's a ridiculous assertion. Companies don't think two years out anymore. If it doesn't add to next quarter's revenue they don't bother planning for it. It's not a conspiracy. It's simply that it costs less money to build junk, and that does appear on next quarter's bottom line. Two years from now are you going to buy a replacement from the same company that made the piece of crap that only lasted two years last time you bought one?
Gingrich holds no elected office.
We hear about all the ridiculous cases, but do you have any credible evidence that the majority of these people being sued are innocent? I'm all for helping defend innocent people, but if they're in violation of the law the solution to the problem is to get the law changed; not to help people get away with breaking it.
Spiffy, but I believe the challenge was: offer one example of a governmental entitity above the municipal level granting a right-of-way for undergroud cabling through private property, especially one which would not result in a record of the right-of-way at the municipal level.
I gave you three example of ways it could happen. The assertion is that if laws exist to allow such a case, they have most likely been used in the past. We wouldn't have telephone infrastructure in this country if they hadn't. If you want a specific example, hire a paralegal. I don't have time for that.
At any rate, condemnation for the purpose of creating a right of way involves a process which includes compensating the property owner
Not necessarily. Though unlikely, fair compensation could be found to be $0 if there was no provable net loss of property value. Also, if compensation was paid to a prior owner the current owner would have no recollection of the event.
filing the change to the property where the property records are kept
Now it's clear you have very little experience with this stuff. Let me put it to you this way. The word 'kept' has a very different meaning when it comes to local government kept property records than it does in the real world. If it didn't, you wouldn't have to have a title search done. You could just go get a copy of all the records. What do you think they research when you pay for a title search? And you're still insisting that there was a survey done. There almost never is...
Keep being condescending though. It'll make you more right.
Rights of way can be granted through both state and federal eminent domain law. They can also occur when a right of way is granted legislatively for public lands that are then sold for private use, or when state or federal highway rights-of-way are used for buried cable.
Search google for "telephone right-of-way condemnation". Add 'state' or 'federal' on the end.
A button for the average user, and a command line command with options for the rest of us...
The start menu is an abomination anyway.
You've got a chicken (OS market share) and an egg (Applications that run on said OS). Which came first?
You're on crack! Its very hard to get a mortgage or title insurance without having a survey done.
You're just plain wrong. You don't need to have a survey done to do a title search. The results of a title search aren't necessarily available to the buyer if the search is done by the financial institution or the title insurance company. This is generally because, in order to save money, the company doing the search doesn't actually produce a comprehensive report like you would get from a survey. The only thing they would report is a list of things that would make the property unattractive to the lender. Rights of way would not qualify in most circumstances. Rights of way granted above the municipal level might not be listed on the deed anyway, and thus wouldn't turn up in a survey.
If there are utility cables running across your yard, they almost certainly have a right-of-way. If there were cables there for him to mark, well...
Most people don't have a survey done before they buy a house.
That's what it means here too. As always, some people think they are clever though.
Also, the reason people aren't buying high-def movies is that most people don't have HDTVs yet, and of those that do, many find up-sampled DVDs to be high enough quality to satisfy their needs (They probably bought the HD set to watch football, and not movies anyway).
You are one of the few that is 'In the know'.
You read the tech news or the gaming blogs, or whatever you read (Slashdot apparently).
Sony hasn't even come close to losing its 'quality rep' in the eyes of the average consumer. If you don't know people who want the PS3, you probably hang out with a very specific crowd. I know a lot of people, and many of them know I'm a serious gamer with a rep of buying almost all of the platforms. One of the first questions people have been asking me over the last few weeks when I talk to them is "Do you have a PS3 yet?". (I don't, and have no current plans to buy one). The blame for the laptop battery fiasco has fallen squarely on Dell in the public eye. Nobody is asking if the laptop they're about to buy has a Sony battery in it; they're just making sure it doesn't say "Dell" on the lid. The plain fact of the matter is that it takes a couple of generations of poor products for a company to lose its quality rep with the general public. If they fix their issues they could probably get through this only losing face with the tiny percentage of tech savvy people with enough discipline to maintain a boycott (all 250 of them).
Incidentally, Sony stereos have always sucked, but they still make the best TVs on the market.
The reason should be called "Microsoft Syndrome". Seriously. I'm not even trying to troll.
Thanks to the prevalance of bugs in what has become an essential piece of software which runs on most computers, consumers and businesses have become accustomed to frequent failures in their electronic devices.... Sure, there was buggy software before, but it never captured the business of so many users. Windows was really the first electronic product to become so widespread and accepted containing as many flaws as it did, and thus deserves the honorary naming rights even if they've fixed many of the issues now. It had gotten to the point around the Windows ME time that now, when Sony or Dell screw up every few months, it seems like nothing in comparison. Think about it. "It crashes a lot less now" is considered high praise for a computer these days. Cameras, cell phones, etc, are little computers, and resemble computers enough that people have the same expectations of them. Many such devices are kind enough to live up to those low expectations.
Apparently Microsoft doesn't remember what happens when they intentionally prevent their operating system from running on third party platforms.
Anyway: lots of critics against agile methods come from people who don't want to be agile. No offense. But if agile sucks for you, then very likely because you are not fit enough.
That's a big honken' load of bull.
First of all, I never said Agile sucks for me. I wouldn't know. I've only viewed these environments from the outside. It has nothing to do with being 'fit' enough, it has to do with the fact that I like to balance my work with the rest of my life instead of burning out young like the know-it-alls that think they're superstars. The funny thing is, I seem to get just as much work done as they do... Anyway... On to my point...
When people implement Agile techniques, they don't reward or benefit the people actually accomplishing work, they select the people who appear to be accomplishing work. I know some Agile supporters, people who I've hear describe others as 'unfit' for Agile development, who thing they are hot shit because they work constantly and produce tons of code. I've seen these people have engineers who take a "learn-than-do" approach to their work thrown out for not producing. These people learn everything they need to know about the problem and implement a tactical solution. They are far, far more productive than the Agile workoholics, but they don't appear to be being productive, so they are removed from the environment.
Let's take your basketball analogy one step further. You don't work your players so hard they can't stand up for the next game, do you? You don't leave your best guy on the court the whole game.. He comes of to sit on the bench for a few minutes now and then. It doesn't matter though, because at the end of the game, his numbers are there.
Are you just trying to be inflammatory?
Yes.
Thanks for the reference that confirms my objective commentary was correct though.
versions of other critical dependancies are also possible to document
They're also typically open source, so you can just ship them with your product.
But as long as linux gamers are willing to do the work for them by getting the product to run under Wine, why should a company bother spending money on a port?
O RLY?
Is that English?
I've had no problem returning anything, EVER. Even with no receipt.
Either you've never opened the package, or you've never tried to return anything.
I used to shop at EB frequently. I'd spend thousands of dollars per year in my local store, and had friendly conversations with the employees. Then it changed. The return policy changed to exchanges for the same title only if the package was opened. The PC game selection dwindled. The manager admitted they sometimes had to turn away customers on release days if they didn't have a pre-order even if they had enough copies in stock in order to help convince the customer that they should pre-order next time.
And I'm pretty sure preorders exist so people like me reserve Gears of War there rather than try my luck getting it at Fry's or Best Buy
I'm 100% sure that you're wrong. Pre-orders exist because, unlike with every other form of media, the store cannot return unsold copies. If they could, they'd order more than enough and send back the rest (probably just the discs, and trash the packaging. Similar to how bookstores just send back the covers). Since it costs between $2 and $3 to print, press, and package a game and the associated materials, there is no reason not to make extras and allow returns minus the $3 cost.... But they don't and thus you have to pre-order because a small retailer like Gamestop can't take the hit if a $60 title doesn't sell.
Pre-orders for consoles are different than pre-orders for games. The only reason they sell pre-orders for hardware is to get you in the store twice. You're very likely to buy something each time, and since they make almost no margin on the hardware itself they need the extra boost. Otherwise it doesn't matter to them if you line up for the release, or if you line up for the pre-order. Both would have sold out in minutes anyway. As an added benefit, if they don't get enough units to cover your pre-order, they've still got you locked in as a customer and prevent the sale (with the profitable associated add-ons) from going to a competitor.
Additionally, it is almost never the case that the bulk of a game's sales occur on release day. Only super-hyped games have front-loaded sales, and the super hyped games are exactly the titles that are in stock in large quantites at Wal-Mart and Target. (Why would you try Fry's or BestBuy? Pick a retailer with high volume, or in the case of BestBuy, one that doesn't suck.) To use your Gears of War example, my local Target had twenty copies in stock the day after release. Purchasing one was no big deal.
Not to mention I walked in to EB Games at 10:00 on Sunday to pick up my preordered Wii, rather than camp out at Best Buy.
How long did you camp out for the pre-order?
Agile will not succeed in environments where anyone in that chain does not have the "Agile" mindset.
So the methodology can't cope with a few bad apples?
Chances are that in any group of 10 or more people, one or more won't carry their weight. This will either be due to incompetence, malice, or most likely, unexpected external events that take the team member away from their work. Nevermind that you included the customers in the chain. Most projects don't get off the ground unless you start with the customer as a theoretical entity...
None of these team-wide fad methodologies ever pan out. The fact of the matter is that you can't tell a good (engineer|manager|developer) with years of experience in getting the job done correctly a certain way to suddenly do their job in a different way and expect good results. Most of these things have the same unspoken purpose anyway: to verify to the people on top that the people on the bottom are working as much as humanly possible. Unfortunately, the real goal should be a successful project.