Unfortunately statistics are very malleable. The 6% unemployment rate you quote doesn't count the long-term unemployed (ie, anyone who's 9 months of unemployment benefits have run out) or those who've gone back to school because the job market is so bad.
That unemployment rate also doesn't take into account that the formula used to calculate unemployment has been changed many times by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics without retroactively applying the new formula. They can't apply the new formula to previous years because the data collected has also changed over time. Meaning that historical comparisons are not necessarily valid because what is being measured is different and the formula used to calculate the rate is different for given periods.
The truth is that "real unemployment rate" is much higher then politically expedient one that you quote.
The target is money. Plain and simple. SCO will do whatever it can to make money with this sharpened scheme. Originally, the idea was to get bought out by IBM hence the agreement with Boies' law firm granting them ownership in the event of sale. Then the idea was to force IBM to idemnify its customers so it could get a settlement from IBM's insurance company. Now the idea is to avoid actually complying with disclosure and revealing that they don't actually know what code has supposedly been misappropriated. To stall they are sending subpoenas to everyone remotely connected to Linux so they can supply large amounts of useless information to IBM and claim to the court that they are complying with disclosure requests. IANAL but I know one from TV and his name is Matlock.
IBM argued in its filing that SCO must reveal the infringing code and state specifically what trade secrets were misappropriated. IBM cited a lot of cases to back up its argument that SCO just can't make broad claims of possible trade secret missappropriations that may or may not be in the code.
SCO really must provide evidence and prove its case since it is the one that brought the suit. SCO would like to get away with just saying that the contract covers everything IBM ever did that could possibly be similar to AIX. And that the mere fact that IBM worked on Linux is evidence of a breach of contract and trade secret misappropriation. Unfortunately, a judge is not likely to allow such a tenuous position to stand and SCO will be forced to provide actual evidence. IANAL but I play one on TV.
I think a corollary would be: Does the agreement giving ownership in the event of sale open the law firm and lawyers to direct liability if it is proven that this lawsuit is tied to a pump and dump stock scheme as some have alleged? Does the fact that the law firm only gets ownership in the event of a sale protect it from this? Or is it such an unusual arrangement that it eliminates the usual protections afforded attorneys from clients' wrongdoing? Basically, is there any chance David Boies could go to jail for his role in this fiasco if it does turn out to be a fraud of some sort?
I agree that their claim runs counter to the tendency of the courts and politicians to increase protection of copyrights. Groklaw has an analysis of SCO's claim that GPL = Public Domain. Basically, it's a big stretch legally but pretty much every SCO claim is a long shot.
SCO is actually claiming in their legal filings that the code would not revert back to the original contributors but instead be placed in the public domain. Therefore, the original contributors would have no legal claim against SCO and the SCOholes would be free to redistribute the now public domain software as they see fit. IANAL
Even the images now being produced by amateur astronomers are really excellent as a result of the close proximity of Mars. An archive amateur Mars images can be found at the International Marswatch site. Looking back through the archive, you can see how much more detail can be seen in the images as Mars has drawn nearer.
This is just another example of fundamentalism at work. Regardless of the particular type of fundamentalism, there is always an underlying need to protect the belief system. It takes a lot of work to foist a set of extreme values on a group of people. Because the system is so extreme, it can easily collapse if people are allowed to think for themselves. I heard an creationist say that if the bible is wrong about god creating the earth, then how can he believe anything else it says. If your belief system is a house of cards, then you have more to think about then just preventing the slightest breeze.
I hate to be critical of your actions because you're in a tough spot. But as a senior manager, you really should have done a better job of negotiating before accepting the position. How is it that you arrived at the job on the first day and received an NDA? How could you not have asked for it and all employment documents prior to accepting the position so it could be properly vetted by your lawyer?
An employer fully expects that senior managers, executives and other highly-skilled professionals will properly conduct due diligence before joining an organization and that they will negotiate all the details of their employment. This is the same thing that you will be doing on behalf of the company when dealing with customers and vendors. By failing to do it, you've shown a very serious shortcoming in negotiating and management skills. My advice is to simply sign the document, take your lumps and try to learn an important lesson from this experience.
Question: "How do you dispense a beverage and keep the carbonation in solution until the person is ready to drink?" Stodieck asks. "That's the challenge."
The Party Pig uses a self-expanding pouch to maintain pressure in a 2.25 gallon beer keg. Because it doesn't rely on adding carbon dioxide to maintain pressure, it is well suited for use in space.
BTW, I currently own 4 Party Pigs and a 20 gallon oak barrel, currently filled with a Belgian Lambic Ale.
A word of advice to all the/.ers under the drinking age. Don't take up home brewing Freshman year in college like me just because you can buy the supplies to make beer. Oops, did I just give you information? Please ignore the power of that information.
Here is the list of places you can donate blood in New York and New Jersey. Given the current situation many Blood Donation Centers are holding special drives outside of normally scheduled hours. Please call the Blood Donation Center nearest you for information.
In Rockland County, Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, NY is accepting blood donations today.
I gave up regular coffee again about 6 months ago. This time I weened myself off of it by mixing decaf with regular coffee. Each week I would increase the amount of decaf in the mix by half a tablespoon. After about a month, I was drinking strictly decaf. There's still some caffeine in decaf but not enough to keep me awake at night. This method allowed me to avoid the effects of quiting cold turkey, which really suck.
Someone had to post it. I figure since I used to actually watch "The Prisoner" it's not entirely out of line. First it starts with the "Dr. Who". Next think you know you're watching "The Prisoner" and "The Avengers". That damn anglophilic PBS.
According to this article from the NY Times, the great e-book revolution has failed to materialize. Based upon the fact that very few people actually use e-books, the real damages in the Sklykarov case are minimal.
To help you use the above tools, you'll need to know your latitude and longitude in degrees. Just type in your zip code at the bottom of this page:
http://tiger.census.gov/cgi-bin/mapbrowse-tbl/
When converting latitude and longitude for use in these tools, use a negative number to denote South and West (W); use a positive number to denote North (N) and East (E). For example, "49.147247 N" = "49.147247" and "73.996206 W" = "-73.996206".
Having been a manager for many years and now a business owner, I've learned that interviews are really a brief opportunity to determine if someone is truly qualified (beyond what the resume says) and fit to hold a position.
I always start with a set of questions designed to determine if there is a potential for personnel problems--that is, weed out anyone who less than professional. (Q: have you ever had any personality conflicts with anyone you've worked with? A: No.) I have the questions written out ahead of time and always take copious notes. I give the appearance of being very non-chalant about the process to make the inteviewee more likely to say what they really think.
In terms of determining skills, I always ask questions about how they would go about determining and solving a problem. I am not interested if they know the answer to a particular problem. Sys Admins face new problems all the time. They need to be able to fix the new problems not spout knowledge from past problems.
I find it is much better not to hire someone because they have particular experience. I'm willing to hire someone who is smart and can be trained more than I am willing to hire someone with the exact experience I want. I have found that my best employees are the ones that I've trained to some degree. And the worst employees are the ones with lots of experience and training from big companies.
Oh Great and Mighty Keeper of the Code, we beseech thee. Save us from thy wrath. For it is the bane of our media-hyped existence. Oh to watcheth the cable news and not see thy handywork whipped into a feeding frenzy.
And lead us not unto insecure NT boxes. For it here in the fertile ground of evil that thy demon seed takes root. We, the Children of Linux, ask only that you keep our Linux safe and secure. And that you limit thy wrath to the unfaithful heathens of NT. Amen, brethren.
The companies that need to use bonds to raise money for software development are likely to be small, newly formed, dependent upon a few key employees, etc. That is, the companies will most likely have no track record of their own and be formed on the basis of the founders' experience. In addition, the companies will probably not have any current revenue streams and be dependent entirely on the success of the software project. As a result, any bonds issued by these companies are an extremely high risk investment and will probably be rated as below Investment Grade (i.e., Junk Bonds). This means that the interest rates will be very high on these bonds and there will be a very significant risk of default. Given the incredible risks involved, the bonds will probably be rated on par with companies on the verge of bankruptcy.
Poor bond ratings will likely prevent the use of bonds from becoming a viable way to raise money for software development. The concept of having the end users pay for development, while an interesting idea, is unworkable under the model proposed.
Braun was concerned, however, that it might give too much power to anonymous speakers.
"It is a remarkable opinion," said Braun. "I never expected a court to go this far. The court is saying that before a company can even file suit, it must give proper notice."
Braun said the last thing a company wants to do is to notify an anonymous poster of such a process because the person might electronically "disappear."
"Many times these companies are seeking emergency relief trying to find the identity of the Internet user. The notice provision might give more of an opportunity for people to get away with defamatory speech," he said.
I don't understand his fear that the notice requirement would allow someone to "electronically disappear". How can someone electronically disappear? The bulletin board, the posts, the account and the log files still exist. Giving notice on the bulletin board does not erase anything needed to reveal the identity of the speaker should a court find it necessary. There is the potential for the speaker to crack into the bulletin board and erase all traces of themselves. But that potential existed prior to the notice requirement. In addition, an intelligent company would request that the host of the bulletin board create backup copies of the offending material and related files prior to giving notice.
From the NY Times article:
But the company never came close to making money, losing $830 million since its inception. ``We are very proud of what we accomplished,'' Webvan spokesman Bud Grebey said in an interview Monday. ``We do believe we had a brilliant concept. We were just ahead of our time.''
They are proud of the fact that they made $830 million disappear into thin air. Amzingly some of the money magically reappeared in the bank accounts of some of the senior executives.
This is the ultimate job. Lose incredibly amounts of other people's money and still get rich in the process. Where do I send my resume to get this kind of job?
Slashdot Mirror
That unemployment rate also doesn't take into account that the formula used to calculate unemployment has been changed many times by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics without retroactively applying the new formula. They can't apply the new formula to previous years because the data collected has also changed over time. Meaning that historical comparisons are not necessarily valid because what is being measured is different and the formula used to calculate the rate is different for given periods.
The truth is that "real unemployment rate" is much higher then politically expedient one that you quote.
The target is money. Plain and simple. SCO will do whatever it can to make money with this sharpened scheme. Originally, the idea was to get bought out by IBM hence the agreement with Boies' law firm granting them ownership in the event of sale. Then the idea was to force IBM to idemnify its customers so it could get a settlement from IBM's insurance company. Now the idea is to avoid actually complying with disclosure and revealing that they don't actually know what code has supposedly been misappropriated. To stall they are sending subpoenas to everyone remotely connected to Linux so they can supply large amounts of useless information to IBM and claim to the court that they are complying with disclosure requests. IANAL but I know one from TV and his name is Matlock.
SCO really must provide evidence and prove its case since it is the one that brought the suit. SCO would like to get away with just saying that the contract covers everything IBM ever did that could possibly be similar to AIX. And that the mere fact that IBM worked on Linux is evidence of a breach of contract and trade secret misappropriation. Unfortunately, a judge is not likely to allow such a tenuous position to stand and SCO will be forced to provide actual evidence. IANAL but I play one on TV.
I think a corollary would be: Does the agreement giving ownership in the event of sale open the law firm and lawyers to direct liability if it is proven that this lawsuit is tied to a pump and dump stock scheme as some have alleged? Does the fact that the law firm only gets ownership in the event of a sale protect it from this? Or is it such an unusual arrangement that it eliminates the usual protections afforded attorneys from clients' wrongdoing? Basically, is there any chance David Boies could go to jail for his role in this fiasco if it does turn out to be a fraud of some sort?
I agree that their claim runs counter to the tendency of the courts and politicians to increase protection of copyrights. Groklaw has an analysis of SCO's claim that GPL = Public Domain. Basically, it's a big stretch legally but pretty much every SCO claim is a long shot.
SCO is actually claiming in their legal filings that the code would not revert back to the original contributors but instead be placed in the public domain. Therefore, the original contributors would have no legal claim against SCO and the SCOholes would be free to redistribute the now public domain software as they see fit. IANAL
Actually this is Evolution in Action.
Even the images now being produced by amateur astronomers are really excellent as a result of the close proximity of Mars. An archive amateur Mars images can be found at the International Marswatch site. Looking back through the archive, you can see how much more detail can be seen in the images as Mars has drawn nearer.
That would be the sound of McBride's bowels letting loose in his pants.
This is just another example of fundamentalism at work. Regardless of the particular type of fundamentalism, there is always an underlying need to protect the belief system. It takes a lot of work to foist a set of extreme values on a group of people. Because the system is so extreme, it can easily collapse if people are allowed to think for themselves. I heard an creationist say that if the bible is wrong about god creating the earth, then how can he believe anything else it says. If your belief system is a house of cards, then you have more to think about then just preventing the slightest breeze.
A very amusing parody of the switch ads. (fair warning it's in real media format)
An employer fully expects that senior managers, executives and other highly-skilled professionals will properly conduct due diligence before joining an organization and that they will negotiate all the details of their employment. This is the same thing that you will be doing on behalf of the company when dealing with customers and vendors. By failing to do it, you've shown a very serious shortcoming in negotiating and management skills. My advice is to simply sign the document, take your lumps and try to learn an important lesson from this experience.
"Enhancing the excitement are the vibrating effects and magical swooping and whooshing sounds the broom makes when on."
I never thought playing with a toy could be so much fun. My girlfriend really seems to like it too.
Answer: Party Pig
The Party Pig uses a self-expanding pouch to maintain pressure in a 2.25 gallon beer keg. Because it doesn't rely on adding carbon dioxide to maintain pressure, it is well suited for use in space.
BTW, I currently own 4 Party Pigs and a 20 gallon oak barrel, currently filled with a Belgian Lambic Ale.
A word of advice to all the /.ers under the drinking age. Don't take up home brewing Freshman year in college like me just because you can buy the supplies to make beer. Oops, did I just give you information? Please ignore the power of that information.
In Rockland County, Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, NY is accepting blood donations today.
I gave up regular coffee again about 6 months ago. This time I weened myself off of it by mixing decaf with regular coffee. Each week I would increase the amount of decaf in the mix by half a tablespoon. After about a month, I was drinking strictly decaf. There's still some caffeine in decaf but not enough to keep me awake at night. This method allowed me to avoid the effects of quiting cold turkey, which really suck.
Number Two: "In the Village."
Prisoner: "Who are you?"
Number Two: "The new Number Two."
Prisoner: "Who is Number One?"
Number Two: "You are."
Prisoner: "What do you want?"
Number Two: "Information."
Prisoner: "Well, you won't get it!"
Number Two: "By hook or by crook, we will."
Prisoner: "I am not a number, I am a free man."
Number Two: (laughs)
Someone had to post it. I figure since I used to actually watch "The Prisoner" it's not entirely out of line. First it starts with the "Dr. Who". Next think you know you're watching "The Prisoner" and "The Avengers". That damn anglophilic PBS.
According to this article from the NY Times, the great e-book revolution has failed to materialize. Based upon the fact that very few people actually use e-books, the real damages in the Sklykarov case are minimal.
Website using CGI script to estimate light pollution:
http://www.darksky.org/ida/darksky/
Java Applet to estimate light pollution:
http://www.darksky.org/ida/darksky/darksky.html
To help you use the above tools, you'll need to know your latitude and longitude in degrees. Just type in your zip code at the bottom of this page:
http://tiger.census.gov/cgi-bin/mapbrowse-tbl/
When converting latitude and longitude for use in these tools, use a negative number to denote South and West (W); use a positive number to denote North (N) and East (E). For example, "49.147247 N" = "49.147247" and "73.996206 W" = "-73.996206".
You're too late my friend. Microsoft already patented 1 and 0s.
I always start with a set of questions designed to determine if there is a potential for personnel problems--that is, weed out anyone who less than professional. (Q: have you ever had any personality conflicts with anyone you've worked with? A: No.) I have the questions written out ahead of time and always take copious notes. I give the appearance of being very non-chalant about the process to make the inteviewee more likely to say what they really think.
In terms of determining skills, I always ask questions about how they would go about determining and solving a problem. I am not interested if they know the answer to a particular problem. Sys Admins face new problems all the time. They need to be able to fix the new problems not spout knowledge from past problems.
I find it is much better not to hire someone because they have particular experience. I'm willing to hire someone who is smart and can be trained more than I am willing to hire someone with the exact experience I want. I have found that my best employees are the ones that I've trained to some degree. And the worst employees are the ones with lots of experience and training from big companies.
And lead us not unto insecure NT boxes. For it here in the fertile ground of evil that thy demon seed takes root. We, the Children of Linux, ask only that you keep our Linux safe and secure. And that you limit thy wrath to the unfaithful heathens of NT. Amen, brethren.
Poor bond ratings will likely prevent the use of bonds from becoming a viable way to raise money for software development. The concept of having the end users pay for development, while an interesting idea, is unworkable under the model proposed.
"It is a remarkable opinion," said Braun. "I never expected a court to go this far. The court is saying that before a company can even file suit, it must give proper notice."
Braun said the last thing a company wants to do is to notify an anonymous poster of such a process because the person might electronically "disappear."
"Many times these companies are seeking emergency relief trying to find the identity of the Internet user. The notice provision might give more of an opportunity for people to get away with defamatory speech," he said.
I don't understand his fear that the notice requirement would allow someone to "electronically disappear". How can someone electronically disappear? The bulletin board, the posts, the account and the log files still exist. Giving notice on the bulletin board does not erase anything needed to reveal the identity of the speaker should a court find it necessary. There is the potential for the speaker to crack into the bulletin board and erase all traces of themselves. But that potential existed prior to the notice requirement. In addition, an intelligent company would request that the host of the bulletin board create backup copies of the offending material and related files prior to giving notice.
But the company never came close to making money, losing $830 million since its inception. ``We are very proud of what we accomplished,'' Webvan spokesman Bud Grebey said in an interview Monday. ``We do believe we had a brilliant concept. We were just ahead of our time.''
They are proud of the fact that they made $830 million disappear into thin air. Amzingly some of the money magically reappeared in the bank accounts of some of the senior executives.
This is the ultimate job. Lose incredibly amounts of other people's money and still get rich in the process. Where do I send my resume to get this kind of job?