This seems like a good idea to me, except for one or two potential problems.
What if people wanted to leave the list? Would they have to return thier organs? If not, people could join if they needed organs, get the organs, then quit. Saying 'you can't join the list if you already need an organ' wouldn't be a very good rule, but 'you can't leave the list' wouldn't be too hot either.
Also, if organs were only availiable to donors, people whose religion said 'no donating' might not be able to get organs. Of course, a religion which allowed people to recieve organs but not give them would be a bit hypocritical.
Most students who do this are too busy doing personal browsing and conversing to pay attention to the lecture.
Here's an idea: Wireless packet sniffer; I heard of one that let you see the images people around you were downloading. Sniffing conversations shouldn't be too hard.
The program could draw attention to people browsing / chatting, and they could be told off -'Mr jones, if you want to browse porn, do it in your dorm room'. Or all in-lecture conversations could be published on the lecture's website, for other students to reference.
While I agree that people should be fairly paid, a yoga class could work better than raises from the company's point of view.
Lets say you have a company with 100 people. Lets say you give them a raise of $1,000 per year. That costs you $100,000 per year. I would expect hiring a yoga instructor or two for an hour a day would cost substantially less than $100,000.
Also, a $1,000 raise may make people happy in the short term, but after a few months, productivity would probably revert to the pre-raise levels. A daily yoga class would produce results every day (well, if it produced results at all).
Also, if the yoga class doesn't provide benefits (or if the company falls on hard times), it can be stopped without too much outcry. If you curt your workers' wages by $1,000, that would really harm morale.
In summary, a yoga class could produce a bigger long-term increase in productivity at a lower ongoing cost.
What about not over-working them (ie: decent work hours, not permanent overtime)?
Agreed; people should be paid for the hours they work.
What about managing companies responsibly, not in an Enronesque way?
This is also a wise measure, but most companies are not currently engaged in large-scale accounting fraud.
Just my $0.00*
Michael
* Increased supply, through the internet, drove the price down...
Personally, I think that the right to bear arms should include firearms, rockets, grenades, bombs, missles, nukes, chemicals, biological agents, and strong crypto.
That wouldn't be very useful; I understand many cities have laws against detonating nuclear weapons within city limits.
I doubt there will be a big group of people Wardriving for Tunes.
Hey, that could be the next big MP3 distribution medium. As you may know, if you take your laptop to a friend's house and dl his MP3s over ethernet, it's way faster than downloading over the web.
People could share thier MP3 collections over Wi-Fi, and anyone passing could automatically leech them at 10mbps, while contributing different MP3s back back at the same rate. You could program a list of wanted songs/albums/bands/genres and drive around and when you got home, have a hard drive full of MP3s.
Of course, this would need the widespread adoption of Wi-Fi... and it could be easy for the RIAA to track down.
You could prevent RIAA tracking by XORing your track list with a random single byte, and making downloads depend on the track list. Users could brute force thier way through the encryption in no time, but if the RIAA tried to sue you, they would have to testify in court that they circumvented your access control measure to download your - copyrighted - list of songs.
Well, the suing bit might be hard to work, but it's a nice dream.
Last time I checked, Windows 2000 and Widows XP both had automatic updating, which checked for updates whenever you connect to the internet.
It can be disabled, of course, or you can choose to approve updates before applying them, but I think it's a big step towards ensuring all computers have up-to-date security patches.
I'd say linguistic concision is the objective... To replace that with a simpler vernacular I'd have to say something to the effect of "being really precise with words" - far less elloquent and efficient.
Or you could use the word 'accuracy', as in:
I'd say accuracy is the objective.
Which means the same thing. Eschew Obsfucation Assiduously, I always say.
[A]s an investor, I avoid companies that pay dividends like the plague, and you should too. Why? Because when they pay a dividend they are admitting they have nothing better to do with their money.
Reminds me of that 'Dilbert' episode where Dilbert and Wally buy a controlling interest in the company and find themselves on the board of directors. It went a little something like this:
Chairman: "Gentlemen, and I sage gentlemen because there's no damn way a woman's going to sit on this board while I'm alive" (he slumps onto the table, dead)
Second guy: "What he was gointo to say was apparently, despite our best efforts, the company is not losing money fast enough"
Dilbert: "Excuse me, did you just say the company wasn't losing money fast enough?"
Third guy (to wally): "Gee, wally, can't you reign this guy in?"
Second guy: "He's like a loose cannon"
Wally: "Dilbert, will you stop embarrasing yourself? If you'd read dogbert' book you'd know a fast growing company always loses money while it's expanding"
Dilbert: "We're not a fast-growing company!"
Wally: "And we never will be if we don't lose more money. So, uh, suggestions on how we can loose money faster? What if we just, well, gave it to me?"
So, the company made a larger version. Except now, you had bums popping in a quarter, and having a free room for the night.
You could program them so the automatic door opens if you've been in there for more than 20 minutes. Call it a safety feature in case you're unconscious or something. Optionally call the police/an ambulance.
You're killing the planet! Recycling is bad! Landfills are good!
If you look at the writeup, it says Wisconsin team engineers gas from biomass.
When biomass is grown, it usually takes CO2 from the air. Burning releases this, but the total CO2 is the same as at the start. This is calles a carbon-neutral process.
If people grow fast growing plants then turn them into more convenient fuels (to replace old-and-being-burned carbon sinks like oil), it stops extra CO2 being emitted. You can also shove the fuel back into the ground if you like, restoring reserves and cutting the total carbon in the cycle.
There is absolutely no reason that anyone in the sciences and engineering fields should consider any other workstation provided the software is available.
If you map computing oomph (mips, ram, hd, video speed/resolutions) and software functionality (say on the y axis), you'd end up with an incredibly dissapointingly near flat line.
I'll admit that's been true in recent years (I'm posting this from a 4-5 y.o. 600Mhz system, which is more than fast enough for most everything I do), fast processors, better graphics and the like have changed computers a lot in the longer term.
Back in the days of 386s running Autoroute for DOS (Not, then, a microsoft product), when you entered your start and destination, you could expect to wait 10 to 15 minutes for your route to be generated. If you wanted a map as well, it took longer still. And heaven help you if you wanted to zoom in or out.
Nowerdays, you can generate your routes in seconds with full colour maps, or get your routes online, equally quickly and free of charge.
And look at CAD as another example. Wany to regen your (2D) drawing? May as well wait until you want to go to the toilet and get a drink, because if can take upwards of 15 minutes for big drawings. Nowerdays, the same can be achieved (And often in 3D) in literally the blink of an eye.
In time, I'd imagine new uses and functionality will come about, which call for high performance computers. Quality 3D rendering, for example. We'll just have to wait for the applications to catch up with the facilities.
I wish I could mod you up. Because the parent poster is basically saying: "what's the point of being honest?", with the obvious implication that only heavily intrusive technologies will force people to be honest in their purchases.
I would have thought that intrusive technology would encourage circumventing. There's a risk the rent will go up or new MS technology will force you to change to the new (Rental only, or course) version of Windows. A change in system configuration or purchase of a new couputer could also cause problems.
I wouldn't feel my investment was secure unless I had some DRM-free backups (I think backups might even be a legally protected right).
Even with my uptime experiments, which consisted of taking an old but reliable hardware, installing Windows 95/OSR2/98/98SE/ME, and then letting the computer idle and do nothing never resulted in more than about 25 days before I came over and windows was fubar'ed or the computer was simply locked hard.
But then, why would anyone want to run thier Win9x machine for 25 days?
If they were doing something like 3D rendering or web serving they'd be using NT, 2000 or XP.
Complaining Windows 95 can't offer long uptime is like complaining because your 8 year old motor scooter doesn't perform as well as a brand new BMW.
Each vote is confirmed twice, onscreen and by voice
I might miss out the voice confirmation. It's got to be a secret ballot, and if people can overhear your selection, it wouldn't be.
Just my $0.02,
Michael
Re:These spam laws are a waste of time
on
Spam, Milord
·
· Score: 1
Hey,
You know, it's not legal to spam faxes either, but guess what... my office fax is loaded with crap every day!
Check out the article:
Lord Haskel: My Lords, is my noble friend aware that modern fax machines are equipped to refuse faxes that have no return telephone number. In that way, many unsolicited faxes are filtered out.
Access: You try to point the gun at your foot, but it shoots holes in all your Borland distribution diskettes instead.
I would like to suggest an update:
Access: You try to shoot your foot by using your hand to trigger the gun, but find that the shoot function cannot access the foot. You find a gun that you can shoot with your foot, and shoot yourself in the foot. Both your feet simeltaniously become shot, because all instances of foot are using the same properties.
Slashdot Mirror
This seems like a good idea to me, except for one or two potential problems.
What if people wanted to leave the list? Would they have to return thier organs? If not, people could join if they needed organs, get the organs, then quit. Saying 'you can't join the list if you already need an organ' wouldn't be a very good rule, but 'you can't leave the list' wouldn't be too hot either.
Also, if organs were only availiable to donors, people whose religion said 'no donating' might not be able to get organs. Of course, a religion which allowed people to recieve organs but not give them would be a bit hypocritical.
Just my $0.02,
Michael
Hey,
Most students who do this are too busy doing personal browsing and conversing to pay attention to the lecture.
Here's an idea: Wireless packet sniffer; I heard of one that let you see the images people around you were downloading. Sniffing conversations shouldn't be too hard.
The program could draw attention to people browsing / chatting, and they could be told off -'Mr jones, if you want to browse porn, do it in your dorm room'. Or all in-lecture conversations could be published on the lecture's website, for other students to reference.
Just my $0.02,
Michael
What about paying people a decent salary?
While I agree that people should be fairly paid, a yoga class could work better than raises from the company's point of view.
Lets say you have a company with 100 people. Lets say you give them a raise of $1,000 per year. That costs you $100,000 per year. I would expect hiring a yoga instructor or two for an hour a day would cost substantially less than $100,000.
Also, a $1,000 raise may make people happy in the short term, but after a few months, productivity would probably revert to the pre-raise levels. A daily yoga class would produce results every day (well, if it produced results at all).
Also, if the yoga class doesn't provide benefits (or if the company falls on hard times), it can be stopped without too much outcry. If you curt your workers' wages by $1,000, that would really harm morale.
In summary, a yoga class could produce a bigger long-term increase in productivity at a lower ongoing cost.
What about not over-working them (ie: decent work hours, not permanent overtime)?
Agreed; people should be paid for the hours they work.
What about managing companies responsibly, not in an Enronesque way?
This is also a wise measure, but most companies are not currently engaged in large-scale accounting fraud.
Just my $0.00*
Michael
* Increased supply, through the internet, drove the price down...
Personally, I think that the right to bear arms should include firearms, rockets, grenades, bombs, missles, nukes, chemicals, biological agents, and strong crypto.
That wouldn't be very useful; I understand many cities have laws against detonating nuclear weapons within city limits.
Sorry.
Michael
Hey,
I doubt there will be a big group of people Wardriving for Tunes.
Hey, that could be the next big MP3 distribution medium. As you may know, if you take your laptop to a friend's house and dl his MP3s over ethernet, it's way faster than downloading over the web.
People could share thier MP3 collections over Wi-Fi, and anyone passing could automatically leech them at 10mbps, while contributing different MP3s back back at the same rate. You could program a list of wanted songs/albums/bands/genres and drive around and when you got home, have a hard drive full of MP3s.
Of course, this would need the widespread adoption of Wi-Fi... and it could be easy for the RIAA to track down.
You could prevent RIAA tracking by XORing your track list with a random single byte, and making downloads depend on the track list. Users could brute force thier way through the encryption in no time, but if the RIAA tried to sue you, they would have to testify in court that they circumvented your access control measure to download your - copyrighted - list of songs.
Well, the suing bit might be hard to work, but it's a nice dream.
Just my $0.02,
Michael
Damn I'm tired of this. It's copyright infringment, not theft.
Damn, I'm tired of this.
Hey,
Most people don't use windows update.
Last time I checked, Windows 2000 and Widows XP both had automatic updating, which checked for updates whenever you connect to the internet.
It can be disabled, of course, or you can choose to approve updates before applying them, but I think it's a big step towards ensuring all computers have up-to-date security patches.
Just my $0.02,
Michael
I am getting soooooo sick of the French bashing.
Too right! If it weren't for France, you'd all be speaking English right now!
I'd say linguistic concision is the objective ... To replace that with a simpler vernacular I'd have to say something to the effect of "being really precise with words" - far less elloquent and efficient.
Or you could use the word 'accuracy', as in:
I'd say accuracy is the objective.
Which means the same thing. Eschew Obsfucation Assiduously, I always say.
Michael
Hey,
[A]s an investor, I avoid companies that pay dividends like the plague, and you should too. Why? Because when they pay a dividend they are admitting they have nothing better to do with their money.
Reminds me of that 'Dilbert' episode where Dilbert and Wally buy a controlling interest in the company and find themselves on the board of directors. It went a little something like this:
Chairman: "Gentlemen, and I sage gentlemen because there's no damn way a woman's going to sit on this board while I'm alive" (he slumps onto the table, dead)
Second guy: "What he was gointo to say was apparently, despite our best efforts, the company is not losing money fast enough"
Dilbert: "Excuse me, did you just say the company wasn't losing money fast enough?"
Third guy (to wally): "Gee, wally, can't you reign this guy in?"
Second guy: "He's like a loose cannon"
Wally: "Dilbert, will you stop embarrasing yourself? If you'd read dogbert' book you'd know a fast growing company always loses money while it's expanding"
Dilbert: "We're not a fast-growing company!"
Wally: "And we never will be if we don't lose more money. So, uh, suggestions on how we can loose money faster? What if we just, well, gave it to me?"
etc.
Hey,
So, the company made a larger version. Except now, you had bums popping in a quarter, and having a free room for the night.
You could program them so the automatic door opens if you've been in there for more than 20 minutes. Call it a safety feature in case you're unconscious or something. Optionally call the police/an ambulance.
Just my $0.02,
Michael
Hey,
You're killing the planet! Recycling is bad! Landfills are good!
If you look at the writeup, it says Wisconsin team engineers gas from biomass.
When biomass is grown, it usually takes CO2 from the air. Burning releases this, but the total CO2 is the same as at the start. This is calles a carbon-neutral process.
If people grow fast growing plants then turn them into more convenient fuels (to replace old-and-being-burned carbon sinks like oil), it stops extra CO2 being emitted. You can also shove the fuel back into the ground if you like, restoring reserves and cutting the total carbon in the cycle.
In theory, at least.
Michael
from the you-can-play-buzzword-bingo dept.
Also on Slashdot today:
If there's anyone out there who can't complain about jargon and 'businessspeak', it's slashdot.
Who has done wrong? Who should be sued?
One could say sharing the files from your computer is analouguous to offering bootleg CDs from the boot of your car.
In this case, you would expect the trader (you) to be prosecuted, not the buyer.
Of course, anaologies don't make a legal case.
Michael
There is absolutely no reason that anyone in the sciences and engineering fields should consider any other workstation provided the software is available.
Three words: One. Button. Mouse.
TWAJS
Hey,
If you map computing oomph (mips, ram, hd, video speed/resolutions) and software functionality (say on the y axis), you'd end up with an incredibly dissapointingly near flat line.
I'll admit that's been true in recent years (I'm posting this from a 4-5 y.o. 600Mhz system, which is more than fast enough for most everything I do), fast processors, better graphics and the like have changed computers a lot in the longer term.
Back in the days of 386s running Autoroute for DOS (Not, then, a microsoft product), when you entered your start and destination, you could expect to wait 10 to 15 minutes for your route to be generated. If you wanted a map as well, it took longer still. And heaven help you if you wanted to zoom in or out.
Nowerdays, you can generate your routes in seconds with full colour maps, or get your routes online, equally quickly and free of charge.
And look at CAD as another example. Wany to regen your (2D) drawing? May as well wait until you want to go to the toilet and get a drink, because if can take upwards of 15 minutes for big drawings. Nowerdays, the same can be achieved (And often in 3D) in literally the blink of an eye.
In time, I'd imagine new uses and functionality will come about, which call for high performance computers. Quality 3D rendering, for example. We'll just have to wait for the applications to catch up with the facilities.
Just my $0.02,
Michael
Hey,
what will stop the next company from doing the same thing
Normally I would agree with you, but in the insanity of the US court system and its lottery mentality, you almost have to deal with them.
I have an idea... why not have the entire of the SCO management killed?
No-one has to go to court, and no-one tries the same thing again. There's no risk* - Everybody** wins!
Just my $0.02,
Michael
*assuming hired killers escape capture
**except SCO
Hey,
I wish I could mod you up. Because the parent poster is basically saying: "what's the point of being honest?", with the obvious implication that only heavily intrusive technologies will force people to be honest in their purchases.
I would have thought that intrusive technology would encourage circumventing. There's a risk the rent will go up or new MS technology will force you to change to the new (Rental only, or course) version of Windows. A change in system configuration or purchase of a new couputer could also cause problems.
I wouldn't feel my investment was secure unless I had some DRM-free backups (I think backups might even be a legally protected right).
Just my $0.02,
Michael
Hey,
Even with my uptime experiments, which consisted of taking an old but reliable hardware, installing Windows 95/OSR2/98/98SE/ME, and then letting the computer idle and do nothing never resulted in more than about 25 days before I came over and windows was fubar'ed or the computer was simply locked hard.
But then, why would anyone want to run thier Win9x machine for 25 days?
If they were doing something like 3D rendering or web serving they'd be using NT, 2000 or XP.
Complaining Windows 95 can't offer long uptime is like complaining because your 8 year old motor scooter doesn't perform as well as a brand new BMW.
That's my opinion, anyway.
Michael
Hey,
Each vote is confirmed twice, onscreen and by voice
I might miss out the voice confirmation. It's got to be a secret ballot, and if people can overhear your selection, it wouldn't be.
Just my $0.02,
Michael
Hey,
You know, it's not legal to spam faxes either, but guess what... my office fax is loaded with crap every day!
Check out the article:
Lord Haskel: My Lords, is my noble friend aware that modern fax machines are equipped to refuse faxes that have no return telephone number. In that way, many unsolicited faxes are filtered out.
Maybe you could try that?
Access: You try to point the gun at your foot, but it shoots holes in all your Borland distribution diskettes instead.
I would like to suggest an update:
Access: You try to shoot your foot by using your hand to trigger the gun, but find that the shoot function cannot access the foot. You find a gun that you can shoot with your foot, and shoot yourself in the foot. Both your feet simeltaniously become shot, because all instances of foot are using the same properties.
And yes, I am bitter.
Oh yeah? Well I got 15,000 on the SAT.
I also have a 15" penis, and can drink 15 pints of beer on an average night out.
Hey,
Actually, the *people* (as opposed to the companies) who make the telemarketing calls often *love* when people do this.
I believe this is what's known as a 'win-win scenario'.
Michael
Hey,
in the UK there is a opt-out system in the form of the TPS (Telecomunication Protection System) to stop people doing this sort of thing.
You can sign up online, here.
Michael