...that was Ten. YEARS. Ago. You honestly think that the US Navy has been sitting around with their thumbs up their butts ever since? Especially since the attack of the USS Cole inside a 'friendly' harbor made it abundantly clear what can happen if the Navy didn't? Heck, the article even mentions specific changes in weaponry and defensive doctrine that would greatly blunt such an attack.
Finally, why is everyone assuming that the US Navy would even need to put a carrier at risk? A task force of a couple of cruisers and/or 2 or 3 destroyers would act as tempting bait, after all. If they weren't attacked, Iran's bluff would be called.
If Iran was stupid enough to attack such a force, air cover from carriers standing a couple of hundred miles offshore would simply start retaliating against every valid military target in reach. The southern half of the Gulf/and/ Iran would be neutralized before the carriers had to get anywhere near the Straits. Add a landing force of Marines to capture Bandar-e-Abbas, then start driving north to Tehran.
You don't think this EXACT scenario hasn't been gamed a thousand times since MC 2002 demonstrated the problem??? I can guarantee that Dick Cheney & Co. (Halliburton, for sure!) are salivating at the mere thought of Iran being stupid enough to attack the US Navy.
Actually, that's pretty typical if a little long. My company has a 90 day retention policy for most email, not six months.
However, there's also a companion policy that says that if you even/think/ an email conversation may have legal implications you are required to request a legal records hold that will archive it.
We also have well documented policies and procedures that everyone is required to review every year through an online class. Passing the (very short) test is necessary to pass the class.
That's really, really low. The general rule of thumb that I've worked with for 20+ years is a lot closer to 75-100% of base salary. (Granted, that's partly because we have such a warped healthcare system in the U.S. where costs have no bearing on the quality of care delivered.) Bonuses, benefits, unemployment insurance, taxes, fees, etc. all add up, though.
Please. They choose Bing because no matter what they choose, it's automatically Bing. They type in the search bar, it goes to Bing. They type in the address bar, it goes to Bing without even telling them. They click the magnifying glass on their phone, it goes to Bing. They search on their game system, it goes to Bing. I realize there are some phones and web browsers that don't use Bing. But in general, people choose Bing because it's the only thing they see.
Their product list is here. In particular, I think you would be interested in RapidMiner and RapidAnalytics. WIkipedia has a good overview of RapidMiner.
Video tutorials for both RapidMiner and RapidAnalytics are available on their website. Those videos are a great way to get a good sense of what the product line is capable of. Searching on YouTube will find plenty more that focus on specific use cases and more advanced functionality.
All of their software is dual licensed with a GPL version and closed source license available. GPLed versions of their software also has support contracts available for everything from basic troubleshooting support to full implementation. That includes both Rapid-I itself as well as partnerships with contracting companies in the U.S. and elsewhere. In addition, Rapid-I hosts a community forum that is well run and has active developer input.
I've been using RapidMiner myself for 3 years for smaller projects. I have had occasion to use all of the free resources that I mention above. I have found them all to be very solid. The developers in particular have proven themselves to be knowledgeable and very polite. (IME, that's only to be expected of co-founders who happen to be German.:-) )
Good point. Figure a typical tank fill is about 15 gallons and a couple thousand gallons only tops off 133 cars. Just an order of magnitude difference.:)
Oh, I'll admit to seeing such a clause on two occasions out of a dozen or so contract negotiations over the course of a 30+ year career. The first time I saw it, I crossed it out and initialed the change. The employer wouldn't accept it so I walked away rather than accept the job offer. There were other indicators that the company was poorly run so I didn't regard it as much of a loss.
The second time I saw it, I did the same thing. That time, the employer accepted the change without comment. I ended up working there for about seven years. Clearly, both parties figured that they were getting what they wanted out of the arrangement.
On both occasions, I was applying for an operational position in an IT division so I was nowhere near a position that would have me creating anything for sale for the company anyhow.
Innovation needs to be rewarded. How many of you have signed contracts that give *any* invention you create to your employer as a condition of having a job? How may of you have the means to quit to pursue making a business out of your invention? (Hint: You ALL signed one, and you can't if you have a family). And if you did manage to start a business, would you have a legal fund to defend yourself from getting "wallet-whipped" form the inevitable lawsuits?
I never have signed a contract containing such terms. I don't plan to, either. Given by the other responses to your post, I don't think that clause is as common as you think it is.
Why do I recommend EPUB so highly? Besides the fact that it's an open standard, that is?;) Well, Wikipedia has a good comparison chart of e-book formats versus the e-book readers that are covered. It shows that the only format with a broader range is straight text. (Yes, it even beats out PDF and HTML.)
There is a plug-in available for OO.o and LO called Writer2ePub that will save directly to EPUB, btw. The main support channel is through a MobileRead forum.
May I suggest that you spend some time browsing MobileRead before making any final decisions? In particular, I would like to call your attention to the Calibre, Sigil, and OpenInkpot forums.
Next, there is a package called eLyXer which does a pretty good job of converting LyX files to XHTML. EPUB relies heavily on a subset of XHTML as part of its specification so I've been experimenting with a new toolchain.
I write my documents in LyX to get good looking PDFs, then use eLyXer to get XHTML, then use the import/convert function of Calibre to get a good looking EPUB, then use Sigil to fine tune the final output. Since both eLyXer and the e-book conversion utility packaged as part of Calibre can be called from the command line, it would be possible to automate some of that work pretty easily. I haven't bothered with that as my needs are only for occasional use at the moment.
Another alternative would be to just write the journal in Sigil. That would probably mean abandoning PDFs and paper output entirely, though.
P.S. How come you didn't have an article focussing on Arduino in your initial issue??
In the US it's mixed. Some people, like the OP, mistakenly call all areas IT. Most people frown on that classification.
Sorry, you and your programmer buddies are 'most people' for a vanishingly small subset of the population in general. Most people, as defined by everyone else, thinks IT means everything computer related.
Even if we take your definition at face value, your view of IT is FAR too narrow. Where's the DBA? Network engineer? Systems design analyst? Architects of all shapes and sizes? Project manager? Information security specialist? etc. etc. etc.
...that the market isn't eroding, it's probably premature to call it a major market:
During his latest Big Think interview, Kurweil explained:
"Solar panels are coming down dramatically in cost per watt. And as a result of that, the total amount of solar energy is growing, not linearly, but exponentially. Itâ(TM)s doubling every 2 years and has been for 20 years. And again, itâ(TM)s a very smooth curve. Thereâ(TM)s all these arguments, subsidies and political battles and companies going bankrupt, theyâ(TM)re raising billions of dollars, but behind all that chaos is this very smooth progression."
So how far away is solar from meeting 100% of the world's energy needs? Eight doublings, says Kurzweil, which will take just 16 years. And supply is not an issue either, he adds: "After we double eight more times and weâ(TM)re meeting all of the worldâ(TM)s energy needs through solar, weâ(TM)ll be using 1 part in 10,000 of the sunlight that falls on the earth. And we could put efficient solar farms on a few percent of the unused deserts of the world and meet all of our energy needs."
To me, that says that companies building solar products today are far better off aiming at small, niche use cases than they are a general market. That said, though, there's still far more of a market in solar technology today than there was when I was a kid in the '70s. Much more choice, cheaper prices, better availability, you name it.
And no, I don't think it's all due to government subsidies. Some of it is aimed at the kind of use case that I'm thinking of. Think about warning signs near construction sites, for example. Remember those huge diesel generators that used to be mounted on the trailer as the sign? I don't see those very often these days.
If Kurzweil is right about the exponential improvement in technology, I think solar companies should be spending at least some R&D today to build more general use products starting in the next 8-10 years. They should be aiming at much more general use products in 12-16 years. Otherwise they risk getting run over by more nimble competitors.
I first ran across Slashdot when the UIDs were in the mid 20,000s, I think, but took forever to register so I could post. I'm glad I did finally get around to it, because I have learned so much here. I hope my small voice has been a positive contribution.
This site has always had a unique voice. I have found the debates here to be some of the most informative, interesting, and insightful ones that I have read anywhere. Yes, we do have the funny threads that seem to trail on forever, along with some over- and under- rated ones. The flamebaits and trolls? Well, reading at a +5 takes care of most of that!;-)
Thank you, Rob. Thank you, Jeff. Thanks to all the rest who have been babysitting this site for so long.
P.S. My favorite story? DEFINITELY your marriage proposal. And my favorite post? Kathleen's acceptance. It was no more than you deserve.:-)
"He also proposes to move your email into the cloud. Clearly he never worked with regulators"
Oh, but it is the cloud providers the ones working with regulators, don't worry about that. On the other hand, all the "but regulators!" is very overstated. Regulators have not the slightest problem with outsourced services -no economy could sustain itself otherwise and both at the national and international levels heavy work is being done to find the nice spot both providers and consumers are interested in.
Actually, I think that depends upon the confidentiality and nature of the information that may be passed in an e-mail. For example, in the U.S. various federal regulatory agencies like the SEC require all electronic communication between registered traders and customers to be kept in an indexed, automated, read only archive for up to 7 years after the relationship ends. I imagine that similar requirements are mandated by the SEC's counterparts in Europe and Asia.
Doing it right is not an easy or cheap endeavor. I have not heard of a single vendor who has been willing to step up to own that particular problem because of the legal ramifications if they screw up. If there are some out there now, let me know! This is not a job that anyone likes doing.
OTOH, it's easy to find a vendor who will sell you software and hardware to do it yourself because they can always take the stance that a failure was due to the customer setting up wrong or not maintaining it correctly.
The only time I heard him do it, I was probably 6 or 7, just before he died. Two languages that I'm sure of; Canadian French (from his mother) and American English. Since he grew up in a logging town in Northern Minnesota in the early 1900s, my guess is he must've picked up some Norwegian, Swedish, Italian, and who knows what all else. I sure didn't.:)
Actually, I thought it showed a remarkable gradation of emotion. Of course, I had a great-uncle who could curse for 2 1/2 minutes straight without repeating himself. It gave me an appreciation for the art.;-)
He's been supplying donated PCs running Linux for underprivileged kids down in Austin, Texas for several years. He has done follow up visits on a regular basis. He rarely finds any issues that the kids haven't figured out how to solve themselves. The ones he does find tend to be hardware related. Check out his blog for details.
How can it be an obligatory reference when few people will have ever heard of Schlock Mercencary? An obligatory reference is something from Futurama, Simpsons, Star Trek, Star Wars, etc.
Slashdot Mirror
...that was Ten. YEARS. Ago. You honestly think that the US Navy has been sitting around with their thumbs up their butts ever since? Especially since the attack of the USS Cole inside a 'friendly' harbor made it abundantly clear what can happen if the Navy didn't? Heck, the article even mentions specific changes in weaponry and defensive doctrine that would greatly blunt such an attack.
Finally, why is everyone assuming that the US Navy would even need to put a carrier at risk? A task force of a couple of cruisers and/or 2 or 3 destroyers would act as tempting bait, after all. If they weren't attacked, Iran's bluff would be called.
If Iran was stupid enough to attack such a force, air cover from carriers standing a couple of hundred miles offshore would simply start retaliating against every valid military target in reach. The southern half of the Gulf /and/ Iran would be neutralized before the carriers had to get anywhere near the Straits. Add a landing force of Marines to capture Bandar-e-Abbas, then start driving north to Tehran.
You don't think this EXACT scenario hasn't been gamed a thousand times since MC 2002 demonstrated the problem??? I can guarantee that Dick Cheney & Co. (Halliburton, for sure!) are salivating at the mere thought of Iran being stupid enough to attack the US Navy.
Actually, that's pretty typical if a little long. My company has a 90 day retention policy for most email, not six months.
However, there's also a companion policy that says that if you even /think/ an email conversation may have legal implications you are required to request a legal records hold that will archive it.
We also have well documented policies and procedures that everyone is required to review every year through an online class. Passing the (very short) test is necessary to pass the class.
That's really, really low. The general rule of thumb that I've worked with for 20+ years is a lot closer to 75-100% of base salary. (Granted, that's partly because we have such a warped healthcare system in the U.S. where costs have no bearing on the quality of care delivered.) Bonuses, benefits, unemployment insurance, taxes, fees, etc. all add up, though.
I wish I had mod points today. :(
Not to mention mis-spelling Ralph Bakshi. Or forgetting to talk about Frank Frazetta.
FTFY
Their product list is here. In particular, I think you would be interested in RapidMiner and RapidAnalytics. WIkipedia has a good overview of RapidMiner.
Video tutorials for both RapidMiner and RapidAnalytics are available on their website. Those videos are a great way to get a good sense of what the product line is capable of. Searching on YouTube will find plenty more that focus on specific use cases and more advanced functionality.
All of their software is dual licensed with a GPL version and closed source license available. GPLed versions of their software also has support contracts available for everything from basic troubleshooting support to full implementation. That includes both Rapid-I itself as well as partnerships with contracting companies in the U.S. and elsewhere. In addition, Rapid-I hosts a community forum that is well run and has active developer input.
I've been using RapidMiner myself for 3 years for smaller projects. I have had occasion to use all of the free resources that I mention above. I have found them all to be very solid. The developers in particular have proven themselves to be knowledgeable and very polite. (IME, that's only to be expected of co-founders who happen to be German. :-) )
Good point. Figure a typical tank fill is about 15 gallons and a couple thousand gallons only tops off 133 cars. Just an order of magnitude difference. :)
Oh, I'll admit to seeing such a clause on two occasions out of a dozen or so contract negotiations over the course of a 30+ year career. The first time I saw it, I crossed it out and initialed the change. The employer wouldn't accept it so I walked away rather than accept the job offer. There were other indicators that the company was poorly run so I didn't regard it as much of a loss.
The second time I saw it, I did the same thing. That time, the employer accepted the change without comment. I ended up working there for about seven years. Clearly, both parties figured that they were getting what they wanted out of the arrangement.
On both occasions, I was applying for an operational position in an IT division so I was nowhere near a position that would have me creating anything for sale for the company anyhow.
I never have signed a contract containing such terms. I don't plan to, either. Given by the other responses to your post, I don't think that clause is as common as you think it is.
"I knew I shoulda taken a left toin at Albuquerque." :)
===> Joke ===> /|\ :)
0
/ \
You.
Homepage for the EPUB standard.
Why do I recommend EPUB so highly? Besides the fact that it's an open standard, that is? ;) Well, Wikipedia has a good comparison chart of e-book formats versus the e-book readers that are covered. It shows that the only format with a broader range is straight text. (Yes, it even beats out PDF and HTML.)
There is a plug-in available for OO.o and LO called Writer2ePub that will save directly to EPUB, btw. The main support channel is through a MobileRead forum.
May I suggest that you spend some time browsing MobileRead before making any final decisions? In particular, I would like to call your attention to the Calibre, Sigil, and OpenInkpot forums.
Next, there is a package called eLyXer which does a pretty good job of converting LyX files to XHTML. EPUB relies heavily on a subset of XHTML as part of its specification so I've been experimenting with a new toolchain.
I write my documents in LyX to get good looking PDFs, then use eLyXer to get XHTML, then use the import/convert function of Calibre to get a good looking EPUB, then use Sigil to fine tune the final output. Since both eLyXer and the e-book conversion utility packaged as part of Calibre can be called from the command line, it would be possible to automate some of that work pretty easily. I haven't bothered with that as my needs are only for occasional use at the moment.
Another alternative would be to just write the journal in Sigil. That would probably mean abandoning PDFs and paper output entirely, though.
P.S. How come you didn't have an article focussing on Arduino in your initial issue??
Hey bruh! Why for you say dat? ;)
Sorry, you and your programmer buddies are 'most people' for a vanishingly small subset of the population in general. Most people, as defined by everyone else, thinks IT means everything computer related.
Even if we take your definition at face value, your view of IT is FAR too narrow. Where's the DBA? Network engineer? Systems design analyst? Architects of all shapes and sizes? Project manager? Information security specialist? etc. etc. etc.
To me, that says that companies building solar products today are far better off aiming at small, niche use cases than they are a general market. That said, though, there's still far more of a market in solar technology today than there was when I was a kid in the '70s. Much more choice, cheaper prices, better availability, you name it.
And no, I don't think it's all due to government subsidies. Some of it is aimed at the kind of use case that I'm thinking of. Think about warning signs near construction sites, for example. Remember those huge diesel generators that used to be mounted on the trailer as the sign? I don't see those very often these days.
If Kurzweil is right about the exponential improvement in technology, I think solar companies should be spending at least some R&D today to build more general use products starting in the next 8-10 years. They should be aiming at much more general use products in 12-16 years. Otherwise they risk getting run over by more nimble competitors.
As a matter of fact, the OP does. Do you?
I first ran across Slashdot when the UIDs were in the mid 20,000s, I think, but took forever to register so I could post. I'm glad I did finally get around to it, because I have learned so much here. I hope my small voice has been a positive contribution.
This site has always had a unique voice. I have found the debates here to be some of the most informative, interesting, and insightful ones that I have read anywhere. Yes, we do have the funny threads that seem to trail on forever, along with some over- and under- rated ones. The flamebaits and trolls? Well, reading at a +5 takes care of most of that! ;-)
Thank you, Rob. Thank you, Jeff. Thanks to all the rest who have been babysitting this site for so long.
P.S. My favorite story? DEFINITELY your marriage proposal. And my favorite post? Kathleen's acceptance. It was no more than you deserve. :-)
Actually, it made perfect sense to me as soon as I realized she was still trapped. It's all just mind games. Remember, there is no cake! :-)
Actually, I think that depends upon the confidentiality and nature of the information that may be passed in an e-mail. For example, in the U.S. various federal regulatory agencies like the SEC require all electronic communication between registered traders and customers to be kept in an indexed, automated, read only archive for up to 7 years after the relationship ends. I imagine that similar requirements are mandated by the SEC's counterparts in Europe and Asia.
Doing it right is not an easy or cheap endeavor. I have not heard of a single vendor who has been willing to step up to own that particular problem because of the legal ramifications if they screw up. If there are some out there now, let me know! This is not a job that anyone likes doing.
OTOH, it's easy to find a vendor who will sell you software and hardware to do it yourself because they can always take the stance that a failure was due to the customer setting up wrong or not maintaining it correctly.
Isaac Asimov
The only time I heard him do it, I was probably 6 or 7, just before he died. Two languages that I'm sure of; Canadian French (from his mother) and American English. Since he grew up in a logging town in Northern Minnesota in the early 1900s, my guess is he must've picked up some Norwegian, Swedish, Italian, and who knows what all else. I sure didn't. :)
Actually, I thought it showed a remarkable gradation of emotion. Of course, I had a great-uncle who could curse for 2 1/2 minutes straight without repeating himself. It gave me an appreciation for the art. ;-)
He's been supplying donated PCs running Linux for underprivileged kids down in Austin, Texas for several years. He has done follow up visits on a regular basis. He rarely finds any issues that the kids haven't figured out how to solve themselves. The ones he does find tend to be hardware related. Check out his blog for details.
Ahem.
And you call yourself a geek! rofl