I'm in Utah and it has been another heavy rain day - which means all that weather is also on its way to Colorado. Look for constant rain on and off in that already hard hit area all day tomorrow. Luckily for Utah so far the flooding has been lighter. Some, but nothing catastrophic. I think the storms intensify as they head out over Colorado and the landmass underneath them gain elevation.
It sure does seem a very big deal to those of us still alive. Which is interesting to me. Most common things are utterly forgettable in human experience (what did you have for lunch 17 days ago?). But not the universal and completely common experiences of the ending of life. What does that mean that something so common is such a big deal to our consciousness?
Perhaps nothing beyond biological reaction to the loss of an important member of one's "tribe". But I choose to hope that perhaps there are hints of a part of our existence that is outside the boundaries of what our bodies can see and touch - and does not understand the temporary/changing nature of our universe.
Being a father of 4, I love those whipper snappers like crazy, even when being annoying, noisy, crying, mean.
Other people's kids? Little turds can go the hell if they act like that. Shut them up and get the them the F outta my face.
Of course I never say that to anyone and have the higher level thinking to take a step back and get some sympathy. But the initial instinct is there, hating other peoples' childrens' antics. Perhaps a latent instinct still at play.
Traditional marriage, gay marriage, consensual polygamy, man/beast marriage - who cares. Let people have whatever relationships they want with each other. The government shouldn't be involved at all.
The only relationships that the government should have any recognition and benefits toward are the kind that is committed to creating children and/or raising children to adulthood in a stable and healthy environment to ensure that the future population of whatever nation the government governs is a healthy, productive one.
These legally recognized relationships should only be enterable at the point a child is born or adopted.
These legally recognized relationships should have severe financial penalties for breaking before the children are raised to adulthood baring poor behavior of the adults involved in the relationship (violence, promiscuity, other serious destabilizing family environment destabilization).
These legally recognized relationships should only be legally binding until the children are raised to adulthood, at which point the legal benefits are terminated.
(stupid video game reference on) I didn't realize the New California Republic was even around in the first half of the 20th century (stupid video game reference off)
There is no kinder way to put it that drives the meaning home. The executive level - especially in large corporation type environments - have only one thing pressuring their job performance: meeting/beating budgets. Not division excellence. Not Technological prowess. Only x amount of $$$ = meeting forecast targets = $$BONUS$$ cha-ching!!
Personally I think this executive cultural behavior stems from the short term thinking of our entire "free" market system in play these days. No company hardly cares beyond 2-3 quarters out. They struggle badly to plan long term financially, because in the stock market/share holder culture most executives live in, meeting the next quarter's profit goals is the end all be all of their work life.
They still have one of the great enterprise environment "security boundary and control" products in Active Directory and all of it's revolving rolls. Windows 2008 R2 and 2012 AD is really amazingly nice to work with generally. Windows 7 is solid. 2008 wasn't the best choice in versioning, but no where near the flunk out of Vista and it's "too much for existing hardware" issues. In my opinion there is one simple thing Microsoft can do to ensure they stay deeply engrained in the world of IT and personal technological devices:
Focus on separate UI design and function for different user related tasks.
Server UI design should be focused around quick took access, remote administration, and getting stuff done without any flashy graphics, security (server core is a solid step in this direction. Full installation of 2012 is not.)
Work place UI design should be focused on a static environment that isn't moving around - cube farm friendliness. People staying in the same place, in the same posture, for hours. Home "desktop" design would fall under this UI category. Mouse/keyboard tools are going to be a big deal here.
Mobile UI design should be focused on moving personal pieces of technology. Quickly flipping to mobile related info. Friends, family, maps, shopping. Windows 8 fits best here, but still too much trying to pander to the other 2 groups to be a perfect fit.
These 3 realms of User Interface design must be separate from each other beyond a few tools to help them all interact. But there is no good reason to make a server and cube farm work station try to fit into a mobile UI platform. It's folly.
I agree - and really their greatest folly with Windows 8 adoption was with trying to create a single UI for all platforms. That just doesn't make sense from a user standpoint at all. Phones are going to have different UI needs than tablets. Tablets are going to have different UI needs than PCs. Each specific family of hardware needs a UI created for use on that particular hardware type, due to each hardware type having it's own nuances in user input. I don't know why their designers thought otherwise.
Then really it's more of a help desk ticket.
I suppose they could glean some very general information in that time and maybe get some direction on what to internet search for. But I find it hard to believe anything approaching true "consulting" could really take place in an interview's amount of time.
A strategy focusing on Windows 8 may work.
A strategy focusing on enterprise business may work.
A strategy focusing on windows 8 as enterprise software is doomed to failure. No company I know of is planning to use Windows 8 on their desk terminals. Ever. It's Windows Vista all over again for business use.
That being said, I've heard some good out of touch devices and Windows 8. That is where their focus with windows 8 needs to be, or they are going to continue to tank.
Really the important part for me that would make me truly consider switching my gaming rig over is if I had a strong guarantee that FUTURE games would be available on the Linux platform. The old games I already own? I aleady played those, and there are not many I reload over and over again. Maybe the CIV series and Elder Scrolls. Even with those I can understand "if you want to play old games, use an old platform [windows]" logic.
But new stuff. That's the clincher. If all, or a huge majority, of new games will run on Linux/Steam just fine? I'd give it very serious consideration.
So I've been using it at the office the last couple of days. Definitely faster than IE8 or 9 was. And now has built in spell check. I think they finally made a browser I won't mind using. Not saying it's good enough to replace Chrome, Opera, Firefox with if you are already using that. But by far the best of the IE's to date.
My polling station had machines and worked just fine. I suppose when you have tens of millions of people voting you will get some small percentage that are screwed up. But I doubt percentage wise it's any worse than human error + paper ballots.
Dump it into the mantle? Hmmm... got to be at least as safe as a Yucca Mountain type setup once you get it down there. Transporting it safely to the "Mantle dumping station" could be tricky.
I hear plenty of arguments from friends as to how "college is completely unnecessary". Yeah, have fun working at McDonalds for the next 60 years. Better to have problems finding a job than to have no skills at all.
Sad thing is, working at McDonalds is becoming about the equivalent of working in IT anymore. Most IT models I've seen in the last 2-5 years are more and more focused on having one small competent group at the top trying to manage thousands of 12 dollar an hour step by step procedure readers. The days of having IT teams with expertise in your local are dieing. Being replaced by on-site staff that has little skills and no responsibility beyond fielding basic help desk items and being "go'fers" while deferring bigger issues to the remote "expert team" a few thousand miles away.
The executive level sees sacrifices to local response time and performance as worth the labor cost savings.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm in Utah and it has been another heavy rain day - which means all that weather is also on its way to Colorado. Look for constant rain on and off in that already hard hit area all day tomorrow. Luckily for Utah so far the flooding has been lighter. Some, but nothing catastrophic. I think the storms intensify as they head out over Colorado and the landmass underneath them gain elevation.
It sure does seem a very big deal to those of us still alive. Which is interesting to me. Most common things are utterly forgettable in human experience (what did you have for lunch 17 days ago?). But not the universal and completely common experiences of the ending of life. What does that mean that something so common is such a big deal to our consciousness? Perhaps nothing beyond biological reaction to the loss of an important member of one's "tribe". But I choose to hope that perhaps there are hints of a part of our existence that is outside the boundaries of what our bodies can see and touch - and does not understand the temporary/changing nature of our universe.
The only completely secure network communication is no network communication.
You put former Jocks in charge of national security.
Being a father of 4, I love those whipper snappers like crazy, even when being annoying, noisy, crying, mean. Other people's kids? Little turds can go the hell if they act like that. Shut them up and get the them the F outta my face. Of course I never say that to anyone and have the higher level thinking to take a step back and get some sympathy. But the initial instinct is there, hating other peoples' childrens' antics. Perhaps a latent instinct still at play.
Pr0n. You can bet the perv industry is always interesting in anything containing the description of "robotic", "skin", and "Lights up when touched".
Traditional marriage, gay marriage, consensual polygamy, man/beast marriage - who cares. Let people have whatever relationships they want with each other. The government shouldn't be involved at all. The only relationships that the government should have any recognition and benefits toward are the kind that is committed to creating children and/or raising children to adulthood in a stable and healthy environment to ensure that the future population of whatever nation the government governs is a healthy, productive one. These legally recognized relationships should only be enterable at the point a child is born or adopted. These legally recognized relationships should have severe financial penalties for breaking before the children are raised to adulthood baring poor behavior of the adults involved in the relationship (violence, promiscuity, other serious destabilizing family environment destabilization). These legally recognized relationships should only be legally binding until the children are raised to adulthood, at which point the legal benefits are terminated.
Even before this story. Usually terrible customer service. Expensive. As soon as contracts are up in a few months I'm not looking back.
(stupid video game reference on) I didn't realize the New California Republic was even around in the first half of the 20th century (stupid video game reference off)
There is no kinder way to put it that drives the meaning home. The executive level - especially in large corporation type environments - have only one thing pressuring their job performance: meeting/beating budgets. Not division excellence. Not Technological prowess. Only x amount of $$$ = meeting forecast targets = $$BONUS$$ cha-ching!! Personally I think this executive cultural behavior stems from the short term thinking of our entire "free" market system in play these days. No company hardly cares beyond 2-3 quarters out. They struggle badly to plan long term financially, because in the stock market/share holder culture most executives live in, meeting the next quarter's profit goals is the end all be all of their work life.
But that's about it. I think this article is spot on. There are tons of "smarter" things we don't do because they are socially awkward.
If so, that's all the hard scientific proof we need.
Focus on separate UI design and function for different user related tasks.
Server UI design should be focused around quick took access, remote administration, and getting stuff done without any flashy graphics, security (server core is a solid step in this direction. Full installation of 2012 is not.)
Work place UI design should be focused on a static environment that isn't moving around - cube farm friendliness. People staying in the same place, in the same posture, for hours. Home "desktop" design would fall under this UI category. Mouse/keyboard tools are going to be a big deal here.
Mobile UI design should be focused on moving personal pieces of technology. Quickly flipping to mobile related info. Friends, family, maps, shopping. Windows 8 fits best here, but still too much trying to pander to the other 2 groups to be a perfect fit.
These 3 realms of User Interface design must be separate from each other beyond a few tools to help them all interact. But there is no good reason to make a server and cube farm work station try to fit into a mobile UI platform. It's folly.
I agree - and really their greatest folly with Windows 8 adoption was with trying to create a single UI for all platforms. That just doesn't make sense from a user standpoint at all. Phones are going to have different UI needs than tablets. Tablets are going to have different UI needs than PCs. Each specific family of hardware needs a UI created for use on that particular hardware type, due to each hardware type having it's own nuances in user input. I don't know why their designers thought otherwise.
... instead of a semi-close local small town play actor's.
What becomes of man when machines experience all in mankind's place
Then really it's more of a help desk ticket. I suppose they could glean some very general information in that time and maybe get some direction on what to internet search for. But I find it hard to believe anything approaching true "consulting" could really take place in an interview's amount of time.
God did not wipe them out. In fact they were not wiped out at all. Dinosaurs still thrive all around us. Their evolved form are what we call birds.
A strategy focusing on Windows 8 may work. A strategy focusing on enterprise business may work. A strategy focusing on windows 8 as enterprise software is doomed to failure. No company I know of is planning to use Windows 8 on their desk terminals. Ever. It's Windows Vista all over again for business use. That being said, I've heard some good out of touch devices and Windows 8. That is where their focus with windows 8 needs to be, or they are going to continue to tank.
Really the important part for me that would make me truly consider switching my gaming rig over is if I had a strong guarantee that FUTURE games would be available on the Linux platform. The old games I already own? I aleady played those, and there are not many I reload over and over again. Maybe the CIV series and Elder Scrolls. Even with those I can understand "if you want to play old games, use an old platform [windows]" logic. But new stuff. That's the clincher. If all, or a huge majority, of new games will run on Linux/Steam just fine? I'd give it very serious consideration.
Tisk, tisk! You approach your federal government data plan just like you approach your federal government budget management skills.
So I've been using it at the office the last couple of days. Definitely faster than IE8 or 9 was. And now has built in spell check. I think they finally made a browser I won't mind using. Not saying it's good enough to replace Chrome, Opera, Firefox with if you are already using that. But by far the best of the IE's to date.
My polling station had machines and worked just fine. I suppose when you have tens of millions of people voting you will get some small percentage that are screwed up. But I doubt percentage wise it's any worse than human error + paper ballots.
Dump it into the mantle? Hmmm... got to be at least as safe as a Yucca Mountain type setup once you get it down there. Transporting it safely to the "Mantle dumping station" could be tricky.
I hear plenty of arguments from friends as to how "college is completely unnecessary". Yeah, have fun working at McDonalds for the next 60 years. Better to have problems finding a job than to have no skills at all.
Sad thing is, working at McDonalds is becoming about the equivalent of working in IT anymore. Most IT models I've seen in the last 2-5 years are more and more focused on having one small competent group at the top trying to manage thousands of 12 dollar an hour step by step procedure readers. The days of having IT teams with expertise in your local are dieing. Being replaced by on-site staff that has little skills and no responsibility beyond fielding basic help desk items and being "go'fers" while deferring bigger issues to the remote "expert team" a few thousand miles away. The executive level sees sacrifices to local response time and performance as worth the labor cost savings.