But surely not employees? Many many people are owned, er, employed by corporations, I don't imagine DARPA would automatically disqualify so many folks.
Any reason why there couldn't be a ups_drone_team?
OK, then how about dogs? Or dolphins? Do they exhibit what you call "perception" or "thought" or "consciousness". You have to agree that "most of you" would say they do.
Where do you draw the line then? At foxes? Cows? Sheep? Squid?
Now, this "soul" thing you speak about, that's just the stuff of superstition.
Presumably the problem lies in the fact that many (most?) people view animals as having inherently less rights than humans.
Therefore, an e.g. human/cow would therefore have what rights? Those of a human or a cow? Something in between? Could we eat him/it, or at least use its skin for leather?
But you know what I think is the real issue at hand? The fact that we don't recognize that all life is equally valuable. Just because chickens can't talk doesn't mean we can (morally) lord over them and torture them in tiny growing spaces until we drown them in electrified water so we can eat them, for example. But we do. And until animal rights are resolved, these new forms of life will continue to pose a major headache for all involved.
Exactly. Few people realize that the basic problem with government is that you can't fire the coasters. OK, it's not impossible, but it's such an uphill challenge that pretty soon you get tired and decide to move on to a job where what you do actually accomplishes something.
Talented and hardworking folks don't usually last long in gov gigs, they become increasingly frustrated at the generalized apathy and incompetence. Even though the pay might be good and the work easy, if you give at least a bit of a shit, you'll soon decide to move on to a place that's intellectually challenging before the pervasive rust starts to creep in.
Granted, you can't generalize, and I'm sure not all gov agencies are like that. But after working in government for some years, I would feel safe betting on the fact that most government agencies (in any part of the world) attract and harbour the kind of people who just want to get through their day without exerting unduly pressure on themselves and having the near-certainty of a never-ending paycheck.
Sometime, I didn't notice it, but seriously, the problem is a legitimate one: whether you'd like to have an "online presence" or not, the fact is that scammers will probably be able to somehow get your real name off of somewhere (for one example, an Outlook account from a compromised machine), and now your name is out there.
And I came to the discussion to read about some intelligent and not-so-intelligent ideas on how to fight this issue. Instead, all I find is an infantile discussion on how dumb it is to have a so-called online presence anyway.
Not the point, guys. As the guy who claims to be a scammer said, names are not protected by copyright, but surely an identity is somehow protected by law? This is complicated, and I do not claim to have any ideas, but the thing is that everyone's discussing something very off-topic and to be blunt, childish.
If people want to have their presence, surely we can live and let live? Let's focus on the problem here. But maybe this isn't the right forum for it anyway.
I think I'll head off to Schneier's site instead..
I've been wanting to share this experience with the slashcrowd for a while now:
In mid-2003 I worked for this smallish tech outfit in Guatemala City, which especialized in Linux and free SW stuff. Well, the people in charge at the time of the Ministerio de Educación's (Ministry of Education) IT dept. decided it would be a good idea to switch *all* of the Ministry's computers from whatever pirated version of Windows they were running, to Linux.
And we won the contract to do just that. Needless to say, we were very excited, not only because we had landed a (semi) major gig, but also because it was a great chance to put linux on the newspapers. The project was certainly large: we had to switch maybe 800 computers across many sites scattered all over the country. No sweat, we said, we can pull it off.
At first things started out fairly well, if a little rocky because of the expected user resistance. However, we soon ran into problems because most of the machines were seriously old hardware. The Ministry had allocated a certain amount of cash for buying upgrades, like RAM and hard drives, but the machines were so old that you couldn't find RAM for them. That meant many machines that happily ran win9x absolutely refused to run a full X session.
Plus, we ran into sabotage. Once the few (un)lucky users whose machines we had already switched caught wind of our technical problems, they decided to kick us while we were down by loudly complaining of their new OS. Some even went so far as to (we imagine) smashing random keys about until they got something to freeze. This, combined with the fact that the Ministry soon discovered that the project would quickly run way over budget (because of the necessary HW upgrades), meant that the project was on the brink of cancellation.
Then came the final nail on the coffin: once the Guatemalan Microsoft branch caught wind of the defection attempt they jumped on the chance to do what they're now famous for, which was offer a *HUGE* discount so the Ministry could legalize its situation. That was it. We were told thankyou, received a small check for the time we had invested, and were sent on our way home.
In hindsight we realize that we should have never trusted the word of the Ministry's IT goons that their hardware was already linux-ready; had we realized their poor HW situation, we certainly would have never jumped in the water. However, it would have been quite impractical and expensive for us to have conducted our own inventory prior to The Switch, but at least a very important lesson was taught: never take a client's word at face value. Especially if it could affect your bottom line.
Soon after I left that shop for greener pastures. Last year I read in the news that the current administration of the Ministry signed a deal (!) with MS for the purveyance of software for the current "computer in every classroom" project.
While everyone's all "wah, what is slashdot coming to, why do I need to know what some so-called actress says", I'd like to remind you that Ms. Portman has long been a geekboy fantasy, and as such is entitled to a place of honor in good'ole Slashdot.
Plus, I challenge any red-blooded geek to see the film Garden State and not fall in love with the woman. I mean it; you really should check out that movie, the quirky, original script alone makes it worth it.
A little background first: I'm (kind of) a sysadmin, with a university degree, born and living in Guatemala. How many jobs have I left? Five. That's right, five. And, even those times I've walked out on a job without having another one to latch on to, I've managed to land on my feet, and that's in an economy of a latin-american city of 3 million people.
My philosophy has always been that you only have one life to live, and you should live it the best way you can. And in my opinion, having money does not equal a good life. That's why I've been able to walk out on jobs where my dignity has been trampled, and wait out a few weeks (months, even!) until I can land another one. And I'll tell you one thing: those few weeks when I scrape by with my savings, are usually some of the best memories I end up with.
Of course, I'm not married, so I can still afford the luxury of scraping by on a handful of quetzales (plus, living in a not-too-expensive city helps). But, in my opinion, you don't need cash to have a satisfying life.
In case you don't feel like clicking on the story, allow me to sum it up for you: some corporate CTO told people in a conference (in May, mind you) that "pretty soon, cable companies will bundle a whole lotta goodies via 802.11". That's it. No details on areas, no technical info. Whoop-dee-doo.
So, let me get this straight: whenever some suit makes a vague promise with some sexy words in it, it'll get front page on Slashdot? I don't know about you, but I get pretty bummed out when I see some story that looks interesting, but after checking it out it's just a dud (especially when I've got some way more interesting stories rejected). Don't you people think we need some sort of story-approval system that works? Please bear in mind that I do not intend to troll, but am merely disappointed...
To all slashdotters out there just dying to put their two cents in:
Get your ass down to kuro5hin and post over there! If you happen to have an intelligent, well-thought remark regarding this writing, then please post your messages on the site that ORIGINALLY RAN THE STORY!
OTOH, if you have nothing better to say than "OMG, I'm SO going to miss AG! It ROOLD!!!", by all means please abstain.
Allow me to offer some insight, from the perspective of a native of a Spanish speaking country (Guatemala).
Actually, those with unrest regarding the situation of the Spanish language are but a small faction within the academics. The very president of the Real Academia Española de la Lengua (Royal Spanish Academy of the Language) has stated more than once that the Academia is not worried regarding the future of the language; actually, the goal of the Academia is to mold the Spanish language, by deciding which new words enter the language, and which don't.
And, for those who did not know, the Real Academia is the only authority regarding the Spanish language. What we are experiencing here is a very low signal-to-noise ratio: we are paying too much attention to the rants of a small percentage of the Spanish speakers of the world.
I'm sure that many/. readers who are not from the US, like myself, are confused by that Electoral College thing. Even though I live in Central America, I am following this election quite closely, since it may well affect even our little country. However, I am confused about how the Electoral College works, a topic that is barely discussed in the media. Could someone give us a short explanation?
Well, there might be reasons to question the partiality of the list makers. As you can read on Linus's entry:
Linus Torvalds (...) did what no one else has been able to do: By creating an operating system (...) he got the attention of big companies like Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Sun and many other PC makers and, most significant, Microsoft
Hmm... makes you wonder who these guys were rooting for in the first place...
Slashdot Mirror
But surely not employees? Many many people are owned, er, employed by corporations, I don't imagine DARPA would automatically disqualify so many folks.
Any reason why there couldn't be a ups_drone_team?
Users will be users. The question is, why weren't the relevant ports blocked by the IT staff? They should be held just as accountable.
OK, then how about dogs? Or dolphins? Do they exhibit what you call "perception" or "thought" or "consciousness". You have to agree that "most of you" would say they do.
Where do you draw the line then? At foxes? Cows? Sheep? Squid?
Now, this "soul" thing you speak about, that's just the stuff of superstition.
Presumably the problem lies in the fact that many (most?) people view animals as having inherently less rights than humans.
Therefore, an e.g. human/cow would therefore have what rights? Those of a human or a cow? Something in between? Could we eat him/it, or at least use its skin for leather?
But you know what I think is the real issue at hand? The fact that we don't recognize that all life is equally valuable. Just because chickens can't talk doesn't mean we can (morally) lord over them and torture them in tiny growing spaces until we drown them in electrified water so we can eat them, for example. But we do. And until animal rights are resolved, these new forms of life will continue to pose a major headache for all involved.
The burden of proof relies on the accuser.
Ask Sagan.
Exactly. Few people realize that the basic problem with government is that you can't fire the coasters. OK, it's not impossible, but it's such an uphill challenge that pretty soon you get tired and decide to move on to a job where what you do actually accomplishes something.
Talented and hardworking folks don't usually last long in gov gigs, they become increasingly frustrated at the generalized apathy and incompetence. Even though the pay might be good and the work easy, if you give at least a bit of a shit, you'll soon decide to move on to a place that's intellectually challenging before the pervasive rust starts to creep in.
Granted, you can't generalize, and I'm sure not all gov agencies are like that. But after working in government for some years, I would feel safe betting on the fact that most government agencies (in any part of the world) attract and harbour the kind of people who just want to get through their day without exerting unduly pressure on themselves and having the near-certainty of a never-ending paycheck.
Sad, really.
someone please mod parent up
reins: a strap fastened to a bit by which a rider or driver controls an animal - usually used in plural
-- merriam-webster
Sometime, I didn't notice it, but seriously, the problem is a legitimate one: whether you'd like to have an "online presence" or not, the fact is that scammers will probably be able to somehow get your real name off of somewhere (for one example, an Outlook account from a compromised machine), and now your name is out there.
And I came to the discussion to read about some intelligent and not-so-intelligent ideas on how to fight this issue. Instead, all I find is an infantile discussion on how dumb it is to have a so-called online presence anyway.
Not the point, guys. As the guy who claims to be a scammer said, names are not protected by copyright, but surely an identity is somehow protected by law? This is complicated, and I do not claim to have any ideas, but the thing is that everyone's discussing something very off-topic and to be blunt, childish.
If people want to have their presence, surely we can live and let live? Let's focus on the problem here. But maybe this isn't the right forum for it anyway.
I think I'll head off to Schneier's site instead..
Well, now you've made us curious. Do you have it online somewhere? Or, you could post it in your /. journal.
spent several days in consoling
Jizzus, he must have been really depressed...
I've been wanting to share this experience with the slashcrowd for a while now:
In mid-2003 I worked for this smallish tech outfit in Guatemala City, which especialized in Linux and free SW stuff. Well, the people in charge at the time of the Ministerio de Educación's (Ministry of Education) IT dept. decided it would be a good idea to switch *all* of the Ministry's computers from whatever pirated version of Windows they were running, to Linux.
And we won the contract to do just that. Needless to say, we were very excited, not only because we had landed a (semi) major gig, but also because it was a great chance to put linux on the newspapers. The project was certainly large: we had to switch maybe 800 computers across many sites scattered all over the country. No sweat, we said, we can pull it off.
At first things started out fairly well, if a little rocky because of the expected user resistance. However, we soon ran into problems because most of the machines were seriously old hardware. The Ministry had allocated a certain amount of cash for buying upgrades, like RAM and hard drives, but the machines were so old that you couldn't find RAM for them. That meant many machines that happily ran win9x absolutely refused to run a full X session.
Plus, we ran into sabotage. Once the few (un)lucky users whose machines we had already switched caught wind of our technical problems, they decided to kick us while we were down by loudly complaining of their new OS. Some even went so far as to (we imagine) smashing random keys about until they got something to freeze. This, combined with the fact that the Ministry soon discovered that the project would quickly run way over budget (because of the necessary HW upgrades), meant that the project was on the brink of cancellation.
Then came the final nail on the coffin: once the Guatemalan Microsoft branch caught wind of the defection attempt they jumped on the chance to do what they're now famous for, which was offer a *HUGE* discount so the Ministry could legalize its situation. That was it. We were told thankyou, received a small check for the time we had invested, and were sent on our way home.
In hindsight we realize that we should have never trusted the word of the Ministry's IT goons that their hardware was already linux-ready; had we realized their poor HW situation, we certainly would have never jumped in the water. However, it would have been quite impractical and expensive for us to have conducted our own inventory prior to The Switch, but at least a very important lesson was taught: never take a client's word at face value. Especially if it could affect your bottom line.
Soon after I left that shop for greener pastures. Last year I read in the news that the current administration of the Ministry signed a deal (!) with MS for the purveyance of software for the current "computer in every classroom" project.
I try not to read the papers anymore.
Master troll, my friend. Masterful.
While everyone's all "wah, what is slashdot coming to, why do I need to know what some so-called actress says", I'd like to remind you that Ms. Portman has long been a geekboy fantasy, and as such is entitled to a place of honor in good'ole Slashdot.
Plus, I challenge any red-blooded geek to see the film Garden State and not fall in love with the woman. I mean it; you really should check out that movie, the quirky, original script alone makes it worth it.
A little background first: I'm (kind of) a sysadmin, with a university degree, born and living in Guatemala. How many jobs have I left? Five. That's right, five. And, even those times I've walked out on a job without having another one to latch on to, I've managed to land on my feet, and that's in an economy of a latin-american city of 3 million people.
My philosophy has always been that you only have one life to live, and you should live it the best way you can. And in my opinion, having money does not equal a good life. That's why I've been able to walk out on jobs where my dignity has been trampled, and wait out a few weeks (months, even!) until I can land another one. And I'll tell you one thing: those few weeks when I scrape by with my savings, are usually some of the best memories I end up with.
Of course, I'm not married, so I can still afford the luxury of scraping by on a handful of quetzales (plus, living in a not-too-expensive city helps). But, in my opinion, you don't need cash to have a satisfying life.
Thanks.
In case you don't feel like clicking on the story, allow me to sum it up for you: some corporate CTO told people in a conference (in May, mind you) that "pretty soon, cable companies will bundle a whole lotta goodies via 802.11". That's it. No details on areas, no technical info. Whoop-dee-doo.
So, let me get this straight: whenever some suit makes a vague promise with some sexy words in it, it'll get front page on Slashdot? I don't know about you, but I get pretty bummed out when I see some story that looks interesting, but after checking it out it's just a dud (especially when I've got some way more interesting stories rejected). Don't you people think we need some sort of story-approval system that works? Please bear in mind that I do not intend to troll, but am merely disappointed...
Get your ass down to kuro5hin and post over there! If you happen to have an intelligent, well-thought remark regarding this writing, then please post your messages on the site that ORIGINALLY RAN THE STORY!
OTOH, if you have nothing better to say than "OMG, I'm SO going to miss AG! It ROOLD!!!", by all means please abstain.
Up to one what? And these people are scientists...
Allow me to offer some insight, from the perspective of a native of a Spanish speaking country (Guatemala).
Actually, those with unrest regarding the situation of the Spanish language are but a small faction within the academics. The very president of the Real Academia Española de la Lengua (Royal Spanish Academy of the Language) has stated more than once that the Academia is not worried regarding the future of the language; actually, the goal of the Academia is to mold the Spanish language, by deciding which new words enter the language, and which don't.
And, for those who did not know, the Real Academia is the only authority regarding the Spanish language. What we are experiencing here is a very low signal-to-noise ratio: we are paying too much attention to the rants of a small percentage of the Spanish speakers of the world.
I'm sure that many /. readers who are not from the US, like myself, are confused by that Electoral College thing. Even though I live in Central America, I am following this election quite closely, since it may well affect even our little country. However, I am confused about how the Electoral College works, a topic that is barely discussed in the media. Could someone give us a short explanation?
Well, there might be reasons to question the partiality of the list makers. As you can read on Linus's entry:
Linus Torvalds (...) did what no one else has been able to do: By creating an operating system (...) he got the attention of big companies like Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Sun and many other PC makers and, most significant, Microsoft
Hmm... makes you wonder who these guys were rooting for in the first place...