I agree wholeheartedly. In addition to the social draw to go ("I don't want to miss a class, I have a belt test coming up, my partners need me," etc.), a good school will also engage you mentally as well. Discussion of the theory behind your art and moves (Which is better? Punching faster, or stronger muscles?), etc. appeals to the geek in me.
If you have a kid, enroll them too (if they are old enough), and make it a family activity.
Just be wary of the school. If it's a lousy environment - if you're not challenged, if the instructors are jerks, if you feel like you're being patronized for your money - move on. A good school challenges you (and occasionally you fail), to teach you how to overcome adversity, from inside or without. If you get a belt without trying for it, it wasn't earned, and you're being ripped off. (Chances are, you're not getting into better shape, either.)
Two essential things you'll want to consider, or at least ask about:
1) Power in the event your main electrical supply goes out. Do you have a UPS in the data center? Do you need a generator on-site to keep things running? How much is it powering - just IT, or the CNC machines, too?
2) Make sure every damn thing in the building is easy to access once the building is complete. Light bulbs, faucets, AV equipment, etc. We moved into a beautiful building in 2006, with all sorts of high-tech displays all over the site, embedded into the walls. The majority of them are next to impossible to access if you want to re-seat a cable, replace a power supply, change a bulb, etc. It's at the point now where most of them are off and dormant, because it will require a general contractor to access them and do minor maintenance.
The plan is a boon if you have more than one device, and becomes better the more devices you have on the single plan, even with the increased data rates.
As a current Verizon customer, the new plan works for me *specifically* because I have more than one device. While I would be paying more if I just had a smartphone on the new plan, the inclusion of a tablet for $10 extra, pulling from the same data pool, more than offsets the cost of a separate plan for the tablet ($30 / month). It's not a huge savings, but it's notable in that I can now have multiple devices, plus tethering at no additional cost, instead of a separate plan for each device and extra for tethering, which would add up to more in the end.
This sounds eerily like a page taken from the Dresden Files books, in which the titular character builds a model of Chicago in his basement in order to better keep an eye over his home town using magic.
In engineering research, there is definitely a positive bias; in fact, negative results are rarely published at all. This is both because negative results have less sex appeal than positive results and because peer reviewers are trained to outright reject publications without positive results
This. "People" don't want to hear things perceived as "negative," "failures," or "I don't know," even when it's accurate. The common person thinks science has all of the answers, and that if a scientist doesn't know the answer, it's the fault of the scientist, not science as a whole. Obviously, if problem X can't be solved, it's because the scientist working on it is lazy / stupid / biased, and not that society as a whole doesn't have the answers yet.
I can link this to two common phenomenon in current society: 1) TV / Movie science, in which the fictional scientist does something risky and cool, and solves the problem of the week using "SCIENCE!". See also, the CSI effect in court rooms. 2) Corporate culture, where people don't want to hear "I don't know" for an answer. Most corporate people are conditioned to have an answer, ANY answer, rather than say "I don't know yet." (Pet peeve of mine - being asked to solve a problem I haven't been informed of yet, and / or then being asked why I don't know the answer when I don't know the parameters of the issue / question.)
Until the concept of "It's OK to admit you don't know everything, and learning stems from this" is common place, there will be positive bias in published results, and other facets of society, even when the results are faulty.
From the original Ghost in the Shell movie, the cars in it had display screens instead of windows. Instead of expensive / delicate glass, they could have a hard steel shell over the window, and a display inside that showed what the outside view was, without the fragility of glass. (It took an enhanced strength cyborg multiple hits to get through the front "windshield".)
The potential of this is more than just structural - the display could show enhanced imagery, such as highlighting objects that might not be noticed due to low light, rain, etc. The display can go around support beams, which traditionally block the driver's view. There's more, I am sure - it doesn't even need to be touch capable, so much as a quality display mounted inside the car in place of a window.
Of course, if the camera system fails, that's another issue / point of failure...
1) The number of REQUESTED taps is on the rise. If they didn't give a shit, they wouldn't be requesting them, they'd just do it and not bother getting permission. At some level, the system is still working. (Most likely because without that request, anything they collect will be thrown out as inadmissible, and their target will walk.)
2) From TFA: "The state wiretap with the most intercepts was conducted in Queens County, New York, where a 62-day wiretap in a corruption investigation..." meaning they are targeting government officials or public servants. Privacy should NOT be expected for someone serving in those roles, if they are doing something wrong on the job. (Filming police, anyone?)
The knee-jerk reaction to "wiretapping" is "bad!" - but the knee-jerk reaction to a citizen recording a public figure is "Good!" The standard isn't that clear cut, especially when the conditions (i.e. - the person being recorded is a public figure) are the same on both sides.
I need to question the methods used to measure Spam, specifically what is being measured - while I can see the volume of spam emails dropping, the number of spam accounts attacking the forums I run is ever-increasing. Despite numerous tools (Blacklisting, CAPTCHAs, etc.), the sophistication and frequency of spam accounts and posts on forums seems to be increasing - to the point of humans joining communities and contributing in semi-relevant ways so that they aren't just auto-banned when they sign up.
I don't think that Spam is declining, I just think it's shifting methods to new ways that aren't being fully measured yet...
Re:The opposition is only entropy.
on
Anxiety and IT?
·
· Score: 1
In the IT World, "Active Opposition" can manifest as geek / nerd ego. I've seen IT Staff / Departments overflow with anxiety because certain individuals would make it a point to oppose anything and everything they could, to make themselves feel important and needed. Everything needed to be researched, checked, verified, approved, and vetted before it could be executed... and, of course, with so much work, there wasn't enough time to do it all, making it worse.
In one case, every single IT project in our company came to a halt while one person prevented them from moving forward. Once he was fired (for unrelated reasons that could be quantified), every project suddenly began to move, and was completed in a reasonable time frame. We still did the work right, we just didn't oppose each other while doing it.
No matter what promises were made, it's inevitable that the images from the scanners would be able to be saved... for evidence. Imagine if someone was actually caught with a bomb in their pants. When the case went to court, there would be no image from the scanner to provide a reason for the arrest, and the whole thing would be based on "He Said, She Said."
I would more believe in a policy of "not retained for more than 48 hours" than "Not able to be saved at all" - the former is more realistic, even if it's admitting they can be saved.
Like many things in doctrine and dogma, it's about control, specifically thought control. If people think for themselves, they might interpret the word of their faith differently, and then they would no longer be under the control of those who are chosen to interpret it for them.
This is not unique to any one religion. Many, MANY faiths have punished those who thought outside their boundaries, or questioned the faith's word or interpretation. Those who are the people of authority in a religion discourage free thought, because they lose control when it happens. History is filled with people who questioned, or stood up to, authority in religion when they felt the message had been lost for the symbols that represented it, and were punished as a result.
I do not, and have not, worked for Symantec, but I will concur their products are crapware, and their staff is made up of A-Grade assholes. As another person posted above, their support is driven by time to close - when I opened a case with them that went unresolved for several weeks (and not due to lack of trying on my end), I finally got a call back from someone that sounded more like a back-alley enforcer than a support specialist. He tried to bully me into closing the case by blaming me for the issue. When I refused and higher levels of support got involved, they mentioned repeatedly how my issue compared to other cases that had "been open this long."
Someone once commented that Symantec makes nothing of their own - they purchase other great products, and ruin them. Norton Anti-Virus, Ghost, Brightmail, and Veritas - we used to use them all, but have migrated away from them one by one, as Symantec swallowed them up, partially digested them, and barfed them back on their customers. I've stopped people in stores from buying their products - a majority of the time I work on a home machine with Symantec products on it, that product is the cause of the issue they are having.
The real kicker, as it relates to TFA, is the updating of the software. Symantec's patches for their corporate AV client need to be rolled out manually - while you can automate the actual client install, or even installing a newer client over an old one, patching a current client must be done manually, or using a support tool that is tedious at best. I have no idea why it's not automated (or optionally automated), and that the patching doesn't use the same push system the install does. We dropped Symantec for Sophos - it's patched itself several times without us needing to intervene, and even did a minor version update without us needing to do a thing.
Symantec deserves the scorn that has been heaped upon it by the IT community.
Our company uses dual monitors on DVI connections - we upgraded all our PCs to PCI Express cards with 2 DVI ports. At the time we did this, we used XFX cards with the nVidia 6600 GPU, but they no longer seem to be available, at least from our usual vendors. At the time, they ran roughly $100 each, which was a good price for what was a decent card with dual DVI out. We didn't need 3D Gaming cards for anything in the office, and these served wondefully - they had enough oompf to make everyone happy with Google Earth and 3D Screensavers, to boot.:-)
Now, the closest you may find is the 7300, if you are looking for something current. The best bet is to look for something a bit behind the cutting edge, that a vendor wants to move out of stock. Don't buy from a brick-and-mortar shop like CompUSA, as they are usually behind in both technology and pricing (i.e. - out-of-date cards are way overpriced).
I would suggest hitting Newegg.com and using thier filters to find what specs you need, then sort by price.
I wish I had gotten this in there for original questioning, but with a little luck, I may still get some insight...
What if you don't like PvP? What does WAR have to offer?
I have had many, many bad experiences with PvP in multiple games (MMO, FPS, and Live RPGs) that have left a very bad taste in my mouth. Over all, I have found that PvP simply brings out the worst in people. Even if half of the team you are on, or against, are good sports, the rest are not, and things get nasty. Unless you have the choice to explicitly *deny* PvP combat against your character (such as WoW's choice to flag up on a PvE server), you are always at risk of having your experienced ruined by some asshat that feels like being a ganker, or a cascading imbalance in teams that results in one side not being able to ever recover their home city from their opponents (i.e. - if Chaos gets more players, to the point where anyone not playing Chaos just gets steamrollered when they log in, and so the only way to play is to roll Chaos so you can do something... perpetuating the issue).
I greatly enjoy the Warhammer mythos. I like the Tabletop minis game because it is (in theory) balanced by a rules system that defines a fair game for you and your opponent, so I won't get the equivilant of being ganked and corpse camped by a higher level player simply because I'm new. I enjoy WoW's PvE aspect, but dislike its PvP. What can WAR offer me in the way of interest if I don't want to PvP?
Slashdot Mirror
Big Ass, Long Range, Overkill Gun.
Now, if it takes 60 seconds to charge and the bridge crew needs to don goggles to fire it... ;-)
I agree wholeheartedly. In addition to the social draw to go ("I don't want to miss a class, I have a belt test coming up, my partners need me," etc.), a good school will also engage you mentally as well. Discussion of the theory behind your art and moves (Which is better? Punching faster, or stronger muscles?), etc. appeals to the geek in me.
If you have a kid, enroll them too (if they are old enough), and make it a family activity.
Just be wary of the school. If it's a lousy environment - if you're not challenged, if the instructors are jerks, if you feel like you're being patronized for your money - move on. A good school challenges you (and occasionally you fail), to teach you how to overcome adversity, from inside or without. If you get a belt without trying for it, it wasn't earned, and you're being ripped off. (Chances are, you're not getting into better shape, either.)
http://xkcd.com/713/
Wasn't this the plot of a recent Doctor Who episode?
Two essential things you'll want to consider, or at least ask about:
1) Power in the event your main electrical supply goes out. Do you have a UPS in the data center? Do you need a generator on-site to keep things running? How much is it powering - just IT, or the CNC machines, too?
2) Make sure every damn thing in the building is easy to access once the building is complete. Light bulbs, faucets, AV equipment, etc. We moved into a beautiful building in 2006, with all sorts of high-tech displays all over the site, embedded into the walls. The majority of them are next to impossible to access if you want to re-seat a cable, replace a power supply, change a bulb, etc. It's at the point now where most of them are off and dormant, because it will require a general contractor to access them and do minor maintenance.
AT&T has indicated they are following suit, while Sprint has not.
http://www.macrumors.com/2012/06/12/verizon-introduces-share-everything-service-plan-for-up-to-ten-devices/
The plan is a boon if you have more than one device, and becomes better the more devices you have on the single plan, even with the increased data rates.
As a current Verizon customer, the new plan works for me *specifically* because I have more than one device. While I would be paying more if I just had a smartphone on the new plan, the inclusion of a tablet for $10 extra, pulling from the same data pool, more than offsets the cost of a separate plan for the tablet ($30 / month). It's not a huge savings, but it's notable in that I can now have multiple devices, plus tethering at no additional cost, instead of a separate plan for each device and extra for tethering, which would add up to more in the end.
This sounds eerily like a page taken from the Dresden Files books, in which the titular character builds a model of Chicago in his basement in order to better keep an eye over his home town using magic.
In engineering research, there is definitely a positive bias; in fact, negative results are rarely published at all. This is both because negative results have less sex appeal than positive results and because peer reviewers are trained to outright reject publications without positive results
This. "People" don't want to hear things perceived as "negative," "failures," or "I don't know," even when it's accurate. The common person thinks science has all of the answers, and that if a scientist doesn't know the answer, it's the fault of the scientist, not science as a whole. Obviously, if problem X can't be solved, it's because the scientist working on it is lazy / stupid / biased, and not that society as a whole doesn't have the answers yet.
I can link this to two common phenomenon in current society: 1) TV / Movie science, in which the fictional scientist does something risky and cool, and solves the problem of the week using "SCIENCE!". See also, the CSI effect in court rooms. 2) Corporate culture, where people don't want to hear "I don't know" for an answer. Most corporate people are conditioned to have an answer, ANY answer, rather than say "I don't know yet." (Pet peeve of mine - being asked to solve a problem I haven't been informed of yet, and / or then being asked why I don't know the answer when I don't know the parameters of the issue / question.)
Until the concept of "It's OK to admit you don't know everything, and learning stems from this" is common place, there will be positive bias in published results, and other facets of society, even when the results are faulty.
From the original Ghost in the Shell movie, the cars in it had display screens instead of windows. Instead of expensive / delicate glass, they could have a hard steel shell over the window, and a display inside that showed what the outside view was, without the fragility of glass. (It took an enhanced strength cyborg multiple hits to get through the front "windshield".)
The potential of this is more than just structural - the display could show enhanced imagery, such as highlighting objects that might not be noticed due to low light, rain, etc. The display can go around support beams, which traditionally block the driver's view. There's more, I am sure - it doesn't even need to be touch capable, so much as a quality display mounted inside the car in place of a window.
Of course, if the camera system fails, that's another issue / point of failure...
1) The number of REQUESTED taps is on the rise. If they didn't give a shit, they wouldn't be requesting them, they'd just do it and not bother getting permission. At some level, the system is still working. (Most likely because without that request, anything they collect will be thrown out as inadmissible, and their target will walk.)
2) From TFA: "The state wiretap with the most intercepts was conducted in Queens County, New York, where a 62-day wiretap in a corruption investigation..." meaning they are targeting government officials or public servants. Privacy should NOT be expected for someone serving in those roles, if they are doing something wrong on the job. (Filming police, anyone?)
The knee-jerk reaction to "wiretapping" is "bad!" - but the knee-jerk reaction to a citizen recording a public figure is "Good!" The standard isn't that clear cut, especially when the conditions (i.e. - the person being recorded is a public figure) are the same on both sides.
Don't you mean it's this Turk?
The Ultimate Machine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw2Bq0HYu1M
Your Ultimate Machine has NOTHING on this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmQ5LsNMXZ4
Sony - Be invasive.
Shouldn't that "Be invaded." ?
I need to question the methods used to measure Spam, specifically what is being measured - while I can see the volume of spam emails dropping, the number of spam accounts attacking the forums I run is ever-increasing. Despite numerous tools (Blacklisting, CAPTCHAs, etc.), the sophistication and frequency of spam accounts and posts on forums seems to be increasing - to the point of humans joining communities and contributing in semi-relevant ways so that they aren't just auto-banned when they sign up.
I don't think that Spam is declining, I just think it's shifting methods to new ways that aren't being fully measured yet...
In the IT World, "Active Opposition" can manifest as geek / nerd ego. I've seen IT Staff / Departments overflow with anxiety because certain individuals would make it a point to oppose anything and everything they could, to make themselves feel important and needed. Everything needed to be researched, checked, verified, approved, and vetted before it could be executed... and, of course, with so much work, there wasn't enough time to do it all, making it worse.
In one case, every single IT project in our company came to a halt while one person prevented them from moving forward. Once he was fired (for unrelated reasons that could be quantified), every project suddenly began to move, and was completed in a reasonable time frame. We still did the work right, we just didn't oppose each other while doing it.
No matter what promises were made, it's inevitable that the images from the scanners would be able to be saved... for evidence. Imagine if someone was actually caught with a bomb in their pants. When the case went to court, there would be no image from the scanner to provide a reason for the arrest, and the whole thing would be based on "He Said, She Said."
I would more believe in a policy of "not retained for more than 48 hours" than "Not able to be saved at all" - the former is more realistic, even if it's admitting they can be saved.
This, rather than the classic suction cup, is what should be on a Dalek's non-weapon appendage. FAR more versatile!
Like many things in doctrine and dogma, it's about control, specifically thought control. If people think for themselves, they might interpret the word of their faith differently, and then they would no longer be under the control of those who are chosen to interpret it for them.
This is not unique to any one religion. Many, MANY faiths have punished those who thought outside their boundaries, or questioned the faith's word or interpretation. Those who are the people of authority in a religion discourage free thought, because they lose control when it happens. History is filled with people who questioned, or stood up to, authority in religion when they felt the message had been lost for the symbols that represented it, and were punished as a result.
I don't know if I'd call 1.5 m off the gound "sky"...
..."Rackteering" mean anything to Diebod, or the State of Massachusets?
(Maybe "Protection Racket" would be better - "Buy our products, if you know what's good for you...")
I do not, and have not, worked for Symantec, but I will concur their products are crapware, and their staff is made up of A-Grade assholes. As another person posted above, their support is driven by time to close - when I opened a case with them that went unresolved for several weeks (and not due to lack of trying on my end), I finally got a call back from someone that sounded more like a back-alley enforcer than a support specialist. He tried to bully me into closing the case by blaming me for the issue. When I refused and higher levels of support got involved, they mentioned repeatedly how my issue compared to other cases that had "been open this long."
Someone once commented that Symantec makes nothing of their own - they purchase other great products, and ruin them. Norton Anti-Virus, Ghost, Brightmail, and Veritas - we used to use them all, but have migrated away from them one by one, as Symantec swallowed them up, partially digested them, and barfed them back on their customers. I've stopped people in stores from buying their products - a majority of the time I work on a home machine with Symantec products on it, that product is the cause of the issue they are having.
The real kicker, as it relates to TFA, is the updating of the software. Symantec's patches for their corporate AV client need to be rolled out manually - while you can automate the actual client install, or even installing a newer client over an old one, patching a current client must be done manually, or using a support tool that is tedious at best. I have no idea why it's not automated (or optionally automated), and that the patching doesn't use the same push system the install does. We dropped Symantec for Sophos - it's patched itself several times without us needing to intervene, and even did a minor version update without us needing to do a thing.
Symantec deserves the scorn that has been heaped upon it by the IT community.
Our company uses dual monitors on DVI connections - we upgraded all our PCs to PCI Express cards with 2 DVI ports. At the time we did this, we used XFX cards with the nVidia 6600 GPU, but they no longer seem to be available, at least from our usual vendors. At the time, they ran roughly $100 each, which was a good price for what was a decent card with dual DVI out. We didn't need 3D Gaming cards for anything in the office, and these served wondefully - they had enough oompf to make everyone happy with Google Earth and 3D Screensavers, to boot. :-)
Now, the closest you may find is the 7300, if you are looking for something current. The best bet is to look for something a bit behind the cutting edge, that a vendor wants to move out of stock. Don't buy from a brick-and-mortar shop like CompUSA, as they are usually behind in both technology and pricing (i.e. - out-of-date cards are way overpriced).
I would suggest hitting Newegg.com and using thier filters to find what specs you need, then sort by price.
Honey for Mead hombrewing? That's why I'd do it.
That, or a new packet transport method...
... I want my Computer Room to look like Thrall's Chambers from WoW. ;-)
I wish I had gotten this in there for original questioning, but with a little luck, I may still get some insight...
What if you don't like PvP? What does WAR have to offer?
I have had many, many bad experiences with PvP in multiple games (MMO, FPS, and Live RPGs) that have left a very bad taste in my mouth. Over all, I have found that PvP simply brings out the worst in people. Even if half of the team you are on, or against, are good sports, the rest are not, and things get nasty. Unless you have the choice to explicitly *deny* PvP combat against your character (such as WoW's choice to flag up on a PvE server), you are always at risk of having your experienced ruined by some asshat that feels like being a ganker, or a cascading imbalance in teams that results in one side not being able to ever recover their home city from their opponents (i.e. - if Chaos gets more players, to the point where anyone not playing Chaos just gets steamrollered when they log in, and so the only way to play is to roll Chaos so you can do something... perpetuating the issue).
I greatly enjoy the Warhammer mythos. I like the Tabletop minis game because it is (in theory) balanced by a rules system that defines a fair game for you and your opponent, so I won't get the equivilant of being ganked and corpse camped by a higher level player simply because I'm new. I enjoy WoW's PvE aspect, but dislike its PvP. What can WAR offer me in the way of interest if I don't want to PvP?