A pity "Metalstorm" never seemed to work out. Imagine a drone that could "paint" an area with anti-personnel or mixed-purpose grenades/mines.
Game over, North Korea. . . .
And as a humorous aside, just where IS Team America, when you REALLY need them. . . (grin)
Don't remind me. I work at a un-named Federal Agency. Routinely, I write up problems and solutions, not just for the immediate issue, but for the problem in general.
And then . . . . . crickets. But Ghod forbid that I don't "produce" a number of incident write-ups/etc per shift. . . .
Alas. . ..there ARE no private sector jobs I seem to be able to get: I'm stuck in the Federal "ghetto". . .
Denizens of DC Metro know WTOP News Radio, an all-news/weather/traffic station. Typically, the storm reports are "Brought to you by Giant Food", one of the major local grocery chains. . . . starting ~48 hours before the expected storm. And of course, the stores get slammed with people buying bread, milk, TP, beer, etc. . .
But one night, about 10 or so years ago, they let the truth slip out. . . .
"This storm is brought to you by Giant Food. . . "
Actually, there IS an option to re-supply. Carry a year's worth onboard, and send an unmanned cargo pod ahead to park in Mars orbit. Put an additional 12 or so months food in it.
Don't remind me. I recall my undergrad Physics 2 class, where we were asked to derive the field strength, or something similar, of coaxial conductors, and one particularly obsessive religious sort "solved" the problem by drawing the diagram and then providing the solution (which was textbook correct. . ).
Then when asked by the professor to PROVE his solution, he replied "Because God made it that way. . . . "
Needless to say, said zealot did not last more than a year past that in Engineering School. . .
As I recall, Microsoft's reasoning was made explicit at least once. MSFT believes that, by supporting issues such as same-sex marriage, it can attract the most talented gay people in the software industry as employees, who may see the company's support of such an issue as a reason to work for MSFT rather than a competitor.
Silly question: shouldn't MSFT be interested in the most talented people in the software industry as employees, PERIOD ?? Software engineering and development doesn't care if you're gay, straight, or even reproduce by fission. . . .
That would be SAIC, and the Virtual Case File program. After that debacle, caused by evolving requirements AFTER contract award and a willingness to do whatever the customer asked for, as long as they paid for it, the final delivery was what you would expect, a steaming crock of bugs and crap.
SAIC used to pretty much OWN the FBI's data center contracts. They are pretty much gone now, and Lockheed-Martin now runs the show out at Clarksburg, WV. . .
If you want to get an idea of what this looks like in practice, just look at Brazil. The rich live in heavily-secured opulence, the poor live in abysmal poverty.
. . ..but look at the OTHER end of the spectrum. Read Peter Diamandis' "Abundance". Or explore a abundance-based society (and the path to get there) in Marshall Brain's "Manna"
Mayhaps. ..and mayhaps not. Take the example of James Vandersloot. First, identified as a donor to Republican causes in general, and Mitt Romney in particular. Then, he finds a political operative digging for dirt about his divorce. Now he's being audited by both the IRS and Department of Labor. This COULD all be a coincidence.
But it's not the first time someone has been "targeted" for harassment after offering an opinion or making a contribution. Which make the ability to express an opinion without providing full personal information. . . prudent.
Funny you should mention that. We ALSO had MetroRail tracks buckling in DC as well as electrical line problems (although most of those could be blamed on the derecho, and tended to hit the more heavily-treed older developments harder). Oddly enough, the same people complaining about long waits for power restoration, were complaining just weeks ago about tree-trimback policies. ..
And again, exactly WHERE did the authority to seize IT assets, especially those outside the USA, and run them ? Should they have not been returned to the control of the rightful owners, who would remediate ???
. ..exactly what gave the FBI the authority to change network settings on privately-owned computers in the first place ?
Yes, the boxes are infected. But that's NOT the FBI's job to solve. In fact, it's not the Government's job to solve, except on its' own computers. . . .
So. . . where ARE they getting the authority to do this from ? Or is this another, "Trust Us, we're the Government and here to help" situation. While it's benign here, the precedent is MORE than a little troubling. . .
Not really, Fiber needs boosters every 20 miles or so to deal with signal broadening due to chromatic aberration.
Or in the words of Commander Scott: "Ye kenna chainge the laws o'physics !" (grin)
Well, as of current reports. . . . 2.5 million are without power in Virginia, 800 Thousand in Maryland, 400+ thousand in DC. I've seen numbers in the 3.5 million region between Ohio and New Jersey.
We got power back early this morning ~0400, but we STILL don't have phone, net, or cable at home. The real question, since some areas in DC Metro are not supposed to get power back for nearly a week is. . . . do the emergency fuel generators have sufficient fuel bunkers ???
Ahem. Legal Open Carry is NOT brandishing. And as for people who leave things lying about, you might want to talk to the masses who throw their fast-food waste, urine-filled bottles, or other trash along the roads. And the only place I typically see "spent ammunition and casings all over everywhere" is a gun range, where it is quickly policed up, if for nothing else but the value of the spent cases for reloaders. . ..
With nobody buying (being sacked, can't afford), what's the point of producing? Everything would be relatively too expensive no matter how absolutely cheap.
People have looked at both sides of this. A simplified view can be seen in Marshall Brain's story "Manna". A fairly decent look at two outcomes of such a society. . .
. . ..you obviously know IT, can code, and like being productive. You've got both experience and maturity, and likely a good work ethic.
Might I suggest a different tack ? Get into CNC Machining. Consider it the industrial end of the Maker movement, industrial-style. People are needed, it pays well, and if they need you to work overtime. . ..you get paid for it. Plus, at the end of the day, you'll have a tangible result of your work.
And, with the depth and breadth of experience you already have, picking up CAD/CAM shouldn't be a problem, and you'll likely become a floor lead or shop chief in a relatively short time after attaining mastery of your new skills. . . .
No, it's about how to USE that knowledge, to combine facts and techniques to solve problems. THAT is the value of, and the supposed goal, of higher education.
Despite the fact that it has become a de-facto job credential. . .
Actually the most important thing Marx said, was. . . .
". . ..say the magic woid, the duck comes down, win a hunnerd dollars. . ..:"
Oh, you mean KARL Marx. . .
. . . . . circa 1000AD. As I mentioned a month or so back, I was involved in cataloging samples from an expedition to the edges of the Greenland Ice Cap. Amongst those samples were wood and tree branch sections that carbon-dated to ~990-1020 AD.
Not saying it was ALL green, but at least a section was....
Mind you, that company (no names, but builds jets and rhymes with "Going". ..) doesn't offer QUITE that level of benefit anymore: that ended in 2009. But that particular company ALSO preferred to develop its' talent from within: we had numerous employees in their 40s and 50s who had worked for B***ing since they got out of high school, the military, or college. . . . it especially paid off well for developing engineers and such, but by the time I was going through and the program was being curtailed, most were working MBAs or Law degrees. . . neither of which they needed that many of. . .
Slashdot Mirror
A pity "Metalstorm" never seemed to work out. Imagine a drone that could "paint" an area with anti-personnel or mixed-purpose grenades/mines. Game over, North Korea. . . . And as a humorous aside, just where IS Team America, when you REALLY need them. . . (grin)
And then . . . . . crickets. But Ghod forbid that I don't "produce" a number of incident write-ups/etc per shift. . . .
Alas. . . .there ARE no private sector jobs I seem to be able to get: I'm stuck in the Federal "ghetto". . .
Denizens of DC Metro know WTOP News Radio, an all-news/weather/traffic station. Typically, the storm reports are "Brought to you by Giant Food", one of the major local grocery chains. . . . starting ~48 hours before the expected storm. And of course, the stores get slammed with people buying bread, milk, TP, beer, etc. . . But one night, about 10 or so years ago, they let the truth slip out. . . . "This storm is brought to you by Giant Food. . . "
Actually, there IS an option to re-supply. Carry a year's worth onboard, and send an unmanned cargo pod ahead to park in Mars orbit. Put an additional 12 or so months food in it.
Then when asked by the professor to PROVE his solution, he replied "Because God made it that way. . . . "
Needless to say, said zealot did not last more than a year past that in Engineering School. . .
As I recall, Microsoft's reasoning was made explicit at least once. MSFT believes that, by supporting issues such as same-sex marriage, it can attract the most talented gay people in the software industry as employees, who may see the company's support of such an issue as a reason to work for MSFT rather than a competitor.
Silly question: shouldn't MSFT be interested in the most talented people in the software industry as employees, PERIOD ?? Software engineering and development doesn't care if you're gay, straight, or even reproduce by fission. . . .
SAIC used to pretty much OWN the FBI's data center contracts. They are pretty much gone now, and Lockheed-Martin now runs the show out at Clarksburg, WV. . .
If you want to get an idea of what this looks like in practice, just look at Brazil. The rich live in heavily-secured opulence, the poor live in abysmal poverty.
. . . .but look at the OTHER end of the spectrum. Read Peter Diamandis' "Abundance". Or explore a abundance-based society (and the path to get there) in Marshall Brain's "Manna"
Anonymous Coward in name and in deed.
Mayhaps. . .and mayhaps not. Take the example of James Vandersloot. First, identified as a donor to Republican causes in general, and Mitt Romney in particular. Then, he finds a political operative digging for dirt about his divorce. Now he's being audited by both the IRS and Department of Labor. This COULD all be a coincidence.
But it's not the first time someone has been "targeted" for harassment after offering an opinion or making a contribution. Which make the ability to express an opinion without providing full personal information. . . prudent.
Standing for Truth, Justice, And/Or the American Ways !!
(evil grin)
Funny you should mention that. We ALSO had MetroRail tracks buckling in DC as well as electrical line problems (although most of those could be blamed on the derecho, and tended to hit the more heavily-treed older developments harder). Oddly enough, the same people complaining about long waits for power restoration, were complaining just weeks ago about tree-trimback policies. . .
And again, exactly WHERE did the authority to seize IT assets, especially those outside the USA, and run them ? Should they have not been returned to the control of the rightful owners, who would remediate ???
. . .exactly what gave the FBI the authority to change network settings on privately-owned computers in the first place ?
Yes, the boxes are infected. But that's NOT the FBI's job to solve. In fact, it's not the Government's job to solve, except on its' own computers. . . .
So. . . where ARE they getting the authority to do this from ? Or is this another, "Trust Us, we're the Government and here to help" situation. While it's benign here, the precedent is MORE than a little troubling. . .
Not really, Fiber needs boosters every 20 miles or so to deal with signal broadening due to chromatic aberration. Or in the words of Commander Scott: "Ye kenna chainge the laws o'physics !" (grin)
Well, as of current reports. . . . 2.5 million are without power in Virginia, 800 Thousand in Maryland, 400+ thousand in DC. I've seen numbers in the 3.5 million region between Ohio and New Jersey. We got power back early this morning ~0400, but we STILL don't have phone, net, or cable at home. The real question, since some areas in DC Metro are not supposed to get power back for nearly a week is. . . . do the emergency fuel generators have sufficient fuel bunkers ???
I have an even bigger problem with legislators who are more concerned with protecting irresponsible behavior by gun owners than they are with protecting the public.
With nobody buying (being sacked, can't afford), what's the point of producing? Everything would be relatively too expensive no matter how absolutely cheap.
People have looked at both sides of this. A simplified view can be seen in Marshall Brain's story "Manna". A fairly decent look at two outcomes of such a society. . .
Y'all need a new wife. And you can't have mine.
. . .he's already had her.
(diving for cover, grinning like hell. . . )
. . . .you obviously know IT, can code, and like being productive. You've got both experience and maturity, and likely a good work ethic.
Might I suggest a different tack ? Get into CNC Machining. Consider it the industrial end of the Maker movement, industrial-style. People are needed, it pays well, and if they need you to work overtime. . . .you get paid for it. Plus, at the end of the day, you'll have a tangible result of your work.
And, with the depth and breadth of experience you already have, picking up CAD/CAM shouldn't be a problem, and you'll likely become a floor lead or shop chief in a relatively short time after attaining mastery of your new skills. . . .
But if you REALLY want to lay the blame for Global Warming Theory. . . .blame Margaret Thatcher
Now, could we get back to talking about popularizing real science and maybe getting the species a foothold off-planet ???
Despite the fact that it has become a de-facto job credential. . .
But only outside of peak traffic hours. Hellfires tend to cause hellacious traffic backups, not to mention rubbernecking delays. . .
Actually the most important thing Marx said, was. . . . ". . . .say the magic woid, the duck comes down, win a hunnerd dollars. . . .:"
Oh, you mean KARL Marx. . .
. . . . . circa 1000AD. As I mentioned a month or so back, I was involved in cataloging samples from an expedition to the edges of the Greenland Ice Cap. Amongst those samples were wood and tree branch sections that carbon-dated to ~990-1020 AD. Not saying it was ALL green, but at least a section was....
Mind you, that company (no names, but builds jets and rhymes with "Going". . .) doesn't offer QUITE that level of benefit anymore: that ended in 2009. But that particular company ALSO preferred to develop its' talent from within: we had numerous employees in their 40s and 50s who had worked for B***ing since they got out of high school, the military, or college. . . . it especially paid off well for developing engineers and such, but by the time I was going through and the program was being curtailed, most were working MBAs or Law degrees. . . neither of which they needed that many of. . .