Omniplex has been in a state of financial flux for some time now. Unfortunately, the politics involved in a non-profit museum are tremendous, and for years now the museum has been faltering due to a continues shuffle in the management deck. As a former employee, I can say that it's really a shame -- this museum used to be a world-class hands-on science museum patterned after the pioneering Exploratorium. However, the profit-driven boards of late have reduced the exhibit spaces to empty areas for occasional rentals and areas for costly traveling exhibits, while the permanent collection slowly broke down and went into dusty storage in the back.
As always, the arrival of Max Ary was heralded as a step back to glory for Omniplex. What scares me is when I departed in September of 2003, much of Omniplex's air and space collection was being packed into storage. Gee, I hope none of that walked off. Omniplex is bad off enough without it's directorship actively TRYING to run it into the ground.
Every company I looked at thus far that offers free food, showers, snacks, etc almost always routinely requires employees to work mandatory overtime for one reason for another. What at first looks like a cool perk is actually an attempt to remove the excuse for you to ever go home.
Of course the sheer number of computers out there and various OS flaws makes for more virus targets, but as for actual viruses, I attribute this to more people just know how to code. Coding has steadily become something with a large 'entry learning cost', to something many more people could do. Whether intentional or not, the average joe is becoming more exposed to the methodology of writing functional pieces of code through macros, application-specific scripts, etc. And as more jobs are offshored and people in other countries learn and become proficient at it, it's as simple as with a larger base of people knowing how to write code, and a constant ratio of all people with bad intentions, it will just keep increasing.
The problem almost always lies in insecure middleware that connects to the database, not the database itself. Once information is decrypted by an ADO/ADO.NET data provider, if the accessing application is insecure, this won't do you much good. And by far, that's the largest problem.
We use a Canon DR-3050 at work to do about 5,000 pages/week. It scans at 20 PPM, and you can put in a batch of about 75-100 pages and say 'go' and not worry about it. It's a $4,000 scanner, but it works really well for continuous processing.
As for formats, if it has handwritten stuff on it, you probably won't be able to OCR it and just store that. PDF image files are a pain, but so are lots of individual TIF's. Your students probably won't have a smart image viewere that can thumb through multiple pages of a multi-image TIF file, but if the prof's can mandate they download a free one somewhere, that'd probably be the way to go... even less proprietary than Adobe's PDF.
the last thing I want to do is invest in another technology based on magnetics. Solid state, non-magnetic media have fared far better for me in the long-term, and controlling magnetism on such a granular level only ups the chance that a few bits somewhere will go awry. The article even hints at it.
But I'm not long out of college at all, and I'm in a position now of sifting through resumes. When I look at them for IT positions, my first thoughts are:
* Do they have a degree? If not, and unless they have 7+ years experience, trash.
* Is all their experience in an LLC? I'm not dumb, I know lots of people try to strike it out on their own for a while, fail, and then count it as experience. While it is, I value it less than experience in a larger company where they answered to more than themselves or their best friend.
* Do they move around a lot? If they can't spend more than 2 years somewhere, why should I waste my time training someone who's just looking to constantly jump ship?
Finally, certs look nice, but right now everyone seems to have either certs or masters degrees, and honestly neither really make a resume stand out to me. I want to see real involvement in the SLDC, following at least several major projects that take a year to fully complete from beginning to end. It sucks, and I was in the same boat as you, but with so much supply and so little demand, everyone's incredibly picky right now.
Really is, in my opinion, the lack of people newbie users can go and ask, "Well how do I do this?". If the resident experts were versed in more than the M$ products they are resident experts in, that might fuel its adoption, given the article's other points considered too.
Until companies can rely on unofficial, internal helpdesks in their local gurus, wide-spread adoption at the desktop level will be very gradual.
Being the closest planet to the Sun you would expect Mercury to be the hottest but this is not true. Mercurys maximum temperature falls 50C short of that of Venus. The reason for this is that Mercury has very little atmosphere so there is no 'greenhouse' effect on the environment. The 430C daytime temperature is dictated purely by the Suns radiation. The Mercurian day is 176 terrestrial days long, the night is 88 terrestrial days long with a minimum temperature of -180C.
I for one welcome the news that WinFS will be more than two years away. In the meantime, Linux/*BSD/etc. will have a chance to better refine those NTFS drivers, which combined with such long delays and feature-cuts in Longhorn, may be at least one nail in MS domination's coffin.
I heard this story on NPR driving home just a few hours ago. They headlined it as "bringing space flight into the reach of ordinary Americans". Come on... considering raw costs alone, it'll be decades before 'ordinary Americans' can afford this kind of luxury travel.
(Especially if they're all out of work because their jobs went overseas!;P jk)
This concept was on exhibit from about 1994-1997 at Omniplex Science Museum in Oklahoma City, OK (http://www.omniplex.org). They still have the exhibit, but it's not currently on display. It was called the "Irregular Tricycle".
Organizations are powerful in this regard, but by taking voluntary measures, even if they are to the detriment to the consumer, they can show due dilegence both in court cases that relate to criminal activities that occur over their networks and for public relation issues that call for increased monitoring.
Also, by taking such preemptive actions, they may offset legislative controls which would in the end be more costly to implement. God knows I'd pick voluntary measures over the hours I spend trying to figure out how to comply with vague Congressional regulations and rules.
(I for one will be switching to DSL. I believe my money talks, and I'll send e-mails letting corporate management know why they lost my $420/year in fees. If enough people did this, the populace could become just as powerful of a force as any organization or government agency.)
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Omniplex has been in a state of financial flux for some time now. Unfortunately, the politics involved in a non-profit museum are tremendous, and for years now the museum has been faltering due to a continues shuffle in the management deck. As a former employee, I can say that it's really a shame -- this museum used to be a world-class hands-on science museum patterned after the pioneering Exploratorium. However, the profit-driven boards of late have reduced the exhibit spaces to empty areas for occasional rentals and areas for costly traveling exhibits, while the permanent collection slowly broke down and went into dusty storage in the back.
As always, the arrival of Max Ary was heralded as a step back to glory for Omniplex. What scares me is when I departed in September of 2003, much of Omniplex's air and space collection was being packed into storage. Gee, I hope none of that walked off. Omniplex is bad off enough without it's directorship actively TRYING to run it into the ground.
Every company I looked at thus far that offers free food, showers, snacks, etc almost always routinely requires employees to work mandatory overtime for one reason for another. What at first looks like a cool perk is actually an attempt to remove the excuse for you to ever go home.
Natural brilliance takes you only so far. It's much less about what you know, and much more about what you can do.
Of course the sheer number of computers out there and various OS flaws makes for more virus targets, but as for actual viruses, I attribute this to more people just know how to code. Coding has steadily become something with a large 'entry learning cost', to something many more people could do. Whether intentional or not, the average joe is becoming more exposed to the methodology of writing functional pieces of code through macros, application-specific scripts, etc. And as more jobs are offshored and people in other countries learn and become proficient at it, it's as simple as with a larger base of people knowing how to write code, and a constant ratio of all people with bad intentions, it will just keep increasing.
Anyway, my two cents.
Tibet *was* an independent sovereign nation before China took it over. Just because you don't like being known as a bully doesn't mean you aren't one.
The problem almost always lies in insecure middleware that connects to the database, not the database itself. Once information is decrypted by an ADO/ADO.NET data provider, if the accessing application is insecure, this won't do you much good. And by far, that's the largest problem.
We use a Canon DR-3050 at work to do about 5,000 pages/week. It scans at 20 PPM, and you can put in a batch of about 75-100 pages and say 'go' and not worry about it. It's a $4,000 scanner, but it works really well for continuous processing.
As for formats, if it has handwritten stuff on it, you probably won't be able to OCR it and just store that. PDF image files are a pain, but so are lots of individual TIF's. Your students probably won't have a smart image viewere that can thumb through multiple pages of a multi-image TIF file, but if the prof's can mandate they download a free one somewhere, that'd probably be the way to go... even less proprietary than Adobe's PDF.
Maybe in their eyes, it'll keep history from repeating, when a lot of the early Apple UI elements were ripped off right and left.
Interesting that the DVD-R write speed is lower than +R
An eWeek article located here:
. as p
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1585363,00
says MS is denying this is true.
Three letters: DRM. ;)
Well those people making a living off those terrorism grants have to have something to show for it to keep the money flowing (and their jobs going).
Horray for big government
Really, the author has a point. Moore's Law applies to processor speeds, while this applies to storage media.
the last thing I want to do is invest in another technology based on magnetics. Solid state, non-magnetic media have fared far better for me in the long-term, and controlling magnetism on such a granular level only ups the chance that a few bits somewhere will go awry. The article even hints at it.
But I'm not long out of college at all, and I'm in a position now of sifting through resumes. When I look at them for IT positions, my first thoughts are:
* Do they have a degree? If not, and unless they have 7+ years experience, trash.
* Is all their experience in an LLC? I'm not dumb, I know lots of people try to strike it out on their own for a while, fail, and then count it as experience. While it is, I value it less than experience in a larger company where they answered to more than themselves or their best friend.
* Do they move around a lot? If they can't spend more than 2 years somewhere, why should I waste my time training someone who's just looking to constantly jump ship?
Finally, certs look nice, but right now everyone seems to have either certs or masters degrees, and honestly neither really make a resume stand out to me. I want to see real involvement in the SLDC, following at least several major projects that take a year to fully complete from beginning to end. It sucks, and I was in the same boat as you, but with so much supply and so little demand, everyone's incredibly picky right now.
It appears to censor any 'controversial' topic. Try searching for 'bestiality' for sake of argument.
;)
Is it just me, or does it seem very unintuitive to hide information from people seeking it as part of a business model geared to providing it?
Maybe with enough filters, it can become the official search engine of China and kindergarten classrooms everywhere.
Really is, in my opinion, the lack of people newbie users can go and ask, "Well how do I do this?". If the resident experts were versed in more than the M$ products they are resident experts in, that might fuel its adoption, given the article's other points considered too.
Until companies can rely on unofficial, internal helpdesks in their local gurus, wide-spread adoption at the desktop level will be very gradual.
Being the closest planet to the Sun you would expect Mercury to be the hottest but this is not true. Mercurys maximum temperature falls 50C short of that of Venus. The reason for this is that Mercury has very little atmosphere so there is no 'greenhouse' effect on the environment. The 430C daytime temperature is dictated purely by the Suns radiation. The Mercurian day is 176 terrestrial days long, the night is 88 terrestrial days long with a minimum temperature of -180C.
I for one welcome the news that WinFS will be more than two years away. In the meantime, Linux/*BSD/etc. will have a chance to better refine those NTFS drivers, which combined with such long delays and feature-cuts in Longhorn, may be at least one nail in MS domination's coffin.
Or here's to hoping.
I heard this story on NPR driving home just a few hours ago. They headlined it as "bringing space flight into the reach of ordinary Americans". Come on... considering raw costs alone, it'll be decades before 'ordinary Americans' can afford this kind of luxury travel.
;P jk)
(Especially if they're all out of work because their jobs went overseas!
This concept was on exhibit from about 1994-1997 at Omniplex Science Museum in Oklahoma City, OK (http://www.omniplex.org). They still have the exhibit, but it's not currently on display. It was called the "Irregular Tricycle".
I'd say so.
And if we can terraform an entire planet to save our species, I'd imagine we could save ourselves on our own planet without having to jump to another.
I interpreted it as "wiping out the evidence of past life", and I was addding "or life that's alerady there".
Any life we haven't found *yet*. Granted, chances are slim, but because we can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there.
Organizations are powerful in this regard, but by taking voluntary measures, even if they are to the detriment to the consumer, they can show due dilegence both in court cases that relate to criminal activities that occur over their networks and for public relation issues that call for increased monitoring.
Also, by taking such preemptive actions, they may offset legislative controls which would in the end be more costly to implement. God knows I'd pick voluntary measures over the hours I spend trying to figure out how to comply with vague Congressional regulations and rules.
(I for one will be switching to DSL. I believe my money talks, and I'll send e-mails letting corporate management know why they lost my $420/year in fees. If enough people did this, the populace could become just as powerful of a force as any organization or government agency.)