An IT department may be viewed as stocking multiple redundancies, such RAID, backup servers, and let's be honest, a large inventory of computers parts that are not currently being used. Management, classically trained, will look at all those DVI and HDMI cables, and wonder why IT needs to many of them. So what do they do? Play the fools game by trying to measure the 'real' needs of IT, by cutting their budget, and making the manager of said vision beg for parts. They are not aware that those extra parts are kept on hand because it's more efficient, in the 'we are paying our employees an impressive hourly wage / salary, and it does us no good for them to continue to be paid for twiddling their thumbs while we wait a day or two for the parts they need to come in.' Someone will then offer to pick up said items from a local supplier who will, of course, noticing their immediate need, have the company paying good money for shite product. And when you factor in shipping costs, as well as the (very often) lower costs of ordering from an online supplier, it makes sense to order in bulk.
There is some cross-over between accounting and computing. However, the main, and troubling difference, is that a SE / CS / IT person would know, almost instinctively, whether or not the vision he is pursuing is even remotely feasible, at least with regards to technological matters. That is, for those who are not SE / CS / IT people, an understatement. Especially for a technology company, which like or not, has its foundations sunk in technology.
The problem with someone who is not this experienced, unfortunately, is the pursuant of a vision that may be nothing more than a pipe-dream, even if you had the combined resources of MS, IBM, Google, and Intel / AMD all working as one. As such, a company may waste valuable resources on something which simply cannot be done at the moment. Like building a flying submarine, these ideas may eventually be possible, but the people involved will be instantly demoralized with the leadership taking such a, hmmm, difficult position.
As would most people whose quality of life is impacted by the placement of their medicines on those schedules.
Nothing like being treated as a heroin addict when you out of pain pills, because, I don't know, you're in pain, and day to day tasks differ? Hell, some drugs aren't even scheduled, on the federal or state level, but doesn't stop some doctors from placing them on the schedule.
And you must think I am mistaken. I had a rather wonderous phone conversation with a quite irate doctor (the on call doctor, my regular doctor didn't manage to fill the script before the weekend), who lectured me on how she didn't give out scheduled substances on weekends (after hours); the only problem is, the drug isn't scheduled (something which a pharmacist and I went through the state and federal laws to double-check). This is, of course, in a state which has a quite interesting law about doctors not leaving patients in pain. The drug in question, mind you, is being somewhat considered for placement on said schedule at some point in the remote future, when the scare factor associated with it manages to exceed common sense. Still, the effect of the doctor, claiming it was scheduled, had the same effect as it being on the schedule. Argue with her? Since people with M.D.s seems to think they are God's chosen people, you can imagine how well that would have gone.
So, on behalf of all of us out there who live in hell on a daily basis, may the DEA and friends go f*ck themselves. Take some gymnastics classes, maybe work some yoga in there, and f*ck yourselves.
That with enough prodding, control over someone's life, infiltration (probably) of said person's friends and family, and having unregulated access to records that are supposedly safeguarded against these abuses (in particular), they can turn anyone into a terrorist. I suppose it's an offering to various interested third-parties on the political bend that they can 'find' a terrorist, give or take 6 months, in any of the dissident groups that said parties are currently at war with, so don't cut their budget, and start bidding for their services?
Heh, no. Defense attorneys have field days with interrogators working a suspect down until they agree that they kidnapped the Lindbergh baby. You don't get to work someone over repeatedly, then stand aghast when they do something stupid with the things you provided them with.
Then we need to, heh, elect a few judges who understand technology.
Since I imagine most programmers, well aware of the problems with making any kind of change or ruling with regards to code (let alone the legal code) and are somewhat averse to placing themselves in that unfortunate position, we're going to need to make some sacrifices.
Therefore, I nominate Commander Taco & friends, plus Un pobre guey, to said unhappy positions as judges of technological imprudence. Here are your nerf gravels with +10 facepalm. ^_^
Indeed. If they rule in favor of Oracle here, I have a strong feeling that recursive lawsuits (Java -> C++ -> C -> ASM) will eventually engulf the entire industry. What it will do to businesses is nothing compared to what it will do to universities. Imagine an assignment to implement an API, only to find out its violating someone's copyright. And all the SE / CS & friends people know that that's about 50% of what you do when studying for your major.
The good news is that programmers will suddenly be worth that much more (as no one will want the liability of being one); the bad news is that even horrible programmers will suddenly cost a few million to employ, and require staff to ensure no ones agreements were being violated anywhere.
Frankly, I am surprised that musical instrument manufacturers haven't attached EULAs and charges for every time you play a song with one of their instruments. If the RIAA likes playing their game with copyrights and screwing people, then Fender can play a game with them.
Home-rolled Crypto -> No Crypto. Taking a page from a certain book, if you need some information to stay secret, memorize it.
Leaving physical evidence around, however, encrypted, invites people to take a shot at it. Keeping it in your head, along with torture training (think the military has many of its recruits go through something like that, where the harder someone tortures you, the more resolute you are to not give up the information), is the only way to ensure secrecy.
Not that there aren't some people working to get around that (see the electrodes in the brain experiments going on), but given the inaccuracy of the results up until now, we're probably good for a while.
Indeed. The "nothing to hide nothing to fear" argument appears to be a non sequitur; just some words to fill in the gap while they violate your supposed rights.
Working on it. First thing to fix: the search engine. I think Google has gotten all the money they are possibly going to get at this point from overlooking SEOs, and should start delisting all of them immediately. Ask the founders to try and find something using their own search engine; when they find it littered with ads, perhaps they will feel motivated to find a way to fix it.
On a separate note, I've been equally annoyed about the Web 2.0, sell your Facebook friends, kind of thing. I have a few friends who are busy pimping various products from their family business with constant updates, and frankly, it's getting annoying.
For the record, I do not mind (beware: the programmer variant of "mind") a friend or acquaintance letting me know that they provide services or products in a certain area. However, you only get to do it once (unless you change businesses, and even then, if it's more than once every six months...). Leave a business card, and do not try to convince me that being social means buying your product or patronizing your place of business. When I've reviewed your company, at my leisure, against your competitors, I'll decide whether to give you a try. Which puts you on the 1-0 cycle -> your company gets to put out one shoddy product before it gets back on track, or I drop it. That means you get to put out one Vista, one Me, one screw-up before I blackball your company. And I highly recommend not making a habit of it.
Do you think it's possible to switch out some of those bulbs for the tanning ones? I've heard a lot of complaints about my skin color recently (pasty white), but I can't see myself bringing a laptop with me into one of those beds at the local tanning salon.
Slashdot Mirror
And as the Chief Executive Officer, what happens when he asks the programmers to execute his vision, with no idea whether it's even possible?
Let's be honest, asking programmers to do something they know is idiotic is an easy way to convert them all to saboteurs.
Hmm. And there in lies the problem.
An IT department may be viewed as stocking multiple redundancies, such RAID, backup servers, and let's be honest, a large inventory of computers parts that are not currently being used. Management, classically trained, will look at all those DVI and HDMI cables, and wonder why IT needs to many of them. So what do they do? Play the fools game by trying to measure the 'real' needs of IT, by cutting their budget, and making the manager of said vision beg for parts. They are not aware that those extra parts are kept on hand because it's more efficient, in the 'we are paying our employees an impressive hourly wage / salary, and it does us no good for them to continue to be paid for twiddling their thumbs while we wait a day or two for the parts they need to come in.' Someone will then offer to pick up said items from a local supplier who will, of course, noticing their immediate need, have the company paying good money for shite product. And when you factor in shipping costs, as well as the (very often) lower costs of ordering from an online supplier, it makes sense to order in bulk.
There is some cross-over between accounting and computing. However, the main, and troubling difference, is that a SE / CS / IT person would know, almost instinctively, whether or not the vision he is pursuing is even remotely feasible, at least with regards to technological matters. That is, for those who are not SE / CS / IT people, an understatement. Especially for a technology company, which like or not, has its foundations sunk in technology.
The problem with someone who is not this experienced, unfortunately, is the pursuant of a vision that may be nothing more than a pipe-dream, even if you had the combined resources of MS, IBM, Google, and Intel / AMD all working as one. As such, a company may waste valuable resources on something which simply cannot be done at the moment. Like building a flying submarine, these ideas may eventually be possible, but the people involved will be instantly demoralized with the leadership taking such a, hmmm, difficult position.
As would most people whose quality of life is impacted by the placement of their medicines on those schedules.
Nothing like being treated as a heroin addict when you out of pain pills, because, I don't know, you're in pain, and day to day tasks differ? Hell, some drugs aren't even scheduled, on the federal or state level, but doesn't stop some doctors from placing them on the schedule.
And you must think I am mistaken. I had a rather wonderous phone conversation with a quite irate doctor (the on call doctor, my regular doctor didn't manage to fill the script before the weekend), who lectured me on how she didn't give out scheduled substances on weekends (after hours); the only problem is, the drug isn't scheduled (something which a pharmacist and I went through the state and federal laws to double-check). This is, of course, in a state which has a quite interesting law about doctors not leaving patients in pain. The drug in question, mind you, is being somewhat considered for placement on said schedule at some point in the remote future, when the scare factor associated with it manages to exceed common sense. Still, the effect of the doctor, claiming it was scheduled, had the same effect as it being on the schedule. Argue with her? Since people with M.D.s seems to think they are God's chosen people, you can imagine how well that would have gone.
So, on behalf of all of us out there who live in hell on a daily basis, may the DEA and friends go f*ck themselves. Take some gymnastics classes, maybe work some yoga in there, and f*ck yourselves.
I find your satire to be in good taste.
Bonus points for all the misspelled words, indicating the writer is supposed to be a dumb American. ;-)
That with enough prodding, control over someone's life, infiltration (probably) of said person's friends and family, and having unregulated access to records that are supposedly safeguarded against these abuses (in particular), they can turn anyone into a terrorist. I suppose it's an offering to various interested third-parties on the political bend that they can 'find' a terrorist, give or take 6 months, in any of the dissident groups that said parties are currently at war with, so don't cut their budget, and start bidding for their services?
Heh, no. Defense attorneys have field days with interrogators working a suspect down until they agree that they kidnapped the Lindbergh baby. You don't get to work someone over repeatedly, then stand aghast when they do something stupid with the things you provided them with.
And surprisingly, very few people see anything wrong with that.
To quote the BOFH here, we, as a country, have ridden the 'Tower of Turd' to its lowest level, and are still hitting the button for down.
Then we need to, heh, elect a few judges who understand technology.
Since I imagine most programmers, well aware of the problems with making any kind of change or ruling with regards to code (let alone the legal code) and are somewhat averse to placing themselves in that unfortunate position, we're going to need to make some sacrifices.
Therefore, I nominate Commander Taco & friends, plus Un pobre guey, to said unhappy positions as judges of technological imprudence. Here are your nerf gravels with +10 facepalm. ^_^
Indeed. If they rule in favor of Oracle here, I have a strong feeling that recursive lawsuits (Java -> C++ -> C -> ASM) will eventually engulf the entire industry. What it will do to businesses is nothing compared to what it will do to universities. Imagine an assignment to implement an API, only to find out its violating someone's copyright. And all the SE / CS & friends people know that that's about 50% of what you do when studying for your major.
The good news is that programmers will suddenly be worth that much more (as no one will want the liability of being one); the bad news is that even horrible programmers will suddenly cost a few million to employ, and require staff to ensure no ones agreements were being violated anywhere.
Could someone explain to me how what Google did with Java is different from what AMD did with the x86 instruction set?
And with that, the internet fell, and mankind returned to the stone age.
Frankly, I am surprised that musical instrument manufacturers haven't attached EULAs and charges for every time you play a song with one of their instruments. If the RIAA likes playing their game with copyrights and screwing people, then Fender can play a game with them.
Home-rolled Crypto -> No Crypto. Taking a page from a certain book, if you need some information to stay secret, memorize it.
Leaving physical evidence around, however, encrypted, invites people to take a shot at it. Keeping it in your head, along with torture training (think the military has many of its recruits go through something like that, where the harder someone tortures you, the more resolute you are to not give up the information), is the only way to ensure secrecy.
Not that there aren't some people working to get around that (see the electrodes in the brain experiments going on), but given the inaccuracy of the results up until now, we're probably good for a while.
Indeed. The "nothing to hide nothing to fear" argument appears to be a non sequitur; just some words to fill in the gap while they violate your supposed rights.
Citation needed. ;-)
Working on it. First thing to fix: the search engine. I think Google has gotten all the money they are possibly going to get at this point from overlooking SEOs, and should start delisting all of them immediately. Ask the founders to try and find something using their own search engine; when they find it littered with ads, perhaps they will feel motivated to find a way to fix it.
On a separate note, I've been equally annoyed about the Web 2.0, sell your Facebook friends, kind of thing. I have a few friends who are busy pimping various products from their family business with constant updates, and frankly, it's getting annoying.
For the record, I do not mind (beware: the programmer variant of "mind") a friend or acquaintance letting me know that they provide services or products in a certain area. However, you only get to do it once (unless you change businesses, and even then, if it's more than once every six months...). Leave a business card, and do not try to convince me that being social means buying your product or patronizing your place of business. When I've reviewed your company, at my leisure, against your competitors, I'll decide whether to give you a try. Which puts you on the 1-0 cycle -> your company gets to put out one shoddy product before it gets back on track, or I drop it. That means you get to put out one Vista, one Me, one screw-up before I blackball your company. And I highly recommend not making a habit of it.
You're forgetting how few people actually understand thermodynamics.
I imagine most people (and politicians) think wind / solar / tidal energy = magically free energy, with an emphasis on the word magic.
Here's your citation.
Do some BitCoin mining on your GPU, with aggression set to maximum.
It'll be like a tropical island within the hour, except without the wonderful ocean breeze that normally accompanies it.
Do you think it's possible to switch out some of those bulbs for the tanning ones? I've heard a lot of complaints about my skin color recently (pasty white), but I can't see myself bringing a laptop with me into one of those beds at the local tanning salon.
"they should [sue] for a game developers union" -> "let me guess: you're a libertarian or something"
wat
Right. Out of that state then.
There is just something so unclean about taxes.
Which reminds me. Is the SAT administered in other languages than English?
I mean, seeing how Texas is a border state...