I STILL have no idea why tax cuts are such a hot issue, right up there with abortion and gay marriage.
Two observations: - A citizen will be forced by law to partake in only one out of those three topics.
- The US were founded because of a tax dispute with England, so not being interested in taxation is deeply unpatriotic.
"not being interested" isn't the same as it being the main driving issue for your vote. We have much much bigger issues with our country. The government dangles that lure of money in front of people to distract them from the real problems.
If anyone is voting solely for tax reasons they are a fool. I wish taxation was our biggest issue, but it isn't. My kids and their kids are going to be paying for the War in Iraq.
And how do you think they're going to have to pay for it? So when your taxes go up over the next 50 years, remember who you voted for in the last and in this election.
Neither major party candidate has mentioned addressing the crushing national debt or deficit spending. If I'm going to listen to platitudes, I want to hear about reducing spending and paying down the debt, not battles over who gets tax cuts.
I STILL have no idea why tax cuts are such a hot issue, right up there with abortion and gay marriage. There are so many freakin "Yes on 102" banners/bumper stickers/signs it makes me wanna puke. THAT is what gets you fired up about voting? You want to vote to take away someone else's rights based on YOUR religious beliefs? It's pathetic.
People want a tax cut, but they'll vote for the guy who sent us into a war that we never should have been in, one that is costing us MILLIONS of dollars a DAY, and that your grandkids will still be paying for... But oh, give me $300 in tax cuts next year. The sooner we get OUT of Iraq and stop throwing money away that we don't have, THEN we can start to discuss how to fix our debt. No matter what programs you cut, or how you shift the money, the war is the elephant shitting in the living room.
We, as Americans, are so very extremely short sighted.
I was thinking - cool! Free stuff. But as I thought about it some more, I thought... hmm, what the heck am I going to use it for? My Windows computer hasn't even been hooked up for 8 months, it's sitting collecting dust. For the 5 years before that, I only used it to play a game on occasion. But now I play HL (original) mods via WINE every so often, but that's about it.
I went ahead and downloaded Pro and Games, just in case I need them for something or just to check it out. But it will probably just collect e-dust on my drive. I do appreciate the gesture though, and I am sure others will get some good use out of this.
All you really need to do is contact your insurance beforehand and CYA. It's not such a big deal.
1. This requires that you have insurance 2. This requires that you have insurance that doesn't suck
Sure, if you have good insurance, things CAN be easy (although it doesn't guarantee it either). But let's face it, there are people out there who cannot afford decent insurance. I've had some crappy insurance in my past, and it is absolutely terrible. It is a HORRIBLE feeling to know that you can't have something done because you can't afford it, and 1000x worse to know that a loved one or a child can't have something done because you can't afford it. That brings our society DOWN DOWN DOWN in the worst ways.
I have good insurance now, really good. But if something were to happen I could easily go bankrupt. Even a few nights stay in the hospital would be devastating financially.
My wife's uncle had to have both legs amputated years ago. He lives in Canada. He had to wait something like 6 months for the surgery, and another 6 for the prosthetic legs. Terrible wait times, right? If he lived in the US, he would not have been able to afford the procedure at all, and certainly not the prosthetic legs.
Of course, this is only representative of two Catholic high schools (my sisters went to a different school, and were taught the same stuff). It may be different elsewhere.
Which honestly - it shouldn't be like that! How come there is no united front (if you will) for Catholicism? If there is one head, one voice for the Catholic Church, wouldn't you think that there would be one direction? This is what I meant by my last statement. If the Pope is the voice of God, how can positions change so drastically? How come different Catholic churches/schools teach things so differently?
And I do understand the logistics of it all, which would make it very very difficult. But they seem to change their stance on things when they feel like it. My brother, because he was divorced, couldn't get re-married in my hometown church were we grew up. He went 30 miles away, and they didn't have a problem with it.
OK, so if the Pope's (ok, THAT PARTICULAR Pope's) stance is one that can support ideas that are compatible with science, it doesn't mean much. I mean, another Pope can come along and make a different statement. Although I am not entirely clear how this works with the concept of papal infallibility, but I am sure someone can readily explain that one away.
See, here's why I say it doesn't matter what the Pope says - it matters what it taught. I was raised Catholic, went to Catholic school for 8 years with nuns, the whole bit. They don't teach you this stuff. They don't teach real science. They don't teach you anything about other religions, or that there even are other religions. They aren't about real knowledge, they are about furthering their belief system and making sure you DON'T learn about things outside that. I'm not sure what is worse, to have a den of hypocrites (which is mainly what I see) or to have them be totally faithful to their religious teachings (which is downright scary).
Of course, I grew up before the internet, and there really wasn't an easy way to learn about other religions. There sure weren't any books in our school library.. and when you grow up in a mainly Catholic town, at the public library. Not that I would have probably sought them out anyway, I was taught that questioning the teachings was a sin. Sin, go to hell. (unless you ask that it be forgiven and say a few prayers, then *poof* - all good)
Maybe Catholocism has changed in the last 20 years... but I honestly don't care. If it HAS, then that just reinforces my point.
What blows my mind is what raging idiot at Microsoft green lighted this ad campaign? they KNEW that it was a flop from the above statement. yet they still spend the outrageous cash to have written and shoot and print those horrid commercials? Holy crap do they also wallpaper the walls at Microsoft with 100 bills just before they repaint them so they can figure out how to waste money even faster?
Hmm... well, there HAS been a lot of discussion about these terrible commercials. Now there is discussion about them being cancelled.
Would we have given them this much attention otherwise? Maybe the intent was exactly that, to raise the "WTF" and to get people to speculate what they meant. They just failed, and nobody really cared all that much.
People seem to be not getting the point here. Technology in big business settings isn't IT.. that's IT. They are different things, just like QA is not testing. In small companies, those sort-of-similar things get lumped together. In big companies, they are VERY separate.
Think of it this way... let's say you are merging two big customer-facing databases from two vendors into one that you own. Technology needs to plan out how this is going to happen, and make sure that the databases merge seamlessly, that the new one is set up, etc. The business needs to make sure that they contact customers and make sure that they are aware of any access changes. They have to watch the budget on the project, look for the ROI on the project, make sure it's worth it. They have to be in contact with the legal department to make sure there aren't any legal issues with severing contracts with the vendors. They need to make sure that customer support is set up... new 800 numbers are set up and communicated. etc etc.
Maybe not the best example, as it's one I just pulled out of my brain... but those are the kinds of things that go on in big companies. Lots of things to consider that aren't technology. There are some projects that are only technology, some that are only IT, and some that are only business. And any combination in between.
Now.. why is there animosity between the business and technology? Because they are different worlds. One doesn't understand the other, and what they really do. I've been in technology my whole career, and am seeing what goes on in the business side now. You get a new appreciation for what they do.
... that it was kind of hilarious in a post-modern "we're Microsoft, what the fuck are we gonna do?" sort of way.
Moe: Welcome to "m," hah? Heh, heh. So, what do you think of
the new joint? Lenny: Wow, this place looks like it's from the not-too-distant
future. Moe: Yeah. You like it, Homer? Homer: [looking at live rabbits wiggling in harnesses suspended
from the ceiling] Um, the rabbits are cute. Lenny: Eh, that one ain't moving. [points to a still rabbit] Moe: [snaps, summoning an aide] Uh, change number 7. Carl: I don't get all this eyeball stuff. Uh, what are they
supposed to represent? Uh, eyeballs? Moe: It's po-mo! [blank stares from all]
Post-modern! [more staring]
Yeah, all right -- weird for the sake of weird. Guys: Oooh!
Uh, the species of rat which carried the Black Death did very nearly go extinct, and it wiped out one third of the population of Europe in just two years, in some areas as much as 60-75%. If that had been combined that with other pressures occurring simultaneously, like extreme changes in the environment, then yes, even two of evolution's greatest generalists could have been brought low.
I can't say I believe it, but I also don't find it inherently implausible.
Not to mention that dinosaurs wouldn't have been able to figure out what was causing their deaths the way humans did with the plague. If it were over an evolutionarily "short" period of time, their immune systems wouldn't have had time to evolve and protect them as a species.
Although, to say "dinosaur immune system" is kind of funny, since there are so many different kinds of dinosaurs spread out over such a long period of time.
Lawyers do not get involved unless they are invited, but, there is always a lawyer who will take any stupid case that some idiot brings to their door.
Just yesterday I read a story on a motorcycle forum... a guy was on a ride on a twisting road, rode it too aggressively, and ended up crashing in a ditch. Someone replied with a story about their crash, and how while lying there on the ground, someone tried to stick a lawyer's card in his pocket. Gypsy crash, look at response #18
Of course, there are good lawyers out there, and they ARE needed... but there's just this "dark side" to their profession.
And I would certainly mention that you own it because it is your name. That would give them the reason why you have it, and that you aren't trying to squat on it.
Everyone's talking about lawyers and whatnot... what happened to just being polite? I guess lawyers have ruined that too.
On that note, I wonder if it would hurt your case that you posted the question to Slashdot? It's not hard to figure out the site name as others have posted it already, which would turn up a search result... you get the picture.
I did that to somebody at work when she forgot to lock her desktop for a meeting.... she almost had IT reimage her desktop to fix it before noticing that the rest of us were sitting around snickering at her.
This is a great trick. Back in the days of using the old Sun3 black and white terminals, we were able to do a screen cap of someone else's screen, and you could also launch apps on their screen.
So it was trivial to capture their screen when they weren't looking, and then either set it as their background or just display it. Lots of fun. You can imagine the fun that was had with porn images. You could also cat files to their terminals.... one guy had a script called "pissoff" that would cat out a large binary file to every terminal window someone had open. Ahh the days of lax security.
Once a coworker left her terminal unlocked, and I did an rlogin to another server, and set up a cron job that would email herself. She thought at first someone had hacked her password, but after changing that she kept getting them. She was on her way to the IT security guy when I told her I had done it.. but I never told her what I had done exactly, and I don't think she ever figured it out.
Could you propose to hire a software test consultant for a day or two and let him point out serious quality issues (data integrity, security, correctness..)? A serious, alarming report by an external software test professional could help reinforcing your requests?
Won't work. Obviously, the CEO doesn't actually care about this issue. I've been there - except it wasn't for a biotech company, it was a small software development company. The execs there were content to allow the development team push code to production whenever they cared to. The dev team was also responsible for production support. As the lone test/QA person, I had zero pull. "that's the way we've always done it" was the mantra. We were pretty good on security, but code quality was awful. We had minimum weekly production pushes, which started at 10:30 PM on a set night... everyone would log onto our IRC channel, and the push would begin. It was like monkeys trying to F a football in the dark. Mistakes happened all the time. Many times we were up until 2, 3 AM.
Everyone complained, but nobody wanted to do anything about it. In the company I was in, the executives were a bunch of used car salesmen. Quality didn't matter, but the promise and appearance of quality did. If your situation is anything like mine was, I have two words for you: get out. You may think you can be the person to turn things around, and make things better. But if the CEO doesn't want to change the company it won't change. My situation was different because it was private and the question here is with a publicly traded company. Maybe there's a difference.
But don't try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time, and annoys the pig.
This is Slashdot, so my comments won't be popular here:
Get a wife or a girlfriend and be *her* penetration tester. You might find a new joy in bringing your work home!
Except in IT you normally you want to prevent penetrations!
But your comment is somewhat valid - and this applies to nearly all professions - maintain a good work/life balance. I know, you'll laugh and say "my boss won't let me" but it is up to you. If you're in a job that won't let you live your life outside of work, then find another job.
When I am at home, co-workers can't waddle by my desk and start talking about the weather, or a football game, or what they're going to do that weekend, or some other thing that is wasting my time. And let's not get started with the pointless meetings.
I grew up with a good work ethic; I suppose that I'm lucky. I work from home three days a week. Those are the three days that I actually get things done. I can start working, get into a groove, and pump out large amounts of good code, or get testing done, or debug problems.
The two days in the office are a complete waste for me.
I agree... I actually get MORE work done at home. I've worked from home for about 2 years now... it was several days a week, but for the last 6 months has been full-time. I work for a VERY large bank, and they have a fantastic policy on it. I live in Arizona, but work east-coast hours because that's where most of the team is. If I had to drive into the office (23 miles 1-way) I would be miserable. That would be almost 2 hours a day WASTED on driving.
I work more hours when I work from home - and I'm ok with it. I fill up my car maybe once a month. I am on conference calls a lot during the day (project management) but if I'm on a call I don't need to be on - I can hang up! We use IM (MS Communicator - ugh) and email, phone, livemeeting, etc.
It does take getting used to though. You learn to recognize voices when you're on a call with 50 people, even though you may never meet them in person. You have to make yourself productive, keep track of tasks. It makes your job so much easier if you learn how to communicate clearly over the phone/email/IM. I feel that I have matured greatly as an employee. I usually eat at my desk anyway. I have my comfortable setup, the lighting I like. I can keep work/home computing separate... instead of checking personal email or websites (like Slashdot) on my work computer I can switch over to my personal one on the KVM and check it. If I need to go to the Dr or dentist, which are close to home, I don't lose as much work time.
The greatest thing about it for me? I still keep a work/life balance, and it is mostly under my control. I am up and working at 6:15 am, but I can still see my kids when they get up. When I am done working around 3 or 4 PM, I am HOME. No horrible commute to deal with or dread every day. I get to spend quality time with my family, and that makes me really appreciate my employer, and therefore I want to do good work for them. THAT makes for a good employee.
suggests the actions of a loan deranged scientist as more likely than some sort of conspiracy
it always amazes me how the same people that talk of the federal government in terms of utter incompetence in one sentence, the next sentence they are suggesting a multiorganizational airtight conspiracy has been meticulously arranged
The Federal goverment as a whole is incompetent. That doesn't mean that every piece of it is, or every person involved in it is.
motive? right! warhawks hellbent on invading iraq... zzz
warhawks DO exist. but most everything that happens in the realm of tricky manipulation is usually due to the individual initiative of individual warhawks. not some sort of grand poobah conspiracy of warhawk cabals, or whatever. this is called paranoid schizophrenia, not intelligent insight
You don't need a grand conspiracy. Individuals, or groups of individuals, can certainly carry out actions without the rest of the government knowing. And you are deluding yourself if you think there aren't highly secretive groups within our government, whether they are "official" groups or just a like-minded group of individuals.
i think some people have been watching too many steven seagal movies. real life is far more mundane than your fantasy life suggests, i'm sorry about that
Steven Seagal? Dang, is it the early 90's again? woo-hoo, I'm gonna go start an internet company.;)
but don't mind me, i'm obviously an agent of the illuminati, come to cast aspersions on armchair intelligence anaylsts and their cutting insights
oops! gotta go, someone's chatting about the vince foster suicide cover up on an obscure message board... gotta cover that up... brb
Well, we don't get the real intelligence on this stuff, we get whatever is leaked or given to media outlets. And that is USED by those in power as a tool to manipulate common opinion. There's no conspiracy there, that is just fact. But it works both ways - we get faked nu-ku-lar purchace agreements and statements of imminent threat from Iraq, and we get nut-case-ufo-conspiracy theories.
There's also Craigslist... although it's a pain with no-shows, there's a free section and you could put it really cheaply in the computer section.
Of course, that is AFTER you decide to get rid of it. Have you used it in the last year? Then get rid of it, because you likely won't use it this year, or next. Only keep what you're comfortable keeping. Having said that, I have my Windows machine gathering dust, which I haven't booted in about 10 months. I also have a TRS-80 packed up in a box out in the garage. I can't seem to part with it.
You are confusing the roman catholic church with your run-off-the-mill protestant crackpot from the US. The roman catholic church has stated numerous times that they see no conflict between either extraterrestrial life or evolution and the church. E.g., http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=12628
Wow, that boosts the Roman Catholic Church's credibility by 1 point. So now they're about a 3 on the 100 point scale.
It's not like it's a disease, bad in anyway, or meaning that one does not enjoy being outside. It's probably different for everyone - for me it means that I don't like being in crowds and am more likely to relax being alone or with (a few) close friends.
But I digress.
I don't think you know what digress means, because you didn't do it.
I am an introvert too... but I am certainly not afraid of being around other people. Those are totally different things.
As for exercising, you should do a well-rounded routine (just like your diet). Why would you just lift weights, or just bike, or just do one thing? The point is not to just burn fat, it's to be healthier and improve yourself inside and out. You can learn a lot by going to a gym, you can see what other people are doing, you get a wide variety of machines and equipment, and there are usually attractive sweaty women there. (ok, I said it) If you WANT then you can possibly meet other people, but I have found that most people keep to themselves. My gym has lots of cool new equipment that would be difficult if not impossible to replicate at home. I've done quite a bit of home training over the years, and it never quite compares. The right tool for the job always makes it easier.
Exercise should be fun, and something you look forward to - not a chore. If it's a chore, you won't keep up with it. It's just like anything else - embrace it, even if it's painful. Experience it to the fullest. Don't worry what others think. Learn the basics about diet, be mindful of what you eat, and try not to be too obsessive about any of it and over-do it.
I try to do this with most things. You ever meet those people who are obsessed with something and can't talk about anything else? The guy you've met who always brings up baseball, or the one who talks about his online games in excruciating detail? The one who always talks about his trip to Brazil, even though you've heard it 100 times? The woman who only talks about celebrity news or the fact that she's training for a marathon? Don't be those people - nobody cares. And don't try to explain things that cannot be explained well - like movie scenes, or tv shows, or imitating some comedian's routine. Yes, I've seen that episode of the Simpsons that you just explained to me even though I told you I've seen it and you happened to get almost every single quote wrong. And no, that is not anyone's favorite episode, it isn't even in the top 100, you're just someone who found it funny because you didn't get the real sarcasm and social commentary behind the premise! Besides, everyone knows that episode 9F11 - Selma's Choice from Season 4 is the best episode ever. How can you beat the big rotting sandwich and Duff Gardens, complete with psychadelic freakout and beer goggles?! And multiple parts voiced by the late great Phil Hartman. A classic!
However the hysteria at Roswell made it clear your general populous were not sophisticated enough to handle such a large and sudden paradigm shift. Don't worry, thats quite common. Its also common for populations to implode upon such revelations - so we tread carefully. It normally takes quite a while to lay the groundwork for a whole world to gracefully embrace such a significant revelation. We've been observing how you respond to an accelerating rate of technological and cultural change. We are judging the time is close when most of you will be acccepting of our revellation. This is part of the final stage of that process.
Take care now.
We as the human race can't even handle that some of our own species are a different color, act differently, or believe different things than ourselves. You have zero chance of being accepted.
Got any technology to help us out? For some reason, we can't seem to handle something as simple as this ourselves.
Slashdot Mirror
I STILL have no idea why tax cuts are such a hot issue, right up there with abortion and gay marriage.
Two observations:
- A citizen will be forced by law to partake in only one out of those three topics.
- The US were founded because of a tax dispute with England, so not being interested in taxation is deeply unpatriotic.
"not being interested" isn't the same as it being the main driving issue for your vote. We have much much bigger issues with our country. The government dangles that lure of money in front of people to distract them from the real problems.
If anyone is voting solely for tax reasons they are a fool. I wish taxation was our biggest issue, but it isn't. My kids and their kids are going to be paying for the War in Iraq.
And how do you think they're going to have to pay for it? So when your taxes go up over the next 50 years, remember who you voted for in the last and in this election.
Neither major party candidate has mentioned addressing the crushing national debt or deficit spending. If I'm going to listen to platitudes, I want to hear about reducing spending and paying down the debt, not battles over who gets tax cuts.
I STILL have no idea why tax cuts are such a hot issue, right up there with abortion and gay marriage. There are so many freakin "Yes on 102" banners/bumper stickers/signs it makes me wanna puke. THAT is what gets you fired up about voting? You want to vote to take away someone else's rights based on YOUR religious beliefs? It's pathetic.
People want a tax cut, but they'll vote for the guy who sent us into a war that we never should have been in, one that is costing us MILLIONS of dollars a DAY, and that your grandkids will still be paying for... But oh, give me $300 in tax cuts next year. The sooner we get OUT of Iraq and stop throwing money away that we don't have, THEN we can start to discuss how to fix our debt. No matter what programs you cut, or how you shift the money, the war is the elephant shitting in the living room.
We, as Americans, are so very extremely short sighted.
I was thinking - cool! Free stuff. But as I thought about it some more, I thought ... hmm, what the heck am I going to use it for? My Windows computer hasn't even been hooked up for 8 months, it's sitting collecting dust. For the 5 years before that, I only used it to play a game on occasion. But now I play HL (original) mods via WINE every so often, but that's about it.
I went ahead and downloaded Pro and Games, just in case I need them for something or just to check it out. But it will probably just collect e-dust on my drive. I do appreciate the gesture though, and I am sure others will get some good use out of this.
All you really need to do is contact your insurance beforehand and CYA. It's not such a big deal.
1. This requires that you have insurance
2. This requires that you have insurance that doesn't suck
Sure, if you have good insurance, things CAN be easy (although it doesn't guarantee it either). But let's face it, there are people out there who cannot afford decent insurance. I've had some crappy insurance in my past, and it is absolutely terrible. It is a HORRIBLE feeling to know that you can't have something done because you can't afford it, and 1000x worse to know that a loved one or a child can't have something done because you can't afford it. That brings our society DOWN DOWN DOWN in the worst ways.
I have good insurance now, really good. But if something were to happen I could easily go bankrupt. Even a few nights stay in the hospital would be devastating financially.
My wife's uncle had to have both legs amputated years ago. He lives in Canada. He had to wait something like 6 months for the surgery, and another 6 for the prosthetic legs. Terrible wait times, right? If he lived in the US, he would not have been able to afford the procedure at all, and certainly not the prosthetic legs.
Which is worse?
Of course, this is only representative of two Catholic high schools (my sisters went to a different school, and were taught the same stuff). It may be different elsewhere.
Which honestly - it shouldn't be like that! How come there is no united front (if you will) for Catholicism? If there is one head, one voice for the Catholic Church, wouldn't you think that there would be one direction? This is what I meant by my last statement. If the Pope is the voice of God, how can positions change so drastically? How come different Catholic churches/schools teach things so differently?
And I do understand the logistics of it all, which would make it very very difficult. But they seem to change their stance on things when they feel like it. My brother, because he was divorced, couldn't get re-married in my hometown church were we grew up. He went 30 miles away, and they didn't have a problem with it.
oh right... can't point out that the Emperor has no clothes.
OK, so if the Pope's (ok, THAT PARTICULAR Pope's) stance is one that can support ideas that are compatible with science, it doesn't mean much. I mean, another Pope can come along and make a different statement. Although I am not entirely clear how this works with the concept of papal infallibility, but I am sure someone can readily explain that one away.
See, here's why I say it doesn't matter what the Pope says - it matters what it taught. I was raised Catholic, went to Catholic school for 8 years with nuns, the whole bit. They don't teach you this stuff. They don't teach real science. They don't teach you anything about other religions, or that there even are other religions. They aren't about real knowledge, they are about furthering their belief system and making sure you DON'T learn about things outside that. I'm not sure what is worse, to have a den of hypocrites (which is mainly what I see) or to have them be totally faithful to their religious teachings (which is downright scary).
Of course, I grew up before the internet, and there really wasn't an easy way to learn about other religions. There sure weren't any books in our school library.. and when you grow up in a mainly Catholic town, at the public library. Not that I would have probably sought them out anyway, I was taught that questioning the teachings was a sin. Sin, go to hell. (unless you ask that it be forgiven and say a few prayers, then *poof* - all good)
Maybe Catholocism has changed in the last 20 years... but I honestly don't care. If it HAS, then that just reinforces my point.
When everyone in power is such a successful (not necessarily good) lair how can we even have a justice system?
Because a successful lair is hard to find.
What blows my mind is what raging idiot at Microsoft green lighted this ad campaign? they KNEW that it was a flop from the above statement. yet they still spend the outrageous cash to have written and shoot and print those horrid commercials? Holy crap do they also wallpaper the walls at Microsoft with 100 bills just before they repaint them so they can figure out how to waste money even faster?
Hmm... well, there HAS been a lot of discussion about these terrible commercials. Now there is discussion about them being cancelled.
Would we have given them this much attention otherwise? Maybe the intent was exactly that, to raise the "WTF" and to get people to speculate what they meant. They just failed, and nobody really cared all that much.
People seem to be not getting the point here. Technology in big business settings isn't IT.. that's IT. They are different things, just like QA is not testing. In small companies, those sort-of-similar things get lumped together. In big companies, they are VERY separate.
Think of it this way... let's say you are merging two big customer-facing databases from two vendors into one that you own. Technology needs to plan out how this is going to happen, and make sure that the databases merge seamlessly, that the new one is set up, etc. The business needs to make sure that they contact customers and make sure that they are aware of any access changes. They have to watch the budget on the project, look for the ROI on the project, make sure it's worth it. They have to be in contact with the legal department to make sure there aren't any legal issues with severing contracts with the vendors. They need to make sure that customer support is set up... new 800 numbers are set up and communicated. etc etc.
Maybe not the best example, as it's one I just pulled out of my brain... but those are the kinds of things that go on in big companies. Lots of things to consider that aren't technology. There are some projects that are only technology, some that are only IT, and some that are only business. And any combination in between.
Now.. why is there animosity between the business and technology? Because they are different worlds. One doesn't understand the other, and what they really do. I've been in technology my whole career, and am seeing what goes on in the business side now. You get a new appreciation for what they do.
... that it was kind of hilarious in a post-modern "we're Microsoft, what the fuck are we gonna do?" sort of way.
Moe: Welcome to "m," hah? Heh, heh. So, what do you think of
the new joint?
Lenny: Wow, this place looks like it's from the not-too-distant
future.
Moe: Yeah. You like it, Homer?
Homer: [looking at live rabbits wiggling in harnesses suspended
from the ceiling] Um, the rabbits are cute.
Lenny: Eh, that one ain't moving. [points to a still rabbit]
Moe: [snaps, summoning an aide] Uh, change number 7.
Carl: I don't get all this eyeball stuff. Uh, what are they
supposed to represent? Uh, eyeballs?
Moe: It's po-mo! [blank stares from all]
Post-modern! [more staring]
Yeah, all right -- weird for the sake of weird.
Guys: Oooh!
Uh, the species of rat which carried the Black Death did very nearly go extinct, and it wiped out one third of the population of Europe in just two years, in some areas as much as 60-75%. If that had been combined that with other pressures occurring simultaneously, like extreme changes in the environment, then yes, even two of evolution's greatest generalists could have been brought low.
I can't say I believe it, but I also don't find it inherently implausible.
Not to mention that dinosaurs wouldn't have been able to figure out what was causing their deaths the way humans did with the plague. If it were over an evolutionarily "short" period of time, their immune systems wouldn't have had time to evolve and protect them as a species.
Although, to say "dinosaur immune system" is kind of funny, since there are so many different kinds of dinosaurs spread out over such a long period of time.
Quite a few dinosaur skeletons (1e8 years) have been discovered in the "New World".
Yeah, and humans rode them. Sheesh, where have YOU been?
Lawyers do not get involved unless they are invited, but, there is always a lawyer who will take any stupid case that some idiot brings to their door.
Just yesterday I read a story on a motorcycle forum... a guy was on a ride on a twisting road, rode it too aggressively, and ended up crashing in a ditch. Someone replied with a story about their crash, and how while lying there on the ground, someone tried to stick a lawyer's card in his pocket. Gypsy crash, look at response #18
Of course, there are good lawyers out there, and they ARE needed... but there's just this "dark side" to their profession.
And I would certainly mention that you own it because it is your name. That would give them the reason why you have it, and that you aren't trying to squat on it.
Everyone's talking about lawyers and whatnot... what happened to just being polite? I guess lawyers have ruined that too.
On that note, I wonder if it would hurt your case that you posted the question to Slashdot? It's not hard to figure out the site name as others have posted it already, which would turn up a search result... you get the picture.
I did that to somebody at work when she forgot to lock her desktop for a meeting.... she almost had IT reimage her desktop to fix it before noticing that the rest of us were sitting around snickering at her.
This is a great trick.
Back in the days of using the old Sun3 black and white terminals, we were able to do a screen cap of someone else's screen, and you could also launch apps on their screen.
So it was trivial to capture their screen when they weren't looking, and then either set it as their background or just display it. Lots of fun.
You can imagine the fun that was had with porn images. You could also cat files to their terminals.... one guy had a script called "pissoff" that would cat out a large binary file to every terminal window someone had open. Ahh the days of lax security.
Once a coworker left her terminal unlocked, and I did an rlogin to another server, and set up a cron job that would email herself. She thought at first someone had hacked her password, but after changing that she kept getting them. She was on her way to the IT security guy when I told her I had done it.. but I never told her what I had done exactly, and I don't think she ever figured it out.
This is what I refer to as the "good old days". :)
Could you propose to hire a software test consultant for a day or two and let him point out serious quality issues (data integrity, security, correctness..)?
A serious, alarming report by an external software test professional could help reinforcing your requests?
Won't work. Obviously, the CEO doesn't actually care about this issue. I've been there - except it wasn't for a biotech company, it was a small software development company. The execs there were content to allow the development team push code to production whenever they cared to. The dev team was also responsible for production support. As the lone test/QA person, I had zero pull. "that's the way we've always done it" was the mantra. We were pretty good on security, but code quality was awful. We had minimum weekly production pushes, which started at 10:30 PM on a set night... everyone would log onto our IRC channel, and the push would begin. It was like monkeys trying to F a football in the dark. Mistakes happened all the time. Many times we were up until 2, 3 AM.
Everyone complained, but nobody wanted to do anything about it. In the company I was in, the executives were a bunch of used car salesmen. Quality didn't matter, but the promise and appearance of quality did. If your situation is anything like mine was, I have two words for you: get out. You may think you can be the person to turn things around, and make things better. But if the CEO doesn't want to change the company it won't change. My situation was different because it was private and the question here is with a publicly traded company. Maybe there's a difference.
But don't try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time, and annoys the pig.
This is Slashdot, so my comments won't be popular here:
Get a wife or a girlfriend and be *her* penetration tester. You might find a new joy in bringing your work home!
Except in IT you normally you want to prevent penetrations!
But your comment is somewhat valid - and this applies to nearly all professions - maintain a good work/life balance. I know, you'll laugh and say "my boss won't let me" but it is up to you. If you're in a job that won't let you live your life outside of work, then find another job.
I'm the exact opposite.
When I am at home, co-workers can't waddle by my desk and start talking about the weather, or a football game, or what they're going to do that weekend, or some other thing that is wasting my time. And let's not get started with the pointless meetings.
I grew up with a good work ethic; I suppose that I'm lucky. I work from home three days a week. Those are the three days that I actually get things done. I can start working, get into a groove, and pump out large amounts of good code, or get testing done, or debug problems.
The two days in the office are a complete waste for me.
I agree... I actually get MORE work done at home. I've worked from home for about 2 years now... it was several days a week, but for the last 6 months has been full-time. I work for a VERY large bank, and they have a fantastic policy on it. I live in Arizona, but work east-coast hours because that's where most of the team is. If I had to drive into the office (23 miles 1-way) I would be miserable. That would be almost 2 hours a day WASTED on driving.
I work more hours when I work from home - and I'm ok with it. I fill up my car maybe once a month. I am on conference calls a lot during the day (project management) but if I'm on a call I don't need to be on - I can hang up! We use IM (MS Communicator - ugh) and email, phone, livemeeting, etc.
It does take getting used to though. You learn to recognize voices when you're on a call with 50 people, even though you may never meet them in person. You have to make yourself productive, keep track of tasks. It makes your job so much easier if you learn how to communicate clearly over the phone/email/IM. I feel that I have matured greatly as an employee. I usually eat at my desk anyway. I have my comfortable setup, the lighting I like. I can keep work/home computing separate... instead of checking personal email or websites (like Slashdot) on my work computer I can switch over to my personal one on the KVM and check it. If I need to go to the Dr or dentist, which are close to home, I don't lose as much work time.
The greatest thing about it for me? I still keep a work/life balance, and it is mostly under my control. I am up and working at 6:15 am, but I can still see my kids when they get up. When I am done working around 3 or 4 PM, I am HOME. No horrible commute to deal with or dread every day. I get to spend quality time with my family, and that makes me really appreciate my employer, and therefore I want to do good work for them. THAT makes for a good employee.
suggests the actions of a loan deranged scientist as more likely than some sort of conspiracy
it always amazes me how the same people that talk of the federal government in terms of utter incompetence in one sentence, the next sentence they are suggesting a multiorganizational airtight conspiracy has been meticulously arranged
The Federal goverment as a whole is incompetent. That doesn't mean that every piece of it is, or every person involved in it is.
motive? right! warhawks hellbent on invading iraq... zzz
warhawks DO exist. but most everything that happens in the realm of tricky manipulation is usually due to the individual initiative of individual warhawks. not some sort of grand poobah conspiracy of warhawk cabals, or whatever. this is called paranoid schizophrenia, not intelligent insight
You don't need a grand conspiracy. Individuals, or groups of individuals, can certainly carry out actions without the rest of the government knowing. And you are deluding yourself if you think there aren't highly secretive groups within our government, whether they are "official" groups or just a like-minded group of individuals.
i think some people have been watching too many steven seagal movies. real life is far more mundane than your fantasy life suggests, i'm sorry about that
Steven Seagal? Dang, is it the early 90's again? woo-hoo, I'm gonna go start an internet company. ;)
but don't mind me, i'm obviously an agent of the illuminati, come to cast aspersions on armchair intelligence anaylsts and their cutting insights
oops! gotta go, someone's chatting about the vince foster suicide cover up on an obscure message board... gotta cover that up... brb
Well, we don't get the real intelligence on this stuff, we get whatever is leaked or given to media outlets. And that is USED by those in power as a tool to manipulate common opinion. There's no conspiracy there, that is just fact. But it works both ways - we get faked nu-ku-lar purchace agreements and statements of imminent threat from Iraq, and we get nut-case-ufo-conspiracy theories.
There's also Craigslist... although it's a pain with no-shows, there's a free section and you could put it really cheaply in the computer section.
Of course, that is AFTER you decide to get rid of it. Have you used it in the last year? Then get rid of it, because you likely won't use it this year, or next. Only keep what you're comfortable keeping. Having said that, I have my Windows machine gathering dust, which I haven't booted in about 10 months. I also have a TRS-80 packed up in a box out in the garage. I can't seem to part with it.
You are confusing the roman catholic church with your run-off-the-mill protestant crackpot from the US. The roman catholic church has stated numerous times that they see no conflict between either extraterrestrial life or evolution and the church. E.g.,
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=12628
Wow, that boosts the Roman Catholic Church's credibility by 1 point. So now they're about a 3 on the 100 point scale.
I'm sorry you're an introvert.
Don't be sorry for us (you insensitive clod!)
It's not like it's a disease, bad in anyway, or meaning that one does not enjoy being outside.
It's probably different for everyone - for me it means that I don't like being in crowds and
am more likely to relax being alone or with (a few) close friends.
But I digress.
I don't think you know what digress means, because you didn't do it.
I am an introvert too... but I am certainly not afraid of being around other people. Those are totally different things.
As for exercising, you should do a well-rounded routine (just like your diet). Why would you just lift weights, or just bike, or just do one thing? The point is not to just burn fat, it's to be healthier and improve yourself inside and out. You can learn a lot by going to a gym, you can see what other people are doing, you get a wide variety of machines and equipment, and there are usually attractive sweaty women there. (ok, I said it) If you WANT then you can possibly meet other people, but I have found that most people keep to themselves. My gym has lots of cool new equipment that would be difficult if not impossible to replicate at home. I've done quite a bit of home training over the years, and it never quite compares. The right tool for the job always makes it easier.
Exercise should be fun, and something you look forward to - not a chore. If it's a chore, you won't keep up with it. It's just like anything else - embrace it, even if it's painful. Experience it to the fullest. Don't worry what others think. Learn the basics about diet, be mindful of what you eat, and try not to be too obsessive about any of it and over-do it.
I try to do this with most things. You ever meet those people who are obsessed with something and can't talk about anything else? The guy you've met who always brings up baseball, or the one who talks about his online games in excruciating detail? The one who always talks about his trip to Brazil, even though you've heard it 100 times? The woman who only talks about celebrity news or the fact that she's training for a marathon? Don't be those people - nobody cares. And don't try to explain things that cannot be explained well - like movie scenes, or tv shows, or imitating some comedian's routine. Yes, I've seen that episode of the Simpsons that you just explained to me even though I told you I've seen it and you happened to get almost every single quote wrong. And no, that is not anyone's favorite episode, it isn't even in the top 100, you're just someone who found it funny because you didn't get the real sarcasm and social commentary behind the premise! Besides, everyone knows that episode 9F11 - Selma's Choice from Season 4 is the best episode ever. How can you beat the big rotting sandwich and Duff Gardens, complete with psychadelic freakout and beer goggles?! And multiple parts voiced by the late great Phil Hartman. A classic!
See, now THAT'S how to digress. :)
However the hysteria at Roswell made it clear your general populous were not sophisticated enough to handle such a large and sudden paradigm shift. Don't worry, thats quite common. Its also common for populations to implode upon such revelations - so we tread carefully. It normally takes quite a while to lay the groundwork for a whole world to gracefully embrace such a significant revelation. We've been observing how you respond to an accelerating rate of technological and cultural change. We are judging the time is close when most of you will be acccepting of our revellation. This is part of the final stage of that process.
Take care now.
We as the human race can't even handle that some of our own species are a different color, act differently, or believe different things than ourselves. You have zero chance of being accepted.
Got any technology to help us out? For some reason, we can't seem to handle something as simple as this ourselves.
So much for spammers being "non-violent" criminals...
By this dumbass logic, all programmers are murderers.