As for a guest network, I'll need to set up a second router since mine is from 2005. I've configured a few ActionTec routers recently (comes with FiOS) and I didn't see the guest network option on those, either.
A lot of people on slashdot live in the United States, where you can be slapped with a lawsuit or have your equipment confiscated if it looks like you're downloading something copyrighted (lawsuit) or illegal (confiscated equipment). The lawsuits happen with relative frequency, though that's decreasing now that a few judges have tired of playing the RIAA's games and demanded they follow proper procedure. The confiscation doesn't happen often, but it does happen.
IMO, the real reason I need to secure my wireless network is to keep people from attempting to access the data on my computers at home. I am planning to put up a "guest" network, at some point, but it will definitely be separated by a firewall from the one that has my personal data connected.
I don't know what Google's requirements for activation are, but you could always install a SIP client and use it as a wifi phone, and buy a cheap pre-paid sim that you never use. T-Mobile has 1000 minutes that last a year for $100.
That's a great idea. I wish I'd had that opportunity! I went to fish some wires in the walls of my house and discovered a diagonal board between the studs. Made for an interesting series of holes.
I dropped $130 for a 1000' box of Cat6 (with shipping), and another $40(? don't remember offhand) for a 24 port patch panel and wall jacks and plates. I spent a couple weekends, but I have gig-E in every room of my house, and the wiring is capable of 10-Gig when those devices come down in price. For me, not having to worry about wireless junk is totally worth that effort. Not only can I copy files faster, but I can make nachos in my microwave without making my housemate's Netflix stream drop frames!
It's worth putting in the wires, especially if you're already taking the walls down to studs!
How would you define an atheist charity? Religiously affiliated charities clearly trumpet those affiliations in all of their advertising, so it's hard to mistake those. However, if you're drawing a line between a secular charity (which have a lack of affiliation with any religious group or institution) and an atheist charity, please define that line.
The ACLU, at the very least, have been attacked for their godlessness by numerous Christian groups over the years.
This reminds me of my first week working QA for a small tech company (right after leaving school). I went to my manager with a report on a product and said, "I tried all the usual things you could do with the unit. It works just fine." His response?
"I don't care how it works when you use it correctly. Go back and tell me how it breaks when you use it incorrectly."
Having tutored a couple religion majors in introductory CS (they thought this was a good way out of their math requirement), this sounds like a fascinating challenge. Anywhere near New England?
Name names or be known as a liar. Christians don't hate athiests, we fear them.
I've corrected this on your behalf.
Ever wonder where all that money Christians put in the collection baskets goes?
To the churches. Some of it does trickle down to humanitarian programs, and sometimes there are "Special Collections" in addition to the regular one, usually for some particular charity, but most of that money in the collection plate goes to running the church, not to the poor.
Can you name one single athiest charitable organization? I certainly can't think of one.
You apparently fail at Google, too. There are plenty of non-theistic charities, including several you may have encountered, but didn't realize they aren't non-theistic. Amnesty International? The American Civil Liberties Union? OxFam? Here's a list: http://freethoughtpedia.com/wiki/Secular_charities
The three year old also doesn't have any un-learning to do. Someone who's been using Windows XP for the last ten years is a lot of expectations that certain functionality will be present via specific mechanisms. Replace those mechanisms and that XP user has to reprogram ten years of reflex and memory, while the 3yo just has to remember how the first thing works. There aren't any established patterns to trip him up.
I think a lot of people could benefit by learning to think like a child again; being able to let go of preconceptions is a huge aid to problem solving creatively. (I'm not suggesting you forget everything you know, just let go of the certainty that "this is how 'X' is done.") That said, the new interfaces that we're seeing from Microsoft (and Apple, especially on OS X Server) do a lot to expose the basics (check my mail, browse the web, watch a video, play some music), and make them easy. However, they also bury or remove some of the more advanced or complex functionality, making things beyond the basics more difficult. For new users (such as the 3yo in the article), this is no big deal because the functionality isn't missed. For existing users, dropping or obfuscating that functionality can make the whole interface less useful.
Actually, his son is being forced to spend time in a class where he will learn a method of problem-solving that happens to use Chemistry as the example material (much like "apples" are the example material for grade-school math problems). It's important for students to learn problem solving, even if they don't enjoy it.
When I was in high school, I had two years of Chemistry, since I went back for AP. That didn't prevent me from also studying music, public speaking (actually a requirement for freshmen), politics (part of the history curriculum, but a separate class), and computers (including HTML, and some introductory programming in C++). My high school didn't offer courses in economics at the time, though I think they do now. I also missed out on statistics, but I could've taken that instead of Calculus or Chemistry (the second year).
The argument from the article is a red herring - the point of high school is for students to superficially survey a range of subjects, but that range includes biology, chemistry, trigonometry, and physics.
I think most teenagers have trouble knowing what their interests are, until they have a chance to try them. I can think of at least two classmates that thought science was boring until about halfway through a chemistry class. Did the exploding stuff help? Certainly. But up until that point, the students and their parents understood that they didn't like it.
In my AP Chemistry class in High School, one wistful afternoon late in the year one of my classmates asked, "How do Drano bombs work?"
After a quick explanation of what a Drano bomb was, the teacher turned around, wrote the replacement reaction for the aluminum and sodium in solution, and instructed us to calculate the change in enthalpy for the reaction (this actually lined up remarkably well with the curriculum). It was very instructional.
I always found Qdoba to be the greasiest of the Faux-Mex chains. I wonder if that was a local issue - the Qdoba closest to me closed about two years ago. They were also the cheapest (then Moe's, then Chipotle), but I never really liked their food.
Be careful how you calculate things. Verizon's new "Share Everything" plans, which are not optional, charge you for data and then charge you per device. So if you have a $30/2GB plan, and you have one smartphone, you're looking at $70 for data. This, at least, is what the Verizon web site told me when I looked up plans this week.
I tried to see it from the developers' perspective, but I can't get my head up there. Sorry.
Seriously, though, the developers need to know their software, and write adequate documentation. Be able to tell me which TCP or UDP ports your software uses, and what is carried over those connections. Be able to tell me what the start-up order should be for the services or daemons that your software uses. If you need to be able to have 1024 open files, document that. If your code needs to be able to write to a particular directory, document it! Does your code need to run as root/Administrator? You should probably start over. But if you can't start over, include that requirement in the documentation.
That way, when it comes time to do the install, I will have all the prerequisites completed, and the install can proceed smoothly. Otherwise, you're going to have to wait while I go beg the Security office for a variance and Change management for permission to have the firewall modified with no lead time, and I do not enjoy being in that position. Yeah, I'm sure "it's easier if the service just runs as an Administrator." It's easier if I don't lock my doors, too, but that's not really feasible in the real world, is it?
Developers should never be allowed to install anything in a production environment, for the simple reason that a production environment needs to be well documented. When the Devs install their own stuff, they don't follow the documentation, if any even exists; they just install it the way that works, which probably bears no resemblance at all to the documentation.
On the other hand, Developers should be forced to watch while their software is installed, per the documentation, and then when nothing works, they should be given the documentation and made to fix it. Alternately, a separate person/team should watch the developers install their stuff on a clean system, and document every step they take, for reproducibility.
I'm curious. How much are you costing your employer by posting on Slashdot? If you spent as much time as you posting about how awesome money is, could you have found a better-paying job today?
It sounds like he was declining a 50% offer for at least 50% more work, which makes sense. If you have a choice between making 60k/yr. working 50 hours a week, or 90k/yr. working 85 hours a week, that 90k/yr. job is actually a pay cut.
From experience doing repair work, I have to ask - how did you prevent your 2-year-old from physically destroying the laptop? This isn't a software question; I've had repair cases where a child's "play" managed to unseat the processor daughterboard, or wireless card, etc. Generally, the younger the child in question the more likely the damage was hardware vs. software related.
Slashdot Mirror
It was litigated to a sideline.
As for a guest network, I'll need to set up a second router since mine is from 2005. I've configured a few ActionTec routers recently (comes with FiOS) and I didn't see the guest network option on those, either.
A lot of people on slashdot live in the United States, where you can be slapped with a lawsuit or have your equipment confiscated if it looks like you're downloading something copyrighted (lawsuit) or illegal (confiscated equipment). The lawsuits happen with relative frequency, though that's decreasing now that a few judges have tired of playing the RIAA's games and demanded they follow proper procedure. The confiscation doesn't happen often, but it does happen.
IMO, the real reason I need to secure my wireless network is to keep people from attempting to access the data on my computers at home. I am planning to put up a "guest" network, at some point, but it will definitely be separated by a firewall from the one that has my personal data connected.
I don't know what Google's requirements for activation are, but you could always install a SIP client and use it as a wifi phone, and buy a cheap pre-paid sim that you never use. T-Mobile has 1000 minutes that last a year for $100.
That's a great idea. I wish I'd had that opportunity! I went to fish some wires in the walls of my house and discovered a diagonal board between the studs. Made for an interesting series of holes.
I dropped $130 for a 1000' box of Cat6 (with shipping), and another $40(? don't remember offhand) for a 24 port patch panel and wall jacks and plates. I spent a couple weekends, but I have gig-E in every room of my house, and the wiring is capable of 10-Gig when those devices come down in price. For me, not having to worry about wireless junk is totally worth that effort. Not only can I copy files faster, but I can make nachos in my microwave without making my housemate's Netflix stream drop frames!
It's worth putting in the wires, especially if you're already taking the walls down to studs!
How would you define an atheist charity? Religiously affiliated charities clearly trumpet those affiliations in all of their advertising, so it's hard to mistake those. However, if you're drawing a line between a secular charity (which have a lack of affiliation with any religious group or institution) and an atheist charity, please define that line.
The ACLU, at the very least, have been attacked for their godlessness by numerous Christian groups over the years.
This reminds me of my first week working QA for a small tech company (right after leaving school). I went to my manager with a report on a product and said, "I tried all the usual things you could do with the unit. It works just fine." His response?
"I don't care how it works when you use it correctly. Go back and tell me how it breaks when you use it incorrectly."
Opened up a whole new world of thought, for me.
Having tutored a couple religion majors in introductory CS (they thought this was a good way out of their math requirement), this sounds like a fascinating challenge. Anywhere near New England?
Name names or be known as a liar. Christians don't hate athiests, we fear them.
I've corrected this on your behalf.
Ever wonder where all that money Christians put in the collection baskets goes?
To the churches. Some of it does trickle down to humanitarian programs, and sometimes there are "Special Collections" in addition to the regular one, usually for some particular charity, but most of that money in the collection plate goes to running the church, not to the poor.
Can you name one single athiest charitable organization? I certainly can't think of one.
You apparently fail at Google, too. There are plenty of non-theistic charities, including several you may have encountered, but didn't realize they aren't non-theistic. Amnesty International? The American Civil Liberties Union? OxFam?
Here's a list: http://freethoughtpedia.com/wiki/Secular_charities
The three year old also doesn't have any un-learning to do. Someone who's been using Windows XP for the last ten years is a lot of expectations that certain functionality will be present via specific mechanisms. Replace those mechanisms and that XP user has to reprogram ten years of reflex and memory, while the 3yo just has to remember how the first thing works. There aren't any established patterns to trip him up.
I think a lot of people could benefit by learning to think like a child again; being able to let go of preconceptions is a huge aid to problem solving creatively. (I'm not suggesting you forget everything you know, just let go of the certainty that "this is how 'X' is done.") That said, the new interfaces that we're seeing from Microsoft (and Apple, especially on OS X Server) do a lot to expose the basics (check my mail, browse the web, watch a video, play some music), and make them easy. However, they also bury or remove some of the more advanced or complex functionality, making things beyond the basics more difficult. For new users (such as the 3yo in the article), this is no big deal because the functionality isn't missed. For existing users, dropping or obfuscating that functionality can make the whole interface less useful.
Actually, his son is being forced to spend time in a class where he will learn a method of problem-solving that happens to use Chemistry as the example material (much like "apples" are the example material for grade-school math problems). It's important for students to learn problem solving, even if they don't enjoy it.
When I was in high school, I had two years of Chemistry, since I went back for AP. That didn't prevent me from also studying music, public speaking (actually a requirement for freshmen), politics (part of the history curriculum, but a separate class), and computers (including HTML, and some introductory programming in C++). My high school didn't offer courses in economics at the time, though I think they do now. I also missed out on statistics, but I could've taken that instead of Calculus or Chemistry (the second year).
The argument from the article is a red herring - the point of high school is for students to superficially survey a range of subjects, but that range includes biology, chemistry, trigonometry, and physics.
I think most teenagers have trouble knowing what their interests are, until they have a chance to try them. I can think of at least two classmates that thought science was boring until about halfway through a chemistry class. Did the exploding stuff help? Certainly. But up until that point, the students and their parents understood that they didn't like it.
In my AP Chemistry class in High School, one wistful afternoon late in the year one of my classmates asked, "How do Drano bombs work?"
After a quick explanation of what a Drano bomb was, the teacher turned around, wrote the replacement reaction for the aluminum and sodium in solution, and instructed us to calculate the change in enthalpy for the reaction (this actually lined up remarkably well with the curriculum). It was very instructional.
Hail Malthus!
That is correct. My estimate is about 2-3 years behind SoKo and Japan, in terms of mobile phone technology.
I always found Qdoba to be the greasiest of the Faux-Mex chains. I wonder if that was a local issue - the Qdoba closest to me closed about two years ago. They were also the cheapest (then Moe's, then Chipotle), but I never really liked their food.
Five Guys is definitely a step up from the usual fast food junk, but it doesn't hold a candle to In-N-Out. Not even a little.
Be careful how you calculate things. Verizon's new "Share Everything" plans, which are not optional, charge you for data and then charge you per device. So if you have a $30/2GB plan, and you have one smartphone, you're looking at $70 for data. This, at least, is what the Verizon web site told me when I looked up plans this week.
No, they're only partly imaginary.
I tried to see it from the developers' perspective, but I can't get my head up there. Sorry.
Seriously, though, the developers need to know their software, and write adequate documentation. Be able to tell me which TCP or UDP ports your software uses, and what is carried over those connections. Be able to tell me what the start-up order should be for the services or daemons that your software uses. If you need to be able to have 1024 open files, document that. If your code needs to be able to write to a particular directory, document it! Does your code need to run as root/Administrator? You should probably start over. But if you can't start over, include that requirement in the documentation.
That way, when it comes time to do the install, I will have all the prerequisites completed, and the install can proceed smoothly. Otherwise, you're going to have to wait while I go beg the Security office for a variance and Change management for permission to have the firewall modified with no lead time, and I do not enjoy being in that position. Yeah, I'm sure "it's easier if the service just runs as an Administrator." It's easier if I don't lock my doors, too, but that's not really feasible in the real world, is it?
Developers should never be allowed to install anything in a production environment, for the simple reason that a production environment needs to be well documented. When the Devs install their own stuff, they don't follow the documentation, if any even exists; they just install it the way that works, which probably bears no resemblance at all to the documentation.
On the other hand, Developers should be forced to watch while their software is installed, per the documentation, and then when nothing works, they should be given the documentation and made to fix it. Alternately, a separate person/team should watch the developers install their stuff on a clean system, and document every step they take, for reproducibility.
I'm curious. How much are you costing your employer by posting on Slashdot? If you spent as much time as you posting about how awesome money is, could you have found a better-paying job today?
It sounds like he was declining a 50% offer for at least 50% more work, which makes sense. If you have a choice between making 60k/yr. working 50 hours a week, or 90k/yr. working 85 hours a week, that 90k/yr. job is actually a pay cut.
Not in the USA. Here, Money isn't everything, it's the only thing. (To blatantly steal from Vince Lombardi.)
From experience doing repair work, I have to ask - how did you prevent your 2-year-old from physically destroying the laptop? This isn't a software question; I've had repair cases where a child's "play" managed to unseat the processor daughterboard, or wireless card, etc. Generally, the younger the child in question the more likely the damage was hardware vs. software related.