Might be cheaper in the short run, but in the long run, you have to keep on replacing them. Get a decent monitor, keyboard and mouse, and they will last for many years. Then you can replace the computer as it stops working, or as newer computers come along at really low prices.
We do laptops for my kid because we homeschool and having a portable platform for him to do "homework" while away from home is a definite advantage for us. But, I usually get free laptops that my friends are throwing away when I promise to securely wipe their drives and destroy any personal data. My cost is just my time, or on the rare occasion they want to keep the drive, another drive.
It's been pretty cheep so far... But, that's not to say my time is worthless either. I can see why people who don't have the IT skills I have keep buying new stuff, and I don't mind taking their cast offs...
Sure... Just be ready to re-image the thing... In fact that's what I do for my homeschooled kid (well what I used to do until the laptop died about a month ago). Whenever something strange starts happening, I pop in the media and restore the image. Problem solved...
I've actually considered just running Linux, putting the XP part in a VM and keeping a snapshot that gets restored every time the machine boots. It's just too much trouble to set up right now and my kid doesn't have that many years of school left to make it worth the time.
Actually, the problem is that we fall for the "It's for the starving children" political rhetoric and have VERY short memories. What happens in reality is what Jonathan Gruber (sp) said happened with the ACA, it's how you package it. It's all about the marketing and the sound bites and NOT about the truth. In short, lie, cheat and steal what you want and politics has turned into a PR propaganda campaign where the truth comes in second to the cause. "The ends justify the means."
However, all is not lost. Despite the problems of politics, the voters still do respond to such tactics eventually. Every Senator that got elected for their first time in 2008 and voted for the ACA just lost their re-election bid. Many others who voted for the ACA are also gone. Once the real effects of the ACA started to hit home and the propaganda proven untrue, the voters responded.
Short term, the tactic works, but in the long run, I still have faith in the voters... At least the slice of voters in the middle who actually decide things for us...
Although I knew that I would lose several civil rights, such as carrying a firearm, etc. I never believed that being put into the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Prisons would mean that my personal health history would be shared across thirty-five departments. I do not mind this, and it does not surprise me. However, this is just another example of big brother making decisions that are outside of my control.
When you're one of the few people who stays healthy through good nutrition and didn't get caught up in the medical matrix,
Oh how naïve of you... You DO remember that the ACA mandates coverage for 1 doctor visit a year for a physical. They will now know that you did or didn't make that visit, because it is the LAW now that you have health care insurance. The IRS will have to know about your insurance status to make sure you have it or paid your fines. So you may not have any health issues of interest, but information about you will still be available, like it or not.
Your only way of "opting out" of such tracking is to 1. Make sure the IRS doesn't know about you (No tax returns, No employment, No bank accounts, no health insurance) and 2. Make sure you NEVER see a doctor who will be obliged to report the visit and pay in cash. 3. Don't have a driver's license, own a car or have insurance on one. 4. No credit cards. 5. Don't register to vote (much less actually vote). 6. Don't get married, divorced, or have kids (heck, just never get an SSN in the first place.) And there is a lot more things, but you get the idea...
Don't figure on that healthy lifestyle keeping you out of the medical database. Healthy people do get sick and require medical treatment from time to time. Perhaps not as much as you, but as you get older your chances of needing medical care will only go up, even if you do continue your healthy ways.
You are tracked.... Like it or not, healthy or not, you will be tracked in public records, credit records and the like.
The really sad part is that people get so caught up in petty politics that they can't see that torturing people is immoral and ineffective and that maybe we should consider not fucking torturing people and hold ourselves to a higher standard than "other people are worse than us."
I'll accept your critique, but do try to THINK about and not just dismiss the political angle. This report was partisan in it's construction and partisan in it's release, and you can not dismiss that the timing of this was politically motivated. This was the democrats LAST CHANCE for at least 2 years to release this report which has been in the works now for at least 2 years (really more like 6+ years), not to mention that there clearly are things the administration wishes to deflect attention to going on right now. The timing was all about politics, make no mistake.
Also note that I'm not debating the issues raised, that some of what was done was neither helpful nor necessary and likely should have been avoided. I'm saying that the release of this information, at this time, is political and very partisan. If you cannot see that, then you are easily duped by rhetoric from your side. I suggest you be careful, politicians lie, mislead and obscure things to their advantage all the time.
This was 100% politics and had little to do with much else. Why else release such inflammatory information AGAIN?
I consider this the swan song of the democrats who are taking a scorched earth policy in their forced retreat. Their leaders knew all about this when it was happening and said almost nothing to stop it. Then, when they where in power, allowed the administration to use the same techniques without so much as a peep, but are all so willing to take credit for killing OBL who's location was discovered though such techniques. It's just political posturing, and not much more.
They are trying to make as much of a toxic mess for the republicans to clean up as possible while they can. That's what the "executive memo" on immigration was all about, that's what this is all about, that's what all the talk about a government shutdown was all about too. It's all about burning as much of the landscape to the ground as they can manage before the new congress is seated. It's about politics...
The really sad part though is that it is highly possible that the release of this report will cost Americans their lives. The world is a dangerous place, but it's stupid to poke the enemy or hand them such a public relations win as this will be. We will be lectured by Iran and North Korea for human rights abuses and you can bet ISIS will be happy to use this to recruit/conscript more help.
Like I said, I'm sorry for you, being that jaded. Being ethical is not being weak, in fact, quite the opposite. Being ethical is a strong position because it takes courage and commitment. It's a long term strategy for success where what you are suggesting is short term profit, long term failure.
Just "being a shark" as you put it, may look like the easy road to profit, but it's not a long term strategy. Take, for instance, selling used cars. If you look at customers as just rubes to be parted with as much money as possible, and you lie to make the sale, it will be your last sale to this customer and likely their friends. You make a short term gain over building a long term customer base where your customers return repeatedly and send their friends to do business with you. Personally, I'd rather do repeat business and get customers to recommend me to their friends over going the slimy "I'll lie to your face and you won't know it!" route to swindle them out of a few more bucks today. There are a number of car dealers I will NEVER go back to and I will encourage my friends not to go either. Sounds like some places where you will fit right in.
Ethics, doing what's right, regardless of what's done to you or who isn't looking, is actually one of the few ways to maintain your humanity. If you feel that it is necessary and advisable only to be ethical because it is profitable or you will be punished if you don't, you have totally missed the point. You sir are well on your way to all that is bad and horrible because you are all about you, and will willingly trample others to get what you want.
I implore you to not go down this road, it will destroy you and others in the end.
However, the best reason to not lie is that it is not ethical.
I could see lying if I were absolutely desperate, with starving kids, about to lose my home, and I just really wanted a job. As an employer, I'd also probably forgive a white lie from someone in that situation. But if the situation isn't dire, don't lie. It's not doing anyone any favors.
I don't agree with your exception. Personally, I'd suggest you tell the prospective employer the truth, regardless of the situation. In the case you describe I would say something like "I don't have the certificate but I really need the job. I've done this kind of work before and think I can be useful to you right away, but I would be more than willing to obtain the certification on my own if you want."
Personally, I would be more likely to cut somebody some slack who was up front with me and I'd respond to the above with something like "Do you think you could do it within 3 months?" If the answer was "Sure!" then barring any other candidates who where a better personality fit and assuming I thought the candidate could actually do the work, I'd be pretty likely to extend them an offer. I'd also bring them on and then offer to help pay for books, training and testing for the certifications I thought was necessary... But I'm not a bean counter MBA type who thinks all engineers are interchangeable cogs...
Just lie about what certs you have, in 12 years I've never had a single company ever ask me for proof of any of my dozens of certs.
Really bad advice. NEVER lie to a prospective employer. Sure, it may get you an interview and you might be able to BS your way into a job by claiming stuff you don't officially have, but is it worth it?
Is it worth it to be sitting on pins and needles waiting for them to check up on you and fire you? The IT world is generally pretty small in most areas. Unless you live in an area where there are a LOT of employers, lying to get a job is a reputation killer. You may think you can just walk away and get away with it, but don't be so sure.
However, the best reason to not lie is that it is not ethical. ALWAYS do the ethical thing. Stay above the fray, tell the truth and get the certifications for real. It may take longer and be harder, but in the long run it will be worth it.
It seems that NASA has become completely incapable of pulling off a launch, especially in the last few years. There always seems to be "technical hitches" that should have been ironed out YEARS before a vehicle was ever put on a launch pad.
Modern system engineering and "hurry up you fools!" being said to the lowest bidder is what we have, well that and literally a room full of newbies at launch control. I'm just happy they actually called it off and didn't just go though with it and lose the vehicle. It means SOMEBODY is at least trying to pay attention to things, unlike Challenger, where it was public pressure to launch coupled with nothing has happened before that killed the crew.
They will eventually get things going, eventually the newbies will get things off the ground. I just hope they keep being careful, because it's easy to forget how dangerous this stuff is.
Have they tried turning it off and on again? Oh, wait. They're actually doing that...
Yea, Right after trying the reset and reboot options.... If power cycle doesn't work they are going to try kicking it too... Says so here in the flight manual...
Dude... If you truly believe that tripe, you have some serious issues.
Contribution to the Steam Age AND to a greater extent the Information Age has been pretty much independent of one's specific plumbing as determined by the number of X and Y chromosomes you have. Where there has traditionally been male and female dominated careers, the contribution of both has not been one sided. I'd be careful claiming "male genius" as something better than the female kind because it is not.
Full disclosure... I'm a happily married white man with kids...
I didn't think the methods for gaming the US stock market were secret.
Generally they are well known and these days it's called high volume, high frequency trading... What's not so well known are the rules used by various companies when automating these trades. If you know the rules being used, one can project how entitles will trade. If you are good at guessing (because you know their rules) you have the advantage.
These days, all is so well known that the latency of the connection to the trading platform starts to become important and shaving off a few milliseconds amounts to a lot of money for traders. They've even gone so far as to physically shorten network links and use old analog transmission equipment to shave off fractions of seconds... It's a crazy world.
Not that an individual trader in Timbuktu cannot actually make money day trading... That is still possible. It's just that method is paying off less and other methods are more reliable income producers.
Slashdot Mirror
My mistake... make that "most" instead of "every"...
Might be cheaper in the short run, but in the long run, you have to keep on replacing them. Get a decent monitor, keyboard and mouse, and they will last for many years. Then you can replace the computer as it stops working, or as newer computers come along at really low prices.
We do laptops for my kid because we homeschool and having a portable platform for him to do "homework" while away from home is a definite advantage for us. But, I usually get free laptops that my friends are throwing away when I promise to securely wipe their drives and destroy any personal data. My cost is just my time, or on the rare occasion they want to keep the drive, another drive.
It's been pretty cheep so far... But, that's not to say my time is worthless either. I can see why people who don't have the IT skills I have keep buying new stuff, and I don't mind taking their cast offs...
And you would connect one of them to a network?
Sure... Just be ready to re-image the thing... In fact that's what I do for my homeschooled kid (well what I used to do until the laptop died about a month ago). Whenever something strange starts happening, I pop in the media and restore the image. Problem solved...
I've actually considered just running Linux, putting the XP part in a VM and keeping a snapshot that gets restored every time the machine boots. It's just too much trouble to set up right now and my kid doesn't have that many years of school left to make it worth the time.
Actually, the problem is that we fall for the "It's for the starving children" political rhetoric and have VERY short memories. What happens in reality is what Jonathan Gruber (sp) said happened with the ACA, it's how you package it. It's all about the marketing and the sound bites and NOT about the truth. In short, lie, cheat and steal what you want and politics has turned into a PR propaganda campaign where the truth comes in second to the cause. "The ends justify the means."
However, all is not lost. Despite the problems of politics, the voters still do respond to such tactics eventually. Every Senator that got elected for their first time in 2008 and voted for the ACA just lost their re-election bid. Many others who voted for the ACA are also gone. Once the real effects of the ACA started to hit home and the propaganda proven untrue, the voters responded.
Short term, the tactic works, but in the long run, I still have faith in the voters... At least the slice of voters in the middle who actually decide things for us...
Right, I thought you could just go get one now w/o fear of being deported. Didn't the Big "O" take care of that immigration thing?
Are these agencies going to be covered under HIPAA? Or is this going to be a big giant free for all?
B It's going to be a giant free for all, but don't worry, it already is. They are just adding more data, no need to worry... (sarc off)
Although I knew that I would lose several civil rights, such as carrying a firearm, etc. I never believed that being put into the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Prisons would mean that my personal health history would be shared across thirty-five departments. I do not mind this, and it does not surprise me. However, this is just another example of big brother making decisions that are outside of my control.
See my story at The Market is not Random.
-Anthony
Just my opinion...
When you're one of the few people who stays healthy through good nutrition and didn't get caught up in the medical matrix,
Oh how naïve of you... You DO remember that the ACA mandates coverage for 1 doctor visit a year for a physical. They will now know that you did or didn't make that visit, because it is the LAW now that you have health care insurance. The IRS will have to know about your insurance status to make sure you have it or paid your fines. So you may not have any health issues of interest, but information about you will still be available, like it or not.
Your only way of "opting out" of such tracking is to 1. Make sure the IRS doesn't know about you (No tax returns, No employment, No bank accounts, no health insurance) and 2. Make sure you NEVER see a doctor who will be obliged to report the visit and pay in cash. 3. Don't have a driver's license, own a car or have insurance on one. 4. No credit cards. 5. Don't register to vote (much less actually vote). 6. Don't get married, divorced, or have kids (heck, just never get an SSN in the first place.) And there is a lot more things, but you get the idea...
Don't figure on that healthy lifestyle keeping you out of the medical database. Healthy people do get sick and require medical treatment from time to time. Perhaps not as much as you, but as you get older your chances of needing medical care will only go up, even if you do continue your healthy ways.
You are tracked.... Like it or not, healthy or not, you will be tracked in public records, credit records and the like.
An old laptop running XP would work..... Might be cheaper too.. I find them in the trash all the time.
The really sad part is that people get so caught up in petty politics that they can't see that torturing people is immoral and ineffective and that maybe we should consider not fucking torturing people and hold ourselves to a higher standard than "other people are worse than us."
I'll accept your critique, but do try to THINK about and not just dismiss the political angle. This report was partisan in it's construction and partisan in it's release, and you can not dismiss that the timing of this was politically motivated. This was the democrats LAST CHANCE for at least 2 years to release this report which has been in the works now for at least 2 years (really more like 6+ years), not to mention that there clearly are things the administration wishes to deflect attention to going on right now. The timing was all about politics, make no mistake.
Also note that I'm not debating the issues raised, that some of what was done was neither helpful nor necessary and likely should have been avoided. I'm saying that the release of this information, at this time, is political and very partisan. If you cannot see that, then you are easily duped by rhetoric from your side. I suggest you be careful, politicians lie, mislead and obscure things to their advantage all the time.
For which administration?
The last TWO have done the same things. You want to try them both?
In USA a report like this is allowed to surface.
for political reasons. Yea, it's a great thing...
This was 100% politics and had little to do with much else. Why else release such inflammatory information AGAIN?
I consider this the swan song of the democrats who are taking a scorched earth policy in their forced retreat. Their leaders knew all about this when it was happening and said almost nothing to stop it. Then, when they where in power, allowed the administration to use the same techniques without so much as a peep, but are all so willing to take credit for killing OBL who's location was discovered though such techniques. It's just political posturing, and not much more.
They are trying to make as much of a toxic mess for the republicans to clean up as possible while they can. That's what the "executive memo" on immigration was all about, that's what this is all about, that's what all the talk about a government shutdown was all about too. It's all about burning as much of the landscape to the ground as they can manage before the new congress is seated. It's about politics...
The really sad part though is that it is highly possible that the release of this report will cost Americans their lives. The world is a dangerous place, but it's stupid to poke the enemy or hand them such a public relations win as this will be. We will be lectured by Iran and North Korea for human rights abuses and you can bet ISIS will be happy to use this to recruit/conscript more help.
(sarcasm)Oh Yea! That's great.. (/sarcasm)
Like I said, I'm sorry for you, being that jaded. Being ethical is not being weak, in fact, quite the opposite. Being ethical is a strong position because it takes courage and commitment. It's a long term strategy for success where what you are suggesting is short term profit, long term failure.
Just "being a shark" as you put it, may look like the easy road to profit, but it's not a long term strategy. Take, for instance, selling used cars. If you look at customers as just rubes to be parted with as much money as possible, and you lie to make the sale, it will be your last sale to this customer and likely their friends. You make a short term gain over building a long term customer base where your customers return repeatedly and send their friends to do business with you. Personally, I'd rather do repeat business and get customers to recommend me to their friends over going the slimy "I'll lie to your face and you won't know it!" route to swindle them out of a few more bucks today. There are a number of car dealers I will NEVER go back to and I will encourage my friends not to go either. Sounds like some places where you will fit right in.
You are so jaded, I feel sorry for you.
Ethics, doing what's right, regardless of what's done to you or who isn't looking, is actually one of the few ways to maintain your humanity. If you feel that it is necessary and advisable only to be ethical because it is profitable or you will be punished if you don't, you have totally missed the point. You sir are well on your way to all that is bad and horrible because you are all about you, and will willingly trample others to get what you want.
I implore you to not go down this road, it will destroy you and others in the end.
However, the best reason to not lie is that it is not ethical.
I could see lying if I were absolutely desperate, with starving kids, about to lose my home, and I just really wanted a job. As an employer, I'd also probably forgive a white lie from someone in that situation. But if the situation isn't dire, don't lie. It's not doing anyone any favors.
I don't agree with your exception. Personally, I'd suggest you tell the prospective employer the truth, regardless of the situation. In the case you describe I would say something like "I don't have the certificate but I really need the job. I've done this kind of work before and think I can be useful to you right away, but I would be more than willing to obtain the certification on my own if you want."
Personally, I would be more likely to cut somebody some slack who was up front with me and I'd respond to the above with something like "Do you think you could do it within 3 months?" If the answer was "Sure!" then barring any other candidates who where a better personality fit and assuming I thought the candidate could actually do the work, I'd be pretty likely to extend them an offer. I'd also bring them on and then offer to help pay for books, training and testing for the certifications I thought was necessary... But I'm not a bean counter MBA type who thinks all engineers are interchangeable cogs...
Dear god please, we already have enough of you and I don't think I can take another.
What? And be a lawyer? I know it's a step up but...
Just lie about what certs you have, in 12 years I've never had a single company ever ask me for proof of any of my dozens of certs.
Really bad advice. NEVER lie to a prospective employer. Sure, it may get you an interview and you might be able to BS your way into a job by claiming stuff you don't officially have, but is it worth it?
Is it worth it to be sitting on pins and needles waiting for them to check up on you and fire you? The IT world is generally pretty small in most areas. Unless you live in an area where there are a LOT of employers, lying to get a job is a reputation killer. You may think you can just walk away and get away with it, but don't be so sure.
However, the best reason to not lie is that it is not ethical. ALWAYS do the ethical thing. Stay above the fray, tell the truth and get the certifications for real. It may take longer and be harder, but in the long run it will be worth it.
It seems that NASA has become completely incapable of pulling off a launch, especially in the last few years. There always seems to be "technical hitches" that should have been ironed out YEARS before a vehicle was ever put on a launch pad.
Modern system engineering and "hurry up you fools!" being said to the lowest bidder is what we have, well that and literally a room full of newbies at launch control. I'm just happy they actually called it off and didn't just go though with it and lose the vehicle. It means SOMEBODY is at least trying to pay attention to things, unlike Challenger, where it was public pressure to launch coupled with nothing has happened before that killed the crew.
They will eventually get things going, eventually the newbies will get things off the ground. I just hope they keep being careful, because it's easy to forget how dangerous this stuff is.
Have they tried turning it off and on again? Oh, wait. They're actually doing that...
Yea, Right after trying the reset and reboot options.... If power cycle doesn't work they are going to try kicking it too... Says so here in the flight manual...
Up next, access to health care, quality education, affordable housing, and equal rights under the law.
What about "Net Neutrality" ?
Can parents opt out their children of these big brother data gathering devices?
Sure, homeschool. It's legal in all 50 states, to varying degrees.
Dude... If you truly believe that tripe, you have some serious issues.
Contribution to the Steam Age AND to a greater extent the Information Age has been pretty much independent of one's specific plumbing as determined by the number of X and Y chromosomes you have. Where there has traditionally been male and female dominated careers, the contribution of both has not been one sided. I'd be careful claiming "male genius" as something better than the female kind because it is not.
Full disclosure... I'm a happily married white man with kids...
I didn't think the methods for gaming the US stock market were secret.
Generally they are well known and these days it's called high volume, high frequency trading... What's not so well known are the rules used by various companies when automating these trades. If you know the rules being used, one can project how entitles will trade. If you are good at guessing (because you know their rules) you have the advantage.
These days, all is so well known that the latency of the connection to the trading platform starts to become important and shaving off a few milliseconds amounts to a lot of money for traders. They've even gone so far as to physically shorten network links and use old analog transmission equipment to shave off fractions of seconds... It's a crazy world.
Not that an individual trader in Timbuktu cannot actually make money day trading... That is still possible. It's just that method is paying off less and other methods are more reliable income producers.
Come on... We have a LONG history of public shaming..
24 hours in the stocks, public hangings, chain gangs and even pink underwear have all had their place.
I fear that you are correct though, I doubt these things deter crime in any meaningful way.
Also separately but related, will this make wired internet and cable (copper or fiber) obsolete?
No, never going to happen. Wires and fiber are here to stay due to the lack of available bandwidth though the air.