I have to agree with you. I bought a Sony BR player and it wouldn't play the BR discs I purchased. Needed an upgrade of firmware. I tried to do that and the process repeatedly failed. I called Sony and they said "it won't update properly via WiFi, use a cable. I ran a LAN cable 50 feet to my router. Same error. Returned the deck. I tried to play BR on my PC. More DRM crap.
I'm not buying Blu Ray discs anymore. They are a pain in the ass to play (or "attempt to play").
There is a lot of variability throughout the years with Sony VHS players. Back in the early '90s, the quality was very good (and I paid 700 dollars for a VHS/HiFi deck). Later, when they started outsourcing to China, their quality went to crap (early 2000 vintage).
I own both decks FWIW.
Using an Android tablet right now. Listening to my favorite radio station over internet sitting in a chair under a shade tree. I don't have to worry about stuff falling is a keyboard but typing on a piece of glass is awful and inefficient.
Dang! You did it again!
Incorrect assumption.
Have you ever thought that I was well-paid? If you look up my other post regarding technical workers being paid over 100K, you'll notice I was in that bunch. New hires were paid about 40% less than I. Come on now! Stop making such uninformed comments.
Stop jumping to conclusions.
You don't know what you're talking about.
I've been in engineering all of my career. I stayed in the same company (a good one I'll add) for my 35 year career. I only moved when I wanted to move. I worked in the Bay Area and later Colorado and moved (my choice) back to California. I spent most of my career outside of the Bay Area FWIW.
As I mentioned, my niece was laid off 3 times in her 5 year teaching career (and reinstated each time).
I am not "sadly misinformed".
I tried to talk my niece in to going in to engineering. She was a pretty bright person. One semester after taking chemistry (not engineering) and she commented "it's really hard, the math is too difficult for me".
What did she end up doing? She got a teaching credential and is now teaching algebra.
I'm disappointed. She (frankly) took the easy way out and is making about half what an engineer could have made. She's been "laid off" three times with various government cutbacks in California. If she just stuck with it (and she could have) she'd have a good job.
I just retired recently. EE degree with a "big computer company" and had no problem making the proverbial "six figures" in California (peaked out at about 130K). Fortunately, I moved out of the Bay Area a bit East to lower cost of living. Housing costs dropped to about one third. Better living environment too.
It can be done with perseverance and without going in to "management" if one has good technical skills.
In my case, I just love technology but it doesn't run my life. It is fun though:-)
It started out a "hobby" and later became the "big thing" of the future.
I was lucky my fun became my profession. Now I get to play again on my own time.
Life is good.
Built like a tank in the late 1960s. Outlasted two "Generally Defective" (G.E.) Chinese pieces of crap that I've had for the last five years. The only reason I stopped using it is the knobs on it are getting worn out. I think I'm just going to fix them and go back.
Some people brag about working long hours but may just not be good time managers or may not perform efficiently with their jobs.
Many jobs work in "waves" of activity with requirements for more hours when the shit hits the fan and time for slacking or working on discretionary projects when things mellow out. I've worked in such a job. It's actually pretty fun to work in this atmosphere.
The bottom line is to get the job done.
If one is constantly working long hours, it can be a result of several factors. Perhaps someone just likes working long hours. Perhaps they don't have a good family life at home and work is their escape. They could be stupid and it just takes them a long time to get stuff done. It is possible for their management to be under-staffing. In that case, adapting to the situation by permanently working long hours masks the problem of under-staffing. However, if one allows this to continue, it'll likely become status quo.
There's really no "one answer" to this situation.
In my case, I worked in a small engineering team for "one of those big computer companies" and really enjoyed my job. Most of the time (in my case) I didn't have to work 40 hours to get things done. This was primarily because of effective time management and experience with my skill.
YMMV
Hewlett-Packard ended when Carly Fiorina took over the company and displaced HP management with Compaq management. Divide and conquer (and it worked). She even renamed it to "HP" instead of its founder's names.
Since then, the remains of what used to be a great company has had a constant flow of cost-cutting CEOs (the present one included) that have hacked away at HP's R&D expenditures and have alienated the remaining employees who really cared. Most of which have moved on to better lives.
I call it "the continuing estate sale of Hewlett-Packard Company".
Actually the insurance premiums make a giant step function when one earns greater than approximately $47K.
My partner's insurance went up 111.3% (Kaiser) with the cheapest "bronze" policy. Beforehand, she only sought major medical coverage and had about the same deductible. Her premium increased from a little under $300/month to about $590/month (I don't have the exact numbers here but I do recall the 111.3% increase number).
She's 61 years old and now has the benefit of prenatal care/birth control and she can get a gender change with insurance should she decide to grow a dick.
This whole thing is a catastrophe. The net result to the middle class (actually, anyone that is single earning over $47K) is getting to pay more than twice the premium for similar coverage.
Take a look at the PC screens at Home Depot (Windows XP). Fry's Electronics (heck, they sell the new stuff... they're using XP on the store's floor). My dentist office (XP). It goes on. What other big hitters that I've missed?
http://redmondmag.com/articles/2013/09/23/xp-still-in-use-by-28-percent.aspx indicates 28.98% are still using XP.
Lighting is relatively small in power usage in comparison to the good ol' electric clothes dryer. You don't see the environmentalists clambering about the virtues of clotheslines. Other "big hitters" are air conditioners.
Heck, house sizes have also dramatically increased, increasing demand on air conditioning, heating and lighting.
Most of this incandescent hoopla ignores the real energy wasters IMHO.
I agree with you. The results would be unpredictable. It's possible that semiconductor "latchup" could occur which would catastrophically damage circuits in the ECM of the vehicle.
I don't believe this would be an issue of temporarily disabling the vehicle.
It is impossible to tell how various designs would respond to a high level RF field but I'd place my money on irreparable damage to circuitry.
Frankly, I can't think of anything I want to buy at this stage of my life. I have a good stereo set, a decent flat screen TV, about 6 computers or so, a car I'm happy with, a boat that I'm happy with and I'm pretty much satisfied with my life. Oh yes, I have a good life partner, place to live and health (so far).
Now and then I take a trip to the local "technology store" (Fry's) and I take a look at newegg and tigerdirect to see if I'm missing out on anything. I'm not.
I seem to spend most of my discretionary funds on travel lately (mostly tropical places).
If there was some trinket I needed to buy, I would have already bought it. I guess I'm just in the "enjoy life" stage and really don't want to buy any crap at this time. I already have enough of it.
I'm a bad consumer. I'm happy with what I have.
My father just died 2 weeks ago. He felt the same way meaning he'd "rather put a bullet in his head than live that way". When Alzheimer's sets in, one is no longer able to off themselves. It's a slow progression over many years. I would suspect he was in a similar condition to Scott's father.
We went through a broken shoulder, a broken hip and at broken hip #2, his body finally threw in the towel. We were told he wouldn't make it through a second hip repair surgery. At this point, he didn't even know what his name was (prior to pain meds. for clarification). In his Living Will, he specified to administer drugs to alleviate pain even though it may "hasten his death". He finally got his wish.
Liquid morphine to the rescue.
Hospice care was wonderful to him I'll add.
The "shutdown" hasn't effected me one bit. I don't use any of the agencies that are shut down. When I worked (I retired a year ago) I worked for a computer company and the folks I worked with see no difference right now.
Frankly, I wish they'd refund me some of the taxes ($20k/yr.) I paid for not their working. We should be saving money due to their not being paid. As far as I am concerned, they can shut down more stuff if it saves me money because I fund my own retirement and don't use hardly any government services.
YMMV as they say.
Ballmer had a second chance to correct the "Vista problem". His "solution": Windows 8
Yesterday Hewlett-Packard commented that the lack of interest in Windows 8 effected their revenue on PCs FWIW.
Whether it did or did not, it remains a piece of excrement, similar to the Vista introduction.
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The true test regarding whether or a job should exist is to ask "would the customer be willing to pay for the position in the cost of the product?"
I have to agree with you. I bought a Sony BR player and it wouldn't play the BR discs I purchased. Needed an upgrade of firmware. I tried to do that and the process repeatedly failed. I called Sony and they said "it won't update properly via WiFi, use a cable. I ran a LAN cable 50 feet to my router. Same error. Returned the deck. I tried to play BR on my PC. More DRM crap. I'm not buying Blu Ray discs anymore. They are a pain in the ass to play (or "attempt to play").
There is a lot of variability throughout the years with Sony VHS players. Back in the early '90s, the quality was very good (and I paid 700 dollars for a VHS/HiFi deck). Later, when they started outsourcing to China, their quality went to crap (early 2000 vintage). I own both decks FWIW.
Using an Android tablet right now. Listening to my favorite radio station over internet sitting in a chair under a shade tree. I don't have to worry about stuff falling is a keyboard but typing on a piece of glass is awful and inefficient.
Things could be worse. You could be me. Rural area with only option satellite internet with a 10 GB cap.
Dang! You did it again! Incorrect assumption. Have you ever thought that I was well-paid? If you look up my other post regarding technical workers being paid over 100K, you'll notice I was in that bunch. New hires were paid about 40% less than I. Come on now! Stop making such uninformed comments. Stop jumping to conclusions. You don't know what you're talking about.
I've been in engineering all of my career. I stayed in the same company (a good one I'll add) for my 35 year career. I only moved when I wanted to move. I worked in the Bay Area and later Colorado and moved (my choice) back to California. I spent most of my career outside of the Bay Area FWIW. As I mentioned, my niece was laid off 3 times in her 5 year teaching career (and reinstated each time). I am not "sadly misinformed".
I tried to talk my niece in to going in to engineering. She was a pretty bright person. One semester after taking chemistry (not engineering) and she commented "it's really hard, the math is too difficult for me". What did she end up doing? She got a teaching credential and is now teaching algebra. I'm disappointed. She (frankly) took the easy way out and is making about half what an engineer could have made. She's been "laid off" three times with various government cutbacks in California. If she just stuck with it (and she could have) she'd have a good job.
I just retired recently. EE degree with a "big computer company" and had no problem making the proverbial "six figures" in California (peaked out at about 130K). Fortunately, I moved out of the Bay Area a bit East to lower cost of living. Housing costs dropped to about one third. Better living environment too. It can be done with perseverance and without going in to "management" if one has good technical skills. In my case, I just love technology but it doesn't run my life. It is fun though :-)
It started out a "hobby" and later became the "big thing" of the future.
I was lucky my fun became my profession. Now I get to play again on my own time.
Life is good.
Built like a tank in the late 1960s. Outlasted two "Generally Defective" (G.E.) Chinese pieces of crap that I've had for the last five years. The only reason I stopped using it is the knobs on it are getting worn out. I think I'm just going to fix them and go back.
I once read an entertaining bumper sticker: "If voting made a difference, they'd outlaw it". "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
Or an Ubuntu OS on a disc.
Some people brag about working long hours but may just not be good time managers or may not perform efficiently with their jobs. Many jobs work in "waves" of activity with requirements for more hours when the shit hits the fan and time for slacking or working on discretionary projects when things mellow out. I've worked in such a job. It's actually pretty fun to work in this atmosphere. The bottom line is to get the job done. If one is constantly working long hours, it can be a result of several factors. Perhaps someone just likes working long hours. Perhaps they don't have a good family life at home and work is their escape. They could be stupid and it just takes them a long time to get stuff done. It is possible for their management to be under-staffing. In that case, adapting to the situation by permanently working long hours masks the problem of under-staffing. However, if one allows this to continue, it'll likely become status quo. There's really no "one answer" to this situation. In my case, I worked in a small engineering team for "one of those big computer companies" and really enjoyed my job. Most of the time (in my case) I didn't have to work 40 hours to get things done. This was primarily because of effective time management and experience with my skill. YMMV
Actually, "the volume goes to eleven". (sorry, I just couldn't resist interjecting this).
Hewlett-Packard ended when Carly Fiorina took over the company and displaced HP management with Compaq management. Divide and conquer (and it worked). She even renamed it to "HP" instead of its founder's names. Since then, the remains of what used to be a great company has had a constant flow of cost-cutting CEOs (the present one included) that have hacked away at HP's R&D expenditures and have alienated the remaining employees who really cared. Most of which have moved on to better lives. I call it "the continuing estate sale of Hewlett-Packard Company".
The American population is essentially either taking welfare or working for the Gubment. Keep them fat, happy and stupid and they'll re-elect you.
Actually the insurance premiums make a giant step function when one earns greater than approximately $47K. My partner's insurance went up 111.3% (Kaiser) with the cheapest "bronze" policy. Beforehand, she only sought major medical coverage and had about the same deductible. Her premium increased from a little under $300/month to about $590/month (I don't have the exact numbers here but I do recall the 111.3% increase number). She's 61 years old and now has the benefit of prenatal care/birth control and she can get a gender change with insurance should she decide to grow a dick. This whole thing is a catastrophe. The net result to the middle class (actually, anyone that is single earning over $47K) is getting to pay more than twice the premium for similar coverage.
Take a look at the PC screens at Home Depot (Windows XP). Fry's Electronics (heck, they sell the new stuff... they're using XP on the store's floor). My dentist office (XP). It goes on. What other big hitters that I've missed? http://redmondmag.com/articles/2013/09/23/xp-still-in-use-by-28-percent.aspx indicates 28.98% are still using XP.
Lighting is relatively small in power usage in comparison to the good ol' electric clothes dryer. You don't see the environmentalists clambering about the virtues of clotheslines. Other "big hitters" are air conditioners. Heck, house sizes have also dramatically increased, increasing demand on air conditioning, heating and lighting. Most of this incandescent hoopla ignores the real energy wasters IMHO.
Perhaps they'll "get out of the door and out on the street all alone". The fresh air may kill them.
I agree with you. The results would be unpredictable. It's possible that semiconductor "latchup" could occur which would catastrophically damage circuits in the ECM of the vehicle. I don't believe this would be an issue of temporarily disabling the vehicle. It is impossible to tell how various designs would respond to a high level RF field but I'd place my money on irreparable damage to circuitry.
Frankly, I can't think of anything I want to buy at this stage of my life. I have a good stereo set, a decent flat screen TV, about 6 computers or so, a car I'm happy with, a boat that I'm happy with and I'm pretty much satisfied with my life. Oh yes, I have a good life partner, place to live and health (so far). Now and then I take a trip to the local "technology store" (Fry's) and I take a look at newegg and tigerdirect to see if I'm missing out on anything. I'm not. I seem to spend most of my discretionary funds on travel lately (mostly tropical places). If there was some trinket I needed to buy, I would have already bought it. I guess I'm just in the "enjoy life" stage and really don't want to buy any crap at this time. I already have enough of it. I'm a bad consumer. I'm happy with what I have.
My father just died 2 weeks ago. He felt the same way meaning he'd "rather put a bullet in his head than live that way". When Alzheimer's sets in, one is no longer able to off themselves. It's a slow progression over many years. I would suspect he was in a similar condition to Scott's father. We went through a broken shoulder, a broken hip and at broken hip #2, his body finally threw in the towel. We were told he wouldn't make it through a second hip repair surgery. At this point, he didn't even know what his name was (prior to pain meds. for clarification). In his Living Will, he specified to administer drugs to alleviate pain even though it may "hasten his death". He finally got his wish. Liquid morphine to the rescue. Hospice care was wonderful to him I'll add.
The "shutdown" hasn't effected me one bit. I don't use any of the agencies that are shut down. When I worked (I retired a year ago) I worked for a computer company and the folks I worked with see no difference right now. Frankly, I wish they'd refund me some of the taxes ($20k/yr.) I paid for not their working. We should be saving money due to their not being paid. As far as I am concerned, they can shut down more stuff if it saves me money because I fund my own retirement and don't use hardly any government services. YMMV as they say.
Ballmer had a second chance to correct the "Vista problem". His "solution": Windows 8 Yesterday Hewlett-Packard commented that the lack of interest in Windows 8 effected their revenue on PCs FWIW. Whether it did or did not, it remains a piece of excrement, similar to the Vista introduction.