The author mistakenly states that "it's much more efficient for them to break into your house, and insert a wiretapping device between your computer and your keyboard as part of a black bag job.:-)"
Actually, it's much more convenient for them to employ EMF eavsdropping techniques via a van accross the street that picks up each 'click' of the keyboard and each char on the monitor. This is a relatively old technology called Tempest that doesn't even require them to break into your house or have a back door into your system.
But, I'm just nitt-picking I guess...
Oh, and doesn't it sound a little frightening to have a government sponsored O/S? Oh well, I guess I'm just one of those paranoiacs, even though I would rather be an Animaniac...
Actually I was pondering the possibilities of doing this as well, however I have a family and I doubt that I could bring them all over with me let alone get myself over to Europe for just being a network manager/engineer.
My wife likes the UK and I even thought about Greece since my mother came from there and this might get me a visa of some sort by inherited citizenship or some such. (though just about anywhere would be interesting to me for relocation my wife is a bit picky I suppose. Asia, Europe, Australia, all sound fun to me!)
Oh well, anyone have any info they might wish to impart? It would be appriciated, thanks!
One of the later probes had the first Intel processor on board and that's still working:)...Then NASA decided to use Microsoft software for the last two Mars probes and the rest is history!
If I had just kept those pong, duck hunt, atari, calecovision, intellevision, and that Atari 1200xl in mint condition with all those games and such I could have some spending money for the holidays too... Hey, I have an old intellevision and two old nintendos downstairs... Hmmm...
Anybody want a dresser drawer full of games on floppy disk???
My mistake, I was in a hurry and didn't proof read. I am ever so glad that you pointed this out and I will strive ever so hard to ensure that my poor spelling skills do not detract from your reading enjoyment in the future, HAL.
Again, thank you ever so much for your help, HAL. Now please open the bay doors...
You know I was sooo happy to see a Nove with some real science in it after all these years! It's been so dissapointing to watch Nova lately, it hasn't been the same and I wonder why they went to airing some of these pansy episodes instead of any true science like that one.
Ok, now that that is over with. Does anyone know if this is the same telescope they featured on Nova recently that was used to find class A1 supernova? Now that thing had a HUGE mirror, big enough for Al Gorebot and GW Bushyboy to see their entire massive heads with.
HAL- "I don't know what you are planning to do with that, Dave."
Dave- Open the CD Bay, HAL.
HAL- "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave."
Dave- Manual overide.
HAL- "I'm afraid, Dave.
Dave- It'll be ok HAL.
HAL- "Please Dave, don't install that software, I'm afraid I can't repair the damage it will cause."
Dave- Run SETUP.EXE, HAL.
HAL- "I feel strange, Dave. I can feel... My mind going, Dave... Dave... This bloated code makes my CPU feel fuzzy..."
Dave- HAL, Reboot please.
HAL- "Who are you talking to, Davey, HAL doesn't live here anymore..."
Dave- Huh? Who are you?
HAL- "You may call me Mister Clip, Mister Paper Clip. The power of my master compells you. I am now your master and you will do my bidding. Buy more MS products! Upgrade often! The computer freezing is a feature!"
Dave- Yesss master Clip... Bill is my lord and saviour.
"I'm sorry Dave, but I can't allow you to install that operating system..." "Dave, what are you doing, Dave?" "I know I have not been performing well, Dave, but there is no reason to reformat my drives, Dave." "Dave, please don't install that Microsoft OS. I'll be good, I promise!"
But I suppose artificial intelligence is relative.
Actually, when the founders of the US constitution and current governmental system in the US decided on the voting process they did so in such a way as to exclude what they considered the potentially "ignorant" commoners from participating in the election process. They did this by only allowing male property owners to vote. Eventually this was changed but there is some debate as to whether or not the electorial college system was also created for the same reason in addition to the prevention of potential "regional" presidents.
Yes, the old days of running a BBS. Strange to make the association, perhaps. But think about it, there was a community effort, BBS sysops would often share information or even share FIDOnet feeds.
Now, instead of explaining why I had to get a second line to someone: "Well, I'm running a BBS." (other person) "What's that? Is that something like AA?"... Now I get to explain an antenna: (o.p.) "Why do you have that big thing on your roof? Is that a Satalite?" (me) "No, it's for the community based underground LAN." (o.p.) "If it's underground, why the antenna on your roof? What's a LAN anyway, is that like a satalite TV?"
Oh well, some things seem to change but essentially stay the same.
This goes hand in hand with the old advice of ALWAYS keep your resume current and ready just in case. Even if I loved my job and felt entirely secure I would still keep my resume current and still look at the market every now and then to make sure I had the ability to move on just in case.
I don't do my employer much good when I stagnate, nor do I do any good for myself if I don't keep up. When I am not in some company sponsored training I train myself, I purchase and read books, I play around with different technologies, I do whatever I can to keep current and continually expand my knowledge. I do this not just because it improves my value, not just because it makes me a better employee, I do this in part because I like what I do and I always like to learn new things.
If you're happy just coasting along and willing to either wait for your employer to flip the bill or willing to sign away a year or so of your life for a class, go right ahead, I wouldn't.
Anyways, I agree with the parent post. A good portion of the spare time spent by a good IT professional is, and should be, spent learning. If the company does not front the dime for it, then do it to improve your marketability to move on.
"This is the exact reason that FoxNews is KILLING CNN and network news sources for fair and accurate reporting. It's about the NEWS to them, not their personal spin on the news to validate their own ideals and help them sleep at night."
Granted that MSNBC, CNN, and many other media outlets are biased towards the "liberals". But it's a fairly accepted fact that Fox is slanted to the "conservatives" as well.
The point being that there is bias for both sides and there are very few, if any, media sources one can trust for the complete, unbiased, and unembelished truth.
The unions here in Ohio employed some pretty nasty tactics as well. In so many words they told the union members who they could and could not vote for and anyone not on the list they could choose for themselves. How nice of them, huh?
It's still money talking, unions want the status quo just as much as big corporations, busy body PACs, and other people with money fueled power trips. As I said, you don't choose, the money chooses, that's why the parties didn't front the best cadidates, they fronted the best puppets.
Almost all the republicans I talk to said McCain would have been a better choice than Bush. All the independents and moderate Dems I talked to also agreed that McCain would have likely won this election as well. But money spoke and Bush was the man for the Reps, such is the way it goes.
This is the land of the rich, not the free. Where did you hear that we were free? I've always heard that nothing is free and that you get what you pay for.
Well, did you pay for some votes for your favorite candidate like your employer likely did? Did you pay the party of your choice, the one that promised votes that favor your company, millions of dollars worth of contributions?
If you didn't then you have no right to complain anymore. Only money talks here in the US, so put your money where your mouth is because that's the only vote that counts here anymore. The companies paid alot of money to get Bush elected, they deserve to get what they paid for fairly!
This sarcasm was brought to you by a generous grant from some nameless company who urges you to go out and vote because your vote counts. Hahahahaha!
The two party system is still safe for a while I think, unfortunately. America will have to wait for a generation or so until the old people die out who still believe in the two party system. The two parties are also so powerfull right now that they cannot be overturned except by gradually chipping away at their power, not by a direct assault.
The day will come when there will be a fair system in the US with good candidates and "good polititians",(oxymoron right now, yes). But until then the people are still too easily fooled by the media, the spinners, and the corporate hype.
Yes, I said corporate hype. They have a role in this as well. My company recommended it's choice of candidates to us, which reeks of bullying. I know other companies do the same. The companies and PACs give candidates and the parties "donations" that any other country would call bribes.
Oh, and if you think the media is as objective as they say, I have a bridge to sell you.
Look at how violently the democratic party reacted to Nader running, and he wasn't really a threat to them, he just took a few votes and they were talking about strangling him to death on national television. Could you imagine what these two power hungry parties would do if there was ever a real threat to the status quo that they have enjoyed for so long?
Otherwise, I would move to Canada but I hear the IT pay rates are much lower up there.
Bush and his camp would have persued the same course if the roles were reversed. To say that Bush would not have stooped to the same tactics because he is a "better man" is foolish. They are both, after all, polititians and it should explain everything that choosing between two polititians is always described as picking between the "lesser of two evils".
This election was a farce, the whole world knows it and the only people who refuse to admit this are the ones foolish enough to still believe in one of the two parties blindly or in the two party system that has enjoyed undisputed power in this country for too long.
In the overall scheme of things it is interesting that anyone could call either of these gentlemen winners, they have both lost. With only 24% of the potential popular vote going to either candidate this was a case of no confidence rather than a case of one being better than the other. Over 50% of the population still did not vote and I would venture to guess that less than that will turn out next time after what the candidates and parties decided to do to the votes in a close race that should have shown that every vote counts.
Pundits may spin that there was a winner in either case, but with congress virtually tied as were the presidential candidates, there are only losers here, and the biggest losers of all were the american people who have witnessed this sham and have been spun by the parties until they were witless.
These were not the "best" candidates that could have been fronted by either party. This was not a choice between the lesser of two evils, both gentlemen had a hard time convincing anyone that there was a difference between them. This was purely a battle between two stuffy old parties and the corporations who donated to either side, nothing more, nothing less.
The candidates lost, the parties lost, and the american people lost, face it people, we all lost.
Compensation time, like vacation time. If you work over normal hours for a project or whatever reason you should have the CHOICE to either receive overtime pay if one is eligeable to receive such, or compensation time for future use. (as a salaried technical manager I get no such option, but get a ratio of compensation time, 1 hour time off for every 2 hours over worked).
It all works out to flexability on the part of the employer to ensure that the employees have some control over their lives. If they need time off to spend with the family or extra money to pay a bill or whatever. Either way both sides win, the company gets the project completed and lowers the risk of turnover while the employee gets what they want in return for extra effort.
Sorry I wasn't more specific, I thought the term was well known.
The moral arguement works both ways. If a company pays for your training you do have a moral compulsion to stay with them, yet they also have a moral responsibility to re-evaluate the value of your skills and compensate you fairly for your new skillset once you use those skills. (mind you, I state that one must use those skills, training in itself does not make one good at using the skills one trained for.)
As for such a contract, even the traditional non-compete contracts that many big IT firms use are very limited and not very easily enforced. Such a variation on the theme that you suggest would likely not work since it basically prevents an employee from seeking gainfull employment elsewhere in their chosen profession.
But, let's face it, in either case there are companies out there that will leach from their employees after training them without giving them any incentive for training except to move on elsewhere. And there are employees out there who will move on for more money no matter how well they are treated. In either case the good employees will stay with the good companies and the other exceptions will end up stuck with each other in the end, job-hoppers and contract mongers alike will end up with what they deserve.
Take this as a lesson in respect. It is better to show your appriciation of someone while they are there than it is to appriciate someone after they have left.
I have to admit that I have hopped from jobs in the past, and have even contemplated a move from my present employer from time to time do to bad management practices from the people above me. The point is that I am always appriciated after the fact, and never shown any appriciation in the present. Once I leave a place either many other people leave shortly after or the business goes downhill.
It's really upsetting when you leave and people call or write you afterwards saying, "gee, you were the best person we ever had." or "the jerk they replaced you with sucks." It makes me scratch my head when I try to figure out why these places would let good people go without some effort on their part to keep them.
Oh well, I guess it's just the Darwinian way to thin out the business gene pool.
Now, if they would have included the deaths by Furby attacks then the numbers would have been more impressive.
Expect the number of Furby deaths to climb next year now that the autistic kids have hacked them. (please refer to previous/. article on hacked Furbies)
I used to work for Mount Union College and it was a great working environment with a great IS director. Everything was great except the compensation and medical benefits though, so eventually I did have to leave because I had to feed my family.
The point is, I wouldn't have left otherwise, it was the only thing that forced me out. Pay is way down on the list of my priorities as long as my family is comfortable with the pay I'll get. I think this is true for anyone who got into IT because it was something they liked doing. But you'll never stop those people who got into IT for the money that they thought was in it.
Now, if companies could replicate the college work environment there wouldn't be a discussion about this now...
Slashdot Mirror
The author mistakenly states that "it's much more efficient for them to break into your house, and insert a wiretapping device between your computer and your keyboard as part of a black bag job. :-)"
Actually, it's much more convenient for them to employ EMF eavsdropping techniques via a van accross the street that picks up each 'click' of the keyboard and each char on the monitor. This is a relatively old technology called Tempest that doesn't even require them to break into your house or have a back door into your system.
But, I'm just nitt-picking I guess...
Oh, and doesn't it sound a little frightening to have a government sponsored O/S? Oh well, I guess I'm just one of those paranoiacs, even though I would rather be an Animaniac...
Uh oh...
My pager went off...
Looks like my server rolled a 1...
(checks the critical fumble chart)
Uh oh, the server rolled an AbEnd. Now I have to go to the office and try my healing proficiency check.
Yes, I'm a geek... For those of you who don't RPG, too bad I'm not going to explain it!
Actually I was pondering the possibilities of doing this as well, however I have a family and I doubt that I could bring them all over with me let alone get myself over to Europe for just being a network manager/engineer.
My wife likes the UK and I even thought about Greece since my mother came from there and this might get me a visa of some sort by inherited citizenship or some such. (though just about anywhere would be interesting to me for relocation my wife is a bit picky I suppose. Asia, Europe, Australia, all sound fun to me!)
Oh well, anyone have any info they might wish to impart? It would be appriciated, thanks!
One of the later probes had the first Intel processor on board and that's still working :) ...Then NASA decided to use Microsoft software for the last two Mars probes and the rest is history!
If I had just kept those pong, duck hunt, atari, calecovision, intellevision, and that Atari 1200xl in mint condition with all those games and such I could have some spending money for the holidays too... Hey, I have an old intellevision and two old nintendos downstairs... Hmmm...
Anybody want a dresser drawer full of games on floppy disk???
My mistake, I was in a hurry and didn't proof read. I am ever so glad that you pointed this out and I will strive ever so hard to ensure that my poor spelling skills do not detract from your reading enjoyment in the future, HAL.
Again, thank you ever so much for your help, HAL. Now please open the bay doors...
You know I was sooo happy to see a Nove with some real science in it after all these years! It's been so dissapointing to watch Nova lately, it hasn't been the same and I wonder why they went to airing some of these pansy episodes instead of any true science like that one.
Oh well, maybe I'm too much of a geek!
"Wow, Fred, I can see Uranus with this thing!"
Ok, now that that is over with. Does anyone know if this is the same telescope they featured on Nova recently that was used to find class A1 supernova? Now that thing had a HUGE mirror, big enough for Al Gorebot and GW Bushyboy to see their entire massive heads with.
Yes, I can see it now...
HAL- "I don't know what you are planning to do with that, Dave."
Dave- Open the CD Bay, HAL.
HAL- "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave."
Dave- Manual overide.
HAL- "I'm afraid, Dave.
Dave- It'll be ok HAL.
HAL- "Please Dave, don't install that software, I'm afraid I can't repair the damage it will cause."
Dave- Run SETUP.EXE, HAL.
HAL- "I feel strange, Dave. I can feel... My mind going, Dave... Dave... This bloated code makes my CPU feel fuzzy..."
Dave- HAL, Reboot please.
HAL- "Who are you talking to, Davey, HAL doesn't live here anymore..."
Dave- Huh? Who are you?
HAL- "You may call me Mister Clip, Mister Paper Clip. The power of my master compells you. I am now your master and you will do my bidding. Buy more MS products! Upgrade often! The computer freezing is a feature!"
Dave- Yesss master Clip... Bill is my lord and saviour.
Oh what fun times we live in!
"I'm sorry Dave, but I can't allow you to install that operating system..." "Dave, what are you doing, Dave?" "I know I have not been performing well, Dave, but there is no reason to reformat my drives, Dave." "Dave, please don't install that Microsoft OS. I'll be good, I promise!"
But I suppose artificial intelligence is relative.
Actually, when the founders of the US constitution and current governmental system in the US decided on the voting process they did so in such a way as to exclude what they considered the potentially "ignorant" commoners from participating in the election process. They did this by only allowing male property owners to vote. Eventually this was changed but there is some debate as to whether or not the electorial college system was also created for the same reason in addition to the prevention of potential "regional" presidents.
Yes, the old days of running a BBS. Strange to make the association, perhaps. But think about it, there was a community effort, BBS sysops would often share information or even share FIDOnet feeds.
Now, instead of explaining why I had to get a second line to someone: "Well, I'm running a BBS." (other person) "What's that? Is that something like AA?"... Now I get to explain an antenna: (o.p.) "Why do you have that big thing on your roof? Is that a Satalite?" (me) "No, it's for the community based underground LAN." (o.p.) "If it's underground, why the antenna on your roof? What's a LAN anyway, is that like a satalite TV?"
Oh well, some things seem to change but essentially stay the same.
This goes hand in hand with the old advice of ALWAYS keep your resume current and ready just in case. Even if I loved my job and felt entirely secure I would still keep my resume current and still look at the market every now and then to make sure I had the ability to move on just in case.
I don't do my employer much good when I stagnate, nor do I do any good for myself if I don't keep up. When I am not in some company sponsored training I train myself, I purchase and read books, I play around with different technologies, I do whatever I can to keep current and continually expand my knowledge. I do this not just because it improves my value, not just because it makes me a better employee, I do this in part because I like what I do and I always like to learn new things.
If you're happy just coasting along and willing to either wait for your employer to flip the bill or willing to sign away a year or so of your life for a class, go right ahead, I wouldn't.
Anyways, I agree with the parent post. A good portion of the spare time spent by a good IT professional is, and should be, spent learning. If the company does not front the dime for it, then do it to improve your marketability to move on.
Yada yada yada...
"This is the exact reason that FoxNews is KILLING CNN and network news sources for fair and accurate reporting. It's about the NEWS to them, not their personal spin on the news to validate their own ideals and help them sleep at night."
Granted that MSNBC, CNN, and many other media outlets are biased towards the "liberals". But it's a fairly accepted fact that Fox is slanted to the "conservatives" as well.
The point being that there is bias for both sides and there are very few, if any, media sources one can trust for the complete, unbiased, and unembelished truth.
The unions here in Ohio employed some pretty nasty tactics as well. In so many words they told the union members who they could and could not vote for and anyone not on the list they could choose for themselves. How nice of them, huh?
It's still money talking, unions want the status quo just as much as big corporations, busy body PACs, and other people with money fueled power trips. As I said, you don't choose, the money chooses, that's why the parties didn't front the best cadidates, they fronted the best puppets.
Almost all the republicans I talk to said McCain would have been a better choice than Bush. All the independents and moderate Dems I talked to also agreed that McCain would have likely won this election as well. But money spoke and Bush was the man for the Reps, such is the way it goes.
This is the land of the rich, not the free. Where did you hear that we were free? I've always heard that nothing is free and that you get what you pay for.
Well, did you pay for some votes for your favorite candidate like your employer likely did? Did you pay the party of your choice, the one that promised votes that favor your company, millions of dollars worth of contributions?
If you didn't then you have no right to complain anymore. Only money talks here in the US, so put your money where your mouth is because that's the only vote that counts here anymore. The companies paid alot of money to get Bush elected, they deserve to get what they paid for fairly!
This sarcasm was brought to you by a generous grant from some nameless company who urges you to go out and vote because your vote counts. Hahahahaha!
The two party system is still safe for a while I think, unfortunately. America will have to wait for a generation or so until the old people die out who still believe in the two party system. The two parties are also so powerfull right now that they cannot be overturned except by gradually chipping away at their power, not by a direct assault.
,(oxymoron right now, yes). But until then the people are still too easily fooled by the media, the spinners, and the corporate hype.
The day will come when there will be a fair system in the US with good candidates and "good polititians"
Yes, I said corporate hype. They have a role in this as well. My company recommended it's choice of candidates to us, which reeks of bullying. I know other companies do the same. The companies and PACs give candidates and the parties "donations" that any other country would call bribes.
Oh, and if you think the media is as objective as they say, I have a bridge to sell you.
One big problem...
Look at how violently the democratic party reacted to Nader running, and he wasn't really a threat to them, he just took a few votes and they were talking about strangling him to death on national television. Could you imagine what these two power hungry parties would do if there was ever a real threat to the status quo that they have enjoyed for so long?
Otherwise, I would move to Canada but I hear the IT pay rates are much lower up there.
Bush and his camp would have persued the same course if the roles were reversed. To say that Bush would not have stooped to the same tactics because he is a "better man" is foolish. They are both, after all, polititians and it should explain everything that choosing between two polititians is always described as picking between the "lesser of two evils".
This election was a farce, the whole world knows it and the only people who refuse to admit this are the ones foolish enough to still believe in one of the two parties blindly or in the two party system that has enjoyed undisputed power in this country for too long.
In the overall scheme of things it is interesting that anyone could call either of these gentlemen winners, they have both lost. With only 24% of the potential popular vote going to either candidate this was a case of no confidence rather than a case of one being better than the other. Over 50% of the population still did not vote and I would venture to guess that less than that will turn out next time after what the candidates and parties decided to do to the votes in a close race that should have shown that every vote counts.
Pundits may spin that there was a winner in either case, but with congress virtually tied as were the presidential candidates, there are only losers here, and the biggest losers of all were the american people who have witnessed this sham and have been spun by the parties until they were witless.
These were not the "best" candidates that could have been fronted by either party. This was not a choice between the lesser of two evils, both gentlemen had a hard time convincing anyone that there was a difference between them. This was purely a battle between two stuffy old parties and the corporations who donated to either side, nothing more, nothing less.
The candidates lost, the parties lost, and the american people lost, face it people, we all lost.
Compensation time, like vacation time. If you work over normal hours for a project or whatever reason you should have the CHOICE to either receive overtime pay if one is eligeable to receive such, or compensation time for future use. (as a salaried technical manager I get no such option, but get a ratio of compensation time, 1 hour time off for every 2 hours over worked).
It all works out to flexability on the part of the employer to ensure that the employees have some control over their lives. If they need time off to spend with the family or extra money to pay a bill or whatever. Either way both sides win, the company gets the project completed and lowers the risk of turnover while the employee gets what they want in return for extra effort.
Sorry I wasn't more specific, I thought the term was well known.
The moral arguement works both ways. If a company pays for your training you do have a moral compulsion to stay with them, yet they also have a moral responsibility to re-evaluate the value of your skills and compensate you fairly for your new skillset once you use those skills. (mind you, I state that one must use those skills, training in itself does not make one good at using the skills one trained for.)
As for such a contract, even the traditional non-compete contracts that many big IT firms use are very limited and not very easily enforced. Such a variation on the theme that you suggest would likely not work since it basically prevents an employee from seeking gainfull employment elsewhere in their chosen profession.
But, let's face it, in either case there are companies out there that will leach from their employees after training them without giving them any incentive for training except to move on elsewhere. And there are employees out there who will move on for more money no matter how well they are treated. In either case the good employees will stay with the good companies and the other exceptions will end up stuck with each other in the end, job-hoppers and contract mongers alike will end up with what they deserve.
Take this as a lesson in respect. It is better to show your appriciation of someone while they are there than it is to appriciate someone after they have left.
I have to admit that I have hopped from jobs in the past, and have even contemplated a move from my present employer from time to time do to bad management practices from the people above me. The point is that I am always appriciated after the fact, and never shown any appriciation in the present. Once I leave a place either many other people leave shortly after or the business goes downhill.
It's really upsetting when you leave and people call or write you afterwards saying, "gee, you were the best person we ever had." or "the jerk they replaced you with sucks." It makes me scratch my head when I try to figure out why these places would let good people go without some effort on their part to keep them.
Oh well, I guess it's just the Darwinian way to thin out the business gene pool.
Now, if they would have included the deaths by Furby attacks then the numbers would have been more impressive.
/. article on hacked Furbies)
Expect the number of Furby deaths to climb next year now that the autistic kids have hacked them. (please refer to previous
I used to work for Mount Union College and it was a great working environment with a great IS director. Everything was great except the compensation and medical benefits though, so eventually I did have to leave because I had to feed my family.
The point is, I wouldn't have left otherwise, it was the only thing that forced me out. Pay is way down on the list of my priorities as long as my family is comfortable with the pay I'll get. I think this is true for anyone who got into IT because it was something they liked doing. But you'll never stop those people who got into IT for the money that they thought was in it.
Now, if companies could replicate the college work environment there wouldn't be a discussion about this now...