An unpopular thing to do, I know... But you really should read the article.
1) It's not just Felons (A felon is someone CONVICTED of a Felony crime)
It's all suspects in a felony crime.. It doesn't take much to be a suspect.
2) It's not even just people -charged- with a felony.
Quoth the article (emphasis mine): If voters approve the measure, it will allow California authorities to get DNA samples from everyone arrested or convicted on felony charges, as well as from misdemeanor sex offenders -- both adult and juvenile
I encourage you to take a gander at what constitutes a felony in CA, and just how many things fall under a misdemeanor sex-crime.
Pay close attention.. this is -arrested-, not convicted, not even formally charged...
You say "murderers, rapists..." Those crimes already have DNA collection on conviction (where it belongs).
And before you jump for joy over "exonerated suspects will have their DNA purged from the system", I encourage you to think hard about the speed and efficiency of anything the government does. I wouldn't be surprised if it took a decade for things to be 'purged'... And by purged, I'm sure they only mean live data.. you're still on the backups.
Ignoring the potentially lethal power of even a small object traveling at such a high velocity (or a stream of them). The stream idea wouldn't work (or would be overly complex to use) considering that bodies in space generally turn on an axis, and orbit a star (or other large body). So assuming that this alien planet orbits its star at the same rate that we orbit ours (quite an assumption), the line from a to b would be blocked by their sun or ours for 6 months of the year.
And since they're rotating on an axis, their shooter is only in position for a tiny part of a day.. so you could maybe fire a few each day, for half the year.
Okay, so they have this stationary space station that sits perfectly still. They fire their peas out all the time... Now, this microscopic peas need to also have self-correcting guidance systems, since space isn't so empty in some areas.
Great idea for Sci-fi, not so good for actual implementation.
Problem is that the liquid temperature isn't terribly useful... If the therm was on the die, it would be much more useful...
The cooling wall with water cooling is the efficiency of the waterblock/heatsink. You could push compressed freon through that system, and if the heatsink/block sucks, you'll still fry your chip.
You can't get a blank DVD media for that price. It would cost $25 per blank DVD disc. IOW it would be less costly to just go buy the movie on DVD from Best Buy for ~$20
But as soon as DVDs overtake VHS in popularity, this will no longer be true. DVDs will then follow the release schedule of VHS, where it comes out to rental centers first, at a cost of ~$90 per movie. Then after a couple months, it drops to the ~$25 range you find at Suncoast, et al.
So after renting it ($3.00) and the blank media (even if it doesn't drop from $25.00), you'd have a total cost of $28.00 (+the hour of making the copy). You still come out ~$60 ahead. So your $500 (Assuming no price drop) DVD recorder pays for itself in < 9 movies.
So they want you to care about the project, do they? They want you to BELIEVE in it... Ask yourself this, if the company cared and believed, wouldn't they authorize overtime for the people willing to work extra hours? If they cared and believed, wouldn't they hire more people to pick up the extra work? Why yes, they would. Since they don't do that, you can safely assume that they don't CARE or BELIEVE.
This is no surprise, a corporation is not a person, though we often try to assign it human emotions and ethics. A corporation is neither capable of caring nor believing. It will simply try to squeeze as much out of each of its 'resources' as it can.
I don't have any complaints about how a corporation sees things, I have a problem with the management trying to convince their employees that they should 'go the extra mile' for the company; That they should come in for a few hours (unpaid) on saturday, or stay late tonight. This is why I contract. I see the corporation for the greedy beast that it is, and I respond in kind. If you want me to meet your insane deadline, you will pay handsomely for it.
Case in point. I work in a group of ~20 people. There are 3 or 4 contractors in that group. Three weeks ago, a deadline was moved up, and the management's only comment was to 'expect to be working 12 hour days for the next week or so'. And so, 16 people got screwed out of 4 hours OF THEIR OWN TIME every day for a week. They were not paid for the extra time, and given the schedule that we normally have to meet, they cannot get their 'comp time' approved. Some of these people have enough comp time stored up to take 2 months off, but they will never be able to.
So, as far as I can see, hourly is the way to go. You get paid for the time you work, you are compensated fairly, and cannot (generally) be 'screwed' by the uncaring, unbelieving corporation.
One common tactic here in SV is granting stock options, etc.. This generally makes someone more willing to work the extra hours, because they have a stake in the success of the company. Equity = Interest. This is just peachy as I see it, so long as the person CHOOSES to work those extra hours, and isn't coerced into doing so. They're gambling with their compensation, in essence. If the company does well, they do well and are compensated through their equity. If the company doesn't do well, then they have lost the gamble.
I'm certainly aware that this means I'm not a 'team player', and that's just fine. I work to make money, so I can pay my bills and have fun. Employment is an agreement between a company and an individual. The company pays you for the time you spend working towards their goal. If you're not being paid for your time, then you shouldn't be using your time to help them make money.
For example, in Silicon Valey, you will get a high salary, but you have to pay >500k for a decent house. In other part of the world you will get lower salary, but the cost of life is much lower. So in fact you can make a better living elsewhere.
Which is why (if you're the planning ahead type), you do what I'm doing... Get a job paying you around 6 figures, live frugally, save money, move somewhere else.... When I moved here, my rent doubled, but so did my salary.. All things considered, I'm saving twice as much (straight dollar amount) as I was before I moved west... I'll keep it up for a few years, move back to the midwest, and be able to pay cash money for a house.. Doesn't sound like such a bad deal, does it?
I can certainly say that I'm primarily motivated by money. I VERY much enjoy my career, but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't rather be sitting on a beach in Rio, sipping Mai-Tais... I work to pay the bills.
Money is first and foremost when I consider a position. That isn't to say that a job that pays 5k more than another will always win.
Also, your bit about 'employees who share the company vision' made me smile. The company is there to make money, therefore, I share their vision.
Corporations no longer have much (if any) loyalty towards their employees, and are hence undeserving of our loyalty. In a small company, this generally isn't the case, I suppose. A large company, however, doesn't care about you. Your boss may be very personable, you may get along with your co-workers, and may even believe in what the company is doing. But when it comes time to "right-size", they'll happily rape you and leave you for the scavangers.
This is why (obviously), I'm a contractor.
The money is better, and the drawbacks are few. If I work 55 hours, I get paid 55 hours. If I am awakened by a phone call at 2am, I'm getting paid for it.
This is, of course, the view from the worker side of things, and not really what the question was asking.
ObAnswer:
If you want people that you can let go with no trouble, hire contractors. If you expect these poor souls to be on call, or working lots of overtime, try to hire employees. There are those who happily trade their time for the "job security" that they believe a "salaried, permenant" job offers.
Well, since I've been waiting on a TNT2 from hercules for, oh, 24 days now.. That's time I could have been -using- another card, if only I had known earlier:P
Anyhow.. Fremont is only 15 miles from me.. Maybe I should go get one. Probably should have from the begining.
Rhode Island was one of the states founded as a Penal Colony.. IIRC, Roger Williams, state founder, was exiled from Mass. for some crime or another. My history really isn't what it should be.
The above (tracking all the votes of all the reps on a site) is something I've recently been thinking hard about. I've become more and more disheartened with each story I read. I think a site like that would be glorious. It would also be a great help if the various candidates for various positions were also outlined in the same way.
On another note, with the incredible increase in communications over the last couple hundred years, I think we're ready to be done with the representative democracy and start in with a direct (athenian) democracy. All issues should be voted on by the public at large. The issue of a qourum (sp?) would have to be addressed, but I think it would work well.
People will say that it's far too much work to learn the issues and vote on them, etc etc.. I agree that it will take considerable effort, but we'd also have a much more effective (IMO) government if people were aware of what was going on, and were able to -directly- influence it.
We don't need a union, we need lobbyists.
on
GEEK Unions?
·
· Score: 1
What is described in the article, and what we all seem to be proposing, is a lobby, not a union. We aren't complaining about how we're treated by our employers (for the most part). We're complaining about the lawmakers complete lack of understanding (or worse, misunderstanding) of the technical aspects of what they legislate. Many varying industries have lobbyists (Tabbaco, et al), why shouldn't we?
This whole switchbox thing touches lightly on a problem that I'm having... I've got an Omnicube 2way, and it switches the keyboard and video with no problem. The problem is the mouse... My linux box completely ignores it if it's run through the switch box. Plugging it in directly makes everything happy. I've swapped ports on the cube, just in case there was some badness there. The windows box plods along, the linux box ignores the mouse... Now, the other thing is that I have a logitech trackball, which is PS2.. the switchbox is PS2, the windows box is PS2.. the linux box is serial. Mayb it's a combo of the cube & the PS2 adaptor that causes the problem? Any help would be Grrrrreat!ly appreciated.
Sure, you can have my guns. What? Oh, knives too? Sharp Sticks?
It's a simple situation of blaming an inanimate object (Or the existence of the object) for the faults of the people using it. If we weren't such an aggressive, warmongering race, the whole point would be moot.
Incidentally, automatic weapons have been illegal for many, many a year. Yet somehow, they still find their way into the hands of criminals.
You would be immortal only from a 'dying of old age' standpoint. I'm sure many things would still prove fatal. Anyone who had decided that they've had enough could still suicide. You would not be invulnerable.
Slashdot Mirror
Shake your head above the iPod, wait for the iAlien to pop out and lay an egg in your iChest
Oh, if only I still had mod points.
An unpopular thing to do, I know... But you really should read the article.
1) It's not just Felons (A felon is someone CONVICTED of a Felony crime)
It's all suspects in a felony crime.. It doesn't take much to be a suspect.
2) It's not even just people -charged- with a felony.
Quoth the article (emphasis mine):
If voters approve the measure, it will allow California authorities to get DNA samples from everyone arrested or convicted on felony charges, as well as from misdemeanor sex offenders -- both adult and juvenile
I encourage you to take a gander at what constitutes a felony in CA, and just how many things fall under a misdemeanor sex-crime.
Pay close attention.. this is -arrested-, not convicted, not even formally charged...
You say "murderers, rapists..." Those crimes already have DNA collection on conviction (where it belongs).
And before you jump for joy over "exonerated suspects will have their DNA purged from the system", I encourage you to think hard about the speed and efficiency of anything the government does. I wouldn't be surprised if it took a decade for things to be 'purged'... And by purged, I'm sure they only mean live data.. you're still on the backups.
Ignoring the potentially lethal power of even a small object traveling at such a high velocity (or a stream of them). The stream idea wouldn't work (or would be overly complex to use) considering that bodies in space generally turn on an axis, and orbit a star (or other large body). So assuming that this alien planet orbits its star at the same rate that we orbit ours (quite an assumption), the line from a to b would be blocked by their sun or ours for 6 months of the year.
And since they're rotating on an axis, their shooter is only in position for a tiny part of a day.. so you could maybe fire a few each day, for half the year.
Okay, so they have this stationary space station that sits perfectly still. They fire their peas out all the time... Now, this microscopic peas need to also have self-correcting guidance systems, since space isn't so empty in some areas.
Great idea for Sci-fi, not so good for actual implementation.
Hey, why didn't anyone tell me I'm going to mars?
I -really- hate having to find out about things this way..
Those rude bastards at NASA need a good talking to.
Problem is that the liquid temperature isn't terribly useful... If the therm was on the die, it would be much more useful...
The cooling wall with water cooling is the efficiency of the waterblock/heatsink. You could push compressed freon through that system, and if the heatsink/block sucks, you'll still fry your chip.
You can't get a blank DVD media for that price. It would cost $25 per blank DVD disc.
IOW it would be less costly to just go buy the movie on DVD from Best Buy for ~$20
But as soon as DVDs overtake VHS in popularity, this will no longer be true. DVDs will then follow the release schedule of VHS, where it comes out to rental centers first, at a cost of ~$90 per movie. Then after a couple months, it drops to the ~$25 range you find at Suncoast, et al.
So after renting it ($3.00) and the blank media (even if it doesn't drop from $25.00), you'd have a total cost of $28.00 (+the hour of making the copy). You still come out ~$60 ahead. So your $500 (Assuming no price drop) DVD recorder pays for itself in < 9 movies.
So they want you to care about the project, do they? They want you to BELIEVE in it... Ask yourself this, if the company cared and believed, wouldn't they authorize overtime for the people willing to work extra hours? If they cared and believed, wouldn't they hire more people to pick up the extra work? Why yes, they would. Since they don't do that, you can safely assume that they don't CARE or BELIEVE.
This is no surprise, a corporation is not a person, though we often try to assign it human emotions and ethics. A corporation is neither capable of caring nor believing. It will simply try to squeeze as much out of each of its 'resources' as it can.
I don't have any complaints about how a corporation sees things, I have a problem with the management trying to convince their employees that they should 'go the extra mile' for the company; That they should come in for a few hours (unpaid) on saturday, or stay late tonight. This is why I contract. I see the corporation for the greedy beast that it is, and I respond in kind. If you want me to meet your insane deadline, you will pay handsomely for it.
Case in point. I work in a group of ~20 people. There are 3 or 4 contractors in that group. Three weeks ago, a deadline was moved up, and the management's only comment was to 'expect to be working 12 hour days for the next week or so'. And so, 16 people got screwed out of 4 hours OF THEIR OWN TIME every day for a week. They were not paid for the extra time, and given the schedule that we normally have to meet, they cannot get their 'comp time' approved. Some of these people have enough comp time stored up to take 2 months off, but they will never be able to.
So, as far as I can see, hourly is the way to go. You get paid for the time you work, you are compensated fairly, and cannot (generally) be 'screwed' by the uncaring, unbelieving corporation.
One common tactic here in SV is granting stock options, etc.. This generally makes someone more willing to work the extra hours, because they have a stake in the success of the company. Equity = Interest. This is just peachy as I see it, so long as the person CHOOSES to work those extra hours, and isn't coerced into doing so. They're gambling with their compensation, in essence. If the company does well, they do well and are compensated through their equity. If the company doesn't do well, then they have lost the gamble.
I'm certainly aware that this means I'm not a 'team player', and that's just fine. I work to make money, so I can pay my bills and have fun. Employment is an agreement between a company and an individual. The company pays you for the time you spend working towards their goal. If you're not being paid for your time, then you shouldn't be using your time to help them make money.
For example, in Silicon Valey, you will get a high salary, but you have to pay >500k for a decent house. In other part of the world you will get lower salary, but the cost of life is much lower. So in fact you can make a better living elsewhere.
Which is why (if you're the planning ahead type), you do what I'm doing...
Get a job paying you around 6 figures, live frugally, save money, move somewhere else....
When I moved here, my rent doubled, but so did my salary.. All things considered, I'm saving twice as much (straight dollar amount) as I was before I moved west... I'll keep it up for a few years, move back to the midwest, and be able to pay cash money for a house.. Doesn't sound like such a bad deal, does it?
They already have intelligence tests in case you haven't noticed. And no, they're not used to "profile" kids.
Actually, yes they are... If you score high on an IQ test, you get to go into the 'gifted' or 'advanced placement' classes.
Crusades: You have to plan and battle to win back the Holy Lands from the infidels (who also consider them their Holy Lands).
Uhhhmmm.. Don't you mean:
Crusades: You have to plan and implement a system of genocide, attempting to exterminate people who don't believe in your God.
And you forgot:
Spanish Inquisition: You have to root out and torture people with large land holdings who refuse to 'donate' those holdings to the church.
I can certainly say that I'm primarily motivated by money. I VERY much enjoy my career, but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't rather be sitting on a beach in Rio, sipping Mai-Tais... I work to pay the bills.
Money is first and foremost when I consider a position. That isn't to say that a job that pays 5k more than another will always win.
Also, your bit about 'employees who share the company vision' made me smile. The company is there to make money, therefore, I share their vision.
Corporations no longer have much (if any) loyalty towards their employees, and are hence undeserving of our loyalty. In a small company, this generally isn't the case, I suppose. A large company, however, doesn't care about you. Your boss may be very personable, you may get along with your co-workers, and may even believe in what the company is doing. But when it comes time to "right-size", they'll happily rape you and leave you for the scavangers.
This is why (obviously), I'm a contractor.
The money is better, and the drawbacks are few. If I work 55 hours, I get paid 55 hours. If I am awakened by a phone call at 2am, I'm getting paid for it.
This is, of course, the view from the worker side of things, and not really what the question was asking.
ObAnswer:
If you want people that you can let go with no trouble, hire contractors. If you expect these poor souls to be on call, or working lots of overtime, try to hire employees. There are those who happily trade their time for the "job security" that they believe a "salaried, permenant" job offers.
Well, since I've been waiting on a TNT2 from hercules for, oh, 24 days now.. That's time I could have been -using- another card, if only I had known earlier :P
Anyhow.. Fremont is only 15 miles from me.. Maybe I should go get one. Probably should have from the begining.
> if you haven't done anything illegal, who cares?
If you don't have anything to hide, then I guess you won't mind submitting to body cavity searches at random intervals?
check /usr/src/linux/Documentation/sound/CS4232.
It may not be just what you need, but it may help.
Rhode Island was one of the states founded as a Penal Colony.. IIRC, Roger Williams, state founder, was exiled from Mass. for some crime or another. My history really isn't what it should be.
The above (tracking all the votes of all the reps on a site) is something I've recently been thinking hard about. I've become more and more disheartened with each story I read. I think a site like that would be glorious. It would also be a great help if the various candidates for various positions were also outlined in the same way.
On another note, with the incredible increase in communications over the last couple hundred years, I think we're ready to be done with the representative democracy and start in with a direct (athenian) democracy. All issues should be voted on by the public at large. The issue of a qourum (sp?) would have to be addressed, but I think it would work well.
People will say that it's far too much work to learn the issues and vote on them, etc etc.. I agree that it will take considerable effort, but we'd also have a much more effective (IMO) government if people were aware of what was going on, and were able to -directly- influence it.
What is described in the article, and what we all
seem to be proposing, is a lobby, not a union. We
aren't complaining about how we're treated by our
employers (for the most part). We're complaining
about the lawmakers complete lack of
understanding (or worse, misunderstanding) of the
technical aspects of what they legislate. Many
varying industries have lobbyists (Tabbaco, et al),
why shouldn't we?
This whole switchbox thing touches lightly on a problem that I'm having... I've got an Omnicube 2way, and it switches the keyboard and video with no problem. The problem is the mouse... My linux box completely ignores it if it's run through the switch box. Plugging it in directly makes everything happy. I've swapped ports on the cube, just in case there was some badness there. The windows box plods along, the linux box ignores the mouse... Now, the other thing is that I have a logitech trackball, which is PS2.. the switchbox is PS2, the windows box is PS2.. the linux box is serial. Mayb it's a combo of the cube & the PS2 adaptor that causes the problem? Any help would be Grrrrreat!ly appreciated.
Mail me...
Sure, you can have my guns.
What? Oh, knives too?
Sharp Sticks?
It's a simple situation of blaming an inanimate object (Or the existence of the object) for the faults of the people using it. If we weren't such an aggressive, warmongering race, the whole point would be moot.
Incidentally, automatic weapons have been illegal for many, many a year. Yet somehow, they still find their way into the hands of criminals.
You would be immortal only from a 'dying of old age' standpoint. I'm sure many things would still prove fatal. Anyone who had decided that they've had enough could still suicide. You would not be invulnerable.