I think a most recent Dilbert pretty much said it all (your research required.)
I've had great luck on eBay and for all the reasons stated.
- 1 pair perfect Magnepan loudspeakers. Delivered as represented by a credible seller, serials verifiable. - A Crown IC-150 power amp that I needed to spice up a dull system. A rare bird, hard to fake. - A perfect Bryston 4B amp that's real darned hard to fake and covered by a transferrable, 20 year warranty, no questions asked. Darned hard to find, locally. Serials verifiable. Fairly priced. - Various unique underground comix that would be hard to misrepresent. - A "Goofy" backwards-clocking watch. I knew what it hadda look like. Easy to verify.
If the seller seems unclear about the thing they're selling, BEWARE. (Well, it's a Rools-Royce, seems to run good, looks pretty good, found it in granny's 'grage, I dunno, what do you think it's worth...)
Bid on items that are rare and provably unique; worth selling and transporting, uniquely. It takes actual work to represent these items and the bullshitters pop to the surface pretty quickly.
If you're bidding on a sunflower seed when you can get one at the local store, consider.
Interestingly enough, Consumer Reports has rated toothpastes and they rank abrasiveness. They'd harsh on me if if disclosed their opinion but it's worth a look. Similarly, jeweler's rouge is the finest abrasive I know of. The final step in polishing Newtonian mirrors was jeweler's rouge when I was into "walking the barrel."
I would also recommend you be aware of your water source. Here in Portland our main pollutant is silicon 'cause the water comes down granite and is entirely unfiltered. Sometimes it can actually be kinda abrasive but usually, you can wash a CD or DVD in tap water with a detergent and it comes out spotless.
In the midwest, the problem is usually calcium since the water percolates through layers and layers of dead critters who all had chiten or something like it as their carapice. It tends to deposit on whatever when it dries, not to mention causing horrors for aquarists since the water buffers like crazy. But it's not abrasive.
Use a dab of Jet Dry (tm) or a similar thing and that problem goes away. Or buy a gallon of distilled water. Either way in either case.
I keep a Pioneer slot-loading CD reader in a USB case and when I can't read a CD by any other means, I plug it into a computer and it usually reads it. Then I put it back into its plastic bag with the requisite moisture-absorbing gel (I live in Portland, OR.)
Hey, it's heavy, it's built like a tank, and it doesn't have a drive tray.
And I put my tinfoil hat back on.:-)
I have yet to find a similar canonically great DVD reader. If anyone has an idea, let me know.
It seems the drive to be cheap infected the DVD reader biz and not even almighty Plextor has produced an observably great solution.
So why was the audit asked for in the first place and why did you not have at least a modicum of management control over the process? You should have gone in, hand in hand with management and looked at the result in unison, not being subjected to it - in the spirit of learning, not generating fault. Clearly, this audit was set up to generate fault, whether through management caprice or someone reading that it was a trendy thing to do.
My opinion is that you screwed up by permitting yourself to prostrate yourself to this white-hat audit without being part of the process and making yourself a beneficial part of the results; not a victim.
Not in the notion of the "not my fault" notion of management, but in terms of engaging the organization in demanding beneficial analysis and results, and working with them to improve your processes.
Being dive-bombed by a 3rd party means your management has a poor view of your organization or at least, you are communicating poorly with them.
Having come from a shop which manages Linux efficiently, and having done consulting gigs with Linux shops...
The problem with Linux is it's possible to manage it very efficiently but the majority of shops don't know how. Tools like cfengine and a reasoned and planned methods are not implemented as a discipline.
I haul out Kirk Bauer's "Automating UNIX and Linux Administration" and it's both a revelation and a threat to the staff, who spend their days either pointing and clicking or doing the same thing over and over again at the command line. How desparate is that?
Unfortunately, most of these shops are managed by bottom-line folks who do the do every day and never consider alternatives. The ones who hum along don't bother to respond to such surveys because they _get it_. They invest in the scaffolding that has to be built and once it's in place, the thing just plain flat rocks and IT finds its proper role - disappearing.
When I talk to such organizations about IT, I tell them "if I do my job just right, I disappear." It usually causes crossed brows and consternation, but it's so.
Linux advocates do themselves great injury by not creating and requiring open architectures and open methods of system administration. And disappearing. It's only sexy if you watch it all happen.
When doing general guesses about how much cooling
one might need for a room, a rule of thumb is to
assume the average human is about a 150 watt
lightbulb. So there's plenty of energy there to
harness.
So I was thinking... Looking at all the cool knee
braces they've cooked up for folks who are in
rehab or need the support... What about a very
much lighter one with some kind of embedded
dynamo?
By the way, Seiko's been building electronic
watches that store up the body's kinetic energy
for a while.
And I am wearing a primitive version of all this -
a Seiko self-winding watch.
Let's see, soldering them together on a polished
wood table with no ESD protection in sight?
What are these people thinking?
Clearly, not much.
What kind of preparation is THIS for reality?
on
Dorm Storm?
·
· Score: 1
Sounds like you guys are doing a laudable job of working with what you're presented. I admire your desire to do the right set of things.
Of course, in the real (IT) world the response would be to examine the configurations, declare them non-standard and unsupportable, repartition their drives to the supported config and loading the supported image. Doesn't work? Tough. Requisition new gear or declare yourself unsupportable forevermore.
Sounds like a hell of an education. What might be interesting would be to hear about any tools used in this environment to suss out the configuration of the machine and/or fix up common configs quickly.
My only words of advice are:
They are people, not users.
Most people don't care about the mechanism, only the function.
If you notice something that might hurt, point it out, gently.
If the individual decides they know more than you, work to enslave them.
Report particularly abusive people to the appropriate authorities.
Never die alone. Ask for help. Say you don't know. Chicks REALLY dig this.
Dude, there are probably folks in your home town far more willing and credentialed to listen to bad thoughts than Slashdot. Hook up with one and get better.
Here in Portland, there are a couple of organizations which address this issue:
freegeek.org takes in old computers and recycles them into usable Linux machines, providing education for folks who want to learn to be a a PC technician and in return for volunteer hours, the volunteer gets a useful PC in return with Mandrake and other stuff on it.
They will also responsibly recycle components they do not use for a nominal charge.
The StRUT program similarly provides education and recycling services for Portland, and, I understand, for other communities as well.
So the resources are out there - perhaps in your community. And the volunteer opportunities are there as well, if that's your interest.
The sooner we can eliminate the notion of
domain addressing, the better.
Who gives a holy rat's ass about DESTINATIONS on
the internet?
None of this naddering makes the notion of content or function any clearer, more accessible, or more useful. Domain addressing's an artifact of a polite little network that was once organized as such but is in need of having an organizing fork stuck in its rusty ass and turned over. It's done.
Given that you're frustrated with a pile of glop, instead of documenting your frustration with a pile of new and untested code, manage your frustration.
Anger is an energy. Use it.
Remember:
- Change for its own sake is just change.
- A selfish exercise in brilliance usually looks like a rainbow in the dark without someone to highlight it. (who are you trying to impress? How? Why?)
Strategies:
- Fix the requests you're given within the construct that exists, cleaning up what seems prudent.
- If the code, without restructure, is a threat to the product or you company's position in the industry, document your concerns and wait for the right time to explain them. Spend time on THAT rather than festering on the glop.
- Create a crystal on your own time to buff up your skills and confidence if that's useful.
Focus on your real goals.
If you rewrite the whole thing, in 6 months will you remember what you did? In 6 months, what do you want to remember?
Slashdot Mirror
Caveat emptor. eBay is not your mama.
I think a most recent Dilbert pretty much said it all (your research required.)
I've had great luck on eBay and for all the reasons stated.
- 1 pair perfect Magnepan loudspeakers. Delivered as represented by a credible seller, serials verifiable.
- A Crown IC-150 power amp that I needed to spice up a dull system. A rare bird, hard to fake.
- A perfect Bryston 4B amp that's real darned hard to fake and covered by a transferrable, 20 year warranty, no questions asked. Darned hard to find, locally. Serials verifiable. Fairly priced.
- Various unique underground comix that would be hard to misrepresent.
- A "Goofy" backwards-clocking watch. I knew what it hadda look like. Easy to verify.
If the seller seems unclear about the thing they're selling, BEWARE. (Well, it's a Rools-Royce, seems to run good, looks pretty good, found it in granny's 'grage, I dunno, what do you think it's worth...)
Bid on items that are rare and provably unique; worth selling and transporting, uniquely. It takes actual work to represent these items and the bullshitters pop to the surface pretty quickly.
If you're bidding on a sunflower seed when you can get one at the local store, consider.
Cripes.
See, the fuzzy image was necessary to hide the little green men jumping in and out of the frame...
Interestingly enough, Consumer Reports has rated toothpastes and they rank abrasiveness. They'd harsh on me if if disclosed their opinion but it's worth a look. Similarly, jeweler's rouge is the finest abrasive I know of. The final step in polishing Newtonian mirrors was jeweler's rouge when I was into "walking the barrel."
I would also recommend you be aware of your water source. Here in Portland our main pollutant is silicon 'cause the water comes down granite and is entirely unfiltered. Sometimes it can actually be kinda abrasive but usually, you can wash a CD or DVD in tap water with a detergent and it comes out spotless.
In the midwest, the problem is usually calcium since the water percolates through layers and layers of dead critters who all had chiten or something like it as their carapice. It tends to deposit on whatever when it dries, not to mention causing horrors for aquarists since the water buffers like crazy. But it's not abrasive.
Use a dab of Jet Dry (tm) or a similar thing and that problem goes away. Or buy a gallon of distilled water. Either way in either case.
I keep a Pioneer slot-loading CD reader in a USB case and when I can't read a CD by any other means, I plug it into a computer and it usually reads it. Then I put it back into its plastic bag with the requisite moisture-absorbing gel (I live in Portland, OR.)
:-)
Hey, it's heavy, it's built like a tank, and it doesn't have a drive tray.
And I put my tinfoil hat back on.
I have yet to find a similar canonically great DVD reader. If anyone has an idea, let me know.
It seems the drive to be cheap infected the DVD reader biz and not even almighty Plextor has produced an observably great solution.
Any ideas?
This poster's simply playing the victim.
So why was the audit asked for in the first place and why did you not have at least a modicum of management control over the process? You should have gone in, hand in hand with management and looked at the result in unison, not being subjected to it - in the spirit of learning, not generating fault. Clearly, this audit was set up to generate fault, whether through management caprice or someone reading that it was a trendy thing to do.
My opinion is that you screwed up by permitting yourself to prostrate yourself to this white-hat audit without being part of the process and making yourself a beneficial part of the results; not a victim.
Not in the notion of the "not my fault" notion of management, but in terms of engaging the organization in demanding beneficial analysis and results, and working with them to improve your processes.
Being dive-bombed by a 3rd party means your management has a poor view of your organization or at least, you are communicating poorly with them.
Stop being a victim. Get your ass in gear.
There is no substitute for heat.
Cook the drive past the Curie Point with a
blowtorch. You'd be amazed what folks can recover
from drives even if they've been "destroyed."
Having come from a shop which manages Linux efficiently, and having done consulting gigs with Linux shops...
The problem with Linux is it's possible to manage it very efficiently but the majority of shops don't know how. Tools like cfengine and a reasoned and planned methods are not implemented as a discipline.
I haul out Kirk Bauer's "Automating UNIX and Linux Administration" and it's both a revelation and a threat to the staff, who spend their days either pointing and clicking or doing the same thing over and over again at the command line. How desparate is that?
Unfortunately, most of these shops are managed by bottom-line folks who do the do every day and never consider alternatives. The ones who hum along don't bother to respond to such surveys because they _get it_. They invest in the scaffolding that has to be built and once it's in place, the thing just plain flat rocks and IT finds its proper role - disappearing.
When I talk to such organizations about IT, I tell them "if I do my job just right, I disappear." It usually causes crossed brows and consternation, but it's so.
Linux advocates do themselves great injury by not creating and requiring open architectures and open methods of system administration. And disappearing. It's only sexy if you watch it all happen.
Imagine. Now the lactose intolerant and determined
legume eaters may never have to buy batteries
again...
When doing general guesses about how much cooling
one might need for a room, a rule of thumb is to
assume the average human is about a 150 watt
lightbulb. So there's plenty of energy there to
harness.
So I was thinking... Looking at all the cool knee
braces they've cooked up for folks who are in
rehab or need the support... What about a very
much lighter one with some kind of embedded
dynamo?
By the way, Seiko's been building electronic
watches that store up the body's kinetic energy
for a while.
And I am wearing a primitive version of all this -
a Seiko self-winding watch.
Dave
Let's see, soldering them together on a polished
wood table with no ESD protection in sight?
What are these people thinking?
Clearly, not much.
Sounds like you guys are doing a laudable job of working with what you're presented. I admire your desire to do the right set of things.
Of course, in the real (IT) world the response would be to examine the configurations, declare them non-standard and unsupportable, repartition their drives to the supported config and loading the supported image. Doesn't work? Tough. Requisition new gear or declare yourself unsupportable forevermore.
Sounds like a hell of an education. What might be interesting would be to hear about any tools used in this environment to suss out the configuration of the machine and/or fix up common configs quickly.
My only words of advice are:
They are people, not users.
Most people don't care about the mechanism, only the function.
If you notice something that might hurt, point it out, gently.
If the individual decides they know more than you, work to enslave them.
Report particularly abusive people to the appropriate authorities.
Never die alone. Ask for help. Say you don't know. Chicks REALLY dig this.
Design of a Computer, the CDC 6600 by Thornton is essential and concise reading for anyone who wants to know what a computer actually does.
Mind you, Hennessy, et. al. is a great piece of work but if you want to sniff bedrock and your library has a copy, you owe it to yourself to read it.
Perhaps it should be titled "Oops, George Did it Again."
Dude, there are probably folks in your home town far more willing and credentialed to listen to bad thoughts than Slashdot. Hook up with one and get better.
Here in Portland, there are a couple of organizations which address this issue:
freegeek.org takes in old computers and recycles them into usable Linux machines, providing education for folks who want to learn to be a a PC technician and in return for volunteer hours, the volunteer gets a useful PC in return with Mandrake and other stuff on it.
They will also responsibly recycle components they do not use for a nominal charge.
The StRUT program similarly provides education and recycling services for Portland, and, I understand, for other communities as well.
So the resources are out there - perhaps in your community. And the volunteer opportunities are there as well, if that's your interest.
Dave
The sooner we can eliminate the notion of domain addressing, the better.
Who gives a holy rat's ass about DESTINATIONS on the internet?
None of this naddering makes the notion of content or function any clearer, more accessible, or more useful. Domain addressing's an artifact of a polite little network that was once organized as such but is in need of having an organizing fork stuck in its rusty ass and turned over. It's done.
Dave
Anger is an energy. Use it.
Remember:
- Change for its own sake is just change.
- A selfish exercise in brilliance usually looks like a rainbow in the dark without someone to highlight it. (who are you trying to impress? How? Why?)
Strategies:
- Fix the requests you're given within the construct that exists, cleaning up what seems prudent.
- If the code, without restructure, is a threat to the product or you company's position in the industry, document your concerns and wait for the right time to explain them. Spend time on THAT rather than festering on the glop.
- Create a crystal on your own time to buff up your skills and confidence if that's useful.
Focus on your real goals.
If you rewrite the whole thing, in 6 months will you remember what you did? In 6 months, what do you want to remember?
Dave