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User: wilson_c

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  1. Re:Romney Most Qualified on Mitt Romney, Robotics, and the Uncanny Valley · · Score: 1

    What constitutes experience which qualifies one for the presidency has been open to debate for 224 years. If Romney is qualified, he's qualified as a politician and business executive, and plenty of presidents with both backgrounds have made a mess of things in the past (W anyone?)

    I'm not sure that math skills are of any use when it comes down to horse-trading with congress to bully legislation through. He can try, though.

  2. Re:I'm guessing the following... on Why Developers Still Prefer iOS To Android · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The best thing about being inside the walled garden is that it muffles the sound of all the sanctimonious twits whining endlessly because they attach ethical judgements to to the most tedious of consumer choices.

  3. Re:WNDR-3700v2 on Ask Slashdot: DD-WRT Upgrade To 802.11n? · · Score: 1

    I agree this is an excellent router, especially for DD-WRT. I would warn prospective buyers that the radios have had an alarmingly high failure rate in a pretty short time. I've had clients who have experienced this repeatedly and have found plenty of additional corroboration of this experience from others online. That said, if you can get hardware that does not suffer this defect, you'll no doubt be very happy with it.

  4. Why so much love for physical media? on Netflix Deflects Rage Over Price Increase · · Score: 1

    I'm surprised at all the incensed posters here. I've just done a sampling of about a dozen people around my office and with one exception they all fell into either "I just used the DVDs" or "I watch almost exclusively streaming" camps. I know that Netflix streaming is my primary TV viewing method (I hardly use cable/Tivo anymore at all for some reason) and all of the Netflix discs in my possession have sat untouched for 5+ months (One I've had for over a year). I know people want to have every option available, but they don't seem to actually use them all. Netflix is THE leader in DVD purchases. They drive that market the way Blockbuster used to. The only way they'll be able to pressure media companies into better streaming deals is to stop guaranteeing them huge DVD purchases. And the only way they can do that is to get people who don't care that much about DVDs to stop paying for DVD subscriptions. If you want to get to the future, sooner or later you've got to cut the cord to the past. So long DVDs, you won't be missed.

  5. What problem does this solve? on Build Your Own Time Capsule Work-Alike For $200 · · Score: 1

    So, if I invest a few hundred dollars worth of my time, I can save a few hundred dollars creating a roughly equivalent system? What exactly is the downside of just buying a Time Capsule again?

  6. Re:My solution on Build Your Own Time Capsule Work-Alike For $200 · · Score: 1

    Ah, the Slowbo. Hopes were high for Drobo when it first appeared, but in my experience it regularly had slower throughput for RAID 5 (or Drobo's closest equivalent) drives than I would get for a single drive. Fine for low bandwidth backups, but not the low-cost enterprise-performance they sell themselves as.

  7. Re:RV042 on Ask Slashdot: Best Connect Scheme For a 2-ISP Household? · · Score: 1

    I installed a few of these for clients and they really failed to perform in a number of ways. Failover/Load balancing was unreliable when it worked at all. If you can swing it, go Sonicwall or proper Cisco appliance, if not consider DD-WRT or other open-source solutions, all of which have left me much happier than the RV042.

  8. Re:CFL are no savings on Congress Voting To Repeal Incandescent Bulb Ban · · Score: 1

    Don't buy cheap CFLs. Stick to high-quality ones. Their color temperature is more consistent as is their life expectancy. The failure rate is lower and most have a warrant that will be honored. I used to have the same problem until I switched to Phillips CFL; haven't replace one in the 3 years since I did.

    And, for the record, I am always scrupulous about taking all my CFL and FL lamps (which have always posed the same risks) to the proper facility.

  9. Re:Ignore Cisco on Ask Slashdot: Becoming a Network Administrator? · · Score: 1

    This guy isn't asking how to get a job, he's got the job. He wants to know where to start learning how to do the job. The value of a cert to him is nil.

    Certs in general are fine, but they only get you a certain kind of job. I don't exactly hold them against job applicants, but I do look much harder at an applicant with a cert to see if they can hit the ground running. I'd rather an ignorant self-starter who can handle many different roles than a well-educated guy who has one niche of learning. I know I can get the former up to speed quickly. All I know about the latter is that they were able to pass a test, and we don't have tests at work.

  10. Re:Ignore Cisco on Ask Slashdot: Becoming a Network Administrator? · · Score: 1

    I couldn't agree more. I have run my networks on HP ProCurve switches and routers for the past 5 years and couldn't be happier. They're reliable, support is great, and customer service couldn't be better. Lifetime warranties for considerably less than the cost of Cisco. I also think it's easier to get up to speed with the HP kit, but YMMV.

  11. Re:I don't like Celsius on Why Does the US Cling To Imperial Measurements? · · Score: 1

    Frigorific? It's frigtastic!

  12. Re:Not so bad to have different systems. on Why Does the US Cling To Imperial Measurements? · · Score: 1

    Knots are more rational than you think. A knot is 1 nautical mile per hour. A nautical mile is 1.15 standard miles, but it's also 1 minute of latitude (or 1 minute of longitude at the equator). Since no one is suggesting a base 10 replacement for spherical geometry, the nautical mile will continue to be much more useful than a kilometer. It's actually rather handy in navigation.

  13. Better in the good ole days on Jesse Jackson, Jr. Pins US Job Losses On iPad · · Score: 1

    The problem with the world today? It's literacy. Widespread literacy is putting all the scribes out of business. Once upon a time a slightly-educated man was guaranteed a job for life as a scribe, now by providing nearly universal literacy, schools have taken food from his table. What once required a specialist is now available to everyone.

    And don't get me started on the printing press. Sure, Gutenberg's doing fine, but what about all of the monks who made good livings penning bibles until he came along.

    Grrr...kids today.

  14. Re:Not really ridiculous on Texas Bill Outlaws Discrimination Against Creationists In Academia · · Score: 1

    That isn't creationism. Creationism refers to a specific cosmology derived from some sects of modern protestant Christianity. It claims a literal interpretation of biblical texts, that the world is ~6,000 years old, that an anthropomorphic god brought the universe into existence and created man as-is of whole cloth; it rejects entirely the concept of evolution. Simply believing that a god started the universe off and sat back is just some particular niche of deism.

  15. Re:Finnish Revolution on After MS-Nokia Pact, Many Nokia Workers Walk Out In Protest · · Score: 1

    This WP7 plan stands a good chance of failing, but sticking with Symbian would have guaranteed it. Nokia had to do something and it's not like anyone had better ideas than this.

  16. Re:Population control on Bill Gates Says Anti-Vaccine Effort Kills Children · · Score: 2

    Reducing childhood mortality lowers fertility rates within a generation or so. This is because parents in developing nations won't have large numbers of children if they know that their chances of survival are good.

  17. Surprised that "injun" was treated the same way. on The Continued Censorship of Huckleberry Finn · · Score: 1

    Sidestepping the argument over censorship of the n-word, is "injun" even a distinct word? I always assumed it was nothing more than "Indian" written in dialect. To give it a different, derogatory meaning, especially when so close in pronunciation to the source word, would be like having separate dictionary entries for "nothing" and "nothin'". If there is insult in "injun", it would seem to be in a context from the speaker and not the word itself. If, on the other hand, the objection is to "Indian" vs. "Native American"...well, I suppose I've got no beef there, but there are much more relevant transgressors there than a 150 year old book (namely, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the official names of very many Native American tribes and tribal business).

  18. Re:WPA2 minimum passphrase length... on Sophos Researcher Suggests Password 'Free' to Spur Wi-Fi Encryption · · Score: 5, Funny

    freeeeee?

  19. With lower costs, revenue is a bad comparison. on Digital Distribution Numbers Speak To Health of PC Game Industry · · Score: 1

    48% of the games might represent only 36% of the revenue, but what percent of the profit are they?

    Without the expenses of duplication, packaging, shipping, warehousing, distributor's cut, retailer's cut, and in-store marketing costs (to say nothing of returns on damaged and unpurchased stock) I imaging that digital distribution is much more profitable for the developers and publishers than brick and mortar even if it represents less gross revenue.

  20. The lawyer is full of it on Should You Be Paid For Being On Call? · · Score: 1

    I think this attorney is speaking out of his ass. When a firefighter is at the station, they are on duty. It doesn't matter if they are sleeping, cooking, or watching tv, they are on duty and being paid for every minute of their time. When they can go home and do whatever they want with whomever, then they are off. It's that simple.

    I know that in Los Angeles where I live, firefighters can make huge portions of their wages in overtime because it's still cheaper than the department hiring additional employees.

  21. You do have legal recourse. on How To Handle Corporate Blackmail? · · Score: 1

    Just because you live in an at-will state, doesn't mean you don't have legal protection. They have threatened your future livelihood if you don't agree to their terms. That is certainly outside the bounds of any at-will contract.

    You should agree to stay longer on their terms, and then immediately submit a formal complaint to the relevant employment authority in your state, detailing all contacts and conversations regarding this matter.

    Of course, they will be indignant and say "you should have just contacted HR first", but you can claim that they created a hostile environment in which you felt you could no longer trust anyone in the company regarding this without having established legal protections for yourself first. Trust me, after their indignation fades, they will cave immediately and then apologize (or at least HR will). HR exists largely to protect the company from liability when management does f***ed up things like this.

  22. Maybe it's personal on The Stigma of a Tech Support Background · · Score: 1

    Interviews and pre-interview phone conversations are not primarily about job competency. They are about assessing whether you are likable/annoying/properly socialized/have decent hygiene/are a good fit for the company/have a good work attitude/can behave in a way that shows you know your place in a hierarchy/don't eat with your mouth open/demonstrate basic politeness.

    Some of these are fantastic reasons not to hire someone - you don't want to be responsible for hiring the guy everyone will spend the next 5 years hating, desperate for an excuse to rid the office of them - and some are absurd, but none of them will ever be given as a reason when asked why a candidate wasn't offered a job.

    I know when I hire people, I'm much more concerned with their attitudes about work, which tend to be pretty fixed by adulthood, than I am with their specific knowledge and experience, which can be gained easily. I run an IT consultancy and I expect my employees to take my clients' problems VERY seriously. I expect staff to be operators who'll get the work done, then worry about their personal leisure. Any indication that I'll have to deal with a complainer or someone grating and I'm not going to take the risk.

    You claim that your applications are well-written, but that just means that you think you worked hard on them. None of us can be objective in these matters. I've seen plenty of crap resumes and cover letters that applicants undoubtedly worked very hard on. Doesn't matter. As long as they are basically polite and avoid signs of illiteracy, that portion of applying for a job is done in seconds.

    All we know about you is that you're a person who posted on /. complaining about perceived unfairness in hiring. Is it possible that an interviewer picked up on this tendency toward public complaint?

    Perhaps when asked about your tech support experience, you responded in a way that showed the job or employer in a very negative light. Even if it is true, "My last job sucked because the guy running the company is an idiot, but that's okay 'cause it was a stupid job anyway" doesn't recommend any applicant.

    Maybe it's because - in general, not necessarily your actual case - any expertise greater than basic literacy will get most people promoted to 2nd or 3rd tier support positions very quickly. Interviewers may have assumed that failure to be promoted at a call center in two years indicated a "this is just a short-term job, so I won't work very hard at it" attitude.

    These are exactly the applicant traits that phone calls and interviews exist to weed out. Problem employees (even great, hardworking, likable people who just aren't right for the atmosphere of a particular company) can have large ripple effects which disrupt an organization. It is the job of any employment gatekeeper to prevent that. Better to risk missing a great hire (there are always more!) than being stuck with a bad one.

  23. Re:I understand running away from prison... but on Spam King and Family Dead In Murder-Suicide · · Score: 1

    He is self-centered (or rather, more self-centered than the average Joe) because of what? Because he sent out spam emails and didn't care that he got on your nerves? By that logic, every cold calling CCA is also a self centered bastard who's ready to pop any second. ...
    I fail to see the connection between being a spammer and being a murder-suicide in the making.

    What he did, vis-a-vis spam, wasn't merely annoying. It was a criminal act. He knowingly acted in a criminally fraudulent way in order to annoy people. He didn't care that he was breaking the law to deceive people into receiving his crap and that is sociopathic behavior. Does that make him homicidal? No, of course not, but it does seem that a selfish asshole in business is more likely to act like a selfish asshole when it comes to suicide too.

    As an OT aside: dude, 21 months in a minimum security facility and he couldn't hack it? He was still going to come out a wealthy man. And he had to take his family out with him. What a pussy.

  24. Re:Those pics look fake to me. Shenanigans? on Previously Uncontacted Amazon Tribe Photographed · · Score: 1

    It would be fun to show them the real world. Either that or let them shoot some arrows, then fire back a couple hellfire missles, just to let them know who's boss.

    Real World? WTF? These people can survive in the Amazon with almost no technology, but you are some kind of tough guy? Nice. Can you even survive a few hours without a slurpee?

    Good to see that Slashdot is still full of armchair ninjas.

  25. Re:Reinstalling may not be an option; activation on Apple QuickTime DRM Disables Video Editing Apps · · Score: 1

    Nah, you don't need to plead. Adobe, and just about every other software vendor I've had to deal with, are pretty cool with re-activations. Their attitude about these things seems to be if you're calling them, you're probably not stealing from them. They've never been anything other than helpful to me in these cases. I'm an IT consultant overseeing hundreds of workstations for productions companies, so I have to sort this stuff out a few times a week.