All of these pale in significance when compared against two wars and tens (or hundreds?) of thousands dead. The budget mess that Bush caused, and the new associated national debt. The financial crisis. The foreign policy hits. The disabled veterans (both physical and mental injuries).
It is arguable that items 1, 2, 5, 6 and maybe 7 from your points are all directly a result of unwarranted use of force in 'Operation Iraqi Freedom'.
One should not get annoyed at the janitor for cleaning up a bathroom that has been abused.
But by all means, let's return to a Republican administration, with a net loss of jobs, a huge increase on the debt, more outsourcing, loss of real wages and wealth holdings. And them blame the next Democrat that gets to come in and try to clean up the hangover that the republican administration leaves after its 4 (or 8?) year party.
However, this next one is wrong. Just plain wrong. Look up what 'islam' means sometime. It might be enlightening.
> Any Muslim nobel prize winners?
Yes there are. Look Herefor the 1994 award and much more recently (...as in accepted the award 8 days ago) is a Muslim woman from Iran.
Just for the hell of it, I'll add one more.
I don't care if you are Christian or not, but a statement such as the one you made take less than 90 seconds on Google to prove or disprove. It would not surprise me if there are more; I just did a very quick glance.
Wow.
Now, 3 days per week as I get off BART at Millbrae in the late afternoon/early evening, I'm going to be wondering just how many people I see are/. readers.
Considering the low usage of the new stations (and the soon-to-be parking fee cuts), it never occurred to me that there would be other Slashdot folks around. I was all ready to post this exact sighting (new ticket machines and new Add Fare machines), only to find it all ready listed.
Three times now I've seen this issue at that station. Considering the new station is just 5 months old, and I'm only there 6 times per week for a very short time, it has to be happening much more often than what I've seen.
Your comments are quite interesting. You move from a situation with which I have zero experience to once which is much more familiar. I would say that a majority of the cases boil down to two concerns:
As an IT manager/Network Engineer I have rarely said 'No' only to have the decision rubber stamped by my director. In fact, I almost always use the reasons that do make you happy, or some similar variation. My favorite is "Are we going to be able to track the support needs for this system separately from the other systems, so we know how much more to bill Department ______ to satisfy this request?" The simple truth is, while we aren't understaffed, adding more work to my all ready large workload is not a matter of being able to play Red Alert II in the afternoon-It's the difference between maintaining the juggling act and starting to drop the plates I have in the air. The larger problem is it is never one plate that breaks, it's always a few. Or many.
I love playing with new technology. I would love an excuse to get a nice new Mac here in the IT section to play with, or maybe have some good reason to request a Powerbook when it comes time to replace this aging Dell Laptop. I see as being in my best 'techie' interest. However, it goes directly against my 'job' interest. I don't want to choose this way, I feel that I have to. If I get approval to hire more people, or bring on temps or something-because the demand requires it (that means, reactively) then I'll add new cool things. I usually get agreements in writing, so that a month later, the newbie is let go and not replaced and all of the duties do not fall back on us.
Lines like "Interesting idea. However, during configuration this will have a direct impact on the production network, and while nothing should affect the production systems, it is still on the production switches, even if they are in their own VLAN." The next question is "Is there a way to do this without endangering the production network?" and my answer is almost always "There is almost zero danger here, there should not be a problem." PHB at this point tells me to run it on the lab (which is always unacceptable to the original requestor) or to tell the requestor no. Is this the same thing as a simple 'No'? It might be the same on your end, but the difference is huge. I've just gone to bat for you, partly because it is simply my job, but also because I enjoy my job. And I still get angry mutterings from you.
Are there IT department simply avoiding new things because of worry about more work? Yes there probably are. However, you might want to live in an IT guy's shoes for a week or so, and even sit in an IT manager's chair for a while. Life isn't pretty in the dungeon. Almost universally, IT is looked at in the low-end of departments when it comes to pecking order. Here, were I am, the CIO has his office on the 4th floor-The only lead executive that does not have an office on the top floor (the 7th). Do you think this is coincidence? IT budgets always seem to get axed sooner than other departments and funding increases are always slower in coming-unless there is some major project which comes from a need outside of the IT department.
And yes, IT departments are the ones outsourced to call centers in the Midwest, or heavens forbid, overseas-because the work we do is GENERIC! People don't even need to be here to do your job, we'll just route the calls to India!
For the record, I would love to see a more adequately funded IT department and see the number of requests it turns down. Alternatively, I want to see a company where the ongoing support and maintenance costs have input from the IT department from the beginning and guaranteed funding from the new project for the life of the new project (and no, this is not the same as having other departments hire their own support/programmers/contactors-in my experience, this is even worse, as people get into turf wars quickly). I want a place where the pleas of "We can do it
Have I missed something? The last I heard, Aung San Suu Kyi may be able to leave her home, but to think that she's not still under restrictions is foolish. Also, the military junta that ousted her from power still runs the country.
Your point is well taken in the case of South Africa, but the regime that rules Burma is still very much in control. Companies may now be feeling heat for dealing with that nation, but that pressure has not brought about a change in government yet.
The best thing to do is when you are describing your problem, explain to the tech support person what you have checked on your end. That way, the person you are talking to can determine if they are qualified to help you, or if you need to transfered up the ladder.
One thing to avoid is trying to diagnose the problem on their end. You can give them the evidence that you've gathered, but avoid drawing conclusions. The support person may assume you know what you're talking about when you are way off, and this can lead to lost time spent trying to fix something that isn't broken.
This works sometimes, but not always. For instance, our company has to IT departments-one that serves the engineers at HQ, and then the one that serves everyone else (I know, it sounds strange, but was the result of a merger, and surprisingly does not work too bad-most of the time).
The 'everyone else group' is very M$ centric, and Exchange/Outlook are cornerstones in their religion. Knowing what Outlook viruses can do, I refused to use outlook, and told them to install the POP3 service on my Exchange server so I could use Netscape Mail (this was after it had been working, the company grows, and my Exchange server got changed, which isnt a problem for Outlook users).
Try explaining to a phone tech that you CAN in fact use a POP3 mail client with Exchange Server when he has been indoctri.. er trained by M$ programs, and he just does not get it. 3 times I went through this: I've been a sysadmin, I know what I am saying, I've been using Netscape Mail for the whole year I have been here, it DOES work with Exchange-Really.
"But how? The protocol that Outlook-Exchange uses is Microsoft's..."
Finally, I got fed up and said "Just file the damned ticket and assign it to the MtView Exchange folks, they will know what to do". To my surprise, that is exactly what he did, but not before I was so frustrated I had to go for a walk.
As a former customer service phone guy, I know it is easy to assume that you know more than the person you are speaking with, but I like to think that I was fairly good at ID'ing Those With A Clue, and those without. TWAC I actually listened to-very well-and heard what was said. The problem is, most phone techs dont. Few things are more frustrating when you know you know more than the guy on the other end-the person who is supposed to help!-and they dont LISTEN.
Slashdot Mirror
All of these pale in significance when compared against two wars and tens (or hundreds?) of thousands dead. The budget mess that Bush caused, and the new associated national debt. The financial crisis. The foreign policy hits. The disabled veterans (both physical and mental injuries).
It is arguable that items 1, 2, 5, 6 and maybe 7 from your points are all directly a result of unwarranted use of force in 'Operation Iraqi Freedom'.
One should not get annoyed at the janitor for cleaning up a bathroom that has been abused.
But by all means, let's return to a Republican administration, with a net loss of jobs, a huge increase on the debt, more outsourcing, loss of real wages and wealth holdings. And them blame the next Democrat that gets to come in and try to clean up the hangover that the republican administration leaves after its 4 (or 8?) year party.
While you may think this a minor aspect of your larger point, we Spartans would dispute this as 'minor'. It is closer to an unintended insult.
Michigan State University is _NOT_ UMich (the University of Michigan).
Calling a Spartan as a rodent might not go over too well. Remember the scene with the well in 300?
There is a serious point in there..somewhere. Green and Blue dont mix very well.
> Islam's past is just as violent.
However, this next one is wrong. Just plain wrong. Look up what 'islam' means sometime. It might be enlightening.
> Any Muslim nobel prize winners?
Yes there are. Look Herefor the 1994 award and much more recently (...as in accepted the award 8 days ago) is a Muslim woman from Iran.
Just for the hell of it, I'll add one more. I don't care if you are Christian or not, but a statement such as the one you made take less than 90 seconds on Google to prove or disprove. It would not surprise me if there are more; I just did a very quick glance.
Wow. Now, 3 days per week as I get off BART at Millbrae in the late afternoon/early evening, I'm going to be wondering just how many people I see are /. readers.
Considering the low usage of the new stations (and the soon-to-be parking fee cuts), it never occurred to me that there would be other Slashdot folks around. I was all ready to post this exact sighting (new ticket machines and new Add Fare machines), only to find it all ready listed.
Three times now I've seen this issue at that station. Considering the new station is just 5 months old, and I'm only there 6 times per week for a very short time, it has to be happening much more often than what I've seen.
I can't be that lucky.
As an IT manager/Network Engineer I have rarely said 'No' only to have the decision rubber stamped by my director. In fact, I almost always use the reasons that do make you happy, or some similar variation. My favorite is "Are we going to be able to track the support needs for this system separately from the other systems, so we know how much more to bill Department ______ to satisfy this request?" The simple truth is, while we aren't understaffed, adding more work to my all ready large workload is not a matter of being able to play Red Alert II in the afternoon-It's the difference between maintaining the juggling act and starting to drop the plates I have in the air. The larger problem is it is never one plate that breaks, it's always a few. Or many.
I love playing with new technology. I would love an excuse to get a nice new Mac here in the IT section to play with, or maybe have some good reason to request a Powerbook when it comes time to replace this aging Dell Laptop. I see as being in my best 'techie' interest. However, it goes directly against my 'job' interest. I don't want to choose this way, I feel that I have to. If I get approval to hire more people, or bring on temps or something-because the demand requires it (that means, reactively) then I'll add new cool things. I usually get agreements in writing, so that a month later, the newbie is let go and not replaced and all of the duties do not fall back on us.
Lines like "Interesting idea. However, during configuration this will have a direct impact on the production network, and while nothing should affect the production systems, it is still on the production switches, even if they are in their own VLAN." The next question is "Is there a way to do this without endangering the production network?" and my answer is almost always "There is almost zero danger here, there should not be a problem." PHB at this point tells me to run it on the lab (which is always unacceptable to the original requestor) or to tell the requestor no. Is this the same thing as a simple 'No'? It might be the same on your end, but the difference is huge. I've just gone to bat for you, partly because it is simply my job, but also because I enjoy my job. And I still get angry mutterings from you.
Are there IT department simply avoiding new things because of worry about more work? Yes there probably are. However, you might want to live in an IT guy's shoes for a week or so, and even sit in an IT manager's chair for a while. Life isn't pretty in the dungeon. Almost universally, IT is looked at in the low-end of departments when it comes to pecking order. Here, were I am, the CIO has his office on the 4th floor-The only lead executive that does not have an office on the top floor (the 7th). Do you think this is coincidence? IT budgets always seem to get axed sooner than other departments and funding increases are always slower in coming-unless there is some major project which comes from a need outside of the IT department.
And yes, IT departments are the ones outsourced to call centers in the Midwest, or heavens forbid, overseas-because the work we do is GENERIC! People don't even need to be here to do your job, we'll just route the calls to India!
For the record, I would love to see a more adequately funded IT department and see the number of requests it turns down. Alternatively, I want to see a company where the ongoing support and maintenance costs have input from the IT department from the beginning and guaranteed funding from the new project for the life of the new project (and no, this is not the same as having other departments hire their own support/programmers/contactors-in my experience, this is even worse, as people get into turf wars quickly). I want a place where the pleas of "We can do it
Burma? regime brought down?
Have I missed something? The last I heard, Aung San Suu Kyi may be able to leave her home, but to think that she's not still under restrictions is foolish. Also, the military junta that ousted her from power still runs the country.
Your point is well taken in the case of South Africa, but the regime that rules Burma is still very much in control. Companies may now be feeling heat for dealing with that nation, but that pressure has not brought about a change in government yet.
The best thing to do is when you are describing your problem, explain to the tech support person what you have checked on your end. That way, the person you are talking to can determine if they are qualified to help you, or if you need to transfered up the ladder.
One thing to avoid is trying to diagnose the problem on their end. You can give them the evidence that you've gathered, but avoid drawing conclusions. The support person may assume you know what you're talking about when you are way off, and this can lead to lost time spent trying to fix something that isn't broken.
This works sometimes, but not always. For instance, our company has to IT departments-one that serves the engineers at HQ, and then the one that serves everyone else (I know, it sounds strange, but was the result of a merger, and surprisingly does not work too bad-most of the time).
The 'everyone else group' is very M$ centric, and Exchange/Outlook are cornerstones in their religion. Knowing what Outlook viruses can do, I refused to use outlook, and told them to install the POP3 service on my Exchange server so I could use Netscape Mail (this was after it had been working, the company grows, and my Exchange server got changed, which isnt a problem for Outlook users).
Try explaining to a phone tech that you CAN in fact use a POP3 mail client with Exchange Server when he has been indoctri.. er trained by M$ programs, and he just does not get it. 3 times I went through this: I've been a sysadmin, I know what I am saying, I've been using Netscape Mail for the whole year I have been here, it DOES work with Exchange-Really.
"But how? The protocol that Outlook-Exchange uses is Microsoft's..."
Finally, I got fed up and said "Just file the damned ticket and assign it to the MtView Exchange folks, they will know what to do". To my surprise, that is exactly what he did, but not before I was so frustrated I had to go for a walk.
As a former customer service phone guy, I know it is easy to assume that you know more than the person you are speaking with, but I like to think that I was fairly good at ID'ing Those With A Clue, and those without. TWAC I actually listened to-very well-and heard what was said. The problem is, most phone techs dont. Few things are more frustrating when you know you know more than the guy on the other end-the person who is supposed to help!-and they dont LISTEN.