There aren't more jerks: it's just easier for them to be heard.
Before the net, if someone wanted to be a jerk to the masses in general they'd have to write a letter to the editor or spraypaint the water tower.
The net has extended the reach of all communications. Unfortunately, in the line of 'the squeaky wheel gets the grease', the jerks often get more than their fair share of online attention.
What's the answer? DON'T PLAY. What would happen if a jerk posted something vitriolic and no-one answered? Bet they'd get bored and go back to pulling the wings off of flies.
For what it's worth, here my thoughts on the subject.
Gender is an issue just like race, religion, and sexual orientation are issues. This is a wetware problem. Our brains are set up to notice difference. We have a tendency to categorize items as seperate and opposites which are actually part of the same process (up/down, black/white good/bad male/female). By separating these items, we have created arbitrary categories. We make comparisons and value judgements on these categories which make no sense. Valuing male over female is like valuing up over down - you can't have one without the other! I think of it as a bug in the human OS.
Unfortunately, the steps taken to alleviate the problems which arise from this type of reasoning tend to reinforce the idea of seperate and opposite, instead of pointing out the ridiculous nature of the comparison and promoting acceptance of the continnum as a whole.
Mentoring is key I was encouraged at several points in my career by people who's opinion was important to me. I find this is a common thread among female engineers. Parents, teachers, supervisors, senior co-workers all play a huge role in helping young people make career choices. Often, women don't have much contact with role models who encourage them to become an engineer.
Times are changing I can name three companies with female CEO's. More venture capital money is going to high-tech companies with a female founder (see Springboard 2000). Corporate awareness and changes in management practice have helped to reduce the 'gender gap' in Silicon Valley pay, and increase the number of women in senior management positions.
My ideal is that everyone with the desire and ability to be an engineer should be offered encouragement, opportunities, and compensation regardless of their physical characteristics.
I think this is fair. Your mileage may vary.
The Media and the Internet
on
Apocalypse Not
·
· Score: 1
We fear that which we don't understand.
I am constantly amazed at the amount of 'yellow journalism' heaped upon the internet. Young girl seduced by a psychotic ON THE NET! Scam artist ripped people off ON THE NET! Prostitution and pornography ON THE NET! These are things that happen in everyday life, people. Just 'cause it's on the internet doesn't magically make it a catastrophe.
The media realizes the net is a huge unknown for the majority of the population. By playing the 'fear of technology' card over and over they have been able to boost their ratings. Y2K is just another example of media overhype.
I do agree there were legitimate problems, they just weren't as catastrophic as we were led to believe.
My only hope is that Y2K will convince people that the media has been crying wolf, and that we should take everything they report with a huge grain of salt.
If only all news sources could be as professional and objective as slashdot.:)
There are a number of places where you can get information on what products are available, and how to set up your work area ergonomically. Talk to a chiropractor, physical therapist, or orthopedist. Some folks will even come to your office and give talks on how to set up your work area and tactics for avoiding repetitive stress injuries.
I have a Steelcase desk with a separate keyboard shelf, jell-filled keyboard and mouse carpal tunnel pads, and a chair with adjustable seat height, arm height and lumbar support. This setup works for me.
The key to avoiding repetitive stress injuries is knowing how these types of injuries occur. It doesn't matter how much ergonomic gear you have if you don't use it properly, or if you don't pay attention to your body.
I use my mouse with my left (non-dominant) hand, to reduce the strain on my right hand. Our company has a massage therapist come in once a week and give 15 minute massages. It helps me to realize what muscles in my hands/wrists/arms/shoulders are getting tweaked so I can take preventitive action early. There is a product called the Cat's Paw, which is neoprene with finger holes in it which I use to stretch/strengthen my wrist muscles. Other folks in my office use jell-filled stress balls or balls with a spinning weight inside. I take martial arts, and do a lot of hand/wrist/arm stretches.
Even with all of this I still experience occasional wrist pain. Recognizing it early and being able to take action has prevented it from ever becoming debilitating for me.
English translation: all of us unfortunate souls who live over 9k feet from a central office a) soon will qualify for DSL service and b) will have a choice of DSL providers.
With the removal of rental fees the value proposition of providing DSL improves, increasing competition. Hopefully this will get the incumbent and competitive carriers off their butts and providing DSL to anyone who wants it (i.e. ME).
Imagine a world without websites where you enter your phone number and wait two weeks to be turned down for service. Do we dare to dream that by then they'll have worked out the bugs in provisioning?
Maybe the next century won't be so bad after all...
First, let me congratulate the IETF on Doing the Right Thing.
Now let me try to explain why anyone would even think of adding wiretap capability to an Internet protocol, what it means, and what we can do about it.
Why wiretap? The FCC and other global regulatory agencies require the ability to wiretap voice networks. This is known as the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). If you want more info check out the FCC site .
Ok, great, this is a done deal with the telephone network. But what the hell does this have to do with the IETF?
Voice over IP technologies have effectively made any IP network into a telephone network. As carriers start to deploy VoIP solutions using their own IP based networks, they still must support federal regulations such as CALEA. So it makes sense for the IETF to add CALEA support into VoIP protocols, right?
I think not.
What would it mean if we started applying the rules and regulations of the telephony network to an IP network? Would we end up applying all of them? Where is the line between a telephony carrier's IP network and the Internet? Where is the line between wiretapping voice and wiretapping data?
The line is where we draw it.
Unfortunately, anyone hoping to sell equipment to telephony carriers has to provide CALEA support. This is why router companies have to add CALEA functionality to their products. At least that (hopefully) limits the effective jurisdiction of wiretapping to carrier networks. We absolutely do not have to subject the Internet to these regulations.
What can we do? We can petition and support the IETF in NOT adding wiretap capability to Internet protocols. We can use PGP or other encryption to keep our communications secure, and show the futility of wiretapping on the net. We can write to politicians, and the FCC, and tell them what we think.
I like to think of it as the separation of church and state. If we're going to have freedom online, we need to prevent the regulations of other media (telephone, television, radio) from creeping in.
Thanks to the IETF and all of you for drawing the line, and defending it.
Slashdot Mirror
There aren't more jerks: it's just easier for them to be heard.
Before the net, if someone wanted to be a jerk to the masses in general they'd have to write a letter to the editor or spraypaint the water tower.
The net has extended the reach of all communications. Unfortunately, in the line of 'the squeaky wheel gets the grease', the jerks often get more than their fair share of online attention.
What's the answer? DON'T PLAY. What would happen if a jerk posted something vitriolic and no-one answered? Bet they'd get bored and go back to pulling the wings off of flies.
For what it's worth, here my thoughts on the subject.
Gender is an issue just like race, religion, and sexual orientation are issues.
This is a wetware problem. Our brains are set up to notice difference. We have a tendency to categorize items as seperate and opposites which are actually part of the same process (up/down, black/white good/bad male/female). By separating these items, we have created arbitrary categories. We make comparisons and value judgements on these categories which make no sense. Valuing male over female is like valuing up over down - you can't have one without the other! I think of it as a bug in the human OS.
Unfortunately, the steps taken to alleviate the problems which arise from this type of reasoning tend to reinforce the idea of seperate and opposite, instead of pointing out the ridiculous nature of the comparison and promoting acceptance of the continnum as a whole.
Mentoring is key
I was encouraged at several points in my career by people who's opinion was important to me. I find this is a common thread among female engineers. Parents, teachers, supervisors, senior co-workers all play a huge role in helping young people make career choices. Often, women don't have much contact with role models who encourage them to become an engineer.
Times are changing
I can name three companies with female CEO's. More venture capital money is going to high-tech companies with a female founder (see Springboard 2000). Corporate awareness and changes in management practice have helped to reduce the 'gender gap' in Silicon Valley pay, and increase the number of women in senior management positions.
My ideal is that everyone with the desire and ability to be an engineer should be offered encouragement, opportunities, and compensation regardless of their physical characteristics.
I think this is fair. Your mileage may vary.
We fear that which we don't understand.
:)
I am constantly amazed at the amount of 'yellow journalism' heaped upon the internet. Young girl seduced by a psychotic ON THE NET! Scam artist ripped people off ON THE NET! Prostitution and pornography ON THE NET! These are things that happen in everyday life, people. Just 'cause it's on the internet doesn't magically make it a catastrophe.
The media realizes the net is a huge unknown for the majority of the population. By playing the 'fear of technology' card over and over they have been able to boost their ratings. Y2K is just another example of media overhype.
I do agree there were legitimate problems, they just weren't as catastrophic as we were led to believe.
My only hope is that Y2K will convince people that the media has been crying wolf, and that we should take everything they report with a huge grain of salt.
If only all news sources could be as professional and objective as slashdot.
There are a number of places where you can get information on what products are available, and how to set up your work area ergonomically. Talk to a chiropractor, physical therapist, or orthopedist. Some folks will even come to your office and give talks on how to set up your work area and tactics for avoiding repetitive stress injuries.
I have a Steelcase desk with a separate keyboard shelf, jell-filled keyboard and mouse carpal tunnel pads, and a chair with adjustable seat height, arm height and lumbar support. This setup works for me.
The key to avoiding repetitive stress injuries is knowing how these types of injuries occur. It doesn't matter how much ergonomic gear you have if you don't use it properly, or if you don't pay attention to your body.
I use my mouse with my left (non-dominant) hand, to reduce the strain on my right hand. Our company has a massage therapist come in once a week and give 15 minute massages. It helps me to realize what muscles in my hands/wrists/arms/shoulders are getting tweaked so I can take preventitive action early. There is a product called the Cat's Paw, which is neoprene with finger holes in it which I use to stretch/strengthen my wrist muscles. Other folks in my office use jell-filled stress balls or balls with a spinning weight inside. I take martial arts, and do a lot of hand/wrist/arm stretches.
Even with all of this I still experience occasional wrist pain. Recognizing it early and being able to take action has prevented it from ever becoming debilitating for me.
This is a Good Sign.
In September, the FCC ruled that competitive exchange carriers must be provided access to subloops.
English translation: all of us unfortunate souls who live over 9k feet from a central office a) soon will qualify for DSL service and b) will have a choice of DSL providers.
With the removal of rental fees the value proposition of providing DSL improves, increasing competition. Hopefully this will get the incumbent and competitive carriers off their butts and providing DSL to anyone who wants it (i.e. ME).
Imagine a world without websites where you enter your phone number and wait two weeks to be turned down for service. Do we dare to dream that by then they'll have worked out the bugs in provisioning?
Maybe the next century won't be so bad after all...
First, let me congratulate the IETF on Doing the Right Thing.
Now let me try to explain why anyone would even think of adding wiretap capability to an Internet protocol, what it means, and what we can do about it.
Why wiretap? The FCC and other global regulatory agencies require the ability to wiretap voice networks. This is known as the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). If you want more info check out the FCC site .
Ok, great, this is a done deal with the telephone network. But what the hell does this have to do with the IETF?
Voice over IP technologies have effectively made any IP network into a telephone network. As carriers start to deploy VoIP solutions using their own IP based networks, they still must support federal regulations such as CALEA. So it makes sense for the IETF to add CALEA support into VoIP protocols, right?
I think not.
What would it mean if we started applying the rules and regulations of the telephony network to an IP network? Would we end up applying all of them? Where is the line between a telephony carrier's IP network and the Internet? Where is the line between wiretapping voice and wiretapping data?
The line is where we draw it.
Unfortunately, anyone hoping to sell equipment to telephony carriers has to provide CALEA support. This is why router companies have to add CALEA functionality to their products. At least that (hopefully) limits the effective jurisdiction of wiretapping to carrier networks. We absolutely do not have to subject the Internet to these regulations.
What can we do? We can petition and support the IETF in NOT adding wiretap capability to Internet protocols. We can use PGP or other encryption to keep our communications secure, and show the futility of wiretapping on the net. We can write to politicians, and the FCC, and tell them what we think.
I like to think of it as the separation of church and state. If we're going to have freedom online, we need to prevent the regulations of other media (telephone, television, radio) from creeping in.
Thanks to the IETF and all of you for drawing the line, and defending it.
Yet another example of Life imitating BladeRunner.