Greetings and Salutations...
yea, we used to have EXACTLY this sort of arrangement in the South. A large campus, with onsite housing for the workers, and a centralized management and healthcare system that provided them with free or low-cost food, healthcare at least as good as most companies provide these days, and guaranteed employment.
Some annoying sod screwed that up for us years ago, and, the South has not been the same since.
Regards (while G.D. & R)
Dave Mundt
The mills are gone because China is the new factory...not because of the language used on the floor.
My parents reared me to believe that the use of obscenity was more a sign of a lacking vocabulary. Although Lord knows, I can be pretty foul mouthed myself at times, without thinking, I tend to stick to that standard.
I also think that American society in general has gotten both way too thin-skinned and ready to take offense, and, has gotten increasingly intolerant. After all, look at the way that politicians seem to do NOTHING but demonize their opponents now. Is that good? (i KNOW it is effective) And what does it say about us and where our society has gone?
Sadly.
Dave Mundt
Greetings and Salutations.
That was a very difficult period for the country, and did sow the seeds of what America has become now. Everyone has a different spin on what would ahve been "best" and for whom.
I was left with a deep feeling of betrayal and an even stronger distrust of ALL government, as this pardon seemed to be more of a process of sweeping the whole, nasty mess under the carpet, to allow the politicians to get on with business as usual. It may have been worse for the country for Nixon to be put on trial for his activities...but we will never know.
It is my opinion that this action, while easier in the short term, DID push the balance of power away from the citizens, and towards the government, and moved us another step along this path to totalitarianism that we are on. It is still true that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. By allowing Nixon to escape prosecution, the message was sent that power is immune to oversight and personal responsibility. Many people said that he would never be seen again, because of the humiliation of being forced out of office, and yet, only about 10 years later, he was being feted and pursued for interviews as "an elder statesman".
The sad thing is that Nixon DID do some good things during his six years or so in office. His "opening of CHina" went a long way towards causing the Cold War to crumble. He did make some serious efforts to find a way to resolve the "war" in Vietnam and save face for everyone. The fact that he got swept up in the power and paranoia thing, and threw it all away by attempting to undercut the freedoms and rights granted to us by the Constitution though pretty much trumps almost everything else.
I do agree, though, with characterizations of Ford as being a very decent man. IF he had been elected to a full term perhaps he would have changed the course of American history in a more positive direction...but again, we will never know.
Merry Christmas.
Greetings and Salutations...
1) I suspect that what will happen is that in areas that have high car theft rates, we would see a huge increase in the sale of rf generators designed to burn out the chips. If I were running a car theft ring, I would be as interested as I could be in ensuring that a goodly percentage of the vehicles running around had their rfid chip zapped. A quick drive through a parking lot at almost any mall would produce hundreds of unmarked cars that would randomly scatter through the area.
2) Couple of issues here. First off, of course, at least in the USA, there is at least lip service to the concept of "probable cause". The authorities have to have a decent reason for running plates, which works out to NOT doing it unless the car is involved in a traffic stop already. "random" checks would get thrown out of court so quickly you would hear a clap of thunder from the vacuum where the paperwork USED to be, and that is unlikely to change.
On a final note, It seems that in MOST cases, luxury cars, as mentioned in the article, are stolen "on order", and are not simply targets of opportunity (at least in America). The article also states that the chip will contain information about the car and its owner...not that it would be checked against a central database. Sounds to me as if it will have the D/L no and VIN (at least), and, so will be easy enough to clone.
Actually, it has been my observation (and other studies have shown) that even flow is PROMOTED by similar speeds. Around here (where there is a fair amount of interstate construction going on at the moment) the big clogs occur when speeders go blasting up to the choke point, then have to slam on their brakes and slow down. It produces a standing wave that can last for HOURS after the initial burst of traffic. This behavior also cuts down on the open spaces in traffic, increasing the probability that a standing wave will form.
The numbers on those speed limit signs are not there because those happened to be the ones on sale when the state bought the signs. They are the traffic engineer's "best guess" as to what a safe speed through an area will be in less than optimal conditions.
So...the "best" way to drive safely and with minimal delays would be for all of us to follow the basic rules:
1) Always leave either three car lengths or three seconds of clearance between your vehicle and the vehicle in front of you when rolling. Now, when I stop at intersections, I prefer to stop far enough back from the vehicle in front of me that I can still see the pavement under their back wheels, but, that is, I think, less important.
2) Be considerate of other drivers. let them merge or turn in in front of you.
3) Always signal (EVEN when changing lanes on the Interstate).
4) Maintain your vehicle, so it always in good running order.
5) Always drive as if everyone ELSE on the road is a homicidal maniac with YOUR picture on their dashboard.
This aspect of the gun control issue is always complicated, alas. However, my take on it is that we are comparing apples and oranges here, in that the populations of England and the US have so many differences as to make direct comparison difficult at best. for example:
a) America's population is approximately 5x that of England. While I do REALIXE this is not directly relevant to the "per capita" crime rate, it is relevant in that it is my observation that the more people one packs into an area, the greater the opportunities for social friction leading to violence.
b) America has a far more diverse mix of conflicting cultures than England has. As a simplistic example...when I listen to the BBC over the Net (which is a GREAT service, by the by), It is almost impossible to tell WHAT the race of the speaker is. England's school system does such a job of training to a sandard voice that it eliminates that variation almost completely. America does NOTHING to force folks to a common voice, so there is a tendency towards citizens placing their identity of origin ABOVE that of their identity as an American citizen. "CHinese-American" is a common label; "American-Chinese" is not.
c) America is a FAR younger culture than England...and youth is almost always more fiery than maturity.
d) While it is not a good thing, it is a fact that some of the cultural changes in America over the past 30 years have moved us towards being a collection of narcissistic people, rather than a collective society. There are too many factors that have caused this to discuss here, but, I believe it is rooted in the "do your own thing" society of the 60s, the glorification of violence and evil on television, and, too many parents who are unwilling to be as involved in their kids lives as they should be.
Hum...$100 million sounds like a lot on an individual basis, but, in terms of the entire budget it is closer to what falls on the floor from the change pocket. In 1998, the budget spent on "secret" programs was $28 BILLION. That is, unless I am confused $28,000 million, and that is not even the BIGGEST money sink in the federal goverment.
Why should we spend money on the arts? well, I believe it is because the LOSS of that facet of life will leave us a poorer and less capable civilization. Not all expression of creativity is appreciated enough to keep the artist alive and able to produce, but, there is always the chance that this will change when society advances enough to understand that point of view and appreciate it fully. It has happened before and it will happen again.
Now, I also think that a larger chunk of funds should go to National Public Radio, mainly because it COULD be a truely neutral voice that speaks without the agenda (hidden or otherwise) that seems to infect so much of the commercial broadcasters. One thing that used to tell me that NPR was doing its job very well was how it irritated EVERYONE at some point in time. I heard conservatives cursing it for its obvious liberal bias, and I heard liberals complaining about its almost reactionary conservative attitudes. I do not agree or like everything I hear on public broadcasting, but, I know that the erosion of that support over the past decade or two has also left AMerica a poorer place.
Greetings and Salutations.
WHile the temptation to get the flamethrower out is pretty large, I am only going to say that, for a huge percentage of the American workforce, training IS a big hurdle. I spend a lot of my time getting folks introduced to new programs, and, I continually run up against the wall of "too hard to learn". I had a fellow the other day tell me that he did not want to switch from Internet Explorer to Opera because it is "too hard to learn a new browser". Right off the bat, I can't think of many other software tools with a LOWER learning curve than a browser. That, alas, is not all that unusual though. As another example, I know a company that still does all its invoicing on an antique pentium system running XENIX because it is too hard to move to more modern software. This ignores the fact that the newer software is actually EASIER to use than the ancient stuff on the XENIX box, and, is much more powerful.
Greetings and Salutations.
And I am amazed when I see a pig dance too, even if it IS a clumsy and sad event. One good toy does not balance out uncounted failures.
Regards
Dave Mundt
Greetings and Salutations...
Pretty prejoritive reasons for buying CDs of previously downloaded music..so how about this. A big chunk of the MP3s in Napster were adequate, but, fairly low fidelity reproductions. MANY folks would sample an artists work from downloaded tracks, then, go out and purchase a CD with the GOOD sound on it.
Shucks...although most of the stuff I was looking for was out of print and unavailable, unless one was really lucky on Ebay, etc, I did end up with CDs from several artists because I pulled a track or two from curiosity, and, liked it well enough to invest.
Frankly, while Napster MAY have allowed some folks to pull music for "free", I tend to think that the large drop in CD production at the time (what was it...20%+) probably had more to do with the drop in sales. Perhaps the scarier thing for the music publishing industry was that Napster and the WWW allowed artists to bypass their cash channel completely and go to the fan base directly. Can't have THAT cash cow dry up, or lose control over the herd of artists!
Regards
Dave Mundt
greetings and Salutations... and what about the sequel(s) to "Buckeroo Banzai..."? Now THAT was something that might have had legs, although, alas, by now, the actors are so big that it would be impossibly expensive. regards dave mundt
Greetings and Salutations...
While I certainly agree about the system status display of the Prius, I would have to say that the negatives of the GPS system are FAR outweighed by the positives. Having had the pleasure of using one for a while, I find it painful NOT to have.
Things that are good about the systems:
1) the voice navigation prompts are very useful, and, while not absolutely precise, are close enough to make navigation much less painful.
2) The ability to locate nearby points of interest and get immediate directions to it (restaurants, parts stores, etc).
3) The increase in safety from not having to keep referring to a printed map or directions to find a new place.
4) I, for one, find it stressful to be driving through twisty country roads that I have never been on, with no clear map in my head as to where I am at, and how far I am from turns, etc. The GPS navigation unit removes much of that stress.
5) The ability to nearly instantly reroute to avoid obstructions, traffic jams, etc.
6) (with SOME units) the ability to update internal maps with current information on road conditions, etc, so, routes can be planned to avoid obstructions.
7) Frankly, it is just a REALLY cool gadget...and that is worth something.
I would agree that, as with many new toys, it can be slightly distracting at first, but, I found that it rapidly became a background tool for me, so while I would glance at the screen for intersections, etc, I did not stare at it for long periods of time. We are, after all, adults, and need to act like adults...not like gawking children (shocking as that thought might be). This also means that we need to use the GPS as an auxilary tool, and not the sole control piloting the vehicle. It is a data tool that needs to be used with common sense... It has, a few times, gotten confused about what direction the one-way streets ran and such, but, I realized this, and simply went a block or so down from it, and picked up the route again...easy enough to deal with.
Regards
Dave Mundt
Greetings and Salutations...
For what it is worth, I feel I should point out that, in most cases, rape has nothing to do with sexual feelings. Rather it is a power trip where the rapist, through feelings of inadequacy and anxiety is terrorising a helpless victim. The length of the skirt does not matter, as there are thousands of cases of demurely dressed women being raped.
Now...as to the topic at hand. It will be interesting to see what sentence Maxwell gets whacked with. I think the max is a bit over the top, actually, but, I could see the possibility of a suspended sentence, with community service, and supervised probation. Of course, the juveniles will, at worst, be stuck in jail until they are 18 (Perhaps a good paddling would be more effective...) In any case it sounds to me like they are nearly perfect Republicans, and a good mirror of American society. They seemed to be able to ignore the moral and ethical questions about damage to the systems they were taking control of, and seem to believe that the rules only apply to someone else. Would we feel any differently if they had managed to infiltrate a university system and cause disruption of class schedules, etc?
As mentioned in other comments, there is plenty of blame to go around too. It sounds as if the sysadmins were woefully behind in keeping the network secure. While there is no comment as to what OS was being used, I suspect it was, indeed, Windows of some flavor. IF I was in charge of such a critical network, I would make damn sure that I had a real firewall between it and the rest of the world, and, that there were internal firewalls running on the various machines to keep things under some control.
Of course, the fishing-net mesh of security holes in Windows keeps this a full-time job. Adding to that the fact that even today many sysadmins simply do not have a clue about good security procedures, makes this sort of disaster much more likely.
Finally, I do lay some of the blame on the advertising model. While the whole idea of click-through charges can make internet advertising very attractive for the clients, it is a powerful incentive for greedy and unprincipled people to set up this sort of bot flood.
How do we fix the problem? "don't use windows" is the easy, but alas, unrealistic option. Rather, sysadmins need to understand that security is not a moutaintop goal that we can reach, set up our lawnchair and kick back to enjoy the beautiful view! Rather, it is more like a 40 mile hike with full packs. All you can do is put your head down, and keep slogging along. The journey will, alas, unlike the hike, never end and, since the spammers and phishers and other scum continually find ways to get BY the security, we sysadmins have to continually patch the holes and update our fences.
Regards
Dave Mundt
Greetings and Salutations...
I see this as the natural extension of the artificial limitations that Google puts on its search results. There are two problems I have with the current algorithms used:
1) I do not think that the "page rank" system as a manditory method of accessing the indexed pages is a good or helpful thing. My understanding is that the Google Rank is calculated based on the number of pages that point AT a given page. The higher this number of references, the higher the rank. As a long-time researcher, I feel that this is unwise, as I have rarely found treasure on well-trodden pathes. Rather, it is the ignored backwater that often has the true gem hidden in it.
If the page rank was OPTIONAL, I would not have a problem with it. However, it is not, therefore the chance one has of finding the buried treasure pretty much goes to zero.
2) Also, no matter what one does, one CANNOT see more than the first 1000 results of a search. This is an arbitrary and (IMHO) unnecessary limit that, combined with the ranking system, ensures that MOST of the web pages dealing with a given subject will NEVER BE SEEN by folks searching Google. I would be happy to accept the page ranking system if the programmers would remove this (admittedly) artificial limit.
I could go on, of course, but, suffice it to say that my feeling is that Google is evolving away from the true indexing tool it started out as, and into a controller of information. No matter how benign that control may be, it is not a service to the consumers, but, is a great boon to Google's bottom line. Their evolution has been especially obvious with their deal with China. While it makes great business sense to follow the course of censorship and information control that they have, it smacks of hypocracy for Google's management to claim that they are following the path of idealism and openness that they started on years ago.
Regards
Dave Mundt
Greetings and Salutations.
I think this is a good thing, as I think that MS needs to get back to the basics and produce an OS that is solid, secure and inexpensive. Let other divisions create Antivirus software, and, compete in the open market with Norton, McAffee, AVG, etc. If they can produce a tool that is more secure, better at finding viruses, and, cheaper than the competition, then, more power to them.
Regards
Dave Mundt
Greetings and Salutations...
Well, first off, this is hardly as over the top an idea as one might first think. Recently, the county mayor announced that they were short of funds for the many great projects making "our" lives easier, and, that it looked like they were going to have to crank property taxes up again. Well, this caused much fuss and furor, so in the spirit of compromise, he put a proposition on the ballot to double the wheel tax. Not only was this one of those cleverly worded ones where, to vote AGAINST the wheel tax one had to vote "YES", but, they had a big push about the property tax right before the election...all this scared the sheeple, and now we have a much higher wheel tax, and, so far, little to show from it.
Of course, the suggestion that the government actually cut back on the spending was never even mentioned. For what it is worth, the county has FIVE helicopters...for a county with 250,000 or so residents. LA County only has two or three, the last time I heard...and they have a MUCH nicer tax base to bleed there. There are multiple other such examples of excess and wastage, of course. That is common in all areas these days...alas.
Regards & Merry Christmas
Dave Mundt
Greetings and Salutations.
As an independent IT consultant in Tennessee, I have to say that there are some goofy things about the tax laws here. For example...unlike ANY other service industry, MY labor is subject to sales tax. But...not always...If I install a video card in your computer, then, the time I charge you for is taxable. If, though, I stand next to you and TALK you through installing the card yourself...the time I charge for (although likely the same amount or more) is NOT taxable (as it is defined as "help" not "labor").
I would suggest that the labor I do in putting the card in and configuring it is no more important or special than the labor that the mechanic does in replacing the air filter and spark plugs in your vehicle, to make it work better. Therefore, it seems to me that either I should not be singled out for taxation, or, ALL services should be taxed.
I suspect that the reasons that IT/computer time is taxed in Tennessee are because (a) the politicians seem to believe that the whole IT field is awash in cash and they want a cut of the pie, and, (b) we, IT professionals, have no powerful lobby to act as our voice in the government, so we are easy targets.
The fact of the matter is that, while Tennessee ONLY has a sales tax, it is one of the highest in the nation at 9.25% or so. The politicians keep pumping it up because their attitude is that it REALLY only hurts the tourists that are such a large part of the industry base in the state. Their belief that when one is on vacation, one is willing to spray money around like a little fire hose is not affected by the reality of the many tourists who come to the state ONCE, feel that they are getting screwed by the sales tax, and never return. They, also, tend to be in the upper income brackets, and, so are more insulated from the pain of that sales tax than most of the (much poorer) population.
Remember, though. Money to a politician is like crack to an addict. They can never get enough of it, and they will sell their grandmother and nephews into prostitution if they think it will get them a bit more.
(not that I have a bad attitude about politicians....*smile*).
Regards and Best Wishes for a Merry Christmas
Dave Mundt
Greetings and Salutations.
Interestingly enough, a quick google search for "data center design" comes up with more hits than one can shake a stick at, ranging from free to fairly inexpensive (under $100.00). I have to admit that I wonder if THIS magnum opus has anything in it that these OTHER resources do not cover.
It never ceases to amaze me at the number of books out there that are supposed to be useful learning tools that are nothing more than a slightly changed rehash of the man pages for a given program.
Greetings and Salutations. Pretty much everyone that posts to this topic actually. Even in THIS comment, you say "slower drivers would be wise to speed up..." My question is simply an examination of the ethics of humans in general (and probably Americans in specific - considering the typical slashdot reader *smile*). I wonder if ANYONE still cares about the concept of doing the right thing...not simply the thing that "nearly everyone" is doing. Following the mob has never seemed to me to be the "right" thing to do, and, frankly, as a Lutheran, I have a long history of examples of why it is good and necessary for a person to stand up and ask why a practice that is ethically and legally wrong is so widely accepted. I expect that 99.9% of the people who bother to read this will blow it off with a comment about what a fool I am. However, if even one or two folks read it thoughtfully, and, perhaps DO think to slow down, it is worth it. By the by, for what it is worth, my main rant is against people who blast through construction zones or other congested areas at 10+ over, or ignore the fact that there is rain/snow/ice on the road and drive too closely... If you are out on the deserted interstate...I think that the sky is the limit. Just speed in a way that will not take someone else with you if there IS a disaster. regards dave mundt
Greetings and Salutations.
A question has come to my mind in reading this thread...one that I have never seen asked or answered.
The question is this: If I am driving at the speed limit, and YOU are driving 10 or more over...why is it better for me to speed up to an ILLEGAL (and possibly unsafe) speed, as opposed to YOU slowing down to a LEGAL speed?
Well, I would have to say that HERE I would err on the side of freedom. The fact of the matter is that while I, personally, would not and do not drive without a seatbelt on, it really gets on a nerve that it is NOT my choice.
As for insurance not paying off...It would depend on the contract. If the contract says they will pay, no matter what...then, they should pay. If there is a provision that this is voided by refusing to use safety measures...that is fine too. Freedom is good, but it is not safe.
Perhaps there could be a double tier of insurance, with folks that use seatbelts and such given lower premiums, etc.
As for not paying out. the fact of the matter is that many insurance agents go out of their way to find reasons to NOT pay anything out at all, and, failing that, to minimuze the amount paid out. Part of the motivation for this is, I believe, the fact that for years now insurance has been a profit center. Any time a business ends up with investors or public shares, it ceases to focus its attention on its job, and, instead focuses its attention on making as much money for its investors as possible.
Greetings and Salutations... I would argue with this, as it makes a number of incorrect assumptions, including the fact that not all people have the same skills or abilities to drive-yet ALL think they are Mario Andretti. Also, they do not often take into account the road conditions. Look at the number of folks that blast through congested construction zones at 60+ MPH, or, drive at the SAME speed on rain/snow slick roads that they drive when the pavement is dry. There is a very good, if somewhat casual, study out there that says that the BEST way to remove congenstion is to always drive slow enough to keep a goodly sized (several vehicle length) hole ahead of you. Now...as for congestion...It has been my experience that the standing waves produced at bottlenecks, caused by vehicles rushing up at well above the speed limit, and being forced to suddenly slow to a crawl, lasts longer than ANY "delays" caused by folks driving at a more sane speed. The bottom line, though, is that we Americans seem to have a total lack of understanding of the basic rules of polite driving and the physics of motion, combined with an amazing attitude that we actually WILL get there faster if we drive at 20 over the speed limit. It's stupid. It's pigheaded...and, perhaps because we ARE still a pretty young society, it's adolescent. Regards Dave Mundt
Slashdot Mirror
Greetings and Salutations...
yea, we used to have EXACTLY this sort of arrangement in the South.
A large campus, with onsite housing for the workers, and a centralized
management and healthcare system that provided them with free or low-cost
food, healthcare at least as good as most companies provide these days,
and guaranteed employment.
Some annoying sod screwed that up for us years ago, and, the
South has not been the same since.
Regards (while G.D. & R)
Dave Mundt
Not so much a law, as a basic truth.
That is...Money to a politician is like
crack to an addict.
Regards
Dave Mundt
The mills are gone because China is the new factory...not because
of the language used on the floor.
My parents reared me to believe that the use of obscenity
was more a sign of a lacking vocabulary. Although Lord knows, I
can be pretty foul mouthed myself at times, without thinking, I
tend to stick to that standard.
I also think that American society in general has gotten both
way too thin-skinned and ready to take offense, and, has gotten
increasingly intolerant. After all, look at the way that
politicians seem to do NOTHING but demonize their opponents now.
Is that good? (i KNOW it is effective) And what does it say
about us and where our society has gone?
Sadly.
Dave Mundt
Depression makes it impossible to be optimistic about anything. The best I can do is hope that it wont get worse
Greetings and Salutations.
That was a very difficult period for the country, and did sow the seeds of what America has become now. Everyone has a different spin on what would ahve been "best" and for whom.
I was left with a deep feeling of betrayal and an even stronger distrust of ALL government, as this pardon seemed to be more of a process of sweeping the whole, nasty mess under the carpet, to allow the politicians to get on with business as usual. It may have been worse for the country for Nixon to be put on trial for his activities...but we will never know.
It is my opinion that this action, while easier in the short term, DID push the balance of power away from the citizens, and towards the government, and moved us another step along this path to totalitarianism that we are on. It is still true that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. By allowing Nixon to escape prosecution, the message was sent that power is immune to oversight and personal responsibility. Many people said that he would never be seen again, because of the humiliation of being forced out of office, and yet, only about 10 years later, he was being feted and pursued for interviews as "an elder statesman".
The sad thing is that Nixon DID do some good things during his six years or so in office. His "opening of CHina" went a long way towards causing the Cold War to crumble. He did make some serious efforts to find a way to resolve the "war" in Vietnam and save face for everyone. The fact that he got swept up in the power and paranoia thing, and threw it all away by attempting to undercut the freedoms and rights granted to us by the Constitution though pretty much trumps almost everything else.
I do agree, though, with characterizations of Ford as being a very decent man. IF he had been elected to a full term perhaps he would have changed the course of American history in a more positive direction...but again, we will never know.
Merry Christmas.
Greetings and Salutations...
1) I suspect that what will happen is that in areas that have high car theft rates, we would see a huge increase in the sale of rf generators designed to burn out the chips. If I were running a car theft ring, I would be as interested as I could be in ensuring that a goodly percentage of the vehicles running around had their rfid chip zapped. A quick drive through a parking lot at almost any mall would produce hundreds of unmarked cars that would randomly scatter through the area.
2) Couple of issues here. First off, of course, at least in the USA, there is at least lip service to the concept of "probable cause". The authorities have to have a decent reason for running plates, which works out to NOT doing it unless the car is involved in a traffic stop already. "random" checks would get thrown out of court so quickly you would hear a clap of thunder from the vacuum where the paperwork USED to be, and that is unlikely to change.
On a final note, It seems that in MOST cases, luxury cars, as mentioned in the article, are stolen "on order", and are not simply targets of opportunity (at least in America). The article also states that the chip will contain information about the car and its owner...not that it would be checked against a central database. Sounds to me as if it will have the D/L no and VIN (at least), and, so will be easy enough to clone.
Regards
dave mundt
Greetings and Salutations
Actually, it has been my observation (and other studies have shown) that even flow is PROMOTED by similar speeds. Around here (where there is a fair amount of interstate construction going on at the moment) the big clogs occur when speeders go blasting up to the choke point, then have to slam on their brakes and slow down. It produces a standing wave that can last for HOURS after the initial burst of traffic. This behavior also cuts down on the open spaces in traffic, increasing the probability that a standing wave will form.
The numbers on those speed limit signs are not there because those happened to be the ones on sale when the state bought the signs. They are the traffic engineer's "best guess" as to what a safe speed through an area will be in less than optimal conditions.
So...the "best" way to drive safely and with minimal delays would be for all of us to follow the basic rules:
1) Always leave either three car lengths or three seconds of clearance between your vehicle and the vehicle in front of you when rolling. Now, when I stop at intersections, I prefer to stop far enough back from the vehicle in front of me that I can still see the pavement under their back wheels, but, that is, I think, less important.
2) Be considerate of other drivers. let them merge or turn in in front of you.
3) Always signal (EVEN when changing lanes on the Interstate).
4) Maintain your vehicle, so it always in good running order.
5) Always drive as if everyone ELSE on the road is a homicidal maniac with YOUR picture on their dashboard.
Regards
Dave Mundt
greetings and Salutations
This aspect of the gun control issue is always complicated, alas. However, my take on it is that we are comparing apples and oranges here, in that the populations of England and the US have so many differences as to make direct comparison difficult at best. for example:
a) America's population is approximately 5x that of England. While I do REALIXE this is not directly relevant to the "per capita" crime rate, it is relevant in that it is my observation that the more people one packs into an area, the greater the opportunities for social friction leading to violence.
b) America has a far more diverse mix of conflicting cultures than England has. As a simplistic example...when I listen to the BBC over the Net (which is a GREAT service, by the by), It is almost impossible to tell WHAT the race of the speaker is. England's school system does such a job of training to a sandard voice that it eliminates that variation almost completely. America does NOTHING to force folks to a common voice, so there is a tendency towards citizens placing their identity of origin ABOVE that of their identity as an American citizen. "CHinese-American" is a common label; "American-Chinese" is not.
c) America is a FAR younger culture than England...and youth is almost always more fiery than maturity.
d) While it is not a good thing, it is a fact that some of the cultural changes in America over the past 30 years have moved us towards being a collection of narcissistic people, rather than a collective society. There are too many factors that have caused this to discuss here, but, I believe it is rooted in the "do your own thing" society of the 60s, the glorification of violence and evil on television, and, too many parents who are unwilling to be as involved in their kids lives as they should be.
Regards
dave mundt
Greetings aqnd Salutations
Hum...$100 million sounds like a lot on an individual basis, but, in terms of the entire budget it is closer to what falls on the floor from the change pocket. In 1998, the budget spent on "secret" programs was $28 BILLION. That is, unless I am confused $28,000 million, and that is not even the BIGGEST money sink in the federal goverment.
Why should we spend money on the arts? well, I believe it is because the LOSS of that facet of life will leave us a poorer and less capable civilization. Not all expression of creativity is appreciated enough to keep the artist alive and able to produce, but, there is always the chance that this will change when society advances enough to understand that point of view and appreciate it fully. It has happened before and it will happen again.
Now, I also think that a larger chunk of funds should go to National Public Radio, mainly because it COULD be a truely neutral voice that speaks without the agenda (hidden or otherwise) that seems to infect so much of the commercial broadcasters. One thing that used to tell me that NPR was doing its job very well was how it irritated EVERYONE at some point in time. I heard conservatives cursing it for its obvious liberal bias, and I heard liberals complaining about its almost reactionary conservative attitudes. I do not agree or like everything I hear on public broadcasting, but, I know that the erosion of that support over the past decade or two has also left AMerica a poorer place.
Regards
Dave Mundt
WHile the temptation to get the flamethrower out is pretty large, I am only going to say that, for a huge percentage of the American workforce, training IS a big hurdle. I spend a lot of my time getting folks introduced to new programs, and, I continually run up against the wall of "too hard to learn". I had a fellow the other day tell me that he did not want to switch from Internet Explorer to Opera because it is "too hard to learn a new browser". Right off the bat, I can't think of many other software tools with a LOWER learning curve than a browser. That, alas, is not all that unusual though. As another example, I know a company that still does all its invoicing on an antique pentium system running XENIX because it is too hard to move to more modern software. This ignores the fact that the newer software is actually EASIER to use than the ancient stuff on the XENIX box, and, is much more powerful.
dave mundt
Greetings and Salutations.
And I am amazed when I see a pig dance too, even if it IS a clumsy and sad event.
One good toy does not balance out uncounted failures.
Regards
Dave Mundt
Greetings and Salutations...
Pretty prejoritive reasons for buying CDs of previously downloaded music..so how about this. A big chunk of the MP3s in Napster were adequate, but, fairly low fidelity reproductions. MANY folks would sample an artists work from downloaded tracks, then, go out and purchase a CD with the GOOD sound
on it.
Shucks...although most of the stuff I was looking for was out of print and unavailable, unless one was really lucky on Ebay, etc, I did end up with CDs from several artists because I pulled a track or two from curiosity, and, liked it well enough to invest.
Frankly, while Napster MAY have allowed some folks to pull music for "free", I tend to think that the large drop in CD production at the time (what was it...20%+) probably had more to do with the drop in sales. Perhaps the scarier thing for the music publishing industry was that Napster and the WWW allowed artists to bypass their cash channel completely and go to the fan base directly. Can't have THAT cash cow dry up, or lose control over the herd of artists!
Regards
Dave Mundt
yea, but how long would THAT have taken...in other words
"what is the airspeed of a Pangean Swallow?"
regards
dave
greetings and Salutations...
and what about the sequel(s) to "Buckeroo Banzai..."? Now THAT was something
that might have had legs, although, alas, by now, the actors are so big that
it would be impossibly expensive.
regards
dave mundt
Greetings and Salutations...
While I certainly agree about the system status display of the Prius,
I would have to say that the negatives of the GPS system are FAR outweighed
by the positives. Having had the pleasure of using one for a while, I
find it painful NOT to have.
Things that are good about the systems:
1) the voice navigation prompts are very useful, and, while not absolutely precise, are close enough to make navigation much less painful.
2) The ability to locate nearby points of interest and get immediate directions to it (restaurants, parts stores, etc).
3) The increase in safety from not having to keep referring to a printed map or directions to find a new place.
4) I, for one, find it stressful to be driving through twisty country roads that I have never been on, with no clear map in my head as to where I am at, and how far I am from turns, etc. The GPS navigation unit removes much of that stress.
5) The ability to nearly instantly reroute to avoid obstructions, traffic jams, etc.
6) (with SOME units) the ability to update internal maps with current information on road conditions, etc, so, routes can be planned to avoid obstructions.
7) Frankly, it is just a REALLY cool gadget...and that is worth something.
I would agree that, as with many new toys, it can be slightly distracting
at first, but, I found that it rapidly became a background tool for me, so
while I would glance at the screen for intersections, etc, I did not stare
at it for long periods of time. We are, after all, adults, and need to
act like adults...not like gawking children (shocking as that thought might
be). This also means that we need to use the GPS as an auxilary tool, and
not the sole control piloting the vehicle. It is a data tool that needs
to be used with common sense... It has, a few times, gotten confused about
what direction the one-way streets ran and such, but, I realized this, and
simply went a block or so down from it, and picked up the route again...easy
enough to deal with.
Regards
Dave Mundt
Greetings and Salutations...
For what it is worth, I feel I should point out that, in most cases, rape has nothing to do with sexual feelings. Rather it is a power trip where the rapist, through feelings of inadequacy and anxiety is terrorising a helpless victim. The length of the skirt does not matter, as there are thousands of cases of demurely dressed women being raped.
Now...as to the topic at hand. It will be interesting to see what sentence Maxwell gets whacked with. I think the max is a bit over the top, actually, but, I could see the possibility of a suspended sentence, with community service, and supervised probation. Of course, the juveniles will, at worst, be stuck in jail until they are 18 (Perhaps a good paddling would be more effective...) In any case it sounds to me like they are nearly perfect Republicans, and a good mirror of American society. They seemed to be able to ignore the moral and ethical questions about damage to the systems they were taking control of, and seem to believe that the rules only apply to someone else. Would we feel any differently if they had managed to infiltrate a university system and cause disruption of class schedules, etc?
As mentioned in other comments, there is plenty of blame to go around too. It sounds as if the sysadmins were woefully behind in keeping the network secure. While there is no comment as to what OS was being used, I suspect it was, indeed, Windows of some flavor. IF I was in charge of such a critical network, I would make damn sure that I had a real firewall between it and the rest of the world, and, that there were internal firewalls running on the various machines to keep things under some control.
Of course, the fishing-net mesh of security holes in Windows keeps this a full-time job. Adding to that the fact that even today many sysadmins simply do not have a clue about good security procedures, makes this sort of disaster much more likely.
Finally, I do lay some of the blame on the advertising model. While the whole idea of click-through charges can make internet advertising very attractive for the clients, it is a powerful incentive for greedy and unprincipled people to set up this sort of bot flood.
How do we fix the problem? "don't use windows" is the easy, but alas, unrealistic option. Rather, sysadmins need to understand that security is not a moutaintop goal that we can reach, set up our lawnchair and kick back to enjoy the beautiful view! Rather, it is more like a 40 mile hike with full packs. All you can do is put your head down, and keep slogging along. The journey will, alas, unlike the hike, never end and, since the spammers and phishers and other scum continually find ways to get BY the security, we sysadmins have to continually patch the holes and update our fences.
Regards
Dave Mundt
Greetings and Salutations...
I see this as the natural extension of the artificial limitations that Google puts on its search results. There are two problems I have with the current algorithms used:
1) I do not think that the "page rank" system as a manditory method
of accessing the indexed pages is a good or helpful thing. My understanding
is that the Google Rank is calculated based on the number of pages that point AT a given page. The higher this number of references, the higher the rank.
As a long-time researcher, I feel that this is unwise, as I have rarely found
treasure on well-trodden pathes. Rather, it is the ignored backwater that
often has the true gem hidden in it.
If the page rank was OPTIONAL, I would not have a problem with it. However, it is not, therefore the chance one has of finding the buried treasure
pretty much goes to zero.
2) Also, no matter what one does, one CANNOT see more than the first
1000 results of a search. This is an arbitrary and (IMHO) unnecessary limit
that, combined with the ranking system, ensures that MOST of the web pages
dealing with a given subject will NEVER BE SEEN by folks searching Google.
I would be happy to accept the page ranking system if the programmers would
remove this (admittedly) artificial limit.
I could go on, of course, but, suffice it to say that my feeling is that
Google is evolving away from the true indexing tool it started out as, and
into a controller of information. No matter how benign that control may be,
it is not a service to the consumers, but, is a great boon to Google's bottom
line. Their evolution has been especially obvious with their deal with
China. While it makes great business sense to follow the course of censorship
and information control that they have, it smacks of hypocracy for Google's
management to claim that they are following the path of idealism and openness
that they started on years ago.
Regards
Dave Mundt
Greetings and Salutations.
I think this is a good thing, as I think that MS needs to get back to the basics and produce an OS that is solid, secure and inexpensive. Let other divisions create Antivirus software, and, compete in the open market with Norton, McAffee, AVG, etc. If they can produce a tool that is more secure, better at finding viruses, and, cheaper than the competition, then, more power to them.
Regards
Dave Mundt
Greetings and Salutations...
Well, first off, this is hardly as over the top an idea as one might first think. Recently, the county mayor announced that they were short of funds
for the many great projects making "our" lives easier, and, that it looked like they were going to have to crank property taxes up again. Well, this caused much fuss and furor, so in the spirit of compromise, he put a proposition on the ballot to double the wheel tax. Not only was this one of those cleverly worded ones where, to vote AGAINST the wheel tax one had to vote "YES", but,
they had a big push about the property tax right before the election...all this
scared the sheeple, and now we have a much higher wheel tax, and, so far, little to show from it.
Of course, the suggestion that the government actually cut back on the spending was never even mentioned. For what it is worth, the county has FIVE helicopters...for a county with 250,000 or so residents. LA County only has two or three, the last time I heard...and they have a MUCH nicer tax base to bleed there. There are multiple other such examples of excess and wastage, of course. That is common in all areas these days...alas.
Regards & Merry Christmas
Dave Mundt
Greetings and Salutations.
As an independent IT consultant in Tennessee, I have to say that there are some goofy things about the tax laws here. For example...unlike ANY other service industry, MY labor is subject to sales tax. But...not always...If I install a video card in your computer, then, the time I charge you for is taxable. If, though, I stand next to you and TALK you through installing the card yourself...the time I charge for (although likely the same amount or more) is NOT taxable (as it is defined as "help" not "labor").
I would suggest that the labor I do in putting the card in and configuring it is no more important or special than the labor that the mechanic does in replacing the air filter and spark plugs in your vehicle, to make it work better. Therefore, it seems to me that either I should not be singled out for taxation, or, ALL services should be taxed.
I suspect that the reasons that IT/computer time is taxed in Tennessee are because (a) the politicians seem to believe that the whole IT field is awash in cash and they want a cut of the pie, and, (b) we, IT professionals, have no powerful lobby to act as our voice in the government, so we are easy targets.
The fact of the matter is that, while Tennessee ONLY has a sales tax, it is one of the highest in the nation at 9.25% or so. The politicians keep pumping it up because their attitude is that it REALLY only hurts the tourists that are such a large part of the industry base in the state. Their belief that when one is on vacation, one is willing to spray money around like a little fire hose is not affected by the reality of the many tourists who come to the state ONCE, feel that they are getting screwed by the sales tax, and never return. They, also, tend to be in the upper income brackets, and, so are more insulated from the pain of that sales tax than most of the (much poorer) population.
Remember, though. Money to a politician is like crack to an addict. They can never get enough of it, and they will sell their grandmother and nephews into prostitution if they think it will get them a bit more.
(not that I have a bad attitude about politicians....*smile*).
Regards and Best Wishes for a Merry Christmas
Dave Mundt
Greetings and Salutations.
Interestingly enough, a quick google search for "data center design" comes up with more hits than one can shake a stick at, ranging from free to fairly inexpensive (under $100.00). I have to admit that I wonder if THIS magnum opus has anything in it that these OTHER resources do not cover.
It never ceases to amaze me at the number of books out there that are supposed to be useful learning tools that are nothing more than a slightly changed rehash of the man pages for a given program.
Regards
Dave Mundt
Greetings and Salutations.
Pretty much everyone that posts to this topic actually. Even in THIS comment, you say
"slower drivers would be wise to speed up..." My question is simply an examination of the
ethics of humans in general (and probably Americans in specific - considering the
typical slashdot reader *smile*). I wonder if ANYONE still cares about the concept of
doing the right thing...not simply the thing that "nearly everyone" is doing. Following the
mob has never seemed to me to be the "right" thing to do, and, frankly, as a Lutheran, I
have a long history of examples of why it is good and necessary for a person to stand up
and ask why a practice that is ethically and legally wrong is so widely accepted.
I expect that 99.9% of the people who bother to read this will blow it off with a
comment about what a fool I am. However, if even one or two folks read it thoughtfully,
and, perhaps DO think to slow down, it is worth it.
By the by, for what it is worth, my main rant is against people who blast through construction
zones or other congested areas at 10+ over, or ignore the fact that there is rain/snow/ice on
the road and drive too closely... If you are out on the deserted interstate...I think that
the sky is the limit. Just speed in a way that will not take someone else with you if there IS a disaster.
regards
dave mundt
Greetings and Salutations. ..why is it better for me to speed up to an
A question has come to my mind in reading
this thread...one that I have never seen asked or
answered.
The question is this: If I am driving at the
speed limit, and YOU are driving 10 or more over.
ILLEGAL (and possibly unsafe) speed, as opposed to
YOU slowing down to a LEGAL speed?
Regards
Well, I would have to say that HERE I would err on the side of freedom. The fact of the matter is that while I, personally, would not and do not drive without a seatbelt on, it really gets on a nerve that it is NOT my choice.
As for insurance not paying off...It would depend on the contract. If the contract says they will pay, no matter what...then, they should pay. If there is a provision that this is voided by refusing to use safety measures...that is fine too. Freedom is good, but it is not safe.
Perhaps there could be a double tier of insurance, with folks that use seatbelts and such given lower premiums, etc.
As for not paying out. the fact of the matter is that many insurance agents go out of their way to find reasons to NOT pay anything out at all, and, failing that, to minimuze the amount paid out. Part of the motivation for this is, I believe, the fact that for years now insurance has been a profit center. Any time a business ends up with investors or public shares, it ceases to focus its attention on its job, and, instead focuses its attention on making as much money for its investors as possible.
regards
Dave Mundt
Greetings and Salutations...
I would argue with this, as it makes a number of incorrect assumptions, including the fact that not all people have the same skills or abilities to drive-yet ALL think they are Mario Andretti. Also, they do not often take into account the road conditions. Look at the number of folks that blast through congested construction zones at 60+ MPH, or, drive at the SAME speed on rain/snow slick roads that they drive when the pavement is dry.
There is a very good, if somewhat casual, study out there that says that the BEST way to remove congenstion is to always drive slow enough to keep a goodly sized (several vehicle length) hole ahead of you.
Now...as for congestion...It has been my experience that the standing waves produced at bottlenecks, caused by vehicles rushing up at well above the speed limit, and being forced to suddenly slow to a crawl, lasts longer than ANY "delays" caused by folks driving at a more sane speed.
The bottom line, though, is that we Americans seem to have a total lack of understanding of the basic rules of polite driving and the physics of motion, combined with an amazing attitude that we actually WILL get there faster if we drive at 20 over the speed limit.
It's stupid. It's pigheaded...and, perhaps because we ARE still a pretty young society, it's adolescent.
Regards
Dave Mundt