Simple, elegant, and easy to implement, yeah... the fact is, it's the implementing where you lose control. Anyone can have ideas, or share ideas, but not everyone can bring a product to market, whether through lack of the right skills or resources or whatever.
We old fogies remember "chip creep", where RAM chips would literally crawl out of their sockets. Well, not usually so far as to fall out, but enough to lose contact with the motherboard.
In more modern times, the main culprit seems to be the motherboard power lead, which I've seen crawl off its pins a number of times just from fan vibration or in one case from the box being moved (wasn't any clip on the socket). Had to tell that customer that it would probably be 'broken' again when they got home, and show them how to fix it.
I don't recall details offhand but there ARE some insane laws REQUIRING us to snitch on our fellow Komrades... I believe this is the case, at least in some states, wrt kiddie porn. It's not a big stretch from "required to report if you trip over it" to "required to go looking for it at every opportunity". And I agree -- I am not the state's snitch, and no job is worth that.
Yep... ain't my data, ain't my business. As I told one customer, I have enough files and passwords of my own, I don't need yours. (Tho you really should keep your pr0n somewhere other than on the root, where I can't help but trip over it.) One day I was fixing his internet connection and had to log in about 50 times before it was right... he kept having to tell me his password each time, because it evaporated from my brain immediately after I typed it.
My experience (going back over 40 years) is the other way around -- at least in Montana, I found dealerships have the best/most honest mechanics, while gas station garages have the crooks.
Tho a lot of the small shops kinda cut their own throats by charging so much more for parts, that halfway-savvy customers go "Cripes, this is 3x what Newegg sells it for" and that's not just a lost sale, it's a lost potential longterm customer walking out the door. Some of those people would spend the money to have the shop do the work, if they didn't feel like the shop's price on parts was a ripoff -- which can be a pretty good incentive to learn to do the work themselves.
Nicking a hose or even a brake line used to be standard scam practice for unscrupulous mechanics (one step downhill from the more common scam of just squirting some fluid in the wheel well.) OMG LEAKS EVERYWHERE, UNSAFE TO DRIVE! Four hours later you'd find yourself with a couple new hoses and a bill for replacing everything but the engine itself.
That's why I hang out at the shop and watch what the mechanic actually does. If he does something I don't recognise, he'd better be able to explain it. (After 40 years of doing this, I have most of the needful clues.)
I've found a few I trust, and two things they all have in common is that they had the same employees forever, and there is an owner-operator on site.
Plug in ANY industry where the average person has only the most superficial knowledge of the subject, or worse, thinks they know more than they really do... from driveway repairs to tree trimming to marketing your first novel. So long as it's not possible for everyone to be expert on every subject, there WILL be such scammers.
Good points. And one of the consistent problems with people looking for "geek squad" type work is that they have an inflated view of their own skills -- IOW, they're not even honest with themselves, let alone with anyone else. Too many come out of what we joke about as the Slashdot basement culture, but the sad truth is it actually exists.
The problem isn't new, either. Back about 1994, one of the Los Angeles area news crews did a similar undercover expose of computer repair shops. In this case they just reversed one end of the HD cable, which made the machine complain about a nonworking HD. They visited several each of namebrand chain store and local clone shop. ALL of the chain stores diagnosed the problem as something major, from HD to motherboard (which in those days was a $500 repair bill). ALL of the clone shops (all of which were owner-operated at the time) got it right, and most did the "repair" on the spot for free.
But since then, the local owner-operator clone shop has become largely a thing of the past.
One could expand these observations to other businesses as well, I'm sure.
'Lol...Socialists banning blasphemy? Do you seriously expect to be taken seriously? Does "Religion is the opium of the people" ring any bell?'
That's a good deal of the point. The church is losing influence in Ireland, so ban blasphemy to strengthen the influence of the church; that in turn keeps the people 'sedated' so to speak.
Just because something is done in the name of religion doesn't necessarily mean religion or beliefs had anything to do with it. (It can, but it's not a given.)
At any rate, read the article, it's rather enlightening as to the mindset involved here, and clarifies the issue.
It also should serve as a warning to we in the U.S. -- Ireland is a step or two ahead of us on the way to Komradeville.
By amazing coincidence, I just got this in my email inbox:
Subject: FW: HIGH SCHOOL -- 1957 vs. 2009?
Scenario 1: Jack goes quail hunting before school and then pulls into the school parking lot with his shotgun in his truck's gun rack.
1957 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2009 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.
Scenario 2: Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.
1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2009 - Police called and SWAT team arrives -- they arrest both Johnny and Mark. They are both charged them with assault and both expelled even though Johnny started it.
Scenario 3: Jeffrey will not be still in class, he disrupts other students.
1957 - Jeffrey sent to the Principal's office and given a good paddling by the Principal. He then returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2009 - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. He becomes a zombie. He is then tested for ADD. The school gets extra money from the state because Jeffrey has a disability.
Scenario 4: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college and becomes a successful businessman.
2009 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. The state psychologist is told by Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has an affair with the psychologist.
Scenario 5: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1957 - Mark shares his aspirin with the Principal out on the smoking dock.
2009 - The police are called and Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. His car is then searched for drugs and weapons.
Scenario 6: Pedro fails high school English.
1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English and goes to college.
2009 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against the state school system and Pedro's English teacher. ?E nglish is then banned from core curriculum. Pedro is given his diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.
Scenario 7: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from the Fourth of July, puts them in a model airplane pa
"This study implies that the behavior is being shaped by peers, instead of people associating with others who have similar behavior."
Exactly -- and while there's probably some truth to the study (since kids are copycats) -- in my observation, some people are just bad'uns, and they DO tend to flock together.
Question: If the successful criminals are those who haven't been caught -- how do you plan to study them?
Tho I agree that more cops is not the answer -- and may well be part of the problem. More cops seems to go right along with less personal responsibility... d'oh......
However, if you look at the FBI crime stats -- crime is actually down considerably over the past couple decades. I'd guess video games have a lot to do with that, by capturing the time and interest of kids who otherwise might be bored perps.
Or to put it another way, boys are about competing to be the leader (even if that's "first to jump off the roof") while girls are about striving to be part of the group (which includes making sure you are NOT one of the outcasts).
It's biology at work -- the male leader gets more females and sires more offspring. The female who fits in is more likely to wind up with the dominant male, who is probably genetically a better sire (from a survival standpoint) than the also-rans. Meanwhile, the females that don't fit in are culled out of the gene pool.
Actually, "kids tables" and "adult tables" at various gatherings is the traditional way of doing things, at least for the vast swath of upper plains states (which are of mostly Scandinavian and German/Dutch heritage, where respect for your elders is the cultural norm).
Funny thing, those kids grew up respectful and confident, and when they graduated to the adults' table, they behaved like adults, not overgrown kids. Kids that sat with the adults wound up a lot more stressed and rebellious, and never did grow up. I think it boils down to whether the adults demand respect and act like leaders, rather than being the kids' "buddies" (which teaches the kid that they are the adults' equal and therefore need neither respect nor learn from them).
In Switzerland, education is streamed, and bad behavior is punished quickly, firmly and effectively, which is very likely to get the delinquent child punished physically by their own parents. The result is that we have very little crime and antisocial behavior, well educated kids who are employable, and very low taxes because people take pride in being a "Good Swiss".
When I was in the public school system in Montana (I graduated from high school in 1972) things were very much as you describe. And far from producing an army of unthinking zombies, it produced a great many free-thinking, creative, yet responsible people -- and one of the last bastions of citizens with enough backbone to resist political correctness, and to stand up to some of the nonsense coming out of D.C. (such as RealID).
We started to lose our way when some nebulous concept of teaching "self-esteem" took precedence over actual education. Yet another side effect of the nanny state.:(
I'd guess the chronic irritation/healing is the risk -- after all, asbestos carries a similar risk, and the mechanism there isn't toxicity, but rather constant mechanical irritation.
If this stuff metabolizes out fairly quickly, or dissipates when the cell reaches its *natural* point of death and replacement, wouldn't that negate the cancer risk??
Or maybe it just gets "used up" somewhat akin to antibodies, so there's not enough left to present a cancer risk.
So one dose to counteract a single radiation dose may not be the same as long-term use -- tho if it gets "used up" then dosage appropriate to the level of radiation exposure would negate the cancer risk too, no??
Slashdot Mirror
Simple, elegant, and easy to implement, yeah... the fact is, it's the implementing where you lose control. Anyone can have ideas, or share ideas, but not everyone can bring a product to market, whether through lack of the right skills or resources or whatever.
Something similar happened with the interval wiper control, except as I recall that story, the inventor wound up with nothing for his trouble.
Things were simpler then :)
The other part I've seen creep out in modern times is the video card, if it lacks a latch. Some of 'em are downright wobbly in the slot without it!
We old fogies remember "chip creep", where RAM chips would literally crawl out of their sockets. Well, not usually so far as to fall out, but enough to lose contact with the motherboard.
In more modern times, the main culprit seems to be the motherboard power lead, which I've seen crawl off its pins a number of times just from fan vibration or in one case from the box being moved (wasn't any clip on the socket). Had to tell that customer that it would probably be 'broken' again when they got home, and show them how to fix it.
I don't recall details offhand but there ARE some insane laws REQUIRING us to snitch on our fellow Komrades... I believe this is the case, at least in some states, wrt kiddie porn. It's not a big stretch from "required to report if you trip over it" to "required to go looking for it at every opportunity". And I agree -- I am not the state's snitch, and no job is worth that.
Yep... ain't my data, ain't my business. As I told one customer, I have enough files and passwords of my own, I don't need yours. (Tho you really should keep your pr0n somewhere other than on the root, where I can't help but trip over it.) One day I was fixing his internet connection and had to log in about 50 times before it was right... he kept having to tell me his password each time, because it evaporated from my brain immediately after I typed it.
My experience (going back over 40 years) is the other way around -- at least in Montana, I found dealerships have the best/most honest mechanics, while gas station garages have the crooks.
Tho a lot of the small shops kinda cut their own throats by charging so much more for parts, that halfway-savvy customers go "Cripes, this is 3x what Newegg sells it for" and that's not just a lost sale, it's a lost potential longterm customer walking out the door. Some of those people would spend the money to have the shop do the work, if they didn't feel like the shop's price on parts was a ripoff -- which can be a pretty good incentive to learn to do the work themselves.
Nicking a hose or even a brake line used to be standard scam practice for unscrupulous mechanics (one step downhill from the more common scam of just squirting some fluid in the wheel well.) OMG LEAKS EVERYWHERE, UNSAFE TO DRIVE! Four hours later you'd find yourself with a couple new hoses and a bill for replacing everything but the engine itself.
That's why I hang out at the shop and watch what the mechanic actually does. If he does something I don't recognise, he'd better be able to explain it. (After 40 years of doing this, I have most of the needful clues.)
I've found a few I trust, and two things they all have in common is that they had the same employees forever, and there is an owner-operator on site.
How are the Belkins doing? In the early days of N, they were the only ones that actually worked as advertised. Dunno about now.
Plug in ANY industry where the average person has only the most superficial knowledge of the subject, or worse, thinks they know more than they really do ... from driveway repairs to tree trimming to marketing your first novel. So long as it's not possible for everyone to be expert on every subject, there WILL be such scammers.
Good points. And one of the consistent problems with people looking for "geek squad" type work is that they have an inflated view of their own skills -- IOW, they're not even honest with themselves, let alone with anyone else. Too many come out of what we joke about as the Slashdot basement culture, but the sad truth is it actually exists.
The problem isn't new, either. Back about 1994, one of the Los Angeles area news crews did a similar undercover expose of computer repair shops. In this case they just reversed one end of the HD cable, which made the machine complain about a nonworking HD. They visited several each of namebrand chain store and local clone shop. ALL of the chain stores diagnosed the problem as something major, from HD to motherboard (which in those days was a $500 repair bill). ALL of the clone shops (all of which were owner-operated at the time) got it right, and most did the "repair" on the spot for free.
But since then, the local owner-operator clone shop has become largely a thing of the past.
One could expand these observations to other businesses as well, I'm sure.
'Lol...Socialists banning blasphemy? Do you seriously expect to be taken seriously? Does "Religion is the opium of the people" ring any bell?'
That's a good deal of the point. The church is losing influence in Ireland, so ban blasphemy to strengthen the influence of the church; that in turn keeps the people 'sedated' so to speak.
Just because something is done in the name of religion doesn't necessarily mean religion or beliefs had anything to do with it. (It can, but it's not a given.)
At any rate, read the article, it's rather enlightening as to the mindset involved here, and clarifies the issue.
It also should serve as a warning to we in the U.S. -- Ireland is a step or two ahead of us on the way to Komradeville.
In fact, per TFA, the Church has nothing to do with it. Rather, it's the Big Brother socialist control freak segment of the political class.
The article makes many excellent points. Read it, even if doing so is against *your* religion.
By amazing coincidence, I just got this in my email inbox:
Subject: FW: HIGH SCHOOL -- 1957 vs. 2009?
Scenario 1:
Jack goes quail hunting before school and then pulls into the school parking lot with his shotgun in his truck's gun rack.
1957 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack's shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2009 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.
Scenario 2:
Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.
1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2009 - Police called and SWAT team arrives -- they arrest both Johnny and Mark. They are both charged them with assault and both expelled even though Johnny started it.
Scenario 3:
Jeffrey will not be still in class, he disrupts other students.
1957 - Jeffrey sent to the Principal's office and given a good paddling by the Principal. He then returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2009 - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. He becomes a zombie. He is then tested for ADD. The school gets extra money from the state because Jeffrey has a disability.
Scenario 4:
Billy breaks a window in his neighbor's car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college and becomes a successful businessman.
2009 - Billy's dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. The state psychologist is told by Billy's sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy's mom has an affair with the psychologist.
Scenario 5:
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1957 - Mark shares his aspirin with the Principal out on the smoking dock.
2009 - The police are called and Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. His car is then searched for drugs and weapons.
Scenario 6:
Pedro fails high school English.
1957 - Pedro goes to summer school, passes English and goes to college.
2009 - Pedro's cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against the state school system and Pedro's English teacher. ?E nglish is then banned from core curriculum. Pedro is given his diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English.
Scenario 7:
Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from the Fourth of July, puts them in a model airplane pa
"This study implies that the behavior is being shaped by peers, instead of people associating with others who have similar behavior."
Exactly -- and while there's probably some truth to the study (since kids are copycats) -- in my observation, some people are just bad'uns, and they DO tend to flock together.
Question: If the successful criminals are those who haven't been caught -- how do you plan to study them?
Tho I agree that more cops is not the answer -- and may well be part of the problem. More cops seems to go right along with less personal responsibility... d'oh......
However, if you look at the FBI crime stats -- crime is actually down considerably over the past couple decades. I'd guess video games have a lot to do with that, by capturing the time and interest of kids who otherwise might be bored perps.
Good observations.
Or to put it another way, boys are about competing to be the leader (even if that's "first to jump off the roof") while girls are about striving to be part of the group (which includes making sure you are NOT one of the outcasts).
It's biology at work -- the male leader gets more females and sires more offspring. The female who fits in is more likely to wind up with the dominant male, who is probably genetically a better sire (from a survival standpoint) than the also-rans. Meanwhile, the females that don't fit in are culled out of the gene pool.
Actually, "kids tables" and "adult tables" at various gatherings is the traditional way of doing things, at least for the vast swath of upper plains states (which are of mostly Scandinavian and German/Dutch heritage, where respect for your elders is the cultural norm).
Funny thing, those kids grew up respectful and confident, and when they graduated to the adults' table, they behaved like adults, not overgrown kids. Kids that sat with the adults wound up a lot more stressed and rebellious, and never did grow up. I think it boils down to whether the adults demand respect and act like leaders, rather than being the kids' "buddies" (which teaches the kid that they are the adults' equal and therefore need neither respect nor learn from them).
When I was in the public school system in Montana (I graduated from high school in 1972) things were very much as you describe. And far from producing an army of unthinking zombies, it produced a great many free-thinking, creative, yet responsible people -- and one of the last bastions of citizens with enough backbone to resist political correctness, and to stand up to some of the nonsense coming out of D.C. (such as RealID).
We started to lose our way when some nebulous concept of teaching "self-esteem" took precedence over actual education. Yet another side effect of the nanny state. :(
I'd guess the chronic irritation/healing is the risk -- after all, asbestos carries a similar risk, and the mechanism there isn't toxicity, but rather constant mechanical irritation.
If this stuff metabolizes out fairly quickly, or dissipates when the cell reaches its *natural* point of death and replacement, wouldn't that negate the cancer risk??
Or maybe it just gets "used up" somewhat akin to antibodies, so there's not enough left to present a cancer risk.
So one dose to counteract a single radiation dose may not be the same as long-term use -- tho if it gets "used up" then dosage appropriate to the level of radiation exposure would negate the cancer risk too, no??
My first thought is that it sounds like a start toward an "immortality" drug.
Face it, we're living in a science fiction novel!!