As an HMC alum, I'm glad to see more effort being made to educate "well-rounded" engineers.
As I've progressed through life, I've noticed how crucial it is to have solid communication skills and interpersonal abilities.
The breadth of subjects I studied at Mudd helped cultivate my latent "artsy" side. This has been very valuable, both career-wise, (the further you advance in your career, the importance of interpersonal skills increases, and the importance of technical knowledge decreases) and also in my own personal development.
I strongly encourage more science/engineering/math students out there to take at least one "humanities" class a quarter/semester. It will be one of the best things you can do for your education. (in the broad sense of education.)
Don't worry about the workload, you can sleep when you're dead!
I work for LaserFiche, a major software vendor that specializes in document imaging and document management. It's typically used in offices that have a huge paper burden. i.e. they have large numbers of documents, they need fast access to the documents, the files take up a lot of expensive real estate, they spend a lot of money photocopying and routing, they want to preserve the fragile originals, keep backups for disaster recovery, etc...
The idea is simple: All documents (paper and electronic) are stored in a single repository. Retrieval is based on what you know. If you know what folder it was put in, browse around. If you know how it was categorized/indexed, do a db search. If you remember some words that occurred in the document, do a full-text search.
Documents can then be made available through your PC, over the network, over the web, via CD, emailed, etc.
Depending on your budget, you could either buy your own system, or hire a service bureau to scan your documents and give you the images/text/index on a CD.
If you've only got a couple books, use a service bureau. We have reps all over the globe that can offer this service.
As for the "build your own" option... Well... Let's just say there's a lot of subtleties involved in building a reliable system that might be overlooked at first glance.
Tom Wayman
Senior Technologist, LaserFiche
E-mail: twayman "at" laserfiche.com
Web: www.laserfiche.com
Document Imaging for the Real World.
This site: http://www.stratfor.com/
on
More On Tragedy
·
· Score: 1
I find it sad that I have to rely on Europeans to be on the lookout for my privacy.
The (US based) apologists always point out that if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't worry. And that from a realpolitik point of view, the US/UK should be doing whatever's needed to gather intelligence on potential threats.
Since the EU doesn't really benefit from these arguments, I suspect that they decided to raise a stink untill the US/UK give some concessions to quiet them down. They probably want to share in any relevant intelligence that's relevant to their governments. They'll never really know if they're getting a complete account, but they'll be provided various intelligence tidbits that will placate them. Then this whole matter will be quietly dropped.
Until such time, the report will say
1) Zut alors! @e're being monitored!
2) Mon Dieu! If we are to get privacy, we must encrypt our messages!
3) Stop monitoring us or we'll get really upset and pout. We'll stamp our feet and make some noice.
Insightful. But too detached. Not effective
on
Sean In The Middle
·
· Score: 1
Nice comments. But you're too detached, and your advice seems weak and ineffectual.
I think a revolutionary type person is needed to channel the anger and frustration felt by so many into productive change.
I just finished rereading "The moon is a harsh mistress" by Robert Heinlein last night, so my thoughts are leaning towards effective change and cynicism about govt.
Some interesting points he made.
Revolutions are created by a few people working in synch. The masses are only needed later.
Revolutions are only effective when the central govt is weak and distracted.
From my standpoint, I think the current school system is great! It has taught me proper distrust of those in power. If my school system had been fair and free and egalitarian, I might be naive enough to think my govt is also like that.
The solution is to exploit the knee-jerk reaction
on
Sean In The Middle
·
· Score: 1
Here's a simple recipe for any oppressed geeks.
1) be willing to lie.
2) report bullies to administration claiming they were threatening to kill you. OR make it more worrisome and say they planned to bomb the math club/shoot the calculus class/etc... Can be done anonymously or publicly, depending on situation
3) repeat as necessary.
Refinements: Terror is more effective when it's unknown. Start with anonymous reports saying "someone on the football team said..." then slowly escalate upwards and begin naming names...
There's a website called Bobby that will test your site for ADA compliance.
http://www.cast.org/bobby/
If you need/want to make large amounts of paper documents available on-line, these agencies have done a nice job of it.
US Postal Rate Commision http://www.prc.gov/ (Click on Archives)
City of Bakersfield, CA
http://www.ci.bakersfield.ca.us/scripts/LFWebLin k. exe/weblink/browser.html
Collier County, FL Clerk of Courts
http://www.clerk.collier.fl.us/weblink/
City of De Soto, TX
http://www.ci.desoto.tx.us/weblink/
The way I see it, we the people (plural) have a say in the US govt through our votes. Similarly, we the people have a say in corporate power through our use of dollars. The US government helps prevent the rise of monopolies so that the people can choose what company they spend their dollars with. You know how you get the govt you deserve? Well, you get the corporations you deserve also. Things may seem ominous and all, but even if multinational corporations get really powerful, it's still at some level got to be at the consent of the people spending their dollars with them. The depressing thing is that people seldom seem to let broader ethical societal concerns affect their spending decisions. i.e. all those small shops driven out of business by the Walmarts. Some people may pay lip service to mourning the loss of the small shops, but obviously not enough are putting their money where their mouth is.
You're right, but you ain't gonna hear from the people who are picked on and who aren't that bright here on/. If you think about it, there's probably far more outcasts who aren't bright than outcasts who are intelligent. I think that school-yard tyranny is based on what the bullies think they can get away with. I feel sorry for the kids who are ugly, weak, fat, unpopular AND aren't too bright. Do they feel any less pain than the smart ones? Are they any less deserving of compassion and protection from bullying? That's why I think the solution shouldn't be group based, it should simply be a Zero Tolerance of Bullying policy. The teachers shouldn't care who you are, or what group you identify with. If you're terrorizing someone, you WILL be punished.
Those administrators may be oblivious or in denial. That's where the/. readers need to take action. Whether it's Black Ribbons or forming Kids Against School Tyranny, or email campaigns, we all need to CONTINUOUSLY make them aware of the problems and make them take action to prevent school tyranny.
We got mentioned in The Economist! http://www.economist.com/editorial/justforyou/cu rrent/index_us8244.html Titled "The Outcasts Reply"
In case you're wondering, The Economist is one of the most influential news magazines out there. An article in the Economist will become an editorial in US papers a week later.
Strangely, they haven't mentioned anything about preventing more bullying. I guess I'll send them an email too.
P.S. So far, I have sent email to my senators, my representatives, the president and VP, the NY Times, CNN, USA Today, LA Times, etc. etc. Thanks Zonk for providing the URLs! Thanks everyone else for reminding us to take action!
Zonk down below provided email and websites of god people to contact. So I sent out a letter. Here's what I said.
---Begin Letter--- The witchhunt should be for the bullys who persecute and torture kids at our schools. Our schools have a DUTY to protect the children. Even the ones who aren't socially accepted. They must NOT allow any child to suffer at the hands of bullys. Our schools need a Zero Tolerance for Bullying policy. They need to make it clear to all students that abuse and torment will not be tolerated.
Sincerely, Tom Wayman Los Angeles, CA ---- Here's a good article in http://slashdot.org [insert Katz article here]
Thanks for the addresses Zonk. I just sent out my letters. Here's what I said: ---Begin Letter ------- The witchhunt should be for the bullys who persecute and torture kids at our schools. Our schools have a DUTY to protect the children. Even the ones who aren't socially accepted. They must NOT allow any child to suffer at the hands of bullys. Our schools need a Zero Tolerance for Bullying policy. They need to make it clear to all students that abuse and torment will not be tolerated.
Sincerely, Tom W Los Angeles, CA ------ Here's a good article in http://slashdot.org [insert Katz article here]
Yes! Zero Tolerance for Bullying. The cruelty shown by a handful of kids must not be tolerated. The "witch hunt" should be for the bullys, not for their targets. Schools must make it clear from the start that bullys will be punished. It's time for teachers to start interfering and not allow the torment and abuse some students face to occur. E-mail the schools, e-mail the press. Make your voice heard that bullying must stop.
The bullying will simply be driven underground, and more subtle means used. (when you were tripped, were you able to get the kid arrested - did you have any PROOF that that kid tripped you? or were you just clumsy?).
Since when did a school administrator ever need proof to punish a student? If they have a Zero Tolerance for Bullying policy, they could suspend the kids making trouble and make sure that bullying will NOT BE TOLERATED.
P.S. I started a new thread on Zero Tolerance for Bullying. I wrote it, posted it, and then saw Laura20's post.
That person who posted the comment about the power of people getting together to stop a pervasive problem in society (Like MADD did for drunk driving) got me thinking...
The schools of the world need a Zero Tolerance Bullying policy. Instead of teachers, administrators and fellow students ignoring the assholes who make people suffer, they should make it clear that bullying behavior will not be tolerated and WILL be punished. No more "turning a blind eye" on "kids being kids."
Heck! I'd even put together a site to make it "official" If we could make the media aware of this "official site" then we make schools feel obligated to implement the plan, and we could (hopefully) reduce the daily torture of so many kids in our schools.
Discussions of how to prevent bullys seeking revenge on snitches would need to be laid out, as well as appropriate (effective) punishments, etc. etc. But if the good readers of Slashdot made initial suggestions, we could hammer out a good plan in no time!
Slashdot Mirror
I_Love_Pocky said the word "hilarious" twice. The site isn't even mildly amusing.
In related news, TV images of Ryan Seacrest have been found to emit low levels of magnetic fields to viewer's brains.
As an HMC alum, I'm glad to see more effort being made to educate "well-rounded" engineers.
As I've progressed through life, I've noticed how crucial it is to have solid communication skills and interpersonal abilities.
The breadth of subjects I studied at Mudd helped cultivate my latent "artsy" side. This has been very valuable, both career-wise, (the further you advance in your career, the importance of interpersonal skills increases, and the importance of technical knowledge decreases) and also in my own personal development.
I strongly encourage more science/engineering/math students out there to take at least one "humanities" class a quarter/semester. It will be one of the best things you can do for your education. (in the broad sense of education.)
Don't worry about the workload, you can sleep when you're dead!
The idea is simple: All documents (paper and electronic) are stored in a single repository. Retrieval is based on what you know. If you know what folder it was put in, browse around. If you know how it was categorized/indexed, do a db search. If you remember some words that occurred in the document, do a full-text search.
Documents can then be made available through your PC, over the network, over the web, via CD, emailed, etc.
Read this overview if you'd like to find a bit more about the basics of document imaging
Depending on your budget, you could either buy your own system, or hire a service bureau to scan your documents and give you the images/text/index on a CD.
If you've only got a couple books, use a service bureau. We have reps all over the globe that can offer this service.
As for the "build your own" option... Well... Let's just say there's a lot of subtleties involved in building a reliable system that might be overlooked at first glance.
Tom Wayman
Senior Technologist, LaserFiche
E-mail: twayman "at" laserfiche.com
Web: www.laserfiche.com
Document Imaging for the Real World.
Whoops. Here's the site. http://www.stratfor.com/
This site contains Intelligence type reviews of economic impact, alternatives open to US, etc.
/. yesterday which is how I found it.
Provides lots of good insight
Someone posted this site on
I find it sad that I have to rely on Europeans to be on the lookout for my privacy.
The (US based) apologists always point out that if you have nothing to hide, you shouldn't worry. And that from a realpolitik point of view, the US/UK should be doing whatever's needed to gather intelligence on potential threats.
Since the EU doesn't really benefit from these arguments, I suspect that they decided to raise a stink untill the US/UK give some concessions to quiet them down. They probably want to share in any relevant intelligence that's relevant to their governments. They'll never really know if they're getting a complete account, but they'll be provided various intelligence tidbits that will placate them. Then this whole matter will be quietly dropped.
Until such time, the report will say
1) Zut alors! @e're being monitored!
2) Mon Dieu! If we are to get privacy, we must encrypt our messages!
3) Stop monitoring us or we'll get really upset and pout. We'll stamp our feet and make some noice.
Nice comments. But you're too detached, and your advice seems weak and ineffectual.
I think a revolutionary type person is needed to channel the anger and frustration felt by so many into productive change.
I just finished rereading "The moon is a harsh mistress" by Robert Heinlein last night, so my thoughts are leaning towards effective change and cynicism about govt.
Some interesting points he made.
Revolutions are created by a few people working in synch. The masses are only needed later.
Revolutions are only effective when the central govt is weak and distracted.
From my standpoint, I think the current school system is great! It has taught me proper distrust of those in power. If my school system had been fair and free and egalitarian, I might be naive enough to think my govt is also like that.
Here's a simple recipe for any oppressed geeks.
1) be willing to lie.
2) report bullies to administration claiming they were threatening to kill you. OR make it more worrisome and say they planned to bomb the math club/shoot the calculus class/etc... Can be done anonymously or publicly, depending on situation
3) repeat as necessary.
Refinements: Terror is more effective when it's unknown. Start with anonymous reports saying "someone on the football team said..." then slowly escalate upwards and begin naming names...
Here's some assorted thoughts
n k. exe/weblink/browser.html
There's a website called Bobby that will test your site for ADA compliance.
http://www.cast.org/bobby/
If you need/want to make large amounts of paper documents available on-line, these agencies have done a nice job of it.
US Postal Rate Commision http://www.prc.gov/ (Click on Archives)
City of Bakersfield, CA
http://www.ci.bakersfield.ca.us/scripts/LFWebLi
Collier County, FL Clerk of Courts
http://www.clerk.collier.fl.us/weblink/
City of De Soto, TX
http://www.ci.desoto.tx.us/weblink/
The way I see it, we the people (plural) have a say in the US govt through our votes. Similarly, we the people have a say in corporate power through our use of dollars. The US government helps prevent the rise of monopolies so that the people can choose what company they spend their dollars with. You know how you get the govt you deserve? Well, you get the corporations you deserve also. Things may seem ominous and all, but even if multinational corporations get really powerful, it's still at some level got to be at the consent of the people spending their dollars with them. The depressing thing is that people seldom seem to let broader ethical societal concerns affect their spending decisions. i.e. all those small shops driven out of business by the Walmarts. Some people may pay lip service to mourning the loss of the small shops, but obviously not enough are putting their money where their mouth is.
You're right, but you ain't gonna hear from the people who are picked on and who aren't that bright here on /.
/. readers need to take action. Whether it's Black Ribbons or forming Kids Against School Tyranny, or email campaigns, we all need to CONTINUOUSLY make them aware of the problems and make them take action to prevent school tyranny.
If you think about it, there's probably far more outcasts who aren't bright than outcasts who are intelligent. I think that school-yard tyranny is based on what the bullies think they can get away with.
I feel sorry for the kids who are ugly, weak, fat, unpopular AND aren't too bright. Do they feel any less pain than the smart ones? Are they any less deserving of compassion and protection from bullying?
That's why I think the solution shouldn't be group based, it should simply be a Zero Tolerance of Bullying policy. The teachers shouldn't care who you are, or what group you identify with. If you're terrorizing someone, you WILL be punished.
Those administrators may be oblivious or in denial. That's where the
--T
We got mentioned in The Economist!u rrent/index_us8244.html
http://www.economist.com/editorial/justforyou/c
Titled "The Outcasts Reply"
In case you're wondering, The Economist is one of the most influential news magazines out there. An article in the Economist will become an editorial in US papers a week later.
Strangely, they haven't mentioned anything about preventing more bullying. I guess I'll send them an email too.
P.S. So far, I have sent email to my senators, my representatives, the president and VP, the NY Times, CNN, USA Today, LA Times, etc. etc. Thanks Zonk for providing the URLs! Thanks everyone else for reminding us to take action!
--Tom
Zonk down below provided email and websites of god people to contact.
So I sent out a letter.
Here's what I said.
---Begin Letter---
The witchhunt should be for the bullys who persecute and torture kids at our schools.
Our schools have a DUTY to protect the children. Even the ones who aren't socially
accepted. They must NOT allow any child to suffer at the hands of bullys. Our schools
need a Zero Tolerance for Bullying policy. They need to make it clear to all students
that abuse and torment will not be tolerated.
Sincerely,
Tom Wayman
Los Angeles, CA
----
Here's a good article in http://slashdot.org
[insert Katz article here]
--End letter--
Thanks for the addresses Zonk.
I just sent out my letters.
Here's what I said:
---Begin Letter -------
The witchhunt should be for the bullys who persecute and torture kids at our schools.
Our schools have a DUTY to protect the children. Even the ones who aren't socially
accepted. They must NOT allow any child to suffer at the hands of bullys. Our schools
need a Zero Tolerance for Bullying policy. They need to make it clear to all students
that abuse and torment will not be tolerated.
Sincerely,
Tom W
Los Angeles, CA
------
Here's a good article in http://slashdot.org
[insert Katz article here]
Amen! Someone else posted email addresses of schools, newspapers, politicians. Make them feel the /. effect!
Yes! Zero Tolerance for Bullying.
The cruelty shown by a handful of kids must not be tolerated. The "witch hunt" should be for the bullys, not for their targets. Schools must make it clear from the start that bullys will be punished. It's time for teachers to start interfering and not allow the torment and abuse some students face to occur. E-mail the schools, e-mail the press. Make your voice heard that bullying must stop.
The bullying will simply be driven underground, and more subtle means used. (when you were tripped, were you able to get the kid arrested - did you have any PROOF that that kid tripped you? or were you just clumsy?).
Since when did a school administrator ever need proof to punish a student? If they have a Zero Tolerance for Bullying policy, they could suspend the kids making trouble and make sure that bullying will NOT BE TOLERATED.
P.S. I started a new thread on Zero Tolerance for Bullying. I wrote it, posted it, and then saw Laura20's post.
That person who posted the comment about the power of people getting together to stop a pervasive problem in society (Like MADD did for drunk driving) got me thinking...
The schools of the world need a Zero Tolerance Bullying policy. Instead of teachers, administrators and fellow students ignoring the
assholes who make people suffer, they should make it clear that bullying behavior will not be tolerated and WILL be punished. No more "turning a blind eye" on "kids being kids."
Heck! I'd even put together a site to make it "official" If we could make the media aware of this "official site" then we make schools feel
obligated to implement the plan, and we could (hopefully) reduce the daily torture of so many kids in our schools.
Discussions of how to prevent bullys seeking revenge on snitches would need to be laid out, as well as appropriate (effective) punishments,
etc. etc. But if the good readers of Slashdot made initial suggestions, we could hammer out a good plan in no time!