"That is not a problem. I have been developing a new feedback subroutine for just such a situation, and I predict a 92.3% probability that my input will result in the captain taking the correct course of action."
The simple conclusion demonstrated by this experiment is that, while sometimes people will live up to others' expectations for them, we we have an even stronger tendency to live down to what's expected of us. I think Richard Yacco (a "prisoner") made the most insightful comment in the article:
One thing that I thought was interesting about the experiment was whether, if you believe society has assigned you a role, do you then assume the characteristics of that role? I teach at an inner city high school in Oakland. These kids don't have to go through experiments to witness horrible things. But what frustrates my colleagues and me is that we are creating great opportunities for these kids, we offer great support for them, why are they not taking advantage of it? Why are they dropping out of school? Why are they coming to school unprepared? I think a big reason is what the prison study shows—they fall into the role their society has made for them.
Since the First Officer's job consists almost entirely of translating the captain's quiet musings into orders, and saying it loudly enough for the crew to hear, if Data is the only other bridge crew, they wouldn't really need Riker, either,.
Picard: "Will. We should get out of here." Riker: "Lay in a course out of here! Bearing 253 mark 15! Maximum warp!" Data: "We are already underway at warp 9.6, Commander."
That's absurd. They died in The Flood, an "extinction event" that lasted 40 days and 40 nights. How else do you think all those dinosaur bones got buried in the sediment?
Actually, sex offender registries are for people convicted of any of a variety of sex-related offenses, not just those against minors. Forcible rape, prostitution (either party), public indecency, and possession of "obscene" material are other offenses that are routinely included in such registries.
Our "criminal justice" system does the opposite of rehabilitate; it systematically and very effectively turns a person who has been convicted of (whatever) into a menace to society. In addition to the lord-of-the-flies social conditioning that takes place inside, the inability to return to a normal life after release (e.g. sex offender registries, no one will hire them) ensures that unless they have a very good support network still waiting for them, their life from then on will be one of criminal activity.
I used to connect to open wifis in my neighborhood, login to the routers using the default admin passwords, block google.com, then change the router's hostname or something to "secureyourwifi". They're all using encryption (of some kind) now.
The studios are not preventing them from offering plans that include both delivery options. They are just too dunder-headed to offer a combination and price point that makes any sense to me.
"You didn't hear the Captain saying "page down" when reading data on his desktop display."
However, Data was in the habit of saying "increase speed" when reading from console displays.:)
(You know, Soong really should have included a Bluetooth transceiver, perhaps in one of Data's molars, to save him from all that "reading". Or was low-bandwidth Bluetooth the reason for the brief "accessing" delay whenever Data had to look up an uncommon vocabulary word?)
In all seriousness, if you're just getting out of college, that means you have plenty of time to change direction, start over if necessary, and find some other profession that you will enjoy (at least while that one lasts; some are perennial). Not so easy when you're a quarter century into one.
A month ago, after observing Netflix's rollout and defense of their "upgraded" web site, I predicted that Netflix was already doomed.
A huge customer-hostile price hike like this, and the way they're handling it, are indicators and warnings that tell you a lot about the corporate culture of this business. This one is a culture of incompetence. They are successful (so far) because they were in the right place at the time with the right business plan (at the time). It's not because they're smart. And the fact that they would jack their prices so high so quickly and try to spin it as "new lower prices!", and more importantly, that no one in senior management said "Hold on a sec, no one's going to fall for this, and people are going to hate us for it," is proof of that. There's no one in charge there who realizes just how professionally inept their staff are. I gave more examples and evidence before, but here was my conclusion last month:
Netflix is doing great right now, because they're riding the wave of a new entertainment delivery model. They are making enough money that even people who are not very good at their jobs (see current company roster) can continue operating the company profitably. But that won't last forever. Which means that, when the competition gets rough, when another business model challenges the company, or whatever else happens that requires Netflix to start doing things smarter and better.... the people in charge at every level of the company will be the people who brought you (and defended) this rather crappy UI change.
And they're gonna get clobbered.
Substitute "price hike" for "UI change" and it's just as true today. So if anyon on/. has Netflix stock as a long-term investment: I've warned you twice now.:/
"They seem to understand what their customers want."
That used to be true. I don't see much evidence of it here.
I'm not especially picky about whether the movies come through the mail or the wire, but I want to be able to select from their whole library. They have a lot of stuff that's only available on DVD, so those I get through the mail. Sometimes I want to pick something on the spur of the moment, and I can usually find something that way. Yes, they will still have a plan for that. But they are going to charge nearly 180% of what that exact same service cost me a year ago. That's not what this customer wants.
If they had any sense whatsoever, they would offer a plan that offers streaming for whatever's available for streaming, with the option of getting it on DVD if it's not. That would be smart. They don't have anyone like that working there.
I call Win8 a gimicky kludge that's meant to appeal to Star Trek fans who haven't thought about the pitfalls of touch-centric interfaces.
At least they aren't trying to appeal to Star Trek fans who haven't thought about the pitfalls of voice-centric interfaces. I'd much rather deal with Windows LCARS than Windows Holodeck.
Sorry, but "finders keepers" is not actually a legal doctrine.
First, NASA could easily argue that the rock was not "disposed of", but "lost". Or even "taken without permission". Obviously, lost or stolen goods do not automatically become the property of the person who possesses them. Even the (legally inaccurate) expression that people like to quote only claims that "possession is 9/10 of the law".
Alternatively, if NASA could show that the rock was given with the understanding that it would be preserved in the museum's collection, the museum's failure to do so could result in ownership reverting to NASA.
Bottom line: there are plenty of legal precedents for situations like this, and they don't always favor the possessor. The court will have to determine which precedent applies to this specific situation.
I'm not sure why exactly they're quoting him (as opposed to any other famous Brit), but the BBC reports actor Hugh Grant saying "I think this is a cynical management manoeuvre".
The privacy concerns might not be addressed to everyone's satisfaction, but the usage-rights problems have been addressed, at least to mine.
There are some very substantial and specific changes in this "patch" to their recent TOS update. The original version essentially claimed publishing rights, to be used at their discretion. Not that they actually intended to do that; it was just really badly written. I pointed out some of the legal problems in e-mails to them, and they appear to have fixed the worst of them.
This new version removes the overly broad rights-claims, and adds a key limitation to their copying and publishing rights: "unless you direct us to", a phrase I suggested was necessary to making the TOS acceptable to me as a continuing customer. Essentially, this was customers (including one with only a self-educated understanding of the law) proofreading the work of not-terribly-insightful professionals.
Slashdot Mirror
The legal term for that is "predatory pricing". The federal government passed laws against it once upon a time.
Their public relations people clearly have the public relations skills of engineers.
Hardware engineers.
Gopher wood, the mysterious type of lumber specified by YHWH, is remarkably good shield against beta radiation.
"That is not a problem. I have been developing a new feedback subroutine for just such a situation, and I predict a 92.3% probability that my input will result in the captain taking the correct course of action."
The simple conclusion demonstrated by this experiment is that, while sometimes people will live up to others' expectations for them, we we have an even stronger tendency to live down to what's expected of us. I think Richard Yacco (a "prisoner") made the most insightful comment in the article:
Since the First Officer's job consists almost entirely of translating the captain's quiet musings into orders, and saying it loudly enough for the crew to hear, if Data is the only other bridge crew, they wouldn't really need Riker, either,.
Picard: "Will. We should get out of here."
Riker: "Lay in a course out of here! Bearing 253 mark 15! Maximum warp!"
Data: "We are already underway at warp 9.6, Commander."
That's absurd. They died in The Flood, an "extinction event" that lasted 40 days and 40 nights. How else do you think all those dinosaur bones got buried in the sediment?
I have a living alligator here that would like to argue with that "last dinosaur" designation.
Actually, sex offender registries are for people convicted of any of a variety of sex-related offenses, not just those against minors. Forcible rape, prostitution (either party), public indecency, and possession of "obscene" material are other offenses that are routinely included in such registries.
Our "criminal justice" system does the opposite of rehabilitate; it systematically and very effectively turns a person who has been convicted of (whatever) into a menace to society. In addition to the lord-of-the-flies social conditioning that takes place inside, the inability to return to a normal life after release (e.g. sex offender registries, no one will hire them) ensures that unless they have a very good support network still waiting for them, their life from then on will be one of criminal activity.
I used to connect to open wifis in my neighborhood, login to the routers using the default admin passwords, block google.com, then change the router's hostname or something to "secureyourwifi". They're all using encryption (of some kind) now.
The studios are not preventing them from offering plans that include both delivery options. They are just too dunder-headed to offer a combination and price point that makes any sense to me.
"You didn't hear the Captain saying "page down" when reading data on his desktop display."
However, Data was in the habit of saying "increase speed" when reading from console displays. :)
(You know, Soong really should have included a Bluetooth transceiver, perhaps in one of Data's molars, to save him from all that "reading". Or was low-bandwidth Bluetooth the reason for the brief "accessing" delay whenever Data had to look up an uncommon vocabulary word?)
In all seriousness, if you're just getting out of college, that means you have plenty of time to change direction, start over if necessary, and find some other profession that you will enjoy (at least while that one lasts; some are perennial). Not so easy when you're a quarter century into one.
Great, I was hoping they'd get around to removing the last bits of enjoyment from my career before I retire. They're even ahead of schedule!
A month ago, after observing Netflix's rollout and defense of their "upgraded" web site, I predicted that Netflix was already doomed.
A huge customer-hostile price hike like this, and the way they're handling it, are indicators and warnings that tell you a lot about the corporate culture of this business. This one is a culture of incompetence. They are successful (so far) because they were in the right place at the time with the right business plan (at the time). It's not because they're smart. And the fact that they would jack their prices so high so quickly and try to spin it as "new lower prices!", and more importantly, that no one in senior management said "Hold on a sec, no one's going to fall for this, and people are going to hate us for it," is proof of that. There's no one in charge there who realizes just how professionally inept their staff are. I gave more examples and evidence before, but here was my conclusion last month:
Substitute "price hike" for "UI change" and it's just as true today. So if anyon on /. has Netflix stock as a long-term investment: I've warned you twice now. :/
"They seem to understand what their customers want."
That used to be true. I don't see much evidence of it here.
I'm not especially picky about whether the movies come through the mail or the wire, but I want to be able to select from their whole library. They have a lot of stuff that's only available on DVD, so those I get through the mail. Sometimes I want to pick something on the spur of the moment, and I can usually find something that way. Yes, they will still have a plan for that. But they are going to charge nearly 180% of what that exact same service cost me a year ago. That's not what this customer wants.
If they had any sense whatsoever, they would offer a plan that offers streaming for whatever's available for streaming, with the option of getting it on DVD if it's not. That would be smart. They don't have anyone like that working there.
At least they aren't trying to appeal to Star Trek fans who haven't thought about the pitfalls of voice-centric interfaces. I'd much rather deal with Windows LCARS than Windows Holodeck.
The laws regarding marine salvage are a bit more complex than "finders keepers" (or even AC's slightly longer version).
Sorry, but "finders keepers" is not actually a legal doctrine.
First, NASA could easily argue that the rock was not "disposed of", but "lost". Or even "taken without permission". Obviously, lost or stolen goods do not automatically become the property of the person who possesses them. Even the (legally inaccurate) expression that people like to quote only claims that "possession is 9/10 of the law".
Alternatively, if NASA could show that the rock was given with the understanding that it would be preserved in the museum's collection, the museum's failure to do so could result in ownership reverting to NASA.
Bottom line: there are plenty of legal precedents for situations like this, and they don't always favor the possessor. The court will have to determine which precedent applies to this specific situation.
I bet NASA could get away with making a little asbestos cloth if they saw a need for it. They get to play with plutonium, after all.
The (reputed) foreskin of Jesus was once considered priceless. It was, after all, the only piece of His body left on earth.
How much for a swatch of the MTV flag they planted on the moon?
(It's been seen more times on TV.)
I'm not sure why exactly they're quoting him (as opposed to any other famous Brit), but the BBC reports actor Hugh Grant saying "I think this is a cynical management manoeuvre".
Bingo.
The privacy concerns might not be addressed to everyone's satisfaction, but the usage-rights problems have been addressed, at least to mine.
There are some very substantial and specific changes in this "patch" to their recent TOS update. The original version essentially claimed publishing rights, to be used at their discretion. Not that they actually intended to do that; it was just really badly written. I pointed out some of the legal problems in e-mails to them, and they appear to have fixed the worst of them.
This new version removes the overly broad rights-claims, and adds a key limitation to their copying and publishing rights: "unless you direct us to", a phrase I suggested was necessary to making the TOS acceptable to me as a continuing customer. Essentially, this was customers (including one with only a self-educated understanding of the law) proofreading the work of not-terribly-insightful professionals.