Cost per -employee-? I can't think of a more meaningless metric and business in our country is freakin drowning itself in meaningless metrics. So what it that usefull to compare against? Other industries? Okay, garbage temp services probably have a lower cost per employee, so does that mean MS going to become a clerical temp service? What this kind of thing can get used for is an excuse to cut costs that have future payoff like research. Not that that hasn't all been cut already, but where there's a will...
I don't want to insinuate that the good Doctor typed something moronic, but if everyone worked locally in the manner suggested by the post the Dr replied to how could that -possibly- not "do much for overall social improvement"? Federal funding (wich after all is just local entities taking your tax money and forwarding it on, and bloody little of that) is no match (pun intended) for people going down to local schools and involving their expertise/interest/time/money in that school. I do realize that the whole personal involvement thing is messy and all, but still...
I have a radical new entrepreneurial roadmap for building successful companies: 1) Employ people that you trust 2) Manage people as a team, so everyone knows each other and (generally) what they're doing. 3) Provide employees with market information so they understand the financial stresses surrounding their employment.
I've actually worked at a place that did two of those, they were tremendously profitable and unfortunately point 3 pretty much killed 'em (that and selling AtGuard, jeez Doug).
Bob as the post you replied to said to the original poster, this isn't solving the problem. They get to stick your sales into their little "performance matrix" and jr sales droid get's statistics that incentivize all the other sales droids to "up sell". That's a bad thing(tm).
Social contracts are neither. Neither you nor society is obligated by agreements that sociology profs make up based on wide trends they see in society.
So, while it's true that a parent has a personal -obligation- to ensure that their kids diet has a reasonable split of nutrients and individuals of responsible outlook do so... people seeking to say there's some "contract" related to that are simply pushing down the slope of relinquishing their personal responsibility (getting out of having to parent) to government. And government is obviously and quite completely NOT up to the job. (Google Wenatchee Washington DSHS...) This is the second thing I've seen you add to "the Sally example". Your original statement said nothing of progress reports and adding it now changes the earlier statement. As I said in my first post; a teacher has an obligation to explain to Sallys parents why she's getting an F it's their job. Now that you've modified the example... I'm glad you agree with me. Certainly, as responsible individuals, we should expect other people (regardless of age or marital status) to be civil.
Okay, now that I've brought my BP down from being told that society should raise my children... I'd like to give -my- free advice ; ) worth every penny or double your money back. This from a never married/no kids single type guy: Computer use is a social activity. The computer should be huge, have the largest display you can afford and live right in the middle of the living room (perhaps supplanting the tv). And, it should be "the" computer... it's a learning tool and if you learn with your family get the benefit of sharing perspectives and teaching each other. Junior, does -not- get a game system for hours and hours of alone time in the basement, there's no old PC in the bedroom. We are engaging our minds and our family mind-tool together in a common living area in much the same manner that Thomas Jefferson did leaning against the neighbors fence and asking him about the Tories in the next county. Doing that, eventually, it will be natural for Junior to stumble across -all- -sorts- of interesting information that then becomes an entre for discussion about how we feel about the quarterly GDP or public education statistics or goats who like humans. I know I'm not supposed to say this on/., but computers really don't have to be insulative devices that cocoon us up in our special protective hideout... we do not have to turn into a world of antisocial, interpersonally incapable,... oh heck nevermind. bk425 boydk425
What is society? What gives society the right to determine how parents raise their children? (serious questions). I'm guessing you're a public school teacher, wich is a shame because my mom (bless her) would never have described parents in her classroom as "bitching". Teachers have the JOB of -explaining- to an upset parent WHY Sally got an F. They do not have a right to expect that no one will be upset or disagree with their decisions any more then anyone else can expect that.
I wouldn't create a child in a society that could legally interfere with my raising of it because I would never accept the theft of such a serious responsibility. If I did have a child, I would teach it to understand how systems work, that they had to respect other peoples time, and that those systems should be expected to respect them too. Any authority that is afraid of QUESTIONs is afraid of CRITICAL THINKING. You cannot think critically without asking questions... and I certainly wouldn't turn over a child of mine to a teacher that didn't expect and welcome that. There are problems with our schools, there certainly are problems with how some parent and all of those are being made worse by discouraging children from questioning authority in a courteous and rational manner.
Check out some of the posts before yours. Bio weapons -grow- and turn other humans into weapons, it spreads over populations/over time. Bombs go boom and it's done with. Hbombs are really horrific booms, they can make the land they go boom over uninhabitable. But they don't seek host organisms and grow. Somebody recommended "demon in the freezer" up there, also check out "hot zone".
Most airlines operate on a hub and spoke system, if you're not going to a destination that's a hub &/or you have a layover of more then a couple hours it would be normal to leave the secure area and want to come back the same day.
If the worst case scenario is that the system doesnt meet it's goals ("you end up going through the same security rundown...") why would you build the system?
Not to go all serious on a promisingly humorous start... but perhaps those of us without friends could deal with those issues (you know who you are) as seperate from technology design issues. Because they are. "we'll have friends, not appliances." is a _seriously_ bad goal. I -want- an appliance that I can order to clean out the hold of an oil tanker. I do not want to order a sentient being to do unsafe or tedious and boring things. We have plenty of sentient beings, and they enjoy reproducing fairly efficiently. It seems really obvious that applying technology to create sentient, or even sentient like, life is a bad thing.
I love all the geeks telling all us other geeks about the "real world" : ) And while I agree about priorities and defects and that they will happen, you gotta remember that the thing about generalizations is that they are only generally true.
Yes, normal software has defects. No, it's not actually a -requirement- of the process.
The problem was also management. It's the ties team that buys hardware, they knew this was common practice to better utilize scarce resources and when those resources became less scarce... waited until the last minute and then complained or jumped on the sensationalism bandwagon at the cost of reworking the code. But of course that was back in the heydays of the 80's and 90's when software was a bright spot on the economic landscape. Now that we're really cutting costs... I'm sure software sector management is focused on the long term.
That's not a fuel source at all, it's a distribution system. It was Westinghouse who said "where would the meter go?", and while it's used by some to paint him as an evil capitalist it is an excellent point. Assuming it can be efficiently done, and you can overcome the folks who are currently afraid of unintended results from current electromagnetic fields... how do the people generating the power get paid?
That's right sonny! Why, back in the old days we'd truge off to a LUG meeting with our model100 tucked under our arm and it would up hill -both- -ways-! Why? Because we wouldn'ta been caught -dead- trudging with one them damn new fangled osborn things. Transportable? What the heck is that?? I got boat anchors that got more portable that that thing and if you dropped it in the snow it'd crash down through the accumulation and you'd be able to load 3 programs (count 'em; THREE) before you'd ever dig that boat anchor out. That's right, it's URLII and a good tape subsystem fer me sonny! Why back in the old days...
If your intention is to reduce your electrical expenses you should stick with utilities. They have astounding economies of scale not just in terms of efficiency of generation but also in terms of environmental impact. Unless your 1.1kw is unusual (like say a brand new honda or well maintained propane) it's going to output more pollution per kwh then the national grid. Probably by a good margin. Remember folks, during last summers CA blackouts EPA waived all kinds of pollution rules so utilities could roll trailer generators into neighborhoods for critical needs. If on the other hand you want to lessen your dependence on the grid, you might google "Trace Electronics" who manufacture -really- cool off grid and grid/hybrid power systems. They used to sell a unit that was a trailer with built in orientable PV array, and a backup generator/inverter and batteries built in. Wheel up, plug in and you're out of PG&E's grip (in fact most utilities have to buy excess capacity from you at market rates) Cool power geek toys. But definately -not- cheap.
Not to be a wet blanket, but do you guys really think that converting traffic lights and your flashlight to LED will impact the national energy picture? Your grandmum can probably out do all that by switching off her (probly canadian) natural gas heat and going to (probly hi sulfur US coal fired) electircal space heat. It's a nice idea but if we're talking national policy I think maybe a wider perspective is necessary.
You've got to be talking about some other ISC. The ISC I know is a non profit, they make the open source BIND product by paying some of the guys who wote (pretty much with volunteered time to) the open standard for DNS. It needs help IMHO but vendor lock in it isn't.
It's really cool to see someone remaking it with a real database behind it, anyone who's made/makes major system changes has had LDAP problems and at the very best it is a marvle of 1960 db design. But... the "can even do AXFR to other servers" thing in the frill portion of his web site description is worrisome. AXFR is part of the DNS game, if you'r not going to play with other servers... well the whole point of the way DNS works is a -distributed- name system. How would you distribute load without standard zone transfer protocol? Far from a frill IMHO.
Hmm, I don't see any "This wouldn't have happened"s in the posts you Re'd too, but I'll jump in anyway. When I go to the UK (which very sadly is a hypothetical posit though I hope to change that one day) my dollars go with me. Do the airlines there not contribute to ATC? Here in the US all seats have an airport landing fee integrated into ticket costs and airlines also pay into the system. So it seems like a reasonable assumption that the ATC system in the UK is supported by travellers dollars. (They should, as they benefit from the service.)
I love that, a grammar rant in the forum where I first learned that Haxored was a word but only if you put numbers in it. I love the smell of irony in the morning. My pet non word is probly. There, I typed it : ) probly probly probly probly. Ie "Don't put on that blood pressure cuff it would probly explode."
Exactly right! We didn't get where we are by having scientists across the globe cooperate and share information. We need Europe to build redundant systems wasting millions or even billions of dollars on overlapping public research... Yeah, uh huh.
On the other other hand, sometimes "government efficiency" can be kinda spooky.
"you're using the words 'suspected mistreatment'" WHAT? This entire thing was released through official US Dept of Defense sources. Those pictures (all of them) came -from- US and it's the department of defense who originally (back in January) called it torture and "a violation of the Geneva convention". So, if you're going to go off topic at least be accurate and don't paint all of the people of the US as represented by what some blow dry says on "Nightly Business Report". TIA
Slashdot Mirror
Cost per -employee-?
I can't think of a more meaningless metric and business in our country is freakin drowning itself in meaningless metrics. So what it that usefull to compare against? Other industries? Okay, garbage temp services probably have a lower cost per employee, so does that mean MS going to become a clerical temp service? What this kind of thing can get used for is an excuse to cut costs that have future payoff like research. Not that that hasn't all been cut already, but where there's a will...
I don't want to insinuate that the good Doctor typed something moronic, but if everyone worked locally in the manner suggested by the post the Dr replied to how could that -possibly- not "do much for overall social improvement"? Federal funding (wich after all is just local entities taking your tax money and forwarding it on, and bloody little of that) is no match (pun intended) for people going down to local schools and involving their expertise/interest/time/money in that school. I do realize that the whole personal involvement thing is messy and all, but still...
I have a radical new entrepreneurial roadmap for building successful companies:
1) Employ people that you trust
2) Manage people as a team, so everyone knows each other and (generally) what they're doing.
3) Provide employees with market information so they understand the financial stresses surrounding their employment.
I've actually worked at a place that did two of those, they were tremendously profitable and unfortunately point 3 pretty much killed 'em (that and selling AtGuard, jeez Doug).
Bob as the post you replied to said to the original poster, this isn't solving the problem. They get to stick your sales into their little "performance matrix" and jr sales droid get's statistics that incentivize all the other sales droids to "up sell". That's a bad thing(tm).
Social contracts are neither. Neither you nor society is obligated by agreements that sociology profs make up based on wide trends they see in society. ... people seeking to say there's some "contract" related to that are simply pushing down the slope of relinquishing their personal responsibility (getting out of having to parent) to government. And government is obviously and quite completely NOT up to the job. (Google Wenatchee Washington DSHS...)
So, while it's true that a parent has a personal -obligation- to ensure that their kids diet has a reasonable split of nutrients and individuals of responsible outlook do so
This is the second thing I've seen you add to "the Sally example". Your original statement said nothing of progress reports and adding it now changes the earlier statement. As I said in my first post; a teacher has an obligation to explain to Sallys parents why she's getting an F it's their job. Now that you've modified the example... I'm glad you agree with me. Certainly, as responsible individuals, we should expect other people (regardless of age or marital status) to be civil.
Okay, now that I've brought my BP down from being told that society should raise my children... I'd like to give -my- free advice ; ) worth every penny or double your money back. This from a never married /no kids single type guy: /., but computers really don't have to be insulative devices that cocoon us up in our special protective hideout... we do not have to turn into a world of antisocial, interpersonally incapable, ... oh heck nevermind. bk425 boydk425
Computer use is a social activity.
The computer should be huge, have the largest display you can afford and live right in the middle of the living room (perhaps supplanting the tv). And, it should be "the" computer... it's a learning tool and if you learn with your family get the benefit of sharing perspectives and teaching each other. Junior, does -not- get a game system for hours and hours of alone time in the basement, there's no old PC in the bedroom. We are engaging our minds and our family mind-tool together in a common living area in much the same manner that Thomas Jefferson did leaning against the neighbors fence and asking him about the Tories in the next county. Doing that, eventually, it will be natural for Junior to stumble across -all- -sorts- of interesting information that then becomes an entre for discussion about how we feel about the quarterly GDP or public education statistics or goats who like humans. I know I'm not supposed to say this on
What is society? What gives society the right to determine how parents raise their children? (serious questions).
I'm guessing you're a public school teacher, wich is a shame because my mom (bless her) would never have described parents in her classroom as "bitching". Teachers have the JOB of -explaining- to an upset parent WHY Sally got an F. They do not have a right to expect that no one will be upset or disagree with their decisions any more then anyone else can expect that.
I wouldn't create a child in a society that could legally interfere with my raising of it because I would never accept the theft of such a serious responsibility. If I did have a child, I would teach it to understand how systems work, that they had to respect other peoples time, and that those systems should be expected to respect them too. Any authority that is afraid of QUESTIONs is afraid of CRITICAL THINKING. You cannot think critically without asking questions... and I certainly wouldn't turn over a child of mine to a teacher that didn't expect and welcome that.
There are problems with our schools, there certainly are problems with how some parent and all of those are being made worse by discouraging children from questioning authority in a courteous and rational manner.
Check out some of the posts before yours. Bio weapons -grow- and turn other humans into weapons, it spreads over populations/over time. Bombs go boom and it's done with. Hbombs are really horrific booms, they can make the land they go boom over uninhabitable. But they don't seek host organisms and grow. Somebody recommended "demon in the freezer" up there, also check out "hot zone".
Most airlines operate on a hub and spoke system, if you're not going to a destination that's a hub &/or you have a layover of more then a couple hours it would be normal to leave the secure area and want to come back the same day.
If the worst case scenario is that the system doesnt meet it's goals ("you end up going through the same security rundown...") why would you build the system?
Not to go all serious on a promisingly humorous start... but perhaps those of us without friends could deal with those issues (you know who you are) as seperate from technology design issues. Because they are.
"we'll have friends, not appliances." is a _seriously_ bad goal. I -want- an appliance that I can order to clean out the hold of an oil tanker. I do not want to order a sentient being to do unsafe or tedious and boring things. We have plenty of sentient beings, and they enjoy reproducing fairly efficiently. It seems really obvious that applying technology to create sentient, or even sentient like, life is a bad thing.
I love all the geeks telling all us other geeks about the "real world" : ) And while I agree about priorities and defects and that they will happen, you gotta remember that the thing about generalizations is that they are only generally true.
Yes, normal software has defects. No, it's not actually a -requirement- of the process.
The problem was also management. It's the ties team that buys hardware, they knew this was common practice to better utilize scarce resources and when those resources became less scarce... waited until the last minute and then complained or jumped on the sensationalism bandwagon at the cost of reworking the code. But of course that was back in the heydays of the 80's and 90's when software was a bright spot on the economic landscape. Now that we're really cutting costs... I'm sure software sector management is focused on the long term.
That's not a fuel source at all, it's a distribution system. It was Westinghouse who said "where would the meter go?", and while it's used by some to paint him as an evil capitalist it is an excellent point. Assuming it can be efficiently done, and you can overcome the folks who are currently afraid of unintended results from current electromagnetic fields... how do the people generating the power get paid?
That's right sonny! ...
Why, back in the old days we'd truge off to a LUG meeting with our model100 tucked under our arm and it would up hill -both- -ways-! Why? Because we wouldn'ta been caught -dead- trudging with one them damn new fangled osborn things. Transportable? What the heck is that?? I got boat anchors that got more portable that that thing and if you dropped it in the snow it'd crash down through the accumulation and you'd be able to load 3 programs (count 'em; THREE) before you'd ever dig that boat anchor out. That's right, it's URLII and a good tape subsystem fer me sonny! Why back in the old days
Another advantage to societal self immolation would be elimination of the overuse of excalamation points.
If your intention is to reduce your electrical expenses you should stick with utilities. They have astounding economies of scale not just in terms of efficiency of generation but also in terms of environmental impact. Unless your 1.1kw is unusual (like say a brand new honda or well maintained propane) it's going to output more pollution per kwh then the national grid. Probably by a good margin. Remember folks, during last summers CA blackouts EPA waived all kinds of pollution rules so utilities could roll trailer generators into neighborhoods for critical needs.
If on the other hand you want to lessen your dependence on the grid, you might google "Trace Electronics" who manufacture -really- cool off grid and grid/hybrid power systems. They used to sell a unit that was a trailer with built in orientable PV array, and a backup generator/inverter and batteries built in. Wheel up, plug in and you're out of PG&E's grip (in fact most utilities have to buy excess capacity from you at market rates) Cool power geek toys. But definately -not- cheap.
Not to be a wet blanket, but do you guys really think that converting traffic lights and your flashlight to LED will impact the national energy picture? Your grandmum can probably out do all that by switching off her (probly canadian) natural gas heat and going to (probly hi sulfur US coal fired) electircal space heat. It's a nice idea but if we're talking national policy I think maybe a wider perspective is necessary.
R i g h t !
And next you'll claim that there -isn't- a massive federal conspiracy! ; )
He's free. That's the point of the article and the news that it points to.
Not disagreeing on the whole history thing but...
You've got to be talking about some other ISC. The ISC I know is a non profit, they make the open source BIND product by paying some of the guys who wote (pretty much with volunteered time to) the open standard for DNS. It needs help IMHO but vendor lock in it isn't.
It's really cool to see someone remaking it with a real database behind it, anyone who's made/makes major system changes has had LDAP problems and at the very best it is a marvle of 1960 db design. But... the "can even do AXFR to other servers" thing in the frill portion of his web site description is worrisome. AXFR is part of the DNS game, if you'r not going to play with other servers... well the whole point of the way DNS works is a -distributed- name system. How would you distribute load without standard zone transfer protocol? Far from a frill IMHO.
Hmm, I don't see any "This wouldn't have happened"s in the posts you Re'd too, but I'll jump in anyway. When I go to the UK (which very sadly is a hypothetical posit though I hope to change that one day) my dollars go with me. Do the airlines there not contribute to ATC? Here in the US all seats have an airport landing fee integrated into ticket costs and airlines also pay into the system. So it seems like a reasonable assumption that the ATC system in the UK is supported by travellers dollars. (They should, as they benefit from the service.)
I love that, a grammar rant in the forum where I first learned that Haxored was a word but only if you put numbers in it. I love the smell of irony in the morning. My pet non word is probly. There, I typed it : ) probly probly probly probly. Ie "Don't put on that blood pressure cuff it would probly explode."
He called it "Luxury, performance and fuel economy." not that stuff you made up.
Exactly right! We didn't get where we are by having scientists across the globe cooperate and share information. We need Europe to build redundant systems wasting millions or even billions of dollars on overlapping public research... Yeah, uh huh.
On the other other hand, sometimes "government efficiency" can be kinda spooky.
"you're using the words 'suspected mistreatment'"
WHAT?
This entire thing was released through official US Dept of Defense sources. Those pictures (all of them) came -from- US and it's the department of defense who originally (back in January) called it torture and "a violation of the Geneva convention". So, if you're going to go off topic at least be accurate and don't paint all of the people of the US as represented by what some blow dry says on "Nightly Business Report". TIA