I use RBLs because I absolutely, positively care about every single legitimate e-mail. The problem with content-based filters is that the sender never knows whether his e-mail was received or not, or put into some spam bin that the user may never look at.
This is not a valid assumption. I run every incoming message through SpamAssassin and ClamAV and if ClamAV says "virus" or SpamAssassin returns a score of 10+, I reject during the SMTP session by sending a 554.
That means no misdirected bounce messages and anyone whose mail is rejected is notified by his/her MTA.
By the way, I have never had anyone tell me his/her legitamate email was rejected by my server. What false-positive rate do you consider to be acceptable?
TFA mentions that there is no virus scanner builtin to SpamAssassin, and counts that as a strike against it. Of course, my mail server runs all messages through clamav and rejects anything that is a virus, but how come nobody has written a SA plugin for clam?
You'd think that SA+ClamAV would be a pretty common configuration.
This woman has personally saved me from hundreds of hours of sitting in the awful DC traffic. If she didn't scare me so much with her cheerful depictions of road carnage, I'd offer to to take her to lunch out of sheer gratitude.
Incidentally, I had never seen a picture of her before. She definitely has a face for radio.;)
Be that as it may, her reports are the most accurate, timely, and informative of any traffic reporter I have ever heard. We're talking a precise location of each incident, the current delay in each direction, and which alternate routes are good or bad choices.
Lisa Baden is the queen of DC traffic, and to call her merely "accurate" would be insulting.
Prison rape is not a laughing matter. It is a serious problem that needs immediate attention.
A 6 month timeout to think about what he did is very appropriate. The Circuit City credit card crackers got like 10 years! That is way out of whack. But 6 months seems fair to me.
As far as the worst thing I ever did? I stole a bunch of shit from a house that was under construction. It was insecure, as you say (no doors or windows yet). I felt bad about it and give the shit back a week or so later. Kids do dumb things. That's the worst thing I can think of at the moment.
A fine? You think a college student is in a position to pay a $240,000 fine to make NASA whole? I don't think so.
And that stuff you said about Enron, I'll do you the favor of ignoring. You don't even know the first thing about Enron, what the damage was, and who (if anyone) went to jail as a result. How is that an argument?
Just to give you an idea, first realize that the executives at Enron are hiding behind a corporate veil and a metric fuckload of high-powred attorneys. Then realize that Enron is not over with yet. Also realize that DOJ is offering bargains right and left in exchange for testimony against Lay. Even with all that advantage, last I checked, there have been 2 convictions for 5 and 10 years apiece and Justice is by no means finished. Lay will probably die in prison.
Your little college student buddy got 6 months, and that's fair. If he broke into your house and used your kitchen to store his smelly rodent collection, what do you think his punishment should be? 6 months?
Well, what do you feel would have been the appropriate punishment for breaking into a US Government computer system and using it to store illegally-downloaded movies?
Well, it's not 1998 anymore, but it's not 2001 anymore, either. Companies have "been there done that" with the "experts" in half a dozen fields and realize that their so-called "experts" are experts in nothing more than lying on their resumes. They want experts with verifyable experience who can pass a rigorous interview. Number of years they couldn't care less.
I tech screen before I ever try to place someone. You wouldn't believe the number of "J2EE experts" who don't know what an EJB is. Or the number of experts in both Java and C++ who don't even know the difference. I actually had a retard tell me, during a tech screen, that Java is a dumbed-down C++. Certainly the man is entitled to his opinion, but can I put someone with that poor of judgment into the flames of a client interview? Or the XML "experts" who don't know what a namespace is. Or the web services "experts" who don't know the difference between RPC and document-literal. This, my friend, is why I am saying that there is a shortage of good talent. You've got people padding their resumes to get an interview, but when you speak with them, it is obvious that they do not deliver. I live in Washington DC, and the market here is hotter than the summers, which are pretty damn hot if you're from up north like me.
To give you an idea, I had a contract end suddenly at the end of October of this year. This was a contract for me personally, not someone I've placed. Without making a single phone call, I had myself placed within 3 weeks. That's right. 3 weeks, and I wasn't even trying. That's how many calls I get looking for true experts.
Regarding your situation, I am with you when you say that your skillset is not in huge demand. That being said, since you mentioned the military, do you have a current security clearance? What level? Would you be willing to relocate to DC?
If you've got a non-expired clearance (or even expired, maybe) and you are willing to come to my home turf (DC) if I can place you, I could make a few calls.
...people would be doing it in droves instead of building rafts out of milk cartons and trying to sail from Cuba to the US.
Incorporating is the easy part. Sponsoring an H1-B takes luck (you have to win a slot in the lottery), and a lot of lawyers. You need to have a real position that you are trying to fill and you need to advertize it and try to fill it with a US worker. There are a bunch of other requirements.
Basically, if you want to immigrate to the US, this is not the path of least resistance.
Well, I definitely empathyze with your situation and understand your point of view. I'm just trying to give you the reality of the situation from the other side of the coin.
The fact is, we can't find enough good people to fill positions. The jobs are there, but the talented workforce is not.
May I ask what your background is and where you live? How much experience do you have? I own a small IT consulting practice and if you're for real, I could definitely place you. We only place J2EE and.NET experts, but I know many people who are looking for talent in other areas.
Beyond that, the best I can do is wish you good luck. But the point of my last post still stands. If you really think that there are no jobs, you are either not looking correctly, or are not desirable. I have companies calling me begging for people, and that is in December when nobody is even in the office and new budgets don't go into effect until next year!
Write a bunch of gibberish, get modded +5 Insightful.
Seriously, you make no sense.
I do hold our political leaders accountable for creating a system that puts US citizens in line behind another country's citizens. [...] The largest danger I see from guest worker programs, visa programs and illegal immigration is the creation of second-class citizens.
Which is it, smart guy? Make up your mind.
First of all, if the US can get educated workers while India foots the bill for their education, what incentive is there in US society to create an educated domestic workforce?
Why did you get your education? Did you even think about cheap foreign labor when you were deciding which college to go to? Personally, that was the farthest thing from my mind. Go back and reread The Wealth of Nations to figure out why you make no sense. This phenomenon has been well understood since the 1700's.
The best way to insure optimum levels of freedom and the ability of citizens to defend their rights is through good-paying jobs.
And to think I always thought it was through an educated and enlightened populace. Also, go read some Ricardo with your Smith if you want to learn about "good-paying jobs". Seriously, where have you been the last 300 years?
The defense of rights requires wealth, in other words, democracy and freedom are expensive.
It's a good thing that's not true. Otherwise, our democracy would have never come to fruition. We didn't exactly start out the richest country on earth, you know.
After all, won't the offspring of anyone immigrating to this country face these same problems as any native US citizen would?
Cute. Spend a significant amount of time in a third-world country and you'll realize how utterly stupid that question was. For many immigrants, the biggest reason they make the sacrifice to come here is for the benefit of their children.
Anyone can create a US company. You don't need a passport or a visa or even to set foot on American soil to create a US company.
When I created each of my 3 companies, not once was I asked if I was a citizen, resident, or even a human being. As long as you pay the fees and/or taxes, congrats! You're incorporated.
The point I was making was to show that H1Bs are attractive to employers for reasons beyond a simple cash equation. If cash were the only issue, why not just get interns to do the job?
Or you could hire my dog. She works for 1.5 cups of food + a few belly-rubs per day. Companies don't hire interns over H1-Bs for they same reason my dog can't get a job. Interns are not as productive as some guy from Bungalore who has 3 Masters degrees and 10 years of experience.
When you hire H1-Bs, you get the pick from the best of the best that India (or China or whatever) have to offer and pay them like a US greenbeen straight out of school. You get to work them 80 hours per week. Once they get their green card, they resign and you just repeat the process.
That is how H1-B worked at my old employer. And, yes, I felt sorry for the H1-B visa holders.
Your girlfriend is in a good situation because she and her company used the H1-B program correctly. The program was intended to allow companies to bring in foreign experts to fill positions that the company cannot fill with an American. Your gf's company couldn't find an American expert in a specialized field who would be willing to work in Armpit, Iowa, so they brought in an H1-B. This is a good thing!
The problems start to materialze when you bring in Java codemonkeys from Kozhikode who just got their certifications. There are plenty of American Java codemonkeys. Our universities graduate hundreds of them annually. These H1-Bs are not here because they are needed. They are here because they can be exploited.
And exploited they are. A friend of mine is on H1-B and he works so hard he actually sleeps at the office on his boss's couch. He hasn't gotten a raise ever or a bonus ever or even a "thank you" for all the hard work. The worse are the Indian managers who already have their green cards. They know that they have the H1-Bs by the balls and they treat them like shit. When I first started out I was at the same rank as the H1-Bs and I watched as the Indian managers would berate and force to work my peers. But they would never have dreamed of treating me that way. Nobody ever yelled at me or demanded I work weekends like they did to the H1-Bs. They knew I could tell them to take my job and shove it up their ass and that would just make the project even later.
If we Americans want get outraged about the H1-B program, we need to get outraged over the mistreatment of H1-B holders by their companies. I'm sure your gf is treated fine because she and her company are using the program as it was intended. But there are too many cases of abuse. I've seen them, and it's sickening.
I have no problem with Indians, Chinese, or whomever coming to the US and competing with me for a job. H1-Bs have to pay the same rent I do, the same taxes I do, the same car payments I do... the same cost of living as I do.
The problem is when I have to compete with some guy in Bungalore who can work for 17 rupees a day and live like a king. I can't even buy my lunch for 17 rupees, but the look on the face of the guy behind the counter would be priceless if I tried to offer 17 rupees in exchange for some lunch.
I say let them come over here and compete with me. I can take it. At least then there is a level playing field.
For example, even if you have my computer with some incriminating evidence on there, how can you prove beyond reasonable doubt that I put it there?
It's called Constructive Possession. It's the same as when the cops find drugs stashed underneath your mattress. Because you are in control of that area, the drugs might be deemed yours. It doesn't matter that you weren't caught with drugs actually in hand (Primary Possession).
If many people have access to the computer, it may be difficult to apply constructive possession. Here is where encryption might work against you. If you have encrypted illegal materials and only you have the decryption keys, it is easier to make the case that you and you alone had dominion over the illegal materials and intended to use them.
Of course, when you have a technically illiterate judges, lawyers, and juries, all bets are off.
If TCO is all that matters, then I'm gonna make a killing! You see, it doesn't matter if your PC is equipped with Windows or if it is equipped with Linux. I bet it is going to cost more than $1000.
That's where I come in. For a mere $600, I will sell you a typewriter. The TCO is guaranteed to be less than that of Linux or Windows.
You'll save tons of money! Buy a typewriter from me!
What's that you say? TCO isn't all that matters anymore? There's a benefit component there as well? I'm shocked!
What year is this? 1950? Why would anyone use his/her own money for something like this?
You should be borrowing against your property for this improvement. It'll cost you like $50-100/mo (pretax) to service the debt. Coincidentally, you will probably save about $50-100/mo (posttax) in utility bills.
In short, you should be saving money right away, and you should be adding value to your property in the process. Let the bank worry about the fucking opportunity cost because it's their money paying for the thing.
I know the feeling. I just started a new job and I needed to come up with a login password. The password I wanted to choose was a pretty-much unguessable 'wkxudf1'.
But nooooooo that was not acceptable. It needed a capital letter and a special character. By the time I was done fighting with the password change program, my password was 'Abcdef-1'. Take a wild guess what my password will be when I have to change it next month?
Totally insecure, but at least I can fucking remember it. And if I ever forget, I can just look at my/. comment history!
Slashdot Mirror
That means no misdirected bounce messages and anyone whose mail is rejected is notified by his/her MTA.
By the way, I have never had anyone tell me his/her legitamate email was rejected by my server. What false-positive rate do you consider to be acceptable?
Oh well. I've already got things set up where I want them, but maybe next time.
You'd think that SA+ClamAV would be a pretty common configuration.
Incidentally, I had never seen a picture of her before. She definitely has a face for radio. ;)
Be that as it may, her reports are the most accurate, timely, and informative of any traffic reporter I have ever heard. We're talking a precise location of each incident, the current delay in each direction, and which alternate routes are good or bad choices.
Lisa Baden is the queen of DC traffic, and to call her merely "accurate" would be insulting.
A 6 month timeout to think about what he did is very appropriate. The Circuit City credit card crackers got like 10 years! That is way out of whack. But 6 months seems fair to me.
As far as the worst thing I ever did? I stole a bunch of shit from a house that was under construction. It was insecure, as you say (no doors or windows yet). I felt bad about it and give the shit back a week or so later. Kids do dumb things. That's the worst thing I can think of at the moment.
And that stuff you said about Enron, I'll do you the favor of ignoring. You don't even know the first thing about Enron, what the damage was, and who (if anyone) went to jail as a result. How is that an argument?
Just to give you an idea, first realize that the executives at Enron are hiding behind a corporate veil and a metric fuckload of high-powred attorneys. Then realize that Enron is not over with yet. Also realize that DOJ is offering bargains right and left in exchange for testimony against Lay. Even with all that advantage, last I checked, there have been 2 convictions for 5 and 10 years apiece and Justice is by no means finished. Lay will probably die in prison.
Your little college student buddy got 6 months, and that's fair. If he broke into your house and used your kitchen to store his smelly rodent collection, what do you think his punishment should be? 6 months?
It's not like it was 6 years or something.
This is how the system is supposed to work.
I tech screen before I ever try to place someone. You wouldn't believe the number of "J2EE experts" who don't know what an EJB is. Or the number of experts in both Java and C++ who don't even know the difference. I actually had a retard tell me, during a tech screen, that Java is a dumbed-down C++. Certainly the man is entitled to his opinion, but can I put someone with that poor of judgment into the flames of a client interview? Or the XML "experts" who don't know what a namespace is. Or the web services "experts" who don't know the difference between RPC and document-literal. This, my friend, is why I am saying that there is a shortage of good talent. You've got people padding their resumes to get an interview, but when you speak with them, it is obvious that they do not deliver. I live in Washington DC, and the market here is hotter than the summers, which are pretty damn hot if you're from up north like me.
To give you an idea, I had a contract end suddenly at the end of October of this year. This was a contract for me personally, not someone I've placed. Without making a single phone call, I had myself placed within 3 weeks. That's right. 3 weeks, and I wasn't even trying. That's how many calls I get looking for true experts.
Regarding your situation, I am with you when you say that your skillset is not in huge demand. That being said, since you mentioned the military, do you have a current security clearance? What level? Would you be willing to relocate to DC?
If you've got a non-expired clearance (or even expired, maybe) and you are willing to come to my home turf (DC) if I can place you, I could make a few calls.
Incorporating is the easy part. Sponsoring an H1-B takes luck (you have to win a slot in the lottery), and a lot of lawyers. You need to have a real position that you are trying to fill and you need to advertize it and try to fill it with a US worker. There are a bunch of other requirements.
Basically, if you want to immigrate to the US, this is not the path of least resistance.
The fact is, we can't find enough good people to fill positions. The jobs are there, but the talented workforce is not.
May I ask what your background is and where you live? How much experience do you have? I own a small IT consulting practice and if you're for real, I could definitely place you. We only place J2EE and .NET experts, but I know many people who are looking for talent in other areas.
Beyond that, the best I can do is wish you good luck. But the point of my last post still stands. If you really think that there are no jobs, you are either not looking correctly, or are not desirable. I have companies calling me begging for people, and that is in December when nobody is even in the office and new budgets don't go into effect until next year!
I agree Java is a bad language to teach beginners, tho.
...you have never been to France. They make unfriendliness into an artform, as they will proudly attest to.
Biggest problem around these parts is the lack of qualified people.
The days of putting "HTML" on your resume and getting six figures are over.
Seriously, you make no sense.
Which is it, smart guy? Make up your mind. Why did you get your education? Did you even think about cheap foreign labor when you were deciding which college to go to? Personally, that was the farthest thing from my mind. Go back and reread The Wealth of Nations to figure out why you make no sense. This phenomenon has been well understood since the 1700's. And to think I always thought it was through an educated and enlightened populace. Also, go read some Ricardo with your Smith if you want to learn about "good-paying jobs". Seriously, where have you been the last 300 years? It's a good thing that's not true. Otherwise, our democracy would have never come to fruition. We didn't exactly start out the richest country on earth, you know. Cute. Spend a significant amount of time in a third-world country and you'll realize how utterly stupid that question was. For many immigrants, the biggest reason they make the sacrifice to come here is for the benefit of their children.When I created each of my 3 companies, not once was I asked if I was a citizen, resident, or even a human being. As long as you pay the fees and/or taxes, congrats! You're incorporated.
When you hire H1-Bs, you get the pick from the best of the best that India (or China or whatever) have to offer and pay them like a US greenbeen straight out of school. You get to work them 80 hours per week. Once they get their green card, they resign and you just repeat the process.
That is how H1-B worked at my old employer. And, yes, I felt sorry for the H1-B visa holders.
The problems start to materialze when you bring in Java codemonkeys from Kozhikode who just got their certifications. There are plenty of American Java codemonkeys. Our universities graduate hundreds of them annually. These H1-Bs are not here because they are needed. They are here because they can be exploited.
And exploited they are. A friend of mine is on H1-B and he works so hard he actually sleeps at the office on his boss's couch. He hasn't gotten a raise ever or a bonus ever or even a "thank you" for all the hard work. The worse are the Indian managers who already have their green cards. They know that they have the H1-Bs by the balls and they treat them like shit. When I first started out I was at the same rank as the H1-Bs and I watched as the Indian managers would berate and force to work my peers. But they would never have dreamed of treating me that way. Nobody ever yelled at me or demanded I work weekends like they did to the H1-Bs. They knew I could tell them to take my job and shove it up their ass and that would just make the project even later.
If we Americans want get outraged about the H1-B program, we need to get outraged over the mistreatment of H1-B holders by their companies. I'm sure your gf is treated fine because she and her company are using the program as it was intended. But there are too many cases of abuse. I've seen them, and it's sickening.
The problem is when I have to compete with some guy in Bungalore who can work for 17 rupees a day and live like a king. I can't even buy my lunch for 17 rupees, but the look on the face of the guy behind the counter would be priceless if I tried to offer 17 rupees in exchange for some lunch.
I say let them come over here and compete with me. I can take it. At least then there is a level playing field.
If many people have access to the computer, it may be difficult to apply constructive possession. Here is where encryption might work against you. If you have encrypted illegal materials and only you have the decryption keys, it is easier to make the case that you and you alone had dominion over the illegal materials and intended to use them.
Of course, when you have a technically illiterate judges, lawyers, and juries, all bets are off.
That's where I come in. For a mere $600, I will sell you a typewriter. The TCO is guaranteed to be less than that of Linux or Windows.
You'll save tons of money! Buy a typewriter from me!
What's that you say? TCO isn't all that matters anymore? There's a benefit component there as well? I'm shocked!
You should be borrowing against your property for this improvement. It'll cost you like $50-100/mo (pretax) to service the debt. Coincidentally, you will probably save about $50-100/mo (posttax) in utility bills.
In short, you should be saving money right away, and you should be adding value to your property in the process. Let the bank worry about the fucking opportunity cost because it's their money paying for the thing.
But nooooooo that was not acceptable. It needed a capital letter and a special character. By the time I was done fighting with the password change program, my password was 'Abcdef-1'. Take a wild guess what my password will be when I have to change it next month?
Totally insecure, but at least I can fucking remember it. And if I ever forget, I can just look at my /. comment history!
Is there any way to get faxes that are sent to your Voicepulse Connect number? Or are they sent over your landline?