I had to do Pascal programming on a PDP-11, marking the cards using a dark black pencil. And
if you didn't mark it hard enough or you smudged the card, you'd have to throw away the card and
start again - and that's after wating in a queue of 20 people to have your cards loaded and parsed.
And you tell the young people of today that, and they don't believe you.
To tell the truth, I couldn't tell it was meant to be sarcastic either. It was only until I
read one of your later posts in the thread, then went back to your earlier comment that I reasized
that you were being sarcastic.
It is so true that are large number of semi-informed people believe that MS is the entire
computer industry, and nothing ever existed before. I say semi-informed, as non-informed
people, like my wife for example, didn't realize that there was even a difference betweed MS and a
PC, but when given a little information, she started to understand.
What I've encountered far too often are people who only came to computers after the IBM PC and
MS were already on top, and have learned a little on how the PC works, have become their office
PC guru (because they're actaully seen the control panel before, not that they actually
understand how a computer works). Theses people seem to swallow everything from MS and take it as
gospal and don't want to hear any herasy that MS is anything else but the creator. There are people
like that even here on/.
So, to stop flames against you, try to make yoursarcam a bit more over the top or add a
smiley.
>I'm just curious, what do you think a soldier should do if he is given an illegal order, BUT he
>happens to not like the law that makes the order illegal?
Well, that would mean in his opinion the order is not illegal, so he would follow it.
How does one know if a given order is legal or not? Sometimes, it's not cut and dried, therefore
personal judgement comes into play.
People are not machines, they should rely on their own morals before performing an action. If
the request conflicts with their own morals, then they should object - if it doesn't, then fine
they can do with what they're told, but must also live with the consequences, good or bad.
>The police SHOULD enforce even laws they think are stupid*; that is the only way the stupid laws
>can be corrected
How about this. Soldiers should follow orders, even if they think they are illegal, that is the
only way the stupid officers can be removed.
Isn't it the duty of a soldier do disobey an illegal order? Why couldn't it be the same
for police forces?
I think that not enforcing a law, and making a public issue of not inforcing it is better
for the people affected than enforcing it.
Wouldn't it be better for Dimity and his family if the FBI agent refused to enforce the law, then
he, the US citizen was the one being used in
the test case?
Are you replying to my comment? If so, please re-read what I said as you have appeared to have
mis-interpreted what I said, or a reading something into it which does not exist.
I was not trying to prove anything, and I did not state any beliefs.
What I did say is that the report is using the salary to prove two different points, and is
creating a contradiction.
I am not passing any judgement on the truth either of the 'facts'. It may be true that they
are all below average - I don't care. I have no personal involvement in this issue - I don't live
in the US, and have no desire to.
I am critizing the his analysis and conclusions. Maybe he should have produced more information to
show why there isn't a contradiction.
Of course, you're right. There is a huge number of things money could be better spent on to
help humanity....
... but, as it appears the world isn't going to disarm, but almost every country is intent on
getting new, better toys to kill people and destroy things, I'd don't mind that there is
also a side benefit which pushes technology.
If you've even flown US-Aus or UK-Aus, then you should be looking forward to sub-orbital flights
and travel time cut down from 20-30 hours to 5.
Even though I'm very much anti-US military, and would prefer if they didn't try star wars again,
I am in favour of this.
From the military standpoint, it will only really make it a little easier than it is not for the US
to blow something up. Really, does it matter if it takes an extra 15 minutes to hit the target
because the boomer has to get to firing depth first? I can't see this helping the US too much.
What I do hope is that there will be a trickle down of technology which will benefit the entire
world. Sub-orbital space flight for the masses would be fantastic. This type of research will
slowly help to make this more of a reality.
Even if it fails totally after billions of dollars, it still means that there are alot more
people skilled in knowing what to do (or not do) to create a sub-orbital plane.
I read through the article, and to me, there were many statements which contradicted
themselves, but, aren't that obvious as they are well spread out, and the article
is long, with alot of points.
It appears that the article is a politically biased article trying it's best to
appear to be objective.
For exapmle, towards the end of the FAQ section, we come across -
"Question: The industry lobbyists claim that the H-1Bs tend to be
``the best and the brightest'' from around the world. Is this true?
Certainly not. We should definitely facilitate the immigration
of the outstanding talents throughout the world, but only a small
proportion of the H-1Bs fall into this category. 75% of the H-1Bs
earn less than $65,000, far below the salaries of top talent in
this field, which exceed $100,000. "
This is trying to imply that the average H-1B is not the top talent, and is
most likely only average or below. This may, not may not be true, I am
not discussing the merit of this point, but I want to focus just on what
the report is saying.
But, those with not so short memories will remember right at the top of the
FAQ section, Matloff said -
"The industry lobbyists form a lone voice on this issue. There is
a broad consensus that the H-1Bs are indeed exploited in terms of
wages and working conditions."
and
"... study at UCLA, which found that the immigrant engineers
were paid 33% less than comparable Americans "
and
"Thus it is indisputable, from basic economic principles, that on
average they are making less money than they would if they had their
freedom."
So, Matloff, along with all of the studies mentioned, say that these
workers are getting far less than they should due to the exploitation of
restrictions in the system.
Hany on, how can you say that they are getting far less than they are
worth, and then later on, say that
"far below the salaries of top talent in this field" ???
Let me state this one more time. Matloff says -
- they are underpaid for their skills
- if we use at their salaries as an
indicator, they are not very good.
This is a direct contradiction. You can't have it both ways. Either
they are underpaid and worth more, or they are paid what they are
worth and are not the top in their field.
I found many other instances like this through out the report. This
guy has a point he wants to prove so much, that he even switches
sides in his arguments.
I wonder if he even realises what he has done?
If you are going to respond to my post, please note, I am not taking
sides on this debate. I am just trying to point out flaws in the
report.
This post is amazing. Not because that it's a mostly amusing troll, but has anyone looked at
the moderation it's got?
If you haven't looked at the moderation details (at the time I'm posting this), it's :
Flamebait=1, Troll=6, Insightful=1, Informative=1, Funny=16, Overrated=3, Underrated=1, Total=29.
29 moderations! This must be close to some sort of record.
Now, ok, I can see that it could be a troll, and maybe flamebait, I do think it's funny, and it
obviously has been overrated or underrated at some point, but 'Informative' and
'Insightful' ????
My goodness, they must be giving out moderation points to amazing clueless people these days.
> I'm essentially also the DBA, network admin, Cisco guru, neurotic PERL geek, and so on
Jack of all trades, master of none. I doubt you have any idea of what you don't know.
I used to be like you. What you need a a little maturity. Of course, you can't see this, but
probably everyone else can.
I've been a DBA for over 15 years. I'm better than most of the other DBA's I've ever worked
with. I no longer make wild statements to boost my own ego. I let my record stand speak for its
self. In fact, I would never now make any arrogant statements such as yours.
I know that there is way too much out there for any one person to know. There are DBAs out there
which know far more than me on certain subjects, on the other hand, I may know more than them in
others.
Or, if you are as shit hot as you think you are, and you think you know about networks, tell me
how does a quorum disk work in a Vax cluster, and what are the main advantages for Decnet Phase V?
What? You don't know anything about VMS networking?
So, think for a moment, could it be do actually DON'T know everything?
Re:Stupidity is Self Curing
on
Eco-Terrorism
·
· Score: 1
>and the effects are likely to be smaller where a nation has a smaller population, GDP, etc.) And
>this is why I believe that the European aristocracy is just jealous
I don't feel that this is the case. What you have to appreciate is that Europe and the US people
have very different ways of thinking, and what and American may value highly, Europeans may not.
Take for example Luxemburg. It is one of the smallest countries in Europe, but it also has
the worlds highest per capita gdp. People from there are proud of where they come from, even
though they're small.
Also, Europeans have more of a group mentality. Most govenrments are socalist/left wing.
Europeans generally are not as compeditive as Americans. Being the biggest, most powerfull
doesn't really matter.
I think that the main reason Europeans are in favour of Kyoto is the environmental lobby
is very strong and convinced the average person that a global catastrophy is on its way.
Personally, I believe that global warming is real, but also it's part of a natural process
which man did not start, but man is making at least a slight addition to. What the real long
term effects are, and what, if anything should be
done are questions that haven't yet been properly answered.
Kyoto may not be the best solution, but the Americans are getting alot of bad press for
seeming not to even care.
>What about a protocol that lets you choose which messages to download?
I would love that. It is probably even possible that is it already possible with my ISP.
The real problem is that my telephone doesn't have the ability to do any filtering or selective
message downloading.
I set my phone to collect my messages automatically, so it grabs the spam as well. It
costs me on average US$100/month for data calls on my mobile, with spam making up about 1/4
of the messages.
I'm looking at getting the next version of my phone (it has a color browser, mine has only
monochrome), and hopefully it will have an upgraded email ability as well.
Re:Stupidity is Self Curing
on
Eco-Terrorism
·
· Score: 1
Yes, you're correct, I should have said almost all of the high-polluting western countries.
I appreciate your response to my post. It is extremely interesting. It appears the way that
both you and I have been informed on the reasons and effects of the Kyoto agreement are very, very,
differently.
Is this how most other Americans see the agreement? Is this the main-stream view put
forward by the major media outlets?
People in Europe are being fed a very different story - that the US, being the world's largest
polluter, is thumbing its nose at the rest of the western world out of their own selfish
self-interest.
This is a very good response with a very good point.
Let me add a kicker -
The US is not the entire world. The US constitution does not give any rights in any
other couintries.
Why should I, here in Belgium, allow spammers in the US, or any other country, spam me?
I didn't notice any bit in the Belgian constituition giving the rights to free speech
to foreigners in other countries.
If China doesn't allow Chinese free speach in their own country, why should Americans be
allowed free speach in China?.
Re:You twisted the question though.
on
ORBS Forks
·
· Score: 1
Let me add another example.
I collect my email on my Nokia 9110 telephone. It's a GSM and transmits data at only 14K.
I pay for EVERY SECOND when I'm connected.
Spam costs me alot of money.
Please tell me if you don't uinderstand. Maybe I can use small words or pictures for you.
Re:Stupidity is Self Curing
on
Eco-Terrorism
·
· Score: 1
And this above post, as well as the moderator puitting it as insightful, is a good example
of why the rest of the world has the opinion
it as about Americans.
There appears to be a complete lack of understanding between the above poster and those
of the opposing argument.
I'm sure that the majority of Americans are more thoughtfull and considerate.
Ever wondered why the rest of the world signed the Kyoto agreement?
>small branch (...but managing all of Benelux no less..), and get hardly any more info than you
>have.". And no, that particular problem (RMI in Jserver crashing after several hours of just
>sitting there..) has not been fixed in a week.
I just had to laugh when I saw you comment. I also get my Oracle Support from Benelux, and I
just happen to also have an Apache/Jserv related problem outstanding for a while.
One thing though, your Oracle office was telling the truth about being a small branch, and not
being able to do too much. All of the real work goes on in the US, and the local offices don't
really have alot of contact with the Oracle US.
A little disclosure is in order here. I worked for one of the Benelux support offices for 2
years as a manager of one of the support groups - this was after working in two of their other
offices, including the US HQ. I was amazed how much of a backwater the Benelux offices were. In
fact, I quit out of frustration after a fight my boss - the support center manager because I knew
that we weren't giving an acceptable level of support.
If this is a troll, then it's also defamatory and I'm surprised that it hasn't been removed or
modded to -2.
If this is true, then it shows Jeff and Rob to be very unprofessional and even childlish. I would
never treat anyone working for me like that, and neither would I accept such behaviour from an
employer.
If the started of work was not as expected, then they should have terminated the contract or asked
to have the the worker replaced.
Personal attacks are never justified in a business environment.
I would say that if the above post is true, then this is clearly a hostile work environment, and
may even could be considered sexual harrassment, and could quite possible leave VA open to a law
suit.
I've looked through this whole thread, and I have not seen any comment on either the above post,
or the changing story headline by anyone from slashdot or VA.
Come on Jeff and Rob, either defend youselves, or make at least make a public apology for your
behaviour.
>SQL Server is practically the defacto standard already in any mid-range or even department
>database. MS is gutting them from the ground up. IT managers still have the all ms craze of 5
>years ago and Oracle/sun or db2/as400 is pretty expensive and is used for large operations and is
>slower in midrange use. This is why Oracle bans the use of benchmarks. Sql Server is serious
>competition and is getting better. Sql....
I'm sorry, but that is not the reason why Oracle does not allow third parties to perform and
publish benchmarks.
It is true that SQL Server performs well at the low end, but your implication that Oracle is
afraid of a comparison is wrong. Oracle *does* publish benchmarks, which can be directly compared
again the same SQL Server benchmarks. This is the reason why the TPC exists.
Oracle do not allow third parties to perform the benchmarks because they will not be fair, as the
required setup to get the best out of an Oracle database is quite complex. Also, Oracle have some
non-documented init.ora parameters which can be used to enhance the performance in the benchmark.
I worked for Oracle for 6 years. If you feel you have some better inside knowledge then me and
think that I am wrong, then state your reasons and your sources.
>steering confusing an already drug-addled car thief), called the cops, had them circle the car,
>and take them away. We get our car back, the bad guys don't know what happened, and dozens of
>innocent pedestrians are happy instead of being smashed to pulp during a car chase. More boring
>for the TV news copters, but oh well.
Now there's an idea to make a profit!
Why don't you make it better for the TV news copters? Get exclusive contracts with one of the
big networks to pay you when ever one of your cars are in a chase.
Now, here's the good part. Instead of killing the engine - *increase* the car's speed! Next, tell
the news choppers where the car is. If the traffic is too heavy for a good chase, then
display directions on the navigation system to the nearest freeway. What the hell, make it more
interesting, and direct them to a freeway exit and send them going the wrong way - even better for ratings.
The theives are stupid, they won't understand whats happening - imaging, in court "Yes, your
honor, the car started going quickly all by its self. Yes, just at the same moment the police and
new helicopter showed up."
Finally, patent this as a business method and sell it to the other rental companies.
>Now are *you* gonna feed their kids and pay their rent?
Now come one now. What exactly are you trying to say here?
Why should anyone here feel sorry for them? They are (were) a business, out to make money. They didn't. That's life.
If I start a business and it fails, will *you* feed my children? Why?
Does having a business fail give those people the right to recieve money and sympathy from anyone else?
Why should I feel sorry for these people who took a risk, and could have ended up very rich, but didn't? Do they deserve more sympathy than a single parent flipping burgers trying to get by?
>I'm not necessarily mourning their death, but I think it's a bit tasteless and uncouth to be
>dancing on their ashes, eh?
Why? Do words hurt them?
Look, they did it to themselves. No-body forced them to work there. They took a risk which could
have made a fortune but didn't. A lot of people here think they had a stupid business plan
even *before* they went under (read the earlier slashdot articles).
IMHO, they were greedy people, who took a risk with a stupid idea and failed.
Is it not better to examine and critize their actions to help prevent others in the future
making similar mistakes?
>too bad the ones that bombed Serbia (they used B2s) were not detected by any European country
Talking about that, an interesting thing happend in Belgium a few years back. A lot of people
were reporting that there were UFO's flying over Belgium. The Belgian Air Force even scrambled
some F-16s to intercept, but they didn' find anything (or at least didn't say if they did).
So, either the US did a test of their stealth aircraft to see if they could penetrate Belgian
airspace, or Belgium was infact invaded by aliens.
After living here for a while, I'd go with the latter explaination.
I can't disagree with you there, that must be the way you'd rather have the FBI behave. I mean,
these people were criminals, and the FBI is only protecting soceity.
EXECPT..... I'm not an US citizen. I, and the rest of the world DO NOT WANT the FBI to break the
laws of other countries in their own self interest.
You know, I don't give a damn what people in the US do in their own country. I would fight to the
death if it came to it, to stop the US doing it in my country.
You're right, and that is one thing that really pisses me off. There seem to be a large number of
people moderating that must only ever use off-topic or troll moderation.
I really wish these people would never get moderation points again. If people want to
moderate, then they should look to mod up good points instead of looking for things to mod down.
Just yesterday, I lost an unused mod point, and I was looking for something good to mod up, where as
I could have easily wasted it on a useless downwards mod. If I'd had more time to surf, I
would have been able to use all of my mod points to mod things up.
Slashdot Mirror
Punch cards?
You were lucky.
I use to dream of punch cards.
I had to do Pascal programming on a PDP-11, marking the cards using a dark black pencil. And
if you didn't mark it hard enough or you smudged the card, you'd have to throw away the card and
start again - and that's after wating in a queue of 20 people to have your cards loaded and parsed.
And you tell the young people of today that, and they don't believe you.
(This is true, btw.)
To tell the truth, I couldn't tell it was meant to be sarcastic either. It was only until I
/.
read one of your later posts in the thread, then went back to your earlier comment that I reasized
that you were being sarcastic.
It is so true that are large number of semi-informed people believe that MS is the entire
computer industry, and nothing ever existed before. I say semi-informed, as non-informed
people, like my wife for example, didn't realize that there was even a difference betweed MS and a
PC, but when given a little information, she started to understand.
What I've encountered far too often are people who only came to computers after the IBM PC and
MS were already on top, and have learned a little on how the PC works, have become their office
PC guru (because they're actaully seen the control panel before, not that they actually
understand how a computer works). Theses people seem to swallow everything from MS and take it as
gospal and don't want to hear any herasy that MS is anything else but the creator. There are people
like that even here on
So, to stop flames against you, try to make yoursarcam a bit more over the top or add a
smiley.
You're just too subtle, almost troll-like.
>I'm just curious, what do you think a soldier should do if he is given an illegal order, BUT he
>happens to not like the law that makes the order illegal?
Well, that would mean in his opinion the order is not illegal, so he would follow it.
How does one know if a given order is legal or not? Sometimes, it's not cut and dried, therefore
personal judgement comes into play.
People are not machines, they should rely on their own morals before performing an action. If
the request conflicts with their own morals, then they should object - if it doesn't, then fine
they can do with what they're told, but must also live with the consequences, good or bad.
>The police SHOULD enforce even laws they think are stupid*; that is the only way the stupid laws
>can be corrected
How about this. Soldiers should follow orders, even if they think they are illegal, that is the
only way the stupid officers can be removed.
Isn't it the duty of a soldier do disobey an illegal order? Why couldn't it be the same
for police forces?
I think that not enforcing a law, and making a public issue of not inforcing it is better
for the people affected than enforcing it.
Wouldn't it be better for Dimity and his family if the FBI agent refused to enforce the law, then
he, the US citizen was the one being used in
the test case?
Are you replying to my comment? If so, please re-read what I said as you have appeared to have
mis-interpreted what I said, or a reading something into it which does not exist.
I was not trying to prove anything, and I did not state any beliefs.
What I did say is that the report is using the salary to prove two different points, and is
creating a contradiction.
I am not passing any judgement on the truth either of the 'facts'. It may be true that they
are all below average - I don't care. I have no personal involvement in this issue - I don't live
in the US, and have no desire to.
I am critizing the his analysis and conclusions. Maybe he should have produced more information to
show why there isn't a contradiction.
Of course, you're right. There is a huge number of things money could be better spent on to
help humanity....
... but, as it appears the world isn't going to disarm, but almost every country is intent on
getting new, better toys to kill people and destroy things, I'd don't mind that there is
also a side benefit which pushes technology.
If you've even flown US-Aus or UK-Aus, then you should be looking forward to sub-orbital flights
and travel time cut down from 20-30 hours to 5.
Even though I'm very much anti-US military, and would prefer if they didn't try star wars again,
I am in favour of this.
From the military standpoint, it will only really make it a little easier than it is not for the US
to blow something up. Really, does it matter if it takes an extra 15 minutes to hit the target
because the boomer has to get to firing depth first? I can't see this helping the US too much.
What I do hope is that there will be a trickle down of technology which will benefit the entire
world. Sub-orbital space flight for the masses would be fantastic. This type of research will
slowly help to make this more of a reality.
Even if it fails totally after billions of dollars, it still means that there are alot more
people skilled in knowing what to do (or not do) to create a sub-orbital plane.
I read through the article, and to me, there were many statements which contradicted
themselves, but, aren't that obvious as they are well spread out, and the article
is long, with alot of points.
It appears that the article is a politically biased article trying it's best to
appear to be objective.
For exapmle, towards the end of the FAQ section, we come across -
"Question: The industry lobbyists claim that the H-1Bs tend to be
``the best and the brightest'' from around the world. Is this true?
Certainly not. We should definitely facilitate the immigration
of the outstanding talents throughout the world, but only a small
proportion of the H-1Bs fall into this category. 75% of the H-1Bs
earn less than $65,000, far below the salaries of top talent in
this field, which exceed $100,000. "
This is trying to imply that the average H-1B is not the top talent, and is
most likely only average or below. This may, not may not be true, I am
not discussing the merit of this point, but I want to focus just on what
the report is saying.
But, those with not so short memories will remember right at the top of the
FAQ section, Matloff said -
"The industry lobbyists form a lone voice on this issue. There is
a broad consensus that the H-1Bs are indeed exploited in terms of
wages and working conditions."
and
"... study at UCLA, which found that the immigrant engineers
were paid 33% less than comparable Americans "
and
"Thus it is indisputable, from basic economic principles, that on
average they are making less money than they would if they had their
freedom."
So, Matloff, along with all of the studies mentioned, say that these
workers are getting far less than they should due to the exploitation of
restrictions in the system.
Hany on, how can you say that they are getting far less than they are
worth, and then later on, say that
"far below the salaries of top talent in this field" ???
Let me state this one more time. Matloff says -
- they are underpaid for their skills
- if we use at their salaries as an
indicator, they are not very good.
This is a direct contradiction. You can't have it both ways. Either
they are underpaid and worth more, or they are paid what they are
worth and are not the top in their field.
I found many other instances like this through out the report. This
guy has a point he wants to prove so much, that he even switches
sides in his arguments.
I wonder if he even realises what he has done?
If you are going to respond to my post, please note, I am not taking
sides on this debate. I am just trying to point out flaws in the
report.
This post is amazing. Not because that it's a mostly amusing troll, but has anyone looked at
the moderation it's got?
If you haven't looked at the moderation details (at the time I'm posting this), it's :
Flamebait=1, Troll=6, Insightful=1, Informative=1, Funny=16, Overrated=3, Underrated=1, Total=29.
29 moderations! This must be close to some sort of record.
Now, ok, I can see that it could be a troll, and maybe flamebait, I do think it's funny, and it
obviously has been overrated or underrated at some point, but 'Informative' and
'Insightful' ????
My goodness, they must be giving out moderation points to amazing clueless people these days.
>Now, Slashdot is another matter; I'm nearly positive that a few of the authors are well-known trolls
What, like Jon Katz? But he's not anonymous.
Oh, sorry, you mean posting comments, not articles....
> I'm essentially also the DBA, network admin, Cisco guru, neurotic PERL geek, and so on
Jack of all trades, master of none. I doubt you have any idea of what you don't know.
I used to be like you. What you need a a little maturity. Of course, you can't see this, but
probably everyone else can.
I've been a DBA for over 15 years. I'm better than most of the other DBA's I've ever worked
with. I no longer make wild statements to boost my own ego. I let my record stand speak for its
self. In fact, I would never now make any arrogant statements such as yours.
I know that there is way too much out there for any one person to know. There are DBAs out there
which know far more than me on certain subjects, on the other hand, I may know more than them in
others.
Or, if you are as shit hot as you think you are, and you think you know about networks, tell me
how does a quorum disk work in a Vax cluster, and what are the main advantages for Decnet Phase V?
What? You don't know anything about VMS networking?
So, think for a moment, could it be do actually DON'T know everything?
>and the effects are likely to be smaller where a nation has a smaller population, GDP, etc.) And
>this is why I believe that the European aristocracy is just jealous
I don't feel that this is the case. What you have to appreciate is that Europe and the US people
have very different ways of thinking, and what and American may value highly, Europeans may not.
Take for example Luxemburg. It is one of the smallest countries in Europe, but it also has
the worlds highest per capita gdp. People from there are proud of where they come from, even
though they're small.
Also, Europeans have more of a group mentality. Most govenrments are socalist/left wing.
Europeans generally are not as compeditive as Americans. Being the biggest, most powerfull
doesn't really matter.
I think that the main reason Europeans are in favour of Kyoto is the environmental lobby
is very strong and convinced the average person that a global catastrophy is on its way.
Personally, I believe that global warming is real, but also it's part of a natural process
which man did not start, but man is making at least a slight addition to. What the real long
term effects are, and what, if anything should be
done are questions that haven't yet been properly answered.
Kyoto may not be the best solution, but the Americans are getting alot of bad press for
seeming not to even care.
>What about a protocol that lets you choose which messages to download?
I would love that. It is probably even possible that is it already possible with my ISP.
The real problem is that my telephone doesn't have the ability to do any filtering or selective
message downloading.
I set my phone to collect my messages automatically, so it grabs the spam as well. It
costs me on average US$100/month for data calls on my mobile, with spam making up about 1/4
of the messages.
I'm looking at getting the next version of my phone (it has a color browser, mine has only
monochrome), and hopefully it will have an upgraded email ability as well.
Yes, you're correct, I should have said almost all of the high-polluting western countries.
I appreciate your response to my post. It is extremely interesting. It appears the way that
both you and I have been informed on the reasons and effects of the Kyoto agreement are very, very,
differently.
Is this how most other Americans see the agreement? Is this the main-stream view put
forward by the major media outlets?
People in Europe are being fed a very different story - that the US, being the world's largest
polluter, is thumbing its nose at the rest of the western world out of their own selfish
self-interest.
This is a very good response with a very good point.
Let me add a kicker -
The US is not the entire world. The US constitution does not give any rights in any
other couintries.
Why should I, here in Belgium, allow spammers in the US, or any other country, spam me?
I didn't notice any bit in the Belgian constituition giving the rights to free speech
to foreigners in other countries.
If China doesn't allow Chinese free speach in their own country, why should Americans be
allowed free speach in China?.
Let me add another example.
I collect my email on my Nokia 9110 telephone. It's a GSM and transmits data at only 14K.
I pay for EVERY SECOND when I'm connected.
Spam costs me alot of money.
Please tell me if you don't uinderstand. Maybe I can use small words or pictures for you.
And this above post, as well as the moderator puitting it as insightful, is a good example
of why the rest of the world has the opinion
it as about Americans.
There appears to be a complete lack of understanding between the above poster and those
of the opposing argument.
I'm sure that the majority of Americans are more thoughtfull and considerate.
Ever wondered why the rest of the world signed the Kyoto agreement?
>small branch (...but managing all of Benelux no less..), and get hardly any more info than you
>have.". And no, that particular problem (RMI in Jserver crashing after several hours of just
>sitting there..) has not been fixed in a week.
I just had to laugh when I saw you comment. I also get my Oracle Support from Benelux, and I
just happen to also have an Apache/Jserv related problem outstanding for a while.
One thing though, your Oracle office was telling the truth about being a small branch, and not
being able to do too much. All of the real work goes on in the US, and the local offices don't
really have alot of contact with the Oracle US.
A little disclosure is in order here. I worked for one of the Benelux support offices for 2
years as a manager of one of the support groups - this was after working in two of their other
offices, including the US HQ. I was amazed how much of a backwater the Benelux offices were. In
fact, I quit out of frustration after a fight my boss - the support center manager because I knew
that we weren't giving an acceptable level of support.
If this is a troll, then it's also defamatory and I'm surprised that it hasn't been removed or
modded to -2.
If this is true, then it shows Jeff and Rob to be very unprofessional and even childlish. I would
never treat anyone working for me like that, and neither would I accept such behaviour from an
employer.
If the started of work was not as expected, then they should have terminated the contract or asked
to have the the worker replaced.
Personal attacks are never justified in a business environment.
I would say that if the above post is true, then this is clearly a hostile work environment, and
may even could be considered sexual harrassment, and could quite possible leave VA open to a law
suit.
I've looked through this whole thread, and I have not seen any comment on either the above post,
or the changing story headline by anyone from slashdot or VA.
Come on Jeff and Rob, either defend youselves, or make at least make a public apology for your
behaviour.
>SQL Server is practically the defacto standard already in any mid-range or even department ....
>database. MS is gutting them from the ground up. IT managers still have the all ms craze of 5
>years ago and Oracle/sun or db2/as400 is pretty expensive and is used for large operations and is
>slower in midrange use. This is why Oracle bans the use of benchmarks. Sql Server is serious
>competition and is getting better. Sql
I'm sorry, but that is not the reason why Oracle does not allow third parties to perform and
publish benchmarks.
It is true that SQL Server performs well at the low end, but your implication that Oracle is
afraid of a comparison is wrong. Oracle *does* publish benchmarks, which can be directly compared
again the same SQL Server benchmarks. This is the reason why the TPC exists.
Oracle do not allow third parties to perform the benchmarks because they will not be fair, as the
required setup to get the best out of an Oracle database is quite complex. Also, Oracle have some
non-documented init.ora parameters which can be used to enhance the performance in the benchmark.
I worked for Oracle for 6 years. If you feel you have some better inside knowledge then me and
think that I am wrong, then state your reasons and your sources.
>steering confusing an already drug-addled car thief), called the cops, had them circle the car,
>and take them away. We get our car back, the bad guys don't know what happened, and dozens of
>innocent pedestrians are happy instead of being smashed to pulp during a car chase. More boring
>for the TV news copters, but oh well.
Now there's an idea to make a profit!
Why don't you make it better for the TV news copters? Get exclusive contracts with one of the
big networks to pay you when ever one of your cars are in a chase.
Now, here's the good part. Instead of killing the engine - *increase* the car's speed! Next, tell
the news choppers where the car is. If the traffic is too heavy for a good chase, then
display directions on the navigation system to the nearest freeway. What the hell, make it more
interesting, and direct them to a freeway exit and send them going the wrong way - even better for ratings.
The theives are stupid, they won't understand whats happening - imaging, in court "Yes, your
honor, the car started going quickly all by its self. Yes, just at the same moment the police and
new helicopter showed up."
Finally, patent this as a business method and sell it to the other rental companies.
There's gotta be a fortune in this!
>Now are *you* gonna feed their kids and pay their rent?
Now come one now. What exactly are you trying to say here?
Why should anyone here feel sorry for them? They are (were) a business, out to make money. They didn't. That's life.
If I start a business and it fails, will *you* feed my children? Why?
Does having a business fail give those people the right to recieve money and sympathy from anyone else?
Why should I feel sorry for these people who took a risk, and could have ended up very rich, but didn't? Do they deserve more sympathy than a single parent flipping burgers trying to get by?
>I'm not necessarily mourning their death, but I think it's a bit tasteless and uncouth to be
>dancing on their ashes, eh?
Why? Do words hurt them?
Look, they did it to themselves. No-body forced them to work there. They took a risk which could
have made a fortune but didn't. A lot of people here think they had a stupid business plan
even *before* they went under (read the earlier slashdot articles).
IMHO, they were greedy people, who took a risk with a stupid idea and failed.
Is it not better to examine and critize their actions to help prevent others in the future
making similar mistakes?
>too bad the ones that bombed Serbia (they used B2s) were not detected by any European country
Talking about that, an interesting thing happend in Belgium a few years back. A lot of people
were reporting that there were UFO's flying over Belgium. The Belgian Air Force even scrambled
some F-16s to intercept, but they didn' find anything (or at least didn't say if they did).
So, either the US did a test of their stealth aircraft to see if they could penetrate Belgian
airspace, or Belgium was infact invaded by aliens.
After living here for a while, I'd go with the latter explaination.
I can't disagree with you there, that must be the way you'd rather have the FBI behave. I mean,
these people were criminals, and the FBI is only protecting soceity.
EXECPT..... I'm not an US citizen. I, and the rest of the world DO NOT WANT the FBI to break the
laws of other countries in their own self interest.
You know, I don't give a damn what people in the US do in their own country. I would fight to the
death if it came to it, to stop the US doing it in my country.
You're right, and that is one thing that really pisses me off. There seem to be a large number of
people moderating that must only ever use off-topic or troll moderation.
I really wish these people would never get moderation points again. If people want to
moderate, then they should look to mod up good points instead of looking for things to mod down.
Just yesterday, I lost an unused mod point, and I was looking for something good to mod up, where as
I could have easily wasted it on a useless downwards mod. If I'd had more time to surf, I
would have been able to use all of my mod points to mod things up.
Better to not mod at all than to mod down, I say!