Well I'm not an astronomer, but I'm fairly sure that the ISS is close enough to the Earth to still be protected by the Earth's magnetic field. Hence it probably gets a little bit of protection there... as opposed to the empty space trip between here and Mars.
The Moon, I doubt there was much protection. But the trip was measured in days... and not the months/years it would take to go to Mars and back.
Besides the "other mass transit besides buses" reply...
From my understanding from the concept, there are other factors besides weight. There's the axle lengths (between front/back, left/right) and tire width, and number of tires (some buses double-up the tires) to take into consideration. Did you factor those in? Or did you just plug in basic weights.
I was LITERALLY, about to write that exact same response.
Though in places with great mass transit that I've been to over seas, they have great railroads... but some of the cities internally have glorified buses.
Though some tech jobs might look down at not having a web presence. Perhaps you're out of touch with the electronic world? Perhaps you don't know about social apps, communities, web 2.0, whatever "buzz words" HR might look for.
I'm not saying it's true, just that it could be perceived as true by the HR guys that filter the resumes before they get sent to the department. While other people might look favorably on that for a candidate: security conscious and what-not.
It reminds of a job I applied for, I knew the person hiring (not an underling, the flippin' manager). He said for legal reasons I had to submit my resume through their official channels but once it got to his department he'd help me out. A few weeks go by and he asks why I didn't follow up with the job, I told him I did. He was puzzled, and came back to me later -- the HR department weeded mine out because I "only" had X years experience with.Net. They were weeding out people who didn't have Y+ years experience with.Net... which was "awesome" because they wanted 10+ years with.Net and it had only officially been out for a couple.
I mostly agree, after some months the MMO really loses its shine.
But... it IS sometimes fun again after a while. I grew tired of City of Heroes, left for a couple of years, and was quite surprised how much fun I was having when I came back. The new powersets and expansions were nice, and I'd forgotten what a super hero MMO with actual CONTENT and STORY felt like (glares at DCUO and CO).
But... we all know how the City of Heroes story ended... with the game getting taken down.
But perhaps going back to an older MMO might give you something to do.
First off, seriously, I want more TDI options here in the US. A friend of mine in Switzerland got a really cool Honda Civic number maybe 3 years ago that was just awesome. Diesel, great pep, and awesome mileage.
That all being said, I've recently started driving a small/midsize Cross-Over and I love it... or should I say my knees love it. The extra height is good because I've recently developed bad knees and getting in and out is a LOT easier than my previous car (which I had to sit low to the ground due to head room issues). With this, the seat is at hip-level so I don't have to struggle to get up or down.
The extra road visibility is a plus, but the knees issue is what seals the deal for me. The reduced gas mileage is a minus.
Though, I'm still in love with the idea of a mid-size sedan with a TDI... I just wish we had more options since I'm not a fan of the Jetta and the BMW is out of my price range.
As an American, I have to agree with you. People here flip out over gas prices but have NO idea how expensive it is in Europe. I'd known for a while, but when I started traveling there I still did a double-take.
Granted, we drive more (which is NOT a good thing) so it probably hurts us more than some other people. At least most of the places I've visited had decent mass transit, but that could just have been luck on my part.
But still, $4/gallon is nothing compared to elsewhere.
My first inclination was to say "what a jerk" to the above poster, but after RE-reading the summary... he's right.
If the camp is going to be about the arts, let it stay that way. I can understand maybe infusing a little bit of tech here or there, like doing "something" with the pottery classes or something with the model train set. But nothing so far as getting an expensive 3D printer or anything like that.
But too much tech isn't really in the spirit of it. There are IT / tech / computer CAMPS specifically for that kind of stuff.
Clarification: one of the few from her department that were in the building and made it out. Some of the other people from her department made it because they were still on the train instead of in the building.
I can be on 100% medical leave for a -year- with full pay with approval from my doctor. This is the same for all Norwegian workers.
Here, in the US we have that too... but sometimes don't be surprised if there's a termination notice coming your way when you get back.
A family member of mine worked in the World Trade Center, she'd only been there maybe 3 months up to 9/11. Nobody from her office/department that was on time that morning made it out. She was the only one, or one of the only ones, from her department in the building when it happened. She was next in line for the elevator when her tower was hit.
Her department in another building wanted her to come back THE NEXT DAY. NO. The woman at the other building didn't understand why not: it's not like she was ON the floor above where the plane hit. My family member was shocked at how insensitive the witch was being on the phone: Umm, because if I was on that floor I'd be dead like everyone else? Because unlike you, I was actually THERE?
She was messed up. She wasn't faking or exaggerating: experiencing that, fearing that, seeing people hit the ground while she tried to get out... was too much for her. She was messed up for a while.
So she took sick leave: I think 3 months or so. I was there, it was a really rough time for her. She could have taken longer due the company rules, but she eventually got to the point where she felt she could at least FACE what had happened.
She went back to work, and was fired a few days later for unspecified reasons.
Aren't in the US sick leaves taken from your holiday ? You might then have your response right there. Because in europe they are not, and you are quite encouraged (at least in my firm) to take the day off when you are a virus mothership spreading thema round coughing.
It depends on the company.
Most companies I've seen or heard of, consider "sick days" part of a pool of "personal time off" Depending on how it's structured, it's either just from your pool of X vacation days OR a pool of X vacation days and Y extra PTO days. SO, people decide to save them for when they want to take them or for when they're incredibly sick (can't get out of bed).
Some companies are smart: they give essentially unlimited / undefined sick days. But they just monitor it to make sure that you're not abusing the system. Their idea is: it's better for us to lose 1 employee's work day than have him risk getting other people in the department / building / etc sick.
Personally, I'm in favor of the latter. Just have someone monitor the days to make sure employees aren't abusing them. If you see someone taking out a lot of sick days compared to the rest, maybe politely confront them about it. This way you reduce the amount a flu or cold or whatever flies around the office.
I did the same thing maybe 2-3 weeks ago, and your feelings are mine in a nut shell. It's not the DOOOOM that people make it out to be. Worst Christmas Present? Really? I bought my copy from Microsoft.com for like $30 or $40 downloadable. That's hardly the worst money I've spent.
- The UI isn't as bad as people make it out to be. It just takes getting used to, and some of their decisions were a little stupid.
- Personally, using a Touchpad device makes things a lot easier (gestures and such). A regular mouse might have been painful.
- I haven't noticed anything "bad" about it (crashes, slowness, etc) but nothing particularly great about it. Yet.
This might be out there, but I haven’t seen it yet, so some help would be appreciated.
Is there a touchpad/mousepad I can lay on my desk to act as the touch proxy for the screen? I’ve seen the Surface and the screen looked great, well... until it started being used, that is. It got all mucked up after a little bit of use and there’s _no_ way I can use that on my work machine.
So. is there some way I can use something like a mouse pad as the interface (pinch, zoom, swipe, etc, etc) without having to touch the screen?
Logitech Wireless Rechargeable Touchpad T650
It works quite well. It's about the size of the Apple Magic Track Pad, which is much larger than a laptop touch pad. The gestures and everything work great and honestly do make a big improvement in Windows 8 over a traditional mouse. The only down-side is they don't make a BlueTooth version so you have to use the mico-dongle that comes with the Touchpad.
There is an older Logitech Touchpad, but I don't know how well it works with Windows 8.
Spending $X and investing Y resources (programmers, admins, etc) is returning Z per quarter. When with something else, those same dollars and resources might return more money per quarter.
It's like shelf space in a grocery store. Yes, you make a profit selling those raisins that occupy like 9" of shelf space. Each month you're making a little bit of cash.
But, if you replaced those raisins with Famous Amos cookies, you *might* bring in more of a profit each month. Of course, those cookies are more expensive to stock, so if it fails (like people in your neighborhood are health-fanatics) then you're out of luck.
It's also an MMO that I stopped playing some years back. I have GREAT memories of the game; it was my first MMO and probably my favorite. But still... it's old. Mittens for hands, low poly count, etc. A better story and such than the "other 2" super hero MMOs though.
What I do find odd, is that apparently it was still making a profit! 2.7mill a quarter might not be huge, but that's at least something. So I do find it odd to cancel something bringing in that much. When they said they were shutting it down, I assumed it was because it was losing money... I guess I was wrong.
The best suggestion I've read is they want people off that game so they'll hopefully flock to their newer (and probably more expensive) new game (Guild Wars 2) which seems risky to me.
People, like myself, dug City of Heroes because it WASN'T a sword-and-fantasy MMO.
Agreed, especially depending on your location and the type of building you're in. Some buildings are built like bunkers, and when some places install repeaters the end-result is sometimes less than ideal.
Personally, I'm fine with a land line or at least a VoIP phone for work. Decent sound quality and more comfortable to hold for long phone conversations. Because, not everyone really digs using things "like" Skype.
Agreed, which I state. But, they're mostly harmless idiots. Their belief in a faked moon landing doesn't affect me or my family beyond aggravation. Let them spread the paranoia for all I care.
But, spreading the paranoia about the whole vaccine thing... that hurts people. It convinces people to not vaccinate their kid which causes problems for their kid AND for people who can't get vaccinated easily (allergies, money, other stupid parents, etc).
-----------
However, the best argument I've heard about the mirror / flag thing is... "What's more believable, that way the heck back they sent people... or they sent a really simple probe that just dumped some stuff on there"
Again, stupid and represents the impossibility of arguing with them. But as far as they're concerned, that's a reason and somehow something "we" have to disprove.
These people annoy me more than rabid moon landing denyers.
The people that believe the autism link, are really out there. I've seen interviews with people that believe this, and no matter what facts/figures/papers you put in front of them they believe they are wrong or lies. Yet they're sure the one report they heard about or read is 100% the truth.
What's more aggravating is when they invite you to prove them wrong, PLEASE prove them wrong, I don't want this to be true and don't want to fear this. Then someone does, and that same person just ignore them.
Penn and Teller had a great episode about this on Bull Sh*t. It's quite insane.
I mean, I have an easier time understanding people that believe the moon landing was a hoax. I don't subscribe to that theory, but I can at least understand them. It was a big deal, we really only have the government's say-so that it happened and that they didn't just send a probe to land stuff. Just 1 source: the government. Fine, be paranoid. It's not really hurting anyone if a person doesn't believe we landed on the moon.
But these people, they have tons of independent studies, investigations, saying that the link was faked or just plain wrong It would be one thing if just ONE party was saying the autism link was bunk... but we have LOTS of different / independent / smart people debunking it. And they don't want to believe it. Meanwhile children suffer.
Agreed. You have the width, and you "theoretically" have the depth.
But considering the chair in front of you is usually reclined a little, you're not going to have enough room to really flip the screen far enough back (so it's pointing up a little) so you can see it well.
Maybe with a small laptop (11" / 13") and if the guy isn't reclining. But fully reclined, the top of the seat in front of you is at the same X/Y coordinates as the edge of your seat... just 2'-3' higher.
Well, that is the problem that the companies try to battle (or at least claim to)
But... if you did something like that then the company would have a very solid foundation for a lawsuit.
- They were paying you to make invention X. - They can show that you worked on invention X on their dime with their resources. - It doesn't matter if you repeated steps 1-2-3 here (or there) because they paid you to do it.
With the contracts out there that DO limit it to "stuff worked on using company time / resources" they'll have an investigator determine if the employee was doing stuff in the office... even if it's just a little bit.
The car manufacturers are getting smarter, or dumber depending on how you look at it.
To prevent people from dropping in after-market units, the built-in units are starting to control a lot more than just stereo + GPS.
My Ford Edge controls the climate and a bunch of other things. And while they double-down on some of the controls, some things are ONLY accessible via the touch screen. Meaning replacing that unit, even if it were somehow possible, would mean losing access to stuff like my heated seats and such.
Wow, my 2006 Cadillac at least let you buy new DVDs for the GPS data. Granted, the price was high enough that I didn't bother and recently replaced the car anyway. But, we're talking a car that's 3 years older than yours and not a hybrid.
Granted, the screen was a decent size but the resolution stunk pretty bad. I probably wouldn't have minded a PC replace if it came with a better screen.
Slashdot Mirror
Make it so
Well I'm not an astronomer, but I'm fairly sure that the ISS is close enough to the Earth to still be protected by the Earth's magnetic field. Hence it probably gets a little bit of protection there... as opposed to the empty space trip between here and Mars.
The Moon, I doubt there was much protection. But the trip was measured in days... and not the months/years it would take to go to Mars and back.
Besides the "other mass transit besides buses" reply...
From my understanding from the concept, there are other factors besides weight. There's the axle lengths (between front/back, left/right) and tire width, and number of tires (some buses double-up the tires) to take into consideration. Did you factor those in? Or did you just plug in basic weights.
I was LITERALLY, about to write that exact same response.
Though in places with great mass transit that I've been to over seas, they have great railroads... but some of the cities internally have glorified buses.
Still though
Though some tech jobs might look down at not having a web presence. Perhaps you're out of touch with the electronic world? Perhaps you don't know about social apps, communities, web 2.0, whatever "buzz words" HR might look for.
I'm not saying it's true, just that it could be perceived as true by the HR guys that filter the resumes before they get sent to the department. While other people might look favorably on that for a candidate: security conscious and what-not.
It reminds of a job I applied for, I knew the person hiring (not an underling, the flippin' manager). He said for legal reasons I had to submit my resume through their official channels but once it got to his department he'd help me out. A few weeks go by and he asks why I didn't follow up with the job, I told him I did. He was puzzled, and came back to me later -- the HR department weeded mine out because I "only" had X years experience with .Net. They were weeding out people who didn't have Y+ years experience with .Net... which was "awesome" because they wanted 10+ years with .Net and it had only officially been out for a couple.
He was not happy (nor was I).
I mostly agree, after some months the MMO really loses its shine.
But... it IS sometimes fun again after a while. I grew tired of City of Heroes, left for a couple of years, and was quite surprised how much fun I was having when I came back. The new powersets and expansions were nice, and I'd forgotten what a super hero MMO with actual CONTENT and STORY felt like (glares at DCUO and CO).
But... we all know how the City of Heroes story ended... with the game getting taken down.
But perhaps going back to an older MMO might give you something to do.
First off, seriously, I want more TDI options here in the US. A friend of mine in Switzerland got a really cool Honda Civic number maybe 3 years ago that was just awesome. Diesel, great pep, and awesome mileage.
That all being said, I've recently started driving a small/midsize Cross-Over and I love it... or should I say my knees love it. The extra height is good because I've recently developed bad knees and getting in and out is a LOT easier than my previous car (which I had to sit low to the ground due to head room issues). With this, the seat is at hip-level so I don't have to struggle to get up or down.
The extra road visibility is a plus, but the knees issue is what seals the deal for me. The reduced gas mileage is a minus.
Though, I'm still in love with the idea of a mid-size sedan with a TDI... I just wish we had more options since I'm not a fan of the Jetta and the BMW is out of my price range.
As an American, I have to agree with you. People here flip out over gas prices but have NO idea how expensive it is in Europe. I'd known for a while, but when I started traveling there I still did a double-take.
Granted, we drive more (which is NOT a good thing) so it probably hurts us more than some other people. At least most of the places I've visited had decent mass transit, but that could just have been luck on my part.
But still, $4/gallon is nothing compared to elsewhere.
My first inclination was to say "what a jerk" to the above poster, but after RE-reading the summary... he's right.
If the camp is going to be about the arts, let it stay that way. I can understand maybe infusing a little bit of tech here or there, like doing "something" with the pottery classes or something with the model train set. But nothing so far as getting an expensive 3D printer or anything like that.
But too much tech isn't really in the spirit of it. There are IT / tech / computer CAMPS specifically for that kind of stuff.
Tit for tat. Why not?
While I'm torn as to who to root for, your suggestion isn't comparing apples to apples.
Apple sells the app through their store and they want their normal cut.
Your proposal states that Microsoft should get a cut because Apple's store-app that connects to Apple's store runs on Windows.
So... not even in the same ballpark.
Clarification: one of the few from her department that were in the building and made it out. Some of the other people from her department made it because they were still on the train instead of in the building.
I can be on 100% medical leave for a -year- with full pay with approval from my doctor.
This is the same for all Norwegian workers.
Here, in the US we have that too... but sometimes don't be surprised if there's a termination notice coming your way when you get back.
A family member of mine worked in the World Trade Center, she'd only been there maybe 3 months up to 9/11. Nobody from her office/department that was on time that morning made it out. She was the only one, or one of the only ones, from her department in the building when it happened. She was next in line for the elevator when her tower was hit.
Her department in another building wanted her to come back THE NEXT DAY. NO. The woman at the other building didn't understand why not: it's not like she was ON the floor above where the plane hit. My family member was shocked at how insensitive the witch was being on the phone: Umm, because if I was on that floor I'd be dead like everyone else? Because unlike you, I was actually THERE?
She was messed up. She wasn't faking or exaggerating: experiencing that, fearing that, seeing people hit the ground while she tried to get out... was too much for her. She was messed up for a while.
So she took sick leave: I think 3 months or so. I was there, it was a really rough time for her. She could have taken longer due the company rules, but she eventually got to the point where she felt she could at least FACE what had happened.
She went back to work, and was fired a few days later for unspecified reasons.
Aren't in the US sick leaves taken from your holiday ? You might then have your response right there. Because in europe they are not, and you are quite encouraged (at least in my firm) to take the day off when you are a virus mothership spreading thema round coughing.
It depends on the company.
Most companies I've seen or heard of, consider "sick days" part of a pool of "personal time off" Depending on how it's structured, it's either just from your pool of X vacation days OR a pool of X vacation days and Y extra PTO days. SO, people decide to save them for when they want to take them or for when they're incredibly sick (can't get out of bed).
Some companies are smart: they give essentially unlimited / undefined sick days. But they just monitor it to make sure that you're not abusing the system. Their idea is: it's better for us to lose 1 employee's work day than have him risk getting other people in the department / building / etc sick.
Personally, I'm in favor of the latter. Just have someone monitor the days to make sure employees aren't abusing them. If you see someone taking out a lot of sick days compared to the rest, maybe politely confront them about it. This way you reduce the amount a flu or cold or whatever flies around the office.
I did the same thing maybe 2-3 weeks ago, and your feelings are mine in a nut shell. It's not the DOOOOM that people make it out to be. Worst Christmas Present? Really? I bought my copy from Microsoft.com for like $30 or $40 downloadable. That's hardly the worst money I've spent.
- The UI isn't as bad as people make it out to be. It just takes getting used to, and some of their decisions were a little stupid.
- Personally, using a Touchpad device makes things a lot easier (gestures and such). A regular mouse might have been painful.
- I haven't noticed anything "bad" about it (crashes, slowness, etc) but nothing particularly great about it. Yet.
This might be out there, but I haven’t seen it yet, so some help would be appreciated.
Is there a touchpad/mousepad I can lay on my desk to act as the touch proxy for the screen? I’ve seen the Surface and the screen looked great, well... until it started being used, that is. It got all mucked up after a little bit of use and there’s _no_ way I can use that on my work machine.
So. is there some way I can use something like a mouse pad as the interface (pinch, zoom, swipe, etc, etc) without having to touch the screen?
Logitech Wireless Rechargeable Touchpad T650
It works quite well. It's about the size of the Apple Magic Track Pad, which is much larger than a laptop touch pad. The gestures and everything work great and honestly do make a big improvement in Windows 8 over a traditional mouse. The only down-side is they don't make a BlueTooth version so you have to use the mico-dongle that comes with the Touchpad.
There is an older Logitech Touchpad, but I don't know how well it works with Windows 8.
Agreed.
Spending $X and investing Y resources (programmers, admins, etc) is returning Z per quarter. When with something else, those same dollars and resources might return more money per quarter.
It's like shelf space in a grocery store. Yes, you make a profit selling those raisins that occupy like 9" of shelf space. Each month you're making a little bit of cash.
But, if you replaced those raisins with Famous Amos cookies, you *might* bring in more of a profit each month. Of course, those cookies are more expensive to stock, so if it fails (like people in your neighborhood are health-fanatics) then you're out of luck.
Yup.
It's also an MMO that I stopped playing some years back. I have GREAT memories of the game; it was my first MMO and probably my favorite. But still... it's old. Mittens for hands, low poly count, etc. A better story and such than the "other 2" super hero MMOs though.
What I do find odd, is that apparently it was still making a profit! 2.7mill a quarter might not be huge, but that's at least something. So I do find it odd to cancel something bringing in that much. When they said they were shutting it down, I assumed it was because it was losing money... I guess I was wrong.
The best suggestion I've read is they want people off that game so they'll hopefully flock to their newer (and probably more expensive) new game (Guild Wars 2) which seems risky to me.
People, like myself, dug City of Heroes because it WASN'T a sword-and-fantasy MMO.
Agreed, especially depending on your location and the type of building you're in. Some buildings are built like bunkers, and when some places install repeaters the end-result is sometimes less than ideal.
Personally, I'm fine with a land line or at least a VoIP phone for work. Decent sound quality and more comfortable to hold for long phone conversations. Because, not everyone really digs using things "like" Skype.
Agreed, which I state. But, they're mostly harmless idiots. Their belief in a faked moon landing doesn't affect me or my family beyond aggravation. Let them spread the paranoia for all I care.
But, spreading the paranoia about the whole vaccine thing... that hurts people. It convinces people to not vaccinate their kid which causes problems for their kid AND for people who can't get vaccinated easily (allergies, money, other stupid parents, etc).
-----------
However, the best argument I've heard about the mirror / flag thing is... "What's more believable, that way the heck back they sent people... or they sent a really simple probe that just dumped some stuff on there"
Again, stupid and represents the impossibility of arguing with them. But as far as they're concerned, that's a reason and somehow something "we" have to disprove.
These people annoy me more than rabid moon landing denyers.
The people that believe the autism link, are really out there. I've seen interviews with people that believe this, and no matter what facts/figures/papers you put in front of them they believe they are wrong or lies. Yet they're sure the one report they heard about or read is 100% the truth.
What's more aggravating is when they invite you to prove them wrong, PLEASE prove them wrong, I don't want this to be true and don't want to fear this. Then someone does, and that same person just ignore them.
Penn and Teller had a great episode about this on Bull Sh*t. It's quite insane.
I mean, I have an easier time understanding people that believe the moon landing was a hoax. I don't subscribe to that theory, but I can at least understand them. It was a big deal, we really only have the government's say-so that it happened and that they didn't just send a probe to land stuff. Just 1 source: the government. Fine, be paranoid. It's not really hurting anyone if a person doesn't believe we landed on the moon.
But these people, they have tons of independent studies, investigations, saying that the link was faked or just plain wrong It would be one thing if just ONE party was saying the autism link was bunk... but we have LOTS of different / independent / smart people debunking it. And they don't want to believe it. Meanwhile children suffer.
Agreed.
You have the width, and you "theoretically" have the depth.
But considering the chair in front of you is usually reclined a little, you're not going to have enough room to really flip the screen far enough back (so it's pointing up a little) so you can see it well.
Maybe with a small laptop (11" / 13") and if the guy isn't reclining. But fully reclined, the top of the seat in front of you is at the same X/Y coordinates as the edge of your seat... just 2'-3' higher.
Well, that is the problem that the companies try to battle (or at least claim to)
But... if you did something like that then the company would have a very solid foundation for a lawsuit.
- They were paying you to make invention X.
- They can show that you worked on invention X on their dime with their resources.
- It doesn't matter if you repeated steps 1-2-3 here (or there) because they paid you to do it.
With the contracts out there that DO limit it to "stuff worked on using company time / resources" they'll have an investigator determine if the employee was doing stuff in the office... even if it's just a little bit.
Well, among other things, the toalk of this is about the whole in-dash systems that the car comes with.
Even if you feel that streaming music, USB hdd's, and all of that stuff is fluff....
The GPS is usually a big component of the systems this posting is talking about. And lots of people find those things very useful, if not necessary.
The car manufacturers are getting smarter, or dumber depending on how you look at it.
To prevent people from dropping in after-market units, the built-in units are starting to control a lot more than just stereo + GPS.
My Ford Edge controls the climate and a bunch of other things. And while they double-down on some of the controls, some things are ONLY accessible via the touch screen. Meaning replacing that unit, even if it were somehow possible, would mean losing access to stuff like my heated seats and such.
Wow, my 2006 Cadillac at least let you buy new DVDs for the GPS data. Granted, the price was high enough that I didn't bother and recently replaced the car anyway. But, we're talking a car that's 3 years older than yours and not a hybrid.
Granted, the screen was a decent size but the resolution stunk pretty bad. I probably wouldn't have minded a PC replace if it came with a better screen.