The article simply says that in this case, the woman was not disabled to the point she could not perform her daily tasks. It explicitly says:
The ruling does not mean that anyone with carpal tunnel syndrome or similar partial disabilities is automatically excluded from protection by the ADA. But it probably will make such claims harder to prove, since the court makes clear that disability must affect a range of manual tasks or duties.
I wonder if the court has a list of manual tasks/duties that if you cannot perform, constitute being disabled.
In cases like Williams', "the central inquiry must be whether the claimant is unable to perform the variety of tasks central to most people's daily lives, not whether the claimant is unable to perform the tasks associated with her specific job," the court wrote.
Many people who are in the construction industry, for example, get a bad back over time or are otherwise affected physically over the years of that kind of labor. Many of those people move on to other types of jobs, possibly relating to construction management, sales, inspection, etc. Just because their body no longer allows them to perform one job does not mean they have become disabled.
On the other hand, if said construction worker cannot perform basic daily tasks, such as bathing or dressing, or cooking, they would be classified as disabled.
Are we losing something here?
on
Making It Personal
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
All this personalization is pretty cool, it's nifty how Amazon.com knows what kind of books I like to read ahead of time and display them on a page customized to have the greatest potential of selling me something.
Unfortunately, while being convenient and helpful, it also is limiting and boring because I no longer need to navigate through their site or just browse for something new. How will I ever stumble upon that book on gardening when my personalized page is chock full of software development books and video games.
In my opinion, targeted selling, personalization, whatever you want to call it, causes people to become less aware of other things that are out there.
My point is some things are useful to be personalized and targeted toward the individual's habits, but others are not.
Apple also announced other new products like a 14' display on some iBooks
Wow! a 14' display, and my laptop only has a 14" display. Just imagine playing your favorite video game on a 14 ft display.
While many business application users will not enjoy having a 14 ft screen, I think this will be great for gamers.
I wonder what the max resolution on that will be... 1,280,000 x 1,024,000 pixels?
All the cool stuff will probably be gone by now
on
Be Gear Up For Auction
·
· Score: 4, Informative
A friend of mine worked for a company who went bankrupt and had an auction of their remaining assets. Strangely, alot of the really cool stuff seemed to just disappear before the auction could take place, presumably stolen by the owners, employees, or friends of each, I don't know. Certainly this was illegal and if the creditors found out there could have been a lawsuit I suppose.
Who's job is it to make sure the remaining assets of the company make it to the auction? Ultimately the creditors are to lose (more).
Instead of banning the games, which violated the rights of the video game manufacturers as well as the arcade owners, they should have pushed for better control over who is exposed to those games. 10-year old kids should not be able to play those games at the arcades without their parent's (or other adult's) consent, just like they cannot go to a rated-R movie by themselves.
It was stupid for Indy to think they could take the quick and easy approach to the problem and just ban them.
as any of us who have written code for a living know that as deadlines approach, and as features are heaped on you the week before code is frozen, quality of code begins to decline.
If you do not know this, consider yourself fortunate to work for such a company, or go get a job in the consulting industry and you will quickly find out.
I would venture to say most companies would not release their code for obsolete software out of possible embaressment rather than financial or confidentiality reasons.
Agreed that it is illegal to expose confidential information from a former employer, but YOU are the one who is not listening to ME. Nowhere in the article does it say they are exposing "confidential" information about any company they worked for previously.
Also, the email never says the insiders worked for competitors, simply that they are employees who are knowlegable about the competitors products. In the email he even says if anyone is interested in becoming a Linux Insider to talk to their manager.
The point is that yet again Microsoft doesn't fight fair, and they have illegal practices.
What illegal practices are you referring to from this letter?
Some readers were confused by the term "Linux Insiders" thinking it was someone hired by MS to sabotage Linux, but these people are simply MS employees who are knowlegable about Linux and can help the salesforce devise pitches to allow them to win business over Linux.
Just curious about your comment. Because I didn't notice anything illegal about what he wrote in the email.
P.S. I used to be a moderator -- so if you think I am not watching who mods this message down, think again. Don't mod this message down!:)
Computer Science is probably alot different than you realize if you are working in consulting (as I am). Computer Science programs delve deep into subjects such as discreet math, theory of computation (automata and formal language definitions), analysis of algorithms, not to mention at least 3 courses of calculus, and many require a couple of science classes such as physics.
The problem with completing it in a year is that many of these classes have prerequisites that must be completed before reaching the higher level classes.
But keep in mind, CS has alot of theory involved. If you're looking for something a little more practicle you might want to consider an Information Systems degree possibly via a business department, which may have fewer prerequisites. The only downside to an IS degree is that you will not be able to pursue an MS in Computer Science as easily.
So I guess the bottom line is that there is no shortcut to getting a Computer Science degree, but that is also what makes it all worth it. If anybody could get a CS degree in 1 or 2 years, they would not be as valuable.
I wonder how privacy-invading schemes in traditional currencies might bring about the use of "alternative" currencies. If I own a company could I pay my employees 80% of their salary in traditional money and 20% in some other proprietary currency that I set up through some kind of partnership with local merchants?
New forms of payment might evolve via some grassroots movement that will circumvent the use of the traditional currency if it invades the public's privacy.
Hmmm, somebody is probably already brainstorming on this idea, but I could see someday a large data warehouse, used by the govt or whoever, to track the path money takes and use that information to predict spending trends of consumers.
Of course there would be some legal/ethical implications to doing this, but it would be possible.
So, what about privacy? If someone gives you money and they know which specific bills they gave you and the history up to that point, they could find out what you used them for if they encountered those specific bills again, right? Granted they would have to know how to interpret the data, but it could be done.
By they way, I cant wait until the US converts to Euros (just kidding)
Maybe this is not as much because the companies themselves dont care, but that the employees dont care. I think there is alot of apathy out there right now in the IT business.
P.S. I'm not trying to be flamebait, just a simple observation.
LOC (Lines of code) is an ancient metric used by dinosaur PHBs to report progress on development projects. It was a little more meaningful in lanuages such as COBOL or FORTRAN, but completely meaningless to free-form languages such as many "modern" languages are.
Perhaps they should be measuring their progress in terms of function points implemented or requirements met, or at least something a little more meaningful. However, these numbers are still meaningless without the context of the original requirements and estimated number of function points.
Just because a technology enables you to break the law should not make the technology itself illegal. That is what we're headed for though.
Maybe someday we'll see a constitutional amendment that gives people the right to own technology. Just like we have the right to bear arms, which may have been equally important to people back in the 1700s.
Just as guns can be used to commit crime, so can technology, but that is more the fault of the perpetrators than the technology itself.
Viruses get sophisticated enough that they look at subject lines in your current "Sent Items" folder and use the same subject and text, just adding the attachment, or if they find an email you previously sent that had an attachment and replace it and re-send the message.
Its only a matter of time. Its amazing how even a dumb virus can fool so many people.
the glitches allow hackers to seize control of all Windows XP operating system software without requiring a computer user to do anything except connect to the Internet
Oh, I get it now...
the glitch was only supposed to let Microsoft sieze control of all Windows XP operating system software without requiring a computer user to do anything except connect to the Internet
So you say software to schools should be free, eh? I happen to agree with you, but this topic reminded me about this BusinessWeek article in which the author, Charles Haddad, criticizes Microsoft for its plans to donate $1,000,000,000 to 12,500 poor schools in the U.S, saying that the only reason they are doing it is because they want to take over and control the education market.
It seems like MS will get criticized for making schools pay for software, yet they also get criticized for donating software.
Slashdot Mirror
The article simply says that in this case, the woman was not disabled to the point she could not perform her daily tasks. It explicitly says:
The ruling does not mean that anyone with carpal tunnel syndrome or similar partial disabilities is automatically excluded from protection by the ADA. But it probably will make such claims harder to prove, since the court makes clear that disability must affect a range of manual tasks or duties.
I wonder if the court has a list of manual tasks/duties that if you cannot perform, constitute being disabled.
In cases like Williams', "the central inquiry must be whether the claimant is unable to perform the variety of tasks central to most people's daily lives, not whether the claimant is unable to perform the tasks associated with her specific job," the court wrote.
Many people who are in the construction industry, for example, get a bad back over time or are otherwise affected physically over the years of that kind of labor. Many of those people move on to other types of jobs, possibly relating to construction management, sales, inspection, etc. Just because their body no longer allows them to perform one job does not mean they have become disabled.
On the other hand, if said construction worker cannot perform basic daily tasks, such as bathing or dressing, or cooking, they would be classified as disabled.
All this personalization is pretty cool, it's nifty how Amazon.com knows what kind of books I like to read ahead of time and display them on a page customized to have the greatest potential of selling me something.
Unfortunately, while being convenient and helpful, it also is limiting and boring because I no longer need to navigate through their site or just browse for something new. How will I ever stumble upon that book on gardening when my personalized page is chock full of software development books and video games.
In my opinion, targeted selling, personalization, whatever you want to call it, causes people to become less aware of other things that are out there.
My point is some things are useful to be personalized and targeted toward the individual's habits, but others are not.
Apple also announced other new products like a 14' display on some iBooks
Wow! a 14' display, and my laptop only has a 14" display. Just imagine playing your favorite video game on a 14 ft display.
While many business application users will not enjoy having a 14 ft screen, I think this will be great for gamers.
I wonder what the max resolution on that will be... 1,280,000 x 1,024,000 pixels?
A friend of mine worked for a company who went bankrupt and had an auction of their remaining assets. Strangely, alot of the really cool stuff seemed to just disappear before the auction could take place, presumably stolen by the owners, employees, or friends of each, I don't know. Certainly this was illegal and if the creditors found out there could have been a lawsuit I suppose.
Who's job is it to make sure the remaining assets of the company make it to the auction? Ultimately the creditors are to lose (more).
I'm glad to see the courts upholding our rights to have unusual fetishes such as sniffing other people's keyboards.
If I remember correctly, J Edgar Hoover was the FBI's original keyboard sniffer.
Instead of banning the games, which violated the rights of the video game manufacturers as well as the arcade owners, they should have pushed for better control over who is exposed to those games. 10-year old kids should not be able to play those games at the arcades without their parent's (or other adult's) consent, just like they cannot go to a rated-R movie by themselves.
It was stupid for Indy to think they could take the quick and easy approach to the problem and just ban them.
as any of us who have written code for a living know that as deadlines approach, and as features are heaped on you the week before code is frozen, quality of code begins to decline.
If you do not know this, consider yourself fortunate to work for such a company, or go get a job in the consulting industry and you will quickly find out.
I would venture to say most companies would not release their code for obsolete software out of possible embaressment rather than financial or confidentiality reasons.
As always, I may be wrong though.
Hmm... Some developers must have left Microsoft, gone to work for AOL, and written the code for AOL's messenger.
(Because surely Microsoft is the only company in the world who has security flaws in their software)
Hey buddy, it's a joke. If you had read the MS email you would have seen a similar sounding P.S. at the end of his email. I was mocking that P.S.
Why dont you try reading the article once in a while before you bash other people's posts.
Agreed that it is illegal to expose confidential information from a former employer, but YOU are the one who is not listening to ME. Nowhere in the article does it say they are exposing "confidential" information about any company they worked for previously.
Also, the email never says the insiders worked for competitors, simply that they are employees who are knowlegable about the competitors products. In the email he even says if anyone is interested in becoming a Linux Insider to talk to their manager.
I think you are reading way too much into this.
Nobody said anything about confidential information being exposed.
My how eager we are to jump to conclusions.
The point is that yet again Microsoft doesn't fight fair, and they have illegal practices.
:)
What illegal practices are you referring to from this letter?
Some readers were confused by the term "Linux Insiders" thinking it was someone hired by MS to sabotage Linux, but these people are simply MS employees who are knowlegable about Linux and can help the salesforce devise pitches to allow them to win business over Linux.
Just curious about your comment. Because I didn't notice anything illegal about what he wrote in the email.
P.S. I used to be a moderator -- so if you think I am not watching who mods this message down, think again. Don't mod this message down!
Computer Science is probably alot different than you realize if you are working in consulting (as I am). Computer Science programs delve deep into subjects such as discreet math, theory of computation (automata and formal language definitions), analysis of algorithms, not to mention at least 3 courses of calculus, and many require a couple of science classes such as physics.
The problem with completing it in a year is that many of these classes have prerequisites that must be completed before reaching the higher level classes.
But keep in mind, CS has alot of theory involved. If you're looking for something a little more practicle you might want to consider an Information Systems degree possibly via a business department, which may have fewer prerequisites. The only downside to an IS degree is that you will not be able to pursue an MS in Computer Science as easily.
So I guess the bottom line is that there is no shortcut to getting a Computer Science degree, but that is also what makes it all worth it. If anybody could get a CS degree in 1 or 2 years, they would not be as valuable.
I wonder how privacy-invading schemes in traditional currencies might bring about the use of "alternative" currencies. If I own a company could I pay my employees 80% of their salary in traditional money and 20% in some other proprietary currency that I set up through some kind of partnership with local merchants?
New forms of payment might evolve via some grassroots movement that will circumvent the use of the traditional currency if it invades the public's privacy.
Hmmm, somebody is probably already brainstorming on this idea, but I could see someday a large data warehouse, used by the govt or whoever, to track the path money takes and use that information to predict spending trends of consumers.
Of course there would be some legal/ethical implications to doing this, but it would be possible.
So, what about privacy? If someone gives you money and they know which specific bills they gave you and the history up to that point, they could find out what you used them for if they encountered those specific bills again, right? Granted they would have to know how to interpret the data, but it could be done.
By they way, I cant wait until the US converts to Euros (just kidding)
Maybe this is not as much because the companies themselves dont care, but that the employees dont care. I think there is alot of apathy out there right now in the IT business.
P.S. I'm not trying to be flamebait, just a simple observation.
LOC (Lines of code) is an ancient metric used by dinosaur PHBs to report progress on development projects. It was a little more meaningful in lanuages such as COBOL or FORTRAN, but completely meaningless to free-form languages such as many "modern" languages are.
Perhaps they should be measuring their progress in terms of function points implemented or requirements met, or at least something a little more meaningful. However, these numbers are still meaningless without the context of the original requirements and estimated number of function points.
at any given time, 5% of all the Windows servers out there are busy rebooting
5% of all internet sites unreachable?
...maybe they were slashdotted
Just because a technology enables you to break the law should not make the technology itself illegal. That is what we're headed for though.
Maybe someday we'll see a constitutional amendment that gives people the right to own technology. Just like we have the right to bear arms, which may have been equally important to people back in the 1700s.
Just as guns can be used to commit crime, so can technology, but that is more the fault of the perpetrators than the technology itself.
Viruses get sophisticated enough that they look at subject lines in your current "Sent Items" folder and use the same subject and text, just adding the attachment, or if they find an email you previously sent that had an attachment and replace it and re-send the message.
Its only a matter of time. Its amazing how even a dumb virus can fool so many people.
... have deciphered the complete genetic instructions of a third chromosome, one of the 24 bundles of DNA that carry our genetic material.
Wouldnt it be cool if they found an easter-egg in the "instructions"?
or if there was a secret message encoded in them ala the Netscape Weenies message.
the glitches allow hackers to seize control of all Windows XP operating system software without requiring a computer user to do anything except connect to the Internet
:)
Oh, I get it now...
the glitch was only supposed to let Microsoft sieze control of all Windows XP operating system software without requiring a computer user to do anything except connect to the Internet
So you say software to schools should be free, eh? I happen to agree with you, but this topic reminded me about this BusinessWeek article in which the author, Charles Haddad, criticizes Microsoft for its plans to donate $1,000,000,000 to 12,500 poor schools in the U.S, saying that the only reason they are doing it is because they want to take over and control the education market.
It seems like MS will get criticized for making schools pay for software, yet they also get criticized for donating software.
(Automatic -1 for not being anti-Microsoft)