Here's some arrogance for you. I am a user. I have a job to do. Doing my job makes the company money. Doing this job is what the company is paying me for. To do this job I need tools. One of these tools (the most important one in fact) is a computer. This is where IT comes in. Their job is to provide me with this tool, and also to provide the infrastructure to make it work.
I make money. IT costs money. If the policies of the IT department prevent me from doing my job, they cost money twice. This is why our company doesn't have a lot of policies put on the users by the IT department. We are all assumed to be intelligent mature adults and then proceed from there. We all try to get along, users and IT. There is an unspoken agreement between us. I don't listen to internet radio, because I know it consumes bandwidth that everyone needs. If my buddy in the next cube is having a computer problem, I will try to help him. If I can, we can both get back to work and we haven't had to call the IT guy (who is also a shared resource). I don't surf pr0n or Hate sites. I am an admin on my PC. I understand that this is a privilege and don't abuse it by installing spyware infested crap on my machine. I don't install Bonzi buddy and the 1001 smiley tool bars. I use my common sense and what knowledge of computers I do have to make sure I am not causing problems for other users or for the IT guys. I will not lie to the IT guy when he comes to fix my machine. If I install something that crashes my computer I will fess up and not act innocent. In return I can install whatever freeware I think I need to do my job without having to get approval from some IT bureaucrat. I know this is a long way from the BOFH nirvanna of having everthing locked down tight and firing anyone who dares to violate sacred IT policy, but you know it seems to work for us.
1. "My hard drive is howling like a panther passing a kidney stone. Every time I run chkdsk I lose a few more sectors. I've backed up all my work to the network drive. When you get a chance can you come and fix my computer?"
2. "My computer won't start. It's been making this squealy noise for about two weeks and then all of a sudden it just died. You have to come right now and fix it because all the annual budget files are on my desktop."
I guess it really varies depending on the market where you live. I started with my ISP (a local cable company) in early 2001. The original monthly limits were 10 GB download and 1GB upload free, after which you pay more for each additional GB. Since then they have increased the limits, first to 16 GB up 16 GB down, then to 32 GB combined up/down and just now to 64 GB up/down. Peak speeds have gone from 1.5 Mb/s to 4.5 Mb/s. No throttling of P2P. Price hasn't changed.
To pirate a movie I need to find a decent torrent of what I want to watch, d/l it, burn it and I'm good to go. Call it 2 hours start to finish. Now while most movies are pretty good rips and play just fine, you still run the risk of getting a crappy cam video with peoples heads in it, or some weird codec that won't play or maybe it's the wrong language.
Or, I can walk 2 blocks to my local video store and rent a movie for $5 (2 for $5 on Tuesdays or whatever). They have a freakin huge selection. They always play, and you get all the extras on the disc. For me the rental thing just is a better value for my time and money. (For as long as these numbers apply! Jack up the rental price to $8 and maybe I'll d/l movies. Sell the DVD's for $8 and maybe I'll just buy them.)
File size is no protection at all in the long run.
Old guy rambling: in about '94 I wanted to download a 1 meg patch for a game (anybody remember Darklands). I connected to my local BBS with a 2400 bps modem. It took just over an hour to download 1 meg and my BBS timed out the connection after 1 hour. Not being able to resume the download, I could not get the file. I had to drive over to the computer store where the BBS was based and use a local PC to copy the patch to a floppy.
Fast forward to today. I connect through cable and top speed is 4.5 Mbps. The patch that took over an hour to download in '93 I can get in about 3 seconds. I see 5 - 10 Gig torrents all the time. If the connection speeds continue to increase the way they have in the past 200 GB will not be a problem. I know some cable providers offer 30 Mbps, and with fiber to the home, 100 mbps may not be far off.
Even today, all it takes is one guy to down the 200GB and compress it to some reasonable HD-worthy resolution and the file could be in the 10 - 20 GB range.
I'm a firm believer in some sort of nightmare medieval punishment for spammers, preferably involving red hot iron applied to tender parts in proportion to the number of spam emails sent. This is not there yet but is a good start.
The best quote I ever heard about music was in a discussion about pre-fab boy bands where someone said "I prefer real music. Music made by ugly angry men who write their own songs and play their own instruments."
Re:Programming != Software Engineering
on
Why Software is Hard
·
· Score: 2, Funny
Hey wait. I'm a software Engineer too. It says so right here on my wall. M C S E! The "E" stands for Engineer. So there.
Installing Office 95 on a Toshiba laptop. Twenty six (twenty fucking six!) floppies. After it loaded each one the installer would unpack files for about 3 minutes and only then would it ask for the next floppy. It seemed like about 3 hours to install. I also remember screwing up somehow (do you confirm not wanting to continue to cancel? Y/N/Abort) at some point and having to do this twice. Curse you floppy drive!
I tried that and it didn't work. My new boss was a dick who was on my case all the live long day. (when he wasn't downloading pr0n or surfing slashdot)
In between "100% integrated into society mundane person" and "Bat shit crazy, living in a cardboard box under an overpass person" there is a vast continuum. Some people are not "sane" (for want of a better word) enough to make good decisions, interact successfully with other people, function in society or look after themselves. These same people are not "insane" enough to be a danger to anyone but themselves, and therefore cannot be institutionalized. Anyone with a family member who has schizophrenia will know what I'm talking about.
I don't know Mr. Draper, so I'm speculating here, but the description of him and his habits sure sounds like a moderately high-functioning schizophrenic.
When I read what sometimes passes for "grammer and speling" (sic) on Slashdot my first thought is usually some sort of mix of sympathy and pity, like what you get watching someone with no arms paint pictures holding the brush in his teeth. Something like "Poor courageous bastard; despite his handicap he still managed to post on Slashdot". My next thought is usually to wonder if he is housebroken, or makes messes in the corners.
You can game with your kids. My 2 daughters and I have played many hours of Might and Magic (6 & 7) together. A kid on each knee, one clicking the mouse, one hitting the "A" key (attack). Dad does movement, and we all figure out the puzzles together. Drives mom nuts, especially when we're talking game in the car. "The liches in Castle Darkmoor are really tough, they might be immune to magic. No problem daddy, shrapmetal does physical damage"
They're only kids once, so you gotta share with them as much as you can.
Sorry, this is not ineptitude, it is _Marketing_! A very common practice too. The NDA tells the invitee which parts of the tour are the most "kewl", so he knows what to write about later (anonymously if absolutely neccessary). Don't try to apply logic, as you say, it will make your head asplode.
You are always setting an example for your kids!
on
The BlackBerry Orphans
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Something I've slowly realized as a parent is this - "You are always setting an example for your kids." Whether you like it or not, 24/7, wherever you go, whatever you do, if your kids are there you are setting an example. Whether it's a good example or a bad example is up to you. But, "do as I say, not as I do" is not going to work.
And yet I'll bet if buddy puts on navy blue pants, navy blue jacket, a white shirt (or whatever UA employees wear), plus a nicely laminated photoshop badge, and walks around the end of the counter instead of jumping over, he'll have the run of the place.
Well...they used to be. They spelled it Ashleigh (sounds the same). Wasn't there a guy named Ashleigh in Gone with the Wind? Actually I know a guy named Ashleigh, although he mostly goes by "Ash" these days.
My friend went to visit Australia, but he got into a big hassle with Customs. When he arrived the asked him if he had a criminal record. He said " I didn't realize it was still required"
Slashdot Mirror
Here's some arrogance for you. I am a user. I have a job to do. Doing my job makes the company money. Doing this job is what the company is paying me for. To do this job I need tools. One of these tools (the most important one in fact) is a computer. This is where IT comes in. Their job is to provide me with this tool, and also to provide the infrastructure to make it work.
I make money. IT costs money. If the policies of the IT department prevent me from doing my job, they cost money twice. This is why our company doesn't have a lot of policies put on the users by the IT department. We are all assumed to be intelligent mature adults and then proceed from there. We all try to get along, users and IT. There is an unspoken agreement between us. I don't listen to internet radio, because I know it consumes bandwidth that everyone needs. If my buddy in the next cube is having a computer problem, I will try to help him. If I can, we can both get back to work and we haven't had to call the IT guy (who is also a shared resource). I don't surf pr0n or Hate sites. I am an admin on my PC. I understand that this is a privilege and don't abuse it by installing spyware infested crap on my machine. I don't install Bonzi buddy and the 1001 smiley tool bars. I use my common sense and what knowledge of computers I do have to make sure I am not causing problems for other users or for the IT guys. I will not lie to the IT guy when he comes to fix my machine. If I install something that crashes my computer I will fess up and not act innocent. In return I can install whatever freeware I think I need to do my job without having to get approval from some IT bureaucrat. I know this is a long way from the BOFH nirvanna of having everthing locked down tight and firing anyone who dares to violate sacred IT policy, but you know it seems to work for us.
1. "My hard drive is howling like a panther passing a kidney stone. Every time I run chkdsk I lose a few more sectors. I've backed up all my work to the network drive. When you get a chance can you come and fix my computer?"
2. "My computer won't start. It's been making this squealy noise for about two weeks and then all of a sudden it just died. You have to come right now and fix it because all the annual budget files are on my desktop."
Which call would you rather get?
Holy jebus! What do you want. - On sale today, Canadian dollars!! so it is actually well under $200
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Dual Core Processor Socket AM2 Brisbane 2.3GHZ 2X512KB 65NM 65W Retail Box $198.98
I guess it really varies depending on the market where you live. I started with my ISP (a local cable company) in early 2001. The original monthly limits were 10 GB download and 1GB upload free, after which you pay more for each additional GB. Since then they have increased the limits, first to 16 GB up 16 GB down, then to 32 GB combined up/down and just now to 64 GB up/down. Peak speeds have gone from 1.5 Mb/s to 4.5 Mb/s. No throttling of P2P. Price hasn't changed.
To pirate a movie I need to find a decent torrent of what I want to watch, d/l it, burn it and I'm good to go. Call it 2 hours start to finish. Now while most movies are pretty good rips and play just fine, you still run the risk of getting a crappy cam video with peoples heads in it, or some weird codec that won't play or maybe it's the wrong language.
Or, I can walk 2 blocks to my local video store and rent a movie for $5 (2 for $5 on Tuesdays or whatever). They have a freakin huge selection. They always play, and you get all the extras on the disc. For me the rental thing just is a better value for my time and money. (For as long as these numbers apply! Jack up the rental price to $8 and maybe I'll d/l movies. Sell the DVD's for $8 and maybe I'll just buy them.)
File size is no protection at all in the long run.
Old guy rambling: in about '94 I wanted to download a 1 meg patch for a game (anybody remember Darklands). I connected to my local BBS with a 2400 bps modem. It took just over an hour to download 1 meg and my BBS timed out the connection after 1 hour. Not being able to resume the download, I could not get the file. I had to drive over to the computer store where the BBS was based and use a local PC to copy the patch to a floppy.
Fast forward to today. I connect through cable and top speed is 4.5 Mbps. The patch that took over an hour to download in '93 I can get in about 3 seconds. I see 5 - 10 Gig torrents all the time. If the connection speeds continue to increase the way they have in the past 200 GB will not be a problem. I know some cable providers offer 30 Mbps, and with fiber to the home, 100 mbps may not be far off.
Even today, all it takes is one guy to down the 200GB and compress it to some reasonable HD-worthy resolution and the file could be in the 10 - 20 GB range.
I'm a firm believer in some sort of nightmare medieval punishment for spammers, preferably involving red hot iron applied to tender parts in proportion to the number of spam emails sent. This is not there yet but is a good start.
The best quote I ever heard about music was in a discussion about pre-fab boy bands where someone said "I prefer real music. Music made by ugly angry men who write their own songs and play their own instruments."
Hey wait. I'm a software Engineer too. It says so right here on my wall. M C S E! The "E" stands for Engineer. So there.
/sarcasm
Installing Office 95 on a Toshiba laptop. Twenty six (twenty fucking six!) floppies. After it loaded each one the installer would unpack files for about 3 minutes and only then would it ask for the next floppy. It seemed like about 3 hours to install. I also remember screwing up somehow (do you confirm not wanting to continue to cancel? Y/N/Abort) at some point and having to do this twice. Curse you floppy drive!
Smuggle it in through Miami hidden in a shipment of cocaine.
I tried that and it didn't work. My new boss was a dick who was on my case all the live long day. (when he wasn't downloading pr0n or surfing slashdot)
Like the Brits did to the mutineers in Injah...Awesome! I'd pay to see that.
True Dat! Once you sink the destroyer or cruiser or whatever with a nuke, it is definitely going to have trouble firing the railgun.
"There is always help for someone."
Don't be so quick to judge.
Some people CAN NOT be helped.
Some people WILL NOT be helped.
In between "100% integrated into society mundane person" and "Bat shit crazy, living in a cardboard box under an overpass person" there is a vast continuum. Some people are not "sane" (for want of a better word) enough to make good decisions, interact successfully with other people, function in society or look after themselves. These same people are not "insane" enough to be a danger to anyone but themselves, and therefore cannot be institutionalized. Anyone with a family member who has schizophrenia will know what I'm talking about.
I don't know Mr. Draper, so I'm speculating here, but the description of him and his habits sure sounds like a moderately high-functioning schizophrenic.
When I read what sometimes passes for "grammer and speling" (sic) on Slashdot my first thought is usually some sort of mix of sympathy and pity, like what you get watching someone with no arms paint pictures holding the brush in his teeth. Something like "Poor courageous bastard; despite his handicap he still managed to post on Slashdot". My next thought is usually to wonder if he is housebroken, or makes messes in the corners.
Flipperwalt?
snort..
giggle..
ha ha
a ha ha ha he he...
Thud
You can game with your kids. My 2 daughters and I have played many hours of Might and Magic (6 & 7) together. A kid on each knee, one clicking the mouse, one hitting the "A" key (attack). Dad does movement, and we all figure out the puzzles together. Drives mom nuts, especially when we're talking game in the car. "The liches in Castle Darkmoor are really tough, they might be immune to magic. No problem daddy, shrapmetal does physical damage"
They're only kids once, so you gotta share with them as much as you can.
Sorry, this is not ineptitude, it is _Marketing_! A very common practice too. The NDA tells the invitee which parts of the tour are the most "kewl", so he knows what to write about later (anonymously if absolutely neccessary). Don't try to apply logic, as you say, it will make your head asplode.
Something I've slowly realized as a parent is this - "You are always setting an example for your kids." Whether you like it or not, 24/7, wherever you go, whatever you do, if your kids are there you are setting an example. Whether it's a good example or a bad example is up to you. But, "do as I say, not as I do" is not going to work.
And yet I'll bet if buddy puts on navy blue pants, navy blue jacket, a white shirt (or whatever UA employees wear), plus a nicely laminated photoshop badge, and walks around the end of the counter instead of jumping over, he'll have the run of the place.
Exit polls show the other 3 members were in favor of the motion, but there was no paper trail to verify this when the votes were recounted.
Indeed I do. Don't you?
Forging temperature - 1800 F.
Boeing 767 fuel load 144,000 lbs.
Well...they used to be. They spelled it Ashleigh (sounds the same). Wasn't there a guy named Ashleigh in Gone with the Wind? Actually I know a guy named Ashleigh, although he mostly goes by "Ash" these days.
My friend went to visit Australia, but he got into a big hassle with Customs. When he arrived the asked him if he had a criminal record. He said " I didn't realize it was still required"