"...but if the family includes children then the parents must acknowledge their responsibility and duty of care to ensure their children do not become victims."
Dumb question, but... as a general rule, aren't parents supposed to be responsible and take care to ensure their children do not become victims anyway?
This reminds me of the classic American stereotype (I believe coined by Chris Rock): "I take care of MY kids!" You're supposed to! That's what being a parent means! What, you want an award for taking care of your kids?
This is a bit off-topic, but ignoring opportunities at M$ for the moment, if you're interested in working in the USA (being a Canadian citizen and all), here are some things to consider:
you can make more money
you can benefit from the exchange rate (if you need to send money back to Canada)
lower taxes (in Canada, once you surpass the threshold of about $75k (I forget what it is exactly) the combined Federal and Provincial taxes (at least in Ontario) works out to about 47%, which is quite a bit higher than in the US)
depending on how and where you like to live, you might experience higher property taxes and a generally higher cost of living
plan on paying a non-trivial amount per paycheque to join the company health insurance plan (say bye-bye to gov't health care), and plan on paying a co-pay fee (essentially an insurance deductible) each time you use it
unless you don't mind being on a loooong waiting list, you can pretty much forget about coming down on an H1-B; do the TN permit instead
it's one thing if you're a sysadmin, but if you're a programmer, the TN category of Computer Systems Analyst might not work for you (refer to www.grasmick.com, above)
you'll need to have a job offer first; check out www.monster.com and www.dice.com for a good head start
bacon and sausages taste quite a bit better down here (I'm being serious), and if you end up in the Midwest, get set for some wicked BBQ!
If you do decide to make the jump, welcome to the Canadian Brain Drain!:-) Drop me a note privately if you like.
And what VISA are they going to use to gain enterance to the US? The article contradicts itself on this point:
"...and run a 24-hour-a-day programming shop, thereby avoiding H-1B visa hassles while still exploiting offshore labor cost..."
-verus-
"Staff can make the three-mile voyage into town in their off hours by calling a water taxi."
You raise a good point. On the one hand, most non-Americans (other than Canadians) would ordinarily apply for a visitor's visa such as a B-1 or B-2, or if their home country participates in the Visa Waiver Program, that's an option. But by the same token, the US has a foreign presence in each of these countries, requiring the foreigner to get processed before leaving their home country. So maybe the US would require setting up an immigration office/processing center on-board the ship just for this purpose. On the other hand, they might just process them each time they arrive at a US port of entry. Won't be a lot of fun in that case, if they experience huge delays each time they try this.
I also have to wonder about the logistics of actually getting citizens from non-NAFTA countries *to* the ship. That should create lots of fun for all.
I smell something rotten here. Specifically the usage of the word "staff". As in "American Employees can go ashore when they need a break." Gee, thanks.
As far as Immigration is concerned, that shouldn't be any more an issue than if an American were to travel out of the US for days/weeks at a time to, let's say, Europe, and wanting to return home for brief periods. Unless you're referring to the apparent attitude of, "We will allow Americans to take a break and actually return to their home country for brief periods"...? Yeah, that does sound rather magnanimous of them.
""Well, I've done the math. I think it's a modest number if you could sell a couple thousand, when you look at snowmobiles and quads and those things -- not cars," says Norris. "That's a big market. But if we sold say a couple thousand, $50,000 a piece, that's a billion dollars." "
Uh no that would be 100 million dollars.
I'm suddenly having visions of the math-sloppy Dr. Evil being chided by his eye-rolling son, Scott.
The solution which will make the PHBs happy will be in mauve, regardless of the technology. (Yes, an ObDilbert reference.)
Seriously, what motivates admins isn't necessarily what motivates upper management. In fact, there's not a helluva lot of overlap between the two, unless you've already been assimilated by upper management. Slick, über-cool admin solutions are futile when compared with high-level business requirements. Or the seldom-remembered top 3 layers of the OSI model: Politics, Religion and Marketing.;-)
If you have the luxury of having a little flexibility to use the tool of your choice to do your job better/faster/however you want to quantify it while your boss looks the other way, more power to you. Gentoo may be the biznatch, and so long as your Gentoo solution doesn't require ATG/IBM/BEA to support their app engine on it (or if your decision makers have opted to "make it work on Gentoo" regardless), you should be good to go.
I would agree with recommending the book How To Win Friends And Influence People. In fact, I would suggest you go and take the Dale Carnegie course, if it's in your area. It might help open your mind up to a few things many take for granted. Like when talking, giving a speech or presentation, each idea should take at most 2 minutes to deliver. And the initial point to each idea should be communicated in the first 10 seconds, or you'll lose your audience.
Besides, by the time a girl is a teenager she won't be the least bit interested in 'unix variants', more like Corey variants and make-up shade variants.
Excellent point. I look at basic computer skills the way I look at basic music skills and the way I look at basic language skills. There are certain ages where you get the ideal depth of development. For example, a child exposed to two languages equally before puberty (ie, bilingual) will most likely speak both languages post-puberty without an accent in either language. But take someone who speaks one language fluently before puberty but has an interest in other language post-puberty, and there's an excellent chance that person will never lose their accent while speaking those other languages. Reason being that certain basics (in this case phonetics) are completely ductile in the early years, but get hard-wired during puberty. Of course the same can be said for physical activities, like sports or martial arts.
I remember taking piano lessons for about 5 years. I think I started around age 9, because I remember getting completely fed up with "that classical sh*t" (as I remember telling my mom, which surprised her to the point of laughter) at age 13. I managed to get my Royal Conservatory of Music Gr.6, my teacher told me not to bother with the Gr. 7 test and so groomed me for the Gr. 8 test. But my heart wasn't in it, I hadn't practiced and so failed with flying colours. Yes folks, I was becoming a teenager with my own sense of self and things I was interested in. Like my Heathkit Electronic Workshop and Amateur Radio.:-)
[Sidebar: A few years ago my own son was 6 and desperately wanted to play the piano. So he eventually got piano lessons. He ended up doing well at his lessons (his teacher even complimented him on how much he must have been practicing) but quickly lost interest in doing any practicing at home (even just playing each of a handful of tunes once) and still continued to do well at his lessons. He just wanted to muck around on the electric piano that we had (mostly in demo mode). In the end, we stopped with the music lessons. Still, I can't help but wonder how he would have done, given that I'd done the piano lesson thing, as did my sister, as had our parents (both RCM accomplished) before us. I have fond memories of Dad playing some light jazz on the piano before heading off to work in the mornings.]
In short, expose your kids to everything, and nurture those creative things they're really interested in, be it art, computers, sports, comedy or whatever.
While working at my last gig, I noticed that a few co-workers were saying "supposably" instead of "supposedly". Then one day one of them let me in on his joke: He was deliberately saying "supposably" for the prior few months around the other two until they developed the habit of saying "supposably".
The prankster went back to saying "supposedly" and despite doing so, the others continued using the new and improved version.;-)
... will put an entire (albeit brief) message in the Subject of an e-mail, leaving the body blank.
Oddly, she doesn't quite get how IM works, either; she'll type until she hits the Yahoo Messenger buffer limit, at which point she'll hit return and keep on typing.
This trend isn't new in the least. Am I the only one who remembers cartoons such as The Flintstones or The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Hour being labelled as "too violent for our kids"?
I think the common reaction then was "Be a responsible parent and TURN OFF THE TV!"
Besides, I don't think it affected me negatively in the least.
When I was working in downtown Toronto and participating in the morning pedestrian rush hour in the underground tunnel network beneath the financial sector (for those unfamiliar with the area, it's pretty extensive), I started to wonder if there were some way to harness the power of the motion of the many doors (including the fire-break doors). Now it seems that, like the hamster on the wheel, we have a way to transform the mindless movement of the masses into something useful.
Now if only we had a way to just plug people directly into the power grid....
It's being marketed as an input device for situations where a full keyboard is either unwieldy or impractical.
Let's take that and run with it. From their site:
Its handheld design enables powerful desk-free computing from any location in any position: leaning away from your desk, standing up, riding in a vehicle, relaxing on a sofa in your living room, sitting on the floor, leaning back in a recliner, or even lying in bed.
So, one point at a time:
- leaning away from your desk
Keyboard placed on lap
- standing up
One point for the Alphagrip. Even so, I can't see doing this for more than an hour. That's about how long I would last before lower back pain would set in.
- riding in a vehicle
Laptop placed on lap -- did I mention 85 wpm? That was done on a laptop. And unless the driver is off-roading, I don't expect a significant drop in that speed.
- relaxing on a sofa in your living room
Unless I'm the type of person to pull a computer desk up to a sofa, or who has a PC hooked up to a very very large home entertainment centre screen (I'm neither), this is an unlikely scenario. Even if you replace "sofa" with "big overstuffed chair".
- sitting on the floor
Been there, done that. Both with a laptop and a keyboard/PC. For hours on end. For months.
- leaning back in a recliner
I actually used to work like this at my first sysadmin job. Chair tilted back, keyboard on lap, fingers flying over the keyboard. Found it very comfy.
Something just occurred to me. With the Alphagrip, you'll need to support it, compared to a keyboard, where it (or the desktop, or your lap) supports you. I can't imagine that supporting the Alphagrip for any length of time would be anything but fatiguing.
Anyway, enjoy your specious -- I mean, deceptively attractive -- Alphagrip.
I read a rather telling report over a year ago which predicted that "over the next couple years" (relative to the time of the publication) we would be seeing quite a few Baby Boomers rolling off into retirement. Perhaps we're seeing the beginning of this trend?
The report went on to say that tech positions would command 7 of the top 10 most in-demand positions. (The other 3 positions were in the medical field.) The demand created by the Boomers rolling off at the top end combined with a decreased enrollment of students in related fields at the bottom end will create (they claim) a demand for talent which will make the late 90's look like a walk in the park in comparison.
I worked for one company (imaging & workflow automation software vendor) 11 years ago, and was getting training on how to calibrate the scanner. (I *think* the scanner hardware was Fujitsu, although it may have been HP. My forgettory is in fine form.) Calibration included using an oscilloscope, which was interesting.
The instructor shared a story of how robust and easy to set-up these scanners were. As the story goes, one of these scanners was shipped to (I think) South America, and by the time it got to the destination, it had been roughed up a little. The frame was so badly bent, that placing the scanner on a table, you could clearly see that one of the feet was at least an inch or two off the table.
Instead of shipping a new unit, a tech was shipped to the site. He took a mallet and banged on it until it was more or less level. He then followed the standard procedure (using a 'scope) and in 45 mins had the unit working perfectly again.
Slashdot Mirror
Let's not lose sight of this: http://www.vonage-forum.com/article1716.html
"...but if the family includes children then the parents must acknowledge their responsibility and duty of care to ensure their children do not become victims."
Dumb question, but... as a general rule, aren't parents supposed to be responsible and take care to ensure their children do not become victims anyway?
This reminds me of the classic American stereotype (I believe coined by Chris Rock): "I take care of MY kids!" You're supposed to! That's what being a parent means! What, you want an award for taking care of your kids?
Geez.
Think about how the hell you're going to manage large numbers of desktops in a scalable manner.
Things to consider: Installing new apps, installing patches, managing users and home/shared directories. Managing printers, etc.
Sure, there are some slick tools such as apt and yum. But that's only part of the picture.
Check out Infrastructures.org to start down the path of enlightenment, Ed Gruberman. Or feel the wrath of a boot to the head.
If you do decide to make the jump, welcome to the Canadian Brain Drain! :-) Drop me a note privately if you like.
Perhaps we should follow through with removing Microsoft products, everywhere. ;)
"...and run a 24-hour-a-day programming shop, thereby avoiding H-1B visa hassles while still exploiting offshore labor cost..."
-verus-
"Staff can make the three-mile voyage into town in their off hours by calling a water taxi."
You raise a good point. On the one hand, most non-Americans (other than Canadians) would ordinarily apply for a visitor's visa such as a B-1 or B-2, or if their home country participates in the Visa Waiver Program, that's an option. But by the same token, the US has a foreign presence in each of these countries, requiring the foreigner to get processed before leaving their home country. So maybe the US would require setting up an immigration office/processing center on-board the ship just for this purpose. On the other hand, they might just process them each time they arrive at a US port of entry. Won't be a lot of fun in that case, if they experience huge delays each time they try this.
I also have to wonder about the logistics of actually getting citizens from non-NAFTA countries *to* the ship. That should create lots of fun for all.
I smell something rotten here. Specifically the usage of the word "staff". As in "American Employees can go ashore when they need a break." Gee, thanks.
As far as Immigration is concerned, that shouldn't be any more an issue than if an American were to travel out of the US for days/weeks at a time to, let's say, Europe, and wanting to return home for brief periods. Unless you're referring to the apparent attitude of, "We will allow Americans to take a break and actually return to their home country for brief periods"...? Yeah, that does sound rather magnanimous of them.
""Well, I've done the math. I think it's a modest number if you could sell a couple thousand, when you look at snowmobiles and quads and those things -- not cars," says Norris. "That's a big market. But if we sold say a couple thousand, $50,000 a piece, that's a billion dollars." "
Uh no that would be 100 million dollars.
I'm suddenly having visions of the math-sloppy Dr. Evil being chided by his eye-rolling son, Scott.
Still, such tactics are irritating, to say the least.
Seriously, what motivates admins isn't necessarily what motivates upper management. In fact, there's not a helluva lot of overlap between the two, unless you've already been assimilated by upper management. Slick, über-cool admin solutions are futile when compared with high-level business requirements. Or the seldom-remembered top 3 layers of the OSI model: Politics, Religion and Marketing. ;-)
If you have the luxury of having a little flexibility to use the tool of your choice to do your job better/faster/however you want to quantify it while your boss looks the other way, more power to you. Gentoo may be the biznatch, and so long as your Gentoo solution doesn't require ATG/IBM/BEA to support their app engine on it (or if your decision makers have opted to "make it work on Gentoo" regardless), you should be good to go.
To quote Spongebob, "Good luck with that!" ;)
Another book to consider: Sun Tzu: The Art of War for Managers; 50 Strategic Rules
CRYPTO-GRAM News
Then search for The Honeynet Project. Something to think about.
I'll definitely check out Beagle when I get the chance.
Excellent point. I look at basic computer skills the way I look at basic music skills and the way I look at basic language skills. There are certain ages where you get the ideal depth of development. For example, a child exposed to two languages equally before puberty (ie, bilingual) will most likely speak both languages post-puberty without an accent in either language. But take someone who speaks one language fluently before puberty but has an interest in other language post-puberty, and there's an excellent chance that person will never lose their accent while speaking those other languages. Reason being that certain basics (in this case phonetics) are completely ductile in the early years, but get hard-wired during puberty. Of course the same can be said for physical activities, like sports or martial arts.
I remember taking piano lessons for about 5 years. I think I started around age 9, because I remember getting completely fed up with "that classical sh*t" (as I remember telling my mom, which surprised her to the point of laughter) at age 13. I managed to get my Royal Conservatory of Music Gr.6, my teacher told me not to bother with the Gr. 7 test and so groomed me for the Gr. 8 test. But my heart wasn't in it, I hadn't practiced and so failed with flying colours. Yes folks, I was becoming a teenager with my own sense of self and things I was interested in. Like my Heathkit Electronic Workshop and Amateur Radio. :-)
[Sidebar: A few years ago my own son was 6 and desperately wanted to play the piano. So he eventually got piano lessons. He ended up doing well at his lessons (his teacher even complimented him on how much he must have been practicing) but quickly lost interest in doing any practicing at home (even just playing each of a handful of tunes once) and still continued to do well at his lessons. He just wanted to muck around on the electric piano that we had (mostly in demo mode). In the end, we stopped with the music lessons. Still, I can't help but wonder how he would have done, given that I'd done the piano lesson thing, as did my sister, as had our parents (both RCM accomplished) before us. I have fond memories of Dad playing some light jazz on the piano before heading off to work in the mornings.]
In short, expose your kids to everything, and nurture those creative things they're really interested in, be it art, computers, sports, comedy or whatever.
Or, it might be the voices inside my head....
The prankster went back to saying "supposedly" and despite doing so, the others continued using the new and improved version. ;-)
Oddly, she doesn't quite get how IM works, either; she'll type until she hits the Yahoo Messenger buffer limit, at which point she'll hit return and keep on typing.
Tiny digital camcorders will be required to use 100,000 candlepower illumination and emit a "whirring" noise of no less than 90dB.
Mr. Leykis, to borrow from the Budweiser commercials, you're a Real American Hero. :-)
I think the common reaction then was "Be a responsible parent and TURN OFF THE TV!"
Besides, I don't think it affected me negatively in the least.
*strains to hide twitching eyelid*
How about WolfFox? Or WolfExtinguisher?
Firezilla...?
MoFo......?
Now if only we had a way to just plug people directly into the power grid....
Let's take that and run with it. From their site:
Its handheld design enables powerful desk-free computing from any location in any position: leaning away from your desk, standing up, riding in a vehicle, relaxing on a sofa in your living room, sitting on the floor, leaning back in a recliner, or even lying in bed.
So, one point at a time:
- leaning away from your desk
Keyboard placed on lap
- standing up
One point for the Alphagrip. Even so, I can't see doing this for more than an hour. That's about how long I would last before lower back pain would set in.
- riding in a vehicle
Laptop placed on lap -- did I mention 85 wpm? That was done on a laptop. And unless the driver is off-roading, I don't expect a significant drop in that speed.
- relaxing on a sofa in your living room
Unless I'm the type of person to pull a computer desk up to a sofa, or who has a PC hooked up to a very very large home entertainment centre screen (I'm neither), this is an unlikely scenario. Even if you replace "sofa" with "big overstuffed chair".
- sitting on the floor
Been there, done that. Both with a laptop and a keyboard/PC. For hours on end. For months.
- leaning back in a recliner
I actually used to work like this at my first sysadmin job. Chair tilted back, keyboard on lap, fingers flying over the keyboard. Found it very comfy.
Something just occurred to me. With the Alphagrip, you'll need to support it, compared to a keyboard, where it (or the desktop, or your lap) supports you. I can't imagine that supporting the Alphagrip for any length of time would be anything but fatiguing.
Anyway, enjoy your specious -- I mean, deceptively attractive -- Alphagrip.
http://www.typingtest.com/
So let me get this straight: I lay down a chunk of change to both look cool *and* type slower? Pft.
The report went on to say that tech positions would command 7 of the top 10 most in-demand positions. (The other 3 positions were in the medical field.) The demand created by the Boomers rolling off at the top end combined with a decreased enrollment of students in related fields at the bottom end will create (they claim) a demand for talent which will make the late 90's look like a walk in the park in comparison.
I'm looking forward to the results, if true.
The instructor shared a story of how robust and easy to set-up these scanners were. As the story goes, one of these scanners was shipped to (I think) South America, and by the time it got to the destination, it had been roughed up a little. The frame was so badly bent, that placing the scanner on a table, you could clearly see that one of the feet was at least an inch or two off the table.
Instead of shipping a new unit, a tech was shipped to the site. He took a mallet and banged on it until it was more or less level. He then followed the standard procedure (using a 'scope) and in 45 mins had the unit working perfectly again.