Sorry, I've been away. Can someone bring me up to speed on Slashdot's immigration orthodoxy?
We're against H1Bs because they bring dirty foreigners into our country. But we're for making illegal immigrants legal, as long as they have shitty. non-IT jobs "that Americans won't do." (Which begs the question, who will do those jobs once those people are Americans?) Is that it? If you're smart, stay out, but if you're uneducated, have at it? It seems kind of elitist, but who am I to judge...
My friend took a native american studies program. According to her "Native American," "American Indian," and the name of the specific tribe are all OK. I was surprised that "American Indian" wasn't considered bad, but she assured me that several Native Americans had assured her it was cool. What isn't cool, apparently, is "Indian" by itself to refer to someone who isn't from the Indian sub-continent. First Nations or First Peoples seems to be a Canadian construction that hasn't totally caught on here in the US.
Anyway, a company pledge to do no evil should really, really, try not to do any evil. This falls under evil according to my morals and ethics, but then, I don't have a $400 share price to worry about. And maybe to devout Hindus, giving this guy up was !evil. Hard to say. I favor freedom of speech, even when the speech itself disgusts me.
Well... guilty as charged, but I just came off nearly a year of using an HTC Windows Mobile Device (it was a device for crashing, hanging, and causing frustration with the pointless and illogical UI, with tertiary email and phone functions, sometimes, during the 90 or 120 minutes the battery lasted), so you have to indulge me a bit.
I've been trying different mobile organizers/devices since about 1989 and the Blackberry is the first one that's basically perfect.
Some people *LIKE* being connected to electronic devices. If I don't want to get emails, I guess I could turn off my Blackberry, but... I LIKE GETTING MY EMAIL RIGHT AWAY. I love my Blackberry. It rules.
I like computers. I like email. I like SMS. I like videogames. Hell, I like watching TELEVISION.
I don't understand this "computers are evil" meme that rises up at slashdot -- what the hell are you doing on this site, or working in tech, if you don't like computers or electronic devices? Unless, you're the kind of 'phone it in' asshats that make my working life less enjoyable -- not saying you are, but what the fuck?
I've taken vacations and turned off my phone, left the game systems behind, and gone someplace with no TV. It was nice and peaceful, just kicking it and reading books. I love me some books -- probably my favorite leisure activity.
But I've never been happier to come back from a vacation! Cell phones rule. Videogames rule. Email lets me interact with my wife about a million times more than I would if we didn't have it. Social networks enable me to stay involved in the lives of friends who live thousands of miles away -- and have them involved in my life too. Videogames let me interact with my son on levels I couldn't otherwise. Computers rule. I don't think my laptop has been more than 10 or 20 feet from me, other than if I'm out to eat, in months. Cell phones -- don't get me started! Do you remember trying to coordinating meeting up at a location before cell phones? It sucked! Cell phones are freaking sweet. My phone gives me directions, it tells me where traffic is, it enables email, people can call me on it. It has all my friends' contact info. It connects to the Web. It has an MP4 of the moon landing I can watch when I'm bored. It has MP3s of my favorite songs I can listen to. It's fucking rad!
First, I want to give a shout out to the Vatican, for discussing the potential of aliens (and acknowledging evolution as settled science) while other religions are still like "lalalaeverywordofthebibleistrue,eventhetyposandbadtranslations."
Second, assuming for a second the whole Christianity ball of wax is true, there's no reason that God wouldn't send down his other son, Skip, to some aliens, in a form they could understand. The ideals Jesus taught weren't restricted by a specific geography or biology. "Be nice to each other" might resonate as well on Argus-7 as it does on Sol-3.
I had a Mac IIcx with the same issues. When the drive (a Sony) first died, with no spinning (and no backups in the days of $500, 100MB drives), I was so frustrated I slammed down my fist on the top of the computer... and spun the drive up! After that I tried to avoid turning it off, or ever having the disc stop spinning, but if it did, I could always get it to start back up that way. I felt like Fonzi the IT guy...
My gf's mom was programming actuarial tables and systems back in the 1950s and 1960s on mainframes at an insurance co. When she retired maybe four or five years ago, a lot of her code was still running, and the PCs they had bought to replace the mainframe were simply interfacing with the mainframes. It became kind of a cargo cult thing: her code generated the correct results (as checked, back in the day, by hand), and the stuff done on the PCs didn't. She was a very hardcore programmer, but not super comfortable with GUIs or modern OSs. It was weird the first time I visited to see her computer room, which had on its bookshelf, AOL for Dummies next to the IBM 360 System Operator's Manual next to a copy of KidPix. Disconcerting.
Yes, they can use anything you say. Which is why the best strategy is to say nothing!
Assuming you're innocent (which I assume everyone on/. is), you can always make a complete statement LATER, once you and the situation have cooled down and you've consulted an attorney. There is no ability for the state to say "he wouldn't say anything just after the car accident, therefore, he must have been culpable," for instance. You are almost never better off speaking to the cops "in the heat of the moment."
the culture of bad leadership that infests (at least western cultures) big business
I hope you weren't implying that other regions' cultures run businesses better... because if you were, you've clearly never worked with any!
I've worked with businesses on four continents, with say three different cultures (US/Canada, Euro/SouthAmerican, and Asian). All have their own style, and all of their styles are easily prone, in the hands of retards, to leading to crappy, disfunctional companies.
You can take any system you want -- six sigma, the Japan that can say No, or Yes, or whatever, EuroThis, hell, open any business book written in any language at any time ever -- and in the hands of smart, competant people, they all work fine. In the hands of yahoos, they all fail. There is nothing inherently wrong about the western system (not that there is even one monolithic "western system"), there's just good and bad managers and good and bad business decisions. Oh, and luck.
Turns out it takes less time and money to have one expert (eg a trained teen-ager) listen to what you want and enter it than it does to have you enter it yourself. A few Arbys in CA tried self-service terminals, but it was so confusing and impersonal they all switched back (or went under).
RIght... and you could point to... how many examples of the goverment in the US limiting free speech post 9/11? Oh, you mean when they threw Michael Moore in jail for releaseing Farenheit 911? Or when they suspended the 2004 elections? Or, you must mean when they declared the democratic party illegal? Or how they took down all the "9/11 'truth'" websites?
I have to admit I'm getting sick of this sloppy liberal referencing to 9/11 as the day the US became a fascist dictatorship. It's the modern equivilent of McCarthiesm -- it shuts down debate without offering any proof -- because there usually ISN'T any.
Seriously, anyone have any examples of the Federal Government limiting free speech since 9/11? Anyone?
I understand that PCs are more powerful than consoles in a given generation from a numbers perspective... but consoles alwasy just seem to have better games, presumably because PC game makers always have to build their games for a lower common system that is less powerful that the state of the art.
The games on NES scrolled better and more smoothly than Commander Keen. Gran Turismo or Ridge Racer IV felt faster and smoother than Grand Prix Legends or CART Racing from Microsoft. I loved GPL and CART Racing, but there ya go.
I respect Alex St. John, but as Apple and MS proved, the most technically superior solution doesn't always win. For me, the choices are down more to comfort and ease than technology: TVs and couches are more comfortable environments than monitors and desk chairs. Disc --> console --> playing is easier and faster than PC startup --> install --> driver download --> install --> restart --> startup --> run --> crash --> patch --> STEAM ID check --> etc.
One of the most interesting things I've learned since working in videogames is that Australia is part of Europe (for the purposes of electronic media).
I totally don't want to start a debate on this, but... AC, HP and spell memorization are actually pretty sweet conventions, and were awesome for the time. RPing may have move past them, and they have held things up, but in a lot of cases they remain the simplest, best way to handle things.
Anyway, RIP Gary. Here's a link to a newspaper story: RIP .
They screw around in the aisle because everyone is getting situated at the same time. Plus, if they don't fly a lot, they are inevitably confused and asked a lot of questions... all in the aisle. You want the window seat people all seated before the sad middle row people even get on the plane in an ideal world.
Flying into Burbank is awesome because they use the old-school stairways, and do board and disembark from both the front and rear. It's pretty quick to get off the back, but then Burbank is a quick little airport all around. Plus you get to walk down the stairs like the President.
Southwest is getting hardcore about cracking down on this (and family "preboarding"), as complaints from their frequent business travellers increased. In Oakland, they pretty much want to see you bleeding to get a blue pre-board card, and of course, pre-boarders are no longer able to sit in Exit Row seats (aka Southwest's First Class). Southwest has basically re-ordered their entire system to cater more towards business travellers and less towards low cost infrequent fliers.
This is now the way Southwest boards, and it's quick and rational (as is their "no assigned seating" plan, especially for their typical short flights). Everyone gets a number, and the boarding is in groups of five.
United has also tried (and still tries as far as I know) windows first, then middles, then aisles, but the system fails because of familes or others travelling together, all receiving the same boarding group. Also, "elite flyers" board first and screw everything up...
United's system works pretty well most of the time though, but the real problem is you can't get everyone ready to board right when they open the doors, so it's never as rational as it should be (eg, some person in row 29 is going to board when row 18 is boarding and cause a traffic jam). Southwest's new system works well because they really don't care when you board or where you sit -- the line up is mostly so frequent flyers and early check-in-ers get the best choice of seats.
It's kind of insane. I've not seen anyone who uses Vista who doesn't absolutely hate it, and yet, all these idiots keep "upgrading" to it.
I was in a demo yesterday and the guys -- who were far from idiots -- just could not get their powerpoint to work correctly on the projector *they brought* because of Vista. Also, it made me want to kill them every time they clicked on something and it was slower than GEOS on the C64 to react. Then their game demo chugged at 10fps because it too was on a Vista machine. It's just horrible and worthess. Our IT dept downgrades every machine to XP and seriously at this point doesn't anticipate ever standardizing on Vista. For me personally, I took one look at Vista and bought a Mac as my home machine.
The sad thing is, I actually like XP. The Mac OS is good as well; much better than I remember from the first OSX. Considering I spend a ton of my time in the GUI switching between programs, GUI speed is paramount to me... thus, Vista is the worst.
Or maybe we'll go back to respecting efficiently written code, as opposed to tolerating things like chat programs that require ungodly amounts of RAM (Trillian, I'm looking at you), or OSes that require GBs of RAM (ahem, MS) and waste trillions of cycles due to shoddy programming, just because we have computers that can run 1000s of times faster than they did in the 80s... but provide essentially the same user experience and speed of execution.
I'm pretty sure the ThinkPad comes with the middle button enabling horizonal and vertical scrolling by default (all of mine have). I like the Mac's two finger scrolling for small things, bu the trackpoint + middle button is the scrolling champ IMHO.
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We're against H1Bs because they bring dirty foreigners into our country. But we're for making illegal immigrants legal, as long as they have shitty. non-IT jobs "that Americans won't do." (Which begs the question, who will do those jobs once those people are Americans?) Is that it? If you're smart, stay out, but if you're uneducated, have at it? It seems kind of elitist, but who am I to judge...
Anyway, a company pledge to do no evil should really, really, try not to do any evil. This falls under evil according to my morals and ethics, but then, I don't have a $400 share price to worry about. And maybe to devout Hindus, giving this guy up was !evil. Hard to say. I favor freedom of speech, even when the speech itself disgusts me.
I've been trying different mobile organizers/devices since about 1989 and the Blackberry is the first one that's basically perfect.
I like computers. I like email. I like SMS. I like videogames. Hell, I like watching TELEVISION.
I don't understand this "computers are evil" meme that rises up at slashdot -- what the hell are you doing on this site, or working in tech, if you don't like computers or electronic devices? Unless, you're the kind of 'phone it in' asshats that make my working life less enjoyable -- not saying you are, but what the fuck?
I've taken vacations and turned off my phone, left the game systems behind, and gone someplace with no TV. It was nice and peaceful, just kicking it and reading books. I love me some books -- probably my favorite leisure activity.
But I've never been happier to come back from a vacation! Cell phones rule. Videogames rule. Email lets me interact with my wife about a million times more than I would if we didn't have it. Social networks enable me to stay involved in the lives of friends who live thousands of miles away -- and have them involved in my life too. Videogames let me interact with my son on levels I couldn't otherwise. Computers rule. I don't think my laptop has been more than 10 or 20 feet from me, other than if I'm out to eat, in months. Cell phones -- don't get me started! Do you remember trying to coordinating meeting up at a location before cell phones? It sucked! Cell phones are freaking sweet. My phone gives me directions, it tells me where traffic is, it enables email, people can call me on it. It has all my friends' contact info. It connects to the Web. It has an MP4 of the moon landing I can watch when I'm bored. It has MP3s of my favorite songs I can listen to. It's fucking rad!
Technology: It's a good thing!!
Second, assuming for a second the whole Christianity ball of wax is true, there's no reason that God wouldn't send down his other son, Skip, to some aliens, in a form they could understand. The ideals Jesus taught weren't restricted by a specific geography or biology. "Be nice to each other" might resonate as well on Argus-7 as it does on Sol-3.
I had a Mac IIcx with the same issues. When the drive (a Sony) first died, with no spinning (and no backups in the days of $500, 100MB drives), I was so frustrated I slammed down my fist on the top of the computer... and spun the drive up! After that I tried to avoid turning it off, or ever having the disc stop spinning, but if it did, I could always get it to start back up that way. I felt like Fonzi the IT guy...
My gf's mom was programming actuarial tables and systems back in the 1950s and 1960s on mainframes at an insurance co. When she retired maybe four or five years ago, a lot of her code was still running, and the PCs they had bought to replace the mainframe were simply interfacing with the mainframes. It became kind of a cargo cult thing: her code generated the correct results (as checked, back in the day, by hand), and the stuff done on the PCs didn't. She was a very hardcore programmer, but not super comfortable with GUIs or modern OSs. It was weird the first time I visited to see her computer room, which had on its bookshelf, AOL for Dummies next to the IBM 360 System Operator's Manual next to a copy of KidPix. Disconcerting.
Assuming you're innocent (which I assume everyone on /. is), you can always make a complete statement LATER, once you and the situation have cooled down and you've consulted an attorney. There is no ability for the state to say "he wouldn't say anything just after the car accident, therefore, he must have been culpable," for instance. You are almost never better off speaking to the cops "in the heat of the moment."
Anyone who has had kids and isn't a sociopath knows that guy was guilty.
If you state very clearly "I do not want to answer any questions without a lawyer here," the conversation is pretty much over.
Lesson: You do not want a POS POS.
I hope you weren't implying that other regions' cultures run businesses better... because if you were, you've clearly never worked with any!
I've worked with businesses on four continents, with say three different cultures (US/Canada, Euro/SouthAmerican, and Asian). All have their own style, and all of their styles are easily prone, in the hands of retards, to leading to crappy, disfunctional companies.
You can take any system you want -- six sigma, the Japan that can say No, or Yes, or whatever, EuroThis, hell, open any business book written in any language at any time ever -- and in the hands of smart, competant people, they all work fine. In the hands of yahoos, they all fail. There is nothing inherently wrong about the western system (not that there is even one monolithic "western system"), there's just good and bad managers and good and bad business decisions. Oh, and luck.
Turns out it takes less time and money to have one expert (eg a trained teen-ager) listen to what you want and enter it than it does to have you enter it yourself. A few Arbys in CA tried self-service terminals, but it was so confusing and impersonal they all switched back (or went under).
I have to admit I'm getting sick of this sloppy liberal referencing to 9/11 as the day the US became a fascist dictatorship. It's the modern equivilent of McCarthiesm -- it shuts down debate without offering any proof -- because there usually ISN'T any.
Seriously, anyone have any examples of the Federal Government limiting free speech since 9/11? Anyone?
The games on NES scrolled better and more smoothly than Commander Keen. Gran Turismo or Ridge Racer IV felt faster and smoother than Grand Prix Legends or CART Racing from Microsoft. I loved GPL and CART Racing, but there ya go.
I respect Alex St. John, but as Apple and MS proved, the most technically superior solution doesn't always win. For me, the choices are down more to comfort and ease than technology: TVs and couches are more comfortable environments than monitors and desk chairs. Disc --> console --> playing is easier and faster than PC startup --> install --> driver download --> install --> restart --> startup --> run --> crash --> patch --> STEAM ID check --> etc.
One of the most interesting things I've learned since working in videogames is that Australia is part of Europe (for the purposes of electronic media).
I recently posted a negative post about Vista and got 0: Trolled for my efforts. It wasn't even a trolling post. It was kind of weird.
Anyway, RIP Gary. Here's a link to a newspaper story: RIP .
They screw around in the aisle because everyone is getting situated at the same time. Plus, if they don't fly a lot, they are inevitably confused and asked a lot of questions... all in the aisle. You want the window seat people all seated before the sad middle row people even get on the plane in an ideal world.
Flying into Burbank is awesome because they use the old-school stairways, and do board and disembark from both the front and rear. It's pretty quick to get off the back, but then Burbank is a quick little airport all around. Plus you get to walk down the stairs like the President.
Southwest is getting hardcore about cracking down on this (and family "preboarding"), as complaints from their frequent business travellers increased. In Oakland, they pretty much want to see you bleeding to get a blue pre-board card, and of course, pre-boarders are no longer able to sit in Exit Row seats (aka Southwest's First Class). Southwest has basically re-ordered their entire system to cater more towards business travellers and less towards low cost infrequent fliers.
This is now the way Southwest boards, and it's quick and rational (as is their "no assigned seating" plan, especially for their typical short flights). Everyone gets a number, and the boarding is in groups of five. United has also tried (and still tries as far as I know) windows first, then middles, then aisles, but the system fails because of familes or others travelling together, all receiving the same boarding group. Also, "elite flyers" board first and screw everything up... United's system works pretty well most of the time though, but the real problem is you can't get everyone ready to board right when they open the doors, so it's never as rational as it should be (eg, some person in row 29 is going to board when row 18 is boarding and cause a traffic jam). Southwest's new system works well because they really don't care when you board or where you sit -- the line up is mostly so frequent flyers and early check-in-ers get the best choice of seats.
I was in a demo yesterday and the guys -- who were far from idiots -- just could not get their powerpoint to work correctly on the projector *they brought* because of Vista. Also, it made me want to kill them every time they clicked on something and it was slower than GEOS on the C64 to react. Then their game demo chugged at 10fps because it too was on a Vista machine. It's just horrible and worthess. Our IT dept downgrades every machine to XP and seriously at this point doesn't anticipate ever standardizing on Vista. For me personally, I took one look at Vista and bought a Mac as my home machine.
The sad thing is, I actually like XP. The Mac OS is good as well; much better than I remember from the first OSX. Considering I spend a ton of my time in the GUI switching between programs, GUI speed is paramount to me... thus, Vista is the worst.
Or maybe we'll go back to respecting efficiently written code, as opposed to tolerating things like chat programs that require ungodly amounts of RAM (Trillian, I'm looking at you), or OSes that require GBs of RAM (ahem, MS) and waste trillions of cycles due to shoddy programming, just because we have computers that can run 1000s of times faster than they did in the 80s... but provide essentially the same user experience and speed of execution.
I'm pretty sure the ThinkPad comes with the middle button enabling horizonal and vertical scrolling by default (all of mine have). I like the Mac's two finger scrolling for small things, bu the trackpoint + middle button is the scrolling champ IMHO.