BTW, I think this is not the first article on the subject. I hope Slashdot hasn't just invented a new recurrent troll, are we going to have to moderate down "Wikipedia is dying" posts as well ?
concerning whistleblowers who want to draw attention on possible security breaches inside a company, and who've been hit on hard both by corporations and justice every time it happened so far ?
Bah non, hein, et pis en 44 de toutes façons nos invincibles commandos de la Résistance étaient sur le point de fiche les Nazis dehors à grands coups de pompe dans le derrière. Et si c'était pas les Ricains qui avaient débarqué, ben on aurait vécu heureux dans le bloc de l'Est quand même, hein, ya pas de raison ?
Allez Pépé, on va rentrer, c'est l'heure de tes gouttes...
I don't. Of course it is most obvious in the US politics (particularly with the Bush/Cheney government), but in most of the countries with at least one major oil company (UK with BP, France with TOTAL, the Netherlands with Shell) I seriously doubt that no oil-funded lobbyist ever tries to influence politicians...
because every time you fill up your gas tank, you put more money into Saudi and Iranian pockets, and you end up subsidizing Al Qaeda, Hizb'Allah and Hamas. And the more you go gas-guzzling, the higher the Brent goes, and the more money they have to pursue their criminal projects.
Of course, it would probably be easier if your politicians were not so tightly related to the big oil companies, but that's another story. Or is it ?
And mod me down all you like, I have plenty of karma to burn. Burning karma does not produce greenhouse gases:-)
Good thing I don't want kids, or a genetic legacy.
Talking about behavior/psychology, it is probably the other way around : you don't want kids, and therefore, unwittingly, you are attracted to your wife only when she's the least likely to get pregnant. IANAP (I am not a psychoanalyst) but I think Dr Freud would certainly like to have a word with you...:-)
A few studies mentioned in this Wikipedia page tend to demonstrate that there could be a benefit in drinking red wine because of polyphenols. These studies have been wildly popular on "zis side of ze pond" particularly among wine traders and farmers. And doctors, too. My father, who has a heart disease, has been prescribed at least half a glass of red wine a day (which pisses him off, because he hates red wine !).
Finding out who paid for these studies and the publicizing of their results, is another story... With alcohol and wine lobbies strongly rooted in the french political life, and recently getting into academic funding, you should always follow the money before you make your mind about these studies...
Maybe not for the Bay of Fundy, but take a look at this one , the Rance tidal power plant. Granted, it is (to the best of my knowledge) the biggest of its kind in the world.
240 MW is pretty good. However, it's only 1/4 of what a basic single reactor (900 MW) in a nuclear power-plant can produce. But there are other technologies, similar to windmills, that can be deployed at a lower cost, and without the disadvantages of building a dam on the estuary of a river : take a look at this study.
and the fact that we don't have a big exploration goal.
Can't agree more. What about a national (or even better, international) research & industrialization program focused on renewable energy ? That is also a worthwhile exploration goal (think of hydrogen fusion, if we put the same effort on it as the US govt put on the lunar space program in the 60s...).
Not only would it help industrialized countries wean off of fossil fuels, but such an effort would also boost the economic activity in these countries, most of which have been severely affected by the massive outsourcing wave of the late 90s/early 2000s.
It would certainly be more beneficial to science and industry as a whole than trying to invade yet another oil-producing country.
OK, rant. THE CUSTOMER SHOULD NOT DRIVE DEVELOPMENT. There I've said it. The customer has no figgen clue about what development is or means.
"the customer *usually* has no figgen clue" would be a better way to put it.
Here I am in a position where my company, as a customer, has asked a software company for a piece of software (a Java GUI for the hardware we produce, to be specific) a few months ago, with a number of evolutions on that software. The trouble was, since that company could not afford to have a man in charge for the maintenance of that specific project, the evolutions were done by 3 or 4 different engineers, all of them seemingly new to Java development.
Recently, since my company can now afford to dedicate one of their own software developers on the task, we asked for the code and the documentation of the project, and I got into it. Some of the code and the design is pretty good, but some of it has obviously been rushed out, and some of the engineers who worked on it had no idea what they were doing (working on bit masks with additions and subtractions instead of logical ORs and ANDs ? sheesh ! and let's not talk about critical sections and semaphores...)
So, certainly, the customer should have no say in the way the development is done. OK. But you better make damn sure that the code you deliver is clean, and has been proof-read at least once by a senior developer that knows his/her job. I'm not saying that the code should be 100% bug-free, nobody can do that in a reasonable time. I'm only saying that the code should not contain obvious goofs such as the ones I mentioned before, and that it should at least be clean and maintainable. Otherwise your customers will certainly make it clear that they will have no more business with you.
BTW, thanks for taking the time to make well-reasoned answers to all the posts that your rant has generated. I really appreciate that.
Please read the article. The problem is not with the contract in itself, but with the "letter of intent" that majors have the artists sign. Basically that "letter of intent" is a promise made by the artists that they will engage a contract with the major. The trouble is... you can't cancel that letter of intent (and this is usually not specified anywhere on the letter -- so unless you are experienced with such legal traps, you have no idea what you are really getting into).
You can't withdraw from your engagement ! So when presented with a contract, however bad its terms, you have to sign it, and forget about calling it off : the letter of intent has locked you into the process.
Slashdot Mirror
BTW, I think this is not the first article on the subject. I hope Slashdot hasn't just invented a new recurrent troll, are we going to have to moderate down "Wikipedia is dying" posts as well ?
Now THAT is a question worthy of an answer... we're seeking for an answer to the same question on ths side of the pond too (France).
concerning whistleblowers who want to draw attention on possible security breaches inside a company, and who've been hit on hard both by corporations and justice every time it happened so far ?
Bah non, hein, et pis en 44 de toutes façons nos invincibles commandos de la Résistance étaient sur le point de fiche les Nazis dehors à grands coups de pompe dans le derrière. Et si c'était pas les Ricains qui avaient débarqué, ben on aurait vécu heureux dans le bloc de l'Est quand même, hein, ya pas de raison ?
Allez Pépé, on va rentrer, c'est l'heure de tes gouttes...
- Party rep A
- Party rep B
- Increase the size of your penis
You forgot4. Death by ooga-booga.
+1 witty, +1 sarcastic and +1 insightful.
I think I have a few suggestions for that design. Here is an example of a one-person vehicle running (mostly) on sugar. Here's another.
The main issue with both of these is efficiency. It could be measured in terms of "miles per bushell of oatmeal", I guess...
Somehow, neither Schick, nor Gillette or Wilkinson ever came up with a multi-bladed guillotine.
"The first blade cuts off the head, the second one prevents it from growing back". :-)
I don't. Of course it is most obvious in the US politics (particularly with the Bush/Cheney government), but in most of the countries with at least one major oil company (UK with BP, France with TOTAL, the Netherlands with Shell) I seriously doubt that no oil-funded lobbyist ever tries to influence politicians...
Of course, it would probably be easier if your politicians were not so tightly related to the big oil companies, but that's another story. Or is it ?
And mod me down all you like, I have plenty of karma to burn. Burning karma does not produce greenhouse gases :-)
Well I for one am glad that the DMCA is about circumvention, not circumcision !
Actually, kindergarten (2 y Early bilingualism brings kids an advantage when learning other languages later on.
Oh man, where are my mod points where I need them ? Mod parent up, big time !
Aren't there places where selling condoms to minors is forbidden anyway ? So getting out and buying them might not even be an option...
Talking about behavior/psychology, it is probably the other way around : you don't want kids, and therefore, unwittingly, you are attracted to your wife only when she's the least likely to get pregnant. IANAP (I am not a psychoanalyst) but I think Dr Freud would certainly like to have a word with you... :-)
- And a Beowulf cluster of... [BANG!]
(Whew, got him !)
Finding out who paid for these studies and the publicizing of their results, is another story... With alcohol and wine lobbies strongly rooted in the french political life, and recently getting into academic funding, you should always follow the money before you make your mind about these studies...
240 MW is pretty good. However, it's only 1/4 of what a basic single reactor (900 MW) in a nuclear power-plant can produce. But there are other technologies, similar to windmills, that can be deployed at a lower cost, and without the disadvantages of building a dam on the estuary of a river : take a look at this study.
Where are my mod points when I need them ? +1 Insightcastic.
There, you asked for it.
Not only would it help industrialized countries wean off of fossil fuels, but such an effort would also boost the economic activity in these countries, most of which have been severely affected by the massive outsourcing wave of the late 90s/early 2000s.
It would certainly be more beneficial to science and industry as a whole than trying to invade yet another oil-producing country.
Here I am in a position where my company, as a customer, has asked a software company for a piece of software (a Java GUI for the hardware we produce, to be specific) a few months ago, with a number of evolutions on that software. The trouble was, since that company could not afford to have a man in charge for the maintenance of that specific project, the evolutions were done by 3 or 4 different engineers, all of them seemingly new to Java development.
Recently, since my company can now afford to dedicate one of their own software developers on the task, we asked for the code and the documentation of the project, and I got into it. Some of the code and the design is pretty good, but some of it has obviously been rushed out, and some of the engineers who worked on it had no idea what they were doing (working on bit masks with additions and subtractions instead of logical ORs and ANDs ? sheesh ! and let's not talk about critical sections and semaphores...)
So, certainly, the customer should have no say in the way the development is done. OK. But you better make damn sure that the code you deliver is clean, and has been proof-read at least once by a senior developer that knows his/her job. I'm not saying that the code should be 100% bug-free, nobody can do that in a reasonable time. I'm only saying that the code should not contain obvious goofs such as the ones I mentioned before, and that it should at least be clean and maintainable. Otherwise your customers will certainly make it clear that they will have no more business with you.
BTW, thanks for taking the time to make well-reasoned answers to all the posts that your rant has generated. I really appreciate that.
You can't withdraw from your engagement ! So when presented with a contract, however bad its terms, you have to sign it, and forget about calling it off : the letter of intent has locked you into the process.