Why does it have to be too late for saying you are opposed to this war? I see this type of thinking everywhere. I don't understand why people think that now that the fighting has started, those of us that are opposed have to shut up. I don't want ANYBODY to die for no reason at all, not just *our* troops. So, I will continue to speak in opposition to this unjust war/conflict/police action.
To the inevitable flame that will come my way:
No, the troops aren't fighting for my freedom of speech. They are fighting because Dubya doesn't understand what diplomacy is for.
No, Iraq had nothing to do with September 11th. In fact, Saddam Hussein is a socialist and Islamic freaks don't like the guy.
No, Iraq is not an immediate threat to anybody. Not even it's next door neighbors.
Saddam is not the only *evil* dictator in the world. Who is next? Uzbekistan? Zimbabwe? North Korea? Saudi Arabia? Pakistan? This tyrant argument should be applied evenly, not just in this case.
Yes, in fact, I do love French wine. Burgundy actually has some pretty good Chardonnays. And Wine Spectator just said that the 2000 Bordeaux's are the best in 39 years. If I had the cash, I'd buy a few bottles today.
Whew, I feel better. Now if this war would just end....
We all agree that legislating Spam out of existance isn't going to work, due to the international design of the Internet
International problem? That's easily solved. We'll just present the spam problem to the UN Security Council! The problem will be solved before you can say "Chief Weapons Inspector"
OK, a good idea. However, there are problems (aren't there always?).
At a place like UT, you have thousands of students. Every Year. It's a huge University. Remember, there are other campuses besides the main one at Austin. You have, in all likelihood, hundreds of thousands of alumni. So, the first problem is that, even if you start your new numbering immediately, you probably have 750,000 students, faculty, staff & alumni that are still at risk. (I'm just guessing at the number, it might be higher or lower).
First. All of the reports UT presently runs are based on an SSN as Key. You have to make sure your new numbering system doesn't screw up your reports.
Second. Any system interfaces also probably use SSN somewhere. Go out and check those interfaces to make sure your new number doesn't fuck them up.
Third. You still have to keep SSN available for the new students, in order to make sure they (or their parents) aren't lying on their Financial Aid Applications. Where do you put this new SSN field? You probably just used the ID field (the key field) when you checked on the students' family's credit before. That field is now randomly generated. Now, what do you do? You probably have to make a new field (non-key) on the database in order to store the SSN. That is unless you have a blank spot somewhere on your database.
Fourth. Whether you create a new, non-key field, or use that "oh , so rare" blank field on your database, you probably have to re-code your entry screen in order to make sure your new SSN field is required. And, you might have to put this new field on more than one record! Better check your business processes to see who all needs this field and who all can get it off of the student header record! Oh, this leads to the next point....
Fifth. You might have to re-check all of your interfaces to make sure this new field (the new, non-key SSN field) is included where it is necessary. One department that probably needs the SSN is the work-study department. They absolutely need the SSN for tax purposes. Oh, and don't forget Payroll. Payroll will need an SSN for any new Faculty and Staff, not to mention students on work-study. Make sure you send the new, non-key SSN to Payroll. There are probably other external systems that need the SSN for whatever reason. So, don't forget to include interfaces that impact ALL of the records you altered above! Every interface probably has to be reviewed to make sure the right data is being sent. And after reviewing all interfaces, it's probably a good idea to review them again. Chances are, you missed one.
Sixth. Damn. I still have 750,000 students and alumni that use SSN as a key field. How can I be sure to protect that data? Always remember the phrase "Does anyone here know how to apply the latest M$ Server Patch?"
I am sure, if I wasn't quite so buzzed on airline wine right now (I fly home on Thursdays), that I could think of a few other problems. But, it's way past my bedtime. So I'll stop and assume that I have made my point. Just remember, data conversion is never as easy as you think.
Either I must be misinterpreting your response and the O.P., or you are misinterpreting my reply to the O.P.. This is because I stronly disagree, it is not simple to just replace SSN with a sequential system.
The databases in question use SSN as a key field. They are all probably relational databases (parent/child records). You have to change the SSN on all of those old records, while making sure you don't destroy the parent/child relationships. Or you have to, as some schools have done, build an external system that uses sequential values as key, while still maintaining SSN for othe purposes.
As an ERP consultant (one of the few remaining), I deal with data conversions and renumberings all of the time (although mine are usually Accounts Payable and Purchasing in nature, not campus software related). Relational databases make the data conversions complex and very time consuming. And, in my case, I am taking legacy data and putting it into a blank database. I can't imagine the complexity of renumbering all of the SSN's in an existing system. Trust me if this job wasn't complex, I'd probably be selling trinkets on a beach today (although some might argue that I probabaly SHOULD be doing that today).:)
Is it really that hard for a university to assign sequential student numbers?
Nope. It isn't. If you want to open a college today, I'd suggest that you use sequential numbers. What is hard is taking a legacy system that has Social Security Number as THE key value and converting it to a sequential numbering system. Imagine all of the history you would have to convert in order to keep track of alumni, grades, class schedules, financial aid, health records, etc.
This leads to another question: Why would schools use SSN to begin with, when they could have used sequential numbers? I don't know, but I do have a theory. Almost everyone applies for Financial Aid. In order to apply, you provide a SSN. This way, the School can verify the information on your application through credit checks. Keeping the SSN as the key field would be a way to simplify all record keeping for you while still tying it back to your yearly financial aid application.
Have you every worked for a non-profit? It's pretty hard to get fired. People that work for non-profits tend to fall into the "touchy-feel" category. Imagine taking a corporation's HR department and staffing every single position throughout the non-profit with that type of personality. In other words, if you see ".gov", ".org", or ".edu", don't expect normal organizational behavior.
Even so, if there ever was an event that deserved a massive firing, this is it. Here's hoping my company doesn't pick up the newly unemployed.
Wow, and with this story [slashdot.org] still on the front page?
Not to be modded as redundant or anything, but ditto. (That makes me at least the third or fourth person that has had this thought).
Oh, M$ is targeting Privacy, all right. Targeting it for elimination. Or at least targeting it so they can own all the information about their users.
Boilerplate activism is one of the greatest inventions ever
Looked at it another way. "Boilerplate Activism" is simply snail-mail Spam. Oh, it doesn't crowd the outlook/lotus/groupwise, etc in-box. But, it crowds the mail system and is a nothing more than a waste of paper and stamps.
I am sure your non-profit group is doing somehting good for someone. However, you are basically a spam merchant. I hope your mailbox (e-mail and snail-mail) overflows with junk from now on.
the music industry is loosely associated with the war industry
Let's analyze a "snip" from your web-site:
*snip*
AOL Time-Warner is one of the remaining major label record companies and owns Atlantic, Elektra/Sire, Asylum, Reprise, Warner, American, Maverick, and others. It also owns AOL, which is involved in a co-venture with Hughes Electronics Corp called DirecTV. Hughes is owned 100% by General Motors. Hughes merged with Raytheon to form Hughes subsidiary Raytheon Industries. Raytheon Industries makes bombs.
*snip*
And Raytheon starred in "Footloose" with Kevin Bacon! YOU WIN!!!
Can you imagine actual "Live Music!"? "Concert Tours"?
Instead of making music just for video and rarely, if ever performing live, artists would be REQUIRED to perform their music in front of crowds, just so they could pay the bills!
I have to admit Britney/Justin both have toured in the past. The difference without a recording industry as we know it is that Britney would not START as a headlining artist. She would be forced to prove her musical ability in a tour of bars up and down the East Coast. If she could hack it, then she'd start moving up to headliner status.
Ah, I'm just dreaming. It'll never happen.
I would think a running individual would be more dangerous
Hmmm...A jogger goes about 5-7mph and weighs anywhere from 150 to 250lbs.
A Segway can go anywhere from 8 to 12mph and weighs 70 lbs more. Do the math, Sparky!
What is the color of the sky in your world?
Take my word for it, if you want to continue your free porn lifestyle, just keep her as a "girlfriend". Once you upgrade to "wife" and "children", you go back to your phone porn.
By the time a trailing repeater got there the planet would be in a different place
I doubt they could even get the trailer repeater to the same planet as the original without another whole support crew here on Earth. Wouldn't the changing gravitational pull of our Solar System's planets totally hose the direction of the repeater? (not the mention the changing gravitational pull of millions of floating objects elsewhere in space).
The probe's support crew is so busy worrying about the gravitational pull that the millions of objects place on the original probe, they wouldn't have the time to keep track of the repeater. Our tax dollars would have to support a second crew just to keep the repeater reasonably close to the probe.
Re:Science is open to everyone
on
Who Owns Science?
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Those that would steal their hard work because "Science is for everyone" doesn't quite grasp the concept of the reward system.
"Stealing" is not quite the word that I would use. Remember that every piece of science today is based upon someone elses past research. In order to develop and prove new theories, you have to "steal" from someone else. If you, as a researcher had NO information on widgits, how would you even start developing a theory? Most researchers would begin by finding out what everyone else thinks of Widgits and go from there.
This all reminds me of a quote I read in college (can't remember the person that created the quote). "Western Civilization is a footnote to Plato". This means Without Plato beginning political discourse, the western world would probably have developed in an entirely different manner. It's the same way in pure science. Without having someone to start, how do you develop your own theories?
I completely agree. I recently bought a new phone for my Sprint service (after the old phone decided it didn't want to work anymore). The 19-year old at Radio Shack showed me his Sprint phone, with the color screen and talked about how cool it was. Although it was cool, I could not figure out why I would need a color screen, when the phone would spend about 90% of it's time closed and the other 10% of it's time pressed against my ear.
Quicktime on a phone kind of reminds me of the new BMW 7-Series. Has anyone else seen the inside of this car? It has a new computer screen that controls every aspect of the car (audio, temperature, etc.) with a touch-sensitive, menu-driven screen. It's a neat idea, except for the fact that only an insane driver would mess with touch-screen menus at 70 miles per hour. This basic problem makes a $70,000 car about as useful as Quicktime on a phone.
I respectfully
disagree. IBM does a significant amount of strategic consulting and it is not just an outsourcing firm. In fact it is a rather large player in the ERP and strategic consulting world. PWC Consulting will be merged
with IBM Global Services Business Innovation Services division. Here is a list, from IBM's website, of all
of the services that BIS performs:
This work is
precisely what you define as consulting. Please note that much of this work is performed by thousands of
consultants (not the 33,000 that PWC has, but somewhere in the range of 8,000). So, respectfully, IBM does indeed a significant amount of what you define as consulting. And now, it will do even more.
IBM probably figures that they can make a big chunk
of change in this field two ways.
This will be moderated as redundant, but many of the posters here don't
seem to understand this fact: IBM Global Services has been making money at services and consulting
for a long time. In fact, they make more money at it than the drones
at Accenture do. Over 45% of IBM's revenue is from conslutting. 45%
of about $80 Billion a year is a nice "chunk of change".
I do agree that it is a win-win for IBM. And, it a perverted way, it's
a win for HP. They didn't mis-spend $18 Billion last year on PWC Consulting.
Although as someone already noted: Carly Fiorina must be going
nuts this morning.
The reason they aren't putting it in Charleston, SC is because Albany has RPI, Syracuse University, Cornell, NYU, Columbia, Yale, MIT and a whole slew of SUNY colleges all within about a three hour drive.
SC has Clemson and a bunch of Cocks (Gamecocks, that is).
Slashdot Mirror
Why does it have to be too late for saying you are opposed to this war? I see this type of thinking everywhere. I don't understand why people think that now that the fighting has started, those of us that are opposed have to shut up. I don't want ANYBODY to die for no reason at all, not just *our* troops. So, I will continue to speak in opposition to this unjust war/conflict/police action.
To the inevitable flame that will come my way:
No, the troops aren't fighting for my freedom of speech. They are fighting because Dubya doesn't understand what diplomacy is for.
No, Iraq had nothing to do with September 11th. In fact, Saddam Hussein is a socialist and Islamic freaks don't like the guy.
No, Iraq is not an immediate threat to anybody. Not even it's next door neighbors.
Saddam is not the only *evil* dictator in the world. Who is next? Uzbekistan? Zimbabwe? North Korea? Saudi Arabia? Pakistan? This tyrant argument should be applied evenly, not just in this case.
Yes, in fact, I do love French wine. Burgundy actually has some pretty good Chardonnays. And Wine Spectator just said that the 2000 Bordeaux's are the best in 39 years. If I had the cash, I'd buy a few bottles today.
Whew, I feel better. Now if this war would just end....
International problem? That's easily solved. We'll just present the spam problem to the UN Security Council! The problem will be solved before you can say "Chief Weapons Inspector"
That's MISTER Cubicle Code Monkey to you!
OK, a good idea. However, there are problems (aren't there always?).
At a place like UT, you have thousands of students. Every Year. It's a huge University. Remember, there are other campuses besides the main one at Austin. You have, in all likelihood, hundreds of thousands of alumni. So, the first problem is that, even if you start your new numbering immediately, you probably have 750,000 students, faculty, staff & alumni that are still at risk. (I'm just guessing at the number, it might be higher or lower).
First. All of the reports UT presently runs are based on an SSN as Key. You have to make sure your new numbering system doesn't screw up your reports.
Second. Any system interfaces also probably use SSN somewhere. Go out and check those interfaces to make sure your new number doesn't fuck them up.
Third. You still have to keep SSN available for the new students, in order to make sure they (or their parents) aren't lying on their Financial Aid Applications. Where do you put this new SSN field? You probably just used the ID field (the key field) when you checked on the students' family's credit before. That field is now randomly generated. Now, what do you do? You probably have to make a new field (non-key) on the database in order to store the SSN. That is unless you have a blank spot somewhere on your database.
Fourth. Whether you create a new, non-key field, or use that "oh , so rare" blank field on your database, you probably have to re-code your entry screen in order to make sure your new SSN field is required. And, you might have to put this new field on more than one record! Better check your business processes to see who all needs this field and who all can get it off of the student header record! Oh, this leads to the next point....
Fifth. You might have to re-check all of your interfaces to make sure this new field (the new, non-key SSN field) is included where it is necessary. One department that probably needs the SSN is the work-study department. They absolutely need the SSN for tax purposes. Oh, and don't forget Payroll. Payroll will need an SSN for any new Faculty and Staff, not to mention students on work-study. Make sure you send the new, non-key SSN to Payroll. There are probably other external systems that need the SSN for whatever reason. So, don't forget to include interfaces that impact ALL of the records you altered above! Every interface probably has to be reviewed to make sure the right data is being sent. And after reviewing all interfaces, it's probably a good idea to review them again. Chances are, you missed one.
Sixth. Damn. I still have 750,000 students and alumni that use SSN as a key field. How can I be sure to protect that data? Always remember the phrase "Does anyone here know how to apply the latest M$ Server Patch?"
I am sure, if I wasn't quite so buzzed on airline wine right now (I fly home on Thursdays), that I could think of a few other problems. But, it's way past my bedtime. So I'll stop and assume that I have made my point. Just remember, data conversion is never as easy as you think.
Either I must be misinterpreting your response and the O.P., or you are misinterpreting my reply to the O.P.. This is because I stronly disagree, it is not simple to just replace SSN with a sequential system.
The databases in question use SSN as a key field. They are all probably relational databases (parent/child records). You have to change the SSN on all of those old records, while making sure you don't destroy the parent/child relationships. Or you have to, as some schools have done, build an external system that uses sequential values as key, while still maintaining SSN for othe purposes.
As an ERP consultant (one of the few remaining), I deal with data conversions and renumberings all of the time (although mine are usually Accounts Payable and Purchasing in nature, not campus software related). Relational databases make the data conversions complex and very time consuming. And, in my case, I am taking legacy data and putting it into a blank database. I can't imagine the complexity of renumbering all of the SSN's in an existing system. Trust me if this job wasn't complex, I'd probably be selling trinkets on a beach today (although some might argue that I probabaly SHOULD be doing that today). :)
Nope. It isn't. If you want to open a college today, I'd suggest that you use sequential numbers. What is hard is taking a legacy system that has Social Security Number as THE key value and converting it to a sequential numbering system. Imagine all of the history you would have to convert in order to keep track of alumni, grades, class schedules, financial aid, health records, etc.
This leads to another question: Why would schools use SSN to begin with, when they could have used sequential numbers? I don't know, but I do have a theory. Almost everyone applies for Financial Aid. In order to apply, you provide a SSN. This way, the School can verify the information on your application through credit checks. Keeping the SSN as the key field would be a way to simplify all record keeping for you while still tying it back to your yearly financial aid application.
Have you every worked for a non-profit? It's pretty hard to get fired. People that work for non-profits tend to fall into the "touchy-feel" category. Imagine taking a corporation's HR department and staffing every single position throughout the non-profit with that type of personality. In other words, if you see ".gov", ".org", or ".edu", don't expect normal organizational behavior.
Even so, if there ever was an event that deserved a massive firing, this is it. Here's hoping my company doesn't pick up the newly unemployed.
Nope. It isn't Katz. Don't even know who Katz is. I'm just me. What? You don't remember who I am?
I was whacked by Sollazzo.
Wow, and with this story [slashdot.org] still on the front page? Not to be modded as redundant or anything, but ditto. (That makes me at least the third or fourth person that has had this thought). Oh, M$ is targeting Privacy, all right. Targeting it for elimination. Or at least targeting it so they can own all the information about their users.
Boilerplate activism is one of the greatest inventions ever
Looked at it another way. "Boilerplate Activism" is simply snail-mail Spam. Oh, it doesn't crowd the outlook/lotus/groupwise, etc in-box. But, it crowds the mail system and is a nothing more than a waste of paper and stamps.
I am sure your non-profit group is doing somehting good for someone. However, you are basically a spam merchant. I hope your mailbox (e-mail and snail-mail) overflows with junk from now on.
Agreed!
I just bought an Atari 2600. Now they come out with this Sega Saturn console. The bastards!
the music industry is loosely associated with the war industry
Let's analyze a "snip" from your web-site:
*snip*
AOL Time-Warner is one of the remaining major label record companies and owns Atlantic, Elektra/Sire, Asylum, Reprise, Warner, American, Maverick, and others. It also owns AOL, which is involved in a co-venture with Hughes Electronics Corp called DirecTV. Hughes is owned 100% by General Motors. Hughes merged with Raytheon to form Hughes subsidiary Raytheon Industries. Raytheon Industries makes bombs.
*snip*
And Raytheon starred in "Footloose" with Kevin Bacon! YOU WIN!!!
Can you imagine actual "Live Music!"? "Concert Tours"?
Instead of making music just for video and rarely, if ever performing live, artists would be REQUIRED to perform their music in front of crowds, just so they could pay the bills!
I have to admit Britney/Justin both have toured in the past. The difference without a recording industry as we know it is that Britney would not START as a headlining artist. She would be forced to prove her musical ability in a tour of bars up and down the East Coast. If she could hack it, then she'd start moving up to headliner status.
Ah, I'm just dreaming. It'll never happen.
I would think a running individual would be more dangerous
Hmmm...A jogger goes about 5-7mph and weighs anywhere from 150 to 250lbs.
A Segway can go anywhere from 8 to 12mph and weighs 70 lbs more. Do the math, Sparky!
What is the color of the sky in your world?
Porn wants to be free. Get a girlfriend.
Take my word for it, if you want to continue your free porn lifestyle, just keep her as a "girlfriend". Once you upgrade to "wife" and "children", you go back to your phone porn.
By the time a trailing repeater got there the planet would be in a different place
I doubt they could even get the trailer repeater to the same planet as the original without another whole support crew here on Earth. Wouldn't the changing gravitational pull of our Solar System's planets totally hose the direction of the repeater? (not the mention the changing gravitational pull of millions of floating objects elsewhere in space).
The probe's support crew is so busy worrying about the gravitational pull that the millions of objects place on the original probe, they wouldn't have the time to keep track of the repeater. Our tax dollars would have to support a second crew just to keep the repeater reasonably close to the probe.
Those that would steal their hard work because "Science is for everyone" doesn't quite grasp the concept of the reward system.
"Stealing" is not quite the word that I would use. Remember that every piece of science today is based upon someone elses past research. In order to develop and prove new theories, you have to "steal" from someone else. If you, as a researcher had NO information on widgits, how would you even start developing a theory? Most researchers would begin by finding out what everyone else thinks of Widgits and go from there.
This all reminds me of a quote I read in college (can't remember the person that created the quote). "Western Civilization is a footnote to Plato". This means Without Plato beginning political discourse, the western world would probably have developed in an entirely different manner. It's the same way in pure science. Without having someone to start, how do you develop your own theories?
I completely agree. I recently bought a new phone for my Sprint service (after the old phone decided it didn't want to work anymore). The 19-year old at Radio Shack showed me his Sprint phone, with the color screen and talked about how cool it was. Although it was cool, I could not figure out why I would need a color screen, when the phone would spend about 90% of it's time closed and the other 10% of it's time pressed against my ear.
Quicktime on a phone kind of reminds me of the new BMW 7-Series. Has anyone else seen the inside of this car? It has a new computer screen that controls every aspect of the car (audio, temperature, etc.) with a touch-sensitive, menu-driven screen. It's a neat idea, except for the fact that only an insane driver would mess with touch-screen menus at 70 miles per hour. This basic problem makes a $70,000 car about as useful as Quicktime on a phone.
A little geography:
1) Upstate begins just North of Harlem.
2) Long Island begins where the Queensborough Bridge ends.
3) and Staten Island? Fahgettabbaahttit! It's in Jersey.
Of course, I come from Pittsburgh, so I am obviously an expert.
I respectfully disagree. IBM does a significant amount of strategic consulting and it is not just an outsourcing firm. In fact it is a rather large player in the ERP and strategic consulting world. PWC Consulting will be merged with IBM Global Services Business Innovation Services division. Here is a list, from IBM's website, of all of the services that BIS performs:
Application Management Services for Enterprise Applications
Buy and Supply Solutions
Customer Relationship Management Services
Dynamic Workplaces
e-business Integration Solutions
Enterprise Application Services/ERP
Portals, Knowledge and Content Management Services
Procurement Services
Product Lifecycle Management Services
Security and Privacy Services
Strategy and Change Consulting
Supply Chain Management Services
Wireless e-business Solutions
This work is precisely what you define as consulting. Please note that much of this work is performed by thousands of consultants (not the 33,000 that PWC has, but somewhere in the range of 8,000). So, respectfully, IBM does indeed a significant amount of what you define as consulting. And now, it will do even more.
IBM probably figures that they can make a big chunk of change in this field two ways.
This will be moderated as redundant, but many of the posters here don't seem to understand this fact: IBM Global Services has been making money at services and consulting for a long time. In fact, they make more money at it than the drones at Accenture do. Over 45% of IBM's revenue is from conslutting. 45% of about $80 Billion a year is a nice "chunk of change".
I do agree that it is a win-win for IBM. And, it a perverted way, it's a win for HP. They didn't mis-spend $18 Billion last year on PWC Consulting. Although as someone already noted: Carly Fiorina must be going nuts this morning.
Beer Drinking? In Ireland? I'm shocked! Shocked, I say!
Upstate is anything North of Yankee Stadium.
The reason they aren't putting it in Charleston, SC is because Albany has RPI, Syracuse University, Cornell, NYU, Columbia, Yale, MIT and a whole slew of SUNY colleges all within about a three hour drive.
SC has Clemson and a bunch of Cocks (Gamecocks, that is).
He only went halfway is correct. But not for your reason. He only went halfway because he used a drip (gasp) coffee maker. Real men only drink perk.