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User: dogfart

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  1. Other tributes - "rock and roll minor planets" on Asteroid Named After Douglas Adams · · Score: 1

    http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/special/rocknrol l/RockAndRoll.html gives a list of other interplanetary tributes to popular culture heroes - some deceased (Frank Zappa, John Lennon), some aparently still alive (Enya)

  2. Re:Been Done on Build Your Own MP3 Player · · Score: 1
    Wow! Even cooler than the tuna-tin HF transmitter:

    http://www.electronicsusa.com/tt2.html

  3. GPL = Gnu Public Lager on Build Your Own BSD Beer Brewing Control System · · Score: 1
    the license for the open source brew.

    Now we will need an annual BSD brew-hike. http://www.lbw2000.eu.org/

  4. What modes were used? on Ham Radio Served as Main Link to Disaster Area · · Score: 1
    The article doesn't say - so I'd have to assume voice via Single Sideband and morse code.

    There are some very good ham digital modes suited to the high-frequency bands where l;ong distance communication is possible via reflection from the ionosphere. PSK31 works well for keyboard-to-keyboard use. Of particular note here is a system known as winlink (yes it is windows based). It is specifically designed for text email communications to and from remote locations where other communciations infrastructure does not exist or is extremely expensive.

    A good reference to winlink is http://www.winlink.org/ . The status of winlink stations in tsunami affected areas is given at http://www.bur.st/~philsuth/tsunami_status.html

  5. Re:WTG Russia. on US to Pay to go to ISS · · Score: 1
    how excally does 'mankind' benifit from by going into space?

    You mean the invention of Tang and Space Food Sticks aren't good enough for you?

    http://www.retrofuture.com/spacefood.html

  6. Re: WHAT IDIOT MODDED HIM DOWN? on FCC Claims Regulatory Power Over Home Computers · · Score: 1
    I think Bush is a great leader and visionary

    One person's vision is another person's nightmare

  7. Re:You're guessing? on Google Censors Abu Ghraib Images [updated] · · Score: 4, Insightful
    And as a business they are still subject to political pressure. What the government can't block overtly, they can get their surrogates in the private sector to block with a little "persuasion". Thus the government can make it very difficult for the public to find images (or other information) that is unfavorable to the government. The net result is the same, without all the nastiness associated with direct government censorship.

    Yes, I know that the average Slashdot reader can find these images elsewhere. The average just-barely-computer-literate AOL user doesn't know this, doesn't want to make the effort, or just assumes if Google doesn't have it then there is something wrong with having these images available.

  8. Re:Blacksmith? on The Extinction of the Programming Species · · Score: 1
    No, the blacksmith just becomes an automobile repair mechanic. Serves a very similar function, requires updated skills though I'd imagine for early autos the transition wasn't too difficult. Mechanically, the first autos were carriages powered by engines rather than horses. The tools and techniques of carriage repair were likely very similar, as long as you mastered the engine. Only gradually did the automobile become something entirely different from the horse-drawn buggie.

    The same types of problems will need to be solved. The tools and technical knowledge will change. The change will be incremental. You can learn the techniques to make the transition from one set of tools to another. Your prior experience in solving problems will still be very valuable.

  9. Re:not a bank :) on Paypal Grinds To A Halt · · Score: 1
    Banks are required to have some very serious backup and recovery capabilities.
    In recent years, information technology has expanded rapidly throughout the corporate structure of financial institutions. It includes operations such as central computer processing, distributed processing, end user computing, local area networking, and nationwide telecommunications. These operations often represent critical services to institutions and their customers. The loss or extended disruption of these business operations poses substantial risk of financial loss and could lead to the failure of an institution. As a result, contingency planning now requires an institution-wide emphasis, as opposed merely focusing on centralized computer operations.
    from http://www.bankersonline.com/security/sec_ffiecsp5 .html . Banks are audited very heavily for items such as this. Banks with inadequate disaster recovery plans are leaned on very heavily.
  10. Re:Centralized planning at last! on Inside Wal-Mart IT · · Score: 1

    This post begs for a "in Soviet Russia" response!

  11. Re:Not outsourcing - from a business point of view on Inside Wal-Mart IT · · Score: 1
    Over the long run, the market will do the right thing if you let it be.

    In the long run, we will all be dead anyway.

  12. Re:You don't on Persuading A City To Go Wireless? · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I actually find that many government agencies provide better customer service than many for-profit entities. Perhaps because government customers are voters, while private sectors customers are a cost to be minimized (e.g. post-sales support).

    I get a much prompter response from the California DMV than I do from SBC Global, Earthlink or just about any other private entity.. It actually shocked me that I was able to set up a DMV appointment so effortlessly without being on hold for 30 minutes, going through multiple useless IVR options, or having my call dropped for no reason and having to start over. All of these annoyances are just standard for private sector so-called customer support.

    A municipally run utility is less likely to cooperate with Patriot Act searches than a large national ISP dependent on Federal government favors. Remember many cities have gone on record opposing the Patriot Act, and many local police departments have witheld cooperation from the Feds (where they can). Cities tend to be subject to open government laws, requiring that their actions be available to members of the public - as opposed to private companies that can seal their records up at their whim.

  13. So it's management's fault! on Genesis: Data in good condition · · Score: 1
    Th engineers don't get the ass-chewing, the PHB in charge of "command and control" gets the blame.

    Another first for the space program! Headlines: "Management Accepts Blame, Engineers OK"

  14. Consider changing your exterios landscaping on Home Defense, Geek Style? · · Score: 1
    Poison Oak will, if not an actual deterrent, at least make the intruder easy to spot after the fact.

    Plants with sharp thorns are also good, serving as an effective deterrent

    The following Web site has more information for the horticulturally inclined: http://www.infowest.com/business/g/gentle/pp.html

  15. Re:Never fails on Home Defense, Geek Style? · · Score: 1

    I heard a Yugo did get stolen once. The thief returned it the next day.

  16. Consider the breed on Home Defense, Geek Style? · · Score: 1
    Rottweilers and German Shepards are good. Rottwielers are bigger and can do more damage, but German Shepards are very loyal and very territorial - they will not stand for someone messing with you and will fight very hard to defend their pack (meaning you, the dog owner). If you search for dogs that have defended their owners against intruders, you will find most of them are German Shepards.

    I wouldn't get a Pitbull for protection. They look intimidating but are often not really agressive towards strangers (human strangers that is). They are more a fighting breed than a protection breed.

  17. Re:The race for the bottom on An Independent Study on Offshoring IT? · · Score: 1
    What I want to know, is why someone with a $90k job feels it's their right to have that job

    Let's try some of these reasons:

    • Because you are proudly non-union, and you believe that having achieved a worth of $90,000 all by you own individual efforts, that having this job taken away is a form of theft.
    • Because you are proudly non-union, and you always thought outsourcing was for overpaid auto-workers who deserve to lose their jobs for being overpaid union hacks
    • Because you are a proud individualist who believes in the American system, and you have worked 80-hour weeks, maintained your technical skills at your own expense, and skillfully placed yourself into better paying jobs as is your right as an American.
    • Because if you take away from people the notion that hard work, education, and skill can give them a better life, you have destroyed their motivation, and you will ultimately end up with a cynical, dissaffected, and unmotivated populace.
    Eliminating jobs from people who have worked hard by playing the game well will ultimately create a very ugly society. I believe we are already seeing the political consequences of the destruction of the middle classes. If this trend continues, it will get worse. We are heading to a state like that of a banana republic run by a military junta, with extremes of wealth and poverty, with high crime equally by high levels of represseion.

    Economic actions have political consequences.

  18. Re:The race for the bottom on An Independent Study on Offshoring IT? · · Score: 1
    For the moment, it's hardly as if people can move to a place where there's a lot lower cost of living and follow the jobs. Instead they have to wait for equilibrium to be reached

    Neoclassical economists love to argue that in the long run markets will be more efficient, and result in greater wealth for all.

    John Maynard Keynes' observation on this:

    In the long run, we will all be dead.
    Achieving equilibrium can take longer than your natural life
  19. Re:This is what happens when on Stress Costs U.S. $300 Billion a Year · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Why do the people working in corporate america have this attitude ? Is it just plain fear?

    Short answer: Yes

    Longer answer: Employee are expendable in the USA. You may be let go for not being a "team player" and working the extra hours your peers work. This creates a competitive atmsphere where no one wants to be seen as the slacker. Once you have been let go, you lose your benefits (yes you can continue your health benefits at a very high cost under a program called COBRA, but that is short term and ver expensive). Unemployment benefits are very small compared to any salaried position - you must have a very frugal lifestyle to live on unemployment (also some employers are very skilled at "terminating" employees in such a way that they are unable to collect unemployment at all). Finally, folks who have been terminated are treated like pariahs by many potential employers. I know this from being on the hiring end - "If this person were any good, why were they let go?"

    When you have been through this, you have the requisite level of fear necessary to ensure you will not get let go again. You colleagues who acted frightened about your lunch suggestion may have been through this.

    Really, the American economic system is all about fear and greed.

  20. Voter registration information is public knowledge on Secret Service Seeks Indymedia Logs · · Score: 1
    Anyone can find out my declared party preference. If I choose to donate to a candidate, this is public knowledge as well. There are in fact Web sites ( http://www.opensecrets.org ) that publish this information. You can find whose campaign your neighbors, boss or ex-whatever have donated to.

    Given that all this information is publicly available, why is publishing a list of presidential nominating delegates "intimidation"?

    And what sort of political party thinks they need to keep these names secret?

  21. Hunters aren't the enemy on Secret Service Seeks Indymedia Logs · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The small damage hunters may do to the environment does not begin to compare to the damage caused by habitat destruction. One large upscale ski resort is far more destructive to wildlife. Hunters in fact have a vested interest in preserving habitat

  22. Thank God! I'm Safe on Top Banned Books of 2003 · · Score: 1
    Walter the Farting Dog isn't on the list!

    There's hope for America's children yet!

  23. Re:In the long run, we will all benefit on Outsourcing is Good for You · · Score: 1
    Keynes was being sarcastic. Neoclassical economics assumes a utopia at an equilibrium state. Problem is, it takes forever to get there.

    Bush isn't smart enough to mean this. Bush is very literal. That is scary.

  24. So you actually *made* money in Amway? on Outsourcing is Good for You · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sounds like you discovered the secret of multi-level marketing. Sssh.. before someone patents your idea.

  25. In the long run, we will all benefit on Outsourcing is Good for You · · Score: 4, Insightful

    But as the economist John Maynard Keynes said, "In the long run, we will all be dead."