In a socialist system it's less likely that malcontents will have the opportunity to complain. So it doesn't matter if you have stupid management, or not.
> Living your life on the basis of preparing for the collapse of civilization makes as much sense as building a nuclear bunker in your garden in case an asteroid hits.
That's true.
Lucky it's not what I was talking about.
Making some modest preparations to ride out a temporary infrastructure collapse bears resemblance to weirdos preparing for the permanent collapse of civilization only in that the two groups share some of the same supplies.
It could be something as simple as a natural disaster that takes out power for a few weeks. Tell me that's never happened. In such a scenario, it might be a good idea to have enough food and power to get through it. (Don't forget pet food.) In areas where power is questionable, like in a hurricane zone, it might be a good idea to have an alternate source of power for your food storage (fridge and freezer). My solar array is somewhat portable; two people can carry it inside during a storm, carry it back out afterwards, and then I have power for radio and food storage. Light is provided by hurricane lanterns (decorative when not in use) and cooking by wood stove (which is economical when power is going, essential when power is not). This is not crazy redneck stuff but practical, renewable and cost effective.
Realistically, preparing for a permanent collapse is more difficult than people realize. You are essentially back to pioneer level, where the only tools you have, after the cool high tech stuff wears out, are the tools you can make with your own hands. Obviously, no amount of stockpiling will get you through that.
But there are a lot of scenarios having absolutely nothing to do with the collapse of civilization, ranging to inconvenient to mildly dangerous, where a few goods laid by and a few hundred watts of alternate energy and a method of communication that doesn't use land lines or cell towers (or 2 meter repeaters! hams sometimes forget this) might come in handy. It's not a paranoid fantasy any more than carrying flares and a first aid kit in your car speaks of a paranoid fantasy that you're going to have a horrible accident.
Speaking of cars, in my youth, my wife and I once spent the night in a parking lot in the car when the pass was closed by unusual snowfall. It got a mite hungry. Now I have a small emergency kit in each car that besides modest medical supplies and a maglight, containes water and concentrated rations for three days. I assure you, I do not have a paranoid fantasy about being stuck in the snow again.
In summary, it's not about going horribly wrong. It's about going recoverably wrong for some relatively short period of time. Back on topic, if you don't think amateur radio is useful in natural disasters, there are a lot of references. Start with http://www.arrl.org/emergency-radio-org.
That would explain some of the comments I've seen on Amazon recently for knock-offs made in China. The pattern is usually; several people make negative comments about the quality or usability of an item, or point out a flaw that makes the item practically useless. You then get several posts within a short span of time praising the product, and (usually) saying that the others didn't follow instructions or didn't know how to use the product. The praising comments are usually in questionable syntax and tend to use the same phrases over and over.
Mind you, there *are* people who don't know how to use products they've purchased and blame the product, but it's odd that in some cases there are many who can't get a product to work, a few that think the product is great, and in all cases the few appear to know English only sparsely.
Not the backwoods, redneck kind, but a lot of young modern geeks, are quietly investing in what is considered classic survivalist preparation. Two big factors are: (1) How to sustainably generate power sans the grid, and (2) how to communicate over distance when the networks are down. I think you're seeing an uptick because of a reduction in confidence that society will hold together. Not necessarily resigned to collapse, but taking reasonable precautions.
> Personally, I don't care much about the user. I care about the system. I have no control over the user. He can delete every single file in his workspace, for all I care.
It's true that as administrators, we have no or very little control over the user, but we should remember, the system by itself is just a space heater and noise maker; it's users who give it purpose. Even if you secretly don't give a rat's behind for the user, it's not a good idea to say so -- else three or four companies start competing for the IT contract with "well, WE care about the user". And then you keep your job only by agreeing to move to Mumbai and work for prevailing wage.
The OS is easily reloaded, but the user data may be mission critical and irreplaceable. Lessee, which is more important to the company?
I understand what you're saying, and have observed that in my kid. Our solution (your mileage may vary) is to watch nothing in real time. Everything is prerecorded in some fashion. This helps all of us, but especially the kid, to make the TV our slave rather than being a slave to the tv. So at a very early age, when I need her attention, kid will instinctively reach out for the stop button so she can pay attention to me without missing any of the dialog. There is no such thing as "wait until the show's over" at our house. We leave when it's time to leave, and the kid picks up where she left off when we get back. (Right now she's going through all of Criminal Minds.)
As to whether this is healthier, I have no idea. On my way into work I listen to the news in real time, and I find myself reaching for a non-existent rewind button if I missed something interesting. (Like emergency routes out of the city...) But for us, TV is something we watch when we want to watch it, and for as long as we want to watch it, and no more than that. If any of us has to take a potty break, or get a refill, or make a comment longer than five seconds, the show gets paused. Since we don't watch commercials, the amount of time in front of the tv is still less than were it live, even with pauses.
What this does do is really mess up network planning. Tactics like Sandwitching an unpopular show between two winners to drum up viewership doesn't work if you only watch what you want to watch and nothing else. The concept of "prime time" and peak weekdays and dualing timeslots and even networks lose their meaning. I don't watch much TV anyway, but after programming the appliance, I couldn't even identify the network for most of the shows. (That's what IMDB is for.) Although I do follow directors and cast because they might do something else that's interesting.
I strongly suspect that the conventional network TV industry is basically running on inertia right now. I think the "tv tray" mentality, where you sit back in your barcolounger and watch whatever is on until it's time to go to bed, will die with the boomer generation. (Of which I am one, but I'm a geek, and we're usually on the leading edge of things technological.) I heard recently that some shows are going directly to Netflix now, without ever having been on network TV, and I suspect that something like it is the wave of the future.
In other words, technology finds a way, if you let it.
Um, well, ur, that's a good point. But it does go along with the business model of "code reuse at all costs, and then layer something else on top to fix it".
People are annoyed that Microsoft is making their OS *more* secure?
Really, I wouldn't worry about it, I'm sure there will be plenty of attack vectors. (I could be snarky and say "this is Microsoft after all" but I won't. Oops, I just did.) What it comes down to is, you build a better mousetrap, nature builds better mice.
You might try outdoor grade signal boosters. I've had some decent luck with them. There's no substitute for power. That might reduce the number of hops, improving latency and cutting down on retries.
> Apple, Google and Amazon think their balls are all shiny and they're doing something new, but they're not.
You know, they probably don't even think they're doing something new. They're counting on us believing them when they tell us they're doing something new.
Slashdot Mirror
Or at least look like mangos.
In a socialist system it's less likely that malcontents will have the opportunity to complain. So it doesn't matter if you have stupid management, or not.
> but that's only because most socialist nations can't afford to shoot everyone who doesn't meet their production metrics.
Well, yes, they eventually stabilize at that point, but it can be fairly hairy on the early, steep end of the curve.
> Living your life on the basis of preparing for the collapse of civilization makes as much sense as building a nuclear bunker in your garden in case an asteroid hits.
That's true.
Lucky it's not what I was talking about.
Making some modest preparations to ride out a temporary infrastructure collapse bears resemblance to weirdos preparing for the permanent collapse of civilization only in that the two groups share some of the same supplies.
It could be something as simple as a natural disaster that takes out power for a few weeks. Tell me that's never happened. In such a scenario, it might be a good idea to have enough food and power to get through it. (Don't forget pet food.) In areas where power is questionable, like in a hurricane zone, it might be a good idea to have an alternate source of power for your food storage (fridge and freezer). My solar array is somewhat portable; two people can carry it inside during a storm, carry it back out afterwards, and then I have power for radio and food storage. Light is provided by hurricane lanterns (decorative when not in use) and cooking by wood stove (which is economical when power is going, essential when power is not). This is not crazy redneck stuff but practical, renewable and cost effective.
Realistically, preparing for a permanent collapse is more difficult than people realize. You are essentially back to pioneer level, where the only tools you have, after the cool high tech stuff wears out, are the tools you can make with your own hands. Obviously, no amount of stockpiling will get you through that.
But there are a lot of scenarios having absolutely nothing to do with the collapse of civilization, ranging to inconvenient to mildly dangerous, where a few goods laid by and a few hundred watts of alternate energy and a method of communication that doesn't use land lines or cell towers (or 2 meter repeaters! hams sometimes forget this) might come in handy. It's not a paranoid fantasy any more than carrying flares and a first aid kit in your car speaks of a paranoid fantasy that you're going to have a horrible accident.
Speaking of cars, in my youth, my wife and I once spent the night in a parking lot in the car when the pass was closed by unusual snowfall. It got a mite hungry. Now I have a small emergency kit in each car that besides modest medical supplies and a maglight, containes water and concentrated rations for three days. I assure you, I do not have a paranoid fantasy about being stuck in the snow again.
In summary, it's not about going horribly wrong. It's about going recoverably wrong for some relatively short period of time. Back on topic, if you don't think amateur radio is useful in natural disasters, there are a lot of references. Start with http://www.arrl.org/emergency-radio-org.
If there was a security setting to expose your account to friends of friends of friends of friends, would that include everyone?
That would explain some of the comments I've seen on Amazon recently for knock-offs made in China. The pattern is usually; several people make negative comments about the quality or usability of an item, or point out a flaw that makes the item practically useless. You then get several posts within a short span of time praising the product, and (usually) saying that the others didn't follow instructions or didn't know how to use the product. The praising comments are usually in questionable syntax and tend to use the same phrases over and over.
Mind you, there *are* people who don't know how to use products they've purchased and blame the product, but it's odd that in some cases there are many who can't get a product to work, a few that think the product is great, and in all cases the few appear to know English only sparsely.
*pern* books, I meant.
Not the backwoods, redneck kind, but a lot of young modern geeks, are quietly investing in what is considered classic survivalist preparation. Two big factors are: (1) How to sustainably generate power sans the grid, and (2) how to communicate over distance when the networks are down. I think you're seeing an uptick because of a reduction in confidence that society will hold together. Not necessarily resigned to collapse, but taking reasonable precautions.
In the absence of physical tells, we tend to lie more? This is a revelation? I think I'm applying for a grant to find out why you get wet in the rain.
> Personally, I don't care much about the user. I care about the system. I have no control over the user. He can delete every single file in his workspace, for all I care.
It's true that as administrators, we have no or very little control over the user, but we should remember, the system by itself is just a space heater and noise maker; it's users who give it purpose. Even if you secretly don't give a rat's behind for the user, it's not a good idea to say so -- else three or four companies start competing for the IT contract with "well, WE care about the user". And then you keep your job only by agreeing to move to Mumbai and work for prevailing wage.
The OS is easily reloaded, but the user data may be mission critical and irreplaceable. Lessee, which is more important to the company?
I don't think I've ever in my life wondered what was said on NPR.
I remember there used to be a product like that (tivo for car radio) but don't remember where I saw it.
Geesh. Was supposed to be "this is hardly news"
The right amount of water is necessary for life. Too much can be harmful. This is hardly old news, but sometimes we need reminding.
I understand what you're saying, and have observed that in my kid. Our solution (your mileage may vary) is to watch nothing in real time. Everything is prerecorded in some fashion. This helps all of us, but especially the kid, to make the TV our slave rather than being a slave to the tv. So at a very early age, when I need her attention, kid will instinctively reach out for the stop button so she can pay attention to me without missing any of the dialog. There is no such thing as "wait until the show's over" at our house. We leave when it's time to leave, and the kid picks up where she left off when we get back. (Right now she's going through all of Criminal Minds.)
As to whether this is healthier, I have no idea. On my way into work I listen to the news in real time, and I find myself reaching for a non-existent rewind button if I missed something interesting. (Like emergency routes out of the city...) But for us, TV is something we watch when we want to watch it, and for as long as we want to watch it, and no more than that. If any of us has to take a potty break, or get a refill, or make a comment longer than five seconds, the show gets paused. Since we don't watch commercials, the amount of time in front of the tv is still less than were it live, even with pauses.
What this does do is really mess up network planning. Tactics like Sandwitching an unpopular show between two winners to drum up viewership doesn't work if you only watch what you want to watch and nothing else. The concept of "prime time" and peak weekdays and dualing timeslots and even networks lose their meaning. I don't watch much TV anyway, but after programming the appliance, I couldn't even identify the network for most of the shows. (That's what IMDB is for.) Although I do follow directors and cast because they might do something else that's interesting.
I strongly suspect that the conventional network TV industry is basically running on inertia right now. I think the "tv tray" mentality, where you sit back in your barcolounger and watch whatever is on until it's time to go to bed, will die with the boomer generation. (Of which I am one, but I'm a geek, and we're usually on the leading edge of things technological.) I heard recently that some shows are going directly to Netflix now, without ever having been on network TV, and I suspect that something like it is the wave of the future.
In other words, technology finds a way, if you let it.
Good point, but when I hear people express that idea, it's usually in a lot ruder terms.
Um, well, ur, that's a good point. But it does go along with the business model of "code reuse at all costs, and then layer something else on top to fix it".
> it's not like you can just send out a minimum-wage Geek Squad "technician" to (hopefully) repair it
I bet you'd get lots of volunteers.
Can it chase astronauts around the martian service when it accidentally slips into "combat" mode? I'd like to see that on youtube.
I think that's the first time I've ever seen "Microsoft" and "too secure" in the same sentence.
People are annoyed that Microsoft is making their OS *more* secure?
Really, I wouldn't worry about it, I'm sure there will be plenty of attack vectors. (I could be snarky and say "this is Microsoft after all" but I won't. Oops, I just did.) What it comes down to is, you build a better mousetrap, nature builds better mice.
You might try outdoor grade signal boosters. I've had some decent luck with them. There's no substitute for power. That might reduce the number of hops, improving latency and cutting down on retries.
Yep, cusco was right.
He hasn't heard of cookies or persistent sessions either.
> Apple, Google and Amazon think their balls are all shiny and they're doing something new, but they're not.
You know, they probably don't even think they're doing something new. They're counting on us believing them when they tell us they're doing something new.