You fell into the same fallicy trap as everyone of the other 'The web is phree LOL!1111' zealots out there.
The web is NOT free. It costs money to buy power to fling those electrons around in the form of packets so one will have good stroking material 'but one click away'. It costs huge sums of money to upkeep the very networks that the internet runs on. We can't pull and replace copper and fiber ourselves, so someone else has to do it...and that costs big time money.
Truth is, your fee to the provider is NOT paying for everything, especially as a home user.
The key is to make adverts less obnoxious and more pertinant to what people want. A concept that seems to be lost on standard issue marketing and Advertising pros when it comes to the net.
Umm..dude. There's six billion people on this planet, many of which like to watch TV. Not coincidently, they also alot of times can't afford to buy a TV for 3 grand because it has ultra crisp "LCD" or "Plasma" technology in it. So saying that the plants are 'dark' is a wee bit of an overstatment, ya think?
The Refresh is what's fucking with your vision, not the blurry pixels. I have the same issues with CRT's and I came to realize most of it was due to the refresh I was driving the monitor at.
LCD's function differently (as well as the materials difference for the viewing surface) so i don't get those problems. I can negate my eye issues with CRT's as well, but I'd have to buy a 21 inch monitor that my vidcard could drive at an acceptible refresh.
And, as others have said, LCD's are still iffy for gaming. Desktop and production work they're fine, but anything high frame rate, non-native res and TnL madness is going to hurt it...badly..
The problem with it is, this is just another measure..under the guise of child safety..to take responsibility away from the parent of teaching the child that learning is valuable. We don't instill respect in our children for knowledge, then we use draconian measures to attempt to chain them to the learning process.
You know what that gets you from the average teenager?
I've split my time pretty equally between living up in the northeast (where I was born) and in Florida (where I spent alot of my formidable years), and I can tell you that I've encountered more overt racist episodes in the 4 1/2 years I've lived back in NY then I did living almost a decade down south. I think the difference is the politeness. People down south seem to respond, no matter what the color, positively in most cases when you're polite and you conduct yourself in a calm manner.
New York, with it's old ethnic enclaves, full of old, stereotypically set mindsets (think italian neighborhoods especially) are much more suspsicious of darker people. I think it has to do with Title 1 and Title 2 back in the 60's that birthed the Projects and Urban Decay. These people carry a grudge against blacks because they believe that the 'old neighborhood' went to shit because of the migrating blacks from the south in the middle of last century who came to northern industrial cities looking for opportunity. When they were given the cold shoulder by the leadership back then and shoved in the projects, the ensuing decay and rise in crime left a bad taste all around. Is it inherantly their fault? I'd say no, considering any group of people would face the same situation if opportunity was taken away and education was neglected (which is exactly what happened in places like NYC, Philly and Chi-town). This of course will lead to an indigenous population becoming angry at new commers, moreso than people (like southerners) who have lived with blacks in great numbers for a much longer period of time.
There is a myth about the old 'free states' and that myth, too often held by people from NY, paints some kind of ridiculous utopian picture of the way places like NY are..which is patently false.
There's got to be an award for a feat that big. It really is almost unbelievable that you've never lost a single disc to everyday wear and tear.
Then again, if you say..suffer from an extreme case of OCD, it'd make sense. Then again, that'd only account for about one tenth of one percent of the CD buying public..therefore making this technology very marketable.
No no no, I'm not comdemning what you do, I'm saying that not everyone can work for the DoD, or would want to for that matter.
Not good to have all those eggs in one basket;).
And plus, the chaos of human beings dictates that the more people you have working in many different varied fields with many different people in control means more innovation in the long run.
Also.. Don't think its easy for US citizens to go overseas and get a job, something that's going to need to happen for this utopian 'global' economy. We can sell the farm to them, but no one will sell the farm to us.
I'm in support of only hiring US citizens. I would however, be open to hiring anyone who actually pays taxes, 'cuz really now..then you know my pain.;).
Only problem with that is it tends to lead to a frighteningly similar existence to what Ayn Rand projected in 'Atlas Shrugged'..or In 'Player Piano' by Vonnegut.
I personally don't want a society where everyone works on tools for killing people or are relegated to the wreaks and wrecks...
You neglect to take into account that most people are not:
A) cut out for those high paying jobs skill wize
B) cut out for those high paying jobs creativity/vision wize
C) spectacular in their own right.
A good 90 percent of the population as a whole is destined to inhabit some level of "middle of the road", whether that be just your average joe on the street, or some suit pushing paper all day. So the task, in order to preserve our civilization, is to either employ and involve people so they can provide for themselves and their loved ones from the harsh environment, or make their costs of living go down to the point where they don't have to make so much money to survive.
One or the other, you have to make a choice.
I too have often times taken the position that eventually we're gonna want someone at arms reach to be there, but honestly...I don't really vest enough faith in the current crop of businesspeople to understand that concept. Most of the people making it today have very little insight outside of their own little worlds. There is a difference between being 'sucessfull' and being 'greatness'..the latter being a noble goal, the former and monkey with communicative skills and a slick facade can attain.
Those monkies are multiplying by the day, and unless people stand up and change it, the whole game show is lost.. These people are also why 'research for research's sake' is dwindling in the United States and THAT scares me more than not having a job in Tech. You want to make me obsolete? Fine..but at least give me the comfort of knowing that some brains..somewhere in my homeland are actually thinking about stuff for the hell of it and discovering new ways to build and create and therefore allow me to build and create off of them.. If we lose that, we're gone..
And don't think that won't be sold to the lowest bidder, for the highest amount of gain on the other side..
..We do these things because the very act of trying to ACHIEVE something, coupled with human chaos, usually proudes some wonderful..and grotesque innovation... If we no longer attempt to achieve, then we no longer evolve..and eventually fade away, that simple..
Your argument is also fundamentally flawed because intelligent life doesn't really fit logically anywhere in the scheme of things. The birds, fish, plants, trees, etc..they all do their thing, programmed to one or a couple functions, we're the only ones with a completely open programming interface (so to speak).. Can we find a way to live non-impact on this planet? Sure..but its going to take alot more dirty fuckups and alot more (seemingly) pointless attempts like this to get it right.
Don't look at the narrow scope, because you miss all the offshoot help that projects like permanant space travel and the like are likely to create in the process.
Not having broadband in certain places inside of NYC is actually less surprising than not having it in a typical suburban tract scenario. The wiring and conduiting in alot of these buildings are over 100 years old. After doing cable runs and seeing some of the superstructures of buildings in the 5 boroughs I can understand why no person in their right mind would want to pull cable unless the return was guaranteed. I'd suggest organizing the neighborhood and get the cable company in there;).
In a way, this statement proves the point of some of what's wrong with IT people in general. Although you're (mostly) correct in stating that people who know MS, ONLY know MS...the true acme of skill of any geek worth his or her salt (read: NOT churned out by a cert mill or some college student who's 'CIS' class was predominated by Microsoft Office Technologies) will be able to dynamically modulate to the situation at hand.
That's the beautiful thing about computers. The functions are pretty standard across platforms. One's interaction and method of accessing said functions change as you hop from platform to platform..GUI to GUI.. but the theory and the purpose stays the same. All one should , in a perfect world, have to do is look for the differences in layout and then figure out how to execute the desired function.
Now, I'm not saying that the customizability doesn't change from platform to platform, nor the depth to which one can tool and retool the system, but overall...the only difference (to the user) is the interface. Figure out the interface, then you can apply all your deep geek knowledge (scripting, configuration, etc..) to weilding it properly. The problem with this is we teach Information Systems so poorly to the public.
You said that people may not be 'capable' to learn something new. I say thats nonsense...same thing with asking the question if "i'm really prepared" to migrate. Yes, indeed you are..because if you're a geek, you should be able to fool around with it and figure out how it works...Its all based on logic, and therefore eventually..after enough toying, you'll figure out the basic, then progress to the complex..Once you get the interface down, then all it comes down to is making a list of what functions are used in the current system, and how those functions are accessed and executed in the new. If your staff is worth their salt, they should be able to apply this process as well.
IBM is a different beast entirely. They've got cats up in Armonk and all over the world trying to figure out how to choreograph a broadway show starring individual atoms, using magnets and a 2 micrometer thick plate of glass as a stage..thats a bit different then taking what amounts to an overgrown calculator and telling it to "Check for new mail every hour" and then have the moxie to demand payment because you believe that you're the only one who ever thought to have the computer check something at a certain time.
IBM does research down to the atomic level. They design new hardware and more importantly, further the foundation of research even under the technology down to the very core theories of physics that become involved in hardware manufacturing. That requires research labs and brainpower that your average patent hungry litigation pirate couldn't afford..and never will be able to.
Well, as long as we're at it, dispensing of all these pesky 'laws', how 'bout we take away everything that OSHA has fought for over the years because of the need to protect workers.
*Takes deep breath*..mmmmm, I love the smell of molten PCBs in the morning, makes my lungs delightfully liquified.:)
They actually used to place them in Central Florida and places like Kentucky and Tennessee during the 90's (I cut my teeth in a call center in Central Florida), but even with those economies taken into account, the cost pressure still made them move it off shore.
First: Its "World Trade Center"
Second: Redundant (as modded)
Third: The Great Lakes system is a critical waterway with a pretty big and complex system of Locks that modify flow to allow for shipping, so saying we haven't messed with it already is ludicrous. Lake Erie was a 'Dead' lake not so long ago and now is MUCH cleaner because of changes in Environmental policy. There was an old Saturday Nighte Live skit called "Swill' back in the 70's, which had a running gag about Lake Erie and its horrible water, hell..it even caught on FIRE once in the 70's because of all the pollution. Nowadays, its clean (mostly).
You also over-estimate the importance of the great Lakes in the Weather System in the US. Its part of it, but calling it critical is kinda shortsided. There TWO oceans bordering the US, not to mention a gigantic Gulf to the South and one would think that those bodies of water (along with the Jetstream) would have just a tad more to do with what the weather is doing. Then again, Buffalo has to get its Lake Effect Snow every year, cuz like, they love being under sheets of ice for long periods of time.
I understand you're in Hungary (you guys got some hot friggen women!) so I won't hold it against you;)
Thats BS, and I'm not just saying that because I happen to be a network 'monkey'. If the CS coders are building the car, then the network monkies are building the highway infrastructure...without which, your car don't go.
So start giving thanks to the people who make your life possible.
This is what I was getting at. Thank you for clarifying. There's a term for this sort of behavior, but I can't remember what it is.
I usually refer to it as the Germanization of things, pulled from the fact that most German cars are too over-engineered for their own good.
Slashdot Mirror
You fell into the same fallicy trap as everyone of the other 'The web is phree LOL!1111' zealots out there.
The web is NOT free. It costs money to buy power to fling those electrons around in the form of packets so one will have good stroking material 'but one click away'. It costs huge sums of money to upkeep the very networks that the internet runs on. We can't pull and replace copper and fiber ourselves, so someone else has to do it...and that costs big time money.
Truth is, your fee to the provider is NOT paying for everything, especially as a home user.
The key is to make adverts less obnoxious and more pertinant to what people want. A concept that seems to be lost on standard issue marketing and Advertising pros when it comes to the net.
Umm..dude. There's six billion people on this planet, many of which like to watch TV. Not coincidently, they also alot of times can't afford to buy a TV for 3 grand because it has ultra crisp "LCD" or "Plasma" technology in it. So saying that the plants are 'dark' is a wee bit of an overstatment, ya think?
The Refresh is what's fucking with your vision, not the blurry pixels. I have the same issues with CRT's and I came to realize most of it was due to the refresh I was driving the monitor at.
LCD's function differently (as well as the materials difference for the viewing surface) so i don't get those problems. I can negate my eye issues with CRT's as well, but I'd have to buy a 21 inch monitor that my vidcard could drive at an acceptible refresh.
And, as others have said, LCD's are still iffy for gaming. Desktop and production work they're fine, but anything high frame rate, non-native res and TnL madness is going to hurt it...badly..
The problem with it is, this is just another measure..under the guise of child safety..to take responsibility away from the parent of teaching the child that learning is valuable. We don't instill respect in our children for knowledge, then we use draconian measures to attempt to chain them to the learning process.
You know what that gets you from the average teenager?
The finger..
I've split my time pretty equally between living up in the northeast (where I was born) and in Florida (where I spent alot of my formidable years), and I can tell you that I've encountered more overt racist episodes in the 4 1/2 years I've lived back in NY then I did living almost a decade down south. I think the difference is the politeness. People down south seem to respond, no matter what the color, positively in most cases when you're polite and you conduct yourself in a calm manner.
New York, with it's old ethnic enclaves, full of old, stereotypically set mindsets (think italian neighborhoods especially) are much more suspsicious of darker people. I think it has to do with Title 1 and Title 2 back in the 60's that birthed the Projects and Urban Decay. These people carry a grudge against blacks because they believe that the 'old neighborhood' went to shit because of the migrating blacks from the south in the middle of last century who came to northern industrial cities looking for opportunity. When they were given the cold shoulder by the leadership back then and shoved in the projects, the ensuing decay and rise in crime left a bad taste all around. Is it inherantly their fault? I'd say no, considering any group of people would face the same situation if opportunity was taken away and education was neglected (which is exactly what happened in places like NYC, Philly and Chi-town). This of course will lead to an indigenous population becoming angry at new commers, moreso than people (like southerners) who have lived with blacks in great numbers for a much longer period of time.
There is a myth about the old 'free states' and that myth, too often held by people from NY, paints some kind of ridiculous utopian picture of the way places like NY are..which is patently false.
Just sayin..
Why in gods name would you want to move from the city to The Island?..
There's got to be an award for a feat that big. It really is almost unbelievable that you've never lost a single disc to everyday wear and tear. Then again, if you say..suffer from an extreme case of OCD, it'd make sense. Then again, that'd only account for about one tenth of one percent of the CD buying public..therefore making this technology very marketable.
No no no, I'm not comdemning what you do, I'm saying that not everyone can work for the DoD, or would want to for that matter.
;).
;).
Not good to have all those eggs in one basket
And plus, the chaos of human beings dictates that the more people you have working in many different varied fields with many different people in control means more innovation in the long run.
I have no point, so just let it slide
Also.. Don't think its easy for US citizens to go overseas and get a job, something that's going to need to happen for this utopian 'global' economy. We can sell the farm to them, but no one will sell the farm to us.
;).
I'm in support of only hiring US citizens. I would however, be open to hiring anyone who actually pays taxes, 'cuz really now..then you know my pain.
Only problem with that is it tends to lead to a frighteningly similar existence to what Ayn Rand projected in 'Atlas Shrugged'..or In 'Player Piano' by Vonnegut.
I personally don't want a society where everyone works on tools for killing people or are relegated to the wreaks and wrecks...
You neglect to take into account that most people are not:
A) cut out for those high paying jobs skill wize
B) cut out for those high paying jobs creativity/vision wize
C) spectacular in their own right.
A good 90 percent of the population as a whole is destined to inhabit some level of "middle of the road", whether that be just your average joe on the street, or some suit pushing paper all day. So the task, in order to preserve our civilization, is to either employ and involve people so they can provide for themselves and their loved ones from the harsh environment, or make their costs of living go down to the point where they don't have to make so much money to survive.
One or the other, you have to make a choice.
I too have often times taken the position that eventually we're gonna want someone at arms reach to be there, but honestly...I don't really vest enough faith in the current crop of businesspeople to understand that concept. Most of the people making it today have very little insight outside of their own little worlds. There is a difference between being 'sucessfull' and being 'greatness'..the latter being a noble goal, the former and monkey with communicative skills and a slick facade can attain.
Those monkies are multiplying by the day, and unless people stand up and change it, the whole game show is lost.. These people are also why 'research for research's sake' is dwindling in the United States and THAT scares me more than not having a job in Tech. You want to make me obsolete? Fine..but at least give me the comfort of knowing that some brains..somewhere in my homeland are actually thinking about stuff for the hell of it and discovering new ways to build and create and therefore allow me to build and create off of them.. If we lose that, we're gone..
And don't think that won't be sold to the lowest bidder, for the highest amount of gain on the other side..
Or something to that effect.
..We do these things because the very act of trying to ACHIEVE something, coupled with human chaos, usually proudes some wonderful..and grotesque innovation... If we no longer attempt to achieve, then we no longer evolve..and eventually fade away, that simple..
Your argument is also fundamentally flawed because intelligent life doesn't really fit logically anywhere in the scheme of things. The birds, fish, plants, trees, etc..they all do their thing, programmed to one or a couple functions, we're the only ones with a completely open programming interface (so to speak).. Can we find a way to live non-impact on this planet? Sure..but its going to take alot more dirty fuckups and alot more (seemingly) pointless attempts like this to get it right.
Don't look at the narrow scope, because you miss all the offshoot help that projects like permanant space travel and the like are likely to create in the process.
Or something to that effect.
Not having broadband in certain places inside of NYC is actually less surprising than not having it in a typical suburban tract scenario. The wiring and conduiting in alot of these buildings are over 100 years old. After doing cable runs and seeing some of the superstructures of buildings in the 5 boroughs I can understand why no person in their right mind would want to pull cable unless the return was guaranteed. I'd suggest organizing the neighborhood and get the cable company in there ;).
In a way, this statement proves the point of some of what's wrong with IT people in general. Although you're (mostly) correct in stating that people who know MS, ONLY know MS...the true acme of skill of any geek worth his or her salt (read: NOT churned out by a cert mill or some college student who's 'CIS' class was predominated by Microsoft Office Technologies) will be able to dynamically modulate to the situation at hand.
That's the beautiful thing about computers. The functions are pretty standard across platforms. One's interaction and method of accessing said functions change as you hop from platform to platform..GUI to GUI.. but the theory and the purpose stays the same. All one should , in a perfect world, have to do is look for the differences in layout and then figure out how to execute the desired function.
Now, I'm not saying that the customizability doesn't change from platform to platform, nor the depth to which one can tool and retool the system, but overall...the only difference (to the user) is the interface. Figure out the interface, then you can apply all your deep geek knowledge (scripting, configuration, etc..) to weilding it properly. The problem with this is we teach Information Systems so poorly to the public.
You said that people may not be 'capable' to learn something new. I say thats nonsense...same thing with asking the question if "i'm really prepared" to migrate. Yes, indeed you are..because if you're a geek, you should be able to fool around with it and figure out how it works...Its all based on logic, and therefore eventually..after enough toying, you'll figure out the basic, then progress to the complex..Once you get the interface down, then all it comes down to is making a list of what functions are used in the current system, and how those functions are accessed and executed in the new. If your staff is worth their salt, they should be able to apply this process as well.
Or something to that effect, its hard to explain.
IBM is a different beast entirely. They've got cats up in Armonk and all over the world trying to figure out how to choreograph a broadway show starring individual atoms, using magnets and a 2 micrometer thick plate of glass as a stage..thats a bit different then taking what amounts to an overgrown calculator and telling it to "Check for new mail every hour" and then have the moxie to demand payment because you believe that you're the only one who ever thought to have the computer check something at a certain time.
IBM does research down to the atomic level. They design new hardware and more importantly, further the foundation of research even under the technology down to the very core theories of physics that become involved in hardware manufacturing. That requires research labs and brainpower that your average patent hungry litigation pirate couldn't afford..and never will be able to.
Flamebait, lovely, I could only wish to see who gave it to me ;).
Well, as long as we're at it, dispensing of all these pesky 'laws', how 'bout we take away everything that OSHA has fought for over the years because of the need to protect workers.
:)
*Takes deep breath*..mmmmm, I love the smell of molten PCBs in the morning, makes my lungs delightfully liquified.
I concur, there's several off the shelf PC USB controllers that work better and aren't half the size of the state of Rhode Island.
Yano, Enzyte can help you will that little frustration problem of yours ;).
They actually used to place them in Central Florida and places like Kentucky and Tennessee during the 90's (I cut my teeth in a call center in Central Florida), but even with those economies taken into account, the cost pressure still made them move it off shore.
Thats a nice canned response.
First: Its "World Trade Center" ;)
Second: Redundant (as modded)
Third: The Great Lakes system is a critical waterway with a pretty big and complex system of Locks that modify flow to allow for shipping, so saying we haven't messed with it already is ludicrous. Lake Erie was a 'Dead' lake not so long ago and now is MUCH cleaner because of changes in Environmental policy. There was an old Saturday Nighte Live skit called "Swill' back in the 70's, which had a running gag about Lake Erie and its horrible water, hell..it even caught on FIRE once in the 70's because of all the pollution. Nowadays, its clean (mostly).
You also over-estimate the importance of the great Lakes in the Weather System in the US. Its part of it, but calling it critical is kinda shortsided. There TWO oceans bordering the US, not to mention a gigantic Gulf to the South and one would think that those bodies of water (along with the Jetstream) would have just a tad more to do with what the weather is doing. Then again, Buffalo has to get its Lake Effect Snow every year, cuz like, they love being under sheets of ice for long periods of time.
I understand you're in Hungary (you guys got some hot friggen women!) so I won't hold it against you
Thats BS, and I'm not just saying that because I happen to be a network 'monkey'. If the CS coders are building the car, then the network monkies are building the highway infrastructure...without which, your car don't go.
So start giving thanks to the people who make your life possible.
This is what I was getting at. Thank you for clarifying. There's a term for this sort of behavior, but I can't remember what it is.
I usually refer to it as the Germanization of things, pulled from the fact that most German cars are too over-engineered for their own good.
Make it a one click install and maybe you'll have a shot of someone (other than someone with extensive computer expertise) adopt it.