I say that there are enough reels of special FX stored in Hollywood vaults already. Let's start cutting/pasting to create an entire new breed of incomprehensible/incoherent sci-fi wizardry.
The HardOCP article is beautifully done, as are the follow-ups. You gotta love it - - as long as you're not an investor. But if you're looking for a REAL gaming console, email me for the.pdf files. I have dozens of both electronic and physical addresses, so you can be sure that I, personally, will read your comment eventually. I do NOT accept PayPal. Thank you.
Yes, a very good point. We all would like to think that, for our employer, it would be uncomfortable - - if not painful - - if we were to take our many abilities elsewhere.
No set of skills meets every employer's wants. Particularly in view of the job exporting craze that is in full swing now, being able to COMMUNICATE in grammatically correct English gets you lots of points when you're an otherwise technically overweighted person. I went from technician to tech manager at a solid financial services company in four years because I could research projects, work up a presentation for execs and directors, and lead implementation. My boss took credit for my work for a long time, but eventually she was exposed. Wanna know what my credentials were before I landed that entry-level job? I had a BA in journalism/PR, 10 years of retail management, an MCSE, and a fairly good grasp of the bash shell. Be strong technically, yes - - but show that you're more than that. It will get you attention in this day and age when so many geeks can't put together a proper sentence.
"At any other university, people would have just laughed. But this is Wisconsin. It's cheese. And this is no laughing matter," said Xiaochun Li, a mechanical engineering professor and laser expert.
If you could see some of the guys and gals where I work, you'd know that cutting the cheese can indeed be a very serious matter. The server room is, shall we say, a bit "close."
"The men and women who play the stock market on a regular basis are no fools and something unknown to Slashdot readers made the SCO stock price rise by 2.4%, on December 26th, over half a days trading.
Actually, quite a few are fools. LOTS are. I speak as one who has worked closely with stock brokers and CFPs for nearly a decade. During the tech boom, many average joes and josephines became day traders because, it seemed, no one could lose. People thought that because they could clear a few grand in a month of trading, they were suddenly supertraders. These people should have stayed away, but they got hooked, and life savings and family nest eggs were lost hand-over-fist. Never judge the value of a company, or the company's leadership, over brief swings in stock prices. Stock price has nothing - - NOTHING - - to do with a company's value. Everyone should know this by now.
Seriously, though, it's not the bear that quitting nicotine is - - I did that about 11 years ago, succeeding on the third try. I keep coming back to caffeine because it's "harmless," but then I start thinking about how the quality of both my sleep and my concentration is marred by ever heavier consumption of strong black java during the morning hours. Anyway, when you're getting off caffeine, be sure to wean yourself off and take aspirin with lots of water before the headaches start. I started keeping both caf and decaf beans and increasing the amount of decaf in my morning thermos. In about 10 days, you'll be free. Until you start missing the taste of that fresh roasted Sumantran, that is . . . ..
I wish you luck. I'm thinking about quitting, too. Again.
Frankly, I think yours is the naive point of view.
I've been the hirer and the hired many times. This sophomoric conspiracy theory that I see with regard to SCO's supposed blacklisting in the world of technology is precisely that - - kiddie pool, "boogie man" nail biting about a process that is as old as employment itself. You impress, you keep your promises, you progress. If the company doesn't hold up its end, you move on. That's how it works in the adult world of employment.
If you can do the work, and do it well - - and you're reliable and honest and willing to take what's offered in the way of starting compensation - - many doors will open.
I can't help but wonder what is achieved by asking/. readers whether they or their companies are bothered by the SCO suit. It's like asking the choir whether they're worried about going to hell (and, as we all know, the only people who believe in hell are the folks who are sure they aren't headed there). Why not do a follow-up in which we ask which is better - - Mozilla or IE? Now THAT would produce some unexpected results, eh?
Ask any MBA student on day one of classes: what is it that any company must do to survive? Of course, the answer is "profit." If you're asking, 'What about charities and non-profits?," then realize that even they rely on someone's profits. So the question for Mandrake, which has struggled mightily with finances in recent times, is whether a 5-year product life means a great deal when the company's welfare over the next 24 months is itself an issue. I like Mandrake and hope they will do well; I wonder, however, whether they have the teeth and bones, like RedHat, to profit sufficiently to improve and maintain their product whilst paying their developers, managers, accountants, et.al., a decent day's wages.
I've often thought that a great project would be to collect scripts that reshape KDE config files to create lighter-weight, mass-deployable desktops. This would be something like themes, but would go deeper into the geometry and function of the desktop design. Such scripts might strip away unneeded applications, set up the taskbar, fonts, colors, widgets, etc. Wouldn't that be nice? I once watched a KDE wizard tear KDE 2.0 apart to demonstrate how much could be done in this way, and I was impressed. He was showing how a kiosk-style desktop could be achieved, and the results - - after an hour or so of tweaking - - were pretty good. There may already be work of this sort going on. If so - - links?
Is it that PowerPoint makes us stupid, or that only the stupid use PowerPoint?
The answer, as usual, lies between - - it's that the tool provides an outlet for the stupidity that lies within us all.
Some of us, aware that we live in a Dilbertesque world, shake our heads sadly at the spectacle of a comrade droning through the narration of their cookie-cutter presentation, hunched over their laptop in the back corner of the room while the rest of us try valiantly to stay awake in the dimly lit conference room. After it's over, a still-conscious VP nudges the CEO to let him know that it's time to move to the next agenda item. The CEO nods, says "thank-you for that, uh, insightful look at blah-blah-blah," and the presenter wonders whether she's on step closer to the executive suite.
Maybe I need to go back and have another look. Thanks for the tip. You know, come to think of it, I have a beat up old copy of "Voodoo Unix" (Ventana Press) that taught shell tricks using Korn. This would make a good/. survey, don't you think - - of the *nix users here, which shell do you prefer? Probably been done before . . . .
In our server room, which, admittedly, is a tad cluttered, we once discovered a Windows 3.1/486DX-66 box that had been running for at least one year, and probably longer, without a reboot. No load of any kind on it, of course. The thing is, uptime isn't what makes a server a server. And even if it were, 120 days wouldn't be impressive in the least. If you put your confidence in such toys as this, more power to you. I hate seeing consumers - - like my dad, for instance - - being sold a "server" and all the things that word implies, when what they're really getting is a scrawny appliance with no fault tolerance. People who know better won't buy them. People that don't won't take a chance on that kind of money. Get it down to $400, say, and we might see what kinds of things we could do with it.
No Ramen noodles for me, friend - - I'm on on Atkins. And even if I weren't, neither I nor anyone on my staff is the least bit worried about IT employment on the eastern seaboard of the U.S. - - plenty of demand for people who can do Windows/*nix/DB administration and security. My financial services company expects to double its IT staff in the next three years. Like I said, cheap carbs just don't do it for me anymore.
Sure, I know that not everyone can build his own box and load it with Linux. But for this money, I'm thinking you could do pretty well with a Duron, a couple of ATA 133 drives, and a cheap 1U box. If you can run a web interface such as the one described here, you probably could do alright with Webmin, too. And think how much more useful and trustworth a thing you'd have.
Ah, well - - aren't the do-it-yourselfers among us lucky?
Slashdot Mirror
I say that there are enough reels of special FX stored in Hollywood vaults already. Let's start cutting/pasting to create an entire new breed of incomprehensible/incoherent sci-fi wizardry.
The HardOCP article is beautifully done, as are the follow-ups. You gotta love it - - as long as you're not an investor. But if you're looking for a REAL gaming console, email me for the
Heh heh - - no kidding. We won't even go into Centronics . . .
I hope the keyboard plug is PS/2 - - not USB! Ouch!
Yes, a very good point. We all would like to think that, for our employer, it would be uncomfortable - - if not painful - - if we were to take our many abilities elsewhere.
No set of skills meets every employer's wants. Particularly in view of the job exporting craze that is in full swing now, being able to COMMUNICATE in grammatically correct English gets you lots of points when you're an otherwise technically overweighted person. I went from technician to tech manager at a solid financial services company in four years because I could research projects, work up a presentation for execs and directors, and lead implementation. My boss took credit for my work for a long time, but eventually she was exposed. Wanna know what my credentials were before I landed that entry-level job? I had a BA in journalism/PR, 10 years of retail management, an MCSE, and a fairly good grasp of the bash shell. Be strong technically, yes - - but show that you're more than that. It will get you attention in this day and age when so many geeks can't put together a proper sentence.
"At any other university, people would have just laughed. But this is Wisconsin. It's cheese. And this is no laughing matter," said Xiaochun Li, a mechanical engineering professor and laser expert.
If you could see some of the guys and gals where I work, you'd know that cutting the cheese can indeed be a very serious matter. The server room is, shall we say, a bit "close."
"The men and women who play the stock market on a regular basis are no fools and something unknown to Slashdot readers made the SCO stock price rise by 2.4%, on December 26th, over half a days trading.
Actually, quite a few are fools. LOTS are. I speak as one who has worked closely with stock brokers and CFPs for nearly a decade. During the tech boom, many average joes and josephines became day traders because, it seemed, no one could lose. People thought that because they could clear a few grand in a month of trading, they were suddenly supertraders. These people should have stayed away, but they got hooked, and life savings and family nest eggs were lost hand-over-fist. Never judge the value of a company, or the company's leadership, over brief swings in stock prices. Stock price has nothing - - NOTHING - - to do with a company's value. Everyone should know this by now.
Seriously, though, it's not the bear that quitting nicotine is - - I did that about 11 years ago, succeeding on the third try. I keep coming back to caffeine because it's "harmless," but then I start thinking about how the quality of both my sleep and my concentration is marred by ever heavier consumption of strong black java during the morning hours. Anyway, when you're getting off caffeine, be sure to wean yourself off and take aspirin with lots of water before the headaches start. I started keeping both caf and decaf beans and increasing the amount of decaf in my morning thermos. In about 10 days, you'll be free. Until you start missing the taste of that fresh roasted Sumantran, that is . . . .
I wish you luck. I'm thinking about quitting, too. Again.
Frankly, I think yours is the naive point of view.
I've been the hirer and the hired many times. This sophomoric conspiracy theory that I see with regard to SCO's supposed blacklisting in the world of technology is precisely that - - kiddie pool, "boogie man" nail biting about a process that is as old as employment itself. You impress, you keep your promises, you progress. If the company doesn't hold up its end, you move on. That's how it works in the adult world of employment.
If you can do the work, and do it well - - and you're reliable and honest and willing to take what's offered in the way of starting compensation - - many doors will open.
I can't help but wonder what is achieved by asking
Ask any MBA student on day one of classes: what is it that any company must do to survive? Of course, the answer is "profit." If you're asking, 'What about charities and non-profits?," then realize that even they rely on someone's profits. So the question for Mandrake, which has struggled mightily with finances in recent times, is whether a 5-year product life means a great deal when the company's welfare over the next 24 months is itself an issue. I like Mandrake and hope they will do well; I wonder, however, whether they have the teeth and bones, like RedHat, to profit sufficiently to improve and maintain their product whilst paying their developers, managers, accountants, et.al., a decent day's wages.
Emulate, or Squash.
Squashing hasn't been working too well.
I've often thought that a great project would be to collect scripts that reshape KDE config files to create lighter-weight, mass-deployable desktops. This would be something like themes, but would go deeper into the geometry and function of the desktop design. Such scripts might strip away unneeded applications, set up the taskbar, fonts, colors, widgets, etc. Wouldn't that be nice? I once watched a KDE wizard tear KDE 2.0 apart to demonstrate how much could be done in this way, and I was impressed. He was showing how a kiosk-style desktop could be achieved, and the results - - after an hour or so of tweaking - - were pretty good. There may already be work of this sort going on. If so - - links?
Is it that PowerPoint makes us stupid, or that only the stupid use PowerPoint?
The answer, as usual, lies between - - it's that the tool provides an outlet for the stupidity that lies within us all.
Some of us, aware that we live in a Dilbertesque world, shake our heads sadly at the spectacle of a comrade droning through the narration of their cookie-cutter presentation, hunched over their laptop in the back corner of the room while the rest of us try valiantly to stay awake in the dimly lit conference room. After it's over, a still-conscious VP nudges the CEO to let him know that it's time to move to the next agenda item. The CEO nods, says "thank-you for that, uh, insightful look at blah-blah-blah," and the presenter wonders whether she's on step closer to the executive suite.
Oh, my - - and I thought I was a rabble rouser . . . .
'Nuff said.
#!/bin/sh, even.
Maybe I need to go back and have another look. Thanks for the tip. You know, come to think of it, I have a beat up old copy of "Voodoo Unix" (Ventana Press) that taught shell tricks using Korn. This would make a good
Hmmmmm . . . well, I've read about korn - - wasn't that a pretty early *nix shell?
I'd be curious to know why, myself. But then, all I code for is bash, anyway.
In our server room, which, admittedly, is a tad cluttered, we once discovered a Windows 3.1/486DX-66 box that had been running for at least one year, and probably longer, without a reboot. No load of any kind on it, of course. The thing is, uptime isn't what makes a server a server. And even if it were, 120 days wouldn't be impressive in the least. If you put your confidence in such toys as this, more power to you. I hate seeing consumers - - like my dad, for instance - - being sold a "server" and all the things that word implies, when what they're really getting is a scrawny appliance with no fault tolerance. People who know better won't buy them. People that don't won't take a chance on that kind of money. Get it down to $400, say, and we might see what kinds of things we could do with it.
No Ramen noodles for me, friend - - I'm on on Atkins. And even if I weren't, neither I nor anyone on my staff is the least bit worried about IT employment on the eastern seaboard of the U.S. - - plenty of demand for people who can do Windows/*nix/DB administration and security. My financial services company expects to double its IT staff in the next three years. Like I said, cheap carbs just don't do it for me anymore.
Sure, I know that not everyone can build his own box and load it with Linux. But for this money, I'm thinking you could do pretty well with a Duron, a couple of ATA 133 drives, and a cheap 1U box. If you can run a web interface such as the one described here, you probably could do alright with Webmin, too. And think how much more useful and trustworth a thing you'd have.
Ah, well - - aren't the do-it-yourselfers among us lucky?