If we would simply sit on the sidelines for the next " War on X ", we could easily build that wall 10x over.
Folks talk about how it would be a waste of money to build it, yet where is all that outrage when the US is spending TRILLIONS of dollars in the never ending conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, etc. etc. ?
"Which leads back to the person who just got fired and his pension fund..."
Since it is the COMPANY who offered the Pension to the employee as part of a benefits package to entice said employee to work for them, you cannot put the blame on the employee for expecting the Company to honor their contractual agreements.
Layoffs happen for a variety of reasons.
If a company is laying off staff because they cannot deliver on their promise of pensions to their employees, then it is the COMPANIES fault for both offering it and failing to keep it funded. Had folks not been promised a Pension, they would have demanded compensation in other forms to make up for it. ( Eg: Higher yearly salary )
"I'd rather hear some intelligent reasons why anyone would choose to use a Windows machine over other faster, cheaper, more stable systems."
In no particular order, here are several intelligent reasons why I'm still running Windows ( Win 7 Ultimate, Updates and Patches disabled because they tend to break more than they fix )
Wacom MobileStudio Pro 16 Tablet - $2699 Win 10 only The entire Adobe CC Suite - $650 / year Win / Mac only Sibelius Ultimate - $900 perpetual license Win / Mac only Cubase Pro - $550 perpetual license Win / Mac only Capture One Pro - $180 perpetual license Win / Mac only Keyshot Pro - $2000 perpetual license Win / Mac only Rhinoceros - $1000 perpetual license Win / Mac only Zbrush - $895 perpetual license Win / Mac only Corel Painter - $400 perpetual license Win / Mac only Driver that allows my synthesizer ( Yamaha Montage 8 - $4000 ) to talk to Sibelius & Cubase Win / Mac only
Of all my software, only Maya has a Linux version that I'm aware of.
So, in answer to your question, the above represents about $13k worth of reasons why I'm still using a Windows based computer.
Not necessarily news for the Slashdot crowd, but the people running this country really don't have a clue and might actually be surprised at such things.
This entire process is about the stupid amount of debt AT&T is now holding due to the recent buying spree it has been on as of late.
Here's a passage that isn't in the original story:
" It's critical for us to bring employees together to increase the pace of innovation and further develop the right skills in a more open, flexible and efficient work environment. Therefore, our collaboration zones and hub cities become even more integral. "
I read that as the whole " Office 2.0 " bullshit where your workspace is shared with everyone else. They like to claim " collaboration " but, in reality, they're just being cheap.
" further develop the right skills " is downright laughable as AT&T considers training an expense vs an investment. This is why you have the service you do because NO ONE is trained in how to do their job anymore so everyone basically wings it as best they can. Corporate will deny it, but ask any normal employee the last time they saw any standard / formal training* in regards to how to do their job and they will likely tell you Ed Whittacre was still the CEO.
*Some of you will question why this is needed, but remember new hardware arrives all the time. It's akin to being fluent in Cisco for years and they plop a Juniper down in front of you and say " make it work, we're shifting everything new over to Juniper ". When you put critical or customer traffic on this, it's rather important to know what you're doing. ( In my opinion anyway )
Another thing the original story is unaware of is the fact that AT&T is looking at all the real estate it owns ( and it's quite a bit ) to determine if any given building can be shut down and sold off. Basically, if the building doesn't contain enough critical infrastructure for serving the area it resides within, there's a good chance it's on the list. If it contains just a call center, there's a good chance it's already been sold. Their real estate is worth quite a bit and is probably the most efficient method of raising capitol needed to pay down that debt.
I say enough because there are several buildings that are already on the list to be vacated that DO contain systems that have to be moved before it can be sold. These buildings are basically regional locations where network connections across the State consolidate at the distribution layer. All of these connections have to be moved onto new architecture ( in progress ) and each location has a desired timeline for completion. We're talking hundreds and possibly thousands of sites that are fed from these locations that have to be moved. It will take a considerable amount of time ( several years ), money and people to complete.
The problem is, if they continue to slash headcount, they're not going to have enough people left to do the work required to meet those deadlines. As it stands today, with the current headcount, those deadlines are already in trouble. Telling them this tends to fall on deaf ears. Guess they'll figure it out when the deadlines come and go.
What tends to irk me most is:
They keep buying shit with money they don't have. ( DirecTv / Time Warner ) The money AT&T WASTED on the failed T-Mobile merger was ~$5B The money AT&T wastes on stupid shit like " Stadium Naming Rights " and the like An executives yearly bonus is more than a non-executive type makes their entire LIFE
Yet, laying people off is their go to answer for saving money:|
Try a GPU renderer. The majority of which seem to like Nvidia flavors moreso than AMD. Much more common and no one does this with low or mid range cards.
The more CUDA cores you have at your disposal, the faster the renderer will run.
I hope the aforementioned companies are paying their own engineers well.
Once bounties get this high, the thought would cross the minds of many to build in a vulnerability for use later on.
Then again, I suppose the various three letter agencies with their unlimited budgets probably have an engineer or several on the payroll already. . . .
Those who have yet to learn this probably shouldn't be investing in the first place.
Welcome to reality where you are not guaranteed to earn anything on any investments you may have made. Where the slightest bullshit ( oh noez, Apple had a bad quarter ) wipes out Billions of dollars in a single day.
In my opinion, it's the idiots investing in Nvidia right in the middle of the CryptoCurrency boom not realizing what's driving record sales who are at fault here.
1) You are lucky enough to live close to where you work 2) The weather allows it 3) You don't need to carry much with you 4) The traffic doesn't kill you
My commute for fifteen years was ~100 miles round trip. Let's see you bike that one every day. Where I live, it's 90f by 8am with humidity typically hovering around the 60-70% mark in the Summer. Have fun. What's your plan when you go to leave work and it's storming like the end of the world outside ? I typically have at least my laptop with me. My tool bag ( network stuff ) when necessary. On a bike ? No . . . . Folks in cars don't even see each OTHER because they're playing with their phones and you want to drive out there with them . . . on a bicycle ? Are you suicidal ?
Personally I can't stand the arrogance of most of the cyclists around here. They're easy to spot as they are usually decked out in bicycle attire worthy of the Tour De France. They will pedal in the center of the lane of traffic like they own it while doing 20mph in a 50mph zone. Cars stacked up behind them 5,10 deep and they act shocked, and outraged when folks pass them the first chance they get.
How DARE you pass me ? Can't you see I'm on a bicycle ?! I'M SPECIAL !!!!!
Actually watched one of these idiots get off their bike at a red light to run up and beat on the drivers window after he got passed by several cars who were tired of driving 15-20mph.
Surprised he survived that encounter to be honest . . . . .
Yeah, no sympathy from me.
God forbid you get behind a pack of them, you may as well turn around and go home.
1) Apple went full stupid with the pricing on their newest lineup 2) I like my headphone jack thank you very much 3) There is nothing wrong with my iPhone SE nor my Galaxy S5 ( both of which have headphone jacks ) 4) Smartphone market is over-saturated, iPhones are no longer the only option
The only reason I have an iPhone SE is the size. I prefer a smaller phone that easily fits into a pocket vs the super sized versions that are so common today. They get any bigger and we'll be able to mount them via a forearm strap and use them as shields:|
Were it not for the larger size, I would really prefer to stick with my Galaxy S5. It has a headphone jack, a removable battery ( I have a few spares ) and is expandable via the micro-SD card. The drag and drop file functionality is really hard for Apple to beat imo.
Plus, f*ck iTunes. That sh*t is why I grabbed a Galaxy S5 to begin with.
My ideal phone would be:
1) Android base ( not the carrier bloated bullsh*t that's impossible to remove without root ) 2) Removable Battery 3) Micro-SD card expand-ability 4) Hardware switch(es) to disable the Mic, Camera and GPS 5) Decent size selection range ( small to large ) 6) Headphone jack 7) Dual Sim
"thank the GOP. There have been a few votes to save Net Neutrality and they were lost along party lines (a few GOPers did break ranks but it wasn't enough).
I know folks don't like partisanship, but there are partisan issues and NN is one of them. Had Trump lost the election we wouldn't be reading this story today. Had the Democrats taken the Senate & House by a wide enough majority to override vetos we would be reading about the upcoming vote to restore NN. These aren't debatable points, they're just facts. Cold, hard facts.
We've got another election in about 2 years. Show up at your primary. The Dems have a wing [justicedemocrats.com] that refuses corporate PAC money. If Net Neutrality matters to you then you know what to do."
Man I've got some bad news for you.
Looking at your userid, you're likely old enough to have seen your share of elections go by. Has anything within our Government really improved much over the past twenty years or so ? Anything at all ?
Has the quality of life in America improved or degraded since say . . . . the 90's ?
Think about who has been in charge since then and you start to realize, there is no winning team.
If you ban it, it will simply be stolen and exported to other countries anyway. ( I suspect we will be stealing it from other countries as well )
I know every country is in a race to see who can develop it first because, much like nuclear weapons, it gives the one who finishes first a huge advantage over the rest.
The best course of action is to collaborate with other countries to help ensure AI actually turns into something useful for humanity. By combining efforts, it may even shorten the time before we see the birth of a " true " AI.
Oh and just as a reminder, all Presidents lie, not just Republicans.
Most recent case in point, a few from Obama off the top of my head:
His promise to close Guantanamo. Went on Jay Leno and proclaimed " There is no spying on Americans " after the Snowden revelations. If you like your doctor / healthcare plan, you can keep them.
Moral of this story: Presidents can promise you anything, the problem is people keep believing it.
I would be willing to bet that if he closed off the Southern Border for an extended period of time, Mexico would be more than willing to negotiate payments for said wall.
Quite a bit of money flows back into Mexico's economy from legal / illegals working here in the US.
You cut that cash flow off and they'll change their tune in a hurry.
" Of course, but considering all the good they have done to protect our privacy, I'm willing to cut them some slack here. "
You shouldn't.
The ad " trial " is Mozilla testing the waters to see how their user base will react to such things. If the reaction is negligible, they then proceed with a small unobtrusive ad. Then, another one. Then another. Etc. and so on.
The internet was neither designed nor intended to be an advertising platform. The fact that it turned into one is why it is such a shit-show today.
I suspect if any browser is found to start injecting advertisements on behalf of the company who owns it, the consequences would be devastating.
If the guy climbed it with a rifle strapped to his back then, sure, take some precautionary steps.
Shutting down traffic because someone is flying an RC aircraft from the top of a bridge ?
Really ?
That stupid decision caused far more problems than it solved.
If the drivers there are anything like the ones in the States, they would not have noticed it in the first place because they are usually staring at their phones.
I swear half the planet is terrified of their own shadow these days.
because I tire of my card being compromised. Too easy to hire waitstaff who make next to nothing and give them a card reader for the promise of extra pay every month.
If payment requires my card to be out of my sight, I pay in cash.
If you do not accept cash, well that is your problem. You either accept it or I get a free meal. It is not awkward at all.
Those who have been alive longer than smartphones, cellphones or pagers will have an easier time going without such things as they have done it before.
Those who have never known a life without them, not so much.
It would be akin to denying a heroin addict their daily fix I think.
Slashdot Mirror
If we would simply sit on the sidelines for the next " War on X ", we could easily build that wall 10x over.
Folks talk about how it would be a waste of money to build it, yet where is all that outrage when the US is spending TRILLIONS of dollars in the never ending conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, etc. etc. ?
Maybe the judge will have some fun with this.
If the plaintiff wishes to proceed with the facepalm of the year lawsuit, turn to page 47.
If the anything-to-make-a-quick-buck plaintiff wishes to wisely drop this complete waste of my time, turn to page 93.
"Which leads back to the person who just got fired and his pension fund..."
Since it is the COMPANY who offered the Pension to the employee as part of a benefits package to entice said employee to work for them, you cannot put the blame on the employee for expecting the Company to honor their contractual agreements.
Layoffs happen for a variety of reasons.
If a company is laying off staff because they cannot deliver on their promise of pensions to their employees, then it is the COMPANIES fault for both offering it and failing to keep it funded. Had folks not been promised a Pension, they would have demanded compensation in other forms to make up for it. ( Eg: Higher yearly salary )
"I'd rather hear some intelligent reasons why anyone would choose to use a Windows machine over other faster, cheaper, more stable systems."
In no particular order, here are several intelligent reasons why I'm still running Windows
( Win 7 Ultimate, Updates and Patches disabled because they tend to break more than they fix )
Wacom MobileStudio Pro 16 Tablet - $2699 Win 10 only
The entire Adobe CC Suite - $650 / year Win / Mac only
Sibelius Ultimate - $900 perpetual license Win / Mac only
Cubase Pro - $550 perpetual license Win / Mac only
Capture One Pro - $180 perpetual license Win / Mac only
Keyshot Pro - $2000 perpetual license Win / Mac only
Rhinoceros - $1000 perpetual license Win / Mac only
Zbrush - $895 perpetual license Win / Mac only
Corel Painter - $400 perpetual license Win / Mac only
Driver that allows my synthesizer ( Yamaha Montage 8 - $4000 ) to talk to Sibelius & Cubase Win / Mac only
Of all my software, only Maya has a Linux version that I'm aware of.
So, in answer to your question, the above represents about $13k worth of reasons why I'm still using a Windows based computer.
OMG
You just had to say it . . . . .
I think if you say it three times, we'll get a wall of text about how modifying your host files will:
1) Spice up your sex life
2) Cure Cancer
3) Solve P vs NP
4) Balance the National Debt
Perhaps China will start getting their fair share of the Nigerian Prince email scams too :D
Kaspersky is probably the only company who refuses to look the other way at NSA / CIA born malware and viruses.
If you don't play nice with the spooky types, they make life hell on you in return.
Not necessarily news for the Slashdot crowd, but the people running this country really don't have a clue and might actually be surprised at such things.
See: Series of Tubes as an example.
To be honest, you shouldn't have six figure debt unless your degree plan puts you into a position to make a six figure ( or higher ) salary.
This entire process is about the stupid amount of debt AT&T is now holding due to the recent buying spree it has been on as of late.
Here's a passage that isn't in the original story:
" It's critical for us to bring employees together to increase the pace of innovation and further develop the right skills in a more open, flexible and efficient work environment. Therefore, our collaboration zones and hub cities become even more integral. "
I read that as the whole " Office 2.0 " bullshit where your workspace is shared with everyone else. They like to claim " collaboration " but, in reality, they're just being cheap.
" further develop the right skills " is downright laughable as AT&T considers training an expense vs an investment. This is why you have the service you do because NO ONE is trained in how to do their job anymore so everyone basically wings it as best they can. Corporate will deny it, but ask any normal employee the last time they saw any standard / formal training* in regards to how to do their job and they will likely tell you Ed Whittacre was still the CEO.
*Some of you will question why this is needed, but remember new hardware arrives all the time. It's akin to being fluent in Cisco for years and they plop a Juniper down in front of you and say " make it work, we're shifting everything new over to Juniper ". When you put critical or customer traffic on this, it's rather important to know what you're doing. ( In my opinion anyway )
Another thing the original story is unaware of is the fact that AT&T is looking at all the real estate it owns ( and it's quite a bit ) to determine if any given building can be shut down and sold off. Basically, if the building doesn't contain enough critical infrastructure for serving the area it resides within, there's a good chance it's on the list. If it contains just a call center, there's a good chance it's already been sold. Their real estate is worth quite a bit and is probably the most efficient method of raising capitol needed to pay down that debt.
I say enough because there are several buildings that are already on the list to be vacated that DO contain systems that have to be moved before it can be sold. These buildings are basically regional locations where network connections across the State consolidate at the distribution layer. All of these connections have to be moved onto new architecture ( in progress ) and each location has a desired timeline for completion. We're talking hundreds and possibly thousands of sites that are fed from these locations that have to be moved. It will take a considerable amount of time ( several years ), money and people to complete.
The problem is, if they continue to slash headcount, they're not going to have enough people left to do the work required to meet those deadlines. As it stands today, with the current headcount, those deadlines are already in trouble. Telling them this tends to fall on deaf ears. Guess they'll figure it out when the deadlines come and go.
What tends to irk me most is:
They keep buying shit with money they don't have. ( DirecTv / Time Warner )
The money AT&T WASTED on the failed T-Mobile merger was ~$5B
The money AT&T wastes on stupid shit like " Stadium Naming Rights " and the like
An executives yearly bonus is more than a non-executive type makes their entire LIFE
Yet, laying people off is their go to answer for saving money :|
How about your boss ?
You know, that day you called in sick so you could go to the ballgame instead ?
How about your insurance company ?
Let's take a look at where you've been eating for the past year. . . .
" CUDA lol, what a dumbass. "
Try a GPU renderer. The majority of which seem to like Nvidia flavors moreso than AMD.
Much more common and no one does this with low or mid range cards.
The more CUDA cores you have at your disposal, the faster the renderer will run.
I hope the aforementioned companies are paying their own engineers well.
Once bounties get this high, the thought would cross the minds of many to build in a vulnerability for use later on.
Then again, I suppose the various three letter agencies with their unlimited budgets probably have an engineer or
several on the payroll already. . . .
Those who have yet to learn this probably shouldn't be investing in the first place.
Welcome to reality where you are not guaranteed to earn anything on any investments you may have made.
Where the slightest bullshit ( oh noez, Apple had a bad quarter ) wipes out Billions of dollars in a single day.
In my opinion, it's the idiots investing in Nvidia right in the middle of the CryptoCurrency boom not realizing what's driving record sales who are at fault here.
If:
1) You are lucky enough to live close to where you work
2) The weather allows it
3) You don't need to carry much with you
4) The traffic doesn't kill you
My commute for fifteen years was ~100 miles round trip. Let's see you bike that one every day.
Where I live, it's 90f by 8am with humidity typically hovering around the 60-70% mark in the Summer. Have fun.
What's your plan when you go to leave work and it's storming like the end of the world outside ?
I typically have at least my laptop with me. My tool bag ( network stuff ) when necessary. On a bike ? No . . . .
Folks in cars don't even see each OTHER because they're playing with their phones and you want to drive out there with them . . . on a bicycle ? Are you suicidal ?
Personally I can't stand the arrogance of most of the cyclists around here. They're easy to spot as they are usually decked out in bicycle attire worthy of the Tour De France. They will pedal in the center of the lane of traffic like they own it while doing 20mph in a 50mph zone. Cars stacked up behind them 5,10 deep and they act shocked, and outraged when folks pass them the first chance they get.
How DARE you pass me ?
Can't you see I'm on a bicycle ?!
I'M SPECIAL !!!!!
Actually watched one of these idiots get off their bike at a red light to run up and beat on the drivers window after he got passed by several cars who were tired of driving 15-20mph.
Surprised he survived that encounter to be honest . . . . .
Yeah, no sympathy from me.
God forbid you get behind a pack of them, you may as well turn around and go home.
As the Gulf Coast tends to see tropical systems of varying strength from time to time.
Unlikely wind turbines will be running during the storms and, if damaged, will need repair before resuming operation.
Same for transmission lines that would be carrying said energy across the State.
Reasons:
1) Apple went full stupid with the pricing on their newest lineup
2) I like my headphone jack thank you very much
3) There is nothing wrong with my iPhone SE nor my Galaxy S5 ( both of which have headphone jacks )
4) Smartphone market is over-saturated, iPhones are no longer the only option
The only reason I have an iPhone SE is the size. I prefer a smaller phone that easily fits into a pocket vs :|
the super sized versions that are so common today. They get any bigger and we'll be able to mount them
via a forearm strap and use them as shields
Were it not for the larger size, I would really prefer to stick with my Galaxy S5. It has a headphone jack,
a removable battery ( I have a few spares ) and is expandable via the micro-SD card. The drag and drop
file functionality is really hard for Apple to beat imo.
Plus, f*ck iTunes. That sh*t is why I grabbed a Galaxy S5 to begin with.
My ideal phone would be:
1) Android base ( not the carrier bloated bullsh*t that's impossible to remove without root )
2) Removable Battery
3) Micro-SD card expand-ability
4) Hardware switch(es) to disable the Mic, Camera and GPS
5) Decent size selection range ( small to large )
6) Headphone jack
7) Dual Sim
"thank the GOP. There have been a few votes to save Net Neutrality and they were lost along party lines (a few GOPers did break ranks but it wasn't enough).
I know folks don't like partisanship, but there are partisan issues and NN is one of them. Had Trump lost the election we wouldn't be reading this story today. Had the Democrats taken the Senate & House by a wide enough majority to override vetos we would be reading about the upcoming vote to restore NN. These aren't debatable points, they're just facts. Cold, hard facts.
We've got another election in about 2 years. Show up at your primary. The Dems have a wing [justicedemocrats.com] that refuses corporate PAC money. If Net Neutrality matters to you then you know what to do."
Man I've got some bad news for you.
Looking at your userid, you're likely old enough to have seen your share of elections go by.
Has anything within our Government really improved much over the past twenty years or so ? Anything at all ?
Has the quality of life in America improved or degraded since say . . . . the 90's ?
Think about who has been in charge since then and you start to realize, there is no winning team.
If you ban it, it will simply be stolen and exported to other countries anyway.
( I suspect we will be stealing it from other countries as well )
I know every country is in a race to see who can develop it first because, much like nuclear weapons, it gives the one who finishes
first a huge advantage over the rest.
The best course of action is to collaborate with other countries to help ensure AI actually turns into something useful for humanity.
By combining efforts, it may even shorten the time before we see the birth of a " true " AI.
Oh and just as a reminder, all Presidents lie, not just Republicans.
Most recent case in point, a few from Obama off the top of my head:
His promise to close Guantanamo.
Went on Jay Leno and proclaimed " There is no spying on Americans " after the Snowden revelations.
If you like your doctor / healthcare plan, you can keep them.
Moral of this story: Presidents can promise you anything, the problem is people keep believing it.
I would be willing to bet that if he closed off the Southern Border for an extended period of time, Mexico would be more than willing to negotiate payments for said wall.
Quite a bit of money flows back into Mexico's economy from legal / illegals working here in the US.
You cut that cash flow off and they'll change their tune in a hurry.
" Of course, but considering all the good they have done to protect our privacy, I'm willing to cut them some slack here. "
You shouldn't.
The ad " trial " is Mozilla testing the waters to see how their user base will react to such things. If the reaction is negligible, they then proceed with a small unobtrusive ad. Then, another one. Then another. Etc. and so on.
The internet was neither designed nor intended to be an advertising platform.
The fact that it turned into one is why it is such a shit-show today.
I suspect if any browser is found to start injecting advertisements on behalf of the company who owns it, the consequences would be devastating.
If the guy climbed it with a rifle strapped to his back then, sure, take some precautionary steps.
Shutting down traffic because someone is flying an RC aircraft from the top of a bridge ?
Really ?
That stupid decision caused far more problems than it solved.
If the drivers there are anything like the ones in the States, they would not have noticed it in the first place because they are usually staring at their phones.
I swear half the planet is terrified of their own shadow these days.
because I tire of my card being compromised. Too easy to hire waitstaff who make next to nothing and give them a card reader for the promise of extra pay every month.
If payment requires my card to be out of my sight, I pay in cash.
If you do not accept cash, well that is your problem. You either accept it or I get a free meal. It is not awkward at all.
Those who have been alive longer than smartphones, cellphones or pagers will have an easier time going without such things as they have done it before.
Those who have never known a life without them, not so much.
It would be akin to denying a heroin addict their daily fix I think.