I feel sad that people are willing to think of other people as stereotypes. People are better of considered as individuals who think and move and change their minds, who grow and develop and make friends and study and learn new things. Putting them in a box is always wrong.
I believe that outlaw radio signals are a lot easier to trace than outlaw TCP/IP. Your ARRL would be ecstatic over the opportunity to find and shut down illegal radio transmissions - that can affect WiFi too.
I worked at one of the major Australian banks; Excel/VBA was the norm, not the exception. It was uniformly horrid (except for the stuff I wrote, of course;P). It was also highly portable, and standard enough to send betweeen different financial organisations (we're talking "financial instruments worth billions").
The real reason for all that VBA code, and one that nearly caused me to post this AC, was a bit more back-door.
A department can hire people to write a few Excel macros locally, but anything that looks like a "programming project" is, by policy, sent off shore for development, which can double the cost and triple the duration of a project. Off-shore development seems wise at the C-level, but the poor sods who have to get a report out for the tax people have an entirely different perception.
So, a few thousand lines of "it's only a macro, really" keeps middle management away of the - rather painful - outsourcing mill. This is not speculation, this is how it worked.
These middle managers are the equivalent of the senior staff sergeants who creatively interpret orders to avoid getting themselves and their platoons killed.
That's pretty much how they're able to explain the "utopia" that is the federation - there is no (monetary) value to property, so essentially it's similar to socialism or comunism, but it works as greed cannot have any effect.
The idea of an economy without the cost of goods figured in to it (and many services, too) has a long following in science fiction. I remember George O. Smith's "Venus Equilateral" series for the replicator impact, Asimov's robots series for the services impact, and of course Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" (Bladerunner) for the social impact.
Anything that lasts that long in SF has some possibility of eventuating in reality, I reckon. SF has long been the only outlet for ideas for some very, very clever people.
Careful, sir or madam, with that graph you are treading dangerously close to a theological argument here. Global Warming is the Flying Spaghetti Monster's way of telling us we need more pirates. If you want to know exactly how pirates and global warming correlate, please send money, and we will lease you an AVOM (Awesome Volt-Ohm Meter) with a blank face with which you can scare yourself until your midichlorians take over your reflexes.
"Luke Skywalker's a Jedi of course;
And he's prone to have much intercourse;
So he calls up his Princess, to beg for some incest,
Recently and ongoing, there's been work to try to discover some genetic predilection to particular behaviours. Things like a "entrepreneurial gene", a "thief gene", a "rapist gene", and so on. Wouldn't it be awkward if everyone's genetic fingerprint were encoded on the genes which encode for predilection to discover holes in crackpot genetic crime prevention theories?
At the risk of invoking Godwin, I'm going to point out that a certain party during WWII had determined - via phrenology and other pseudoscientific means - that certain classes of people were fundamentally flawed, and proposed an ultimate solution to their quality of life issues were (a) more room to live (lebensraum) and (b) removal of the people classified as defective from society.
The first step was to invade a peaceful neighboring country, the second was by systematic removal of people of certain genetic types, "geno-cide". This removal involved transporting people via rail freight cars and interring them in landfill, after removing any valuables (such as gold teeth) first.
People, classifying people in any way is dangerous. Institutionalising the classification of people is pernicious. And if that pan has a handle, people will carry with it.
If you put people in boxes, pretty soon you'll see a lot of people in boxes.
While I agree with protecting your own IP, this whole process is dominated by protecting one small part of the overall industry and not the industry as a whole.
This raises an interesting speculation, though. The idea may not be to attempt to stop international copyright or patent infringement - that's a Land War In Asia if I've ever seen one - but simply to provide grounds for sanctioning goods and services from overseas that are infringing. The argument could go: "Copying our DVD player designs? We'll stop yours at the border".
I'm not saying that might not be the case, I'm just saying that I'd like to see someone actually run the cost/benefit analysis before I believe that this is anything beyond a marketable but flawed idea.
Turns out I was working for a major Australian grocery chain as an architect in their store systems division when I ran across the Fujitsu system. It's not just a 'marketable but flawed idea', it's a reliable working system that was already in place at some of our competitors. We were evaluating a number of automated shelf tag systems. They were all cost effective. Several independent grocery chains had already invested in them by then.
There is no organisation I've ever met quite as tight with a buck as retail groceries. They won't spend a dime if there isn't an ROI.
There's a company called HACEDuino that makes Arduino kits if you're interested. Cheap, they sell them on Ebay out of Australia. Neat little kits, I have one myself.
Disclosure: company belongs to a friend of mine, but I have no financial interest.
Slashdot Mirror
And, given the topic and the context, I'll support my right to bare arms.
Congratulations to all, with special mention of honour to PJ and Groklaw.
Any kind of box.
Great post. But please, can we stop using effect as a verb?
And how exactly do you expect us to effect this change?
...I'm not a big fan of capes, regardless...
You've obviously never worn one. A good half-circle woolen cape is brilliant for camping. Warm, versatile, and you can use it for a blanket at night.
Just avoid chivalric gestures - they can be expensive to clean.
The shielding in microwave ovens is not that good. It knocks out my cell phone's bluetooth every-time I get near it while it's warming...
Do you feel a bit warm when you're standing near it? The shielding in old microwave ovens can deteriorate over time.
Replace your microwave, dude. They're comparatively cheap.
I'm a bit uncertain about this. I guess phones could be traced too...
Perfect setup for spectrum warfare.
I believe that outlaw radio signals are a lot easier to trace than outlaw TCP/IP. Your ARRL would be ecstatic over the opportunity to find and shut down illegal radio transmissions - that can affect WiFi too.
No mention of the CIA in any recruiting posters I've seen.
Why should they? They already know who you are.
VBA was probably their only choice.
I worked at one of the major Australian banks; Excel/VBA was the norm, not the exception. It was uniformly horrid (except for the stuff I wrote, of course ;P). It was also highly portable, and standard enough to send betweeen different financial organisations (we're talking "financial instruments worth billions").
The real reason for all that VBA code, and one that nearly caused me to post this AC, was a bit more back-door.
A department can hire people to write a few Excel macros locally, but anything that looks like a "programming project" is, by policy, sent off shore for development, which can double the cost and triple the duration of a project. Off-shore development seems wise at the C-level, but the poor sods who have to get a report out for the tax people have an entirely different perception.
So, a few thousand lines of "it's only a macro, really" keeps middle management away of the - rather painful - outsourcing mill. This is not speculation, this is how it worked.
These middle managers are the equivalent of the senior staff sergeants who creatively interpret orders to avoid getting themselves and their platoons killed.
Brought gales of laughter to me
I must change it now.
That's pretty much how they're able to explain the "utopia" that is the federation - there is no (monetary) value to property, so essentially it's similar to socialism or comunism, but it works as greed cannot have any effect.
The idea of an economy without the cost of goods figured in to it (and many services, too) has a long following in science fiction. I remember George O. Smith's "Venus Equilateral" series for the replicator impact, Asimov's robots series for the services impact, and of course Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" (Bladerunner) for the social impact.
Anything that lasts that long in SF has some possibility of eventuating in reality, I reckon. SF has long been the only outlet for ideas for some very, very clever people.
Are these "education programs" anything like the ones in China?
"Luke Skywalker's a Jedi of course;
And he's prone to have much intercourse;
So he calls up his Princess, to beg for some incest,
Grabs a blindfold and uses the Force.
The entire article can be summed up by the tiresome cliche "correlation != causation"...
The logical fallacy is called "post hoc, ergo propter hoc" - "after this, therefore because of this".
Sort of like - I get a headache every time someone turns on the television, therefore headaches are caused by the television.
Oh, hang on...
How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff. Recommended reading.
Some think that a legal entity has no honor at all...
As an experiment, voice that view in a bar full of US Marines.
Recently and ongoing, there's been work to try to discover some genetic predilection to particular behaviours. Things like a "entrepreneurial gene", a "thief gene", a "rapist gene", and so on. Wouldn't it be awkward if everyone's genetic fingerprint were encoded on the genes which encode for predilection to discover holes in crackpot genetic crime prevention theories?
At the risk of invoking Godwin, I'm going to point out that a certain party during WWII had determined - via phrenology and other pseudoscientific means - that certain classes of people were fundamentally flawed, and proposed an ultimate solution to their quality of life issues were (a) more room to live (lebensraum) and (b) removal of the people classified as defective from society.
The first step was to invade a peaceful neighboring country, the second was by systematic removal of people of certain genetic types, "geno-cide". This removal involved transporting people via rail freight cars and interring them in landfill, after removing any valuables (such as gold teeth) first.
People, classifying people in any way is dangerous. Institutionalising the classification of people is pernicious. And if that pan has a handle, people will carry with it.
If you put people in boxes, pretty soon you'll see a lot of people in boxes.
Stop this insanity now.
They're trying to stiff you again.
Thanks for that ;) I only really require it of myself.
While I agree with protecting your own IP, this whole process is dominated by protecting one small part of the overall industry and not the industry as a whole.
This raises an interesting speculation, though. The idea may not be to attempt to stop international copyright or patent infringement - that's a Land War In Asia if I've ever seen one - but simply to provide grounds for sanctioning goods and services from overseas that are infringing. The argument could go: "Copying our DVD player designs? We'll stop yours at the border".
"Mr. President, ..."
Mod. Parent. Up.
Pretty sure that god fellow trolls on 4chan for kicks. Could you really blame him for trolling an entire NATION?
Just a tramp like one of us? Just a stranger on a bus trying to make his way home?
I'm not saying that might not be the case, I'm just saying that I'd like to see someone actually run the cost/benefit analysis before I believe that this is anything beyond a marketable but flawed idea.
Turns out I was working for a major Australian grocery chain as an architect in their store systems division when I ran across the Fujitsu system. It's not just a 'marketable but flawed idea', it's a reliable working system that was already in place at some of our competitors. We were evaluating a number of automated shelf tag systems. They were all cost effective. Several independent grocery chains had already invested in them by then.
There is no organisation I've ever met quite as tight with a buck as retail groceries. They won't spend a dime if there isn't an ROI.
Disclosure: company belongs to a friend of mine, but I have no financial interest.