Although I hope you are right, I think its probably unlikely that the house and senate will be dem majorities next time around. And the presidency will still likely be republican -- Becuase it will be a very strong republican candidate (Giuliani or McCain). There isnt a dem in the world that could win against either of them, outside of Bill Clinton (and he cant run again;p)
I think it works both ways. Those who have no real money or power in the real world also use WOW in order to help themselves feel better. After all, who cares about the real world when you are the #1 warrior on a server.
I cant tell you how many of my friends spend more time on WOW than they do their own careers.
I suppose you and I have differing standards on what is "relatively" recently. In your world, I suppose, that makes me reading deficient. I suppose anyone with a different opinion from your own is deficient, correct?
And back to my point original, thats one example. ONE. A single example. Surely you France Economic Policy fanboys can come up with more than that, no?
Again, I LIKE france, french people, culture, food, etc. But their economic policy is beyond absurd. I'm not saying ours (USA's) isnt following down the same path, thats a whole different discussion.
Why dont you try to add something to the discussion instead of nitpick about whether a 20 year old company is "Relatively" new or not. Or do you have no real argument beyond semantics?
I think this is a very valid point. I dont really think they should be or are completely mutually exclusive, at least not in theory. Ideally, as you more eloquently pointed out, a business should by its nature be pro-consumer -- consumers are their customers (either directly or indirectly). In that sense, at least, I dont think they are mutually exclusive properties for a society. Until you include the government bureacracy.
The real problem with many European countries pro-consumer stance is not that it is necessarily anti-business, but rather just that it drastically increases the paperwork and regulation in the society. My original post was incomplete -- more to my point was that most european countries are seeing a true economic decline in profitable, growing small entrepreneurial companies. Companies that grow from 2 employess, to 25, to 2000 within the span of a decade.
These types of companies have real difficulty starting and operating in very pro-consumer environments -- not becuase they are anti-consumer, but becuase they cant handle the paperwork and cant afford the legal team to get them inline with the regulation. Large existing companies have no trouble with paperwork.
The US has had this problem as well in the last 20 years. The real key to getting us to your (And my) "fantasyland" is to figure out a way for the environment to be pro-consumer, without passing all of the burden onto the small businesses. This burden is too much to bear along with creating a new venture. In the US, places like the SBDC (small bus development centers) are a good first step, but we need to go WAY beyond this. This involves automation, linked databases, simplified paperwork, efficient government offices with satelite office accesses, 24/7 access/help lines and more.
A pro-consumer environment does better society, provided it doesnt bankrupt it first.
Actually, I was referencing the word "recently" in the phrase written in post, and I quote "The first to come to mind is Ubisoft, which is a very successfull French game publisher that was founded relatively recently."
Again, you would consider 20 years ago being founded recently?
I have travelled throughout all parts of france, lived in paris for brief periods, and have had enough experience with the government and economic policies to stand behind my original position. I said nothing about all of the stuff you mentioned, but I suppose its a fair argument for you to assume I believe things I didnt mention.
I love france, the people, the food, and the culture. Even though both sides dont want to really admit it, French Culture and American culture are very similar and very intertwined.
But that doesnt mean that their economic structure isnt a total fucksicle. It is.
The military already has this. They have scopes that can accurately fire for miles. Being able to see doesnt help other conditions -- wind, curve of the earth, shit in the way.
Battles are fought in cities, and cities are built so that there arent large stretches between buildings. Close-combat warfare is where most people die. Increased vision wouldnt help much, unless it allowed you to see through walls and such.
I'm not exactly sure where you are calling from, but around here, its the verizon folks who have more trouble than others. Cingular (even though it is SBC/ATT in disguise) or Sprint/Nextel are 10X more popular with more retail stores (providing cust support) and better connectivity.
Let me apologize. I was inquiring more generally -- not in relation to this specific article. Its obvious that you are more than welcome to comment on a story taht was posted, asking for opinions.
I just mean, more generally, the dinner discussions that I have had with many european and canadian people. They seem to dwell on US Domestic issues that have little impact on their lives, and I cant really figure out why they give a shit.
I am not an American, but I seem to be more concerned about goes on over there that most Americans.
I hear comments like yours all the time from my friends internationally, or when I travel abroad (or even to Canada). I'm going to go ahead and assume you are from a western european country or canada. Please correct me if I am wrong.
You are wrong -- You do not care more about US politics than we do. You are more concerned about a very limited specific area.
I've got karma to burn, so I'm going to go ahead and say what many Americans feel:
Why do you care so much about our internal politics? Certainly, it makes sense for you to have feelings about our international policies and actions. But beyond that, there is a great deal of near-obsession among western european countries and canada about completely US Domestic issues. These are issues that wont affect your country, your laws, or your living conditions. I would go as far to say that the average European cares more about US Domestic issues than they care aboue European Domestic issues. Why?
I try to follow a limited variety of local issues (for reference) in other countries (health care systems in Canada/UK, local economic issues in Japan), but rarely will I seek to tell citizens of those countries what is good for them on domestic issues. Thats just insane.
Im just speculating, but I would bet that the Average American (if polled) would prefer that the rest of the world just back the fuck off when it comes to our domestic issues. We dont want, need, or care for your oversight when it comes to issues that dont affect you at all.
Actually, you have the economics of the gold farming backwards.
The problem that gold farmers create is that they drive profits in the online economy to nothing. Farming items and selling them en masse on the auction houses, and then selling that gold in the real economy does two things:
1 - It drives DOWN the price of items. This is good for people WITH money, and bad for people WITHOUT money. People without money traditionally would go out, find some resources, and sell them to make money. Since farmers are continually farming these resources, there is excess supply in the marketplace -- so prices drop. So normal players who go out and get resources cannot sell them for dick. Hence, its hard to get money.
2 - So. Given #1, the only way to get money to actually improve your items or buy items you need for quests, etc is to find alternative means to get money. For a lot of people, this means buying MMORPG Gold in the real economy -- from the chinese farmers!.
SO, its not inflation.
The REAL way to defeat farmers is to cut out the black market. Blizzard could sell gold and items for REAL dollars, cutting out the chinese farmers. The problem is, then the internal economy would work like real life -- those with money do better. And a lot of MMORPG players go to those games to escape real life -- so that wont work.
IBM no longer has a notebook division. They sold it to Lenovo.
Plus, what are they doing that innovative? I know they refuse to put windows keys on their laptops -- to the disdain of their primary customer -- business professionals.
Perhaps there is some other R+D that IBM does with regards to notebooks that I am unaware of?
A Better Solution
on
Insider Threat
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
A Better solution is to do the following:
- Hire good employees, who are relatively honest and straightforward people. This includes everyone -- IT, Sales, Administrative, etc. If they arent honest, they shouldnt be working here. (This also tends to help with Corporate Responsibility -- how NOT to fudge the books in a crunch..) There are decent HR personality tests that can reasonably predict if someone would be untrustworthy in different situations.
- Deal with your employees fairly, honestly, and be upfront. This will minimize the biggest source of insider problems -- disgruntled employees. For example, giving yourself a raise after or just before laying off other employees, is generally a Bad Thing (tm). Try to be honest with employees about their performance, what is expected, and what wont fly. Provide regular, upfront feedback. Follow through with action. Be Kind, Understanding, but Firm.
- Trust your employees to make sound decisions. The employee who is berated and treated as if they "cant be trusted" will eventually turn into the employee who you fear them to be. If you dont trust them to start, then why should they care? More over, if you dont trust them, why did you hire them?
- Give people ample access to what they need, but not so much access that it impedes others. For example, the IT administrator should have access to quite a bit. Asking for a password to do their job is no only unefficient, its demeaning and downright stupid. Do you trust the IT people you have hired? Do you believe them to be competent? If so, then let them do their job. If not, then why did you hire them or why are they still working there? Its incredibly frustrating to employees to do what this book reccomends -- lock down access. Its frustrating to the employee becuase they have to "ask" to do their job. And its frustrating to management, who has to constantly hand-hold entering passwords as the employee progresses. Cut the leash.
Overall, I think its important for IT security people and Management to understand these risks. TO watch for violations. But to base your company security policies on these type of ideas would be lunacy, and would kill any sort of company morale you might have had going for you. Its much easier to trust the people you work for, pay them fairly and well, and treat them like human beings than it is to try to lock them down in every way to "prevent" bad things.
Certainly there are exceptions where even the very small percentage of bad employees can cause very large damage to the company. This should be dealt with appropriately within those industries -- and employees should know this DURING the application process, so they know what kind of BigBrother situation they are getting into.
Considering fat, lazy, idiotic fools comprise most of the first world population, I think the man simply is sticking to his guns about what is important in this world.
You know, I hear this often. But it doesnt stand up. How can EVERYONE on slashdot be a genius and EVERYONE ELSE be a fucking fat lazy idiot? Isnt it possible for you to concieve, perhaps just for a second, that there is a normal distribution of intelligence? There are lots of smart people and lots of stupid people, provided you base your judgements on the mean of the population. Unless you somehow expect more than half the population to be above average intelligence(makes sense, doesnt it...).
The future of human civilization is not the subject of a popularity contest. Stupid, inane toys waste precious human life and are nothing more than modern circuses for the masses.
You are right. So what. Are you so conceited to assume you know best for the more than 8 billion people on this planet? Fuck off. If I am stupid enough to eat shit and watch tv all day, let me fucking be. Its my life. Get off your high horse, and let people do what they want. Freedom -- its not just when you think its convenient.
Certainly you arent advocating for a loss of individual freedom, are you? If so... We have larger issues to debate.
We will fight for an ideal form of humanity, and your potato chip stuffing fat ass won't be able to do a damn thing about it.
First, who is "We"? Second, why wouldnt he be able to do anything about it? Considering that you claim above that the worlds population seems to be filled with fatass idiots, wouldnt you just be fighting an uphill battle against a populace that doesnt want to change and has more power than you? Good Luck.
The divisive, individualistic lifestyle that is the essence of the consumer behavior you endorse is unsustainable. It denies the duty every citizen has to the greater formation of the state, as well as the next generation of the inhabitants of our world.
I love reading garbage like this. It sounds so philosophical. It almost makes you sound smarter to those reading it because you come off as sounding magnanimous. Have you ever considered that "the divisive, individualistic lifestyle" might just be humanities way? Progression through chaos, so to speak. And the whole "it denies the duty of every citizen..." bit is just lovely. The state should always, read this, ALWAYS serve the citizens, not the other way around.
Your creed has been tried. It is an unmitigated failure. The future belongs to us now. I suggest you get over yourself as there are just a few years left of the so-called freedom you now enjoy.
Guess what? So Has Yours. It failed worse. The future belongs to all of us, not just you and yours, prick. Whats to come? Fascism? I'm sure the world will progress very nicely under that domain -- in clear, orderly fashion. And by doing so, those in power would have squashed what makes humanity great -- its chaos, the struggle, the emotions.
Its my understanding that Ruby/Rails is for designing web-based apps, which ours are not.
Would you use Ruby/Rails for internal program, that isnt viewed on websites? Is ruby/rails even capable of running as a script. This is why we are using Perl, and perhaps C in the future.
But I do like Ruby a lot. I would use it for this if it made sense, what do you think?
I think you misunderstand. They had no concept, at ALL of what we did. I am more than willing to provide additional info, but I think a little research on the candidates part is necessary. How else would you know what kind of company you were applying to?
These people didnt even know what industry our company operated in....
True enough. In my situation, I am not very technical when it comes to databases, but I am still the person hiring those people. This may seem like a contradiction, but this is a small business -- so its necessary. But I agree, appearances are everything at the start of the process..
I appreciate the comments. I have never used Dice, but I will look into it.
First, I wouldnt be against receiving a cover letter that mentioned what you did about PHP. Why are people afraid to be honest in a cover letter?
Second, Is the mis-capitalization of one letter really mis-spelling? And does this really impact whether you are interested in a job? That doesnt seem fair to me.
Slashdot Mirror
Although I hope you are right, I think its probably unlikely that the house and senate will be dem majorities next time around. And the presidency will still likely be republican -- Becuase it will be a very strong republican candidate (Giuliani or McCain). There isnt a dem in the world that could win against either of them, outside of Bill Clinton (and he cant run again ;p)
I think it works both ways. Those who have no real money or power in the real world also use WOW in order to help themselves feel better. After all, who cares about the real world when you are the #1 warrior on a server.
I cant tell you how many of my friends spend more time on WOW than they do their own careers.
What I meant to imply was that the elite appoint the judges, are the judges, make the laws. ;)
"So try the elite in court for treason. We now have the legal precedent. Perhaps."
First of all, how do you try a class of people in a court? 1 at a time?
Second, even if we assume that its possible, how do you plan to win?
Your only chance is revolution. Good Luck, becuase most people arent on your side.
Let me give you a little hint -- its easier to move from the "bottom" to the "top" than it is to war against them.
I suppose you and I have differing standards on what is "relatively" recently. In your world, I suppose, that makes me reading deficient. I suppose anyone with a different opinion from your own is deficient, correct?
And back to my point original, thats one example. ONE. A single example. Surely you France Economic Policy fanboys can come up with more than that, no?
Again, I LIKE france, french people, culture, food, etc. But their economic policy is beyond absurd. I'm not saying ours (USA's) isnt following down the same path, thats a whole different discussion.
Why dont you try to add something to the discussion instead of nitpick about whether a 20 year old company is "Relatively" new or not. Or do you have no real argument beyond semantics?
I think this is a very valid point. I dont really think they should be or are completely mutually exclusive, at least not in theory. Ideally, as you more eloquently pointed out, a business should by its nature be pro-consumer -- consumers are their customers (either directly or indirectly). In that sense, at least, I dont think they are mutually exclusive properties for a society. Until you include the government bureacracy.
The real problem with many European countries pro-consumer stance is not that it is necessarily anti-business, but rather just that it drastically increases the paperwork and regulation in the society. My original post was incomplete -- more to my point was that most european countries are seeing a true economic decline in profitable, growing small entrepreneurial companies. Companies that grow from 2 employess, to 25, to 2000 within the span of a decade.
These types of companies have real difficulty starting and operating in very pro-consumer environments -- not becuase they are anti-consumer, but becuase they cant handle the paperwork and cant afford the legal team to get them inline with the regulation. Large existing companies have no trouble with paperwork.
The US has had this problem as well in the last 20 years. The real key to getting us to your (And my) "fantasyland" is to figure out a way for the environment to be pro-consumer, without passing all of the burden onto the small businesses. This burden is too much to bear along with creating a new venture. In the US, places like the SBDC (small bus development centers) are a good first step, but we need to go WAY beyond this. This involves automation, linked databases, simplified paperwork, efficient government offices with satelite office accesses, 24/7 access/help lines and more.
A pro-consumer environment does better society, provided it doesnt bankrupt it first.
Actually, I was referencing the word "recently" in the phrase written in post, and I quote "The first to come to mind is Ubisoft, which is a very successfull French game publisher that was founded relatively recently."
Again, you would consider 20 years ago being founded recently?
I have travelled throughout all parts of france, lived in paris for brief periods, and have had enough experience with the government and economic policies to stand behind my original position. I said nothing about all of the stuff you mentioned, but I suppose its a fair argument for you to assume I believe things I didnt mention.
I love france, the people, the food, and the culture. Even though both sides dont want to really admit it, French Culture and American culture are very similar and very intertwined.
But that doesnt mean that their economic structure isnt a total fucksicle. It is.
You consider starting in 1986 recent? Remember, thats 20 years Ago. I call that OLD. B
France has always been notoriously pro-consumer. So much so that it drives businesses away. In droves.
They are so pro-consumer, who would ever consider even starting a business there?
Yay socialism.
(I feel moderator rage building...It's OK. Ive got karma to burn.)
The military already has this. They have scopes that can accurately fire for miles. Being able to see doesnt help other conditions -- wind, curve of the earth, shit in the way.
Battles are fought in cities, and cities are built so that there arent large stretches between buildings. Close-combat warfare is where most people die. Increased vision wouldnt help much, unless it allowed you to see through walls and such.
I'm not exactly sure where you are calling from, but around here, its the verizon folks who have more trouble than others. Cingular (even though it is SBC/ATT in disguise) or Sprint/Nextel are 10X more popular with more retail stores (providing cust support) and better connectivity.
Let me apologize. I was inquiring more generally -- not in relation to this specific article. Its obvious that you are more than welcome to comment on a story taht was posted, asking for opinions.
I just mean, more generally, the dinner discussions that I have had with many european and canadian people. They seem to dwell on US Domestic issues that have little impact on their lives, and I cant really figure out why they give a shit.
Oh well./
B
wow, my italics tags were backwards...
In typical slashdot style, I submitted instead of previewed... Doh.
The italics are my comments, the regular are the GP.
I am not an American, but I seem to be more concerned about goes on over there that most Americans.
I hear comments like yours all the time from my friends internationally, or when I travel abroad (or even to Canada). I'm going to go ahead and assume you are from a western european country or canada. Please correct me if I am wrong.
You are wrong -- You do not care more about US politics than we do. You are more concerned about a very limited specific area.
I've got karma to burn, so I'm going to go ahead and say what many Americans feel:
Why do you care so much about our internal politics? Certainly, it makes sense for you to have feelings about our international policies and actions. But beyond that, there is a great deal of near-obsession among western european countries and canada about completely US Domestic issues. These are issues that wont affect your country, your laws, or your living conditions. I would go as far to say that the average European cares more about US Domestic issues than they care aboue European Domestic issues. Why?
I try to follow a limited variety of local issues (for reference) in other countries (health care systems in Canada/UK, local economic issues in Japan), but rarely will I seek to tell citizens of those countries what is good for them on domestic issues. Thats just insane.
Im just speculating, but I would bet that the Average American (if polled) would prefer that the rest of the world just back the fuck off when it comes to our domestic issues. We dont want, need, or care for your oversight when it comes to issues that dont affect you at all.
Actually, you have the economics of the gold farming backwards.
The problem that gold farmers create is that they drive profits in the online economy to nothing. Farming items and selling them en masse on the auction houses, and then selling that gold in the real economy does two things:
1 - It drives DOWN the price of items. This is good for people WITH money, and bad for people WITHOUT money. People without money traditionally would go out, find some resources, and sell them to make money. Since farmers are continually farming these resources, there is excess supply in the marketplace -- so prices drop. So normal players who go out and get resources cannot sell them for dick. Hence, its hard to get money.
2 - So. Given #1, the only way to get money to actually improve your items or buy items you need for quests, etc is to find alternative means to get money. For a lot of people, this means buying MMORPG Gold in the real economy -- from the chinese farmers!.
SO, its not inflation.
The REAL way to defeat farmers is to cut out the black market. Blizzard could sell gold and items for REAL dollars, cutting out the chinese farmers. The problem is, then the internal economy would work like real life -- those with money do better. And a lot of MMORPG players go to those games to escape real life -- so that wont work.
Cheers.
All of things arent notebook specific. I was asking for note-book specific stuff. Thanks though.
IBM no longer has a notebook division. They sold it to Lenovo.
Plus, what are they doing that innovative? I know they refuse to put windows keys on their laptops -- to the disdain of their primary customer -- business professionals.
Perhaps there is some other R+D that IBM does with regards to notebooks that I am unaware of?
A Better solution is to do the following:
- Hire good employees, who are relatively honest and straightforward people. This includes everyone -- IT, Sales, Administrative, etc. If they arent honest, they shouldnt be working here. (This also tends to help with Corporate Responsibility -- how NOT to fudge the books in a crunch..) There are decent HR personality tests that can reasonably predict if someone would be untrustworthy in different situations.
- Deal with your employees fairly, honestly, and be upfront. This will minimize the biggest source of insider problems -- disgruntled employees. For example, giving yourself a raise after or just before laying off other employees, is generally a Bad Thing (tm). Try to be honest with employees about their performance, what is expected, and what wont fly. Provide regular, upfront feedback. Follow through with action. Be Kind, Understanding, but Firm.
- Trust your employees to make sound decisions. The employee who is berated and treated as if they "cant be trusted" will eventually turn into the employee who you fear them to be. If you dont trust them to start, then why should they care? More over, if you dont trust them, why did you hire them?
- Give people ample access to what they need, but not so much access that it impedes others. For example, the IT administrator should have access to quite a bit. Asking for a password to do their job is no only unefficient, its demeaning and downright stupid. Do you trust the IT people you have hired? Do you believe them to be competent? If so, then let them do their job. If not, then why did you hire them or why are they still working there? Its incredibly frustrating to employees to do what this book reccomends -- lock down access. Its frustrating to the employee becuase they have to "ask" to do their job. And its frustrating to management, who has to constantly hand-hold entering passwords as the employee progresses. Cut the leash.
Overall, I think its important for IT security people and Management to understand these risks. TO watch for violations. But to base your company security policies on these type of ideas would be lunacy, and would kill any sort of company morale you might have had going for you. Its much easier to trust the people you work for, pay them fairly and well, and treat them like human beings than it is to try to lock them down in every way to "prevent" bad things.
Certainly there are exceptions where even the very small percentage of bad employees can cause very large damage to the company. This should be dealt with appropriately within those industries -- and employees should know this DURING the application process, so they know what kind of BigBrother situation they are getting into.
B
Man. Fascism anyone?
Considering fat, lazy, idiotic fools comprise most of the first world population, I think the man simply is sticking to his guns about what is important in this world.
You know, I hear this often. But it doesnt stand up. How can EVERYONE on slashdot be a genius and EVERYONE ELSE be a fucking fat lazy idiot? Isnt it possible for you to concieve, perhaps just for a second, that there is a normal distribution of intelligence? There are lots of smart people and lots of stupid people, provided you base your judgements on the mean of the population. Unless you somehow expect more than half the population to be above average intelligence(makes sense, doesnt it...).
The future of human civilization is not the subject of a popularity contest. Stupid, inane toys waste precious human life and are nothing more than modern circuses for the masses.
You are right. So what. Are you so conceited to assume you know best for the more than 8 billion people on this planet? Fuck off. If I am stupid enough to eat shit and watch tv all day, let me fucking be. Its my life. Get off your high horse, and let people do what they want. Freedom -- its not just when you think its convenient.
Certainly you arent advocating for a loss of individual freedom, are you? If so... We have larger issues to debate.
We will fight for an ideal form of humanity, and your potato chip stuffing fat ass won't be able to do a damn thing about it.
First, who is "We"? Second, why wouldnt he be able to do anything about it? Considering that you claim above that the worlds population seems to be filled with fatass idiots, wouldnt you just be fighting an uphill battle against a populace that doesnt want to change and has more power than you? Good Luck.
The divisive, individualistic lifestyle that is the essence of the consumer behavior you endorse is unsustainable. It denies the duty every citizen has to the greater formation of the state, as well as the next generation of the inhabitants of our world.
I love reading garbage like this. It sounds so philosophical. It almost makes you sound smarter to those reading it because you come off as sounding magnanimous. Have you ever considered that "the divisive, individualistic lifestyle" might just be humanities way? Progression through chaos, so to speak. And the whole "it denies the duty of every citizen..." bit is just lovely. The state should always, read this, ALWAYS serve the citizens, not the other way around.
Your creed has been tried. It is an unmitigated failure. The future belongs to us now. I suggest you get over yourself as there are just a few years left of the so-called freedom you now enjoy.
Guess what? So Has Yours. It failed worse. The future belongs to all of us, not just you and yours, prick. Whats to come? Fascism? I'm sure the world will progress very nicely under that domain -- in clear, orderly fashion. And by doing so, those in power would have squashed what makes humanity great -- its chaos, the struggle, the emotions.
Piss off, Im tired of reading drivel like yours.
If you dont need sponsorship, then it all sounds fine from me. Send your resume. :)
B
Its my understanding that Ruby/Rails is for designing web-based apps, which ours are not.
Would you use Ruby/Rails for internal program, that isnt viewed on websites? Is ruby/rails even capable of running as a script. This is why we are using Perl, and perhaps C in the future.
But I do like Ruby a lot. I would use it for this if it made sense, what do you think?
I think you misunderstand. They had no concept, at ALL of what we did. I am more than willing to provide additional info, but I think a little research on the candidates part is necessary. How else would you know what kind of company you were applying to?
These people didnt even know what industry our company operated in....
B
True enough. In my situation, I am not very technical when it comes to databases, but I am still the person hiring those people. This may seem like a contradiction, but this is a small business -- so its necessary. But I agree, appearances are everything at the start of the process..
B
I appreciate the comments. I have never used Dice, but I will look into it.
First, I wouldnt be against receiving a cover letter that mentioned what you did about PHP. Why are people afraid to be honest in a cover letter?
Second, Is the mis-capitalization of one letter really mis-spelling? And does this really impact whether you are interested in a job? That doesnt seem fair to me.
Anyways, thanks for your input.
B