"Anyway, the new k3b has support for dvd burning, and the underlying tool set includes the dvdrecord stuff. It works. Well."
As I expected... the traditional answer of "Try Yet Another Distro" when something that should have worked doesn't. Well, I've tired of TYAD... I'd have to check my notes to see how many I actually have tried, but it's upwards of a dozen over the past two years.
Simple - you need technical writers to write thehelp files and critique the GUI for you. Most technical writers are too busy (and too fed up with writing by the end of the day) to help much.
There are many universities that have technical writing programs. If you asked their professors to assign or accept documentation for OSS as course work, you could probably find plenty of fledgeling tech writers who could join the project and clean up the writing and the GUI.
The trick to getting dvdrecord to work is to know that it only supports "-dao" on most drives."
Why doesn't the software help file clearly state that? The insistence that Linux users ferret out these tidbits in order to get something to work is what is making people stay with MSFT. I installed SuSE 8.2 and discovered that it didn't install a functional DVD burner even though it was distributed on DVD... there was vague mention of some things I had to acquire and install and configure if I wanted to use a DVD burner. To hell with that... Win2000 happened to be available and the DVD burner software that came with the drive works fine wiith it.
I have repeatedly had the same problem... whoever writes the help files and user documentation has NEVER follwed it step by step or watched a novice do it. They don't realize where their experience is filling in a critical gap in the information.
"A deal "allowing infringement of one's patent" is more commonly referred to as a "patent license". I don't see anything improper about that"
I recall engineers grumbling that getting a license to use Windows embedded code involved signing a contract that basically gave MSFT the rights to use any of the hardware patents of that device any way they saw fit, while not giving the hardware company any rights to do anything with the code. And MSFT was not negotiating... it was sign or shove off.
"Linux machines suffered 13,654 successful attacks, or 80 percent of the survey total. Windows based servers enjoyed a sharp decline in successful breaches, with only 2,005 attacks."... "The group discounted the recent wave of worms, viruses and other attacks that have affected Windows systems worldwide. It confined the study to overt digital attacks by hackers."
Great... throw out the biggest and most expensive security problems and concentrate on the rest. I see no mention of correcting the results for the installed base of each OS. In true epidemiology, you correct your reports to a standard number of persons and report as "X incidents per XX Thousand", which gives you an idea of the relative risk of something compared to another.
If Linux had 80% of the installed base and 80% of the successful attacks, it's as secure as one with 20% of the installed base and 20% of the attacks. Windows servers had a sharp decline in successful attacks? What was happening to their installed base? Unless they report the number of potential victims using each OS, they are just reporting something as useless as "fatal automobile accidents kill more 20 year olds than 105 year olds"... and then trying to convince me that 105 year olds are safer drivers.
"all that aside, isn't this a derivative work protected under the Fair Use clause? "
No. "Fair use" doesn't cover creating fake photos for political purposes. This was carefully altered to appear real, and was presented as if it was real.
I fail to see the relevance of that article, although it was interesting, it rambled a lot about the now discredited "repressed memory" movement and had little ot say about PTSD or phobias.
... what is your point?
Flashbacks are a normal part of processing extremely unpleasant experiences. If you accept that, and realize that you aren't going crazy, just processing information, it makes the process easier.
"As a lay person, my instinct tells me that reliving an extremely painful experience over and over again with little time in between to stop and consider the feelings that are being brought up is a bad thing"
Right... that would be a bad thing. But the problem with phobias and PTSD is that they tend to have "triggers" that are common things that set off instant replays at times when it causes the patient to such an extent that it interferes with necessary activities. It's never knowing when you will be hit with an attack that causes much of the problem... The fear of a recurrrence of the emotions and memories is as paralysing as the emotions and memories, and the stress from the fear makes things worse.
The desensitizaiton technique involves giving the patient control of the situation, by having the "OFF" button on the VR machine in their hands (or the ability to turn the picture of the dog face down - whatevre you ar etreating, it needs to be controlled by the patient, not forced on them by a therapist). They can approach the triggering situation as many times as they have to, in a controlled setting, quitting whenever they feel overwhelmed, until it loses its power to trigger memories or until they are calm enough to actually analyse their emotions, not just experience them. (you can't "deal" with things when you are in emotional hyperdrive)
People who have been through something extremely traumatic will tend to volumtarily rehash the details trying to make sense of it: listening to them and helping them explore their emotions about it is the core idea behind crisis intrevention.
"The last thing I want to do is relive them. Whenever they come up I try and "change the station" mentally. Is it really a good idea to get PTSD sufferers to relive the memories? I honestly would like to know."
With PTSD, you DO relive the memories frequently and don't have any ability to "change the station"... to such an extent that it messes up your life. This therapy can lead to fewer flashbacks and the ability to change the station.
"A shooting victim would need a different experience than a burning building survivor, who would need a different experience than the train wreck survivor that comes in the next day. Since the situations would have to be fairly specific for each individual case, this would be nearly impossible to implement."
Not really. The problem with phobic reactions and PTSD is that the triggers have become generalized, and fear of stressful emotions becomes a major component of the problem.
For example: let's say a person is attacked by a neighbor's dog on the sidewalk. The normal person will be VERY wary of that particular dog, but accept other dogs, and be a bit nervous about that location for a few days. A phobic person will "generalize"... over time they spread the fear to all dogs of that breed, all live dogs, all dogs stuffed and live, pictures of dogs, that location, other sidewalks and in extreme cases be house-bound for fear of encountering a dog or a sidewalk. The desensitazation would start with the most remote trigger and work back. For most of the process, it would be a general "dog phobia" tape.
Also, prompt help in dealing with traumatic expreiences minimizes later phobias and the possibility of PTSD. Talking it out, over and over, is as good as anything, and you don't need to be a shrink to listen.
"What helps is a private talk with a friend or mom, lot of sleep and active program. I can't see how virtual reality videogame-like setting can do any good for PTSD."
PThen you've never really had PTSD... by definition, it's something that time, supportive friends and activity can't help you deal with in a few months. It's not the presence of bad memories and flashbacks, it's their continued and incapacitating existence screwing up your life months later.
"I personally don't like the idea of getting over an emotional trauma by 'desensitizing' myself to it, as the article seems to suggest. "
The term "desensitized" has a specific meaning in psychiatry and psychology: it does not mean "callous" or "indifferent". It means that a certain stimulus no longer creates as strong an emotional reaction as it once did. And for PTSD and phobias, those emotions are so strong and incapacitating (they replay at the original intensity or even higher, and with the added fear of another attack or flashback) that the patient is unable to come to terms with them until they are desensitized.
PTSD patients reliving memories until they're accepted? Doesn't that seem a little like forced traumatic recollection?
It works because it is under the PATIENT'S control. They can rerun the images, repeatedly stopping at a spot that makes them uncomfortable until they are comfortable there, then run a bit farther the next time. Similar to the "fear of flying" seminars that start with looking at pictures of planes. You help them push into an uncomfortable zone until they learn that fear won't kill, it's just unpleasant, and the memories no longer trigger excessively strong emotions.
There is a portion of your brain called the amygdala that triggers fear way under the level of consciousness. It has a hair-trigger in persons with phobias and PTSD. It can be retrained to stop sounding the alarm so quickly, which is what various "exposure" therapies and hypnosis do.
I've worked in burn units, and had a couple of deep tissue burns as a kid, and even if this only works on 5% of the patients, it's worth using, starting NOW!
It doesn't add anything to the load of medications they are already on.
It has little chance of undesireable side effects, such as the breathing depression of opiates.
If it minimizes stress, it minimizes the biochemical load of stress hormones that interfere with healing.
It gives the patient control over something in an otherwise helpless situation (you have very few choices in a burn unit except maybe what to order for lunch, and that's hospital food)
It gives sensory stimulation in a very DULL environment of limited visitors, staff in biosuits for your protection... nothing to do but think about how bad it hurts, contemplate your chances of permanent disfigurements, and hurt
Creating more VR worlds for those that aren't helped by the action games would be a logicla next step.
"Now, there's a period of job seeking followed by a five week period of employment, followed by the current job seeking period on my resume. When the companies I interview with ask about that situation I simply explain, while trying not to whine or complain. What do other Slashdot readers do to make 'bad luck' (or bad employer choices) look less bad on their resume, and sound less bad in interviews?"
I list it accurately and tell the truth about it if asked. That means I have job endings including a pre-IPO start-up I bailed from when I spotted the vultures circling, one I left because of lousy management, one I left because of incredibly poor IT infrastructure, some because of layoffs due to economic downturns, getting declared "redundant" after a merger, a couple of "project was cancelled", and some "project had a sudden goal change and I was no longer a good fit".
No one has been upset to see them, nor have they questioned the wisdom of my actions.
If asked about "are there any positions you left off your resume, I say "Yes, either because it was short and irrelevant just to pay bills, or because I have no wish ot EVER do it again and if it's on the resume I keep getting asked to do it". Again, it doesn't seem to be a problem.
That said, take a look at Abas ERP http://www.abas.de/en/index.htm).
Does it do BOMs and manufacturing activities? That's where most of the ERP software falls short - they assume you buy and sell, not buy, assembel, and thejn sell.
If I run into a site that is trying to manipulate google, I let google know and quite often the site ceases to be a problem. My own peeve is the site that is just a link to a bunch of searches for the term.
And if I kept running into the pages that say "Birmingham Florists" and list mail order companies and then say "York Florists" with the same list of mail order companies... I would let the florists know that the tactic is causing them to lose business.
"The Search Engine Promotion business, when it's not just a scam sold by spammers, is mainly about doing artificial things to make Google's robots think your page would be interesting to humans; "
Not at all. Content and structure still rule.
A properly constructed HTML page with tightly focused subject matter, descriptive headings (that use the HTML heading styles, not FONT size) and well-chosen heading text will rank higher than one full of tricks and no content.
If the content is good enough to start getting links from widely distributed sites, and especially "heavy hitters" like universities and large corporations, it ranks even better.
But that solution - good content and clean HTML - is so simple that most people refuse to believe it will work.
Sure you will. Boies will be available as soon as SCO's suits conclude, sometime in 2025.
If your company (atari.org?) (optusnet.com.au?) (poofters.net?) is so stupid they don't know how to prevent false infection reports from their mail filter software, they deserve to be reported to whatever ISP they are using for being a nuisance to the net.
Just into my HotMail account... One could assume that Microsoft has no reason to write secure code because it helps a subsidiary SELL services.
Me... I use Mozilla and Linux
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RTFURL please... www.spambouncer.org has all the details.
It can be set to ID and delete VIRUSES and the "cruft" emails from virus vendors and other filters. I know it can, because that's how it is running on my main email account.
I use SpamBouncer... the developer kindly provided filters to block these inane "you are infected" messages.
Occasionally I will send a nastygram to the support or abuse department of the system using the stupid virus protection. Usually they can't figure out why I'm annoyed that they told me I'm infected with a virus... the concept that a virus can forge a FROM escapes their air-filled heads.
Slashdot Mirror
As I expected ... the traditional answer of "Try Yet Another Distro" when something that should have worked doesn't. Well, I've tired of TYAD ... I'd have to check my notes to see how many I actually have tried, but it's upwards of a dozen over the past two years.
There are many universities that have technical writing programs. If you asked their professors to assign or accept documentation for OSS as course work, you could probably find plenty of fledgeling tech writers who could join the project and clean up the writing and the GUI.
Why doesn't the software help file clearly state that? The insistence that Linux users ferret out these tidbits in order to get something to work is what is making people stay with MSFT. I installed SuSE 8.2 and discovered that it didn't install a functional DVD burner even though it was distributed on DVD... there was vague mention of some things I had to acquire and install and configure if I wanted to use a DVD burner. To hell with that ... Win2000 happened to be available and the DVD burner software that came with the drive works fine wiith it.
I have repeatedly had the same problem ... whoever writes the help files and user documentation has NEVER follwed it step by step or watched a novice do it. They don't realize where their experience is filling in a critical gap in the information.
I recall engineers grumbling that getting a license to use Windows embedded code involved signing a contract that basically gave MSFT the rights to use any of the hardware patents of that device any way they saw fit, while not giving the hardware company any rights to do anything with the code. And MSFT was not negotiating ... it was sign or shove off.
Great ... throw out the biggest and most expensive security problems and concentrate on the rest. I see no mention of correcting the results for the installed base of each OS. In true epidemiology, you correct your reports to a standard number of persons and report as "X incidents per XX Thousand", which gives you an idea of the relative risk of something compared to another.
If Linux had 80% of the installed base and 80% of the successful attacks, it's as secure as one with 20% of the installed base and 20% of the attacks. Windows servers had a sharp decline in successful attacks? What was happening to their installed base? Unless they report the number of potential victims using each OS, they are just reporting something as useless as "fatal automobile accidents kill more 20 year olds than 105 year olds" ... and then trying to convince me that 105 year olds are safer drivers.
"all that aside, isn't this a derivative work protected under the Fair Use clause? " No. "Fair use" doesn't cover creating fake photos for political purposes. This was carefully altered to appear real, and was presented as if it was real.
Flashbacks are a normal part of processing extremely unpleasant experiences. If you accept that, and realize that you aren't going crazy, just processing information, it makes the process easier.
Right ... that would be a bad thing. But the problem with phobias and PTSD is that they tend to have "triggers" that are common things that set off instant replays at times when it causes the patient to such an extent that it interferes with necessary activities. It's never knowing when you will be hit with an attack that causes much of the problem ... The fear of a recurrrence of the emotions and memories is as paralysing as the emotions and memories, and the stress from the fear makes things worse.
The desensitizaiton technique involves giving the patient control of the situation, by having the "OFF" button on the VR machine in their hands (or the ability to turn the picture of the dog face down - whatevre you ar etreating, it needs to be controlled by the patient, not forced on them by a therapist). They can approach the triggering situation as many times as they have to, in a controlled setting, quitting whenever they feel overwhelmed, until it loses its power to trigger memories or until they are calm enough to actually analyse their emotions, not just experience them. (you can't "deal" with things when you are in emotional hyperdrive)
People who have been through something extremely traumatic will tend to volumtarily rehash the details trying to make sense of it: listening to them and helping them explore their emotions about it is the core idea behind crisis intrevention.
With PTSD, you DO relive the memories frequently and don't have any ability to "change the station" ... to such an extent that it messes up your life. This therapy can lead to fewer flashbacks and the ability to change the station.
Not really. The problem with phobic reactions and PTSD is that the triggers have become generalized, and fear of stressful emotions becomes a major component of the problem.
For example: let's say a person is attacked by a neighbor's dog on the sidewalk. The normal person will be VERY wary of that particular dog, but accept other dogs, and be a bit nervous about that location for a few days. A phobic person will "generalize" ... over time they spread the fear to all dogs of that breed, all live dogs, all dogs stuffed and live, pictures of dogs, that location, other sidewalks and in extreme cases be house-bound for fear of encountering a dog or a sidewalk. The desensitazation would start with the most remote trigger and work back. For most of the process, it would be a general "dog phobia" tape.
Also, prompt help in dealing with traumatic expreiences minimizes later phobias and the possibility of PTSD. Talking it out, over and over, is as good as anything, and you don't need to be a shrink to listen.
"What helps is a private talk with a friend or mom, lot of sleep and active program. I can't see how virtual reality videogame-like setting can do any good for PTSD." PThen you've never really had PTSD ... by definition, it's something that time, supportive friends and activity can't help you deal with in a few months. It's not the presence of bad memories and flashbacks, it's their continued and incapacitating existence screwing up your life months later.
The term "desensitized" has a specific meaning in psychiatry and psychology: it does not mean "callous" or "indifferent". It means that a certain stimulus no longer creates as strong an emotional reaction as it once did. And for PTSD and phobias, those emotions are so strong and incapacitating (they replay at the original intensity or even higher, and with the added fear of another attack or flashback) that the patient is unable to come to terms with them until they are desensitized.
It works because it is under the PATIENT'S control. They can rerun the images, repeatedly stopping at a spot that makes them uncomfortable until they are comfortable there, then run a bit farther the next time. Similar to the "fear of flying" seminars that start with looking at pictures of planes. You help them push into an uncomfortable zone until they learn that fear won't kill, it's just unpleasant, and the memories no longer trigger excessively strong emotions.
There is a portion of your brain called the amygdala that triggers fear way under the level of consciousness. It has a hair-trigger in persons with phobias and PTSD. It can be retrained to stop sounding the alarm so quickly, which is what various "exposure" therapies and hypnosis do.
Creating more VR worlds for those that aren't helped by the action games would be a logicla next step.
I list it accurately and tell the truth about it if asked. That means I have job endings including a pre-IPO start-up I bailed from when I spotted the vultures circling, one I left because of lousy management, one I left because of incredibly poor IT infrastructure, some because of layoffs due to economic downturns, getting declared "redundant" after a merger, a couple of "project was cancelled", and some "project had a sudden goal change and I was no longer a good fit".
No one has been upset to see them, nor have they questioned the wisdom of my actions.
If asked about "are there any positions you left off your resume, I say "Yes, either because it was short and irrelevant just to pay bills, or because I have no wish ot EVER do it again and if it's on the resume I keep getting asked to do it". Again, it doesn't seem to be a problem.
Does it do BOMs and manufacturing activities? That's where most of the ERP software falls short - they assume you buy and sell, not buy, assembel, and thejn sell.
And if I kept running into the pages that say "Birmingham Florists" and list mail order companies and then say "York Florists" with the same list of mail order companies ... I would let the florists know that the tactic is causing them to lose business.
Not at all. Content and structure still rule.
A properly constructed HTML page with tightly focused subject matter, descriptive headings (that use the HTML heading styles, not FONT size) and well-chosen heading text will rank higher than one full of tricks and no content.
If the content is good enough to start getting links from widely distributed sites, and especially "heavy hitters" like universities and large corporations, it ranks even better.
But that solution - good content and clean HTML - is so simple that most people refuse to believe it will work.
If your company (atari.org?) (optusnet.com.au?) (poofters.net?) is so stupid they don't know how to prevent false infection reports from their mail filter software, they deserve to be reported to whatever ISP they are using for being a nuisance to the net.
My Windows machine runs Win95. I forget what's on the Linux one (SuSE 9?)
Just into my HotMail account ... One could assume that Microsoft has no reason to write secure code because it helps a subsidiary SELL services. ... I use Mozilla and Linux
Me
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It can be set to ID and delete VIRUSES and the "cruft" emails from virus vendors and other filters. I know it can, because that's how it is running on my main email account.
Perhaps y'all are thinking of another program?
See http://www.spambouncer.org/ for the details. If you have a shell account on your ISP, it's great.
Occasionally I will send a nastygram to the support or abuse department of the system using the stupid virus protection. Usually they can't figure out why I'm annoyed that they told me I'm infected with a virus ... the concept that a virus can forge a FROM escapes their air-filled heads.