Your comment about the James Webb telescope got me thinking. Once that thing goes up whether they decide go with the robot repair or manned repair, it's going to be a boon for space exploration. Either way there is going to be some incredible engineering involved for repair missions... both for the robots that will service it, or for the support systems that will be needed to when they send a human out there. Hopefully both with happen.
More on the offtopic side, the other thing I was wondering about is the coolant issue for the IR sensor. Why couldn't they use some sort of thermocouple to caputure the heat for power like they used to do on spacecraft with those radioisotope power sources? It seems like this would also have the added benefit of reducing the amount of IR radiation that could interfere with the sensor! Maybe it's a lack of understanding about the engineering involved, but I'm not even sure why coolant is an issue... is this not a closed system? Are they going to be dumping coolant out into orbit with the telescope
I have to say that the music genre games Space Channel 5, Samba de Amigo, and Samba de Amigo 2000 were some of my favorites (among others like Parappa and Jet set radio).
Why? They are absolutely hillarious and fun to play. There's just something about a game in which you can't help but move to the beat. Who in the world would've dreamed up a game in which you shake maracas like an idiot to the beat of hit latino songs with psychedelic colors starring a monkey and dancing cucumbers with sombreros (as far as I can tell- who knows)? The Sonic team that's who! Or Space channel 5 in which you are a cute girl reporter in the future fighting aliens who, guess what, make everyone dance!
Sega really had something going with it's music genre, it's too bad the console was so short-lived.
No doubt. Every console has it's price point to reach different types of consumers. The way I see it for the PS2 you've got
*Early Adopters who will pay $300+ *Gaming Enthusiasts who will pay $200 *Most everyone else $150 *Cheap Bastards (like me) $25
Coincidentally I consider myself a proud member of the last category since that's what I paid for my dreamcast. As soon as the PS2 gets into the sub $50 range I'll probably go out and get one. Advantages: I know I've got a great system for cheap. I can pick and choose the best games for cheap since they've all been reviewed and all dropped in price. Disadv: I'm 2 years behind.
For systems like the XBox and Gamecube, they just had their price points shifted down slightly. The Gaming Enthusiasts weren't ready to shell out more than $150. As soon as they reached that point, sales surged. So while interesting, this seems like basic Demand-side economics.
I think you're right about certain applications being installed on certain computers. At my school it seemed like every computer public computer had a unique combination of instant messaging programs and spyware. Often times you could go into one of those instant messaging programs and see that they had their usernames and passwords saved. In other words, people didn't want to go to the trouble of installing AIM or Yahoo again, so they'd wait for the one that was already set up
Another problem was before we migrated to Win2k people were saving documents all over the harddrive there. Everyone had their own stash because god forbid they should use a floppy, zip or even their network drive to save important files. When I went around cleaning up computers for the IT dept. people would become very defensive about their programs and documents.
For the ones that left their documents on the hard drive it always fun to just leave them there with a few minor umm "corrections"...:)
This article has the worst title ever! What's the deal here? Is slashdot trying to get a ratings boost or something? This is the kind of misleading crap article title you'd expect to see on Fox News or CNN. Where are the plans???
While I appreciate the attempt at expanding the vocabulary here on slashdot, next time kindly include a dictionary.com link for the rest of us inarticulate folks. Thank you!
I have to say I completely understand where they're coming from.... good character names for stories are hard to make up!!! You can't have something too exotic or unpronounceable; otherwise it's hard to really get into the story. They can't be too mundane, they can't be too rediculous... well unless you're like Douglas Adams or Neil Stephenson (ie. Ford Prefect and Hiro Protagonist).
W
When I end up writing I usually just put an initial for the characters names until I can think of something that really fits. If I in my years of creative wisdom can't come up with something I'm certainly not suprised that a 6 year old is using tv characters
The AC has a great point there. Do something a little risky but with a lot of potential wealth. Working steadily at a job counts for something, but really gaining experience at something you want to do will help you more in the long run.
Do things that will help you on the path to obtaining your dream job. Even if you don't end up at your dream job, chances are you'll find something close, or at least have the experience to start your own business in that field.
The tech help people are great- that's the one thing the company definitely has going for it. If you need to call though, I'd advise calling from a non-qwest phone (like a cell)... every time I have, I got transferred to a rep. right away. When I called from my home phone I got put on hold for a half hour before I just set the phone down and called on my cell and of course got someone immediately... when I finished my other phone was still on hold!
As far as the rest of the company goes, yeah they seem to have problems actually getting orders put in right. Even asking about the possibility of getting dsl was a hassle.
me: "Will I be able to get dsl in my apt?"
Rep: "We can't tell you until we install your home phone service".
me:"you have no idea? does anyone else in my apt have dsl? am I close enough to the station?"
rep:"we can't tell you until we install your phone line"
me: "the phone line is already there, you just need to turn it on!"
rep: "I can't tell you until we install your phone service"
me: "okay thanks, I'm getting cable internet"
Not to mention when I did have a phone line hooked up they connected the wrong apt and it took 3 SEPARATE VISITS to get it right. And they tried to charge me for each of those visits.
So Qwest has definitely got some issues they need to work out with their service. They should put the person that hires their technical helpdesk people in charge of their whole screwed-up operation.
I think part of this too is that due to sophisticated home consoles becoming cheaper is that there's less of an incentive to go to the arcade.
So even though 25c -> $1.00/ game might be close to inflation, the value of playing an arcade game for most people has decreased to the point where they won't spend more than 25-50c. I know I wouldn't even think of putting more than 50c into a game machine unless I knew it was going to be worth it to me.
Factor number two I think is due to Generation Xers being so used to 25c for a video game, 50c for a can of pop while growing up, that even though it's 10+ years since those prices were common, they still are wary of spending more than that. Really there's no logical reason for that phenomena I think... perhaps there's an economic term for it?
I'm sure the text of the law has already been posted somewhere in this forum, but I actually have the sheet here with me and the gist of it basically is:
1. You cannot be required to offer or assign your company the rights to any idea/invention developed entirely on your own time without use of the company's equipment, information, etc...
2. UNLESS they result from the company's business or R&D, or result from work you've done for the company.
3. and if you do sign a contract that says you have to turn over your rights, it's unenforceable according to the law (unless it has to do with a contract between the company and the US govt... ie a govt. contractor of some sort)
In other words... even if you come up with the invention down the road, this clause still holds. So it's a pretty good law I think, and applicable even if you haven't patented anything yet. I too, don't have any projects but it's nice to know I'm covered to an extent
You could actually present section 2872 of the california labor code and have a clause in your contract added that they will respect the terms of that exclusion even if you are in another state. I believe it's a fairly well known law, and a sensible one that they should have no problem honoring. My company had added that clause without me asking.
On another note, even if they didn't include it at the time of signing, I would have a hard time imagining that a judge would honor a draconian agreement without anything like 2872 added as long as
1)your invention wasn't related to your job and
2)you didn't work in some field relating to national security
IANAL so take all this for what it's worth.
Speaking of characters, I think one of the biggest problems with the newer movies is that the main characters are way TOO SERIOUS! That's one of the reasons eps 4,5,6 were good... the characters were likeable... the kind of people you'd want to hang out at a bar with.
Part of this is bad writing but a lot is bad acting as well. Lucas needs to give Anakin, Padme and Obi-wan some warmth to their personalities. Something to make them likeable. Have them smile or crack a joke once in a while.
In other words, Lightsaber fights and special effects are cool... but only when you actually care what happens to the characters.
You hit on a very good point there which illustrates why everything from product lines to tv shows fail. They got away from their core product too much.
When I was little it seemed like the basic categories were "town", "space", and "castle" with duplos for toddlers and technics for older kids. While I don't necessarily think it was bad for them to branch out to things like "pirate" and "star wars" (heck, I played with my legos like they were star wars sets before those even came out)... they really got too far away with this bionicle nonsense. About 6 years ago (even though I was still an adult), I still had the desire to buy legos and loved browsing. Now the only thing that interests me is the mindstorms, but the price turns me away. And it's because everything is so far out there and has too many customized peices. I mean look at their NBA stuff...It's rediculous.
And as a side, every tv show that gets away from the core story is doomed to fail or at least lose a lot of viewership. That's why babies and marriages are show killers. Or completely changing the premise of the story (see Alias). Shows like Seinfeld lasted for so long and became more popular until the end because they had a core theme, and stuck with it. Lego could take a page from that.
After 10 years of using linux (and I assume enjoying it), I'm curious why you decided to switch to OS X? You don't see too many stories out there of people going back to a proprietary system after having used linux for so long....
Regarding your signature, that's too bad to hear about BZBOYZ going downhill; I ordered from them a couple years back and got excellent customer service (dealing with a defective mobo). Now I think i'd probably stick with ordering from newegg. Plus BZs site is so cluttered and animated now it's hard to take them seriously.
I believe there was also another microchip on another of the mars probes, where your name got on it if you were a member of the Planetary Society but I can't seem to find the link at the moment. I just vaguely remember printing out a certificate a few years ago.
I really like that method of telling them first what you're doing and then saying how to do it. The only downside to that is again those semi-knowlegable people who wig out when you tell them what you're trying, and refuse to even look at it.
"Okay now let's look at your network properties to make sure everythings alright. click start..." "It's not that! I know what i'm doing! blah blah blah" "Please just humor me and double check" "blah blah blah. This is a peice of junk, you know how much I paid for it?? blah blah blah"
then inevitably when they actually do it: "Oh. It's working now"
And yeah, I totally agree about the tech support people who don't tell you what they're having you do and try to walk you through every click. I was lucky in my helpdesk/repair situation that if working with the user over the phone was too difficult or time-consuming I could just walk over to their building and help them in person.
well, if your computer is non-operational, chat isn't an option. I know this is stating the obvious, but it's true. There always has to be some form of phone support. And dead hardware is a fairly common problem.
What would be really cool is if there was a good way of profiling users to see their technical competancy. Perhaps by a few simple questions or commands like "Okay pull up a command prompt", or "what Bios version do you have?", stuff like that. The times I've had to contact support I already know the problem, have tried the typical solutions (ie dropping it in another box, trying newer drivers, etc...) and just need a new unit. Not to jump through the typical hoops "yes it's plugged in". Of course the problem with this is the semi-knowlegable people that *think* they've tried everything but are really overlooking something simple.
So I dunno, any ideas on how to do said profiling? The only thing I've really noticed from the tech support I've done is that the semi-knowlegable people are typically assholes on the phone, whereas everyone else is generally calm.
Why bother? Not you specifically, but the people who do all that. I mean is it really worth all the trouble to download music online? Not to mention DRMed music at that? I guess I'm of the opinion that no one should have to jump through a company's unreasonable hoops just to BUY something from them. If I don't like the way a company does business, I shop elsewhere (or not at all). Used music store, other online services, etc.
And secondly, I know with a lot of credit card companies it's possible to register an alternate address with them, so your bill gets sent to one but the other shows as a valid address for the card when companies check. It might be possible to have your bill sent to your canadian address but the US PO box as an alternate.
Kids nowadays are just lazy. It's much easier to sit on your rump and play video games than it is to go find friends to play with. It's sad but true.
You hit on a good point there. When I was younger, I used to LOVE to play sports outside. Really almost anything active. The problem was that once I got into high school and college, I still loved to do stuff outside, but most of my friends just wanted to sit around and do sedentary activities like watching TV or playing video games. It was very frustrating, because I really did want to be active. But when the whole world (or at least the particular group of people I hung out with) is against you, it's hard to do that.
So I don't necessarily think that kids today are more lazy... it's just that there's too many tempting sedentary activities out there. While almost anyone can play video games and enjoy them, you have to be moderately in shape to have a chance at enjoying real sports. And connecting with the right people just continues to get more difficult
Hmm let's see...with dial up you get a max around 6k/s.
6k/s * 3600s/hr * 24hr * 30 days =
~15.5GB !
10GB/mo sounds a bit low considering. Of course broadband is still a better deal either way, not having to pay for a second phone line, being able to peak at higher than 56k, etc. But man, 10GB/mo? I think I'd be looking around at other options.
Probably to spite elitist assholes like you who wont even help their own WIFE have a working computer.
Sometimes it amazes me what windows users will put up with to stay on the microsoft plantation...
Seriously, of all the "problems" you listed the only one that is vaguely Microsoft's fault is the messenger one. The rest can be avoided by a little common sense like actually reading what you're clicking 'yes' to. Using a browser like Mozilla or even one of hundreds of popup blockers. Installing regular patches/driver updates.
Why else do they put up with it? Oh I dunno, maybe because like 95% of the software out there is made for WINDOWS? Or the fact that some of us would rather simply run an executable rather than compiling, making sure all the packages and libraries are installed, checking dependencies, endless sifting through man pages and newsgroups to figure out how to do the most trivial of tasks, etc ad nauseum. And stability? Have you even tried 2k or XP? I haven't rebooted my 2k box since I last turned it on a week ago.
Don't get me wrong, I think Linux has a very bright future and has a good chance of dominating over Windows someday. But the fact is, Windows is the still the most usable OS out there for the time being.
Now quit being the jerk you are and go help your wife with her computer problems.
Yeah, hooray for our hometown internet heroes... bringing the Blaster worm to the masses. (note sarcasm). Although my first thought when I heard about it was "Cool! We're on the national news!", it's kinda wierd to know the kid down the street's house is being raided by FBI and secret service agents.
Slashdot Mirror
More on the offtopic side, the other thing I was wondering about is the coolant issue for the IR sensor. Why couldn't they use some sort of thermocouple to caputure the heat for power like they used to do on spacecraft with those radioisotope power sources? It seems like this would also have the added benefit of reducing the amount of IR radiation that could interfere with the sensor! Maybe it's a lack of understanding about the engineering involved, but I'm not even sure why coolant is an issue... is this not a closed system? Are they going to be dumping coolant out into orbit with the telescope
Why? They are absolutely hillarious and fun to play. There's just something about a game in which you can't help but move to the beat. Who in the world would've dreamed up a game in which you shake maracas like an idiot to the beat of hit latino songs with psychedelic colors starring a monkey and dancing cucumbers with sombreros (as far as I can tell- who knows)? The Sonic team that's who! Or Space channel 5 in which you are a cute girl reporter in the future fighting aliens who, guess what, make everyone dance!
Sega really had something going with it's music genre, it's too bad the console was so short-lived.
No doubt. Every console has it's price point to reach different types of consumers. The way I see it for the PS2 you've got
*Early Adopters who will pay $300+
*Gaming Enthusiasts who will pay $200
*Most everyone else $150
*Cheap Bastards (like me) $25
Coincidentally I consider myself a proud member of the last category since that's what I paid for my dreamcast. As soon as the PS2 gets into the sub $50 range I'll probably go out and get one. Advantages: I know I've got a great system for cheap. I can pick and choose the best games for cheap since they've all been reviewed and all dropped in price. Disadv: I'm 2 years behind.
For systems like the XBox and Gamecube, they just had their price points shifted down slightly. The Gaming Enthusiasts weren't ready to shell out more than $150. As soon as they reached that point, sales surged. So while interesting, this seems like basic Demand-side economics.
Another problem was before we migrated to Win2k people were saving documents all over the harddrive there. Everyone had their own stash because god forbid they should use a floppy, zip or even their network drive to save important files. When I went around cleaning up computers for the IT dept. people would become very defensive about their programs and documents.
For the ones that left their documents on the hard drive it always fun to just leave them there with a few minor umm "corrections"... :)
Okay, fine, I'll be editor for the day. (5 seconds of googling later...) Make your own Star Destroyer.
While I appreciate the attempt at expanding the vocabulary here on slashdot, next time kindly include a dictionary.com link for the rest of us inarticulate folks. Thank you!
When I end up writing I usually just put an initial for the characters names until I can think of something that really fits. If I in my years of creative wisdom can't come up with something I'm certainly not suprised that a 6 year old is using tv characters
Do things that will help you on the path to obtaining your dream job. Even if you don't end up at your dream job, chances are you'll find something close, or at least have the experience to start your own business in that field.
You made $100 an hour at your first job??! Wow, I must seriously be in the wrong line of work!
The tech help people are great- that's the one thing the company definitely has going for it. If you need to call though, I'd advise calling from a non-qwest phone (like a cell)... every time I have, I got transferred to a rep. right away. When I called from my home phone I got put on hold for a half hour before I just set the phone down and called on my cell and of course got someone immediately... when I finished my other phone was still on hold!
As far as the rest of the company goes, yeah they seem to have problems actually getting orders put in right. Even asking about the possibility of getting dsl was a hassle.
me: "Will I be able to get dsl in my apt?"
Rep: "We can't tell you until we install your home phone service".
me:"you have no idea? does anyone else in my apt have dsl? am I close enough to the station?"
rep:"we can't tell you until we install your phone line"
me: "the phone line is already there, you just need to turn it on!"
rep: "I can't tell you until we install your phone service"
me: "okay thanks, I'm getting cable internet"
Not to mention when I did have a phone line hooked up they connected the wrong apt and it took 3 SEPARATE VISITS to get it right. And they tried to charge me for each of those visits.
So Qwest has definitely got some issues they need to work out with their service. They should put the person that hires their technical helpdesk people in charge of their whole screwed-up operation.
I think part of this too is that due to sophisticated home consoles becoming cheaper is that there's less of an incentive to go to the arcade.
So even though 25c -> $1.00/ game might be close to inflation, the value of playing an arcade game for most people has decreased to the point where they won't spend more than 25-50c. I know I wouldn't even think of putting more than 50c into a game machine unless I knew it was going to be worth it to me.
Factor number two I think is due to Generation Xers being so used to 25c for a video game, 50c for a can of pop while growing up, that even though it's 10+ years since those prices were common, they still are wary of spending more than that. Really there's no logical reason for that phenomena I think... perhaps there's an economic term for it?
1. You cannot be required to offer or assign your company the rights to any idea/invention developed entirely on your own time without use of the company's equipment, information, etc...
2. UNLESS they result from the company's business or R&D, or result from work you've done for the company.
3. and if you do sign a contract that says you have to turn over your rights, it's unenforceable according to the law (unless it has to do with a contract between the company and the US govt... ie a govt. contractor of some sort)
In other words... even if you come up with the invention down the road, this clause still holds. So it's a pretty good law I think, and applicable even if you haven't patented anything yet. I too, don't have any projects but it's nice to know I'm covered to an extent
On another note, even if they didn't include it at the time of signing, I would have a hard time imagining that a judge would honor a draconian agreement without anything like 2872 added as long as 1)your invention wasn't related to your job and 2)you didn't work in some field relating to national security IANAL so take all this for what it's worth.
Part of this is bad writing but a lot is bad acting as well. Lucas needs to give Anakin, Padme and Obi-wan some warmth to their personalities. Something to make them likeable. Have them smile or crack a joke once in a while.
In other words, Lightsaber fights and special effects are cool... but only when you actually care what happens to the characters.
When I was little it seemed like the basic categories were "town", "space", and "castle" with duplos for toddlers and technics for older kids. While I don't necessarily think it was bad for them to branch out to things like "pirate" and "star wars" (heck, I played with my legos like they were star wars sets before those even came out)... they really got too far away with this bionicle nonsense. About 6 years ago (even though I was still an adult), I still had the desire to buy legos and loved browsing. Now the only thing that interests me is the mindstorms, but the price turns me away. And it's because everything is so far out there and has too many customized peices. I mean look at their NBA stuff...It's rediculous.
And as a side, every tv show that gets away from the core story is doomed to fail or at least lose a lot of viewership. That's why babies and marriages are show killers. Or completely changing the premise of the story (see Alias). Shows like Seinfeld lasted for so long and became more popular until the end because they had a core theme, and stuck with it. Lego could take a page from that.
After 10 years of using linux (and I assume enjoying it), I'm curious why you decided to switch to OS X? You don't see too many stories out there of people going back to a proprietary system after having used linux for so long....
**Offtopic warning**
Regarding your signature, that's too bad to hear about BZBOYZ going downhill; I ordered from them a couple years back and got excellent customer service (dealing with a defective mobo). Now I think i'd probably stick with ordering from newegg. Plus BZs site is so cluttered and animated now it's hard to take them seriously.
Btw you should allow comments in your journal!
I believe there was also another microchip on another of the mars probes, where your name got on it if you were a member of the Planetary Society but I can't seem to find the link at the moment. I just vaguely remember printing out a certificate a few years ago.
I really like that method of telling them first what you're doing and then saying how to do it. The only downside to that is again those semi-knowlegable people who wig out when you tell them what you're trying, and refuse to even look at it.
"Okay now let's look at your network properties to make sure everythings alright. click start..."
"It's not that! I know what i'm doing! blah blah blah"
"Please just humor me and double check"
"blah blah blah. This is a peice of junk, you know how much I paid for it?? blah blah blah"
then inevitably when they actually do it:
"Oh. It's working now"
And yeah, I totally agree about the tech support people who don't tell you what they're having you do and try to walk you through every click. I was lucky in my helpdesk/repair situation that if working with the user over the phone was too difficult or time-consuming I could just walk over to their building and help them in person.
What would be really cool is if there was a good way of profiling users to see their technical competancy. Perhaps by a few simple questions or commands like "Okay pull up a command prompt", or "what Bios version do you have?", stuff like that. The times I've had to contact support I already know the problem, have tried the typical solutions (ie dropping it in another box, trying newer drivers, etc...) and just need a new unit. Not to jump through the typical hoops "yes it's plugged in". Of course the problem with this is the semi-knowlegable people that *think* they've tried everything but are really overlooking something simple.
So I dunno, any ideas on how to do said profiling? The only thing I've really noticed from the tech support I've done is that the semi-knowlegable people are typically assholes on the phone, whereas everyone else is generally calm.
And secondly, I know with a lot of credit card companies it's possible to register an alternate address with them, so your bill gets sent to one but the other shows as a valid address for the card when companies check. It might be possible to have your bill sent to your canadian address but the US PO box as an alternate.
You hit on a good point there. When I was younger, I used to LOVE to play sports outside. Really almost anything active. The problem was that once I got into high school and college, I still loved to do stuff outside, but most of my friends just wanted to sit around and do sedentary activities like watching TV or playing video games. It was very frustrating, because I really did want to be active. But when the whole world (or at least the particular group of people I hung out with) is against you, it's hard to do that.
So I don't necessarily think that kids today are more lazy... it's just that there's too many tempting sedentary activities out there. While almost anyone can play video games and enjoy them, you have to be moderately in shape to have a chance at enjoying real sports. And connecting with the right people just continues to get more difficult
Hmm let's see...with dial up you get a max around 6k/s.
6k/s * 3600s/hr * 24hr * 30 days =
~15.5GB !
10GB/mo sounds a bit low considering. Of course broadband is still a better deal either way, not having to pay for a second phone line, being able to peak at higher than 56k, etc. But man, 10GB/mo? I think I'd be looking around at other options.
Sometimes it amazes me what windows users will put up with to stay on the microsoft plantation...
Seriously, of all the "problems" you listed the only one that is vaguely Microsoft's fault is the messenger one. The rest can be avoided by a little common sense like actually reading what you're clicking 'yes' to. Using a browser like Mozilla or even one of hundreds of popup blockers. Installing regular patches/driver updates.
Why else do they put up with it? Oh I dunno, maybe because like 95% of the software out there is made for WINDOWS? Or the fact that some of us would rather simply run an executable rather than compiling, making sure all the packages and libraries are installed, checking dependencies, endless sifting through man pages and newsgroups to figure out how to do the most trivial of tasks, etc ad nauseum. And stability? Have you even tried 2k or XP? I haven't rebooted my 2k box since I last turned it on a week ago.
Don't get me wrong, I think Linux has a very bright future and has a good chance of dominating over Windows someday. But the fact is, Windows is the still the most usable OS out there for the time being.
Now quit being the jerk you are and go help your wife with her computer problems.
Yeah, hooray for our hometown internet heroes... bringing the Blaster worm to the masses. (note sarcasm). Although my first thought when I heard about it was "Cool! We're on the national news!", it's kinda wierd to know the kid down the street's house is being raided by FBI and secret service agents.