We're already seeing a ton of people with absolutely no legal background commenting on legal things. Here's a tip: the law doesn't work like you probably think it does. The law is rational or reasonable. It's a jumbled mess of subjective orders and expressions that lawyers can mold into defense or complaint.
Looking at the source code could very well be the basis for a very solid defense that beats whatever state statues and ordinances the defendant is suspected of violating. We have no idea what's in the code so why not? Crappy programmers probably wrote the software and it probably wouldn't be hard to find something that doesn't function right or doesn't map just right to a state issued requirement for the system.
If this gun reading is the states main piece of leverage it's because this device conforms to some strict requirements defined by the state. So maybe looking at the code will show that it doesn't and that the machine is in fact illegal.
Lastly, if you ever get pulled over for something like this, don't talk. That is when they ask if you've been drinking, always say no. What does "drinking" mean? Well, it's not up to you to define this at that time. Let your lawyer handle it. Never tell a cop you might be breaking the law. Because once you've admitted that you have been drinking, they can ask you a whole bunch of other questions that can only hurt you. How much? For how long? Where at? Where are you going? With who?
Here's a sample:
Officer: Have you been drinking?
You: No.
Officer: I smell alcohol.
You: I haven't been drinking, officer.
He'll still ask you to get out and do his little tests. But you've never admitted to anything. This can help a lot down the road. In short, never say anything you don't have to.
The story points to them being a "straight A student". What does this have to do with anything? Are they implying that a persons GPA is an indicator of their abilities to shoot others at school?
Get a life. I'm sure the content you made in school is so valuable.
You people need to get over yourselves. No one is selling anything. What's the problem with keeping a database of known papers so as to catch would be cheats?
So they're making money off of it. Should have thought of it first.
But homework assignments are exercises and just that. This system gives universities the ability to enforce plagerisim and PROTECT your original work. You still hold copyright and no one is publishing anything. They are simply using yorr paper to compare against others to make sure no one is coying your work. They don't sell or even make available your paper.
This is akin to every teacher on Earth making a copy of any paper they've graded and allowing the others to compare them to make sure they aren't copied. What's the problem with that?
Fair enough as I'm no expert on light bulbs obviously. But I have a problem with governments telling citizens what kind of light they can and cannot use. If it's to save energy then no car over 50 HP should be allowed on the streets that doesn't have a towing permit. It should be a crime to leave lights on or water running. Air conditioners should be banned except for extreme conditions and for the sick and elderly.
I'm not against governments suggesting to people what to use and advertising the benefits of what to use and maybe fairly taxing things (although this is dubious as well), but to ban things outright is shameful and shows no limits.
This is what you want governments doing? Telling you what kind of light you can use?
Fluorescent light is harsh and not as useful as incandescent. I don't use fluorescent when I want a nice, soft lighting. I use fluorescence in the basement and the garage or at the office. I don't use them over the dinner table because they do nothing for the mood or the food.
They might use more energy but they do produce much better light in many peoples opinions.
I ask how much energy is it going to take to convert every lamp to fluorescent? Every lighting fixture? Is there really much net savings?
And it's not only around cops. Anytime these people see any vehicle with sirens they slow down to well below the speed limit. I've seen on a few occasions groups of motorists slow down at the sight of a siren when in fact it was a mall security car on it's way to lunch or something.
I assume every male is a porn addict. I declare him a sex addict because not only is he your typical porn addict but he needs it at work which leads me to believe he's really a sex addict. He can't have sex at work so he gets the next best thing.
Sounds like he's a sex addict! Just because he's using the Internet to fuel his obvious sex addiction doesn't make him an Internet addict. It's like saying someone who uses magazines to get their porn is a magazine addict.
You're not addicted to the medium, you're addicted to the content.
I'd assume the best minds generally are working for their own company or for a university.
Not that places like MS and Google don't have some great employees (most successful businesses do), but lets kill the corporate tag line here used to convince their workers they are somehow lucky to be employed. The company I work for claims to hire "great employees" but it's clearly a lie. And any company I've walked into usually has about 10% great employees and the rest are easily replaceable. From what I've read, Google and MS are as full of poseurs as any other company. It's a bell curve like anything else.
This goes for any company I've ever been to.
So although it might make for nice corporate slogan or initiative, I'm not sure free candy, soda and food is going to attract the best of the best. If so, the best of the best are mighty shallow or easily tricked.
As for being able to log in from home, what's the point?! Anywhere I've worked has VPN or equivalent access. Of course they do. They want you to work as much as possible. But does this make it not working because you're at home?! I never used it.
I have a hard time believing that. Video games, toys, free foods (which might actually help their health care plans really) and other recreational activities are just there for fun? To create a diversion for a hard worker?
It seems like the common goal of each of these devices is to keep a person on the corporate campus for as much of their time as possible. This way, the company becomes their life and they feel more of an attachment to the company than a typical 9-5er. It's the hive now instead of a place to work.
Your comments are exactly how I feel. It totally has the feel of one of the cults or something in Utah where they invade every part of your life. And where if you don't dedicate your entire existence to them, you're looked at as a sick person who needs help. This of course results in even more "care", etc from your new cult overlords.
I can imagine it's the kind of place where every time you answer a question about yourself, you're then told of the "Company X" way.
Maybe we're too cynical but i don't think so. Working in an environment with many geeks, I can see the ones that would fall for this bait. They would eat it up and be brainwashed immediately. Like young Neo-Nazi's or other cultists, they would immediately destroy their individuality and try and become part of the....Borg....as soon as possible.
I agree with him/her mainly. I personally don't care about these "perks". I get the impressions they are tools to keep workers working longer and more often.
I don't care about the social structure a company would try and provide for me. They can't possibly create a social atmosphere beyond work that is even close to my life.
However, I assume there is corporate politics and backstabbing at every company.
But I don't need toys (why waste time at work? Why stay longer than I have to?) or free drinks (I bring water thank you) or free lunches (well, that could be nice. But I like to get out. Companies like to keep you around) and corporate prizes (I have enough junk). I like a good check (Google lacks here), flex-time and the expectation that I will only be working no more than 40 hours a week. Oh, and lots of vacation.
Google allowing programmers 20% of their tie to work on personal projects is a nice perk, to be sure.
I guess the parent is saying, it's still work. You're still at work. Would you rather be at work than out with your friends or doing your own thing? If the answer is no then you need to get a life.
These places sound great in theory but the more you think about it, the more phony and limiting they become.
Consider that they provide all of these resources to keep you on their campus as long as possible. Their entire goal is to squeeze as much work out of you they can while prolonging the time it will take you to burn out. They create their own small community you're expected to be a part of at almost all times.
Maybe I'm in the minority but my work isn't my life. I enjoy what I do but I don't stay at the office any long than I have to. I have friends to see, places to go and personal endeavors to get to that don't involve my company. I don't want my recreational activities to be sponsored by or provided by my company. I'm not sure I want to work in a place that "optionally" provides these facilities as they become expectations of the employees and those that shun them become outcast by their coworkers.
It's like if you don't participate in as many work related activities as possible, you'll alienate yourself and not be part of the brainwashed masses at your company of choice.
Maybe I'm old fashioned but I get to the office, I do my job and after about 8 hours or so I go on my way and do whatever I want to do. I get lunch with some friends at places of our choice. I'll even participate in work related and non-work related recreational activities with people. But it's not a way of life.
I don't know, something about working for a company that has created facilities and devices to keep you occupied under their roof for as long as possible seems a little fishy. I don't trust companies like this. They don't have your best interest's in mind, like most companies, but try and create diversions from this. Many young geeks end up wasting their youth in this corporate socialism.
Destroying Net Neutrality will destroy the Internet as we know it.
Right now, everyone gets treated equally among ISP's and such.
What telecoms and major ISP's want to do is throttle sites and force them to pay to have optimal delivery of their data.
That is, my news site will be sent to you very slowly because I can't afford to pay the ISP's and telecoms lots of money to prioritize my site. Meanwhile, another news source will go through their pipes rather quickly because they pay for it.
Right now they are using the excuse that they want to be able to bill sites that generate a lot of traffic.
But in truth they want to sell the ability to crush competition on the open Net to the highest bidder.
Also, it allows for corporate censorship.
If I run a site speaking out against Time Warner for instance, they could essentially turn me off to anyone who uses them as a provider.
The Net MUST remain neutral. It's the whole point of it in the first place.
Destroying net neutrality will ruin the Internet as we know it and the days of freedom are gone. Once again it's a corporate takeover with victory going to the biggest spender.
In short, ISP's and such want the ability to legally throttle sites so they can sell premium bandwidth to the highest bidder, even though users already pay forthis service every month! They are spitting in the face of their customers.
"Having said the above, however, learning skills and content are absolutely necessary. You might compare skills to a gun and creativity to bullets. If you lack either, you're doomed."
That's a good analogy. Thanks.
Next time in an interview, after the prospect passes all skill things we need to verify, I'm going to look him dead in the eye and say (in my best Eastwood voice):
"Listen, we can see you've got the gun. But do you got the bullets?"
I don't want to pay for a feature in a car like this.
I don't need a car telling me if I can drive it or not.
I'm a responsible person who knows when they can operate a car and when they can't. I know if I've had too many to drive and when I have not.
I don't want to pay more money for features that I don't want.
If this is for convicted drunk drivers as a probationary thing, then fine. But I'd rather the government not mandate I pay more for my car because some nutso mothers and crafty lobbying groups want to make money.
You must be in your second or third year of college.
Tons of companies use COBAL and aren't going to change because there are plenty of really good COBOL programmers. They don't care about the "design principals" and such are. The system works and the programmers know how to use it.
I work in a place that has a lot of our stuff on COBOL TANDEM mainframes. I hate it. The design principals suck, etc.
Slashdot Mirror
We're already seeing a ton of people with absolutely no legal background commenting on legal things. Here's a tip: the law doesn't work like you probably think it does. The law is rational or reasonable. It's a jumbled mess of subjective orders and expressions that lawyers can mold into defense or complaint.
Looking at the source code could very well be the basis for a very solid defense that beats whatever state statues and ordinances the defendant is suspected of violating. We have no idea what's in the code so why not? Crappy programmers probably wrote the software and it probably wouldn't be hard to find something that doesn't function right or doesn't map just right to a state issued requirement for the system.
If this gun reading is the states main piece of leverage it's because this device conforms to some strict requirements defined by the state. So maybe looking at the code will show that it doesn't and that the machine is in fact illegal.
Lastly, if you ever get pulled over for something like this, don't talk. That is when they ask if you've been drinking, always say no. What does "drinking" mean? Well, it's not up to you to define this at that time. Let your lawyer handle it. Never tell a cop you might be breaking the law. Because once you've admitted that you have been drinking, they can ask you a whole bunch of other questions that can only hurt you. How much? For how long? Where at? Where are you going? With who?
Here's a sample:
Officer: Have you been drinking?
You: No.
Officer: I smell alcohol.
You: I haven't been drinking, officer.
He'll still ask you to get out and do his little tests. But you've never admitted to anything. This can help a lot down the road. In short, never say anything you don't have to.
Seriously, I agree.
Is it really breaking news that nerds don't often get laid?
The story points to them being a "straight A student". What does this have to do with anything? Are they implying that a persons GPA is an indicator of their abilities to shoot others at school?
Just what was the point of that?
Get a life. I'm sure the content you made in school is so valuable.
You people need to get over yourselves. No one is selling anything. What's the problem with keeping a database of known papers so as to catch would be cheats?
So they're making money off of it. Should have thought of it first.
But homework assignments are exercises and just that. This system gives universities the ability to enforce plagerisim and PROTECT your original work. You still hold copyright and no one is publishing anything. They are simply using yorr paper to compare against others to make sure no one is coying your work. They don't sell or even make available your paper.
This is akin to every teacher on Earth making a copy of any paper they've graded and allowing the others to compare them to make sure they aren't copied. What's the problem with that?
But at second glance you realize it's very debuggable because you run in client mode. That is, you debug Java, the same Java you wrote.
A lot of people don't understamd this technology.
Works for me.
Fair enough as I'm no expert on light bulbs obviously. But I have a problem with governments telling citizens what kind of light they can and cannot use. If it's to save energy then no car over 50 HP should be allowed on the streets that doesn't have a towing permit. It should be a crime to leave lights on or water running. Air conditioners should be banned except for extreme conditions and for the sick and elderly.
I'm not against governments suggesting to people what to use and advertising the benefits of what to use and maybe fairly taxing things (although this is dubious as well), but to ban things outright is shameful and shows no limits.
What's next?
This is what you want governments doing? Telling you what kind of light you can use?
Fluorescent light is harsh and not as useful as incandescent. I don't use fluorescent when I want a nice, soft lighting. I use fluorescence in the basement and the garage or at the office. I don't use them over the dinner table because they do nothing for the mood or the food.
They might use more energy but they do produce much better light in many peoples opinions.
I ask how much energy is it going to take to convert every lamp to fluorescent? Every lighting fixture? Is there really much net savings?
Who's making all the money off this scam?
And it's not only around cops. Anytime these people see any vehicle with sirens they slow down to well below the speed limit. I've seen on a few occasions groups of motorists slow down at the sight of a siren when in fact it was a mall security car on it's way to lunch or something.
I assume every male is a porn addict. I declare him a sex addict because not only is he your typical porn addict but he needs it at work which leads me to believe he's really a sex addict. He can't have sex at work so he gets the next best thing.
Everything above is, of course, 100% bullshit.
Sounds like he's a sex addict! Just because he's using the Internet to fuel his obvious sex addiction doesn't make him an Internet addict. It's like saying someone who uses magazines to get their porn is a magazine addict.
You're not addicted to the medium, you're addicted to the content.
I'd assume the best minds generally are working for their own company or for a university.
Not that places like MS and Google don't have some great employees (most successful businesses do), but lets kill the corporate tag line here used to convince their workers they are somehow lucky to be employed. The company I work for claims to hire "great employees" but it's clearly a lie. And any company I've walked into usually has about 10% great employees and the rest are easily replaceable. From what I've read, Google and MS are as full of poseurs as any other company. It's a bell curve like anything else.
This goes for any company I've ever been to.
So although it might make for nice corporate slogan or initiative, I'm not sure free candy, soda and food is going to attract the best of the best. If so, the best of the best are mighty shallow or easily tricked.
As for being able to log in from home, what's the point?! Anywhere I've worked has VPN or equivalent access. Of course they do. They want you to work as much as possible. But does this make it not working because you're at home?! I never used it.
I agree. Why not just call it what it is: A software factory.
Is that truly the intention?
I have a hard time believing that. Video games, toys, free foods (which might actually help their health care plans really) and other recreational activities are just there for fun? To create a diversion for a hard worker?
It seems like the common goal of each of these devices is to keep a person on the corporate campus for as much of their time as possible. This way, the company becomes their life and they feel more of an attachment to the company than a typical 9-5er. It's the hive now instead of a place to work.
Start your own company. It doesn't take much in this industry and the rewards are much greater.
Your comments are exactly how I feel. It totally has the feel of one of the cults or something in Utah where they invade every part of your life. And where if you don't dedicate your entire existence to them, you're looked at as a sick person who needs help. This of course results in even more "care", etc from your new cult overlords.
I can imagine it's the kind of place where every time you answer a question about yourself, you're then told of the "Company X" way.
Maybe we're too cynical but i don't think so. Working in an environment with many geeks, I can see the ones that would fall for this bait. They would eat it up and be brainwashed immediately. Like young Neo-Nazi's or other cultists, they would immediately destroy their individuality and try and become part of the....Borg....as soon as possible.
I'm not sure he is.
I agree with him/her mainly. I personally don't care about these "perks". I get the impressions they are tools to keep workers working longer and more often.
I don't care about the social structure a company would try and provide for me. They can't possibly create a social atmosphere beyond work that is even close to my life.
However, I assume there is corporate politics and backstabbing at every company.
But I don't need toys (why waste time at work? Why stay longer than I have to?) or free drinks (I bring water thank you) or free lunches (well, that could be nice. But I like to get out. Companies like to keep you around) and corporate prizes (I have enough junk). I like a good check (Google lacks here), flex-time and the expectation that I will only be working no more than 40 hours a week. Oh, and lots of vacation.
Google allowing programmers 20% of their tie to work on personal projects is a nice perk, to be sure.
I guess the parent is saying, it's still work. You're still at work. Would you rather be at work than out with your friends or doing your own thing? If the answer is no then you need to get a life.
These places sound great in theory but the more you think about it, the more phony and limiting they become.
Consider that they provide all of these resources to keep you on their campus as long as possible. Their entire goal is to squeeze as much work out of you they can while prolonging the time it will take you to burn out. They create their own small community you're expected to be a part of at almost all times.
Maybe I'm in the minority but my work isn't my life. I enjoy what I do but I don't stay at the office any long than I have to. I have friends to see, places to go and personal endeavors to get to that don't involve my company. I don't want my recreational activities to be sponsored by or provided by my company. I'm not sure I want to work in a place that "optionally" provides these facilities as they become expectations of the employees and those that shun them become outcast by their coworkers.
It's like if you don't participate in as many work related activities as possible, you'll alienate yourself and not be part of the brainwashed masses at your company of choice.
Maybe I'm old fashioned but I get to the office, I do my job and after about 8 hours or so I go on my way and do whatever I want to do. I get lunch with some friends at places of our choice. I'll even participate in work related and non-work related recreational activities with people. But it's not a way of life.
I don't know, something about working for a company that has created facilities and devices to keep you occupied under their roof for as long as possible seems a little fishy. I don't trust companies like this. They don't have your best interest's in mind, like most companies, but try and create diversions from this. Many young geeks end up wasting their youth in this corporate socialism.
Seriously, this?
We're discussing what would happen if we failed to lay more and more fiber as needed?
Are we really this fat and bloated our new fear is what would happen if rich content and media couldn't be downloaded on demand?
Honestly?
Two stoners sitting in a park late at night would come up with a better conversation piece that "What if we ran our of bandwidth, dude?".
Is anyone really stimulated by this?
I see you're on the cutting edge and are an early adopter!
You can't legislate stupidity!
Destroying Net Neutrality will destroy the Internet as we know it.
Right now, everyone gets treated equally among ISP's and such.
What telecoms and major ISP's want to do is throttle sites and force them to pay to have optimal delivery of their data.
That is, my news site will be sent to you very slowly because I can't afford to pay the ISP's and telecoms lots of money to prioritize my site. Meanwhile, another news source will go through their pipes rather quickly because they pay for it.
Right now they are using the excuse that they want to be able to bill sites that generate a lot of traffic.
But in truth they want to sell the ability to crush competition on the open Net to the highest bidder.
Also, it allows for corporate censorship.
If I run a site speaking out against Time Warner for instance, they could essentially turn me off to anyone who uses them as a provider.
The Net MUST remain neutral. It's the whole point of it in the first place.
Destroying net neutrality will ruin the Internet as we know it and the days of freedom are gone. Once again it's a corporate takeover with victory going to the biggest spender.
In short, ISP's and such want the ability to legally throttle sites so they can sell premium bandwidth to the highest bidder, even though users already pay forthis service every month! They are spitting in the face of their customers.
"Having said the above, however, learning skills and content are absolutely necessary. You might compare skills to a gun and creativity to bullets. If you lack either, you're doomed."
That's a good analogy. Thanks.
Next time in an interview, after the prospect passes all skill things we need to verify, I'm going to look him dead in the eye and say (in my best Eastwood voice):
"Listen, we can see you've got the gun. But do you got the bullets?"
I don't want to pay for a feature in a car like this.
I don't need a car telling me if I can drive it or not.
I'm a responsible person who knows when they can operate a car and when they can't. I know if I've had too many to drive and when I have not.
I don't want to pay more money for features that I don't want.
If this is for convicted drunk drivers as a probationary thing, then fine. But I'd rather the government not mandate I pay more for my car because some nutso mothers and crafty lobbying groups want to make money.
You must be in your second or third year of college.
Tons of companies use COBAL and aren't going to change because there are plenty of really good COBOL programmers. They don't care about the "design principals" and such are. The system works and the programmers know how to use it.
I work in a place that has a lot of our stuff on COBOL TANDEM mainframes. I hate it. The design principals suck, etc.
But the system works and is here to stay.
So the whole country should freak out about an isolated incident that happened years ago?
We should ban hand guns because people get killed with them every day?
Cops should search anyone they feel in public because of this?
More people die by lightning than by mail bombs.
Maybe we should declare a war on stormy weather?