When we did our ISO we hired an "expert" who told us, "It is up to you to describe your process, if you want to save a whole lot of grief in the future, make it as simple and sensible as possible."
In other words, forget what you're reading and create your own process, reporting, and compliance documents. Otherwise, you'll be creating a monster that will require several full-time ISO employees whose job description will essentially be, "make all other employees miserable".
Our expert's advice was well worth her fee. Any "expert" you hire who advises a massive documentation effort is simply creating future contract work for themselves.
With a name like "Rectal Prolapse" we don't need to see your UID to know that you're from a bygone era where goatse pics & links flourished in the forum that is/.
Take some of that money you're saving by not buying CD's and poney it up to those than can help.
Another example: When the IEEE dropped the ball with their author submission requirements I dropped my membership and joined EFF. It didn't matter that they eventually revised their requirements, it was clear (to me) that they were seriously out of touch with their members and I felt those dollars would be better spent by an organization that was actively working to change the DMCA.
I'd say you really have been lucky. Three years ago in November I bought a WD 10GB drive after having no problems with the dozen other WD drives in my boxes. It failed after one year. The replacement drive failed after nine months. Being the whipping boy that I am, I did another RMA and now the second replacement is starting to make those familiar clicking-clanking noises the other two made. If it fails before the anniversary I seriously doubt I will do another RMA. I've had enough of cheap drives. As a friend pointed out, "you can buy WD's in Walmart, doesn't that give you a clue?"
Just because some CongressCritters have sent a letter to Ashcroft it doesn't mean he will do anything about it. The President is his boss, not Congress (separation of powers). Of course, if Ashcroft doesn't direct the FBI to do anything, Congress can always threaten to withold some funding in the next budget. And, as others have pointed out, there is this terrorism thing happening which (by all accounts) has got the FBI completely strapped for time and manpower these days. I wouldn't be too worried about it, yet...
I think the problem here is that you can't make a copy (well, at least I can't do it) of your car's design and quickly produce another car prior to selling the original. I could probably scan and reproduce a book, though it would be a bit involved.
On the other hand, isn't this "used tax" potentially a violation of fair use?
This is why it's a great test for interviews. You'd be amazed how many "senior C developers" we interviewed at my last company who couldn't write push() and pop() for a linked list.
Sorry, but that is complete BS (bullshit for those that are acronym averse) and probably off-topic. Sure, writing push() & pop() is trivial, but for some of us it is impossible under certain circumstances. Some of the best programmers out there suffer from "stage fright" when interviewing for jobs, and sitting in an alien environment with a bunch of folks you've probably never met before doesn't help. I've got a BS (a degree) in CS and have been writing C (among other things) code for more than 15 years now and I still can't sit down and write it out on paper. I can write an algorithm description in pseudo code, but real code must come from my fingers banging on a keyboard. In other words, habits are hard to break and how many people write their code out on paper before typing it? Maybe I live in a bubble world, but I don't know anyone who does that.
If you really want to find the best candidate for a position in your company, don't ask them to write code on paper, ask them for some samples from previous work they've done and check their references. If you're suspicious of the source they've provided, put them in a room alone with an editor (no compiler or debugger) and ask them to reproduce something.
My worst experiences interviewing for jobs have occurred when some arrogant jerk has asked for an on-the-spot regurgitation in compile-able code on paper of an algorithm that is trivial for any first year CS student. Some of us simply can't do it.
Again, I'm sorry, maybe I've got an attitude problem and/or should see a therapist...
I only recall seeing some climatologists saying that the smoke from the oil well fires would not (and could not) reach an altitude high enough to have the effect proposed by Carl. One of them said that he (Carl) should stick with his own area of expertise and forget about weather forecasting.
The global cooling theory is interesting, when it was challenged the proponents used the same arguments as today's global warming folks. The end result of the debate was, "better safe than sorry". They didn't know then, and I'm not yet convinced they know now.
I didn't read the Jupiter book, just saw the news reports and remember thinking, "Whoa, what if its true!?" At the time a friend, who was living in SoCal, sent me a letter saying some of his neighbors were stocking up on canned goods and flashlight batteries in the weeks leading up to the alignment. Dire predictions are always a Good Thing for local retailers.
The trouble with finding links in things as complex as the climate or solar physics is the large number of variables, some of which are obviously not yet known. In the sense that "better safe than sorry" gives us some tools that provide a cleaner environment, I'm all for it. Sadly, my problem is that I'm too old and cynical to embrace any more "the sky is falling" theories, though I still enjoy the debate. Yep, I'm biased...
Not really, the threat is only as serious as you perceive it to be. I don't know if global warming is real or not, the data is as skewed as the interpretor's bias. If you believe, or want to believe, you'll see what you want to see. The sad fact is most people's views, including those of reputable scientists, are biased. The whole grant proposal system doesn't encourage diversity since those who sit on the grant committees are themselves biased and are looking to award grants to people who will confirm their ideas. I know it is true, I've co-authored several NSF and NASA proposals and have made a nice chunk of change in my spare time. Last year our team even won a share of NASA's Space Act Award. But that doesn't mean what we did was particularly interesting (to me at least), it just means we did something that impressed some folks who wanted their preconceived ideas confirmed.
With the exception of the Jupiter thing, the examples I cited earlier were proposed and accepted by a large segment of the scientific community at the time (not unlike global warming), not because they were true, but because people seem to want to see scary things on the horizon. Poor Carl, I think he even scared himself with those oil well fires...
OK, I'll bite, how about Sagan's prediction after the Gulf war:
Shortly after the first oil wells began to burn, Carl Sagan appeared on ABC's Nightline and predicted that " the net effects would be similar to the explosion of the Indonesian volcano Tambora in 1815, which resulted in the year 1816 being known as the year without a summer" (p. 37, 1992).
Climatologists are pessimistic that political leaders will take any positive action to compensate for the climatic change, or even to allay its effects
Or, what about the great earthquakes that were predicted in The Jupiter Effect:
Such was the forecast of a scholarly and well-documented book entitied The Jupiter Effect, coauthored in 1974 by Cambridge astrophysicists John Gribbin and Stephen Plagemann. The book targeted 1982 as a time when meteorological and geological activity would build up and become intensely magnified thanks to a variety, of physical mechanisms operating simultaneously. Highlighting the forecast was a massive and disastrous earthquake on the southern section of the San Andreas Fault near Los Angeles.
No, you're right, I agree, it bothers me too. But I doubt there is anything I can do about it. I feel the same way about lotteries, I've been voting against and complaining about state-sponsored gambling for years and haven't seen anything change. Just trying to see a bright spot in an otherwise disturbing trend.
If there is some preferential treatment of MS by the USPS then it is an outrage, and especially if that includes MS paying them by supplying "software in exchange" for the advertising space.
So, would you rather see an increase in postal rates or MS advertising in USPS? Personally, if MS wants to put up ads in all govt offices I'm all for it, as long as it decreases my tax burden, or in this case, my postage burden. Guess I see it the same way I see state-sponsored gambling, let the idiots pay and let me keep more of my own $'s.
AT&T@Home "traded" the cable system here (Boise, ID) for another near SanFran. The new company CableOne promptly capped download speeds to 400k. For an extra $15/month I am getting 800k (200k up), still about one quarter the speed of AT&T@Home. I used to regularly get 3.1 to 3.2Mbps. I don't know if this is a "trend" nationwide, but it appears that Comcast may also be headed in the same direction with their "new" network. Notice they say, "Faster than dial-up, faster than DSL*", not very encouraging for all you Comcast folks.
One day it *was* me, our AT&T@Home service was sold, traded, or whatever to a very lame cable operator who raised prices and capped download speeds. I never imagined that the day would come when I would be missing AT&T. I used to get a 3 Mbps connection regularly. Now I pay $15 more per month for something *they* call 1/2 T1 speed, 800K down, 200K up, not very broad broadband (See it here). It is better than Qwest's DSL and the only other game in town. Count yer blessings and pray AT&T doesn't sell you to someone else, or put some screws to you one day down the road.
I submitted my resignation and informed my employer that I was moving home (1,000 miles away). As part of my resignation I proposed a "trial" telecommuting arrangement and pointed out how much training would be required to replace me. I also made it clear that I thoroughly enjoyed my job and sincerely hoped they would be willing to give me a chance to prove that it could be a workable arrangement. In other words, I didn't ask them for anything other than a chance to show them that it could work. I was surprised when they accepted my resignation and thirty minutes later offered me a position as a telecommuting programmer, something they had not agreed to do for anyone else until then. But I had an advantage in that I had been working for them almost seven years and a significant portion of their production environment was dependent on code I'd written. I'd also showed them beforehand that I was honest, dependable, and consciencious. They told me later it was the trust I'd earned that allowed them to agree to the arrangement. It has been more than 18 months now, I visit the office for "face time" once every three to four months at their expense.
It is working great for me, but YMMV. Make very sure you can handle the isolation, although your two hour distance makes visits much easier than what I have here.
Where I live (Idaho) we have a law that allows people to put themselves on a state-wide No Call List operated by the Attorney General's office. For a $10 fee you get three years of "protection" from telemarketers who by law are not allowed to call anyone on the list. The telemarketers also share the administrative costs associated with the list since they are required to purchase the list at $25 every three months. It seems to be working pretty well here and considering the annoyance, $10 is a small price to pay (IMO).
This is sub-thread is a bit off-topic, but I can't help but respond...
This is a common misconception, and I think that the "Insightful" moderation needs a little reality check. Ms. Liebeck (the McDonald's coffee plaintiff) was hospitalized for eight days because of the coffee's temperature.
Uhh, not quite, it all depends on your perspective. Personally, I prefer my coffee HOT, hot enough to burn flesh. In my opinion, she was hospitalized not "because of the coffee's temperature", but because she didn't take enough care to properly handle a beverage that is supposed to be freaking hot and then asked Micky-Ds to cover expenses which were due only to her own lack of common sense. In that particular case, I have to agree with with the corporation. If Ms. Liebeck's a victim of coffee that is too hot, then I'll sue Henckels the next time I cut myself using one of their knives (they shouldn't be that sharp!). Failing to take responsibility for your own idiotic (or accidental) behavior is a disease in this country. The "Insightful" moderation is perfectly reasonable here.
Indeed, the governments of China and Saudi Arabia have successfully pursued a similar strategy for political ends.
And that really is where the argument "might" be successful. Congress already tried regulating some things with the CDA and I wouldn't put it past them to try something else along the same lines. Still, I think this article misses some things. I could be wrong, but I believe that businesses (RIAA, MPA) will eventually create their own commercial "net" using VPNs which consumers will use to access their products. Rather than trying to tame the net, they'll just create their own tunnels for their own proprietary devices so the masses can buy their candy. It would certainly be easier than trying to come up with some sort of world-wide net police force or constantly trying to shut down the latest hack or crack. It just seems like it would require too much effort on their part to attempt to "regulate" the internet. Money always follows the path of least resistance (lowest cost).
This is a bit off topic... The ACM has filed a declaration in Federal Court in support of the Felten case. As someone else said in response to another article along the same lines, their position on the DMCA makes me proud to be a member.
Yep, I agree completely. The original poster's reference comes from this little item. But in their publicly available documents I've not been able to find where they define "server". I also find it odd that they have different service requirements and policies depending on your location. Obviously some of that is dependent on the equipment installed in a particular area and any contractual things that a local franchising agency might require. I know that many AT&T@Home customers are required to use DHCP for example. Where I'm located, we can request static IPs at no extra charge even though the printed contract I was given says otherwise.
Slashdot Mirror
Hehe, I'm not whining, I am predicting the future. And, since I'm not a god or a prophet, I will concede your point...
From the link you provided:
e ct
http://code.google.com/hosting/faq.html#adsonproj
Are you going to put ads on my project page?
No. Ads aren't part of Google Code at this time.
Like I said, they didn't used to have ads on their search pages...
By the way, Google isn't running ads on the Google Code pages. This isn't about ad revenue.
Google didn't used to run ads on their search pages either. It is all about timing, just wait a while.
When we did our ISO we hired an "expert" who told us, "It is up to you to describe your process, if you want to save a whole lot of grief in the future, make it as simple and sensible as possible."
In other words, forget what you're reading and create your own process, reporting, and compliance documents. Otherwise, you'll be creating a monster that will require several full-time ISO employees whose job description will essentially be, "make all other employees miserable".
Our expert's advice was well worth her fee. Any "expert" you hire who advises a massive documentation effort is simply creating future contract work for themselves.
With a name like "Rectal Prolapse" we don't need to see your UID to know that you're from a bygone era where goatse pics & links flourished in the forum that is /.
Huh? Isn't "TubeSteak" the cause of goatse?
Oh wait, with an ID like mine...
Take some of that money you're saving by not buying CD's and poney it up to those than can help.
Another example: When the IEEE dropped the ball with their author submission requirements I dropped my membership and joined EFF. It didn't matter that they eventually revised their requirements, it was clear (to me) that they were seriously out of touch with their members and I felt those dollars would be better spent by an organization that was actively working to change the DMCA.
I'd say you really have been lucky. Three years ago in November I bought a WD 10GB drive after having no problems with the dozen other WD drives in my boxes. It failed after one year. The replacement drive failed after nine months. Being the whipping boy that I am, I did another RMA and now the second replacement is starting to make those familiar clicking-clanking noises the other two made. If it fails before the anniversary I seriously doubt I will do another RMA. I've had enough of cheap drives. As a friend pointed out, "you can buy WD's in Walmart, doesn't that give you a clue?"
Just because some CongressCritters have sent a letter to Ashcroft it doesn't mean he will do anything about it. The President is his boss, not Congress (separation of powers). Of course, if Ashcroft doesn't direct the FBI to do anything, Congress can always threaten to withold some funding in the next budget. And, as others have pointed out, there is this terrorism thing happening which (by all accounts) has got the FBI completely strapped for time and manpower these days. I wouldn't be too worried about it, yet...
I think the problem here is that you can't make a copy (well, at least I can't do it) of your car's design and quickly produce another car prior to selling the original. I could probably scan and reproduce a book, though it would be a bit involved.
On the other hand, isn't this "used tax" potentially a violation of fair use?
This is why it's a great test for interviews. You'd be amazed how many "senior C developers" we interviewed at my last company who couldn't write push() and pop() for a linked list.
Sorry, but that is complete BS (bullshit for those that are acronym averse) and probably off-topic. Sure, writing push() & pop() is trivial, but for some of us it is impossible under certain circumstances. Some of the best programmers out there suffer from "stage fright" when interviewing for jobs, and sitting in an alien environment with a bunch of folks you've probably never met before doesn't help. I've got a BS (a degree) in CS and have been writing C (among other things) code for more than 15 years now and I still can't sit down and write it out on paper. I can write an algorithm description in pseudo code, but real code must come from my fingers banging on a keyboard. In other words, habits are hard to break and how many people write their code out on paper before typing it? Maybe I live in a bubble world, but I don't know anyone who does that.
If you really want to find the best candidate for a position in your company, don't ask them to write code on paper, ask them for some samples from previous work they've done and check their references. If you're suspicious of the source they've provided, put them in a room alone with an editor (no compiler or debugger) and ask them to reproduce something.
My worst experiences interviewing for jobs have occurred when some arrogant jerk has asked for an on-the-spot regurgitation in compile-able code on paper of an algorithm that is trivial for any first year CS student. Some of us simply can't do it.
Again, I'm sorry, maybe I've got an attitude problem and/or should see a therapist...
I only recall seeing some climatologists saying that the smoke from the oil well fires would not (and could not) reach an altitude high enough to have the effect proposed by Carl. One of them said that he (Carl) should stick with his own area of expertise and forget about weather forecasting.
The global cooling theory is interesting, when it was challenged the proponents used the same arguments as today's global warming folks. The end result of the debate was, "better safe than sorry". They didn't know then, and I'm not yet convinced they know now.
I didn't read the Jupiter book, just saw the news reports and remember thinking, "Whoa, what if its true!?" At the time a friend, who was living in SoCal, sent me a letter saying some of his neighbors were stocking up on canned goods and flashlight batteries in the weeks leading up to the alignment. Dire predictions are always a Good Thing for local retailers.
The trouble with finding links in things as complex as the climate or solar physics is the large number of variables, some of which are obviously not yet known. In the sense that "better safe than sorry" gives us some tools that provide a cleaner environment, I'm all for it. Sadly, my problem is that I'm too old and cynical to embrace any more "the sky is falling" theories, though I still enjoy the debate. Yep, I'm biased...
Not really, the threat is only as serious as you perceive it to be. I don't know if global warming is real or not, the data is as skewed as the interpretor's bias. If you believe, or want to believe, you'll see what you want to see. The sad fact is most people's views, including those of reputable scientists, are biased. The whole grant proposal system doesn't encourage diversity since those who sit on the grant committees are themselves biased and are looking to award grants to people who will confirm their ideas. I know it is true, I've co-authored several NSF and NASA proposals and have made a nice chunk of change in my spare time. Last year our team even won a share of NASA's Space Act Award. But that doesn't mean what we did was particularly interesting (to me at least), it just means we did something that impressed some folks who wanted their preconceived ideas confirmed.
With the exception of the Jupiter thing, the examples I cited earlier were proposed and accepted by a large segment of the scientific community at the time (not unlike global warming), not because they were true, but because people seem to want to see scary things on the horizon. Poor Carl, I think he even scared himself with those oil well fires...
OK, I'll bite, how about Sagan's prediction after the Gulf war:
Shortly after the first oil wells began to burn, Carl Sagan appeared on ABC's Nightline and predicted that " the net effects would be similar to the explosion of the Indonesian volcano Tambora in 1815, which resulted in the year 1816 being known as the year without a summer" (p. 37,
1992).
Or, how about the great frozen earth from 1975:
Climatologists are pessimistic that political leaders will take any positive action to compensate for the climatic change, or even to allay its effects
Or, what about the great earthquakes that were predicted in The Jupiter Effect:
Such was the forecast of a scholarly and well-documented book entitied The Jupiter Effect, coauthored in 1974 by Cambridge astrophysicists John Gribbin and Stephen Plagemann. The book targeted 1982 as a time when meteorological and geological activity would build up and become intensely magnified thanks to a variety, of physical mechanisms operating simultaneously. Highlighting the forecast was a massive and disastrous earthquake on the southern section of the San Andreas Fault near Los Angeles.
Should I go on...
No, you're right, I agree, it bothers me too. But I doubt there is anything I can do about it. I feel the same way about lotteries, I've been voting against and complaining about state-sponsored gambling for years and haven't seen anything change. Just trying to see a bright spot in an otherwise disturbing trend.
If there is some preferential treatment of MS by the USPS then it is an outrage, and especially if that includes MS paying them by supplying "software in exchange" for the advertising space.
So, would you rather see an increase in postal rates or MS advertising in USPS? Personally, if MS wants to put up ads in all govt offices I'm all for it, as long as it decreases my tax burden, or in this case, my postage burden. Guess I see it the same way I see state-sponsored gambling, let the idiots pay and let me keep more of my own $'s.
AT&T@Home "traded" the cable system here (Boise, ID) for another near SanFran. The new company CableOne promptly capped download speeds to 400k. For an extra $15/month I am getting 800k (200k up), still about one quarter the speed of AT&T@Home. I used to regularly get 3.1 to 3.2Mbps. I don't know if this is a "trend" nationwide, but it appears that Comcast may also be headed in the same direction with their "new" network. Notice they say, "Faster than dial-up, faster than DSL*", not very encouraging for all you Comcast folks.
Yeah, I must agree (One day it could be you too).
One day it *was* me, our AT&T@Home service was sold, traded, or whatever to a very lame cable operator who raised prices and capped download speeds. I never imagined that the day would come when I would be missing AT&T. I used to get a 3 Mbps connection regularly. Now I pay $15 more per month for something *they* call 1/2 T1 speed, 800K down, 200K up, not very broad broadband (See it here). It is better than Qwest's DSL and the only other game in town. Count yer blessings and pray AT&T doesn't sell you to someone else, or put some screws to you one day down the road.
I submitted my resignation and informed my employer that I was moving home (1,000 miles away). As part of my resignation I proposed a "trial" telecommuting arrangement and pointed out how much training would be required to replace me. I also made it clear that I thoroughly enjoyed my job and sincerely hoped they would be willing to give me a chance to prove that it could be a workable arrangement. In other words, I didn't ask them for anything other than a chance to show them that it could work. I was surprised when they accepted my resignation and thirty minutes later offered me a position as a telecommuting programmer, something they had not agreed to do for anyone else until then. But I had an advantage in that I had been working for them almost seven years and a significant portion of their production environment was dependent on code I'd written. I'd also showed them beforehand that I was honest, dependable, and consciencious. They told me later it was the trust I'd earned that allowed them to agree to the arrangement. It has been more than 18 months now, I visit the office for "face time" once every three to four months at their expense.
It is working great for me, but YMMV. Make very sure you can handle the isolation, although your two hour distance makes visits much easier than what I have here.
There is also a story at the NYTimes Russians Deem Arrest Insult to Their Industry that has some interviews with other Russian programmers and their take on the whole mess.
Where I live (Idaho) we have a law that allows people to put themselves on a state-wide No Call List operated by the Attorney General's office. For a $10 fee you get three years of "protection" from telemarketers who by law are not allowed to call anyone on the list. The telemarketers also share the administrative costs associated with the list since they are required to purchase the list at $25 every three months. It seems to be working pretty well here and considering the annoyance, $10 is a small price to pay (IMO).
This is sub-thread is a bit off-topic, but I can't help but respond...
This is a common misconception, and I think that the "Insightful" moderation needs a little reality check. Ms. Liebeck (the McDonald's coffee plaintiff) was hospitalized for eight days because of the coffee's temperature.
Uhh, not quite, it all depends on your perspective. Personally, I prefer my coffee HOT, hot enough to burn flesh. In my opinion, she was hospitalized not "because of the coffee's temperature", but because she didn't take enough care to properly handle a beverage that is supposed to be freaking hot and then asked Micky-Ds to cover expenses which were due only to her own lack of common sense. In that particular case, I have to agree with with the corporation. If Ms. Liebeck's a victim of coffee that is too hot, then I'll sue Henckels the next time I cut myself using one of their knives (they shouldn't be that sharp!). Failing to take responsibility for your own idiotic (or accidental) behavior is a disease in this country. The "Insightful" moderation is perfectly reasonable here.
Indeed, the governments of China and Saudi Arabia have successfully pursued a similar strategy for political ends.
And that really is where the argument "might" be successful. Congress already tried regulating some things with the CDA and I wouldn't put it past them to try something else along the same lines. Still, I think this article misses some things. I could be wrong, but I believe that businesses (RIAA, MPA) will eventually create their own commercial "net" using VPNs which consumers will use to access their products. Rather than trying to tame the net, they'll just create their own tunnels for their own proprietary devices so the masses can buy their candy. It would certainly be easier than trying to come up with some sort of world-wide net police force or constantly trying to shut down the latest hack or crack. It just seems like it would require too much effort on their part to attempt to "regulate" the internet. Money always follows the path of least resistance (lowest cost).
This is a bit off topic... The ACM has filed a declaration in Federal Court in support of the Felten case. As someone else said in response to another article along the same lines, their position on the DMCA makes me proud to be a member.
Yep, I agree completely. The original poster's reference comes from this little item. But in their publicly available documents I've not been able to find where they define "server". I also find it odd that they have different service requirements and policies depending on your location. Obviously some of that is dependent on the equipment installed in a particular area and any contractual things that a local franchising agency might require. I know that many AT&T@Home customers are required to use DHCP for example. Where I'm located, we can request static IPs at no extra charge even though the printed contract I was given says otherwise.
AT&T is not terribly consistent in stating their policies across all their documents, the Acceptable Use Policy says:
Examples of prohibited uses include, but are not limited to, running servers for mail, http, ftp, irc, and dhcp, and multi-user interactive forums.