On the Alaska side you have almost the same situation:
*There are NO train tracks that connect Alaska with the rest of Canada/US.
*There are NO train tracks that go anywhere near the west coast.
*The furthest WEST you can travel via car in Alaska is Anchor Point, but that's down on a peninsula. If you want a road to reach the West coast, that's another one thousand miles that needs to be built. The only way to travel to the west coast is ferry or plane. (LOTs of small planes operate in Alaska.)
I couldn't agree more with the parent. A tunnel would be expensive and VERY hard to maintain. (For perspective on this, look up how much time/money it took to build the Alaskan pipeline... and that's ABOVE ground.)
It makes much more sense to just stick stuff in a boat and send it over.
I totally agree. Once you visit your usual sites and get your white-list built up, it's really not that problematic.
I really like that I can allow java script from the home site (like slashdot.org) but forbid script from an embedded site (like doubleclick.net).
Wow, that brings back some memories. In college I had a sadistic CS professor (which is redundant..) who would
tack on more requirements every week to an ongoing Template and Macro assignment. This was in C, not C++.
By the end of the semester I actually had this great toolbox of meta-code that could generate stacks, binary trees, and other
abstract data types that could all be type-specific. That was a very big deal until the vast libraries of C++ and Java showed up.
Previously, I had implemented all my abstract data types with pointers and voids without any type checking in order to reuse them without (major) modifications.
Not to infringe upon your right to choose: but you decided against buying a video game console because it doesn't play movies? Yes, that's correct.
Like I said, I've never owned a gaming console, and I'm not currently foaming at the mouth to get one. Also, I already have too much clutter around my TV and don't want to make it worse. On top of that, I only have one S-Video connection to my TV. All that adds up to me not wanting to deal with more junk, more cables, etc etc. I think a state-of-the-art console should play DVDs since all the previous generation consoles had that ability. So, I'm either going to wait until the next version of wii comes out, or maybe when a new 360 comes out with built-in HD-DVD.
I've never owned a gaming console.
I almost bought a wii a few months back but decided not to after I found
out it doesn't play DVDs, which is absolutely ridiculous. I'll buy one
when ver 2 comes out.
VOIP might change that fast as well. Exactly, that's why it's a hot IT field. Anything in IT that isn't rapidly evolving is probably about to be obsolete. Cisco has a LOT of different products in the VOIP arena and they've been trying to integrate them all together for several years. Some of the products work great, like Call Manager, where others like Cisco Voice Gateway is a complete cluster #uck and a total nightmare to configure. We'll be seeing more and more of that technology move from dedicated server apps to being built into the IOS on the Routers/Gateways.
With regards to outsourcing, we are way too big to outsource. I'm not sure how you could run several thousand phones from outside the building. Our biggest building has about 12 thousand people working in it. My company would outsource the labor for the programming (ie. ME) but not the hardware, etc.
One area that is rapidly growing is Cisco VOIP.
I've been studying for my Cisco CCVP cert and it's more complicated than you might think. Most companies love the fact
that they can use their existing network equipment (routers/switches)
to replace all their PBXs/ACDs, not to mention free inter-network calling.
I work for a large company and
we're currently in the process of a ~5 year migration from all legacy
PBXs to Cisco Call Manager. Many other companies are doing the same.
Just about all new offices are built with either Cisco or Avaya VOIP
systems, but most companies go with Cisco since you don't have to be concerned with compatibility.
(eg. A high-end Cisco router is also your telephony gateway where the T1s are converted to VOIP.)
As you can guess, this calls for some highly specialized skill sets
(eg. Call Manager/ICM/IVR + Cisco Networking/IOS, etc.) which not a lot of people have. If you're
certified, you will NOT have a problem finding a job.
Cisco certs have to be renewed every couple of years.
I'm a telephony engineer working on my CCVP cert. This is an area of networking that's exploding.
More VOIP is going into offices (esp new offices) and Cisco is pretty much at the center
of it because it allows companies to have one vendor, one support contract, one support team, etc.etc.
to handle their network AND telephony...BIG cost savings. I'm not saying Cisco is the only vendor in this space
but they are HUGE, and if you get a CCVP, you're going to have a good career for at least 10 years.
Try saying that about ANY other category of IT.
There is NO technical job where you don't have to constantly learn new stuff. That's the fun of doing it.
No kidding... It was in the late 80s on a new electronic scoring system they had just installed.
I made a trivial and totally unintentional mistake in the set-up (punching in
number of players, their names, etc) and it brought down the whole system.
Yes, but unlike other low-lifes, SCO does have some
IP (NO I'm not talking about Linux) and other non-lawsuit related
revenue sources that could make it a good buy.
You make a good point though. IBM should wait until there's
a judgment against SCO and the stock will plummet.
IBM could make arrangements with some of the larger private (non-employee)
stock holders to buy the stock at a higher price so the upper management doesn't
reap the rewards of a buy out. Once they get 51% they can dissolve the company
and absorb the assets.
On line is the way to go vs. software.
It automatically imports all your personal information from last year so you don't have to
enter info on your family again. It will also give you a PDF of all your forms filled out.
Also, I usually do my taxes on paper and then do them on line, just so I know what to expect.
I'm a fairly smart guy but it seems EVERY YEAR the TaxAct web site comes up with a slightly different number than I did on the form
and I can always trace it back to a mistake I made on paper. (I blame the IRS.)
Never will I do a tax return by hand for that reason!
It's a good web site and a good value.
That's mostly correct except the nobody-really-needs-it part.
CRMs are huge in call centers. I work for a large US bank as
a call center programmer. CRMs are great for call centers for a variety
of reasons; mainly they help the agent better service the customer and
reduce AHT (Average Handling Time). They are usually built to provide interfaces
to a number of different legacy systems, so an agent doesn't have to keep switching
applications in order to service or set up an account.
The CRM we use is home-built because there were no packages in the mid-90s
when we needed one. Were currently looking at replacing it with a product.
There is a LOT in the CRM world now, with Siebel and a couple others leading the industry.
I think MS isn't going to make much of a splash with their product since they
are so far behind. The other products like Siebel are far more mature with built-in
softphone integration and out-of-the-box connections to mainframe systems.
The parent is correct in that consultants LOVE CRM contracts. There seems to be a never-ending
string of modifications you can do to a CRM system to "better meet your needs".
My previous boss was pretty cool. He was always pushing for better positions and more money for everyone on his team. We were very critical to the organization. The middle management was always making dumb-ass rules that hurt morale and confidence.
Then he quit about a month ago and already people on the team are looking for other jobs because he managed to make our environment tolerable. A new boss probably will not be as dedicated or have the pull with management that our old boss had. I definitely have the feeling that our new boss will just be a shill for our idiot middle-managers.
So by behavioral changes, is the author referring to Marcianism?
Because running up a tree is a poor example.
I'm not a biologist so please correct me if I'm wrong but I thought
"behavioral evolution" (which was dominant even after Darwin until about 1900)
says that as an animal lives its life, its behavior changes based on the environment
and those changes are then passed on to it's children. This would explain how
animals were able to adapt and evolve in the then-thought short history of the Earth.
Once Mendel was rediscovered and the gene theory came up in 1900, it was back to natural selection;
It was finally determined the Earth was much older and animals will revert back to their
"programmed" behavior regardless of their parents behavior during their lifetime.
Running up trees is NOT a good example of "behavioral evolution". It's just evolution.
Something tries to eat me, I run up a tree and escape, and others of my species that
aren't as good at running up trees are eaten.
Then the next generation comes along, most of which are a little better at climbing trees
but there are still a few that aren't and are eaten. There are others that are good at climbing
trees but not great, so they occasionally fall off and get eaten. Or maybe the predator
gets a little better and can climb part-way up a trunk but not on limbs. So after a few
hundred generations the species can jump from one tree branch to another to escape.
etc.etc.
Of course behavior has a play in evolution but this is not "behavioral evolution" in the Marcian sense.
Slashdot Mirror
On the Alaska side you have almost the same situation:
*There are NO train tracks that connect Alaska with the rest of Canada/US.
*There are NO train tracks that go anywhere near the west coast.
*The furthest WEST you can travel via car in Alaska is Anchor Point, but that's down on a peninsula. If you want a road to reach the West coast, that's another one thousand miles that needs to be built. The only way to travel to the west coast is ferry or plane. (LOTs of small planes operate in Alaska.)
I couldn't agree more with the parent. A tunnel would be expensive and VERY hard to maintain. (For perspective on this, look up how much time/money it took to build the Alaskan pipeline... and that's ABOVE ground.)
It makes much more sense to just stick stuff in a boat and send it over.
That's a great point. Gosh, a web site doesn't want me to install an extension that will disable script. I'm sure there's no ulterior motive there.
I totally agree. Once you visit your usual sites and get your white-list built up, it's really not that problematic.
I really like that I can allow java script from the home site (like slashdot.org) but forbid script from an embedded site (like doubleclick.net).
Wow, that brings back some memories. In college I had a sadistic CS professor (which is redundant..) who would tack on more requirements every week to an ongoing Template and Macro assignment. This was in C, not C++.
By the end of the semester I actually had this great toolbox of meta-code that could generate stacks, binary trees, and other abstract data types that could all be type-specific. That was a very big deal until the vast libraries of C++ and Java showed up. Previously, I had implemented all my abstract data types with pointers and voids without any type checking in order to reuse them without (major) modifications.
Like I said, I've never owned a gaming console, and I'm not currently foaming at the mouth to get one. Also, I already have too much clutter around my TV and don't want to make it worse. On top of that, I only have one S-Video connection to my TV. All that adds up to me not wanting to deal with more junk, more cables, etc etc. I think a state-of-the-art console should play DVDs since all the previous generation consoles had that ability. So, I'm either going to wait until the next version of wii comes out, or maybe when a new 360 comes out with built-in HD-DVD.
I've never owned a gaming console.
I almost bought a wii a few months back but decided not to after I found out it doesn't play DVDs, which is absolutely ridiculous. I'll buy one when ver 2 comes out.
With regards to outsourcing, we are way too big to outsource. I'm not sure how you could run several thousand phones from outside the building. Our biggest building has about 12 thousand people working in it. My company would outsource the labor for the programming (ie. ME) but not the hardware, etc.
One area that is rapidly growing is Cisco VOIP. I've been studying for my Cisco CCVP cert and it's more complicated than you might think. Most companies love the fact that they can use their existing network equipment (routers/switches) to replace all their PBXs/ACDs, not to mention free inter-network calling.
I work for a large company and we're currently in the process of a ~5 year migration from all legacy PBXs to Cisco Call Manager. Many other companies are doing the same. Just about all new offices are built with either Cisco or Avaya VOIP systems, but most companies go with Cisco since you don't have to be concerned with compatibility. (eg. A high-end Cisco router is also your telephony gateway where the T1s are converted to VOIP.) As you can guess, this calls for some highly specialized skill sets (eg. Call Manager/ICM/IVR + Cisco Networking/IOS, etc.) which not a lot of people have. If you're certified, you will NOT have a problem finding a job.
Cisco certs have to be renewed every couple of years.
I'm a telephony engineer working on my CCVP cert. This is an area of networking that's exploding.
More VOIP is going into offices (esp new offices) and Cisco is pretty much at the center
of it because it allows companies to have one vendor, one support contract, one support team, etc.etc.
to handle their network AND telephony...BIG cost savings. I'm not saying Cisco is the only vendor in this space
but they are HUGE, and if you get a CCVP, you're going to have a good career for at least 10 years.
Try saying that about ANY other category of IT.
There is NO technical job where you don't have to constantly learn new stuff. That's the fun of doing it.
No kidding... It was in the late 80s on a new electronic scoring system they had just installed.
I made a trivial and totally unintentional mistake in the set-up (punching in
number of players, their names, etc) and it brought down the whole system.
I wonder how the MAFIAA will feel about people using this device to share music to multiple devices?
They'll probably try to outlaw it.
Yes, but unlike other low-lifes, SCO does have some
IP (NO I'm not talking about Linux) and other non-lawsuit related
revenue sources that could make it a good buy.
You make a good point though. IBM should wait until there's a judgment against SCO and the stock will plummet.
IBM could make arrangements with some of the larger private (non-employee)
stock holders to buy the stock at a higher price so the upper management doesn't
reap the rewards of a buy out. Once they get 51% they can dissolve the company
and absorb the assets.
Isn't SCOs stock price/equity low enough to where IBM could just buy them outright?
Or at least 51%.
I third that.
On line is the way to go vs. software.
It automatically imports all your personal information from last year so you don't have to enter info on your family again. It will also give you a PDF of all your forms filled out.
Also, I usually do my taxes on paper and then do them on line, just so I know what to expect.
I'm a fairly smart guy but it seems EVERY YEAR the TaxAct web site comes up with a slightly different
number than I did on the form and I can always trace it back to a mistake I made on paper. (I blame the IRS.)
Never will I do a tax return by hand for that reason!
It's a good web site and a good value.
2x4s are cut when the wood is freshly cut and wet. They are cut to exactly 2" x 4". The wood is then dried and shrinks to approx. 1.5" x 3.5".
If you ever work on a house built before about 1940, the walls will probably be made from "true" 2x4s. They would dry the wood before cutting it.
That's mostly correct except the nobody-really-needs-it part.
CRMs are huge in call centers.
I work for a large US bank as a call center programmer.
CRMs are great for call centers for a variety of reasons; mainly they help the agent better service the customer and reduce AHT (Average Handling Time).
They are usually built to provide interfaces to a number of different legacy systems, so an agent doesn't have to keep switching applications in order to service or set up an account.
The CRM we use is home-built because there were no packages in the mid-90s when we needed one.
Were currently looking at replacing it with a product. There is a LOT in the CRM world now, with Siebel and a couple others leading the industry.
I think MS isn't going to make much of a splash with their product since they are so far behind. The other products like Siebel are far more mature with built-in softphone integration and out-of-the-box connections to mainframe systems.
The parent is correct in that consultants LOVE CRM contracts. There seems to be a never-ending string of modifications you can do to a CRM system to "better meet your needs".
I love dimmers so I end up not using a lot of CFLs.
Absolutely!!!!
My previous boss was pretty cool. He was always pushing for better positions and more money for everyone on his team. We were very critical to the organization. The middle management was always making dumb-ass rules that hurt morale and confidence.
Then he quit about a month ago and already people on the team are looking for other jobs because he managed to make our environment tolerable. A new boss probably will not be as dedicated or have the pull with management that our old boss had. I definitely have the feeling that our new boss will just be a shill for our idiot middle-managers.
Colbert on Wrap Rage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTjeAR2bnfU
Also, the bills that came out of the Treasury with hanging chads would be worth more as a collectors' item.
They're called debit card readers.
Seriously, I worked with some blind people in college and they would just use a credit/debit card for everything.
Where I said Marcianism I meant to say Lamarckism
So by behavioral changes, is the author referring to Marcianism?
Because running up a tree is a poor example.
I'm not a biologist so please correct me if I'm wrong but I thought "behavioral evolution" (which was dominant even after Darwin until about 1900) says that as an animal lives its life, its behavior changes based on the environment and those changes are then passed on to it's children. This would explain how animals were able to adapt and evolve in the then-thought short history of the Earth.
Once Mendel was rediscovered and the gene theory came up in 1900, it was back to natural selection; It was finally determined the Earth was much older and animals will revert back to their "programmed" behavior regardless of their parents behavior during their lifetime.
Running up trees is NOT a good example of "behavioral evolution". It's just evolution. Something tries to eat me, I run up a tree and escape, and others of my species that aren't as good at running up trees are eaten.
Then the next generation comes along, most of which are a little better at climbing trees but there are still a few that aren't and are eaten. There are others that are good at climbing trees but not great, so they occasionally fall off and get eaten. Or maybe the predator gets a little better and can climb part-way up a trunk but not on limbs. So after a few hundred generations the species can jump from one tree branch to another to escape. etc.etc.
Of course behavior has a play in evolution but this is not "behavioral evolution" in the Marcian sense.
Slashdot just covered this:
https://files.dreamhost.com/
I think it's exactly what you want.
Simple, cheap.
Binary! BAH!!
I've always said if you want a secure kernal, you code it in analog format.