Thank God I caught this story. It's ironic that Gamestop just called tonight to verify my son's copy of Battlefield 2142 will be available for pickup tomorrow. I told him to bring his receipt in and get a refund.
I paid $1,500 for my computer and there's no F--KING WAY I'm going to allow some shithead game developer to install monitoring software on my computer. It's my $50 paid for the game, and f--k them if they're not happy with that much of my business. I'm already pissed-off about the punkbuster software that forces me to give full admin privs to my 14-year-old to play the current version of Battlefield 2 on-line.
This just reinforces my philosophy that games should be run on game consoles and everything else runs on PCs.
No employer can fire you for refusing to work significantly more than 40 hours/week on a regular basis. The only exception would be if 80-100 hours/week was clearly explained to you in writing before you accepted the job. If 80-100 hours/week is common for you its because you're not confident that you are qualified for a better job.
I suggest that you either grow some balls, engage a good headhunter to act on your behalf, or find a new field of employment where you don't f*ck things up for the rest of us.
I'm not saying I haven't been through it myself. I was in the same situation many years ago: working for a public university under oppressive and/or unqualified management, forced to work 80+ hours/week to meet capricious deadlines, baby at home and another on the way. But I grew some balls and stood up to management. In the end I got compensation for some of the unpaid overtime I worked, payment in full for my backlog of unused vacation, and agreement that either schedules or responsibilities would be adjusted so that nobody would be forced to work more than 35 hours/wk by design. At the same time I posted my resume on-line and had a new job offer at almost twice the salary in a matter of days.
And that period of time did stress my marriage. The same would have happened if I was a salesman trying to reach unrealistic quotas, a doctor in an understaffed hospital, wherever. But in a strong relationship, spouses will communicate and support each other. One spouse will show the other how crazy the job is and encourage, even help that person find another job. They build each other's confidence and act as a safety net and pressure valve. They make accomodations in lifestyle and finances so a job change, even to a lower-paying job, can be accomplished.
What I'm saying that life is a series of ups-and-downs, and the same goes whether you're married or not. If you have the right partner and a good relationship, events like these are easier to handle and strengthen the bonds.
Unsatisfactory jobs do not cause marriages to fail; failed marriages cause people to stay in unsatisfactory jobs. (And in Soviet Russia, unsatisfactory jobs fail YOU!)
In my experience, people in the IT industry have a lower incidence of divorce in general. It is more likely that divorce happens because you do not prioritise what's really important (work vs. relationship).
In my experience, people in IT have lower incidence of divorce because it's so difficult for geeks, particularly those active on/., to meet and form romantic relationships with real living persons.
Joking aside, there is a large component of the IT marketplace that dedicate themselves into getting ahead/rich as fast as possible, which generally means very little time spent on social interaction and development. Essentially, these people become socially retarded as they put career and cash above all else. After spending the first 10 years after college intensely focused on career/cash, at age 32, they finally decide its time to "settle down." Unfortunately, with the social development of a person 22 years old -- just barely out of their teens -- they are not well prepared to select a partner for or participate in a long-term relationship.
Add to this the fact that there is no social or moral stigma against divorce anymore. You don't have to catch your husband in bed with his co-worker, show documentary evidence of drug or alcohol abuse, in any way disparage your spouse in public to be granted a divorce. "Irreconcilable Differences" is sufficient cause for divorce, which is a no-fault decision. So, if after two or three years of marriage to your boring java-programming coworker-turned-spouse or too-flirty Hiro-shot-girl-turned-spouse it becomes unbearable, a few thousand in lawyer fees frees you from all discomfort with no downside other than some minor (if you were smart) resource allocation.
In fact, what I see as a divorced professional, (and yes, I do have full custody of my children), is that divorce is more than just tolerable. A successful divorce, i.e., one that is significantly lopsided in your favor, is considered an accomplishment almost on-par with a successful product launch, while a bad divorce often is good for at a pass if work performance slips, without the negative connotations associated with general burn-out from stress.
But none of this is limited to or even more likely for the IT industry. I see the same things going on in legal, medical, real estate, financial and most other industries I've encountered throughout my consulting career. Maybe this would be a good topic for a Time Magazine or even Cosmo/GQ type of study, but I don't think IT is unique in this area.
Re:Your career doesn't define your divorce.
on
IT and Divorce?
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· Score: 2, Funny
Here are some traits I observed which one side, the other, or both had in those cases: personality conflicts, lack of communication skills, unwillingness to communicate, unwillingness to listen, self-absorption leading to the exclusion of the other, disjoint financial strategies, unfair domestic workload balance, ho-hum disregard for the children.
I think it summarizes down to this: incompatibility between system components, which sort of makes marriage a lot like a PC running Windows: unstable, prone to crashes and violations, demanding of frequent repair and outright reloads.
The obvious solution, that I'm surprised that no other./'er has suggested, is to replace your Microsoft marriage with either OS/X or Linux. As a divorced IT professional with full custody of the kids, I fully plan to switch to Linux-based relationship OS before considering any future long-term relationship.:P
There are companies who never upgraded NT 4 or 2000 who are doing just fine.
Not exactly doing just fine. As an employee of company, (that shall rename nameless, and for which I am not a spokesman), that still relies on NT4 I can tell you this is not by any means an easy feat.
First of all, there is no way to replace failed servers with new hardware and run NT4, unless you either use virtualization (i.e., VMWare, Virtual Server) to abstract the hardware or build your own servers. No currently marketed servers from any top-tier manufacturer provide driver support for NT4. Many servers lack legacy PS2 ports for keyboard and mouse, most use PCI-Express for NICs and disk controllers, current RAID controllers don't have NT4 drivers, and even the most basic common delimiter -- IDE disks -- are all SATA now.
Second, only large enterprises can even afford to keep NT4 around. Because all public support for NT4 ended years ago, organizations that continue to use NT4 must negotiate and pay large sums of money for Microsoft custom support contracts to continue receiving hotfixes to correct newly discovered security flaws. And Microsoft is becoming much more agressive at forcing users into current technologies; witness the fact that while XP SP2 has only been release for about 2 years but Microsoft has already discontinued all public support for XP SP1, including new security patches.
This would also be a boost to people who generate their own electricity (Solar, Wind, Water). Peak generation (except for water) is daylight hours, when most people's home energy requirements are low (everyone's at work or school). So surplus energy can be stored in batteries, but the conversion to AC is inefficient, so usually the surplus is sold back to the public utility.
If more appliances could use 12v directly it would make local energy storage more attractive.
RS-232. Most mid- and high-end graphics cards. If you want a new standard, then pick one that works. You can easily reduce 12v DC to 5v and 3.3v. Not so easy to increase 5v DC to 12v.
I NEVER type these addresses anywhere, and they are not something a wide net spam sender would guess...
You think that nobody has ever come up with this idea before, creating unique mailboxes for various relationships? I've been doing it for 6 or 7 years, and I've taught dozens others the same idea. I probably got the idea from someone else or an article I read online or in print. But regardless, it is a simple and logical scheme that some savvy spammers are bound to figure out on their own (more so now that it's been covered here). You could be looking at a refinement of the common usernames/brute force spam attack.
I'm not saying this is not something to worry about, because it is an indicator that, possibly, the brokerage was compromised. It could also be an indication that someone has compromised your mail host, or an upstream network of yours or your brokerage. Too many variables to be certain without investigation.
No one has to eat spinach, but when there was an e. coli outbreak linked to spinach, it was still newsworthy.
No one does eat spinach. Furthermore, any unwashed, uncooked food product is a bacteria risk. This story was only popular because of the news teasers all day long: "What COMMON VEGETABLE can send YOU to the HOSPITAL? Find out on the News at 11!"
If they had just said "wash your greens well before you eat them" everyone would have gone "Duh, of course!"
But let me ask everyone a question: AFAIK, there are only two DRM technologies in common use by commercial content distributors: FairPlay and PlaysForSure.
FairPlay is Apple proprietary DRM and is only available via Apple QuickTime software (subject to Apple EULA) and built-in Apple iPods.
PlaysForSure is Microsoft proprietary DRM and is only available via Microsoft WMP and 3rd-party OEM's that license PlaysForSure code from Microsoft. Presumably the upcoming Microsoft Zune will also support PlaysForSure.
So, aside from the standard/. bias that Apple==Good and Microsoft==Evil, ranting against WMP and people who use it is, as far as I'm concerned, a case of "the pot calling the kettle black."
As far as I'm concerned, I'm perfectly willing to pay US$0.5 to maybe as high as US$0.75 per song to download unprotected.mp3, as long as they are of consistent quality and base volume. The only people are share my music with are immediate family and friends, and this will occur electronically or via physical media. Further, I'd be willing to pay that same amount for every.mp3 I already have in my collection that did not come from a retail CD I currently own.
But there is no f*cking way I'm paying premium prices for entertainment material that limits my ability for enjoyment. Yes, US$1 is PREMIUM PRICING considering I can buy a 12-song CD for US$15 and not only have a physical item of value, but am not physically restricted in how I enjoy the material.
are super-obscessed with their health, while producing almost zero children, while the poorest are struggling without any health care providing the majority of kids.
As the parent of three teenage children, I can authoritatively say that the path to becoming rich starts with the decision to have no children. Of course I wouldn't give up my little darlings, but anyone who's raised children knows how expensive this can be.
Also, your statement "the poorest are struggling without any health care" is far from the truth. Federal Medicaide coverage is available and 35 states provide health care for "the poorest" citizens. So when you see articles refer to 40 million Americans without health insurance, understand that the majority of those Americans come from the backbone of the economy: the middle class.
I'm not a wireless engineer, I'm just a customer. I just want my f*cking phone to work. I don't want to have to learn about RF signal propogation or antenna design, or spend hours trying to fight my way through the mindlessly apologetic "Customer Service" guantlet that companies erect as obstacles to customers trying to reach someone that can actually solve a f*cking problem.
I spend $3,500 every year on cell phones and service. That puts cell phones at about the same cost level as my electric service, which is my fourth largest recurring expense. I believe I have the right to demand the same level of customer service from my cellular carrier as I do from my electric company, and at the same time not need a 5-year advanced engineering degree and hours worth of research to tell some customer service phone monkey how to fix technology she (or he) can't even spell.
2: Buy cheap ADSL services from two or more suppliers but forget the SLA, uptime and repair time guarantees?
I strongly suspect that (2) is the cheaper and more robust system.
Except for the fact that both the ADSL lines go over the same copper bundles from the same CO from the same LEC regardless of whether or not they come from the same ISP. Most businesses feel that $600/mo for Internet service isn't worth the price until they realize how they've built themselves into a corner.
A sad fact is that most small and medium businesses will go through this pain and suffering at least once each year for several years before learning better and, in the end, spend more and lose more money trying to do Internet on the cheap than paying up-front to do it the right way. And while it seems sensible and cost-effective to host mission-critical services in-house, the reality is that if they are truly mission-critical and you can't afford proper redundancy, than those services are best off being hosted or deployed at a co-lo center that does provide N+1 redundancy and 24x7 business-class service and support.
Lessons learned:
Public DNS should almost always be outsourced. This is a security as well as an availability issue.
Email and eCommerce servers should always be hosted or co-located unless you have N+1 servers and N+1 sites with N+1 Internet connections and reliable failover technology.
Internet service without an SLA is not suitable for mission-critical applications. This includes consumer-level xDSL, FIOS, and particularly CATV-provided cable Internet.
Two ADSL's from competing ISP's is not N+1 redundancy.
Your best options for mission-critical Internet access are (in decending order):
2x [fractional] T1, each separate carriers.
1x T1 and 1x SDSL, different carriers
1x T1 and 1x Business-class ADSL or Cable Internet.
1x SDSL and 1x Business-class Cable Internet
I've been out of the small/medium business consulting market for a few years now. But when I was consulting I encouraged customers to host or co-lo all mission critical applications and use terminal services (Windows remote desktop) or Citrix for access. The hosting or co-lo center provides all the redundancy and 24x7 service and support, you just pay the bill. The cost was not unreasonably more expensive than hosting these apps in-house when you consider downtime, maintenance and ongoing consulting fees to keep things going.
That's just off the top of my head. I could go on, but then I'd have to send someone a bill.
Electrolytics are generally polite when they expell gas. On the otElectrolytics are generally polite when they expel gas: potentially stinky, but relatively subtle.
On the other hand, Tantalums are the mischievous children of the capacitor world. Sequence them wrong into your APE tape and load them reverse-polarity into the circuit, and your burn-in oven will look and sound like the 4th of July as the start exploding! her hand, Tantalums are the mischevious children of the capacitor world.
Heck, they could even surf child porn sites from your machine and use your credit card and identity to purchase access to such sites. Who is to say that the hacker isn't the pedophile?
But, since the FBI is asking him to do it, it would all be ok, right? He's not committing a criminal act, he's just doing research. Just like Pete Townsend, but with FBI approval.
Like the follow-up customer service satisfaction surveys. The questions always pertain to the customer service rep and never to your satisfaction with the product, the service, or the solution. As long as the CSR is polite and professional, the company scores 100% in their next JD Power customer service satisfaction report.
And then the bank is at fault for failing to protect your confidential personal information from unauthorized disclose, and they are liable for all the costs and expenses associated with the correction of your resulting identity theft, possibly including indirect damages due to the higher intrest rates you will be forced to pay as a result of the identity theft, legal fees to correct the issue, lost time from work or your job (even if you used paid leave instead of unpaid leave), etc.
If you have not already done so you should consult with an attorney.
I do security and compliance for a big corporation (100k+ employees). I am not aware of even one case of identity theft via the Internet. I am aware of many cases of fraud via the Internet, where a persons' credit card or bank account number was stolen and/or misused. I suspect that, as pointed out elsewhere, statistics for fraud and identity theft together. This may be because of legislative constraints that includes, and rightfully so, credit card account information as protected personal/financial information. But there's also no doubt that higher numbers makes for more sensational news stories and more compelling selling points for those $10/month protection services.
100% of the identity theft cases and about 30% of the fraud cases I've helped out with or heard of were not due to any use of the Internet (even though many of the unapproved charges were made to Internet resellers). Disgruntled/dishonest employees, ex-spouses and boyfriends/girlfriends, and neighbors/acquaintances are, in my experience, the top three perpetrators of identity theft. Then there are the randoms: the car salesman that puts through auto loans in other customers' names; the 'crew' that dumpster-dives tax preparation offices and then sells the identities to illegal immigrants.
If you are reasonably careful and avoid 'risky behavior' on the Internet you are fairly safe from fraud and identity theft. Never give your SSN or birthdate to anyone over the phone, and only the bare minimum as absolutely required on a face-to-face basis (i.e. banks, financial institutions, employers, medical as needed for insurance processing). For anyone else, just make up a SSN and birthdate: there's no point in arguing with people too stupid to understand that there's no legitimate use for that information.
Never pay for anything by check. ACH fraud is trivial and is probably the most common scam because of the lack of controls and authentication. It can also be the most damaging because, unlike credit-card fraud, the money is gone from your account and you have to convince the bank to put it back. Any organization with either an ACH merchant account with a bank or via one of hundreds of ACH 3rd-party processors can take money from any US bank account with nothing more than your bank's routing number (public information) and your account number (printed on every check). I have been hit with ACH fraud a few times and now order only a one-year supply of checks and then open a new account when the checks run out.
When paying on-line or over the phone always use your credit card company's 'temporary account number' service. These are time-limited and, optionally, amount-limited account numbers that do not reveal your permanent credit card number. You can set limits for how long they are valid (from one month to one year) and how much total can be charged. Most MasterCard and Visa providers offer this service. You have to be Internet-connected to generate a new number. (American Express pioneered this service but then discontinued it shortly before introducing their enhanced security service, for an extra fee). An added benefit is if someone does make fraudulent use of the temporary account number you know who is at fault for leaking your information.
If you have the ability, use a separate e-mail address for each financial institution and each vendor you use. If you have your own domain name you can usually configure "catch-all" email forwarding so any incoming email without a matching mailbox gets forwarded to a specific address. This helps identify phishing attempts because you will see email supposedly from, e.g., Citibank Security come into your "ebay@example.com" address instead of the proper "citibank@example.com" address. An added benefit here is being able to identify who is selling your email address (surprisingly, very few).
And if you deal with illegal, semi-legal, illicit or other fringe sites (porno, high-yield investing, paid-to-surf/email, Ponzi, pirate software/music/video/games, or an
I can live with one nipple. I can live with one lung. I can live with one kidney. I can live with one testicle.
I cannot live with one mouse button, no 3D-scrolling, no forward/back buttons.
I also cannot live with this abombination of a keyboard layout that Microsoft and Logitech has foisted on the computer community. After 20 years of a fairly consistent keyboard layout (ignoring squabbles over the size and position of the Enter, backslash, and occasionally, control keys), Microsoft arbitrarily decides to a) spin the Insert/Delete/Home/End/PgUp/PgDn key cluster. Not only does the new orientation a) make no freaking sense, b) destroy touch typers, but it completely removes a functional Insert key from the keyboard (unless you turn-off NumLock).
This layout is also impossible to implement on a notebook, so if you switch back and forth you can't ever get used to this crappy layout.
Logitech and Microsoft have converted their entire keyboard line to the new layout. The benefit: about.8 inch width saved on the keyboard and one key eliminated. Whoop-de-doo!
If someone would make a quality keyboard with the old layout and good tectile response I'd pay up to $75, or even up to $150 in a bluetooth/wireless version with a good wireless, optical, four-button scroll mouse.
I would LOVE to support Nessus. But all they want is Money. I was even willing to buy commercial licenses for Nessus, but at US$10,000+ per year they are out of their fucking mind.
In fact, that is exactly what I told the Tenable sales rep, after I picked myself up off the floor. She was not amused.
Oh yes, I forgot to mention, where in my post did you see references to VoIP or video?
As a rule, docs don't rely on these services. They use POTS for voice because its reliable and affordable (most of their lengthy out-of-area calls are to toll-free numbers) and requires the least amount of effort and expertise to manage. The ROI for even a large group practice switching to VoIP is long enough to be uncertain.
Video is typically webcast presentations and "glitz" factor for consults and is not critical.
The mission-critical application is patient records management, and this data is stored on a local server. The ability to send/receive images is also high on the list, but its hard to imagine a scenario where there wasn't a qualified medical provider near any x-ray, cat-scan, mri, etc facility to render on-the-spot evaluation and service.
The Internet connection may handle business-critical data, such as updates to their billing service and insurance provider payment processing and referral systems, and off-site backups, but these are not as time-critical and there are manual processes to readily deal with emergencies during an outage.
I think its safe to say you can pull the plug at any physician's office and the worst that might happen is it takes a few extra days to get a referral or your bill in the mail.
This is bad. Very bad. Right now, there are millions of Internet users with partial connectivity....
But the action of Level3 is not merely an inconvenience to end users; it is hurting a great many small businesses, badly. There are thousands of small businesses that depend on single-homed Internet connectivity and that cannot afford dual-homing.
I agree 100%. I can't reach my favorite pr0n site! I'm going to demand a credit!
Okay, first off if your physician is using any IP-based service and ISN'T using a dedicated connection then no one's to blame except the fucktard who set it up in the first place.
Set down coffee cup;
Open front door;
Take deep breath;
Introduce yourself to reality.
Physicians are subject to the greater economic pressures than any other small business. Insurance companies, government regulations, litigation risks, patient scheduling, qualified and reliable staffing, emergency on-call, and obligitory hospital fundraising contributions. Given a choice between an $1,800/month point-to-point circuit PLUS provider termination and service fees, or a $59/month xDSL for probably 4x the bandwidth, which do you think most will use? If in doubt, give your physician a call and report back.
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Thank God I caught this story. It's ironic that Gamestop just called tonight to verify my son's copy of Battlefield 2142 will be available for pickup tomorrow. I told him to bring his receipt in and get a refund.
I paid $1,500 for my computer and there's no F--KING WAY I'm going to allow some shithead game developer to install monitoring software on my computer. It's my $50 paid for the game, and f--k them if they're not happy with that much of my business. I'm already pissed-off about the punkbuster software that forces me to give full admin privs to my 14-year-old to play the current version of Battlefield 2 on-line.
This just reinforces my philosophy that games should be run on game consoles and everything else runs on PCs.
No employer can fire you for refusing to work significantly more than 40 hours/week on a regular basis. The only exception would be if 80-100 hours/week was clearly explained to you in writing before you accepted the job. If 80-100 hours/week is common for you its because you're not confident that you are qualified for a better job.
I suggest that you either grow some balls, engage a good headhunter to act on your behalf, or find a new field of employment where you don't f*ck things up for the rest of us.
I'm not saying I haven't been through it myself. I was in the same situation many years ago: working for a public university under oppressive and/or unqualified management, forced to work 80+ hours/week to meet capricious deadlines, baby at home and another on the way. But I grew some balls and stood up to management. In the end I got compensation for some of the unpaid overtime I worked, payment in full for my backlog of unused vacation, and agreement that either schedules or responsibilities would be adjusted so that nobody would be forced to work more than 35 hours/wk by design. At the same time I posted my resume on-line and had a new job offer at almost twice the salary in a matter of days.
And that period of time did stress my marriage. The same would have happened if I was a salesman trying to reach unrealistic quotas, a doctor in an understaffed hospital, wherever. But in a strong relationship, spouses will communicate and support each other. One spouse will show the other how crazy the job is and encourage, even help that person find another job. They build each other's confidence and act as a safety net and pressure valve. They make accomodations in lifestyle and finances so a job change, even to a lower-paying job, can be accomplished.
What I'm saying that life is a series of ups-and-downs, and the same goes whether you're married or not. If you have the right partner and a good relationship, events like these are easier to handle and strengthen the bonds.
Unsatisfactory jobs do not cause marriages to fail; failed marriages cause people to stay in unsatisfactory jobs.(And in Soviet Russia, unsatisfactory jobs fail YOU!)
In my experience, people in IT have lower incidence of divorce because it's so difficult for geeks, particularly those active on /., to meet and form romantic relationships with real living persons.
Joking aside, there is a large component of the IT marketplace that dedicate themselves into getting ahead/rich as fast as possible, which generally means very little time spent on social interaction and development. Essentially, these people become socially retarded as they put career and cash above all else. After spending the first 10 years after college intensely focused on career/cash, at age 32, they finally decide its time to "settle down." Unfortunately, with the social development of a person 22 years old -- just barely out of their teens -- they are not well prepared to select a partner for or participate in a long-term relationship.
Add to this the fact that there is no social or moral stigma against divorce anymore. You don't have to catch your husband in bed with his co-worker, show documentary evidence of drug or alcohol abuse, in any way disparage your spouse in public to be granted a divorce. "Irreconcilable Differences" is sufficient cause for divorce, which is a no-fault decision. So, if after two or three years of marriage to your boring java-programming coworker-turned-spouse or too-flirty Hiro-shot-girl-turned-spouse it becomes unbearable, a few thousand in lawyer fees frees you from all discomfort with no downside other than some minor (if you were smart) resource allocation.
In fact, what I see as a divorced professional, (and yes, I do have full custody of my children), is that divorce is more than just tolerable. A successful divorce, i.e., one that is significantly lopsided in your favor, is considered an accomplishment almost on-par with a successful product launch, while a bad divorce often is good for at a pass if work performance slips, without the negative connotations associated with general burn-out from stress.
But none of this is limited to or even more likely for the IT industry. I see the same things going on in legal, medical, real estate, financial and most other industries I've encountered throughout my consulting career. Maybe this would be a good topic for a Time Magazine or even Cosmo/GQ type of study, but I don't think IT is unique in this area.I think it summarizes down to this: incompatibility between system components, which sort of makes marriage a lot like a PC running Windows: unstable, prone to crashes and violations, demanding of frequent repair and outright reloads.
The obvious solution, that I'm surprised that no other ./'er has suggested, is to replace your Microsoft marriage with either OS/X or Linux. As a divorced IT professional with full custody of the kids, I fully plan to switch to Linux-based relationship OS before considering any future long-term relationship. :P
Not exactly doing just fine. As an employee of company, (that shall rename nameless, and for which I am not a spokesman), that still relies on NT4 I can tell you this is not by any means an easy feat.
First of all, there is no way to replace failed servers with new hardware and run NT4, unless you either use virtualization (i.e., VMWare, Virtual Server) to abstract the hardware or build your own servers. No currently marketed servers from any top-tier manufacturer provide driver support for NT4. Many servers lack legacy PS2 ports for keyboard and mouse, most use PCI-Express for NICs and disk controllers, current RAID controllers don't have NT4 drivers, and even the most basic common delimiter -- IDE disks -- are all SATA now.
Second, only large enterprises can even afford to keep NT4 around. Because all public support for NT4 ended years ago, organizations that continue to use NT4 must negotiate and pay large sums of money for Microsoft custom support contracts to continue receiving hotfixes to correct newly discovered security flaws. And Microsoft is becoming much more agressive at forcing users into current technologies; witness the fact that while XP SP2 has only been release for about 2 years but Microsoft has already discontinued all public support for XP SP1, including new security patches.
<#include std/drivel/linux_is_better_than_windows><#include std/drivel/bsd_is_better_than_windows>
<#include std/drivel/mac_is_better_than_windows>
<#include std/drivel/everything_microsoft_sucks>
This would also be a boost to people who generate their own electricity (Solar, Wind, Water). Peak generation (except for water) is daylight hours, when most people's home energy requirements are low (everyone's at work or school). So surplus energy can be stored in batteries, but the conversion to AC is inefficient, so usually the surplus is sold back to the public utility. If more appliances could use 12v directly it would make local energy storage more attractive.
RS-232. Most mid- and high-end graphics cards. If you want a new standard, then pick one that works. You can easily reduce 12v DC to 5v and 3.3v. Not so easy to increase 5v DC to 12v.
Forget about all that techno-crap. Just tell your family you won $10M from the Lottery. They'll know the instant you stop breathing.
I'm not saying this is not something to worry about, because it is an indicator that, possibly, the brokerage was compromised. It could also be an indication that someone has compromised your mail host, or an upstream network of yours or your brokerage. Too many variables to be certain without investigation.
No one does eat spinach. Furthermore, any unwashed, uncooked food product is a bacteria risk. This story was only popular because of the news teasers all day long: "What COMMON VEGETABLE can send YOU to the HOSPITAL? Find out on the News at 11!"
If they had just said "wash your greens well before you eat them" everyone would have gone "Duh, of course!"
But let me ask everyone a question: AFAIK, there are only two DRM technologies in common use by commercial content distributors: FairPlay and PlaysForSure.
So, aside from the standard /. bias that Apple==Good and Microsoft==Evil, ranting against WMP and people who use it is, as far as I'm concerned, a case of "the pot calling the kettle black."
As far as I'm concerned, I'm perfectly willing to pay US$0.5 to maybe as high as US$0.75 per song to download unprotected .mp3, as long as they are of consistent quality and base volume. The only people are share my music with are immediate family and friends, and this will occur electronically or via physical media. Further, I'd be willing to pay that same amount for every .mp3 I already have in my collection that did not come from a retail CD I currently own.
But there is no f*cking way I'm paying premium prices for entertainment material that limits my ability for enjoyment. Yes, US$1 is PREMIUM PRICING considering I can buy a 12-song CD for US$15 and not only have a physical item of value, but am not physically restricted in how I enjoy the material.As the parent of three teenage children, I can authoritatively say that the path to becoming rich starts with the decision to have no children. Of course I wouldn't give up my little darlings, but anyone who's raised children knows how expensive this can be.
Also, your statement "the poorest are struggling without any health care" is far from the truth. Federal Medicaide coverage is available and 35 states provide health care for "the poorest" citizens. So when you see articles refer to 40 million Americans without health insurance, understand that the majority of those Americans come from the backbone of the economy: the middle class.I'm not a wireless engineer, I'm just a customer. I just want my f*cking phone to work. I don't want to have to learn about RF signal propogation or antenna design, or spend hours trying to fight my way through the mindlessly apologetic "Customer Service" guantlet that companies erect as obstacles to customers trying to reach someone that can actually solve a f*cking problem.
I spend $3,500 every year on cell phones and service. That puts cell phones at about the same cost level as my electric service, which is my fourth largest recurring expense. I believe I have the right to demand the same level of customer service from my cellular carrier as I do from my electric company, and at the same time not need a 5-year advanced engineering degree and hours worth of research to tell some customer service phone monkey how to fix technology she (or he) can't even spell.I know that centre, it's right next to the nuclear power plant!
Except for the fact that both the ADSL lines go over the same copper bundles from the same CO from the same LEC regardless of whether or not they come from the same ISP. Most businesses feel that $600/mo for Internet service isn't worth the price until they realize how they've built themselves into a corner.
A sad fact is that most small and medium businesses will go through this pain and suffering at least once each year for several years before learning better and, in the end, spend more and lose more money trying to do Internet on the cheap than paying up-front to do it the right way. And while it seems sensible and cost-effective to host mission-critical services in-house, the reality is that if they are truly mission-critical and you can't afford proper redundancy, than those services are best off being hosted or deployed at a co-lo center that does provide N+1 redundancy and 24x7 business-class service and support.
Lessons learned:I've been out of the small/medium business consulting market for a few years now. But when I was consulting I encouraged customers to host or co-lo all mission critical applications and use terminal services (Windows remote desktop) or Citrix for access. The hosting or co-lo center provides all the redundancy and 24x7 service and support, you just pay the bill. The cost was not unreasonably more expensive than hosting these apps in-house when you consider downtime, maintenance and ongoing consulting fees to keep things going.
That's just off the top of my head. I could go on, but then I'd have to send someone a bill.Electrolytics are generally polite when they expell gas.
On the otElectrolytics are generally polite when they expel gas: potentially stinky, but relatively subtle.
On the other hand, Tantalums are the mischievous children of the capacitor world. Sequence them wrong into your APE tape and load them reverse-polarity into the circuit, and your burn-in oven will look and sound like the 4th of July as the start exploding!
her hand, Tantalums are the mischevious children of the capacitor world.
Heck, they could even surf child porn sites from your machine and use your credit card and identity to purchase access to such sites. Who is to say that the hacker isn't the pedophile?
But, since the FBI is asking him to do it, it would all be ok, right? He's not committing a criminal act, he's just doing research. Just like Pete Townsend, but with FBI approval.Like the follow-up customer service satisfaction surveys. The questions always pertain to the customer service rep and never to your satisfaction with the product, the service, or the solution. As long as the CSR is polite and professional, the company scores 100% in their next JD Power customer service satisfaction report.
And then the bank is at fault for failing to protect your confidential personal information from unauthorized disclose, and they are liable for all the costs and expenses associated with the correction of your resulting identity theft, possibly including indirect damages due to the higher intrest rates you will be forced to pay as a result of the identity theft, legal fees to correct the issue, lost time from work or your job (even if you used paid leave instead of unpaid leave), etc.
If you have not already done so you should consult with an attorney.
I do security and compliance for a big corporation (100k+ employees). I am not aware of even one case of identity theft via the Internet. I am aware of many cases of fraud via the Internet, where a persons' credit card or bank account number was stolen and/or misused. I suspect that, as pointed out elsewhere, statistics for fraud and identity theft together. This may be because of legislative constraints that includes, and rightfully so, credit card account information as protected personal/financial information. But there's also no doubt that higher numbers makes for more sensational news stories and more compelling selling points for those $10/month protection services.
100% of the identity theft cases and about 30% of the fraud cases I've helped out with or heard of were not due to any use of the Internet (even though many of the unapproved charges were made to Internet resellers). Disgruntled/dishonest employees, ex-spouses and boyfriends/girlfriends, and neighbors/acquaintances are, in my experience, the top three perpetrators of identity theft. Then there are the randoms: the car salesman that puts through auto loans in other customers' names; the 'crew' that dumpster-dives tax preparation offices and then sells the identities to illegal immigrants.
If you are reasonably careful and avoid 'risky behavior' on the Internet you are fairly safe from fraud and identity theft. Never give your SSN or birthdate to anyone over the phone, and only the bare minimum as absolutely required on a face-to-face basis (i.e. banks, financial institutions, employers, medical as needed for insurance processing). For anyone else, just make up a SSN and birthdate: there's no point in arguing with people too stupid to understand that there's no legitimate use for that information.
Never pay for anything by check. ACH fraud is trivial and is probably the most common scam because of the lack of controls and authentication. It can also be the most damaging because, unlike credit-card fraud, the money is gone from your account and you have to convince the bank to put it back. Any organization with either an ACH merchant account with a bank or via one of hundreds of ACH 3rd-party processors can take money from any US bank account with nothing more than your bank's routing number (public information) and your account number (printed on every check). I have been hit with ACH fraud a few times and now order only a one-year supply of checks and then open a new account when the checks run out.
When paying on-line or over the phone always use your credit card company's 'temporary account number' service. These are time-limited and, optionally, amount-limited account numbers that do not reveal your permanent credit card number. You can set limits for how long they are valid (from one month to one year) and how much total can be charged. Most MasterCard and Visa providers offer this service. You have to be Internet-connected to generate a new number. (American Express pioneered this service but then discontinued it shortly before introducing their enhanced security service, for an extra fee). An added benefit is if someone does make fraudulent use of the temporary account number you know who is at fault for leaking your information.
If you have the ability, use a separate e-mail address for each financial institution and each vendor you use. If you have your own domain name you can usually configure "catch-all" email forwarding so any incoming email without a matching mailbox gets forwarded to a specific address. This helps identify phishing attempts because you will see email supposedly from, e.g., Citibank Security come into your "ebay@example.com" address instead of the proper "citibank@example.com" address. An added benefit here is being able to identify who is selling your email address (surprisingly, very few).
And if you deal with illegal, semi-legal, illicit or other fringe sites (porno, high-yield investing, paid-to-surf/email, Ponzi, pirate software/music/video/games, or an
I can live with one nipple.
.8 inch width saved on the keyboard and one key eliminated. Whoop-de-doo!
I can live with one lung.
I can live with one kidney.
I can live with one testicle.
I cannot live with one mouse button, no 3D-scrolling, no forward/back buttons.
I also cannot live with this abombination of a keyboard layout that Microsoft and Logitech has foisted on the computer community. After 20 years of a fairly consistent keyboard layout (ignoring squabbles over the size and position of the Enter, backslash, and occasionally, control keys), Microsoft arbitrarily decides to a) spin the Insert/Delete/Home/End/PgUp/PgDn key cluster. Not only does the new orientation a) make no freaking sense, b) destroy touch typers, but it completely removes a functional Insert key from the keyboard (unless you turn-off NumLock).
This layout is also impossible to implement on a notebook, so if you switch back and forth you can't ever get used to this crappy layout.
Logitech and Microsoft have converted their entire keyboard line to the new layout. The benefit: about
If someone would make a quality keyboard with the old layout and good tectile response I'd pay up to $75, or even up to $150 in a bluetooth/wireless version with a good wireless, optical, four-button scroll mouse.
I would LOVE to support Nessus. But all they want is Money. I was even willing to buy commercial licenses for Nessus, but at US$10,000+ per year they are out of their fucking mind.
In fact, that is exactly what I told the Tenable sales rep, after I picked myself up off the floor. She was not amused.
Oh yes, I forgot to mention, where in my post did you see references to VoIP or video?
As a rule, docs don't rely on these services. They use POTS for voice because its reliable and affordable (most of their lengthy out-of-area calls are to toll-free numbers) and requires the least amount of effort and expertise to manage. The ROI for even a large group practice switching to VoIP is long enough to be uncertain.
Video is typically webcast presentations and "glitz" factor for consults and is not critical.
The mission-critical application is patient records management, and this data is stored on a local server. The ability to send/receive images is also high on the list, but its hard to imagine a scenario where there wasn't a qualified medical provider near any x-ray, cat-scan, mri, etc facility to render on-the-spot evaluation and service.
The Internet connection may handle business-critical data, such as updates to their billing service and insurance provider payment processing and referral systems, and off-site backups, but these are not as time-critical and there are manual processes to readily deal with emergencies during an outage.
I think its safe to say you can pull the plug at any physician's office and the worst that might happen is it takes a few extra days to get a referral or your bill in the mail.
That's a T1 to to a local POP, not a point-to-point circuit to a service provider that might be halfway across the country.
This is bad. Very bad. Right now, there are millions of Internet users with partial connectivity....
I agree 100%. I can't reach my favorite pr0n site! I'm going to demand a credit!But the action of Level3 is not merely an inconvenience to end users; it is hurting a great many small businesses, badly. There are thousands of small businesses that depend on single-homed Internet connectivity and that cannot afford dual-homing.
Okay, first off if your physician is using any IP-based service and ISN'T using a dedicated connection then no one's to blame except the fucktard who set it up in the first place.
Physicians are subject to the greater economic pressures than any other small business. Insurance companies, government regulations, litigation risks, patient scheduling, qualified and reliable staffing, emergency on-call, and obligitory hospital fundraising contributions. Given a choice between an $1,800/month point-to-point circuit PLUS provider termination and service fees, or a $59/month xDSL for probably 4x the bandwidth, which do you think most will use? If in doubt, give your physician a call and report back.