Just to piggy back on what's probably been said 3,000 times, but I've had the Zune and it won't really be missed.
I bought it originally because I had a PC and I thought it might work well with MediaPlayer. I was right and I was wrong. Under the first version (I think 9) it worked ok, but once I upgraded to the suggested MP10, it was a huge pain. I think the video was originally a nice feature, but again, DRM made things a pain. I had music I legally owned that it wouldn't play.
Then, of course, accessories were next to impossible to find. Want a rugged rubber case (like my zCover for the iPhone)? Not going to find one (at least not in your first 5 stores you visit). I walked into Fry's, which is a geek supermarket on steroids, and they have one shelf (back then). Now there's maybe a little more, but you'll find two AISLES of stuff for the iPod.
When the iPhone came out, there was finally an iPod killer. Zune made a great try, but it's M$ after all. They had to keep corporate interests. Now my iPod Video sits on the shelf, while I go everywhere with the iPhone. I'm listening to it right now at work.
One last thing killed the Zune for me. "Lock" doesn't. Yeah, I can't change songs, but the unit powers up to show you the lock symbol, which the iPod doesn't do. May not sound like much, but I make a 4 hour ride monthly on my motorcycle. With the Zune in my motorcycle jacket pocket, set to "Locked", the unit would die far before the end of my ride. The unit would get touched, power up, show the "locked" for awhile and then power down. I can make the 8 hour round trip with my iPod and iPhone set with the lock on.
What's that old saying, "pride comes before a great fall."
Scorn is usually a bad thing anyway. Just because you don't agree or understand something doesn't mean you should react negatively. This is why I believe it's difficult to have meaningful discussions with people on the extremes, such as liberals. Don't like gay marriage? HATE MONGER!! All too often people resort to insults rather than intellect. I guess because it's easier and there's no accountability. How do you prove you're not a "Hate Monger"? Lack of evidence is evidence.
There's a hodgepodge of stuff already out there and it runs on whatever OS the developer chose at the time. The thing I think the audience here would find more interesting is that all these systems and applications are being transitioned to virtualization on central servers. So, instead of 3 racks with a RedHat, Windows and Solaris OS on each, you'll have one Blade server with 3 virtualized environments, sharing CPU, Disk, Core Services, etc.
Now before anyone ramps up, no, there's no hacking to be done since secure networks are on their own and it's hard to port scan a network 2 miles under water. Most people, gov'ies included, hate Vista.
Think about where the system is currently placed. It's on the West most point of California. Who would launch from there? This system isn't really focusing on Iran, although it could in the future. On the other hand, we have a nation that has openly stated it's opposition to the US and has missiles that can reach the western coastline. This country also has demonstrated a presumed nuclear capability. North Korea, among a couple, is the state we're worried about.
I agree with your statement about Israel. The fact they haven't indicates to me that either A) They're really using it for peaceful purposes, as they state, and so they've left it alone or B) Israel is waiting for an ideal time (technological, strategic or political reasoning)
First, the title has a startling similarity to an FAA order that pertains to aircraft specifically. DO-178B is the latest draft of engineering standards a software package must pass to be allowed in commercial aircraft. Around 2001, after Sec Brown became a lawn dart in a mountainside, the AF put out an acquisition directive that all military, or DoD acquired, systems must pass the FAA's DO-178B which is also recognized by the EU. The DO has levels of "security" a system passes, but it's not the geek think of security I think everyone here, as well as the original author from the RTFM, thinks that it is. It's security from an engineering point of view. Will this system make a pilot think he's at 1500 feet when he's really at 400 and falling? Will it confuse the pilot to not notice s/he is at 400 and falling? Integrity is probably a better term. A communications system will pass around level D or C, which could be considered low on the CMMI model (no un-used code, desk review) in terms of integrity. An auto pilot on an F-22 would need to be Level A, which is around Level on CMMI where you have to map every entry and exit point, and all sorts of other verifyable pieces of data. You wouldn't engineer a 2 foot retaining wall in your backyard to the same level as the Eifel Tower.
Secondly, no system in universally accepted in acquisitions. They may have some certification, lets say for an F-22, but they'd never just blindly take that same package and consider it certified for an F-35, or any other aircraft, nor would the FAA for DO-178B. New fighter aircraft are networking, but you'll never "casually hack" one unless you've got your own F-22 and you're flying in the sortie between the two (man in the middle attack).
His management may have been too inept to see the problems as badly as the "geek engineer" who had to deal with the issues. It's very costly to move, and easy to just bury your head in the sand. I'm not surprised they went through this for years. Sounds like a data center from hell and tech support from Sprint LOL
Very good write up, but repeats itself and occasionally goes off on tangents. The US GPS info is wrong. GPS is not used for communications. L-Band is one way with no receivers on the bird. It (GPS) does cross-link NUDET data, but again, this isn't comm. There also aren't "five alternate constellations." There's just one constellation of 24 satellites. There are 6 orbits, with 4 birds per orbit. As he mentions, if you knock one out, then there is no way you're taking another satellite from another orbit and bringing it over. It would defy the law of physics (aka orbital mechanics) and even if those could be overcome, there's no where near enough hydrazine on the satellite to pull it off. There is a possibility they'd knock one satellite out that had an on-orbit spare nearby, but that would be an exception not norm.
You might be looking at this backwards. Your wifi is free because you're already paying for data from AT&T, so they're doing this as goodwill (to not charge you twice for the same basic service).
Wow. You now rank in the top 5 of worst quotes I've heard, when it comes to leading or managing people. I'm half tempted to quote numerous organizational and behavioral case studies and research that directly proves the quote to be false, but I'm so struck by such a stark assertion that I also really doubt it's authenticity or sincerity. Meaning, you can't be serious, or I completely took your comment in the wrong context.
That said, although hygiene is important and done at home, I work out in the gym during my lunch and shower before returning. The employer gets several benefits. A happier employee (less turnover), I'm more alert (more productivity), and while running I often get much better clarity on long-term problems (better decisions being made). If you offer health care, you'll also see reduced health care costs because studies also show a fit employee is less likely to have serious health problems.
Are you talking hypothetically, or realistically?? I can promise you that if a state launched an ICBM, we'd have nukes popping out of our silos likely before their missiles started re-entry. The US is ready within an extremely short period (a time I can't say) to retaliate against any missle strike.
Likewise, let's say they launch from around Channel Islands and take out LA in minutes from initial launch, there are crews 24/7 waiting in Silo's to turn key and launch. Economy, and conventional forces have no play. All it takes is an Executive Branch decision, a few minor, procedural events, and several hundred thousand people reach the temperature of the sun in a few minutes half way across the world.
With regards to EMP, do some googling for the term "survivable" and you'll see we've been fielding systems for decades that are designed to make it through the EMP. I'll give you one example to start, MILSTAR EHF satellites.
Yes, AEHF and the old MILSTAR are geo-syn which is a little over 22,000 miles out. You wouldn't use it for local comm. AEHF falls under the "specialized" communications and is meant to be anti-jam, survivable and secure. It allows new cypto keys (OTAR) to be sent, has spot beams so you can "ignore" the spoofing from the enemy nearby, and would be able to communicate through a nuclear "event" (survivable). This isn't to be used to just send an email to a buddy stateside. For anyone interested, there's 3 bands of military comm birds. Narrowband, which is UHF/UHF F/O, wideband, which is DSCS, and then "specialized", which is MILSTAR/AEHF. Each has it's own advantages and uses, in addition to the comm leased from foreign governemts and civilian comm birds.
That's true in almost any business or organization. No one wants to hear their baby is ugly. I think they went too far listening to the focus groups and the constant changes lead to a game I didn't like. I got BioShock due to the "Game of the Year" rants and was really looking forward to playing it. I picked it up and their "dumbed down" first two levels bored me to tears. I put it down after about 2 hours and haven't loaded it in my XBOX360 since. I hate a game that bores me with trivial little tasks and not much is going on. I'll take a complicated game where I'm instantly getting my butt handed to me over a game that takes forever to develop. Now contrast that to GTA4. I played it, it was sorta slow to develop, but you could get into action as fast as you want. Granted, I played that for about four hours before pulling it out and not having put it back in since (the week after release)...but that's only because I can't pry Halo3 out of my console to save my life. Just when I start to get bored, Bungie comes up with new maps, there's new gameplay (e.g. Team SWAT, MLG Pro Games, etc), or something else. I wish I could stop playing Halo3, but I can't.
I dont feel like I missed out on much for the 6-9 months I went without a harddrive. I had ONE game where I couldn't play online, but the rest were ok with a memory stick. I ended up buying on about a year after getting my xbox360, but that was mostly to do the DLC maps for Halo3. If I hadn't gotten hooked on H3, there's a chance I'd still be find without one.
I am more frustrated at the fact it has to do a complete reload, not just a patch. I've been generally happy with my iPhone (3G) but tying up your phone for almost 30 minutes while it downloads (at work no less) isn't pleasant. Then, I absolutely had to use it and forgot it was still downloading. I had a brick until I could spend another 10-20 minutes doing a "restore". The Apple software doesn't update after a restore, so guess what...I clicked, "Next" thinking it would continue to something else, but nope, got to wait another 20 minutes while it restored a second time.
As far as changes, I still have keyboard lag and the little quirks it had before 2.01 and 2.02. Battery drain I can't comment because I'm constantly plugging it in due to the habit I formed after having it die so often the first week I had it. I now instinctively plug into the car charger while driving, plug in at work, and then plug in at home. I even leave a cable attached to my XBOX360 to charge (even though the 360 won't recognize the iPhone like it would my iPod Video).
Yep, gotta agree with your post 1000%. I was the 2nd Tier Tech support for Sprint PCS for almost 5 years, and was the network admin for 200-800 servers (depending on the point in time). Outages rarely occurred during holidays when no one was trying to "upgrade", "maintain", revise routing, change firewall configurations, etc. There were so many calls (at 2 am of course) where I had to email screenshots of a failed reverse path to our firewall team to convinve them they broke our routing between servers. "Not us" was always the reponse. Or, the switch tech who decided it was ok to skip a step while upgrading a package within Solaris 8. "I thought it wasn't necessary." *SIGH* "OK, perform the step you skipped" "OK, done" "Now repeat the step that failed" "Oh hey! It works" **shakes head and hopes newborn infant will stay asleep despite phone ringing...again...**
Thanks for your post, you really did a good job of summarizing the last 30 years of the USAF. I got in around 90 and then out aroung 1998 for the same reasons you posted. Clinton had us so thin, but there was still a surplus of good people even if equipment, housing, medical care, etc went down the drain very quickly. When I got in, I was ashamed of how retirees were treated at the morning medical call. When I got out, I was ashamed of how the retirees AND dependants were treated, and I was very certain active duty was very close to being next.
I came back in as an officer in the ANG in 2003, in the same career field (Space and Missiles) and was shocked at the decline. I actually saw a report from a 2-star that showed a curve heading steeply downward labeled, "System Knowledge", and another going steeply up saying, "System Complexity". At the intersection, it was marked "Mission Failure". The class I entered (the very same organization I helped stand up in 1996) had its instructors proudly claim, "This class has the lowest class averages," which at the time I thought was intended to put levity into studying. Within the first two weeks I figured out why. No real system experts teaching, TDE shop at odds with instructors and blind leadership (Lt Col commander actually said to me, "No one has ever complained about this class." hahahahahaahahahahah You can have the VERY BEST class in the entire world and at least ONE person will complain...). The study material would say satellites would rotate 90 degrees during a certain manueuver, and then the slides would say 180. When I asked, "Which is it?" I got no answer. I was extremely frustrated, saddened, depressed, disappointed, etc, because the ONLY reason I got back in was because I missed the "Type A" personalities that got stuff done (despite leadership's best efforts) and the rewards for making things better. During my last month on active duty I had so many passes from being Airman of the Quarter, ALS Distinguished Grad, ALS Academic Acheievement, and from fielding a new website for the entire training Group (again, this was around 1997, when the internet was very new), that I only worked a couple days. This work ethic and dedication to excellence seems to be the exception rather than the norm. I HQ'd my eval for becoming Mission Certified and you'd think I just took out the trash well. Guys I pulled crew with back in the 90s, who were Captain Flight Commanders for crews I worked as a Senior Airman, are now Lt Col's equally frustrated and getting out. I ran into two during a graduation and had a long frank discussion about my work ethic, the direction of things, and other professional deveoplment topics. It was very difficult to stay positive on the last two topics.
If you really listen to mid-level leaders and within the defense acquisitions fields, it actually looks even more bleak no matter which guy wins in November. At least we'll stop having Bush taking swipes at GS (civil service) workers.
Having good knowledge of events, concepts and other things published by mainstream media at a later date, you've really hit the nail on the head on what I've observed, with regards to reporters. Reporters most of the time don't have the technical acumen to realize the nuances of what they're reporting, the context and when to spot bad data. Eg. While reporting an accident, they blindly take the "speed was a factor" quote from police. Since parked cars rarely spontaneously collide, it's a falsehood. When GPS was new in the early 90's I read multiple articles that stated, "GPS tracks your movements". Ummmmm....no. The satellites have no clue how many users are out there and where they may be.
In a few weeks this will blow over, they'll get their access back, the guy will be in jail and none of what was reported in the FA will come to pass. A few managers may get fired for being incompetent though, which you saw no mention of in the article.
Actually, my words convey no positive or negative connotation. It's merely a statement of fact. They didn't shoot, so bad guys got away and innocent civlians lived. Anything beyond that is an inference not implied. If you're trying to figure out my personal bias, I'm proud of those Marines who hold back due to their training, adherence to the rules of engagement, and human decency. There are times where they could EASILY justify taking out civilians alongside bad guys, but they dont. These people who go on and on about US Soldiers (and implicating Marines) as just wanting to kill people have no idea. Yes, there may be a few who sincerely enjoy killing bad guys, but I've talked to several Sniper and infantry instructors and they agree on one thing: The human psyche does not handle killing another human very well. If you have friends who were snipers, or who were pulling triggers often to take out bad people, you'll note they came back from Iraq deeply affected. It takes them awhile to get readjusted to a healthy, normal and social environment.
No one hates war more than an Airman, Sailor, Soldier or Marine. No one.
The level of communications is set to jump even more as networking waveforms are developed and comm systems link up even more. If you look at the CONOPS for some future capabilities, the guy on the original foot patrol could have sent video of the entire firefight to the other patrol, or to an Apache/A-10 overhead and then back to the Battallion. Texting is already in place, but if you listen to any Marine or Army officer talk, voice will always rule supreme. Yeah, you'll have streaming video, IM, texting, etc. But the platoon leader wants to hear voice, and more importantly, the inflection in his voice. I'm sure this article's author backed his man because he heard the sincerity and urgency in his men's voice while on patrol.
Google JTRS if you want to see where the Marines and Army are headed with comm. These will be small form factor, maritime, manpacks, handhelds, etc. Micromanagement and bad leadership will always happen, regardless, but I think good situational awareness and NCOs it will even out.
To all the posters saying, "Soldiers don't think". Please STFU. You're just being dumb and either anti-military, biased, or just spouting crap you heard on CNN. I taught new recruits in the Air Force as a special duty assignment at Vandenberg. I have friends who are Marines that leave and go to Iraq more than you go to the dentist. If there's any common thread between all the branches it's this: accountability is much higher, better skills required , and critical thinking never been more demanded. You can point to Abu, but you're ignorant of the thousands of patrols who held back their trigger finger to allow a bad guy get away because of the civilians behind him. The hundreds of additional hours spent planning ATOs (Air Tasking Orders) so that __IF__ a bomb missed it would not hit innocents and that the proper munition is used for the target, building, support, etc. If you're still not convinced, spend at least an hour reading the foot patrols blogged here and then click "Next". Spend some time poking through his dispatchs.
You obviously have no military background, are ignorant or have a bias/grudge. You can go to jail for "not thinking" at the lesser end, or die at the greater. Are grunts trained to just follow orders? Sure. But on the same hand their taught to use their skills and insight to execute those orders, and if the orders are illegal, to not follow them. It's not uncommon to be told "X needs to be done" and then when you ask, "How?", the answer is, "You figure it out".
Next time, please don't spout ignorant crap like this about my bretheren in uniform. On the off chance you were military, what was the type of discharge, branch of service and your MOS/AFSCN/specialty code?
I'm saddened the ignorant remarks got modded "insightful" since that is the antithesis of how it should be classified.
My PC can run for months/weeks/hours of being on and have no problems with the connection. The moment I run LimeWire, the problems begin. 9 times out of 10 I end up having to reboot my cable modem to get back on-line....despite the fact my cable modem shows normal activity.
My mom was learning Cobol and Fortran, in 1983 when I was 13, and I definitely remember Fortran not being easy. Nor was Pascal, Cobol, etc.
BASIC was easy and my friend even wrote a program in BASIC on his Apple IIe to help his dad's business partner keep inventory. I used it to...ummmm...do very interesting things with a Hayes SmartModem and BASIC.
First, the user is contacting the guys who pwned the bot server. Unlike a worm, the infected user makes the first move. Secondly, they are requesting, receiving and then executing the "cleansing code". The fact that they requested the information, you didn't misrepresent *completely* who you were (e.g. a redirect attack where someone THINKS they are logging into their PayPal account), and then they executed the code, makes the morality moot.
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I bought it originally because I had a PC and I thought it might work well with MediaPlayer. I was right and I was wrong. Under the first version (I think 9) it worked ok, but once I upgraded to the suggested MP10, it was a huge pain. I think the video was originally a nice feature, but again, DRM made things a pain. I had music I legally owned that it wouldn't play.
Then, of course, accessories were next to impossible to find. Want a rugged rubber case (like my zCover for the iPhone)? Not going to find one (at least not in your first 5 stores you visit). I walked into Fry's, which is a geek supermarket on steroids, and they have one shelf (back then). Now there's maybe a little more, but you'll find two AISLES of stuff for the iPod.
When the iPhone came out, there was finally an iPod killer. Zune made a great try, but it's M$ after all. They had to keep corporate interests. Now my iPod Video sits on the shelf, while I go everywhere with the iPhone. I'm listening to it right now at work.
One last thing killed the Zune for me. "Lock" doesn't. Yeah, I can't change songs, but the unit powers up to show you the lock symbol, which the iPod doesn't do. May not sound like much, but I make a 4 hour ride monthly on my motorcycle. With the Zune in my motorcycle jacket pocket, set to "Locked", the unit would die far before the end of my ride. The unit would get touched, power up, show the "locked" for awhile and then power down. I can make the 8 hour round trip with my iPod and iPhone set with the lock on.
Scorn is usually a bad thing anyway. Just because you don't agree or understand something doesn't mean you should react negatively. This is why I believe it's difficult to have meaningful discussions with people on the extremes, such as liberals. Don't like gay marriage? HATE MONGER!! All too often people resort to insults rather than intellect. I guess because it's easier and there's no accountability. How do you prove you're not a "Hate Monger"? Lack of evidence is evidence.
Now before anyone ramps up, no, there's no hacking to be done since secure networks are on their own and it's hard to port scan a network 2 miles under water. Most people, gov'ies included, hate Vista.
I agree with your statement about Israel. The fact they haven't indicates to me that either A) They're really using it for peaceful purposes, as they state, and so they've left it alone or B) Israel is waiting for an ideal time (technological, strategic or political reasoning)
Secondly, no system in universally accepted in acquisitions. They may have some certification, lets say for an F-22, but they'd never just blindly take that same package and consider it certified for an F-35, or any other aircraft, nor would the FAA for DO-178B. New fighter aircraft are networking, but you'll never "casually hack" one unless you've got your own F-22 and you're flying in the sortie between the two (man in the middle attack).
His management may have been too inept to see the problems as badly as the "geek engineer" who had to deal with the issues. It's very costly to move, and easy to just bury your head in the sand. I'm not surprised they went through this for years. Sounds like a data center from hell and tech support from Sprint LOL
Very good write up, but repeats itself and occasionally goes off on tangents. The US GPS info is wrong. GPS is not used for communications. L-Band is one way with no receivers on the bird. It (GPS) does cross-link NUDET data, but again, this isn't comm. There also aren't "five alternate constellations." There's just one constellation of 24 satellites. There are 6 orbits, with 4 birds per orbit. As he mentions, if you knock one out, then there is no way you're taking another satellite from another orbit and bringing it over. It would defy the law of physics (aka orbital mechanics) and even if those could be overcome, there's no where near enough hydrazine on the satellite to pull it off. There is a possibility they'd knock one satellite out that had an on-orbit spare nearby, but that would be an exception not norm.
You might be looking at this backwards. Your wifi is free because you're already paying for data from AT&T, so they're doing this as goodwill (to not charge you twice for the same basic service).
My apologies for being too lazy to check with AT&T, but what's visual voicemail? I have a 3G iPhone and I have no info about this.
Wow. You now rank in the top 5 of worst quotes I've heard, when it comes to leading or managing people. I'm half tempted to quote numerous organizational and behavioral case studies and research that directly proves the quote to be false, but I'm so struck by such a stark assertion that I also really doubt it's authenticity or sincerity. Meaning, you can't be serious, or I completely took your comment in the wrong context.
That said, although hygiene is important and done at home, I work out in the gym during my lunch and shower before returning. The employer gets several benefits. A happier employee (less turnover), I'm more alert (more productivity), and while running I often get much better clarity on long-term problems (better decisions being made). If you offer health care, you'll also see reduced health care costs because studies also show a fit employee is less likely to have serious health problems.
Are you talking hypothetically, or realistically?? I can promise you that if a state launched an ICBM, we'd have nukes popping out of our silos likely before their missiles started re-entry. The US is ready within an extremely short period (a time I can't say) to retaliate against any missle strike.
Likewise, let's say they launch from around Channel Islands and take out LA in minutes from initial launch, there are crews 24/7 waiting in Silo's to turn key and launch. Economy, and conventional forces have no play. All it takes is an Executive Branch decision, a few minor, procedural events, and several hundred thousand people reach the temperature of the sun in a few minutes half way across the world.
With regards to EMP, do some googling for the term "survivable" and you'll see we've been fielding systems for decades that are designed to make it through the EMP. I'll give you one example to start, MILSTAR EHF satellites.
Yes, AEHF and the old MILSTAR are geo-syn which is a little over 22,000 miles out. You wouldn't use it for local comm. AEHF falls under the "specialized" communications and is meant to be anti-jam, survivable and secure. It allows new cypto keys (OTAR) to be sent, has spot beams so you can "ignore" the spoofing from the enemy nearby, and would be able to communicate through a nuclear "event" (survivable). This isn't to be used to just send an email to a buddy stateside. For anyone interested, there's 3 bands of military comm birds. Narrowband, which is UHF/UHF F/O, wideband, which is DSCS, and then "specialized", which is MILSTAR/AEHF. Each has it's own advantages and uses, in addition to the comm leased from foreign governemts and civilian comm birds.
That's true in almost any business or organization. No one wants to hear their baby is ugly. I think they went too far listening to the focus groups and the constant changes lead to a game I didn't like. I got BioShock due to the "Game of the Year" rants and was really looking forward to playing it. I picked it up and their "dumbed down" first two levels bored me to tears. I put it down after about 2 hours and haven't loaded it in my XBOX360 since. I hate a game that bores me with trivial little tasks and not much is going on. I'll take a complicated game where I'm instantly getting my butt handed to me over a game that takes forever to develop. Now contrast that to GTA4. I played it, it was sorta slow to develop, but you could get into action as fast as you want. Granted, I played that for about four hours before pulling it out and not having put it back in since (the week after release)...but that's only because I can't pry Halo3 out of my console to save my life. Just when I start to get bored, Bungie comes up with new maps, there's new gameplay (e.g. Team SWAT, MLG Pro Games, etc), or something else. I wish I could stop playing Halo3, but I can't.
I dont feel like I missed out on much for the 6-9 months I went without a harddrive. I had ONE game where I couldn't play online, but the rest were ok with a memory stick. I ended up buying on about a year after getting my xbox360, but that was mostly to do the DLC maps for Halo3. If I hadn't gotten hooked on H3, there's a chance I'd still be find without one.
Two words for ya.... Duct Tape. Wrap the cataloupe 2 times for best effect. If you can't duck it.... nevermind...
I am more frustrated at the fact it has to do a complete reload, not just a patch. I've been generally happy with my iPhone (3G) but tying up your phone for almost 30 minutes while it downloads (at work no less) isn't pleasant. Then, I absolutely had to use it and forgot it was still downloading. I had a brick until I could spend another 10-20 minutes doing a "restore". The Apple software doesn't update after a restore, so guess what...I clicked, "Next" thinking it would continue to something else, but nope, got to wait another 20 minutes while it restored a second time.
As far as changes, I still have keyboard lag and the little quirks it had before 2.01 and 2.02. Battery drain I can't comment because I'm constantly plugging it in due to the habit I formed after having it die so often the first week I had it. I now instinctively plug into the car charger while driving, plug in at work, and then plug in at home. I even leave a cable attached to my XBOX360 to charge (even though the 360 won't recognize the iPhone like it would my iPod Video).
Yep, gotta agree with your post 1000%. I was the 2nd Tier Tech support for Sprint PCS for almost 5 years, and was the network admin for 200-800 servers (depending on the point in time). Outages rarely occurred during holidays when no one was trying to "upgrade", "maintain", revise routing, change firewall configurations, etc. There were so many calls (at 2 am of course) where I had to email screenshots of a failed reverse path to our firewall team to convinve them they broke our routing between servers. "Not us" was always the reponse. Or, the switch tech who decided it was ok to skip a step while upgrading a package within Solaris 8. "I thought it wasn't necessary." *SIGH* "OK, perform the step you skipped" "OK, done" "Now repeat the step that failed" "Oh hey! It works" **shakes head and hopes newborn infant will stay asleep despite phone ringing...again...**
Thanks for your post, you really did a good job of summarizing the last 30 years of the USAF. I got in around 90 and then out aroung 1998 for the same reasons you posted. Clinton had us so thin, but there was still a surplus of good people even if equipment, housing, medical care, etc went down the drain very quickly. When I got in, I was ashamed of how retirees were treated at the morning medical call. When I got out, I was ashamed of how the retirees AND dependants were treated, and I was very certain active duty was very close to being next.
I came back in as an officer in the ANG in 2003, in the same career field (Space and Missiles) and was shocked at the decline. I actually saw a report from a 2-star that showed a curve heading steeply downward labeled, "System Knowledge", and another going steeply up saying, "System Complexity". At the intersection, it was marked "Mission Failure". The class I entered (the very same organization I helped stand up in 1996) had its instructors proudly claim, "This class has the lowest class averages," which at the time I thought was intended to put levity into studying. Within the first two weeks I figured out why. No real system experts teaching, TDE shop at odds with instructors and blind leadership (Lt Col commander actually said to me, "No one has ever complained about this class." hahahahahaahahahahah You can have the VERY BEST class in the entire world and at least ONE person will complain...). The study material would say satellites would rotate 90 degrees during a certain manueuver, and then the slides would say 180. When I asked, "Which is it?" I got no answer. I was extremely frustrated, saddened, depressed, disappointed, etc, because the ONLY reason I got back in was because I missed the "Type A" personalities that got stuff done (despite leadership's best efforts) and the rewards for making things better. During my last month on active duty I had so many passes from being Airman of the Quarter, ALS Distinguished Grad, ALS Academic Acheievement, and from fielding a new website for the entire training Group (again, this was around 1997, when the internet was very new), that I only worked a couple days. This work ethic and dedication to excellence seems to be the exception rather than the norm. I HQ'd my eval for becoming Mission Certified and you'd think I just took out the trash well. Guys I pulled crew with back in the 90s, who were Captain Flight Commanders for crews I worked as a Senior Airman, are now Lt Col's equally frustrated and getting out. I ran into two during a graduation and had a long frank discussion about my work ethic, the direction of things, and other professional deveoplment topics. It was very difficult to stay positive on the last two topics.
If you really listen to mid-level leaders and within the defense acquisitions fields, it actually looks even more bleak no matter which guy wins in November. At least we'll stop having Bush taking swipes at GS (civil service) workers.
Having good knowledge of events, concepts and other things published by mainstream media at a later date, you've really hit the nail on the head on what I've observed, with regards to reporters. Reporters most of the time don't have the technical acumen to realize the nuances of what they're reporting, the context and when to spot bad data. Eg. While reporting an accident, they blindly take the "speed was a factor" quote from police. Since parked cars rarely spontaneously collide, it's a falsehood. When GPS was new in the early 90's I read multiple articles that stated, "GPS tracks your movements". Ummmmm....no. The satellites have no clue how many users are out there and where they may be.
In a few weeks this will blow over, they'll get their access back, the guy will be in jail and none of what was reported in the FA will come to pass. A few managers may get fired for being incompetent though, which you saw no mention of in the article.
Actually, my words convey no positive or negative connotation. It's merely a statement of fact. They didn't shoot, so bad guys got away and innocent civlians lived. Anything beyond that is an inference not implied. If you're trying to figure out my personal bias, I'm proud of those Marines who hold back due to their training, adherence to the rules of engagement, and human decency. There are times where they could EASILY justify taking out civilians alongside bad guys, but they dont. These people who go on and on about US Soldiers (and implicating Marines) as just wanting to kill people have no idea. Yes, there may be a few who sincerely enjoy killing bad guys, but I've talked to several Sniper and infantry instructors and they agree on one thing: The human psyche does not handle killing another human very well. If you have friends who were snipers, or who were pulling triggers often to take out bad people, you'll note they came back from Iraq deeply affected. It takes them awhile to get readjusted to a healthy, normal and social environment.
No one hates war more than an Airman, Sailor, Soldier or Marine. No one.
The level of communications is set to jump even more as networking waveforms are developed and comm systems link up even more. If you look at the CONOPS for some future capabilities, the guy on the original foot patrol could have sent video of the entire firefight to the other patrol, or to an Apache/A-10 overhead and then back to the Battallion. Texting is already in place, but if you listen to any Marine or Army officer talk, voice will always rule supreme. Yeah, you'll have streaming video, IM, texting, etc. But the platoon leader wants to hear voice, and more importantly, the inflection in his voice. I'm sure this article's author backed his man because he heard the sincerity and urgency in his men's voice while on patrol.
Google JTRS if you want to see where the Marines and Army are headed with comm. These will be small form factor, maritime, manpacks, handhelds, etc. Micromanagement and bad leadership will always happen, regardless, but I think good situational awareness and NCOs it will even out.To all the posters saying, "Soldiers don't think". Please STFU. You're just being dumb and either anti-military, biased, or just spouting crap you heard on CNN. I taught new recruits in the Air Force as a special duty assignment at Vandenberg. I have friends who are Marines that leave and go to Iraq more than you go to the dentist. If there's any common thread between all the branches it's this: accountability is much higher, better skills required , and critical thinking never been more demanded. You can point to Abu, but you're ignorant of the thousands of patrols who held back their trigger finger to allow a bad guy get away because of the civilians behind him. The hundreds of additional hours spent planning ATOs (Air Tasking Orders) so that __IF__ a bomb missed it would not hit innocents and that the proper munition is used for the target, building, support, etc. If you're still not convinced, spend at least an hour reading the foot patrols blogged here and then click "Next". Spend some time poking through his dispatchs.
You obviously have no military background, are ignorant or have a bias/grudge. You can go to jail for "not thinking" at the lesser end, or die at the greater. Are grunts trained to just follow orders? Sure. But on the same hand their taught to use their skills and insight to execute those orders, and if the orders are illegal, to not follow them. It's not uncommon to be told "X needs to be done" and then when you ask, "How?", the answer is, "You figure it out".
Next time, please don't spout ignorant crap like this about my bretheren in uniform. On the off chance you were military, what was the type of discharge, branch of service and your MOS/AFSCN/specialty code?I'm saddened the ignorant remarks got modded "insightful" since that is the antithesis of how it should be classified.
My PC can run for months/weeks/hours of being on and have no problems with the connection. The moment I run LimeWire, the problems begin. 9 times out of 10 I end up having to reboot my cable modem to get back on-line....despite the fact my cable modem shows normal activity.
BASIC was easy and my friend even wrote a program in BASIC on his Apple IIe to help his dad's business partner keep inventory. I used it to...ummmm...do very interesting things with a Hayes SmartModem and BASIC.
First, the user is contacting the guys who pwned the bot server. Unlike a worm, the infected user makes the first move. Secondly, they are requesting, receiving and then executing the "cleansing code". The fact that they requested the information, you didn't misrepresent *completely* who you were (e.g. a redirect attack where someone THINKS they are logging into their PayPal account), and then they executed the code, makes the morality moot.