These things are going to be worse than Corvairs/Volkswagens when they hit the road. Three wheeled vehicles are very unstable, having the poorest handling characteristics of cars and motorcycles.
There is a necessary trade off between intelligence gathering for the purpose of law enforcement and national security and citizens' right to privacy. Public sentiment at this point may be that the NSA has overstepped an ethical boundary and possibly Constitutional principles. What concerns me is the motivation that drove them to do so and what we can do in the future to keep them (and other agencies) clear of these boundaries.
Giving our government the power to peer into our private lives in return for security is one thing. But I don't recall a Constitutional clause permitting Booz Allen Hamilton to do so. I fact, I suspect that a lot of the NSA/FBI/CIA motivation for these huge data collection projects is the lobbying being done by contractors getting a piece of the action. Given a law restricting access to citizens' personal data only to civil servants and elected officials, I suspect that these agencies will reign in their data collection efforts to those absolutely necessary for their charters.
I don't have a problem with the NSA hiring contractors to put up a data center. But lets restrict its operation to direct employees alone and I'll bet they will be a lot more careful with their espionage dollars. Such a law will also go a long way toward putting a stop to another issue I haven't seen too much discussion on. That is; private contractors utilizing their access privileges to sensitive data for their own benefit. Having worked inside the 'military-industrial complex' for a few decades, I have seen numerous instances in which access to foreign intelligence product was used for purely economic advantage by private contractors. Inevitably, giving private contractors access to citizens' personal data will be leveraged for profit. Its one thing if a Google or Microsoft does this within the boundaries of the law. But given the trust we give to government agencies, having their data go right out their back door is just wrong.
the 'head of IT' has no modern technological skills, and has been parroting what his subordinates have told him without question.
It is also a sign of good management when responsibilities are delegated to subordinates. And input is sought from the people actually doing the work. Here, you might have a case where this has gone overboard due to management incompetence or a clique of buddies lead by the boss. Its up to senior management, or the board of directors to sort this stuff out.
If IT is a major cost center of your company, it is screwed. But this isn't always the case (if its not a part of your product or service). If it represents a small cost, even though it may be over budget, senior management may not care. They might view it as a 'hobby shop' for their buddies. So now, you have to ask yourself if working in such an environment is worthwhile.
In fact, when one enlists in the military (more applicable to Manning than Snowden) one swears an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic". That comes before all the stuff about obeying superior officers and the UCMJ.
Sure, there are mechanisms in place for employees and contractors to report wrongdoings up the chain of command. But other government branches have been revealed to be overturning the results of internal investigations/prosecutions based on superiors' privileges (I'm referring to instances of sexual assaults in the military). Its highly probable that the same system of privilege exists within intelligence services, making internal reporting systems worthless.
Haggen (Washington State) got rid of theirs. They were handy if you had a few items. But inevitably, they'd get some morons that couldn't scan their own groceries and they'd have to have clerks handy to help them out. Might as well just have the employees scan the stuff and be done with it.
All of these disciplines validate theories based upon multiple, independent observations. You can't just take one hurricane and say, "QED. AGW exists." And you can't throw out all the climate data that doesn't support your hypothesis by saying, "Well, that's just weather, not climate."
Both sides can make their claims. But unless someone can do a proper experiment with a control planet, and make that experiment repeatable while you're at it, its all speculation. Not proper science.
And Smith forgot to make an important point about the Keystone Pipeline. Stopping it doesn't mean that carbon stays in the ground. It means the Chinese will burn it. And they will do so with less rigorous emissions standards. But then I can't prove that either. Its all speculation.
And the bureaucracy under fire just battens down the hatches, rides out the storm and continued business as usual. The American public is to easily distracted (Look! Its Kim Kardashian!) to keep the pressure up on these people long and hard enough th affect change.
And some agencies are beyond the law. Forget about which party is in charge, screw with the wrong group and you get a limo ride through Dealey Plaza.
Could be that the old client is trying to fsck OP over. In which case, there's not much he can do, as the client/owner of the code isn't likely going to provide evidence of his authorship.
Its possible that the old client is also trying to screw over the new client, by scaring off talent. Either way, if I were OP, I'd just walk away. Any potential employer that gets involved in these kinds of games, or isn't aware of their existence isn't going to be around for much longer.
Any of these activities could have severe legal or reputational consequences. So anyone who plays them must either be expecting a big payoff (ask the question: what's the motivation). Or they are sociopaths.
In stressful situations people are likely to turn to whatever worldviews and beliefs are most meaningful to them
It gives one the tools to deal with the situation. But using them and pulling your own ass out of the fire is up to you. Or you could just sit there, bobbing your head in prayer and hope that the invisible guy up in the sky gives a shit about you and is willing to help. And isn't just a bed-time story after all.
1991. The year that our principle enemy (the USSR) and reason for existence collapsed. US culture is built upon the need for conflict to provide motivation and stoke the fires of nationalism. Without a war to fight, we are lost*.
Our current enemies consist of lunatic, weakling dictators and batshit crazy theocracies. If one measures ones self by ones enemies, we have fallen quite a distance since the Old War.
*Rome began its long slide into oblivion when it overreached its military capabilities on its borders. It then turned inwards and began attacking factions within its own empire. Think of the mess the Praetorian Guard could have caused if they had Prism back then.
Java promises applications that run the same wherever you run them.
Well, they have failed miserably. I've never managed to get JRE to bluescreen my Linux box.
Seriously, a few years back, a Java app I'm involved with was (attempted) to be ported to Windows. It turns out that one of the features it uses is a pull down menu from each tab in a JTabbedPane (if I recall correctly). No Can Do in Windows. At least back in the days of Java 6/Windows 7. This may have been patched by either Sun/Oracle or Microsoft since then. But it has been my experience that lots of stuff which works on various *NIXes is just a non-fuctional stub on Windows. Not just in Java either.
Slashdot Mirror
Or containerized freight. We've sunk about as low as we can.
In the industry, they refer to passengers as SLF (self-loading freight).
These things are going to be worse than Corvairs/Volkswagens when they hit the road. Three wheeled vehicles are very unstable, having the poorest handling characteristics of cars and motorcycles.
They need this canal to move their planned mega aircraft carriers into the Atlantic.
There is a necessary trade off between intelligence gathering for the purpose of law enforcement and national security and citizens' right to privacy. Public sentiment at this point may be that the NSA has overstepped an ethical boundary and possibly Constitutional principles. What concerns me is the motivation that drove them to do so and what we can do in the future to keep them (and other agencies) clear of these boundaries.
Giving our government the power to peer into our private lives in return for security is one thing. But I don't recall a Constitutional clause permitting Booz Allen Hamilton to do so. I fact, I suspect that a lot of the NSA/FBI/CIA motivation for these huge data collection projects is the lobbying being done by contractors getting a piece of the action. Given a law restricting access to citizens' personal data only to civil servants and elected officials, I suspect that these agencies will reign in their data collection efforts to those absolutely necessary for their charters.
I don't have a problem with the NSA hiring contractors to put up a data center. But lets restrict its operation to direct employees alone and I'll bet they will be a lot more careful with their espionage dollars. Such a law will also go a long way toward putting a stop to another issue I haven't seen too much discussion on. That is; private contractors utilizing their access privileges to sensitive data for their own benefit. Having worked inside the 'military-industrial complex' for a few decades, I have seen numerous instances in which access to foreign intelligence product was used for purely economic advantage by private contractors. Inevitably, giving private contractors access to citizens' personal data will be leveraged for profit. Its one thing if a Google or Microsoft does this within the boundaries of the law. But given the trust we give to government agencies, having their data go right out their back door is just wrong.
Ethical government agencies and employees have nothing to fear from a public examination of their methods and activities.
the 'head of IT' has no modern technological skills, and has been parroting what his subordinates have told him without question.
It is also a sign of good management when responsibilities are delegated to subordinates. And input is sought from the people actually doing the work. Here, you might have a case where this has gone overboard due to management incompetence or a clique of buddies lead by the boss. Its up to senior management, or the board of directors to sort this stuff out.
If IT is a major cost center of your company, it is screwed. But this isn't always the case (if its not a part of your product or service). If it represents a small cost, even though it may be over budget, senior management may not care. They might view it as a 'hobby shop' for their buddies. So now, you have to ask yourself if working in such an environment is worthwhile.
In fact, when one enlists in the military (more applicable to Manning than Snowden) one swears an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic". That comes before all the stuff about obeying superior officers and the UCMJ.
Sure, there are mechanisms in place for employees and contractors to report wrongdoings up the chain of command. But other government branches have been revealed to be overturning the results of internal investigations/prosecutions based on superiors' privileges (I'm referring to instances of sexual assaults in the military). Its highly probable that the same system of privilege exists within intelligence services, making internal reporting systems worthless.
Haggen (Washington State) got rid of theirs. They were handy if you had a few items. But inevitably, they'd get some morons that couldn't scan their own groceries and they'd have to have clerks handy to help them out. Might as well just have the employees scan the stuff and be done with it.
Expletives are like rim shots. They work well to emphasize a certain point. Trouble is; some people are stuck playing drum solos.
We have discovered a new, lower state. Its called Slashdot editing.
All of these disciplines validate theories based upon multiple, independent observations. You can't just take one hurricane and say, "QED. AGW exists." And you can't throw out all the climate data that doesn't support your hypothesis by saying, "Well, that's just weather, not climate."
Both sides can make their claims. But unless someone can do a proper experiment with a control planet, and make that experiment repeatable while you're at it, its all speculation. Not proper science.
And Smith forgot to make an important point about the Keystone Pipeline. Stopping it doesn't mean that carbon stays in the ground. It means the Chinese will burn it. And they will do so with less rigorous emissions standards. But then I can't prove that either. Its all speculation.
We didn't win. Russia got smart and walked away from the game.
And the bureaucracy under fire just battens down the hatches, rides out the storm and continued business as usual. The American public is to easily distracted (Look! Its Kim Kardashian!) to keep the pressure up on these people long and hard enough th affect change.
And some agencies are beyond the law. Forget about which party is in charge, screw with the wrong group and you get a limo ride through Dealey Plaza.
OP probably can't get back into his old client's version control system to demonstrate the code's history.
+1 Interesting
Could be that the old client is trying to fsck OP over. In which case, there's not much he can do, as the client/owner of the code isn't likely going to provide evidence of his authorship.
Its possible that the old client is also trying to screw over the new client, by scaring off talent. Either way, if I were OP, I'd just walk away. Any potential employer that gets involved in these kinds of games, or isn't aware of their existence isn't going to be around for much longer.
Any of these activities could have severe legal or reputational consequences. So anyone who plays them must either be expecting a big payoff (ask the question: what's the motivation). Or they are sociopaths.
In stressful situations people are likely to turn to whatever worldviews and beliefs are most meaningful to them
It gives one the tools to deal with the situation. But using them and pulling your own ass out of the fire is up to you. Or you could just sit there, bobbing your head in prayer and hope that the invisible guy up in the sky gives a shit about you and is willing to help. And isn't just a bed-time story after all.
Religion excludes science.
As usual with law, more facts are needed to know for sure.
No problem. We can always Google for more facts.
1991. The year that our principle enemy (the USSR) and reason for existence collapsed. US culture is built upon the need for conflict to provide motivation and stoke the fires of nationalism. Without a war to fight, we are lost*.
Our current enemies consist of lunatic, weakling dictators and batshit crazy theocracies. If one measures ones self by ones enemies, we have fallen quite a distance since the Old War.
*Rome began its long slide into oblivion when it overreached its military capabilities on its borders. It then turned inwards and began attacking factions within its own empire. Think of the mess the Praetorian Guard could have caused if they had Prism back then.
Sounds like Dell has given birth to an abomination.
If whitespace is such a bad way of denoting scope
Because I might want to use it within the same scope for purposes of readability.
why indent in C?
Why indeed? I can write an entire C program in one line. But my boss pays based on KLOC, so the more white space, the better.
Newlines are for breaking up long lines and indentation is for ease of readability (blocks or whatever your coding style standards dictate).
Fixed layout languages date back to the 1950s (Fortran, for example).
Java promises applications that run the same wherever you run them.
Well, they have failed miserably. I've never managed to get JRE to bluescreen my Linux box.
Seriously, a few years back, a Java app I'm involved with was (attempted) to be ported to Windows. It turns out that one of the features it uses is a pull down menu from each tab in a JTabbedPane (if I recall correctly). No Can Do in Windows. At least back in the days of Java 6/Windows 7. This may have been patched by either Sun/Oracle or Microsoft since then. But it has been my experience that lots of stuff which works on various *NIXes is just a non-fuctional stub on Windows. Not just in Java either.