In the second story of the "All-New, All-Different" X-MEN (the run which changed the X-Men from a failed 60's team to its current mega-star status), a villain assaulted Cheyenne Mountain; in the process of defeating him, one of the new team (Thunderbird) was killed.
Interestingly enough, this info is in the Wiki entry for Cheyenne Mountain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheyenne_Mountain).
A good friend of mine was suspended from her job of 18 years, alleged due to concerns about a HIPAA violation.
The violation: A member of our church brought his kid to her hospital. The parent asked her to let others in the church know that they had come to the hospital, and to pray for them. Someone at the hospital found out, and she got suspended.
Due to personal and family medical problems, her employer had chastised her in the past for missed days of work. This seems to those of us who know her like an excuse to get rid of someone who they felt was more trouble than she was worth.
She found employment at another hospital during her suspension, and is much happier now. The new employer actually acts like they understand family medical emergencies, and encourage her to take the necessary time to care for both herself and her children. She actually feels like the valuable employee she is.
Sort of a flip side to the previous poster's experience.
Interestingly enough, when looking at the list of tags below this article, I misread the "bluray" tag as "blurry".
Admittedly, with the hyphen in place, i'd never made the connection. But when one of your selling points is sharper images, is it really smart to have your product name be one letter (and on epunctuation mark) off from "blurry"?
Something to keep in mind: One reason why Windows-based systems have the problems they do with viruses, worms, and trojans, is that Windows-based systems still make up the bulk of the systems in use.
Linux, MacOSX, and other UNIX relatives are not necessarily more or less invulnerable to these pests; the people who create the pests are simply:
1) as or more likely to have Windows systems themselves (based simply on the odds);
2) more likely to find victims running Windows than other OSes because there are a vastly larger number of systems out there running Windows than any other single OS (than all other OSes combined, by a long shot!).
Of course, this is all my opinion; I can't point to scientific studies that prove it to be true. It's a simple logic exercise.
I'd give careful consideration to any advice given here that would allow you to retain the system you've got, if you are both used to it, and otherwise happy with it. Switching operating systems, toolsets, and possibly hardware could leave you having spent a lot of money for a system that you are ultimately less satisfied with in terms of features, functionality, and performance.
My wife also used games (the Shining Force series was the one that worked best for her) to fight her migraines. My son (who seems to have inherited her migraines) has also used this somewhat successfully.
On those occasions where I had to write down a password, I would use a trivial ciphering mechanism: for example, move the first character to the end of the password (obviously, this works far better with random passwords than human-readable ones).
Speaking as someone who weighs far more than he should:
Actually, fat people do not necessarily have very big laps. Their gut covers what would be lap area in someone thinner.
In addition, I at least have a problem sitting comfortably with my legs directly in front of me; they're usually forming a 90 to 120 degree angle. Not the best thing to try to set a computer (or just about anything else) on. There's a reason kids usually sit on one of Santa's legs, not his actual lap.
Now, if it really was the stupid 55 speed limit that reduced accidents, it'd stand to reason that raising it again (like they did not long ago) should have caused the accident rate to dramatically rise again commensurate with it's precipitous fall in 74. It hasn't.
Umm, I'm afraid you switched arguments here. The item you're responding to said that the speed limit change reduced gasoline consumption.
Mind you, most of your points are still pertinent; it's just your conclusion that's problematic.
Taking it as given that accident figures haven't changed much since the 55 => 65 change, did gasoline consumption rates change around that time? And yes, the most that could be shown would be a correlation; A number of other factors (rise in popularity of larger vehicles, rise in weight of Americans leading to desire to own larger vehicles, and even a temporary change in travel patterns in the US back about three and a half years ago).
If you're a long-time Who fan, I recommend the ABOUT TIME series of Dr. Who unauthorized guides. Volumes 3 and 4 are currently available, covering the Pertwee era, and all but the last Tom Baker season. Volume 5, covering the end of Tom Baker and the Davison era, should be out this month.
Authors are Lawrence Mills (who's written Who novels, and I believe is the driving force behind Faction Paradox, a Who novel spin-off (sort of....), and Tat Wood.
I have a hard time putting the thing down. It doesn't recap the stories extensively, but it does provide a reminder as to which story is being discussed; details on what we learned about the Doctor, his companions, his people, and various planets and aliens; things to watch for (one for each episode of the story); and the cliffhangers.
In addition, there are sidebars discussing a wide variety of topics; "Things that don't make sense"; an analysis of what the story had to say about current events, and why it might have been written; and (certainly not least) lore, facts of interest regarding the goings on behind the scenes of the series. For example, evidently John Leeson (the voice of K-9) came in for practice and participated by crawling around the floor on all fours; Tom Baker really thought the show would be better without companions at all (although he evidently got along very well w/ Leeson, and presumably got along well w/ Lalla Ward (Romana II) at some point, since they were married....); and Mary Tamm (Romana I) got involved through her college roommate Louise Jameson (Leela).
I highly recommend the books. The production values aren't great (they're paperbacks, the covers are basically laminated, and the lamination is starting to come apart on mine), but the contents more than make up for that.
Unfortunately, the local PBS station dumped Doctor Who 8-10 years ago. When I first got BBC America on cable, I think they showed some episodes at some ungodly hour of the morning; however, they only showed (I think) seasons 12 and 13 (the first two Fourth Doctor seasons).
I've got all the US DVD releases, and watch them w/ my son (who's 16), trying to revive our old family Satruday Night Who viewing, from before WOSU punked out on us. The rule of thumb has always been that your first Doctor tends to be a (if not the) favorite. For me, that was Tom Baker. My son doesn't really have a "first" Doctor, and actually seems to like Troughton best.
I have found something to enjoy in each of the varous actor's performances.
The existing situation was that safety rules had been established. Either from the start, or over the course of time, the workers started to bend the rules. Why? In order to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently. They figured out that, *normally at least* a forklift could safely travel at ten mph instead of 5. They'd been willing to forego breaks to get the job done mroe quickly, so things wouldn't stack up.
The management says you're responsible for damage done if you aren't following the safety rules. The union says no problem, we'll follow the rules. However, following the rules strictly meant that it would take more people, possibly more equipment to do the same job. A forklift traveling at 5 mph can wind up moving as little as half the cargo as one traveling at 10 mph. Taking a break everyone had ignored before means fifteen minutes less work time per person per day; at the very least, it means that a job that could be done in ten minutes might now take 25, because the break's scheduled to come in the middle, and not taking the break at the scheduled time is breaking the safety rules.
The goal of the union wasn't necessarily to say, "Hey, we shouldn't be responsible for our actions." It was at least in part to say, "We haven't followed the rules strictly to benefit you; you want the speed and cost benefits of breaking the rules, you accept responsibility for when those rules break the equipment."
Under the same circumstances, I would be inclined to do the same thing; it was a simple CYA maneuver.
Note: This all assumes the situation was as stated in the original post - I have no actual knowledge of the incident, other than some vague recollection that there was an incident holding up shipping on the left coast before Christmas a few years back.
In response to those commenting on my statement, parental consent certainly does allow those under the legal age to access porn and drink alcohol; I'm less certain about the use of tobacco.
In these cases, the parental consent takes the form of the parent being the visible purchaser of the material.
If an adult purchases alcohol and porn for their children, those children are allowed to use those items. I think the same holds true for tobacco. There are laws making it illegal for someone to purchase these items for others, but I do not believe those apply in the context of the parent-child relationship.
In fact, this is the same way this phone allows parental consent to overrule the restrictions placed on the phone. If an adult purchases, pays for, and signs all agreements regarding the phone, and then gives the phone to a minor for whom they are responsible, then the minor will have unrestricted access to whatever through the phone.
The government (in the US, at least, and presumably in the UK as well) already restrict a variety of things based on age. Speaking for the US, age determines when people can:
Purchase pR0n
Purchase tobacco products
Purchase alcohol
Vote
Join the armed services
Get married
Enter into legally-binding contracts
In most of these cases, parental consent lowers or eliminates this age barrier.
If the technology allows it, I don't see it as being anything new or different. And parental permission (mom or dad registers the phone under their own name, instead of in the kid's name) would still apply here.
I am a firm believer that parents should not ask society to do what they are unwilling to, and that society should not restrict everyone's access to anything based on a least common denominator mentality. However, I do support the concept that there are areas outside of a parent's control, and assisting parents to gain appropriate control in those situations is a good thing.
About seven years ago, DC Comics created a new imprint specifically for SF-based comic books. This imprint was called HELIX, and its only book to make a significant dent in the landscape was Warren Ellis' TRANSMETROPOLITAN.
However, this imprint was originally to be called MATRIX, until they were told that the name was registered in the Entertainment space already. Seven years ago - wonder who had that name locked up?
Actually, this is not necessarily a bad solution, and could provide a useful experiment.
Get spam sent to other people with "opt-out" instructions. The common wisdom has it that a significant number of the opt-out deals really verify your address for spammers. Try asking for your e-mail address to be removed (even though it's not really there), and see what happens....
First, as someone else in this thread stated, the first version of whatever you crank out, no matter how well-thought-out, isn't going to be ideal. Until the product has hit the real world, and real people have used it to perform their work, there will be unidentified inadequacies, design problems, shortcuts needed, etc.
I always approach things from the "Do it right" perspective -- initially. I figure out what seems to be the best approach to resolve the problem. Admittedly, part of "best" does involve budgetary issues - on a shoestring budget, "best" can't include hundreds of thousands (or even tens of thousands!) of dollars' worth of high-end hardware and expensive software, and that's unlikely to change even over the course of years, in most cases.
Once I've decided the "best" solution, I look at how clean I can make a solution that fits into the budgetary constraints I'm working in. Lay the groundwork for versions 2 and 3, as long as it doesn't prevent you from reaching your version 1 goals.
Now, it doesn't necessarily pay to be to lay that groundwork too extravagantly; as noted earlier, at least part of version 2 will be responding to the comments, complaints, and critiques of the users of the system. Unless you have the luxury of spending an extensive amount of time with end users, getting their input on everything from validation, auto fills, and screen layouts to the color schemes to use, there will be requested changes.
Also, remember that you're almost always serving two masters; the end user who sits in front of your creation, and the guy who signs the checks. If you want to finish the project, the check guy has to be happy; if you want to get more work down the road, the end users better be happy.
Ultimately, communication is key. As others have said, document what will and won't get done, and get sign-off on it. When (not if) the client wants to change things, point to the contract that either says that the delivery dates will changes or that changes will be made after everything on the current approved timeline is complete, and that the client will pay when things change.
You're stuck in the middle of everyone using the various aspects of the program (not to mention the people writing those precious checks), so take on the role of middleman fully. If the end users convince you that something is required, discuss it with the check people until they either understand why it's needed or make it clear they don't care why. Do you best to make sure the client understands why you recommend against a particular course of action. Document when they choose to ignore such advice. Then do what they want (barring ethical/moral/legal issues - only you can decide if you're willing to get fired (maybe "blacklisted") over what's going on).
In short, pull as close to "do it right" as you can, and try to make it as easy as possible to come back later and fix the "quick and dirty" parts, if you can. And make sure everyone knows what's what.
When I searched (minutes ago), and skimmed through the first half of the results, none of the documents was still confidential (newest one to expire ran through May 2003).
Admittedly, I'm too lazy to explore further, but it certainly appears that, at present, the "confidential" documents to be found aren't considered confidential any more.
That said, as I noted, I got 59 results; does anyone who hit it earlier recall more?
XML would do the trick nicely that way you could maintain the structure of the text while ensuring that it will be human readable for ever.
That's just the tip of the iceberg. The real problem is how to store the data: CD? DVD? +R, -R?
Data stored off on punch cards, paper tape, reel-to-reel magnetic tape, is already getting harder to retrieve, because these devices are getting harder to find. Someone who put their thesis on a reel-to-reel mag tape 15-20 years ago better be finding a way to get it off onto DAT, or CD, or a Zip disk pretty soon, or they'll have to build/buy their own reader (and interface!) to access it, if it isn't too late already.
Slashdot Mirror
Am I the only one who had to read the headline twice, wondering what Chris White had to do with data compromise?
In the second story of the "All-New, All-Different" X-MEN (the run which changed the X-Men from a failed 60's team to its current mega-star status), a villain assaulted Cheyenne Mountain; in the process of defeating him, one of the new team (Thunderbird) was killed. Interestingly enough, this info is in the Wiki entry for Cheyenne Mountain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheyenne_Mountain).
Ten. Duh.
I was going to say "Laura Mars".
"A Stranger" works well, too.
A good friend of mine was suspended from her job of 18 years, alleged due to concerns about a HIPAA violation.
The violation: A member of our church brought his kid to her hospital. The parent asked her to let others in the church know that they had come to the hospital, and to pray for them. Someone at the hospital found out, and she got suspended.
Due to personal and family medical problems, her employer had chastised her in the past for missed days of work. This seems to those of us who know her like an excuse to get rid of someone who they felt was more trouble than she was worth.
She found employment at another hospital during her suspension, and is much happier now. The new employer actually acts like they understand family medical emergencies, and encourage her to take the necessary time to care for both herself and her children. She actually feels like the valuable employee she is.
Sort of a flip side to the previous poster's experience.
Interestingly enough, when looking at the list of tags below this article, I misread the "bluray" tag as "blurry".
Admittedly, with the hyphen in place, i'd never made the connection. But when one of your selling points is sharper images, is it really smart to have your product name be one letter (and on epunctuation mark) off from "blurry"?
Something to keep in mind: One reason why Windows-based systems have the problems they do with viruses, worms, and trojans, is that Windows-based systems still make up the bulk of the systems in use.
Linux, MacOSX, and other UNIX relatives are not necessarily more or less invulnerable to these pests; the people who create the pests are simply:
1) as or more likely to have Windows systems themselves (based simply on the odds);
2) more likely to find victims running Windows than other OSes because there are a vastly larger number of systems out there running Windows than any other single OS (than all other OSes combined, by a long shot!).
Of course, this is all my opinion; I can't point to scientific studies that prove it to be true. It's a simple logic exercise.
I'd give careful consideration to any advice given here that would allow you to retain the system you've got, if you are both used to it, and otherwise happy with it. Switching operating systems, toolsets, and possibly hardware could leave you having spent a lot of money for a system that you are ultimately less satisfied with in terms of features, functionality, and performance.
My wife also used games (the Shining Force series was the one that worked best for her) to fight her migraines. My son (who seems to have inherited her migraines) has also used this somewhat successfully.
Gee, better be on the lookout for green slime and primords....
Hobbits and giants? I modestly propose these islands have been visited by Lemuel Gulliver!
Unfortunately, this is a common way to generate "unique" but memorable passwords, when passwords change frequently (say once a month).
On those occasions where I had to write down a password, I would use a trivial ciphering mechanism: for example, move the first character to the end of the password (obviously, this works far better with random passwords than human-readable ones).
Speaking as someone who weighs far more than he should:
Actually, fat people do not necessarily have very big laps. Their gut covers what would be lap area in someone thinner.
In addition, I at least have a problem sitting comfortably with my legs directly in front of me; they're usually forming a 90 to 120 degree angle. Not the best thing to try to set a computer (or just about anything else) on. There's a reason kids usually sit on one of Santa's legs, not his actual lap.
Now, if it really was the stupid 55 speed limit that reduced accidents, it'd stand to reason that raising it again (like they did not long ago) should have caused the accident rate to dramatically rise again commensurate with it's precipitous fall in 74. It hasn't.
Umm, I'm afraid you switched arguments here. The item you're responding to said that the speed limit change reduced gasoline consumption.
Mind you, most of your points are still pertinent; it's just your conclusion that's problematic.
Taking it as given that accident figures haven't changed much since the 55 => 65 change, did gasoline consumption rates change around that time? And yes, the most that could be shown would be a correlation; A number of other factors (rise in popularity of larger vehicles, rise in weight of Americans leading to desire to own larger vehicles, and even a temporary change in travel patterns in the US back about three and a half years ago).
If you're a long-time Who fan, I recommend the ABOUT TIME series of Dr. Who unauthorized guides. Volumes 3 and 4 are currently available, covering the Pertwee era, and all but the last Tom Baker season. Volume 5, covering the end of Tom Baker and the Davison era, should be out this month.
Authors are Lawrence Mills (who's written Who novels, and I believe is the driving force behind Faction Paradox, a Who novel spin-off (sort of....), and Tat Wood.
I have a hard time putting the thing down. It doesn't recap the stories extensively, but it does provide a reminder as to which story is being discussed; details on what we learned about the Doctor, his companions, his people, and various planets and aliens; things to watch for (one for each episode of the story); and the cliffhangers.
In addition, there are sidebars discussing a wide variety of topics; "Things that don't make sense"; an analysis of what the story had to say about current events, and why it might have been written; and (certainly not least) lore, facts of interest regarding the goings on behind the scenes of the series. For example, evidently John Leeson (the voice of K-9) came in for practice and participated by crawling around the floor on all fours; Tom Baker really thought the show would be better without companions at all (although he evidently got along very well w/ Leeson, and presumably got along well w/ Lalla Ward (Romana II) at some point, since they were married....); and Mary Tamm (Romana I) got involved through her college roommate Louise Jameson (Leela).
I highly recommend the books. The production values aren't great (they're paperbacks, the covers are basically laminated, and the lamination is starting to come apart on mine), but the contents more than make up for that.
Unfortunately, the local PBS station dumped Doctor Who 8-10 years ago. When I first got BBC America on cable, I think they showed some episodes at some ungodly hour of the morning; however, they only showed (I think) seasons 12 and 13 (the first two Fourth Doctor seasons).
I've got all the US DVD releases, and watch them w/ my son (who's 16), trying to revive our old family Satruday Night Who viewing, from before WOSU punked out on us. The rule of thumb has always been that your first Doctor tends to be a (if not the) favorite. For me, that was Tom Baker. My son doesn't really have a "first" Doctor, and actually seems to like Troughton best.
I have found something to enjoy in each of the varous actor's performances.
The existing situation was that safety rules had been established. Either from the start, or over the course of time, the workers started to bend the rules. Why? In order to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently. They figured out that, *normally at least* a forklift could safely travel at ten mph instead of 5. They'd been willing to forego breaks to get the job done mroe quickly, so things wouldn't stack up.
The management says you're responsible for damage done if you aren't following the safety rules. The union says no problem, we'll follow the rules. However, following the rules strictly meant that it would take more people, possibly more equipment to do the same job. A forklift traveling at 5 mph can wind up moving as little as half the cargo as one traveling at 10 mph. Taking a break everyone had ignored before means fifteen minutes less work time per person per day; at the very least, it means that a job that could be done in ten minutes might now take 25, because the break's scheduled to come in the middle, and not taking the break at the scheduled time is breaking the safety rules.
The goal of the union wasn't necessarily to say, "Hey, we shouldn't be responsible for our actions." It was at least in part to say, "We haven't followed the rules strictly to benefit you; you want the speed and cost benefits of breaking the rules, you accept responsibility for when those rules break the equipment."
Under the same circumstances, I would be inclined to do the same thing; it was a simple CYA maneuver.
Note: This all assumes the situation was as stated in the original post - I have no actual knowledge of the incident, other than some vague recollection that there was an incident holding up shipping on the left coast before Christmas a few years back.
In response to those commenting on my statement, parental consent certainly does allow those under the legal age to access porn and drink alcohol; I'm less certain about the use of tobacco.
In these cases, the parental consent takes the form of the parent being the visible purchaser of the material.
If an adult purchases alcohol and porn for their children, those children are allowed to use those items. I think the same holds true for tobacco. There are laws making it illegal for someone to purchase these items for others, but I do not believe those apply in the context of the parent-child relationship.
In fact, this is the same way this phone allows parental consent to overrule the restrictions placed on the phone. If an adult purchases, pays for, and signs all agreements regarding the phone, and then gives the phone to a minor for whom they are responsible, then the minor will have unrestricted access to whatever through the phone.
- Purchase pR0n
- Purchase tobacco products
- Purchase alcohol
- Vote
- Join the armed services
- Get married
- Enter into legally-binding contracts
In most of these cases, parental consent lowers or eliminates this age barrier. If the technology allows it, I don't see it as being anything new or different. And parental permission (mom or dad registers the phone under their own name, instead of in the kid's name) would still apply here. I am a firm believer that parents should not ask society to do what they are unwilling to, and that society should not restrict everyone's access to anything based on a least common denominator mentality. However, I do support the concept that there are areas outside of a parent's control, and assisting parents to gain appropriate control in those situations is a good thing.About seven years ago, DC Comics created a new imprint specifically for SF-based comic books. This imprint was called HELIX, and its only book to make a significant dent in the landscape was Warren Ellis' TRANSMETROPOLITAN.
However, this imprint was originally to be called MATRIX, until they were told that the name was registered in the Entertainment space already. Seven years ago - wonder who had that name locked up?
At least, I thought of the Lynx first. My Lynx always felt cooler than my GameGear, to me anyway.
Actually, this is not necessarily a bad solution, and could provide a useful experiment.
Get spam sent to other people with "opt-out" instructions. The common wisdom has it that a significant number of the opt-out deals really verify your address for spammers. Try asking for your e-mail address to be removed (even though it's not really there), and see what happens....
First, as someone else in this thread stated, the first version of whatever you crank out, no matter how well-thought-out, isn't going to be ideal. Until the product has hit the real world, and real people have used it to perform their work, there will be unidentified inadequacies, design problems, shortcuts needed, etc.
I always approach things from the "Do it right" perspective -- initially. I figure out what seems to be the best approach to resolve the problem. Admittedly, part of "best" does involve budgetary issues - on a shoestring budget, "best" can't include hundreds of thousands (or even tens of thousands!) of dollars' worth of high-end hardware and expensive software, and that's unlikely to change even over the course of years, in most cases.
Once I've decided the "best" solution, I look at how clean I can make a solution that fits into the budgetary constraints I'm working in. Lay the groundwork for versions 2 and 3, as long as it doesn't prevent you from reaching your version 1 goals.
Now, it doesn't necessarily pay to be to lay that groundwork too extravagantly; as noted earlier, at least part of version 2 will be responding to the comments, complaints, and critiques of the users of the system. Unless you have the luxury of spending an extensive amount of time with end users, getting their input on everything from validation, auto fills, and screen layouts to the color schemes to use, there will be requested changes.
Also, remember that you're almost always serving two masters; the end user who sits in front of your creation, and the guy who signs the checks. If you want to finish the project, the check guy has to be happy; if you want to get more work down the road, the end users better be happy.
Ultimately, communication is key. As others have said, document what will and won't get done, and get sign-off on it. When (not if) the client wants to change things, point to the contract that either says that the delivery dates will changes or that changes will be made after everything on the current approved timeline is complete, and that the client will pay when things change.
You're stuck in the middle of everyone using the various aspects of the program (not to mention the people writing those precious checks), so take on the role of middleman fully. If the end users convince you that something is required, discuss it with the check people until they either understand why it's needed or make it clear they don't care why. Do you best to make sure the client understands why you recommend against a particular course of action. Document when they choose to ignore such advice. Then do what they want (barring ethical/moral/legal issues - only you can decide if you're willing to get fired (maybe "blacklisted") over what's going on).
In short, pull as close to "do it right" as you can, and try to make it as easy as possible to come back later and fix the "quick and dirty" parts, if you can. And make sure everyone knows what's what.
When I searched (minutes ago), and skimmed through the first half of the results, none of the documents was still confidential (newest one to expire ran through May 2003).
Admittedly, I'm too lazy to explore further, but it certainly appears that, at present, the "confidential" documents to be found aren't considered confidential any more.
That said, as I noted, I got 59 results; does anyone who hit it earlier recall more?
XML would do the trick nicely that way you could maintain the structure of the text while ensuring that it will be human readable for ever.
That's just the tip of the iceberg. The real problem is how to store the data: CD? DVD? +R, -R?
Data stored off on punch cards, paper tape, reel-to-reel magnetic tape, is already getting harder to retrieve, because these devices are getting harder to find. Someone who put their thesis on a reel-to-reel mag tape 15-20 years ago better be finding a way to get it off onto DAT, or CD, or a Zip disk pretty soon, or they'll have to build/buy their own reader (and interface!) to access it, if it isn't too late already.