You can see his SETI@Home user profile here
with photo, bio, etc. Interestingly, he lists himself as a "consultant".
You can also theoretically "recommend" his profile by clicking on the
"Recommend" button. I don't know what this counts for, but I think this
could be a good way to support him and it couldn't hurt. Unfortunately,
the button didn't work when I tried it. Maybe it is because I went there
thru Google and the URL is not exactly right. Maybe you have to be a
logged-in SETI@Home user. Anyway, if you can figure out a way, I suggest
you recommend his profile.
That explains those mysterious hirings
on
Breaking Google's DRM
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Knowing how to develop stuff like this is not a skill everyone has. This might explain why Google recently hired some browser-type software developers (as discussed on Slashdot).
That's odd. I don't remember the Constitution saying anything about abortion.
This is like the "Constitutionally mandated separation of church and state." The phrase "separation of church and state" does not appear in the Constitution. What you will find in the establishment clause is that the state should not establish religion. It is actually the "Supreme Court mandated separation of church and state" based on its interpretation of the Constitution.
Abortion is the same. It is not mentioned anywhere in the Constitution. The Constitution does not allow or forbid it so legislation must settle the issue. The Supreme Court has ruled on it, but that still doesn't put any words about abortion in the Constitution.
Please note that I am not saying anything about my views either way. I am merely pointing out what the Constitution does and does not say. My views on what legislation should or should not be passed are a different matter.
I agree totally. Ever since the first time I saw a ballot with that I thought only idiots would use it. If you look at the candidates and your choice in each race is the same party, that's okay. Just blindly voting for candidates without even knowing who they are hurts democracy.
In the SE, I think it is used mostly by Yellow-Dog Democrats. (They would vote for the Democrat even if it was a yellow dog.) There are a lot of these in Alabama. It's leftover from reconstruction. (Them Republican carpet-baggers!)
My wife has a degree in broadcast communications from a college in Tennessee. As part of one of her classes, she helped the local newspaper conduct a poll. The topic was metro schools (city & county school systems combined), a very non-partisan issue. She had one respondent say, "Whichever is Democrat." She tried to explain that there was not a "Democrat" choice, but the lady insisted, "Whichever is Democrat."
Consolidating the voting was more subject to interpretation that a Florida presidential election. I combined names with USB on the front with those without it, i.e. USB Flash Drive counted as Flash Drive. Some people suggested more than one so I gave out half votes. Drum roll please...
7.0 Other 7.0 Flash 6.5 Key/Keychain 2.5 Thumb Drive 2.5 USB Drive 2.5 Stick/Memory Stick 1.5 Pen Drive
So, it is Other, Flash Drive, or Key/Keychain drive. Since Flash Drive got a 1/2 vote more and the Key/Keychain faction is actually the combination of the Key Drive and Keychain Drive camps, and "Other" is a rather vague name, I declare Flash Drive (my original choice) to be the official Slashdot term for these thingies. Let the Chaos begin (er... continue).
This looks cool, but the download is 259M! Server should be slashdotted soon. How about setting a torrent someone? (That is, someone who is not behind a firewall on a work computer.)
I used to think that was why my polls were rejected. However, my poll submission for "Favorite Necco Wafer" made it without a CowboyNeal option. (Sorry, yes I submitted it.) Based on that poll being accepted, I think the "flash drive name" poll was rejected because it wasn't meaningless enough.
Yea. I am amazed that Webster's is not a trademark. I wonder when Frisbee (R) and Ethernet (R) will lose there status. Soon we'll hear "Jump Drive brand USB flash memory drive devices from Lexar Media, Inc. (R)".
See this for more on lost trademarks.
I hear a lot of names for these things. What should it be? In a recently rejected poll submission to Slashdot, I asked
What is it?
Flash drive
Thumb drive
USB drive
Keychain drive
Jump drive
Pen drive
Memory drive
Memory stick
I use flash drive, like the NY Times article.
The Fun Guy likes thumb drive. However, I think that is a trademark.
Same for jump drive. A lot of people where I work call them a memory stick--that's very confusing and a Sony trademark. USB drive can refer to hard drives also. Hmmm.......
Let's settle this (or maybe not). What do you think they should be called?
That's what I like about slashdot--an interesting, intelligent and levelheaded conversation about topics of interest.
There are two different things that are being confused in the news.com article, the slashdot article and the slashdot comments: 'security patches' and 'security enhancements' lets call them.
'Security patches' are bug fixes to solve problems in the browser. These are needed to have a secure browser. They are not new features. The 'security patches' will continue for other versions of Windows.
news.com: Microsoft promised "ongoing security updates" for all supported versions of Windows and IE. and The ongoing security updates do not, as Microsoft points out, include the latest security fixes with Service Pack 2, released last month.
The 'security enhancements' are the new features added to IE in XP SP2 such as pop-up blockers. There are new useful features--nice to have, but the products still works without them. The security enhancements are only going to be available in XP.
from news.com: Microsoft this week reiterated that it would keep the new version of Microsoft's IE Web browser available only as part of the recently released Windows XP operating system, Service Pack 2.
The security enhancements are important though and there absence will be felt by those who use IE:
news.com: And it's those more substantial changes, rather than the bug fixes that come with routine upgrades for supported products, that security organizations have lauded for addressing IE's graver security concerns.
For me, it's all academic. I've been using Firefox/Firebird/Phoenix/Mozilla since Mozilla 1.2 and I used Netscape before that. I've never used IE as my main browser.
Slashdot article: Microsoft has decided that future IE updates, including those related to security, will only be available to customers using Windows XP.
That is not what the story says. From the news.com article:
Microsoft promised "ongoing security updates" for all supported versions of Windows and IE.
The specific security improvements to IE in XP SP2 will not be available to other versions of Windows, but security updates will be. I don't think Microsoft is stupid enought to stop security updates to IE for everyone.
Emusic is great. I was a subscriber back when it was all-you-can-it and got a lot of good music. Now, when I want some more songs, I sign-up for a month or two to get the what I want, so it's closer to per song pricing model.
A few recommendations:
Pop/Rock: CCR (Most popular mainstream artist.)
Folk: Black Twig Pickers ("period instruments" recorded on front porches and sitting rooms.
Bluegrass: Blue Highway and Doug Dillard
Children: Ralph's World (Best children's music anywhere and even adults will like it.)
Other: Best of College A Cappella
Plus, look carefully (search other user's lists) and you can find some 1 track albums. An album for $.25! They are usually nature, experimental or live albums.
That is not what normalizing is. I might not have been clear, so I'll give an example. If a state's voter registration shows that 40% of the voters register as Republicans, 40% as Democrats and 20% independent/other, then the pollsters will either pick a sample population that is 40% Republicans, 40% Democrats and 20% as independent/other or adjust the weights so the sample is effectively that proportion. This classification is not based on which candidate they pick, but based on a question like "Do you consider yourself a Democrat, Republican, independent or other. This sort of thing is necessary. If you do not normalize the sample, you must greatly increase the sample size to compensate for the fact that when you randomly pick the population they wouldn't be 40% Democratic, etc.
Pollsters do not adjust things based on what is being polled--candidate in this case. This is such an obviously wrong thing they would not be able to get any customers. Even if you wanted a poll to favor your side, you wouldn't use them because their results would be wrong and unpredictable.
I've been polled twice. They wanted to talk to a regsitered voter. I suspect they just talk to the first one, or in one case play recorded messages and record touchtones of the first one.
...a substantial fraction of younger people have only cell phones--so they hit a biased demographic.
I don't think this is the problem. Demographics like gender, race and political party, preference, etc., are usually corrected for, although I don't know about these polls specifically. They will either adjust the group they poll so that they are half men and half women, for instance, or adjust the weighting of the answers so they are effectively half men and half women. Unless people with cell phones hold different opinions that those with land lines--that is not accounted for by gender, race or political party, etc.--this will not be a problem.
I think the difference is just the inherent inaccuracy in conducting a political poll.
Yes, overhead is available, but it cuts into the profit and its use is discouraged. The thing about a division meeting (50 people or more) is that it would take a good-sized chuck. For group meetings, 5-10 people for 30 minutes, overhead is usually used. Yes, I'd rather they pay me for my time, but it's less than once a month so I don't mind.
The situation for bad weather is worse on overhead. There just isn't enough overhead to pay everyone for a day or two. Again, this happens so infrequently that I don't mind. If I did, it would get another job and not just complain.
"Right to Work" is a political euphemism for a law that forbids companies from forcing employees to join labor unions (or pay the equivalent money) for the right to work.
In a free country, people should be free to choose whether to join a labor union.
My employer (very large defense-contractor type) has a policy that if you don't work the time, you take leave or don't get paid.
I might not like it, but I can understand it. We have "full cost accounting," you might say. Almost everyone works on contracts for other companies or the government. These other companies aren't going to pay for hours (or days) of work they don't receive and my company does not have money to make cover it. Where is the money for unworked time supposed to come from? We do have administrative leave. It is time you can make up in the next pay period. It's not great, but it is better than nothing.
If fact, if we have a non-contract related meeting--one where we can't charge the time to a contract--it is almost always done at lunch, with lunch provided free. They don't have $5000-$1000 to pay a division of people for an hour or two meeting.
If fact, we don't have sick leave, just leave. We can use it however we want. If this sounds strange, consider that it costs the company the same whether you are sick or not. We do have disability leave. However, it's not just for sickness--you need a doctor's statement of disability. I received 2 weeks of disability leave when I had UP3 surgery (fairly easy surgery but a long recovery time.)
I can see where it would be different in a company where you provide a product or service and the money comes from that. The money to pay the people was already budgeted and the small amount of missed work won't a difference or can be made up in various ways. But at a company like I work for, it just wouldn't work.
and even if the documents are not originals or photocopies of originals, that doesn't necessarily mean that they aren't faithfully retyped copies of originals.
I find it hard to believe I just read that. Technically that is true, but it sounds like "if it turns out the documents are forged, let's still give them the benefit of the doubt that the documents really existed." By the same reasoning, if a reporter makes up a quote and is found out, that still doesn't mean the person didn't say it, so don't reject the quote!
In any investigation, if the documents are fake there is no reason to assume real ones existed.
If you ever wondered what happened to IPv5, check here.
Now if we can just find out what happend to Netscape v5.
Free anti-virus software (up to 1 year trial)
on
Am I a Spam Zombie?
·
· Score: 1
As part of Windows XP SP2, Microsoft is offering free trails of various anti-virus products: Norton, McAfee, CA, etc. You don't have to upgrade to XP SP2 to qualify.
This was mentioned on/. a while back, but/. search is down and I couldn't find it quickly on Google.
People still print code? I gave that up when I got a 17" monitor many years ago and could finally see enough code. Now with my 21" at 1600x1200, I can fit more code on my screen than I can on a page.
Having said that though, I just started my first project where the 80 columns limit was specified. The customer, who writes some of the code for the project, does still print code. So, I'm finally limiting code to 80 columns.
Slashdot Mirror
You can also theoretically "recommend" his profile by clicking on the "Recommend" button. I don't know what this counts for, but I think this could be a good way to support him and it couldn't hurt. Unfortunately, the button didn't work when I tried it. Maybe it is because I went there thru Google and the URL is not exactly right. Maybe you have to be a logged-in SETI@Home user. Anyway, if you can figure out a way, I suggest you recommend his profile.
Knowing how to develop stuff like this is not a skill everyone has. This might explain why Google recently hired some browser-type software developers (as discussed on Slashdot).
No, hold on... You mean the satellite service.
Never mind...
This is like the "Constitutionally mandated separation of church and state." The phrase "separation of church and state" does not appear in the Constitution. What you will find in the establishment clause is that the state should not establish religion. It is actually the "Supreme Court mandated separation of church and state" based on its interpretation of the Constitution.
Abortion is the same. It is not mentioned anywhere in the Constitution. The Constitution does not allow or forbid it so legislation must settle the issue. The Supreme Court has ruled on it, but that still doesn't put any words about abortion in the Constitution.
Please note that I am not saying anything about my views either way. I am merely pointing out what the Constitution does and does not say. My views on what legislation should or should not be passed are a different matter.
I agree totally. Ever since the first time I saw a ballot with that I thought only idiots would use it. If you look at the candidates and your choice in each race is the same party, that's okay. Just blindly voting for candidates without even knowing who they are hurts democracy.
In the SE, I think it is used mostly by Yellow-Dog Democrats. (They would vote for the Democrat even if it was a yellow dog.) There are a lot of these in Alabama. It's leftover from reconstruction. (Them Republican carpet-baggers!)
My wife has a degree in broadcast communications from a college in Tennessee. As part of one of her classes, she helped the local newspaper conduct a poll. The topic was metro schools (city & county school systems combined), a very non-partisan issue. She had one respondent say, "Whichever is Democrat." She tried to explain that there was not a "Democrat" choice, but the lady insisted, "Whichever is Democrat."
You can see the whole ballot at The Daily Kos.
This looks cool, but the download is 259M! Server should be slashdotted soon. How about setting a torrent someone? (That is, someone who is not behind a firewall on a work computer.)
Mark Twain (?)
I used to think that was why my polls were rejected. However, my poll submission for "Favorite Necco Wafer" made it without a CowboyNeal option. (Sorry, yes I submitted it.) Based on that poll being accepted, I think the "flash drive name" poll was rejected because it wasn't meaningless enough.
Yea. I am amazed that Webster's is not a trademark. I wonder when Frisbee (R) and Ethernet (R) will lose there status. Soon we'll hear "Jump Drive brand USB flash memory drive devices from Lexar Media, Inc. (R)". See this for more on lost trademarks.
What is it?
I use flash drive, like the NY Times article. The Fun Guy likes thumb drive. However, I think that is a trademark. Same for jump drive. A lot of people where I work call them a memory stick--that's very confusing and a Sony trademark. USB drive can refer to hard drives also. Hmmm.......
Let's settle this (or maybe not). What do you think they should be called?
There are two different things that are being confused in the news.com article, the slashdot article and the slashdot comments: 'security patches' and 'security enhancements' lets call them.
'Security patches' are bug fixes to solve problems in the browser. These are needed to have a secure browser. They are not new features. The 'security patches' will continue for other versions of Windows.
news.com: Microsoft promised "ongoing security updates" for all supported versions of Windows and IE. and The ongoing security updates do not, as Microsoft points out, include the latest security fixes with Service Pack 2, released last month.
The 'security enhancements' are the new features added to IE in XP SP2 such as pop-up blockers. There are new useful features--nice to have, but the products still works without them. The security enhancements are only going to be available in XP.
from news.com: Microsoft this week reiterated that it would keep the new version of Microsoft's IE Web browser available only as part of the recently released Windows XP operating system, Service Pack 2.
The security enhancements are important though and there absence will be felt by those who use IE:
news.com: And it's those more substantial changes, rather than the bug fixes that come with routine upgrades for supported products, that security organizations have lauded for addressing IE's graver security concerns.
For me, it's all academic. I've been using Firefox/Firebird/Phoenix/Mozilla since Mozilla 1.2 and I used Netscape before that. I've never used IE as my main browser.
That is not what the story says. From the news.com article:
Microsoft promised "ongoing security updates" for all supported versions of Windows and IE.
The specific security improvements to IE in XP SP2 will not be available to other versions of Windows, but security updates will be. I don't think Microsoft is stupid enought to stop security updates to IE for everyone.
A few recommendations:
- Pop/Rock: CCR (Most popular mainstream artist.)
- Folk: Black Twig Pickers ("period instruments" recorded on front porches and sitting rooms.
- Bluegrass: Blue Highway and Doug Dillard
- Children: Ralph's World (Best children's music anywhere and even adults will like it.)
- Other: Best of College A Cappella
Plus, look carefully (search other user's lists) and you can find some 1 track albums. An album for $.25! They are usually nature, experimental or live albums.Pollsters do not adjust things based on what is being polled--candidate in this case. This is such an obviously wrong thing they would not be able to get any customers. Even if you wanted a poll to favor your side, you wouldn't use them because their results would be wrong and unpredictable.
I've been polled twice. They wanted to talk to a regsitered voter. I suspect they just talk to the first one, or in one case play recorded messages and record touchtones of the first one.
I don't think this is the problem. Demographics like gender, race and political party, preference, etc., are usually corrected for, although I don't know about these polls specifically. They will either adjust the group they poll so that they are half men and half women, for instance, or adjust the weighting of the answers so they are effectively half men and half women. Unless people with cell phones hold different opinions that those with land lines--that is not accounted for by gender, race or political party, etc.--this will not be a problem.
I think the difference is just the inherent inaccuracy in conducting a political poll.
The situation for bad weather is worse on overhead. There just isn't enough overhead to pay everyone for a day or two. Again, this happens so infrequently that I don't mind. If I did, it would get another job and not just complain.
In a free country, people should be free to choose whether to join a labor union.
My employer (very large defense-contractor type) has a policy that if you don't work the time, you take leave or don't get paid.
I might not like it, but I can understand it. We have "full cost accounting," you might say. Almost everyone works on contracts for other companies or the government. These other companies aren't going to pay for hours (or days) of work they don't receive and my company does not have money to make cover it. Where is the money for unworked time supposed to come from? We do have administrative leave. It is time you can make up in the next pay period. It's not great, but it is better than nothing.
If fact, if we have a non-contract related meeting--one where we can't charge the time to a contract--it is almost always done at lunch, with lunch provided free. They don't have $5000-$1000 to pay a division of people for an hour or two meeting.
If fact, we don't have sick leave, just leave. We can use it however we want. If this sounds strange, consider that it costs the company the same whether you are sick or not. We do have disability leave. However, it's not just for sickness--you need a doctor's statement of disability. I received 2 weeks of disability leave when I had UP3 surgery (fairly easy surgery but a long recovery time.)
I can see where it would be different in a company where you provide a product or service and the money comes from that. The money to pay the people was already budgeted and the small amount of missed work won't a difference or can be made up in various ways. But at a company like I work for, it just wouldn't work.
I find it hard to believe I just read that. Technically that is true, but it sounds like "if it turns out the documents are forged, let's still give them the benefit of the doubt that the documents really existed." By the same reasoning, if a reporter makes up a quote and is found out, that still doesn't mean the person didn't say it, so don't reject the quote!
In any investigation, if the documents are fake there is no reason to assume real ones existed.
Now if we can just find out what happend to Netscape v5.
This was mentioned on /. a while back, but /. search is down and I couldn't find it quickly on Google.
Having said that though, I just started my first project where the 80 columns limit was specified. The customer, who writes some of the code for the project, does still print code. So, I'm finally limiting code to 80 columns.