As you're no doubt aware, that job posting is fake. I did some digging in some local newspapers and found this:
WANTED: System Administrator Must be able to recite the differences between the free software and open source movement on command. Must be fluent in C, C++, Java, sed/awk, Russian, Pascal, bash shell scripting, German, perl and Effiel. Knowledge of GNU/Herd a plus. Prefixing all linux programs with GNU (ie: GNU/Linux) a must. Thick skin to deal with irate slashdotters. A BS in CSci, or equivalent experience required. Please send salary (or bandwidth) requirements and resume to Richard Stallman, c/o The FSF.
You put your monitor and keyboard on a swivel mount.. and used a lazy boy recliner instead of a regular chair... and you think you're gonna patent that? Who do you think you are, Microsoft?
More seriously - I wouldn't recommend that kind of environment for any length of time. While it may *look* good, it most certainly will not *feel* good after long periods of use - there's a reason you should keep your feet on the floor, and your butt to the back of the seat - it keeps you a) alert, and b) minimizes back / neck pain.
Maybe our illustrious kernel hacker doesn't have TIME to winnow thru all the dross to get to the gold.
Until I hear from Alan that he's the one that requested only +5 posts, and not slashdot, that's a moot point. And if he did, I'll take the issue up with him instead.
Besides, you have your +2 rating, and are IMHO abusing it to call attention to what for you is a non-issue.
You're entitled to your opinion. However, if slashdot wishes to continue to be a free and open forum for all - they need to address this "non-issue". The truth is that ACs were put at a disadvantage. Comments ought to be scored soley and entirely on the basis of their content - not extraneous factors like whether you logged in or not. To do anything else is prejudice - and this can't be a free and open forum if prejudice exists within it.
In public forums, you're supposed to be evaluated on the basis of your ideas - what you post. Not who you are, or whether or not you want to remain anonymous.
I'm posting another comment on this thread because I want to underscore the unfair treatment that anonymous cowards received on this article. Only comments moderated to a score of 5 were sent to Alan. That means all the good, insightful comments that were only rated "4" or "3" were ignored. The ACs didn't even have a chance at consideration - they needed 5 points to get their question answered.
It's flat out wrong - there were alot of people that spent alot of time crafting those questions - good questions, which were effectively ignored. Slashdot could have informed their readership ahead of time that ACs would be effectively ignored, and that only posts of a score of 5 would even be considered. It's common courtesy.
I think slashdot should appologize and show Alan the whole list. It ought to be up to Alan, not slashdot, as to what questions are answered. If slashdot wants to maintain any credibility as an open and public forum, it should immediately redress these grievances.
I don't believe it's fair to use the moderation system as the sole criterion for whether a question is "good" or not. It's unfair to those people who post as ACs (who need 5 moderations to get posted), versus those that have "positive" alignment and get a default score of 2 - which requires only 3 moderators.
Alan should have gotten the complete list, and replied to those that he found interesting and worthwhile - just like the last Q&A article from the kid on MTV.
If we're going call slashdot a public forum - we ought to have everybody on even footing for stuff like this.
The reason for buggy code is simple: most programmers have never had access to state of the art debugging software and tools. We're out using emacs, vi, gcc, and libraries we pull off freshmeat. For the windows side - they're stuck using buggy MFC code. The state of the art.. well.. isn't.
We need good tools to do good work. It's a miracle that we have an abundance of stable free software despite not having access to these tools. That should speak volumes for the capability and skill of the current generation of programmers.
Now, on the issue of ethics - programmers, and geeks at large, already have them. They just don't match up what society wants us to have as ethics. We mistrust authority, promote decentralization, and only offer respect based on competence - not authority. As such... it's only natural that people on the other side of the fence would be clamoring for changes.
Be careful what you wish for - you may just get it. If we don't have programmers exploring all the details of programmable systems - both the good and the bad, we leave ourselves in a kind of technological dark age. Certain knowledge is forbidden, and those that pursue it are persecuted and jailed. One might argue we're getting close to that now...
First genetic programming, and right after that, genetic engineering. Coincidence? I think not! It's a secret government conspiracy to link us all to the hive mind by using free internet access as a vehicle for world domination! Resistance is futile.. you will be assimilated.
Okay, I think it's obvious who hasn't had their morning coffee yet... I'll leave/. alone for awhile now.:)
No, his machine does not "suck". I have a P233 MMX with 64 megs of ram and a V2. Unreal worked well enough in single player - but sucked eggs if you did multiplayer. Even on a LAN, having more than about 3 other people in the room with you was enough to have you doing the lag dance.
That's really odd, because we discussed this in our state & local politics class - and it was that exact example used to prove that "setting examples" didn't work for law enforcement - ie: had a negligible effect.
Maybe the study you read made the mistake of going by total murders rather than per capita? I don't know.. but I'd love to see anything you can dig up on the topic.
Let's raid GT headquarters at 4:00am with about 500 swat team guys busting out windows, yelling and screaming. We'll steal all their computers, televisions, audio cds, phones, and anything else electronic. Then we'll make a huge publicity stunt out of it, and arrest the CEO on charges of international conspiracy! Yeah! We'll keep him locked up for 2 years without a trial, and hold all the electronics we confinscated for 5 years - evidence you know. After that, we'll let him rot in jail on 3500 counts of pirating software.
Before everybody goes off with the "you get what you deserve" rant.. I would like to make a few points, and why if the government does what I think it's going to do.. it wouldn't be good for anybody.
First, defacing websites is a crime - duh. But it shouldn't be a felony to do so - it should be a misdemeanor just like the realworld equivalents of "damage to property" and "vandalism". The government is deathly afraid of a medium that it can't control - which neatly explains the outrageous legislation being passed right now.
Second, this story will get sensationalized. Again, another obvious "duh!". The media loves scaring people - and the idea of some guy involved in a hacker crime ring hell bent on overthrowing the evil capitalistic system will be raised no less than 2^32 times. Jesse Burst may even comment on it.
Third, the you're-guilty-otherwise-they-wouldn't-have-arreste d-you dogma will also come to bear in the next few hours on slashdot. May I remind you that unless you disagree with the constitution - it's guilty until proven innocent.
I would also like to point out that the "setting an example" method of enforcing laws has been proven to be ineffective. We legislated the death penalty.. and the murder rate didn't change. We took it away.. the murder rate didn't change. That is one example, but their are case studies replete with more.
So what does this accomplish? It gives law enforcement good publicity (makes them look like they're doing their job instead of snacking down donuts and violating people's civil liberties), and it gives everybody the shaft because it's one less right that you have in our legal system.
Depending on your router tables, this may be a bad idea. If you use a default route and are on a ppp link (or forward it to another machine that does the same thing), it'll forward your query to 10.1.1.1 to your ISP, which may bounce all the way out to a major backbone before getting icmp unreach'd. In which case, it will spend another 4-5 hops getting back to you.. for a round trip of around 300ms.
The correct solution would be to set it to 127.0.0.*, which is guaranteed to have a fast turnaround. Depending on your setup, you can spit back a conn refused right away, or 404 when it accesses your local webserver.
I've read several posts from Linus, as well as spoken with several CSci majors. The general conscensus is that a purely object-oriented kernel is impossible.
What are your thoughts on the matter? What possible problems do you see with a pure OO kernel?
The more articles I read up on *BSD, the more I'm convinced that it will become popular, but not for reasons of technical superiority, "core" groups, ad nauseum. I think it's because geeks like being different - a cut above the rest.
Once linux has mainstreamed and everybody is using it, geeks won't feel so special anymore. I think alot of people jumped ship off of Microsoft simply because they wanted to differentiate themselves from everybody else. At the time, linux was the obvious choice. Now that linux has mainstreamed, geeks need a new toy that appeals to just geeks.
The answer, it would seem, comes in the form of a small stuffed devil with a pitchfork.
Sorry, but it fails the litmus test of what I consider to be a "good" machine. What's my definition of a good, geeky machine?
An FM tuner knob? It's just too hokey - like Compaq's "internet buttons" on their machines.
Cool logo. Yes, this is is important to me. Creative - get a more creative logo.
Free bumper sticker. I want to take pride in owning a quad-xeon 500 box with more megabytes of ram than most people gross in dollars each year. >:) Since not only does this box NOT give me a free bumper sticker.. it doesn't even have a decent processor in it to brag about!
Has to run linux. Well - duh!
Okay, enough with the slams on their product - what I want to know is: Why are computer manufacturers bent on trying to make computers something they're not? An fm radio?! What were you guys smoking when you decided to add *that*? If you wanted to be "multimedia", add a DVD player in there, with a hardware mp3 decoder so we could download and listen to our favorite tunes. Throw in a Rio if you want to really impress people! Yeeesh...
I know what you mean. I was just stereotyping to get a point across.. I didn't mean to step on anybody's toes in doing so.
Anyway, I still deal with the wannabes on a regular basis. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't know for a fact they weren't interested in learning how to do xyzzy magic, but instead just wanted to reap the power of knowing it. The classic example is the high school kid who wants to become a super-elite hacker and impress all his peers and "slap down" anybody who would dare to challenge him. Blah blah.
Personally, I find those people to be as irritating as watching a Barney and Friends telemarathon. That is what I picked up from reading this article, and I'm disappointed that MTV didn't contact members of our community to get a real portrait of what a geek / hacker is before posting this sensationalistic garbage to appeal to the "hip" segment of society.
Slashdot Mirror
WANTED: System Administrator
Must be able to recite the differences between the free software and open source movement on command. Must be fluent in C, C++, Java, sed/awk, Russian, Pascal, bash shell scripting, German, perl and Effiel. Knowledge of GNU/Herd a plus. Prefixing all linux programs with GNU (ie: GNU/Linux) a must. Thick skin to deal with irate slashdotters. A BS in CSci, or equivalent experience required. Please send salary (or bandwidth) requirements and resume to Richard Stallman, c/o The FSF.
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Sorry.. had to be said. :)
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You put your monitor and keyboard on a swivel mount.. and used a lazy boy recliner instead of a regular chair... and you think you're gonna patent that? Who do you think you are, Microsoft?
More seriously - I wouldn't recommend that kind of environment for any length of time. While it may *look* good, it most certainly will not *feel* good after long periods of use - there's a reason you should keep your feet on the floor, and your butt to the back of the seat - it keeps you a) alert, and b) minimizes back / neck pain.
--
Until I hear from Alan that he's the one that requested only +5 posts, and not slashdot, that's a moot point. And if he did, I'll take the issue up with him instead.
Besides, you have your +2 rating, and are IMHO abusing it to call attention to what for you is a non-issue.
You're entitled to your opinion. However, if slashdot wishes to continue to be a free and open forum for all - they need to address this "non-issue". The truth is that ACs were put at a disadvantage. Comments ought to be scored soley and entirely on the basis of their content - not extraneous factors like whether you logged in or not. To do anything else is prejudice - and this can't be a free and open forum if prejudice exists within it.
--
In public forums, you're supposed to be evaluated on the basis of your ideas - what you post. Not who you are, or whether or not you want to remain anonymous.
--
It's flat out wrong - there were alot of people that spent alot of time crafting those questions - good questions, which were effectively ignored. Slashdot could have informed their readership ahead of time that ACs would be effectively ignored, and that only posts of a score of 5 would even be considered. It's common courtesy.
I think slashdot should appologize and show Alan the whole list. It ought to be up to Alan, not slashdot, as to what questions are answered. If slashdot wants to maintain any credibility as an open and public forum, it should immediately redress these grievances.
--
Alan should have gotten the complete list, and replied to those that he found interesting and worthwhile - just like the last Q&A article from the kid on MTV.
If we're going call slashdot a public forum - we ought to have everybody on even footing for stuff like this.
--
We need good tools to do good work. It's a miracle that we have an abundance of stable free software despite not having access to these tools. That should speak volumes for the capability and skill of the current generation of programmers.
Now, on the issue of ethics - programmers, and geeks at large, already have them. They just don't match up what society wants us to have as ethics. We mistrust authority, promote decentralization, and only offer respect based on competence - not authority. As such... it's only natural that people on the other side of the fence would be clamoring for changes.
Be careful what you wish for - you may just get it. If we don't have programmers exploring all the details of programmable systems - both the good and the bad, we leave ourselves in a kind of technological dark age. Certain knowledge is forbidden, and those that pursue it are persecuted and jailed. One might argue we're getting close to that now...
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Am I the only one that was thinking of Pinky and the Brain after reading this? :)
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Okay, I think it's obvious who hasn't had their morning coffee yet... I'll leave /. alone for awhile now. :)
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December?! For the love of god, don't they know the world is going to come to an end at the end of this year?!
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HEY! Intel is NOT inside this thing!!!!!
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No, his machine does not "suck". I have a P233 MMX with 64 megs of ram and a V2. Unreal worked well enough in single player - but sucked eggs if you did multiplayer. Even on a LAN, having more than about 3 other people in the room with you was enough to have you doing the lag dance.
Now.. my K6-350 is another story.
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Maybe the study you read made the mistake of going by total murders rather than per capita? I don't know.. but I'd love to see anything you can dig up on the topic.
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Or not.
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Sorry, I meant to say "innocent until proven guilty". A freudian slip, perhaps?
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First, defacing websites is a crime - duh. But it shouldn't be a felony to do so - it should be a misdemeanor just like the realworld equivalents of "damage to property" and "vandalism". The government is deathly afraid of a medium that it can't control - which neatly explains the outrageous legislation being passed right now.
Second, this story will get sensationalized. Again, another obvious "duh!". The media loves scaring people - and the idea of some guy involved in a hacker crime ring hell bent on overthrowing the evil capitalistic system will be raised no less than 2^32 times. Jesse Burst may even comment on it.
Third, the you're-guilty-otherwise-they-wouldn't-have-arreste d-you dogma will also come to bear in the next few hours on slashdot. May I remind you that unless you disagree with the constitution - it's guilty until proven innocent.
I would also like to point out that the "setting an example" method of enforcing laws has been proven to be ineffective. We legislated the death penalty.. and the murder rate didn't change. We took it away.. the murder rate didn't change. That is one example, but their are case studies replete with more.
So what does this accomplish? It gives law enforcement good publicity (makes them look like they're doing their job instead of snacking down donuts and violating people's civil liberties), and it gives everybody the shaft because it's one less right that you have in our legal system.
constructive criticism appreciated - flames to /dev/null.
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This is wonderful news! Now people will be able to use sucky hardware under linux too! Boy, we're definately going mainstream now!
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(allegedly) from the warez community:
Hey, thanks man. We'll have this cracked and available for download within the hour.
We appreciate your patronage!
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The correct solution would be to set it to 127.0.0.*, which is guaranteed to have a fast turnaround. Depending on your setup, you can spit back a conn refused right away, or 404 when it accesses your local webserver.
--
What are your thoughts on the matter? What possible problems do you see with a pure OO kernel?
--
Once linux has mainstreamed and everybody is using it, geeks won't feel so special anymore. I think alot of people jumped ship off of Microsoft simply because they wanted to differentiate themselves from everybody else. At the time, linux was the obvious choice. Now that linux has mainstreamed, geeks need a new toy that appeals to just geeks.
The answer, it would seem, comes in the form of a small stuffed devil with a pitchfork.
--
An FM tuner knob? It's just too hokey - like Compaq's "internet buttons" on their machines.
Cool logo. Yes, this is is important to me. Creative - get a more creative logo.
Free bumper sticker. I want to take pride in owning a quad-xeon 500 box with more megabytes of ram than most people gross in dollars each year. >:) Since not only does this box NOT give me a free bumper sticker.. it doesn't even have a decent processor in it to brag about!
Has to run linux. Well - duh!
Okay, enough with the slams on their product - what I want to know is: Why are computer manufacturers bent on trying to make computers something they're not? An fm radio?! What were you guys smoking when you decided to add *that*? If you wanted to be "multimedia", add a DVD player in there, with a hardware mp3 decoder so we could download and listen to our favorite tunes. Throw in a Rio if you want to really impress people! Yeeesh...
--
I know what you mean. I was just stereotyping to get a point across.. I didn't mean to step on anybody's toes in doing so.
Anyway, I still deal with the wannabes on a regular basis. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't know for a fact they weren't interested in learning how to do xyzzy magic, but instead just wanted to reap the power of knowing it. The classic example is the high school kid who wants to become a super-elite hacker and impress all his peers and "slap down" anybody who would dare to challenge him. Blah blah.
Personally, I find those people to be as irritating as watching a Barney and Friends telemarathon. That is what I picked up from reading this article, and I'm disappointed that MTV didn't contact members of our community to get a real portrait of what a geek / hacker is before posting this sensationalistic garbage to appeal to the "hip" segment of society.
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Maybe. But as Obi-Wan said to Yoda... "There is another..."
If the penguin falters.. we still have the daemon.
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