Looks like a very good way to get yourself tagged as a 'person of interest' if you access it from any western country. Anyone want an all expenses paid holiday to some non-specific Caribbean island?
I can't remember which Heinlein novel (maybe Time Enough for Love?) was set in a 'nearly' cashless society. Cash however, was still needed because, as was phrased, it was 'the oil needed for the wheels of commerce'. What Heinlein was implying was that the contribution of black and grey markets can't be ignored, and indeed without them, normal commerce wont work at all.
My pessimistic view is 'yes', the 'but' is; but not for me. For the same reason I buy printed books and like to have vinyl LP's and CD's on the shelf. The tactile and visual pleasure of those 'crisp green ones' (in Australia, that $100 bills are green) is something I would not like to give up. Nor would I like to do away with the symbolism of the US$1 bill, or the history of the British pound.
No doubt they will come from the planet 'Kawabunga' where the staple diet is fruit from the Pizza tree.
I guess they also had to be raised from birth totally immersed in Earth's Gen Y culture. Or does their own planet, through some incredibly coincidence somehow have the exact same culture?
If you ask me, making them aliens is a totally piss weak cop out and a total failure of imagination on the part of the film maker.
A film would be problematic, unless it had a huge budget, because of the special effects needed. It's not like JLC is as mainstream as say, P K Dick to draw the attention of the good screenplay writers.
But I am completely with you about a game. Or even an animated film/series.
hmmm, was this topic started by Amazon? They can only do well from this in any event. Who else has already added items to their cart based on recommendations here? I am up to six so far.
As I recall, the first three books of the original series were first serialized in Analog magazine before they were published as novels.
It is really interesting to see that in the published 5 books, the first and the last were written post WWII, while the middle 3 were written circa 1930. Smith had to retro-fit WWII technology and scientific knowledge back into the series. For example, the initial forward placed the age of the universe at 5 million years, the post WWII forward extended it to 5 billion.
A few years ago I bought a reprint of the series in the original covers and unabridged and gave it to my son for his 16th birthday. They were something like $35 per novel, for a paperback, but a very high quality production.
The Corum series was my favorite. Corum and Count Brass - that's two. Corum, Count Brass, and Dancers at the End of time. Ok, that's three. Corum, Count Brass, Dancers at the End of time, and Elric of course. Right, four; Corum, Count Brass, Dancers at the End of time, and Elric, oh and the Eternal Champion. So, amongst my favorites are, such series as.....
I don't know if it fits the criteria of 'forgotten' but Philip Jose Farmer - River World, World of Tiers, and many other great novels - would have to be the amount the best SF of all time.
There is only one metric that really matters, and that is what your users think. You can collect all the stats you want, and put whatever spin you like on the figures, but if your users think you suck, then in the view of 99% of the company, you suck.
So my suggestion is; do what Cisco and other customer focused companies do, and for every ticket closed, send a satisfaction survey to the user. Don't make it long, it only has to be 4-7 questions where they rate the key things you did on a scale of 1-5, and should take the user less than 2 minutes to complete.
Then, you will have incredibly meaningful stats to show the good work you are doing. Or, you will have the precise information that shows what you need to do to get recognized for doing good work.
Just think about it., what is better:
a. For the last month there were 82.5% if tickets were resolved within the department KPI target,
or
b. For the last month 82.5% of staff indicated they were happy or very happy with IT support
I would agree that paid support is for the vast majority of the time, quite worthless. It is just like insurance. When everything is fine, it is a waste of money. Even then, over a period of time, the insurance companies don't stay in business by paying out over the odds.
Paid support is like a bad insurance contract - when you go to claim, you are never sure just what value you are going to get. My experience is; about half the time I have had to call on a paid support contract for help I have nutted it out myself before the support service has. Never the less, when all else fails, any help you can get is better than none.
a-choo - excuse me.
So a Toyota Camry is the best all-round performer of vehicles on the road today, But if you want super performance, buy a Ferrari, and if you want to haul freight, buy a Mac truck.
Really? Wow. Could a more pointless generalization be possibly made about programming languages?
What it really points to is that Google have now totally lost the plot in their love affair of their own cleverness.
Hello Borg Mk II
I am pretty sure no one who has a high degree of job satisfaction gets RSI. Maybe the headline should better read 'ATO a crap place to work.... staff jump on RSI bandwagon to get more time off'
When you have the finest beverage ever made, why would you complain about not having other choices? Think of the time it saves the drinking man - 'I will have a pint of _______' or 'I will have a pint'. - which means a pint of Guinness of course, since that is the only choice.
That is probably like 2 seconds saved on every round, which over a year of drinking would add up to 1.5 HOURS per year - or in real terms, 4 pints per year extra!!!!!
Choice - bah.
The start of the problem was Barr mouthing off to the Anonymous contact about what he was going to do. Clearly, his ego is to blame for the trouble it caused his company.
Slashdot Mirror
It looks like the real trick for this topic will be for someone to make a post that doesn't get marked down. - off topic -1. Thank you.
Looks like a very good way to get yourself tagged as a 'person of interest' if you access it from any western country. Anyone want an all expenses paid holiday to some non-specific Caribbean island?
I can't remember which Heinlein novel (maybe Time Enough for Love?) was set in a 'nearly' cashless society. Cash however, was still needed because, as was phrased, it was 'the oil needed for the wheels of commerce'. What Heinlein was implying was that the contribution of black and grey markets can't be ignored, and indeed without them, normal commerce wont work at all.
You know, I thought that as I was typing it. Perhaps 'Vinyl LP's, and CD's' would have been less ambiguous.
ATM's at casino's dispense $100 bills, as do the cashiers. Ok, so maybe that is an expensive way to get them. Still nice to have though.
My pessimistic view is 'yes', the 'but' is; but not for me. For the same reason I buy printed books and like to have vinyl LP's and CD's on the shelf. The tactile and visual pleasure of those 'crisp green ones' (in Australia, that $100 bills are green) is something I would not like to give up. Nor would I like to do away with the symbolism of the US$1 bill, or the history of the British pound.
No doubt they will come from the planet 'Kawabunga' where the staple diet is fruit from the Pizza tree.
I guess they also had to be raised from birth totally immersed in Earth's Gen Y culture. Or does their own planet, through some incredibly coincidence somehow have the exact same culture?
If you ask me, making them aliens is a totally piss weak cop out and a total failure of imagination on the part of the film maker.
A film would be problematic, unless it had a huge budget, because of the special effects needed. It's not like JLC is as mainstream as say, P K Dick to draw the attention of the good screenplay writers.
But I am completely with you about a game. Or even an animated film/series.
+1 grok to that
I think the movie was so bad, and had so little in common with the book, that most people would like to forget.
hmmm, was this topic started by Amazon? They can only do well from this in any event. Who else has already added items to their cart based on recommendations here? I am up to six so far.
As I recall, the first three books of the original series were first serialized in Analog magazine before they were published as novels.
It is really interesting to see that in the published 5 books, the first and the last were written post WWII, while the middle 3 were written circa 1930. Smith had to retro-fit WWII technology and scientific knowledge back into the series. For example, the initial forward placed the age of the universe at 5 million years, the post WWII forward extended it to 5 billion.
A few years ago I bought a reprint of the series in the original covers and unabridged and gave it to my son for his 16th birthday. They were something like $35 per novel, for a paperback, but a very high quality production.
The Corum series was my favorite. Corum and Count Brass - that's two. Corum, Count Brass, and Dancers at the End of time. Ok, that's three. Corum, Count Brass, Dancers at the End of time, and Elric of course. Right, four; Corum, Count Brass, Dancers at the End of time, and Elric, oh and the Eternal Champion. So, amongst my favorites are, such series as.....
ok, you get the picture.
Well World series
and many others http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_L._Chalker
EE 'Doc' Smith, the Classic Lensman Series.
I don't know if it fits the criteria of 'forgotten' but Philip Jose Farmer - River World, World of Tiers, and many other great novels - would have to be the amount the best SF of all time.
There is only one metric that really matters, and that is what your users think. You can collect all the stats you want, and put whatever spin you like on the figures, but if your users think you suck, then in the view of 99% of the company, you suck.
So my suggestion is; do what Cisco and other customer focused companies do, and for every ticket closed, send a satisfaction survey to the user. Don't make it long, it only has to be 4-7 questions where they rate the key things you did on a scale of 1-5, and should take the user less than 2 minutes to complete.
Then, you will have incredibly meaningful stats to show the good work you are doing. Or, you will have the precise information that shows what you need to do to get recognized for doing good work.
Just think about it., what is better:
a. For the last month there were 82.5% if tickets were resolved within the department KPI target,
or
b. For the last month 82.5% of staff indicated they were happy or very happy with IT support
I would agree that paid support is for the vast majority of the time, quite worthless. It is just like insurance. When everything is fine, it is a waste of money. Even then, over a period of time, the insurance companies don't stay in business by paying out over the odds.
Paid support is like a bad insurance contract - when you go to claim, you are never sure just what value you are going to get. My experience is; about half the time I have had to call on a paid support contract for help I have nutted it out myself before the support service has. Never the less, when all else fails, any help you can get is better than none.
... Basslink too! Fantastic. What a great resource.
Where did you work, and are they hiring?
a-choo - excuse me. So a Toyota Camry is the best all-round performer of vehicles on the road today, But if you want super performance, buy a Ferrari, and if you want to haul freight, buy a Mac truck. Really? Wow. Could a more pointless generalization be possibly made about programming languages? What it really points to is that Google have now totally lost the plot in their love affair of their own cleverness. Hello Borg Mk II
I am pretty sure no one who has a high degree of job satisfaction gets RSI. Maybe the headline should better read 'ATO a crap place to work.... staff jump on RSI bandwagon to get more time off'
Right so you have proved the point right there, so you have, to be sure to be sure.
When you have the finest beverage ever made, why would you complain about not having other choices? Think of the time it saves the drinking man - 'I will have a pint of _______' or 'I will have a pint'. - which means a pint of Guinness of course, since that is the only choice. That is probably like 2 seconds saved on every round, which over a year of drinking would add up to 1.5 HOURS per year - or in real terms, 4 pints per year extra!!!!! Choice - bah.
The start of the problem was Barr mouthing off to the Anonymous contact about what he was going to do. Clearly, his ego is to blame for the trouble it caused his company.
The book is called 'The Emperors New Mind'. Personalty, I find his conjecture cogent.