Then too he has an odd definition of freedom. He seems to think freedom and democracy are exactly the same thing.
I've been thinking about what dubya means when he talks about "freedom", and I've decoded it to mean "corporate freedom from government oversight". He's not referring to personal freedom at all. Personal freedom doesn't return value to the shareholders and it doesn't really contribute to the bottom line.
Your North Carolina example illustrates this. Protecting "fornication" from prosecution doesn't do anything to boost profits at the factory hog farm. OTOH, Relaxing environmental standards to allow corporate hog farmers to dump more untreated waste into the stream does boost profits at the plant by eliminating "unnecessary" costs.
The problem is that Congress was complicite (sic) in the decision to perform the wiretaps (they knew about them, didnt have a problem with them until the information was leaked to the NY Times)
A handful of congresspersons knew about them, not the full body. You cannot assume that those who did not know were in approval.
If stating facts is polarizing to you, then you obviously live in la-la land, and no one can help you there. Hope you get better soon.
[I]t's the job of the court to determine if [your actions] were illegal . . . therefore until the President or someone else is convicted of breaking the law, their actions are not illegal
Although you back your arguments with little more than condescension, at least we seem to agree on the underlying principles of jury nullification. Something I think we'll be seeing more of these days in response to the "alleged" lawlessness of the executive branch.
The earliest reference to biometric spoofing that I'm aware of was the book: "The Red Thumb Mark" by Austin R. Freeman. It was published in the early 20th century. The detective (Dr. Thorndyke) suspected that a bloody thumbprint left in a burgled safe was actually a plant to "finger" an innocent man. The mystery wasn't so much the identity of the crook -- which you guess correctly in the first few chapters -- but the means of making the spoof and the method of proving his crime.
The first edition I've seen is dated 1928, but I think it was initially published nearer to 1900. The idea has been around for a while.
I think you americans do not understand the rage, the hate and the loathing that (almost) everyone out of your country feels right now against that pitiful "president" you have.
Assuming that you are a "foreigner" (w.r.t. the US, I presume) who actually feels "hate and loathing" toward the president of the US, you couldn't pick a worse way to work toward your goal (which is: changing US policies, I presume again).
I'm an American, I dislike the president, and I didn't vote for him. But if you really want to influence any Americans, you should try to refrain from insulting us. It's kind of like criticizing your spouse's family -- they can do it, but you can't. Cause once you start bagging on your husband/wife's stupid brother, you put them in a position of defending the idiot.
On the other hand, your approach would be perfect if in fact you were a shill for the US administration. You would be confirming the suspicion that the rest of the world is out to get us and we need to rally around the embattled president.
Ahem, sorry to get "technical", but the actions haven't been proven to be illegal yet. They are "allegedly" illegal, since no one has been convicted of a crime (if that will ever happen).
[sarcasm]Typical spin, sure. The President and the Republican Party and Fox News etc. are all such victims of "spin", aren't they? It's just ludicrous how these "anti-mercan" types will spin anything to their advantage, like calling crimes "illegal" even if no one has been convicted of them. After all, it can't be a crime if you haven't been caught and convicted. So much for the 'law and order' party.[/sarcasm]
It does makes a heck of an argument: "Your honor, as I haven't been convicted yet, my actions were not illegal. And since they weren't illegal, these charges should be dropped."
Oh, and I see your "ahem" and raise you a "harumph"!
You need to use source control, even as a single developer.
You need to have a single button build.
When the build breaks you roll back the change that broke it or you stop everything until it is fixed.
You need to build daily. Or better yet, continuously.
Unit tests are your friend. They're less useful on GUIs but for logic they're a godsend. Personally, I can crank out high quality code about twice as fast with unit tests (if you consider debug time). Reduced maintenance and improved sleep is a bonus.
In the same vein - automated system testing (if possible) is a wonderful way to improve shipped quality. Your testers (if you have any) cannot test everything.
Code reviews are great. We use code reviewer with great impact on code quality.
Hire the best people only and fire those you have no hope of redeeming. It may sound harsh, but allowing an ineffective developer to remain on a team is a great way to kill both the team and the project.
You must have a bug tracking system.
If you're stuck in a deathmarch, you might just want to take this checklist along to your next job interview. Make sure you can ask these of your potential manager and potential team. See if they both into these enthusiastically. If you can't talk to them, assume the answer is "no".
I wish I could beat with a crowbar all the cut-and-paste programmers who make my life difficult - I have to maintain the piles of repetitive crap code that they produced - they knew how to use Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V but could not or did not bother to do the most basic of programming taske: eliminate repetition by factoring code into meaningfully-named, paramterised procedures. This was best practice in 1970 already but so many people still don't get it.
All you gotta do is just put a unique identifier into each cuttenpaste, like e.g. "CP1654". Then, when you find a bug in one block, you just search the source code for "CP1654", and paste the fix in at each location. Couldn't be simpler. Imagine the time you save by being able to quickly find the locations of your cloned bugs! Piece of cake, a real "no-brainer", even a small retarded child could do it!
The only real problem comes in if each block is a slight variarion on the previous one. They all do the same thing, but in a slightly different way. Boring you might think, to go through all of that -- but no, it's the variety that makes it fun. Think Kama Sutra.
We developed a rule of taking the engineers estimates and double them.
I've found a more reliable estimation rule is to take the estimate, double it, and change units to the next larger (common) increment of time. E.g. 2 hours => 4 days, 5 weeks => 10 months.
Regardless of what you think of the policy, the guy on the other end is just a peon, not a "goon." He's doing this so he can pay rent, not because he enjoys harassing you -- got it?
You've said it right there, he's paid to harass. This is not a case of "just a peon". Perhaps not entirely "goon" either, since harassment probably doesn't reach the threshold of "terrorize" that the term "goon" implies. Still, a CSR trying to out-argue, out-badger or just out-annoy a cancelling customer is not completely blameless if the customer becomes annoyed and shows it.
You then give a different example (the luxury hotel) where politeness and class are appropriate. Presumably the staff at your hotel didn't try to pressure guests not to leave, then refuse to check them out and badger them until they gave up trying to stop paying for a room and just left with the meter running. Naturally, a bullying guest would not be welcome back, but this is an entirely different context. It's late, and I forget the debating term for this practice is -- some kind of fallacy.
Before your context-switch, the subject was dealing with CSRs who deliberately try to avoid processing your cancellation request. I'm sorry that you've had to deal with jerks from the other side. But it is not reasonable to assume that a customer who is repeatedly thwarted in their request will not become annoyed and show his anger in some way.
Your argument about banning a customer for life would actually be the ideal situation with AOL -- so in that case, if AOL followed your reasoning, the empty threat would pay off far better than the customer imagined.
And even weirder still, I was working on this really funny response, but then this new humor engine was available and I started using it and went back to square one. Then I thought, crap, I can adapt a humor engine better suited to my style than any off-the-shelf models, so I started work on that. But the whole concept of what constitutes high quality jokes changed in the meantime, so I started over again. There will be a really funny rejoinder here real soon now.
Political and social structures have rules, just like a programming language or operating system. Understand them, and their limitations, and underlying structure, and you can do a lot. Morals don't figure into it . ..
This is an example of what the mental health communitiy calls "Antisocial" behavior. Not "antisocial" in the colloquial sense of playing WoW in the basement instead of going out with friends, but rather "in opposition to society or the greater good". The Antisocial individual, or sociopath, believes in doing whatever is necessary to get what he/she wants without regard to other people. They regard morals and ethics as "being a nice guy" or "weakness", and only necessary to simulate when needed to maintain a veneer of normality. They see the rest of the world as their playground, to be used and exploited.
These people can appear extremely attractive and charming, and often inspire others to follow them (often to their own doom). They can be smart or simple and their goals can be anything from money to power to sex or any other attractive thing. Often, they are extremely difficult to unmask.
If, instead of working at a large company, you seek out a small fledgling business to work at, you will find that the benefits are proportional to the results and not to politics.
It sounds like you were lucky and/or diligent in seeking out a small company. This diligence is extremely important, because, as you point out, how things go for the company and you will depend heavily on the strengths and character of the owner/operator. Just as a big organization has its heirarchy to thwart you, your small firm will be subject to the whims of the boss. And as we all know, people don't always act rationally all the time. Sure, the boss wants to move ahead in life, but sometimes that rational engine gets sidetracked by baser instincts like greed, envy or revenge.
Fringe benefits will almost certainly be poorer, and this could be a big problem for someone whose whole family depends on his/her health insurance. Also, the winds of change can easilly capsize a small firm, no matter how well run it is. Cash-flow issues freqnently plague growing firms, so have some extra money on hand for when the paycheck is late.
Don't get me wrong: there are probably plenty of great small firms out there. You've got a lot of work to do to find one, and you also need to know when it's time to bail out.
I don't understand the adversion (sic) to office politics. Politics are just something else that smart people can hack.
If you honestly don't understand how some people can be repulsed by office politics, then perhaps you don't really have the "people skills" that you imply you have.
OTOH, if you meant that you believe that people's ethics and morals shouldn't interfere in their ability to "hack" the office politics then I see your point. I disagree with it, because when people behave in a way that violates their ethical code, they become unhappy and unfulfilled.
For the rest of us, when dealing with those who "hack" society for personal gain, I would recommend the book "The Sociopath Next Door" by Martha Stout. It provides some fascinating insight into this character type.
This is why many of us are moving to New Hampshire, joining the http://freestateproject.org/ [freestateproject.org], and working against these things. We nearly stopped New Hampshire from participating in REALID (the Republican Senators are selling out the state for a mere $3 million...) and we're not done yet.
You keep on recruiting like-minded people, and soon there'll be no limit to what you can almost do.
I wonder how they make up for the huge variation of voltage that a capacitor delivers. Basically, the voltage of a capacitor is proportional to the amount of charge stored, whereas a battery provides more or less constant voltage. The capacitor-battery would require a circuit (something like a switching power supply) to be able to provide constant voltage. That would . . . waste some energy.
There are some very efficient (90%+) DC/DC converters available right now. Some will even automatically switch from step-up to step-down mode on-the-fly. Many battery powered devices already use these ICs to supply the multiple voltages needed, e.g. 1.5V and 3.3V logic, and 10-14V for a white LED backlight in phones and digital cameras So designing these devices to use a nanotube capacitor wouldn't necessarily require a more complex or less efficient power supply. So I think we can solve the voltage issue if they can build the capacitors.
Thats 7.7kgs for those of us not still using British imperial measurements;-)
That's assuming that the weight was measured at 1G . . . If I were selling laptops, I'd list their weight on Mars. Sure you could use the Moon, but no one would believe you.
And important document should never ever be stored in proprietary binary formats: you can't decrypt them yourself, can't change bugs, can't do anything.
Amen to that. One of the nicest things about non-binary formats is the ability to difference versions without any special tools.
The problem is that airport security people are not going to believe that my bundle of components in a jiffy box which I soldered up myself is not a bomb, whereas the proper device from the shop at four times the price at least looks legit.
[sarcasm]
It's all in the packaging, my friend. Commercial packaging is "safe", home-made packaging is a bomb, poison, or other scary stuff. Everyone knows that. [/sarcasm]
We've become a management culture since the Cold War ended.
We emphasize management and we see what floats to the top. Now we've got a bunch of folks selected for their "soft skills" -- which is essentially the ability to manipulate people -- and we've put them power. Not just managing companies, but the country as a whole. Think you're safe because your "hard skill" hasn't been linked to terrorism and drugs yet?
Slashdot Mirror
I've been thinking about what dubya means when he talks about "freedom", and I've decoded it to mean "corporate freedom from government oversight". He's not referring to personal freedom at all. Personal freedom doesn't return value to the shareholders and it doesn't really contribute to the bottom line.
Your North Carolina example illustrates this. Protecting "fornication" from prosecution doesn't do anything to boost profits at the factory hog farm. OTOH, Relaxing environmental standards to allow corporate hog farmers to dump more untreated waste into the stream does boost profits at the plant by eliminating "unnecessary" costs.
A handful of congresspersons knew about them, not the full body. You cannot assume that those who did not know were in approval.
Bill O'Reilly? Is that you?
Although you back your arguments with little more than condescension, at least we seem to agree on the underlying principles of jury nullification. Something I think we'll be seeing more of these days in response to the "alleged" lawlessness of the executive branch.
The first edition I've seen is dated 1928, but I think it was initially published nearer to 1900. The idea has been around for a while.
Assuming that you are a "foreigner" (w.r.t. the US, I presume) who actually feels "hate and loathing" toward the president of the US, you couldn't pick a worse way to work toward your goal (which is: changing US policies, I presume again).
I'm an American, I dislike the president, and I didn't vote for him. But if you really want to influence any Americans, you should try to refrain from insulting us. It's kind of like criticizing your spouse's family -- they can do it, but you can't. Cause once you start bagging on your husband/wife's stupid brother, you put them in a position of defending the idiot.
On the other hand, your approach would be perfect if in fact you were a shill for the US administration. You would be confirming the suspicion that the rest of the world is out to get us and we need to rally around the embattled president.
[sarcasm]Typical spin, sure. The President and the Republican Party and Fox News etc. are all such victims of "spin", aren't they? It's just ludicrous how these "anti-mercan" types will spin anything to their advantage, like calling crimes "illegal" even if no one has been convicted of them. After all, it can't be a crime if you haven't been caught and convicted. So much for the 'law and order' party.[/sarcasm]
It does makes a heck of an argument: "Your honor, as I haven't been convicted yet, my actions were not illegal. And since they weren't illegal, these charges should be dropped."
Oh, and I see your "ahem" and raise you a "harumph"!
If you're stuck in a deathmarch, you might just want to take this checklist along to your next job interview. Make sure you can ask these of your potential manager and potential team. See if they both into these enthusiastically. If you can't talk to them, assume the answer is "no".
All you gotta do is just put a unique identifier into each cuttenpaste, like e.g. "CP1654". Then, when you find a bug in one block, you just search the source code for "CP1654", and paste the fix in at each location. Couldn't be simpler. Imagine the time you save by being able to quickly find the locations of your cloned bugs! Piece of cake, a real "no-brainer", even a small retarded child could do it!
The only real problem comes in if each block is a slight variarion on the previous one. They all do the same thing, but in a slightly different way. Boring you might think, to go through all of that -- but no, it's the variety that makes it fun. Think Kama Sutra.
I've found a more reliable estimation rule is to take the estimate, double it, and change units to the next larger (common) increment of time. E.g. 2 hours => 4 days, 5 weeks => 10 months.
You've said it right there, he's paid to harass. This is not a case of "just a peon". Perhaps not entirely "goon" either, since harassment probably doesn't reach the threshold of "terrorize" that the term "goon" implies. Still, a CSR trying to out-argue, out-badger or just out-annoy a cancelling customer is not completely blameless if the customer becomes annoyed and shows it.
You then give a different example (the luxury hotel) where politeness and class are appropriate. Presumably the staff at your hotel didn't try to pressure guests not to leave, then refuse to check them out and badger them until they gave up trying to stop paying for a room and just left with the meter running. Naturally, a bullying guest would not be welcome back, but this is an entirely different context. It's late, and I forget the debating term for this practice is -- some kind of fallacy.
Before your context-switch, the subject was dealing with CSRs who deliberately try to avoid processing your cancellation request. I'm sorry that you've had to deal with jerks from the other side. But it is not reasonable to assume that a customer who is repeatedly thwarted in their request will not become annoyed and show his anger in some way.
Your argument about banning a customer for life would actually be the ideal situation with AOL -- so in that case, if AOL followed your reasoning, the empty threat would pay off far better than the customer imagined.
It's too hot today.
Crap, again! If only I'd started work with your humor engine, I could have been done now. Oh well, back to the drawing board.
And even weirder still, I was working on this really funny response, but then this new humor engine was available and I started using it and went back to square one. Then I thought, crap, I can adapt a humor engine better suited to my style than any off-the-shelf models, so I started work on that. But the whole concept of what constitutes high quality jokes changed in the meantime, so I started over again. There will be a really funny rejoinder here real soon now.
They keep using that word. I do not think it means what they think it means.
This is an example of what the mental health communitiy calls "Antisocial" behavior. Not "antisocial" in the colloquial sense of playing WoW in the basement instead of going out with friends, but rather "in opposition to society or the greater good". The Antisocial individual, or sociopath, believes in doing whatever is necessary to get what he/she wants without regard to other people. They regard morals and ethics as "being a nice guy" or "weakness", and only necessary to simulate when needed to maintain a veneer of normality. They see the rest of the world as their playground, to be used and exploited.
These people can appear extremely attractive and charming, and often inspire others to follow them (often to their own doom). They can be smart or simple and their goals can be anything from money to power to sex or any other attractive thing. Often, they are extremely difficult to unmask.
It sounds like you were lucky and/or diligent in seeking out a small company. This diligence is extremely important, because, as you point out, how things go for the company and you will depend heavily on the strengths and character of the owner/operator. Just as a big organization has its heirarchy to thwart you, your small firm will be subject to the whims of the boss. And as we all know, people don't always act rationally all the time. Sure, the boss wants to move ahead in life, but sometimes that rational engine gets sidetracked by baser instincts like greed, envy or revenge.
Fringe benefits will almost certainly be poorer, and this could be a big problem for someone whose whole family depends on his/her health insurance. Also, the winds of change can easilly capsize a small firm, no matter how well run it is. Cash-flow issues freqnently plague growing firms, so have some extra money on hand for when the paycheck is late.
Don't get me wrong: there are probably plenty of great small firms out there. You've got a lot of work to do to find one, and you also need to know when it's time to bail out.
If you honestly don't understand how some people can be repulsed by office politics, then perhaps you don't really have the "people skills" that you imply you have.
OTOH, if you meant that you believe that people's ethics and morals shouldn't interfere in their ability to "hack" the office politics then I see your point. I disagree with it, because when people behave in a way that violates their ethical code, they become unhappy and unfulfilled.
For the rest of us, when dealing with those who "hack" society for personal gain, I would recommend the book "The Sociopath Next Door" by Martha Stout. It provides some fascinating insight into this character type.
You keep on recruiting like-minded people, and soon there'll be no limit to what you can almost do.
There are some very efficient (90%+) DC/DC converters available right now. Some will even automatically switch from step-up to step-down mode on-the-fly. Many battery powered devices already use these ICs to supply the multiple voltages needed, e.g. 1.5V and 3.3V logic, and 10-14V for a white LED backlight in phones and digital cameras So designing these devices to use a nanotube capacitor wouldn't necessarily require a more complex or less efficient power supply. So I think we can solve the voltage issue if they can build the capacitors.
That's assuming that the weight was measured at 1G . . . If I were selling laptops, I'd list their weight on Mars. Sure you could use the Moon, but no one would believe you.
Amen to that. One of the nicest things about non-binary formats is the ability to difference versions without any special tools.
If you're getting system power over ethernet, I guess the 5VDC is to power those hungry USB peripherals.
[sarcasm]
It's all in the packaging, my friend. Commercial packaging is "safe", home-made packaging is a bomb, poison, or other scary stuff. Everyone knows that. [/sarcasm]
We emphasize management and we see what floats to the top. Now we've got a bunch of folks selected for their "soft skills" -- which is essentially the ability to manipulate people -- and we've put them power. Not just managing companies, but the country as a whole. Think you're safe because your "hard skill" hasn't been linked to terrorism and drugs yet?
"Something, perhaps this very sentence, tells you it would be very dangerous to go left or right".