I think you've pretty much nailed it. Perhaps a slightly different viewpoint would be to think of yourself as a one-person company. Your sole obligation, just like all other companies, is to maximize shareholder value. Naturally, you get to define what's valuable to your shareholders, since that's you. It could be money, it could be free time, whatever. With this viewpoint, you don't need to have any faith in the motivations of your employer. You just try to get as much of what you value for as long as you can for as little as possible in return.
It may sound like a cynical approach, but I think the idea of "obligation" to an employer beyond the terms of your agreement is really putting the individual at an ethical disadvantage. Businesses aren't charities, and you don't owe them anything for free. And they won't have an ethical dilemma when they need to lay you off or offshore your job. It's just business, and what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, too. Think about it: if a business doesn't behave this way in our current business climate, they can be accused of failing their obligation to shareholders. It's no different for you as an individual.
For most people, needs have a heirarchy. And this applies to a job, too. You don't need to worry about providing an advancement path if the environment is lousy, pay is bad or company policies suck. Needs are heirarchical. You often find the Maslow pyramid of needs translated into "job-related satisfiers" like this:
1. Physical: Pleasant workplace, Adequate compensation, time off, commitment to worker efficiency (up-to-date equimpent and methods).
2. Safety: Seniority, Finge Benefits, Good Supervisors, Sound Policies and Practices.
3. Social: Opportunities to interact with others, team spirit, nice co-workers.
4. Esteem: Symbols, Awards, Challenge, Advancement and Decistion sharing
5. Self-realization: Planning your work, Freedom, Opportunities for Growth, Opportunities for creativity.
Many people will say that their needs are in a different heirarchy than this, but I suspect the usual the case is that their lower-level needs are met and are therefore out-of-mind. I doubt that IT people are a different species than other humans, despite what it seems like at times.
Businesses often fail at providing level 2 safety -- especially in terms of the business being sustainable in the long run. If you're always 2 weeks away from unemployment, it just won't matter that you have a career-growth path.
Bottom line: If you can't provide safety and comfort for your employees in the form of a solid business that's not going to lay them off at the first signs of earnings downturn or outsource them to India to maximize shareholder value, then stuff like career paths just doesn't matter.
Source: I cribbed this from A.H.Maslow, Motivation and Personality, 2nd ed., 1970.
And the proprietary software supported more OS's than the dongle to use it???
Hum...
The USB dongles are not actually manufactured by the publishers of the software packages that use them, so the observation that you mock is, in fact, valid. I did a little checking, which you should have done . ..
Safenet Sentinel: Some support for RedHat and Suse + OSX
Aladdin Hasp: Looks like Linux support is new for 2005
WIBU Key: Has Linux support
MARX Cryptoken: Based on M$ CAPI
This is just a sample of some of the many dongles marketed to software publishers. There is some Linux support in this area.
What do you think all your internet connections are running on? Wireless radio spectrums and cable lines.
I don't quite follow you. Do you mean to say we need the FCC to regulate the use of the wireless spectrum, to ensure that equipment that can play fair really does play fair? Or do you mean we need the FCC to regulate the cable TV, telephone, electric utility companies, etc., that run cables to your home/business? Or both?
I did some more conspiracy math -- well, actually I looked up some numbers. This particular exercise was done on Color Laser Printers. I would guess that there are considerably fewer than 400 million of those in use in North America. They are also a "bigger ticket" item, more likely to be recorded by the store at time of sale, and more likely to have warranty card sent in by purchaser. I took a look at a few of the models from the EFF report and searched on Froogle. These printers (when new) sell/sold in the over $1000 range. Some are over $5000. Definitely the sort of thing that the guy at the computer store records the serial number on.
The "half-speed" thing is what really makes the cassette talking book a specialized format (15/16 ips vs. 1 7/8 ips). Talking books sound like The Chipmunks on a regular cassette player. All cassettes ["compact cassetes"(TM)] are four track -- two tracks per side = stereo. The side selection is something you can do on most ordinary cassette players with a balance control. IIRC, talking book side 1 = cassette side one, left track. Talking book side 2 is cassette side 2, left track. TB 3 is cassette side 1, right track, etc. That way they get 6 hours of talking book audio on a 90 minute cassette.
"Bad" is a little strong here: "Sub-optimal" might be more accurate. MP3 can do a pretty good job, so it may get widely adpoted in talking books because it's "good enough".
But I took a look at your cited link, and you may get that portable recorder someday. Looks like there is speex support for several major DSP chip families (TI, Analog) and embedded processors (ARM) + some industry sponsorship.
MP3 audio is supported in the latest Digital Talking Books standard used by the Library of Congress (ANSI/NISO Z39.86). The LOC is looking for contractors now to produce DTBs for the blind and visually imparied, so you'll be seeing a lot of these (or perhaps hearing them) soon. Digital distribution of talking books should result in more affordable equipment for playing the media and easier mass duplication.
I think the secret distinguishing method of only killing bad cells is: "if it's alive, it's bad." That works fine for use on the epidermis. If you can heat a living cell enough, the liquid inside expands, boils, and ruptures its membrane and the cell dies of 'catastrophic disassembly.'
As far as a wound goes, I wonder if it would be appropriate there. Pouring antiseptic on a wound often does as much harm as good, since it kills cells indiscriminately. I remember reading about WWI era wound treatment, and the discovery that washing a wound to remove foreign matter was preferable to "disinfecting" it with hydrogen peroxide or the like.
For tumors -- like warts, for instance -- maybe you'd take advantage of the fact that you can aim the sucker precisely. Burning and freezing techniques used today already kill some healthy tissue due to conduction when removing skin tumors, so if you could aim a fine "beam" then there could be an advantage here.
I'm being nostalgic, of course, but in the olden days a patent required the publication of documentation on how a novel device worked and was constructed. This dissemination of knowlege was considered one of the benefits of a patent system.
It's like he had a party and his guests brought some friends. Now he wants to charge his guest's friends with tresspassing.
One could ask the interlopers to leave. If they don't, then they are trespassing. And in any case, it wouldn't be legal for them to take your checkbook and ID with them.
But how much spyware is installed by the user unknowingly . ..
Isn't it still some sort of crime to impersonate the cable guy (or whoever) and gain entrance to a house? That would be analagous to the kind of trespass we're talking about. The 'consent' is obtained by deceit.
I don't think that most consignment shops in most states have an Auctioneer's License requirement, whether they sell the consigned items directly from a (brick) storefront or online through eBay. In neither case are they "auctioning" anything. I've bought and sold items on eBay, and if any party in the transaction could be called an Auctioneer, it would be eBay itself. Calling an eBay seller an Auctioneer, whether or not they are the owner of the item, is a misapplication of the term Auctioneer ("One that conducts an auction." -- American Heritage Dictionary).
As a counterpoint, I would suggest that anyone who has developed Windows s/w has used INI files at one time or another. And why not? Almost anything you can do with a registry you can do with an INI file. And INI files are certainly easier to clean up on uninstall than registry entries. Let's face it, the installer/uninstaller is the last thing you work on before shipping, therefore the thing that's cheated the most on tight deadline (except for possbily the docs).
There's global stuff in the registry that can be handy to have access to, but much of it is inconsistent, difficult to use and badly documented. I remember once trying to get a list of installed modems and available COM ports out of the registry -- nightmare. Needed cases for different version of Windows, then a "huh?" case for unsupported version.
[I]f you can harden yourself emotionally to the extent that you don't mind staying single your whole life, you can probably deal with a few rejections, no?
I think quite the opposite is true. Rejection can be extremely painful. Far more painful than the low-grade pain of loneliness, the awkwardness of participating in activities with married friends, the irritation of explaining one's marital status, etc.
Well-meaning people will tell you that rejection is not that bad, that you're just being "catastrophic" in your imagining of the possible outcomes, that it will get easier. Actually, though, the opposite is true. Each subsequent rejection is more painful than the last.
Of course, if anyone takes any love/romance/dating/relationship advice they read on Slashdot without a grain of salt . . .
It's not a very successful advertisement -- you usually target your ads towards your potential customers. Now Slashdot readership is overwhelmingly (but not totally) male, right? I have never heard a guy use the term "chemistry" to describe whatever it is a girl means when she says "chemistry". Actually, the only time I have ever heard a girl use the term "chemistry" is when she says something to the effect of "The chemistry just isn't there". So, as a guy, I don't really have a positive association with the term in the first place.
Right. That's about all I can say on the subject without depressing myself.
The Bluetooth idea is very good. There are Bluetooth profiles for audio distribution and for audio remote control that could be employed. You'd just need to find a Bluetooth module that implements them. Rolling your own profile in software, starting from lower level on the stack is real PITA and serious time-to-market killer.
Slashdot Mirror
It may sound like a cynical approach, but I think the idea of "obligation" to an employer beyond the terms of your agreement is really putting the individual at an ethical disadvantage. Businesses aren't charities, and you don't owe them anything for free. And they won't have an ethical dilemma when they need to lay you off or offshore your job. It's just business, and what's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, too. Think about it: if a business doesn't behave this way in our current business climate, they can be accused of failing their obligation to shareholders. It's no different for you as an individual.
1. Physical: Pleasant workplace, Adequate compensation, time off, commitment to worker efficiency (up-to-date equimpent and methods).
2. Safety: Seniority, Finge Benefits, Good Supervisors, Sound Policies and Practices.
3. Social: Opportunities to interact with others, team spirit, nice co-workers.
4. Esteem: Symbols, Awards, Challenge, Advancement and Decistion sharing
5. Self-realization: Planning your work, Freedom, Opportunities for Growth, Opportunities for creativity.
Many people will say that their needs are in a different heirarchy than this, but I suspect the usual the case is that their lower-level needs are met and are therefore out-of-mind. I doubt that IT people are a different species than other humans, despite what it seems like at times.
Businesses often fail at providing level 2 safety -- especially in terms of the business being sustainable in the long run. If you're always 2 weeks away from unemployment, it just won't matter that you have a career-growth path.
Bottom line: If you can't provide safety and comfort for your employees in the form of a solid business that's not going to lay them off at the first signs of earnings downturn or outsource them to India to maximize shareholder value, then stuff like career paths just doesn't matter.
Source: I cribbed this from A.H.Maslow, Motivation and Personality, 2nd ed., 1970.
Definitely worth looking into . . .
The USB dongles are not actually manufactured by the publishers of the software packages that use them, so the observation that you mock is, in fact, valid. I did a little checking, which you should have done . . .
Safenet Sentinel: Some support for RedHat and Suse + OSX
Aladdin Hasp: Looks like Linux support is new for 2005
WIBU Key: Has Linux support
MARX Cryptoken: Based on M$ CAPI
This is just a sample of some of the many dongles marketed to software publishers. There is some Linux support in this area.
Have you ever considered that you might hate them, too, if you just took the time to get to know them?
I did some more conspiracy math -- well, actually I looked up some numbers. This particular exercise was done on Color Laser Printers. I would guess that there are considerably fewer than 400 million of those in use in North America. They are also a "bigger ticket" item, more likely to be recorded by the store at time of sale, and more likely to have warranty card sent in by purchaser. I took a look at a few of the models from the EFF report and searched on Froogle. These printers (when new) sell/sold in the over $1000 range. Some are over $5000. Definitely the sort of thing that the guy at the computer store records the serial number on.
The "half-speed" thing is what really makes the cassette talking book a specialized format (15/16 ips vs. 1 7/8 ips). Talking books sound like The Chipmunks on a regular cassette player. All cassettes ["compact cassetes"(TM)] are four track -- two tracks per side = stereo. The side selection is something you can do on most ordinary cassette players with a balance control. IIRC, talking book side 1 = cassette side one, left track. Talking book side 2 is cassette side 2, left track. TB 3 is cassette side 1, right track, etc. That way they get 6 hours of talking book audio on a 90 minute cassette.
But I took a look at your cited link, and you may get that portable recorder someday. Looks like there is speex support for several major DSP chip families (TI, Analog) and embedded processors (ARM) + some industry sponsorship.
MP3 audio is supported in the latest Digital Talking Books standard used by the Library of Congress (ANSI/NISO Z39.86). The LOC is looking for contractors now to produce DTBs for the blind and visually imparied, so you'll be seeing a lot of these (or perhaps hearing them) soon. Digital distribution of talking books should result in more affordable equipment for playing the media and easier mass duplication.
As far as a wound goes, I wonder if it would be appropriate there. Pouring antiseptic on a wound often does as much harm as good, since it kills cells indiscriminately. I remember reading about WWI era wound treatment, and the discovery that washing a wound to remove foreign matter was preferable to "disinfecting" it with hydrogen peroxide or the like.
For tumors -- like warts, for instance -- maybe you'd take advantage of the fact that you can aim the sucker precisely. Burning and freezing techniques used today already kill some healthy tissue due to conduction when removing skin tumors, so if you could aim a fine "beam" then there could be an advantage here.
I am not doctor, but I have used band-aids.
I'm being nostalgic, of course, but in the olden days a patent required the publication of documentation on how a novel device worked and was constructed. This dissemination of knowlege was considered one of the benefits of a patent system.
One could ask the interlopers to leave. If they don't, then they are trespassing. And in any case, it wouldn't be legal for them to take your checkbook and ID with them.
Isn't it still some sort of crime to impersonate the cable guy (or whoever) and gain entrance to a house? That would be analagous to the kind of trespass we're talking about. The 'consent' is obtained by deceit.
I don't think that most consignment shops in most states have an Auctioneer's License requirement, whether they sell the consigned items directly from a (brick) storefront or online through eBay. In neither case are they "auctioning" anything. I've bought and sold items on eBay, and if any party in the transaction could be called an Auctioneer, it would be eBay itself. Calling an eBay seller an Auctioneer, whether or not they are the owner of the item, is a misapplication of the term Auctioneer ("One that conducts an auction." -- American Heritage Dictionary).
There's global stuff in the registry that can be handy to have access to, but much of it is inconsistent, difficult to use and badly documented. I remember once trying to get a list of installed modems and available COM ports out of the registry -- nightmare. Needed cases for different version of Windows, then a "huh?" case for unsupported version.
I think quite the opposite is true. Rejection can be extremely painful. Far more painful than the low-grade pain of loneliness, the awkwardness of participating in activities with married friends, the irritation of explaining one's marital status, etc.
Well-meaning people will tell you that rejection is not that bad, that you're just being "catastrophic" in your imagining of the possible outcomes, that it will get easier. Actually, though, the opposite is true. Each subsequent rejection is more painful than the last.
Of course, if anyone takes any love/romance/dating/relationship advice they read on Slashdot without a grain of salt . . .
"Of course you'd say that. You have the brainpan of a stagecoach tilter."
I'm pretty sure I got that in a fortune cookie once.
Right. That's about all I can say on the subject without depressing myself.
Don't screw with Archimedes.
Since you ask . . .
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=what+is+750+d egrees+F+in+degrees+C&btnG=Google+Search
or
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=what+is+7 50+degrees+F+in+K&btnG=Search
Cool, huh?
But my favorite is still: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=What+is+t he+answer+to+life%2C+the+universe+and+everything&b tnG=Search
The Bluetooth idea is very good. There are Bluetooth profiles for audio distribution and for audio remote control that could be employed. You'd just need to find a Bluetooth module that implements them. Rolling your own profile in software, starting from lower level on the stack is real PITA and serious time-to-market killer.
When I was in high school, while discussing music with a foreign exchange student, she announced: "In France, we call Bruce Springsteen 'The Boss'".