I'm an engineer for a major defense contractor. We go through countless hours of testing equipment, electronics, and software to make sure the products work to spec. We test the components that come in from sub-contractors, as well as our own components. We're all nerds at heart, and we take pride in making quality electronics that work better than expected. I resent stereotyping on slashdot that all contractors are greedy and corrupt. I spend many unpaid hours improving products, no charge to the government, and make sure what I do works properly. I don't work because I want money from the government, I do it because I take pride in what I do, and I do a good job. Stop this ridiculous rhetoric to vent your anger at groups of people and focus on the individuals responsible.
Without copyright, any material can be copied without repercussion. Very few authors could write full time if all their books are copied and they receive no compensation for their time. They would have to find a paying job to survive, maybe write as a hobby. The result would be a drastic decrease in new books. That's bad for everyone. I like reading anything I can, I'm willing to compensate writers a reasonable fee for their time. You may not like not those that over impose the law (like the RIAA or MPAA), but the alternative is worse. Changes in copyright law are warranted, but not removal of copyright law.
I don't see anything saying republicans are the instigators of this or that it's political at all. There's no reason to make hateful accusations. It's just convenient side effect of the melted pole.
Next we build the machines that will one day make use of our technology to turn ourselves into batteries. On the upside, they will create the best online world ever...
And heck, if you can do 8 hours of work at home in 2 hours, why not get 8 hours of pay! The key is productivity.
--PM
If the key is productivity, you need to think " If you can do 8 hours of work at home in 2 hours, why not work 8 hours and complete 32 hours of work!". That's how a productive person thinks. It does wonders for your career, and the economy.
#1) The job will be bid on via a no-bid contract to some firm that some senator is either friends with the owner or a part-owner thereof.
This is possible and would be a horrible thing to happen
#2) All the current TSA employees will be fired.
Probably, that's what happens when an agency goes away
#3) All the former TSA employees will be rehired by the private firm (such as Blackwater), at LOWER pay.
Many of them will probably be hired by the private firm, but not all of them. The pay will probably be about the same. Contractors try to match national averages to get quality workers. If this ends up being wrong, the government can fire the contractor and hire a different one. That's a big advantage of contractors, you can hire the ones that do a good job and have ethical practices, fire the ones that don't.
#4) Despite hiring everyone at lower pay, the contractor will bill the government double or more what it was costing the government to run the TSA by itself.
A large advantage of using contractors is making the contractors compete with each other. The have to bid on the job. A large portion of deciding who gets the job is who charges the least. The cost is usually cheaper this way. To keep the job, the contractor has to maintain low cost and complete the job in a satisfactory manner.
#5) Owner and Senator become super-rich, and lobby hard to have their personal income taxes cut because they are Job-creators.
Not true if the bidding process is done correctly. Big jobs like this rarely have corruption because everyone is watching it.
#6) Deficit explodes due to cost-over-runs and how much money is being pocketed by owner/senator. Meanwhile Congress votes to cut taxes on the rich to "reduce" the deficit.
If bidding is done, the costs will be lower than the TSA. That's the nature of contract bidding. The deficit will go down. If this is somehow wrong, fire the contractor and hire a new one. If they somehow all do a bad job, we can always go back to the TSA.
The summary is wrong. Wagner did not say that the paper made false claims. According to his statement, he said:
"the problem I see with the paper by Spencer and Braswell is not that it declared a minority view (which was later unfortunately much exaggerated by the public media) but that it essentially ignored the scientific arguments of its opponents."
He says the paper didn't address the views of opponents to his views. In response, the authors said
"But the paper WAS precisely addressing the scientific arguments made by our opponents, and showing why they are wrong! That was the paper’s starting point! We dealt with specifics, numbers, calculationswhile our critics only use generalities and talking points. There is no contest, as far as I can see, in this debate."
I don't know who's right. It sounds like politics getting in the way of science. Politics has no place in objective science. Conclusions need to be based on observations, not specific observations made to support a favored conclusion.
RC planes and helicoptors have pilots. Pilots can do intelligent things at such as avoid obstacles, not fly to low, and stay away from other aircraft.
Drones have no pilot, and often suffer from doing incredibly stupid things, such as running into things, flying too low, and coming close to other aircraft. The FAA keeps them away from manned aircraft and populated areas because they often do these things. For example, there was an instance where the military lost control of a drone near Washington DC and it started flying towards the White House. Incredibly stupid thing to do. It had to be shot down. If UAV's were in populated areas regularly, there would regularly be instances of them crashing into, houses, people, and businesses. They just aren't reliable enough yet to fly in populated areas, or around other aircraft.
They're being investigated because of what they claimed to have done, not because of their opinions. The warrants have nothing to do with free speech. In that context, the judge's ruling makes sense. Read the article about the accusations,
"The accounts at issue include those of Birgitta Jónsdóttir, a member of the Icelandic parliament who helped with Wikileaks' release of a classified U.S. military video; Seattle-based Wikileaks volunteer Jacob Appelbaum; and Dutch hacker and XS4ALL Internet provider co-founder Rop Gonggrijp. The order also sought records relating to Assange and suspected WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning, who appear not to have contested it (prosecutors say nobody "associated with" WikiLeaks has filed an objection)."
If the warrants were just about their opinions, a large amount of people would be under investigation. Rather, the investigators are following leads into how the classified information got leaked.
"A charity could do a lot worse than to load a few up with dictionaries, school books and novels and send them to some remote schools in developing nations,"
Or they could send a few dictionaries, school books and novels. Much cheaper and much more accessible (any book accessible instead of a single kindle with many books). I know it's a sin to say on Slashdot, but technology isn't always the best way.
"Dungeons and Dragons — originally Satan's Game — has now been found to encourage government-like behavior. In a finding by a three judge panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, D&D 'can mimic the organization of government and lead to the actual development thereof.' From the ruling: 'during D&D games, one player is denoted the "Dungeon Master." 'The Dungeon Master is tasked with giving directions to other players, which Muraski testified mimics the organization of a government.'"
We can't have any leaders in prison, that's just evil!!!!
The global average temperature went down from 2005 to 2008. It has gone up from 2008 to 2010. The nature of the data over the last hundred years shows an upward trend.
There are important questions that I wish everyone would consider when reading this. They are,
Is the cause is man made? (Consider volcanoes as a major CO2 source, sun energy output, etc)
Is the change significant?
Is the change preventable? (this is related to environmental factors that we have little control over, such as sun energy output)
What major sources of energy can we make available to replace oil and coal? One way or another, we have to answer this question eventually. Remember that we use close to the energy that the sun delivers to the Earth, so the combination of solar, hydro, bio fuel, and other sun energy sources will not be enough.
These questions are rarely answered, and will lead to a solution better than just using electric cars (which don't solve any problems since most power plants use coal).
to name a few. It's possible to publish without a publisher for sure, but it's also easy to make your own band, doesn't mean you'll be rich and famous.
"But as stark as the contrast already is between private and public spaceflight missions, the comparison may not be completely useful: Ares I, part of the imperiled Constellation program, is designed to get astronauts back to the Moon and Mars, while SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is intended only for the short trips currently performed by the outgoing Space Shuttle."
Falcon 9 was NOT designed to go to the moon and Mars as Ares was. Ares is a heavy lift rocket, not just an orbital rocket. This is not even close to a valid comparison. The rocket cost increases enormously when escape velocity and heavy loads are required. The article mentions that, but the summary ignores it.
"I still cannot understand why intellectual monopoly protectionism — the exact opposite of 'free trade' — gets included in free trade agreements"
'free trade' in this context means no tariffs, it doesn't mean free goods and services for everyone. IP takes effort to make, there no reason to give it away free just because it's not tangible.
Slashdot Mirror
All they know is the billion dollar bill is not on the roof ...
I'm an engineer for a major defense contractor. We go through countless hours of testing equipment, electronics, and software to make sure the products work to spec. We test the components that come in from sub-contractors, as well as our own components. We're all nerds at heart, and we take pride in making quality electronics that work better than expected. I resent stereotyping on slashdot that all contractors are greedy and corrupt. I spend many unpaid hours improving products, no charge to the government, and make sure what I do works properly. I don't work because I want money from the government, I do it because I take pride in what I do, and I do a good job. Stop this ridiculous rhetoric to vent your anger at groups of people and focus on the individuals responsible.
I want my 30 seconds back ...
Forget fusion, the next source of energy is STAR POOP!!! Now, who do we send out to gather it?
Only available on Goldline!!! ... but for $60 million, because gold is only going up ....
Without copyright, any material can be copied without repercussion. Very few authors could write full time if all their books are copied and they receive no compensation for their time. They would have to find a paying job to survive, maybe write as a hobby. The result would be a drastic decrease in new books. That's bad for everyone. I like reading anything I can, I'm willing to compensate writers a reasonable fee for their time. You may not like not those that over impose the law (like the RIAA or MPAA), but the alternative is worse. Changes in copyright law are warranted, but not removal of copyright law.
I don't see anything saying republicans are the instigators of this or that it's political at all. There's no reason to make hateful accusations. It's just convenient side effect of the melted pole.
Next we build the machines that will one day make use of our technology to turn ourselves into batteries. On the upside, they will create the best online world ever ...
And heck, if you can do 8 hours of work at home in 2 hours, why not get 8 hours of pay! The key is productivity.
--PM
If the key is productivity, you need to think " If you can do 8 hours of work at home in 2 hours, why not work 8 hours and complete 32 hours of work!". That's how a productive person thinks. It does wonders for your career, and the economy.
Soon all cell phones will be banned because of their dangerous IP infringement, and the landline will return as the obviously superior technology
#1) The job will be bid on via a no-bid contract to some firm that some senator is either friends with the owner or a part-owner thereof.
This is possible and would be a horrible thing to happen
#2) All the current TSA employees will be fired.
Probably, that's what happens when an agency goes away
#3) All the former TSA employees will be rehired by the private firm (such as Blackwater), at LOWER pay.
Many of them will probably be hired by the private firm, but not all of them. The pay will probably be about the same. Contractors try to match national averages to get quality workers. If this ends up being wrong, the government can fire the contractor and hire a different one. That's a big advantage of contractors, you can hire the ones that do a good job and have ethical practices, fire the ones that don't.
#4) Despite hiring everyone at lower pay, the contractor will bill the government double or more what it was costing the government to run the TSA by itself.
A large advantage of using contractors is making the contractors compete with each other. The have to bid on the job. A large portion of deciding who gets the job is who charges the least. The cost is usually cheaper this way. To keep the job, the contractor has to maintain low cost and complete the job in a satisfactory manner.
#5) Owner and Senator become super-rich, and lobby hard to have their personal income taxes cut because they are Job-creators.
Not true if the bidding process is done correctly. Big jobs like this rarely have corruption because everyone is watching it.
#6) Deficit explodes due to cost-over-runs and how much money is being pocketed by owner/senator. Meanwhile Congress votes to cut taxes on the rich to "reduce" the deficit.
If bidding is done, the costs will be lower than the TSA. That's the nature of contract bidding. The deficit will go down. If this is somehow wrong, fire the contractor and hire a new one. If they somehow all do a bad job, we can always go back to the TSA.
The summary is wrong. Wagner did not say that the paper made false claims. According to his statement, he said:
"the problem I see with the paper by Spencer and Braswell is not that it declared a minority view (which was later unfortunately much exaggerated by the public media) but that it essentially ignored the scientific arguments of its opponents."
He says the paper didn't address the views of opponents to his views. In response, the authors said
"But the paper WAS precisely addressing the scientific arguments made by our opponents, and showing why they are wrong! That was the paper’s starting point! We dealt with specifics, numbers, calculationswhile our critics only use generalities and talking points. There is no contest, as far as I can see, in this debate."
I don't know who's right. It sounds like politics getting in the way of science. Politics has no place in objective science. Conclusions need to be based on observations, not specific observations made to support a favored conclusion.
RC planes and helicoptors have pilots. Pilots can do intelligent things at such as avoid obstacles, not fly to low, and stay away from other aircraft.
Drones have no pilot, and often suffer from doing incredibly stupid things, such as running into things, flying too low, and coming close to other aircraft. The FAA keeps them away from manned aircraft and populated areas because they often do these things. For example, there was an instance where the military lost control of a drone near Washington DC and it started flying towards the White House. Incredibly stupid thing to do. It had to be shot down. If UAV's were in populated areas regularly, there would regularly be instances of them crashing into, houses, people, and businesses. They just aren't reliable enough yet to fly in populated areas, or around other aircraft.
They're being investigated because of what they claimed to have done, not because of their opinions. The warrants have nothing to do with free speech. In that context, the judge's ruling makes sense. Read the article about the accusations,
"The accounts at issue include those of Birgitta Jónsdóttir, a member of the Icelandic parliament who helped with Wikileaks' release of a classified U.S. military video; Seattle-based Wikileaks volunteer Jacob Appelbaum; and Dutch hacker and XS4ALL Internet provider co-founder Rop Gonggrijp. The order also sought records relating to Assange and suspected WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning, who appear not to have contested it (prosecutors say nobody "associated with" WikiLeaks has filed an objection)."
If the warrants were just about their opinions, a large amount of people would be under investigation. Rather, the investigators are following leads into how the classified information got leaked.
"A charity could do a lot worse than to load a few up with dictionaries, school books and novels and send them to some remote schools in developing nations,"
Or they could send a few dictionaries, school books and novels. Much cheaper and much more accessible (any book accessible instead of a single kindle with many books). I know it's a sin to say on Slashdot, but technology isn't always the best way.
Chuck Norris doesn't heat his home with natural gas, he uses liquid magma
"Dungeons and Dragons — originally Satan's Game — has now been found to encourage government-like behavior. In a finding by a three judge panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, D&D 'can mimic the organization of government and lead to the actual development thereof.' From the ruling: 'during D&D games, one player is denoted the "Dungeon Master." 'The Dungeon Master is tasked with giving directions to other players, which Muraski testified mimics the organization of a government.'"
We can't have any leaders in prison, that's just evil!!!!
The data from NASA is located here http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20110112/.
The global average temperature went down from 2005 to 2008. It has gone up from 2008 to 2010. The nature of the data over the last hundred years shows an upward trend.
There are important questions that I wish everyone would consider when reading this. They are,
Is the cause is man made? (Consider volcanoes as a major CO2 source, sun energy output, etc)
Is the change significant?
Is the change preventable? (this is related to environmental factors that we have little control over, such as sun energy output)
What major sources of energy can we make available to replace oil and coal? One way or another, we have to answer this question eventually. Remember that we use close to the energy that the sun delivers to the Earth, so the combination of solar, hydro, bio fuel, and other sun energy sources will not be enough.
These questions are rarely answered, and will lead to a solution better than just using electric cars (which don't solve any problems since most power plants use coal).
Important things a publisher provides:
1) Editing
2) Marketing
3) Cover and format
4) Industry connections
to name a few. It's possible to publish without a publisher for sure, but it's also easy to make your own band, doesn't mean you'll be rich and famous.
The first REAL fusion reactor is in a series of tests right in in Livermore, CA. Here's the link to their lastest progress,
https://lasers.llnl.gov/
They expect to have a reaction that gives off many times more energy than it takes to produce THIS YEAR!!!
Not only does the Dell computer burst into flames, BUT SO DOES THE USER!!! I know some politicians to send these clothes to ...
There is already a game based on DOTA, separate from Warcraft 3. It's called Heroes of Newerth (http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/).
"But as stark as the contrast already is between private and public spaceflight missions, the comparison may not be completely useful: Ares I, part of the imperiled Constellation program, is designed to get astronauts back to the Moon and Mars, while SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is intended only for the short trips currently performed by the outgoing Space Shuttle."
Falcon 9 was NOT designed to go to the moon and Mars as Ares was. Ares is a heavy lift rocket, not just an orbital rocket. This is not even close to a valid comparison. The rocket cost increases enormously when escape velocity and heavy loads are required. The article mentions that, but the summary ignores it.
"NSA Slashdotter Develops USB Storage Device Detector Trigger"
Runs as a service to drive you local network admin nuts!
The author is manipulating words, e.g.
"I still cannot understand why intellectual monopoly protectionism — the exact opposite of 'free trade' — gets included in free trade agreements"
'free trade' in this context means no tariffs, it doesn't mean free goods and services for everyone. IP takes effort to make, there no reason to give it away free just because it's not tangible.