This seems to be a case of you trying to redefine an accepted term from what it actually means to what you think it should mean. Unfortunately, language doesn't work that way.
Most opinions on Slashdot tend to skew towards information not being "property" at all. It's a bunch of bits. A cloud storage provider is simply a storage device, and like all storage devices it CAN fail. You need to plan for that possibility and have a contingency plan in place. If you are so naive as to place your data solely onto one of these services then if it fails you're SOL.
Instead, use them as a supplement to your other backups. I use Dropbox pretty extensively myself, but if it goes under I'll just switch to another provider, as my data is still on my drives too and still gets copied to DVDs fairly regularly .
In most curriculums Astronomy 101 deals with the planets of the Solar System. Not a lot of talk about galaxies until Astronomy 102;).
All in all though, I recently saw one of the head researchers of the SETI project at a presentation, and he seemed very level headed about the whole thing. He was completely open to the idea that ET might not be out there at all, or might be too far, or their methods may be flawed in such a way that we'd never detect them using the methods that SETI currently employs.
It all basically boils down to one thing though: what if that isn't the case? If you only limit yourself to ventures which have certainty of success, then we're in for a very boring future. SETI's a gamble. We take a look, we what (if anything) is out there, and if it's not successful, then oh well. We tried.
Depends. They're in New Zealand so I'm not sure how it works there, but VERY few retail establishments closed here on Good Friday. I'm willing to be that it was at least semi-expected that some stores would be open there too, given the number of people that actually were out trying to shop.
Not only that but maybe some people really needed milk for their Easter Feast or baby formula but the automated register had stop working. So they'll come in on Monday and pay for the food.
I'm sure there were other shops around that could have sold them those items. Hell I work in a very small town (population is roughly 6,000) and there are no less than 5 grocery stores in town to choose from (plus a myriad of smaller stores that also carry necessities like baby formula and eggs). I don't think "it was an emergency" will hold up.
No - rather you won't be save inside modern shopping malls because it's going to unlock and let all the zombies in:).
My thought has always been that I'll just hangout in my attic in the event of a zombie apocalypse. I could make access (cutting a hole) to the roof if need be to get away - there is no way up into the attic without pulling down a draw string that can easily be retracted - AND I could "borrow" into my pantry to retrieve groceries as needed (assuming I didn't have time to move all the canned goods up ahead of time).
Whether I there or head out though, I've still got a "survival" bag to take with me. It's got emergency blankets, rain ponchos, gun, ammo, knives, a hatchet, first aid kit, canteen, fishing gear, matches, compass, tarp, rope, etc. in it just in case.
And yes, I've thought about this WAY too much:D (and in reality the bag is more just for "general purpose emergency use" than for zombies)
Not quite the same thing, but I'd liken it to iTunes. iTunes basically took off not because people really wanted to pay for music very badly, but because they made getting legitimate music easier than pirating it, and price it such that paying really wasn't a huge deal. Getting caught doing this wasn't a huge detterent because almost no one ever got caught.
In the same light, many people might not have an issue paying for the groceries (even if they could take them without being caught) if it was quick and easy, but the instant the self-checkout breaks down paying becomes a hassle, and the risk of getting caught is still minimal.
A moral compass isn't binary. It happens in degrees, and I don't think it's a stretch to say that with little chance of consequences people will do the right thing, but only if it's convenient and easy.
Some people (including myself) have an extreme aversion to self-checkout systems, so I'd notice.
They're too damned temperamental for my tastes. They use scales to weigh the bags to make sure nothing that wasn't scanned ends up in the bag. Of course, if the original input weight was wrong, or (more likely) the scale is just being quirky, you get the prompt to wait for an associate to come over and verify your contents. Then there's the age-related prompts. Things like alcohol, sure, but then you have a myriad of other crap that may trigger an alarm (like just about anything in an aerosol can) for an associate (who may or may not be nearby) to come check out the situation.
Combine that with the 60 year old idiots who are trying that "new fanangled" machine and are staring at it blankly when it asks for payment (which inevitably takes them FOREVER to figure out) and it's just too much hassle for me to deal with. I'll stand in the regular line - any employee that comes by to remind me that the self-checkout is open gets a verbal "No thanks" plus my "Go to hell" look.
Maybe once they work a little better I'll start using the self-checkout machines again.
.... and use assault weapons to arrest someone you have no reason to believe is armed and dangerous.
That boils down to the same reason ANYONE is armed though: it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. I don't think it's a wise move for our police to leave home their weapons because someone might find it scary.
On the other hand, if the story is correct about the "cuts and bruises", then they certainly did go above and beyond the necessary force needed to arrest a suspect (assuming he wasn't resisting). The physical force used is a completely separate matter from what gear they bring along though.
While to some degree I agree, realistically almost everyone is about "making the world better" conservatives and liberals alike. Very few people truly want the world to be worse off. It's just that different people tend to have different ideas and viewpoints on just what constitutes making the world better, or on what actions are needed to achieve that goal.
Since it's become clear that for the most part, there are 2 distinct schools of thought on the matter, it has become convenient to label them so that we can ascertain someone's position more quickly rather than having to have a lengthy conversation on "the issues" with every individual we meet. "Liberal" and "Conservative" work just as well as any other names. It's still up in the air whether "Moderate" is a 3rd distinct approach.
And every country continues to use Knots for velocity of ships and aircraft.
Depends on the aircraft. Some have airspeed indicators in knots, some in mph. It was aggravating for me when I was doing my training as the A&P (essentially the airplane mechanic) was constantly tinkering with the plane moving the ASI from one to the other. Given that on final I'm generally coming in somewhat close to stall speed, it became very important to check that plane every time I got in to make sure which unit it was reporting in.
If the job is something you love, how can you not have experience? It seems to me that you'd be already doing it as your hobby and therefore have tons of experience.
I don't think you understand the way the system works. "Experience" is shorthand for "Professional Experience", and is measured in years that you've been employed in the area. Anything you've honed via personal interest is simply a "skill" and is not considered "experience", no matter how much you loved it or how much effort you put in.
This is what I was thankful that I did a work-study program with the IT department at my college. Wasn't doing anything fancy, and it was part-time, but immediately after graduation I was still able to claim 4-years experience in the industry.
The A-10 has a far greater missions versatility than you think. Yes, it's a bit slow, but it's faster than any helicopter you might send, and it carries an air-to-ground payload capability that dwarfs the F-16. Also, though I certainly wouldn't want to depend on it, it also DOES carry a limited number of air-to-air missiles for defending itself. Realistically you can also simply design your mission around having a few fighters come in with the A-10's as an escort in case anything else shows up.
The Air Force is in no hurry at all to get rid of the Warthog.
I haven't seen any reports that puts them anywhere near the cost of an F-22.
You have to think of it this way: MOST of the time we're not fighting the Chinas or Russias of the world. We're fighting small countries with air forces that might have a few dozen surplused 50 year old fighters. We simply don't need state of the art for those battles, so why waste the money on it.
Bulk up the fleet with a cheaper plane that can do 99% of what our air forces need to do, and then keep a smaller number of F-22's ready for if we really do end up going to war with another superpower.
Think of them like an Atom processor - "good enough" for most tasks, and more efficient and cost effective. You only splurge for a more limited number if i7's for the things that really need it:D.
The F-35 was never intended to be the top dog of the skies. That's what the F-22 was designed for. The F-35 is essentially a budget fighter/attack craft. They're designed to get a lot of them into the sky for minimum money (yes, that "minimum" cost still sounds high outside of context, but for a fighter it's pretty low).
At this point, in an economic downturn, sure, there are a LOT of people on unemployment who would happily work (and many who WERE working until they were laid off). That is a development within the last few years though. For a long time unemployment generally was where a lot of lazy people went to get a check for a while. Its hard to shake that stigma that's built up.
It's much like disability. I know at least 10 people on disability. Only one of them actually needs it (he was severely injured to the point of having trouble walking in a car accident), and I have no issue with the people who need it getting that assistance. Most of the rest just wanted to get out of having to work. One guy I knew at first tried to claim he was seeing dead people talking to him to claim that he wasn't mentally capable of working. Once that failed he did finally get it for claiming that he was too overweight to work. Others just want the extra free money. One of the people I know on disability for a "back injury" still works 3-4 days a week off the books in LANDSCAPING (where any true back injury would prevent him from working) just so that he can pull in both the disability check and an under the table paycheck.
As with all things, the people gaming the system truly taint it in the eyes of the public. I don't think MOST people would be against some level of social welfare for those that truly need it, but it's hard to not develop a negative taste for it given how different reality plays out compared to theory.
That's not exactly a new idea. I'm 29 and even when I was in middle and high school we used a "lunch card" system. EVERYONE used a lunch card with 10 strips on it (so 2 weeks worth of lunches) to get their lunch (there was a machine that shaved a strip off each time the lunch cashier checked you out). You would visit a desk in the lunchroom in the mornings before school started to get your cards. Just tell them your name. If they checked the chart and you were full price, it was $10 for 2 weeks. If you were at "reduced" price it was $4 for 2 weeks. If your name was free they simply issued you your card without charging on the same interval. I typically was on the "reduced" price lunches (semi-poor:)) until my last 2 years of high school when my dad's salary finally topped the bracket and pushed me into full price.
Overall it was a good system, and heck even for the kids eating at "full price", and even 16-18 years ago, $10 for 2 weeks worth of meals wasn't a bad deal at all.
Nah, the birthday celebrations are enough. Take a small office with 30-40 people in it, and if you celebrate everyone's birthday there's a birthday at least a couple times per month. Cue the cake and ice cream. And the folks I work with have a habit of buying a whole box (or two) of donuts in the morning just to get one, then leaving it on the counter with a "Take one" sign on them.
When I started here I gained 18 lbs within the first 2 years. I've taken off 12 of those gained pounds again, but it gets difficult to avoid temptation with all the sweets around:).
Not all government agencies work that way. I work in government myself, and if a vendor or contractor that is displaying a product offers to provide lunch we're specifically instructed to refuse. We can go to lunch with them, but are required to pick up our own tab. The reasoning is simple: we want to avoid any possible accusations that purchasing decisions were based on "wining and dining".
As a matter of fact, I'd say that the free lunches thing is probably way more prevalent in the private sector, where it might be frowned upon (by outsiders), but isn't actually illegal. When you're spending public money if one contractor loses a bid they can sue you if they think you had non-objective reasons for going with someone else.
Indeed. I didn't think "motivational" at all when I read this start. Sounded more like a badge of shame. Were they out of giant red A's to sew on their clothes?
In any event, yeah, the people responsible for this should be visiting the unemployment line themselves.
There's a simple solution to this that I already use - I keep an encrypted Truecrypt volume in my Dropbox folder. It syncs over fine and is backed up but the only thing they see is the encrypted volume.
Just personally, I've got an HDTV and a Blu-Ray player, and a few blu-ray movies, but MOST of what I buy is still DVD's. The simple fact is that DVD is good enough to watch, and has the same benefits of digital media (no tracking, no rewinding, etc). Overall, the simple fact that DVD's are cheaper (and the fact that they still work fine on Blu-Ray players so its not as if they're being obsoleted) means that most of my purchases will lean that way. I'll only spring for Blu-Ray on very major films that I want to have the better version of (Dark Knight, Avatar, etc).
I've generally been a fan too. Never had a Samsung drive permanently fail on me. Closest I cam was a 2TB drive that would stop responding until a reboot. Reboot, it'd come back for a while. I copied all my data off of it thinking it was failing. Then after looking at the SMART report I noticed that the max temperature of the drive was clocked in at 115 degrees Celcius. Turns out the front intake fan on the case had died and all my drives were getting warm. Replaced that and the issue went away completely.
Even though it was "failing", I still think it a testament to good design that the drive was able to withstand those temps without any apparent permanent damage.
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This seems to be a case of you trying to redefine an accepted term from what it actually means to what you think it should mean. Unfortunately, language doesn't work that way.
Most opinions on Slashdot tend to skew towards information not being "property" at all. It's a bunch of bits. A cloud storage provider is simply a storage device, and like all storage devices it CAN fail. You need to plan for that possibility and have a contingency plan in place. If you are so naive as to place your data solely onto one of these services then if it fails you're SOL.
Instead, use them as a supplement to your other backups. I use Dropbox pretty extensively myself, but if it goes under I'll just switch to another provider, as my data is still on my drives too and still gets copied to DVDs fairly regularly .
In most curriculums Astronomy 101 deals with the planets of the Solar System. Not a lot of talk about galaxies until Astronomy 102 ;).
All in all though, I recently saw one of the head researchers of the SETI project at a presentation, and he seemed very level headed about the whole thing. He was completely open to the idea that ET might not be out there at all, or might be too far, or their methods may be flawed in such a way that we'd never detect them using the methods that SETI currently employs.
It all basically boils down to one thing though: what if that isn't the case? If you only limit yourself to ventures which have certainty of success, then we're in for a very boring future. SETI's a gamble. We take a look, we what (if anything) is out there, and if it's not successful, then oh well. We tried.
Depends. They're in New Zealand so I'm not sure how it works there, but VERY few retail establishments closed here on Good Friday. I'm willing to be that it was at least semi-expected that some stores would be open there too, given the number of people that actually were out trying to shop.
Not only that but maybe some people really needed milk for their Easter Feast or baby formula but the automated register had stop working. So they'll come in on Monday and pay for the food.
I'm sure there were other shops around that could have sold them those items. Hell I work in a very small town (population is roughly 6,000) and there are no less than 5 grocery stores in town to choose from (plus a myriad of smaller stores that also carry necessities like baby formula and eggs). I don't think "it was an emergency" will hold up.
No - rather you won't be save inside modern shopping malls because it's going to unlock and let all the zombies in :).
My thought has always been that I'll just hangout in my attic in the event of a zombie apocalypse. I could make access (cutting a hole) to the roof if need be to get away - there is no way up into the attic without pulling down a draw string that can easily be retracted - AND I could "borrow" into my pantry to retrieve groceries as needed (assuming I didn't have time to move all the canned goods up ahead of time).
Whether I there or head out though, I've still got a "survival" bag to take with me. It's got emergency blankets, rain ponchos, gun, ammo, knives, a hatchet, first aid kit, canteen, fishing gear, matches, compass, tarp, rope, etc. in it just in case.
And yes, I've thought about this WAY too much :D (and in reality the bag is more just for "general purpose emergency use" than for zombies)
Not quite the same thing, but I'd liken it to iTunes. iTunes basically took off not because people really wanted to pay for music very badly, but because they made getting legitimate music easier than pirating it, and price it such that paying really wasn't a huge deal. Getting caught doing this wasn't a huge detterent because almost no one ever got caught.
In the same light, many people might not have an issue paying for the groceries (even if they could take them without being caught) if it was quick and easy, but the instant the self-checkout breaks down paying becomes a hassle, and the risk of getting caught is still minimal.
A moral compass isn't binary. It happens in degrees, and I don't think it's a stretch to say that with little chance of consequences people will do the right thing, but only if it's convenient and easy.
Some people (including myself) have an extreme aversion to self-checkout systems, so I'd notice.
They're too damned temperamental for my tastes. They use scales to weigh the bags to make sure nothing that wasn't scanned ends up in the bag. Of course, if the original input weight was wrong, or (more likely) the scale is just being quirky, you get the prompt to wait for an associate to come over and verify your contents. Then there's the age-related prompts. Things like alcohol, sure, but then you have a myriad of other crap that may trigger an alarm (like just about anything in an aerosol can) for an associate (who may or may not be nearby) to come check out the situation.
Combine that with the 60 year old idiots who are trying that "new fanangled" machine and are staring at it blankly when it asks for payment (which inevitably takes them FOREVER to figure out) and it's just too much hassle for me to deal with. I'll stand in the regular line - any employee that comes by to remind me that the self-checkout is open gets a verbal "No thanks" plus my "Go to hell" look.
Maybe once they work a little better I'll start using the self-checkout machines again.
.... and use assault weapons to arrest someone you have no reason to believe is armed and dangerous.
That boils down to the same reason ANYONE is armed though: it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. I don't think it's a wise move for our police to leave home their weapons because someone might find it scary.
On the other hand, if the story is correct about the "cuts and bruises", then they certainly did go above and beyond the necessary force needed to arrest a suspect (assuming he wasn't resisting). The physical force used is a completely separate matter from what gear they bring along though.
While to some degree I agree, realistically almost everyone is about "making the world better" conservatives and liberals alike. Very few people truly want the world to be worse off. It's just that different people tend to have different ideas and viewpoints on just what constitutes making the world better, or on what actions are needed to achieve that goal.
Since it's become clear that for the most part, there are 2 distinct schools of thought on the matter, it has become convenient to label them so that we can ascertain someone's position more quickly rather than having to have a lengthy conversation on "the issues" with every individual we meet. "Liberal" and "Conservative" work just as well as any other names. It's still up in the air whether "Moderate" is a 3rd distinct approach.
And every country continues to use Knots for velocity of ships and aircraft.
Depends on the aircraft. Some have airspeed indicators in knots, some in mph. It was aggravating for me when I was doing my training as the A&P (essentially the airplane mechanic) was constantly tinkering with the plane moving the ASI from one to the other. Given that on final I'm generally coming in somewhat close to stall speed, it became very important to check that plane every time I got in to make sure which unit it was reporting in.
If the job is something you love, how can you not have experience? It seems to me that you'd be already doing it as your hobby and therefore have tons of experience.
I don't think you understand the way the system works. "Experience" is shorthand for "Professional Experience", and is measured in years that you've been employed in the area. Anything you've honed via personal interest is simply a "skill" and is not considered "experience", no matter how much you loved it or how much effort you put in.
This is what I was thankful that I did a work-study program with the IT department at my college. Wasn't doing anything fancy, and it was part-time, but immediately after graduation I was still able to claim 4-years experience in the industry.
As I said, I'm sure it happens, but it isn't universal. I am a decision maker on our projects, and though the vendors offer, I don't accept.
The A-10 has a far greater missions versatility than you think. Yes, it's a bit slow, but it's faster than any helicopter you might send, and it carries an air-to-ground payload capability that dwarfs the F-16. Also, though I certainly wouldn't want to depend on it, it also DOES carry a limited number of air-to-air missiles for defending itself. Realistically you can also simply design your mission around having a few fighters come in with the A-10's as an escort in case anything else shows up.
The Air Force is in no hurry at all to get rid of the Warthog.
I haven't seen any reports that puts them anywhere near the cost of an F-22.
You have to think of it this way: MOST of the time we're not fighting the Chinas or Russias of the world. We're fighting small countries with air forces that might have a few dozen surplused 50 year old fighters. We simply don't need state of the art for those battles, so why waste the money on it.
Bulk up the fleet with a cheaper plane that can do 99% of what our air forces need to do, and then keep a smaller number of F-22's ready for if we really do end up going to war with another superpower.
Think of them like an Atom processor - "good enough" for most tasks, and more efficient and cost effective. You only splurge for a more limited number if i7's for the things that really need it :D.
The F-35 was never intended to be the top dog of the skies. That's what the F-22 was designed for. The F-35 is essentially a budget fighter/attack craft. They're designed to get a lot of them into the sky for minimum money (yes, that "minimum" cost still sounds high outside of context, but for a fighter it's pretty low).
At this point, in an economic downturn, sure, there are a LOT of people on unemployment who would happily work (and many who WERE working until they were laid off). That is a development within the last few years though. For a long time unemployment generally was where a lot of lazy people went to get a check for a while. Its hard to shake that stigma that's built up.
It's much like disability. I know at least 10 people on disability. Only one of them actually needs it (he was severely injured to the point of having trouble walking in a car accident), and I have no issue with the people who need it getting that assistance. Most of the rest just wanted to get out of having to work. One guy I knew at first tried to claim he was seeing dead people talking to him to claim that he wasn't mentally capable of working. Once that failed he did finally get it for claiming that he was too overweight to work. Others just want the extra free money. One of the people I know on disability for a "back injury" still works 3-4 days a week off the books in LANDSCAPING (where any true back injury would prevent him from working) just so that he can pull in both the disability check and an under the table paycheck.
As with all things, the people gaming the system truly taint it in the eyes of the public. I don't think MOST people would be against some level of social welfare for those that truly need it, but it's hard to not develop a negative taste for it given how different reality plays out compared to theory.
That's not exactly a new idea. I'm 29 and even when I was in middle and high school we used a "lunch card" system. EVERYONE used a lunch card with 10 strips on it (so 2 weeks worth of lunches) to get their lunch (there was a machine that shaved a strip off each time the lunch cashier checked you out). You would visit a desk in the lunchroom in the mornings before school started to get your cards. Just tell them your name. If they checked the chart and you were full price, it was $10 for 2 weeks. If you were at "reduced" price it was $4 for 2 weeks. If your name was free they simply issued you your card without charging on the same interval. I typically was on the "reduced" price lunches (semi-poor :)) until my last 2 years of high school when my dad's salary finally topped the bracket and pushed me into full price.
Overall it was a good system, and heck even for the kids eating at "full price", and even 16-18 years ago, $10 for 2 weeks worth of meals wasn't a bad deal at all.
Nah, the birthday celebrations are enough. Take a small office with 30-40 people in it, and if you celebrate everyone's birthday there's a birthday at least a couple times per month. Cue the cake and ice cream. And the folks I work with have a habit of buying a whole box (or two) of donuts in the morning just to get one, then leaving it on the counter with a "Take one" sign on them.
When I started here I gained 18 lbs within the first 2 years. I've taken off 12 of those gained pounds again, but it gets difficult to avoid temptation with all the sweets around :).
... plus free lunches for everybody involved.
Not all government agencies work that way. I work in government myself, and if a vendor or contractor that is displaying a product offers to provide lunch we're specifically instructed to refuse. We can go to lunch with them, but are required to pick up our own tab. The reasoning is simple: we want to avoid any possible accusations that purchasing decisions were based on "wining and dining".
As a matter of fact, I'd say that the free lunches thing is probably way more prevalent in the private sector, where it might be frowned upon (by outsiders), but isn't actually illegal. When you're spending public money if one contractor loses a bid they can sue you if they think you had non-objective reasons for going with someone else.
Indeed. I didn't think "motivational" at all when I read this start. Sounded more like a badge of shame. Were they out of giant red A's to sew on their clothes?
In any event, yeah, the people responsible for this should be visiting the unemployment line themselves.
There's a simple solution to this that I already use - I keep an encrypted Truecrypt volume in my Dropbox folder. It syncs over fine and is backed up but the only thing they see is the encrypted volume.
So after all that work of building up a brand with the horribly awkward name "OpenOffice.org"
There may have been some feet stomping and pleading, but to virtually every person I've ever spoken to it was just "OpenOffice".
Just personally, I've got an HDTV and a Blu-Ray player, and a few blu-ray movies, but MOST of what I buy is still DVD's. The simple fact is that DVD is good enough to watch, and has the same benefits of digital media (no tracking, no rewinding, etc). Overall, the simple fact that DVD's are cheaper (and the fact that they still work fine on Blu-Ray players so its not as if they're being obsoleted) means that most of my purchases will lean that way. I'll only spring for Blu-Ray on very major films that I want to have the better version of (Dark Knight, Avatar, etc).
I've generally been a fan too. Never had a Samsung drive permanently fail on me. Closest I cam was a 2TB drive that would stop responding until a reboot. Reboot, it'd come back for a while. I copied all my data off of it thinking it was failing. Then after looking at the SMART report I noticed that the max temperature of the drive was clocked in at 115 degrees Celcius. Turns out the front intake fan on the case had died and all my drives were getting warm. Replaced that and the issue went away completely.
Even though it was "failing", I still think it a testament to good design that the drive was able to withstand those temps without any apparent permanent damage.