Glancing at a screen from time to time, while listening to the audio directions is really not much of a distraction. I am stuck delivering pizza at the moment, and I completely *rely* on my GPS. We deliver over a massive area, and the GPS cuts down the time to find a particular address, and the fastest route to it, by a considerable margin. If you want to eliminate distractions, make handheld cellphones inoperable while moving. I see more people chatting with their cellphone held to one ear than anything else in the way of distractions. Oh, also eliminate in car stereos that go over about 40 db. I think its important to hear whats happening around you as well. I don't see a GPS as much of a distraction, provided you aren't trying to input data to the system while you drive. That's a fine-able offense up here in BC anyways (although so is talking on a cellphone and its not being enforced near enough).
I always had a problem with that analogy, because of course the Federation no longer used money in any form. Is the US still the US when its a non-monetary, communist-like state?
Is nothing to do with the price of oil per barrel essentially. I will give you an example from up here in Canada where I live, specifically Victoria BC. The price here varies between roughly $1.12/litre and $1.39/litre (i.e. $4.24 to $5.26 US dollars. The exchange rate is $1 Cdn = $0.9997 US so no effective difference at the moment). The price per litre varies on a daily basis, with no real apparent pattern. Now, our gas comes from Alberta as oil, is shipped to the US to be converted into gas, then gets shipped back north to BC (why we don't make it ourselves is beyond me). The price goes up based on anything remotely bad in the news apparently. Revolution in Libya, price goes up. Bad weather, price goes up. Election coming, price goes up. Long weekend coming, price goes up. It drops periodically when things are normal. I have only seen it go over $1.39/litre once or twice and then only for a few hours. When it goes up at one station, it follows at the rest, same thing when it drops. It seems to me that this price war has nothing to do with the price of oil internationally. I haven't noticed a pattern for the most part. However, one change that does happen is if the price of a barrel jumps dramatically up, the price of gas jumps immediately - no matter that the gas we bought actually cost less. However, if the price per barrel drops dramatically, the price at the pump drops slowly if at all. Its nothing more than an industry colluding to ensure they get the highest prices possible, combined with a government that is not interested in regulating it at all because they collect massive taxes on the sale of fuel. So it doesn't surprise me that drilling in the US doesn't affect price at the pump - because the industry that sets the prices has zero interest in lowering the price of gas, they are milking it for all they think they can get away with, and with zero repercussions. Our NA society is built on burning fossil fuels, and nothing is going to change that any time soon.
I certainly didn't feel any guilt when I was recording songs off the radio so I could listen to them later. In fact, if I liked the song I often went out and bought the single or LP. Fast forward to the present, I feel no guilt about ripping music from CDs I have bought. Why should I? Because some useless and offensive RIAA executive wants to maximize sales by trying to make it illegal? I also would feel no guilt about downloading music - since if I like it, I will go buy it eventually in some physical form - or off of iTunes. However, I am in general so sick of the entire music industry and its attempt to strongarm the world into the image it wants it to be, that I instead no longer buy any music, I don't download it, and I really don't listen to it, unless its on the radio (and mostly if my favorite radio station (CBC up here in Canada) plays music - I turn it off.
I suspect the problem is the Western world's reliance on Intellectual Property as a money making mechanism. Already a lot of innovation is being done outside of the big western countries, so our businesses are increasingly relying on IP laws to protect their business interests. Thus the push for draconian legislation to ensure those who obtained patents can milk them for all they are worth and simultaneously stifle research in the same area to ensure they get the most cash from their patents at the same time. Certainly the RIAA/MAFIAA is a very powerful lobby group with massive influence over the US Government - enough to ensure secret treaties with other nations etc, but I have always suspected they are mostly riding the wave of government enforcement of IP laws and the US push to make their version of copyright/patent law the universally accepted one. There are a lot of businesses with a lot riding on their ability to enforce patents. If they can't enforce those patents a lot of them might fail - or at least their CEOs would get a lot fewer millions in severance. Of course the media conglomerates are facing the complete collapse of their industry if they don't adapt, and they adapt very slowly if at all. My wife and I were just discussing the other day the fact that we can't think of anyone who subscribes to cable TV. A few folks with Netflix but no TV, its just not worth paying for.
Yes it matters. I am cynical and assume all politicians are criminals who simply haven't been caught yet. There have been a few exceptions that I think honestly wanted to bring changes and meant what they said, but the rest I think are lying through their teeth to get power and influence. However, whether or not that is true, if we want a system that works, we need to hold politicians up to a higher standard than their voters. If they break the law then they need to be held accountable. Too much goes on these days because no on is so held. Do I think the Conservative leadership (including Harper) knew about the robocalls. You bet I do, Harper runs the Conservative party very strictly. I don't think much happens without his knowledge and approval. Do I think he will suffer from it - nah, the bulk of Canadians who voted for him are too stupid to see what he is doing to the country. I dont think the Liberals are any better. I do think the NDP are less likely to do this kind of shit and less likely to try to force things down the throat of the Canadian public, but that doesn't mean they can run the country any better either. I want Trudeau back. I didn't agree with him much of the time, but I trusted him to do what he said and not to lie to the public. I can't say that for many politicians since.
Well, we dropped our cable (again) about 6 months ago for several reasons. The first reason was that there was quite literally nothing I wanted to watch on the channels available. The shows I *do* want to watch are not broadcast here The second reason was that at ~$99/mo for basic cable, internet and home telephone through Shaw it was priced well beyond reasonable. When we signed up they gave us 6 months at almost half that price. When that expired we cancelled. The third reason was that when you watch a TV show, 25% of what you are watching is fucking advertising. I hate advertising and for the most part if I am inundated with it, I make a mental note *not* to buy that product whatever it may be (obviously there are some exceptions but not many). Trying to suck additional money out of my wallet via a scheme like this patent proposes just guarantees that I will never sign up again. I really wish companies, government, etc would realize they have long since bypassed the point where they can get all my money. I am now in the position where I decide what thing I am used to I shall do without instead. I no longer go to movies (can't stand the media companies and the horrendous pricing at the theatres). I no longer listen to music - can't stand the media companies and I am exposed to music all the time in my environment. I do listen to radio. I rarely if ever buy DVDs/BluRay anymore because most movies are only worth watching once. Those I know I will rewatch a lot, I do pay for (LOTR for instance).
If the media companies out there don't smarten up, then they are going to fail without any doubt. They wonder why people download TV show? How about because that makes them available when *they* want to watch them, without advertisement (and without losing content to make room for advertisements), without outrageous cable fees etc.
A company like Netflix gets this. I subscribe to NF, and I like what they offer. If I need to watch something I can find it there mostly (If I can't well then perhaps its torrent time but I try to avoid that). Why? because NF is offering the content I want in a format I can access easily at any time, without advertisements and for a reasonable fee.
Its unfortunate that the only options for my internet connection rely on me choosing between Shaw or Telus, since the CRTC has been bending over to service the Canadian Media industry for decades. Since they collude to keep the prices high, it still costs about $60/mo just to get decent internet access.
Whatever we conceive to be the "future" knowledge of cryptography *now* is probably where they are already at, at the NSA. They were decades ahead of everyone else for the longest time, until crypto broke into the public consciousness - they are undoubtedly still a decade or two ahead of the masses. I *highly* recommend the book "Crypto" by Stephen Levy, if you haven't read it. The answer with all personal cryptography is to provide just enough difficulty in solving it to protect the information long enough to suit your purposes. Nothing will ever prevent the future decipherment of your text down the road, if anyone cares to try to decipher it and has the resources (i.e. this new facility). The only other solution to crypto that can help you is for more people to use it routinely for everything, thus obscuring your traffic in a sea of other traffic. Thats no protection at all if they already have their eyes on you of course. Basically we're fucked with regards to privacy via encryption.
The people who hire the "talented programmers" don't understand squat about programming. I think the HR folks plug in all the possible qualifications they can manage because when they find that person and they hire them, nothing is likely to blow back on them. All they have to do is check the boxes that match the requirements. Its cover-your-arse with hiring. I have ~15 years of web development - all low end LAMP stuff mind you, but lots of hands on experience. I cannot find employment at the moment, and so I am working a crappy job. My chief problems are my age (too old for most employers: hire someone young and then burn them out, someone my age should be in management etc.), and the fact that my skills are all self-taught. There is no work in my area that doesn't have outrageous requirements (I saw a job posting the other day where I believe they wanted 5 years of HTML 5 experience.), or requirements that are massive broad. I cannot move as my wife has a great job that totally suits her. So I continue in a crap no-future job until I find an employer willing to hire me. When he does he will pay me for one project then drop me suddenly when its done. As much as I love working with computers, I am about done with it I think simply because I am tired of the way the tech companies work. I want to be an employee with some stability not a consultant:P
While I go to my doctor to get treatment and any required prescriptions, I *always* double-check with my pharmacist to ensure there are no likely conflicts between the drugs I have been prescribed, my allergies to certain drugs etc. I trust my pharmacist will have read this stuff in detail, even if my doctor missed something.
My experience is that local companies prefer to hire someone, get them to complete a project then drop them with a days notice or so. There is no company loyalty here in Victoria BC. Actually there is almost no work here now, its all seemingly outsourced elsewhere or has ridiculous requirements for the money offered etc.
Of course a company who offered me training that improved my skillset could keep me as an employee pretty easily - just offer me more money since I am now worth more money. Smart companies would give me some incentive to stay. Most companies seem to rely on finding people who are stupid/desperate enough to take the more qualified position at a pay rate that is lower than it deserves. There used to be a solution to this: unions. But those are dying out under continuous pressure from Big Business/Right Wing politicians (same thing). Unions of course did themselves no favors by demanding ridiculous requests at the height of their power. The Right is winning and employees are mostly disposable and easily replaced these days. This is good for the rich and bad for the rest of the nation. I would like to see a complete end to visas for importing foreigners to do local jobs - then companies might be forced to hire people and train them to do their jobs the way things used to be done.
Keep in mind that its illegal to advertise drugs in Canada in most cases. Inside a medical journal, probably okay. On TV, not so much. The advertising costs in the US are so high because you allow pharma to advertise everywhere - telling customers to self-diagnose effectively, so that they go to their doctor demanding a drug they may not need
If you read the article (I know, its/. and that is redundant), you would note that the only places in which they are drilling hole are locations where the original Vascari was damaged and they have done restoration work previously. So, no, they are not damaging the fresco in front, they are being quite careful to only work in locations which have already been damaged.
I went to traffic court (and BTW I was guilty of the offense I got the ticket for, I admit it. Not DUI mind you) here in Victoria. There were about 20 people sitting and standing outside the court room. The first thing that happened is one cop showed up with a clipboard and starting reading out names - he then told those people they could go home because the cop who ticketed them couldn't make the court in time. About 8 or so people left. The rest of us were processed in the court room. Your name was called up and the judge asked if you had a lawyer present - or could provide a reason under the law why you should not be charged (meaning quote case law, specific statues etc). If you couldn't do that, you got fined by the judge. If you couldn't afford the amount of the fine you could plead your lack of income and they would reduce it considerably (i.e. $375 -> $75 with 3 months to pay it). That said, the local police do seem to go on ticketing sprees. Some weeks they only stop a few folks but at other times they are handing out tickets continuously. I have to presume its a revenue thing for the city (similarly, the city has started putting 2 block zones where the usual speed limit of 50 kph is reduced to 30 or 40, I presume to make speeding offense revenue easier to generate). Mostly the cops here are pretty decent.
I used to never get the "W" confusion over a "V" in that film. Having learned a bit of Russian I was well aware that the Cyrillic alphabet has a/v/ but no/w/. I thought they had made a real mistake with Chekov's accent. Then I learned that amongst the lower classes in Moscow, the/v/ is often pronounced as a/w/:P
I think the recent "cyberwarfare" scare is due to the corporate realization that with this sort of scare: a) they can sell massive numbers of computer systems and peripherals with their attendant support contracts b) they can provide massive numbers of contracted support personnel. c) there actually is a real threat, but they can play it up considerably to their own profit d) Expect Haliburton to get into computer security:P e the last thing on the minds of any of the corporate players is the actual security of the USA and its Allies. The military guys are no doubt motivated and aware of the threats involved, but I doubt the corporate guys can see beyond the sales potential and their own wallets.
As for nuclear retaliation, is the US really likely to go nuclear if *someone* out there started a serious effort to disrupt the US powergrid etc? Any such effort would be conducted outside the US, with suitable Maskirovka etc, and the people involved would be gone as soon as they could. Even if you are *sure* the enemy is China, can you see a US President ordering the nukes into the air without a clear trail that leads directly to the enemy leaders? By that time whatever military objective China wanted - Taiwan and the south china sea resources - will be in their hands. The US could be in a complete shambles economically (worse than now I mean), and in no real position to respond. I think the threat is credible, I just don't think that China will act on it unless really forced to by the US and Taiwan. If that happens then I think they will respond, and moreover I suspect they will win.
For the average user out there on the internet, their computer is kinda like an interactive TV. They wouldn't understand how to use an encrypted VPN, and if it delayed them or caused any problems, their first move would be to figure out how to bypass it. Most people don't actually *want* to learn how to use a computer, they just want it to work as well as their toaster does - and without reading a manual.
This is the natural result for any large company where they allow the sales and marketing department (for instance) to control the pace of business. S&M (deliberate abbreviation) people are far more focused on their personal sales success than they are on security. I saw similar problems at one large company I worked at and they were very security conscious. Laptops were a particular problem because they could be removed from the building. We gave a freshly configured brand new laptop to a sales guy and within a day or so he phoned for support while on the road because he decided to install a new OS on the laptop and it didn't work with all our settings (he also wiped out all the preconfigured software we had installed for him - our stuff, the stuff he couldn't download etc). With regards to backups, we installed a good system - and we tested it a few times - which came in handy when the email system went down. We had the boss down in IT screaming until we got it back up and running. He was yelling that it was costing us $10k a minute that it was down by his calculation. Of course the reason it went down was that our new VP for IT had insisted we had to move to Exchange server from a functional Linux system. The end cost by the time we had made all the other changes was something on the order of $300k+. Exchange crashed I believe because we overloaded its ability to store email messages - and some of our personnel who had been there for *years* had never, ever, deleted any email (including spam). Active Directory I think, didn't like that. The main reason for the massive change: the PHBs wanted to be able to easily schedule meetings that would show up in everyone's inbox:P We did our backups right though I think: 2 expensive tape drives working in tandem, daily backups, 2 weeks worth of tapes on site, with another 2 months stored offsite in a highly secure archive facility etc.
I think the first time we encounter bona fide evidence of alien life that is irrefutable (i.e. they land on earth in say, Trafalgar square), the world's monotheistic religions are going to pitch a complete fit and most of them will go into heavy denial. The polytheistic religious folks should be okay, since they tend to be more accepting and adaptable - if harder to define. Religions that insist there is only 1 God and we are his creations may have difficulty dealing with an alien species - not mentioned in any of their texts - and choose to see them as inherently evil collectively. Expect religious assassinations galore. Hopefully the rest of us will have become more rational and peaceful by this point of course, but I don't hold out my breath. I think the odds are greater that we will be living in a world dominated by mega-corporations operating on a more or less feudal like system in 100 years...:(
Same up here in Canada. My High School (grades 8-12, ~250 students) was mostly farm kids. The teachers were mostly unqualified or should at the least never have been allowed to teach. The overwhelming pressure from the students was such that if you were too smart you would often find yourself being beaten up. Some sample moments from my school: * The math teacher teaching grade 12 math was living with one of his female students. She got straight A's of course. * The grade 9 English teacher I had, had to the best of my knowledge no teaching credentials. He had been hired before they were required. He taught English and the Agriculture courses (we had a barn attached to the school). He liked to separate his class into 2 halves - those he liked (farmer's kids) and those he didn't (anyone unusual, males with long hair (this was the 70's). The first group was referred to as the Wolves (or something like that) the second as the Rabbits (or something like that). Essays written by Rabbits got written up on the board so we could review them word by word in class. * Grade 10 English teacher. She was nice but was qualified to teach Phys Ed and Biology. They hired here but then had her teach English. I ended up teaching most of the grammar lessons because she didn't understand it at all. * Chem teacher 10-12. He was an alcoholic type, and we students periodically met him in the local bar after class. He delivered all his lectures via overhead projector and never looked at students most of the time. * Our guidance counselor was a bitter ex-nun. She hated the students I suspect. I know she told me that I was "too stupid to go to university, you should go learn welding or something". * We had a music teacher who lived near the school. He would regularly hold all-night parties featuring mostly free booze and weed. He invited a lot of the band students to these parties, particularly the young females.
Nothing was ever done about these situations sadly.
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Glancing at a screen from time to time, while listening to the audio directions is really not much of a distraction. I am stuck delivering pizza at the moment, and I completely *rely* on my GPS. We deliver over a massive area, and the GPS cuts down the time to find a particular address, and the fastest route to it, by a considerable margin.
If you want to eliminate distractions, make handheld cellphones inoperable while moving. I see more people chatting with their cellphone held to one ear than anything else in the way of distractions.
Oh, also eliminate in car stereos that go over about 40 db. I think its important to hear whats happening around you as well.
I don't see a GPS as much of a distraction, provided you aren't trying to input data to the system while you drive. That's a fine-able offense up here in BC anyways (although so is talking on a cellphone and its not being enforced near enough).
I always had a problem with that analogy, because of course the Federation no longer used money in any form. Is the US still the US when its a non-monetary, communist-like state?
Is nothing to do with the price of oil per barrel essentially.
I will give you an example from up here in Canada where I live, specifically Victoria BC. The price here varies between roughly $1.12/litre and $1.39/litre (i.e. $4.24 to $5.26 US dollars. The exchange rate is $1 Cdn = $0.9997 US so no effective difference at the moment). The price per litre varies on a daily basis, with no real apparent pattern.
Now, our gas comes from Alberta as oil, is shipped to the US to be converted into gas, then gets shipped back north to BC (why we don't make it ourselves is beyond me).
The price goes up based on anything remotely bad in the news apparently. Revolution in Libya, price goes up. Bad weather, price goes up. Election coming, price goes up. Long weekend coming, price goes up. It drops periodically when things are normal. I have only seen it go over $1.39/litre once or twice and then only for a few hours. When it goes up at one station, it follows at the rest, same thing when it drops.
It seems to me that this price war has nothing to do with the price of oil internationally. I haven't noticed a pattern for the most part.
However, one change that does happen is if the price of a barrel jumps dramatically up, the price of gas jumps immediately - no matter that the gas we bought actually cost less. However, if the price per barrel drops dramatically, the price at the pump drops slowly if at all.
Its nothing more than an industry colluding to ensure they get the highest prices possible, combined with a government that is not interested in regulating it at all because they collect massive taxes on the sale of fuel.
So it doesn't surprise me that drilling in the US doesn't affect price at the pump - because the industry that sets the prices has zero interest in lowering the price of gas, they are milking it for all they think they can get away with, and with zero repercussions. Our NA society is built on burning fossil fuels, and nothing is going to change that any time soon.
I certainly didn't feel any guilt when I was recording songs off the radio so I could listen to them later. In fact, if I liked the song I often went out and bought the single or LP.
Fast forward to the present, I feel no guilt about ripping music from CDs I have bought. Why should I? Because some useless and offensive RIAA executive wants to maximize sales by trying to make it illegal?
I also would feel no guilt about downloading music - since if I like it, I will go buy it eventually in some physical form - or off of iTunes. However, I am in general so sick of the entire music industry and its attempt to strongarm the world into the image it wants it to be, that I instead no longer buy any music, I don't download it, and I really don't listen to it, unless its on the radio (and mostly if my favorite radio station (CBC up here in Canada) plays music - I turn it off.
I suspect the problem is the Western world's reliance on Intellectual Property as a money making mechanism. Already a lot of innovation is being done outside of the big western countries, so our businesses are increasingly relying on IP laws to protect their business interests. Thus the push for draconian legislation to ensure those who obtained patents can milk them for all they are worth and simultaneously stifle research in the same area to ensure they get the most cash from their patents at the same time.
Certainly the RIAA/MAFIAA is a very powerful lobby group with massive influence over the US Government - enough to ensure secret treaties with other nations etc, but I have always suspected they are mostly riding the wave of government enforcement of IP laws and the US push to make their version of copyright/patent law the universally accepted one. There are a lot of businesses with a lot riding on their ability to enforce patents. If they can't enforce those patents a lot of them might fail - or at least their CEOs would get a lot fewer millions in severance.
Of course the media conglomerates are facing the complete collapse of their industry if they don't adapt, and they adapt very slowly if at all. My wife and I were just discussing the other day the fact that we can't think of anyone who subscribes to cable TV. A few folks with Netflix but no TV, its just not worth paying for.
Yes it matters. I am cynical and assume all politicians are criminals who simply haven't been caught yet. There have been a few exceptions that I think honestly wanted to bring changes and meant what they said, but the rest I think are lying through their teeth to get power and influence.
However, whether or not that is true, if we want a system that works, we need to hold politicians up to a higher standard than their voters. If they break the law then they need to be held accountable. Too much goes on these days because no on is so held.
Do I think the Conservative leadership (including Harper) knew about the robocalls. You bet I do, Harper runs the Conservative party very strictly. I don't think much happens without his knowledge and approval. Do I think he will suffer from it - nah, the bulk of Canadians who voted for him are too stupid to see what he is doing to the country.
I dont think the Liberals are any better. I do think the NDP are less likely to do this kind of shit and less likely to try to force things down the throat of the Canadian public, but that doesn't mean they can run the country any better either.
I want Trudeau back. I didn't agree with him much of the time, but I trusted him to do what he said and not to lie to the public. I can't say that for many politicians since.
Well, we dropped our cable (again) about 6 months ago for several reasons.
The first reason was that there was quite literally nothing I wanted to watch on the channels available. The shows I *do* want to watch are not broadcast here
The second reason was that at ~$99/mo for basic cable, internet and home telephone through Shaw it was priced well beyond reasonable. When we signed up they gave us 6 months at almost half that price. When that expired we cancelled.
The third reason was that when you watch a TV show, 25% of what you are watching is fucking advertising. I hate advertising and for the most part if I am inundated with it, I make a mental note *not* to buy that product whatever it may be (obviously there are some exceptions but not many).
Trying to suck additional money out of my wallet via a scheme like this patent proposes just guarantees that I will never sign up again.
I really wish companies, government, etc would realize they have long since bypassed the point where they can get all my money. I am now in the position where I decide what thing I am used to I shall do without instead.
I no longer go to movies (can't stand the media companies and the horrendous pricing at the theatres).
I no longer listen to music - can't stand the media companies and I am exposed to music all the time in my environment. I do listen to radio. I rarely if ever buy DVDs/BluRay anymore because most movies are only worth watching once. Those I know I will rewatch a lot, I do pay for (LOTR for instance).
If the media companies out there don't smarten up, then they are going to fail without any doubt. They wonder why people download TV show? How about because that makes them available when *they* want to watch them, without advertisement (and without losing content to make room for advertisements), without outrageous cable fees etc.
A company like Netflix gets this. I subscribe to NF, and I like what they offer. If I need to watch something I can find it there mostly (If I can't well then perhaps its torrent time but I try to avoid that). Why? because NF is offering the content I want in a format I can access easily at any time, without advertisements and for a reasonable fee.
Its unfortunate that the only options for my internet connection rely on me choosing between Shaw or Telus, since the CRTC has been bending over to service the Canadian Media industry for decades. Since they collude to keep the prices high, it still costs about $60/mo just to get decent internet access.
Whatever we conceive to be the "future" knowledge of cryptography *now* is probably where they are already at, at the NSA. They were decades ahead of everyone else for the longest time, until crypto broke into the public consciousness - they are undoubtedly still a decade or two ahead of the masses.
I *highly* recommend the book "Crypto" by Stephen Levy, if you haven't read it.
The answer with all personal cryptography is to provide just enough difficulty in solving it to protect the information long enough to suit your purposes. Nothing will ever prevent the future decipherment of your text down the road, if anyone cares to try to decipher it and has the resources (i.e. this new facility).
The only other solution to crypto that can help you is for more people to use it routinely for everything, thus obscuring your traffic in a sea of other traffic. Thats no protection at all if they already have their eyes on you of course.
Basically we're fucked with regards to privacy via encryption.
The people who hire the "talented programmers" don't understand squat about programming. I think the HR folks plug in all the possible qualifications they can manage because when they find that person and they hire them, nothing is likely to blow back on them. All they have to do is check the boxes that match the requirements. Its cover-your-arse with hiring. :P
I have ~15 years of web development - all low end LAMP stuff mind you, but lots of hands on experience. I cannot find employment at the moment, and so I am working a crappy job. My chief problems are my age (too old for most employers: hire someone young and then burn them out, someone my age should be in management etc.), and the fact that my skills are all self-taught.
There is no work in my area that doesn't have outrageous requirements (I saw a job posting the other day where I believe they wanted 5 years of HTML 5 experience.), or requirements that are massive broad. I cannot move as my wife has a great job that totally suits her. So I continue in a crap no-future job until I find an employer willing to hire me. When he does he will pay me for one project then drop me suddenly when its done. As much as I love working with computers, I am about done with it I think simply because I am tired of the way the tech companies work. I want to be an employee with some stability not a consultant
While I go to my doctor to get treatment and any required prescriptions, I *always* double-check with my pharmacist to ensure there are no likely conflicts between the drugs I have been prescribed, my allergies to certain drugs etc. I trust my pharmacist will have read this stuff in detail, even if my doctor missed something.
My experience is that local companies prefer to hire someone, get them to complete a project then drop them with a days notice or so. There is no company loyalty here in Victoria BC. Actually there is almost no work here now, its all seemingly outsourced elsewhere or has ridiculous requirements for the money offered etc.
Of course a company who offered me training that improved my skillset could keep me as an employee pretty easily - just offer me more money since I am now worth more money. Smart companies would give me some incentive to stay.
Most companies seem to rely on finding people who are stupid/desperate enough to take the more qualified position at a pay rate that is lower than it deserves.
There used to be a solution to this: unions. But those are dying out under continuous pressure from Big Business/Right Wing politicians (same thing). Unions of course did themselves no favors by demanding ridiculous requests at the height of their power.
The Right is winning and employees are mostly disposable and easily replaced these days. This is good for the rich and bad for the rest of the nation.
I would like to see a complete end to visas for importing foreigners to do local jobs - then companies might be forced to hire people and train them to do their jobs the way things used to be done.
Keep in mind that its illegal to advertise drugs in Canada in most cases. Inside a medical journal, probably okay. On TV, not so much. The advertising costs in the US are so high because you allow pharma to advertise everywhere - telling customers to self-diagnose effectively, so that they go to their doctor demanding a drug they may not need
The first rule about X is never talk about X :)
If you read the article (I know, its /. and that is redundant), you would note that the only places in which they are drilling hole are locations where the original Vascari was damaged and they have done restoration work previously. So, no, they are not damaging the fresco in front, they are being quite careful to only work in locations which have already been damaged.
Oh I am so relieved to hear there is no conflict of interest involved in his appointment or execution of his office. Who appointed him?
I went to traffic court (and BTW I was guilty of the offense I got the ticket for, I admit it. Not DUI mind you) here in Victoria. There were about 20 people sitting and standing outside the court room. The first thing that happened is one cop showed up with a clipboard and starting reading out names - he then told those people they could go home because the cop who ticketed them couldn't make the court in time. About 8 or so people left.
The rest of us were processed in the court room. Your name was called up and the judge asked if you had a lawyer present - or could provide a reason under the law why you should not be charged (meaning quote case law, specific statues etc). If you couldn't do that, you got fined by the judge. If you couldn't afford the amount of the fine you could plead your lack of income and they would reduce it considerably (i.e. $375 -> $75 with 3 months to pay it).
That said, the local police do seem to go on ticketing sprees. Some weeks they only stop a few folks but at other times they are handing out tickets continuously. I have to presume its a revenue thing for the city (similarly, the city has started putting 2 block zones where the usual speed limit of 50 kph is reduced to 30 or 40, I presume to make speeding offense revenue easier to generate).
Mostly the cops here are pretty decent.
I used to never get the "W" confusion over a "V" in that film. Having learned a bit of Russian I was well aware that the Cyrillic alphabet has a /v/ but no /w/. I thought they had made a real mistake with Chekov's accent. /v/ is often pronounced as a /w/ :P
Then I learned that amongst the lower classes in Moscow, the
I think the recent "cyberwarfare" scare is due to the corporate realization that with this sort of scare: :P
a) they can sell massive numbers of computer systems and peripherals with their attendant support contracts
b) they can provide massive numbers of contracted support personnel.
c) there actually is a real threat, but they can play it up considerably to their own profit
d) Expect Haliburton to get into computer security
e the last thing on the minds of any of the corporate players is the actual security of the USA and its Allies. The military guys are no doubt motivated and aware of the threats involved, but I doubt the corporate guys can see beyond the sales potential and their own wallets.
As for nuclear retaliation, is the US really likely to go nuclear if *someone* out there started a serious effort to disrupt the US powergrid etc? Any such effort would be conducted outside the US, with suitable Maskirovka etc, and the people involved would be gone as soon as they could. Even if you are *sure* the enemy is China, can you see a US President ordering the nukes into the air without a clear trail that leads directly to the enemy leaders? By that time whatever military objective China wanted - Taiwan and the south china sea resources - will be in their hands. The US could be in a complete shambles economically (worse than now I mean), and in no real position to respond.
I think the threat is credible, I just don't think that China will act on it unless really forced to by the US and Taiwan. If that happens then I think they will respond, and moreover I suspect they will win.
For the average user out there on the internet, their computer is kinda like an interactive TV. They wouldn't understand how to use an encrypted VPN, and if it delayed them or caused any problems, their first move would be to figure out how to bypass it. Most people don't actually *want* to learn how to use a computer, they just want it to work as well as their toaster does - and without reading a manual.
This is the natural result for any large company where they allow the sales and marketing department (for instance) to control the pace of business. S&M (deliberate abbreviation) people are far more focused on their personal sales success than they are on security. I saw similar problems at one large company I worked at and they were very security conscious. Laptops were a particular problem because they could be removed from the building. We gave a freshly configured brand new laptop to a sales guy and within a day or so he phoned for support while on the road because he decided to install a new OS on the laptop and it didn't work with all our settings (he also wiped out all the preconfigured software we had installed for him - our stuff, the stuff he couldn't download etc). :P
With regards to backups, we installed a good system - and we tested it a few times - which came in handy when the email system went down. We had the boss down in IT screaming until we got it back up and running. He was yelling that it was costing us $10k a minute that it was down by his calculation.
Of course the reason it went down was that our new VP for IT had insisted we had to move to Exchange server from a functional Linux system. The end cost by the time we had made all the other changes was something on the order of $300k+. Exchange crashed I believe because we overloaded its ability to store email messages - and some of our personnel who had been there for *years* had never, ever, deleted any email (including spam). Active Directory I think, didn't like that.
The main reason for the massive change: the PHBs wanted to be able to easily schedule meetings that would show up in everyone's inbox
We did our backups right though I think: 2 expensive tape drives working in tandem, daily backups, 2 weeks worth of tapes on site, with another 2 months stored offsite in a highly secure archive facility etc.
I have to agree that his version is a far better sounding film. Much more coherent and focused.
Now all we need is a pile of 3d Animation students & artists with far too much time on their hands to produce an animated version of this...
I think the first time we encounter bona fide evidence of alien life that is irrefutable (i.e. they land on earth in say, Trafalgar square), the world's monotheistic religions are going to pitch a complete fit and most of them will go into heavy denial. The polytheistic religious folks should be okay, since they tend to be more accepting and adaptable - if harder to define. Religions that insist there is only 1 God and we are his creations may have difficulty dealing with an alien species - not mentioned in any of their texts - and choose to see them as inherently evil collectively. Expect religious assassinations galore. :(
Hopefully the rest of us will have become more rational and peaceful by this point of course, but I don't hold out my breath. I think the odds are greater that we will be living in a world dominated by mega-corporations operating on a more or less feudal like system in 100 years...
Go try Lord of the Rings Online. The transition from pay to free went much better than I thought it would, and the end result is still a good game.
Same up here in Canada. My High School (grades 8-12, ~250 students) was mostly farm kids. The teachers were mostly unqualified or should at the least never have been allowed to teach. The overwhelming pressure from the students was such that if you were too smart you would often find yourself being beaten up. Some sample moments from my school:
* The math teacher teaching grade 12 math was living with one of his female students. She got straight A's of course.
* The grade 9 English teacher I had, had to the best of my knowledge no teaching credentials. He had been hired before they were required. He taught English and the Agriculture courses (we had a barn attached to the school). He liked to separate his class into 2 halves - those he liked (farmer's kids) and those he didn't (anyone unusual, males with long hair (this was the 70's). The first group was referred to as the Wolves (or something like that) the second as the Rabbits (or something like that). Essays written by Rabbits got written up on the board so we could review them word by word in class.
* Grade 10 English teacher. She was nice but was qualified to teach Phys Ed and Biology. They hired here but then had her teach English. I ended up teaching most of the grammar lessons because she didn't understand it at all.
* Chem teacher 10-12. He was an alcoholic type, and we students periodically met him in the local bar after class. He delivered all his lectures via overhead projector and never looked at students most of the time.
* Our guidance counselor was a bitter ex-nun. She hated the students I suspect. I know she told me that I was "too stupid to go to university, you should go learn welding or something".
* We had a music teacher who lived near the school. He would regularly hold all-night parties featuring mostly free booze and weed. He invited a lot of the band students to these parties, particularly the young females.
Nothing was ever done about these situations sadly.