However there's almost always a way to "fix" routers on different networks since they're mostly independently managed, so you're looking at downtime of a few days to a week max. Nothing that's going to destroy the fabric of society.
I think you underestimate society's use of the internet and networks. It is far more than being able to browse Slashdot and play Farmville. The internet is responsible for financial transactions, shipping management (particularly food sources, oil, etc), power management, etc. If the internet went down, would it be the end of the world? I don't particularly think so. Would there be a whole heap (and I mean A LOT) of problems from the result? You better believe it.
I'm not a Catholic, but, to be fair, spending money on yourself is not necessarily incompatible with religion. Yes, it does say in the Bible that it will be "easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven," but it's not because the person is rich. (For those who don't know, Jesus makes this statement after a rich man asked him what he needed to do to enter heaven. Jesus told him to go and sell his possessions and then follow Him. The rich man went away pretty discouraged.) The real incompatibility is when possessions become first over your love for Christ. That is where a lot of people get the common phrase incorrect. Money is not the root of all evil. It never says that anywhere in the Bible. No...instead...it says THE LOVE of money is the root of all evil.
If that person with the iPhone driving the $80,000 SUV is using that SUV to take a lot of food to homeless shelters, or perhaps the driver helps cart animals back and forth to the elderly to cheer them up, or perhaps a million other reasons - then there is absolutely nothing wrong. Heck, even if that person is driving that SUV because they liked all the cupholders it had and it was comfortable for them - then good for them! As long as they don't love it more than they love God, that is a good first step. (And, I know people who love far more worthless things which would fall into the same category.)
Of course, it's easy to judge those who have more (because someone will always have more than you). But, you see, by judging them (something we shouldn't be doing) and jumping to conclusions, you're stepping very close to that "do not covet" law that is pretty excellent as well. Really, a big portion of the "rules" of the Bible are, "Mind your own business unless you're doing good for someone else." Funny enough, people are VERY bad at minding their own business.
People on tech sites tend to vastly over estimate the need for, let alone the desire of, many for high speed internet.
One of the most insightful statements I have read here on Slashdot. We often forget that we are so focused on technical needs that we miss what "real people" really need or want.
Hell, you can enjoy life just fine without touching the net for weeks.
Well...now...that's just blasphemy.:-p
Seriously, though. Excellent post. Technology is fun, but it's not everybody's (most people's) cup of tea.
Genghis Kahn? Huh...I tried to look him up, but couldn't find anything out about him. Lots of information about another guy called Genghis Khan, though. But...that's probably just a coincidence.
The not pulling out physical media in ages is great until your hard drive dies and you have no backups for your media.
Well, of course, the obvious solution is backup your media. Mozy is a great start - it has already saved me twice (drive died, and then accidentally deleted a folder I hadn't planned on).
People who put their data on a computer's hard drive should always be willing to spend the hundred or so dollars a year to protect that data in case of a failure.
Not trying to troll...but where did they say that? I mean, they support tethering and hotspots on the Droid platform, but it's most definitely not free. (Well, if you root the phone it is...but...) Typically, when you connect with your web browser through the tether/hotspot, Verizon pops up a message asking for $$$ to your plan before you can connect. Did I miss something in TFA?
If you don't trust your sysadmin, they shouldn't be your sysadmin.
Maybe you do trust him. But, workers become disgruntled (without ever seeming to be...until it's too late - look at work places that were shot up with no real indication from the employee), and people have bad days (and lose it), or sometimes someone just messes up (mistakes happen).
Personally, however, I would rather have a low braking distance. I hate ABS. Almost caused me to die one time when I slid out on a patch of ice and, when I went to hit my brakes, they ABS kicked in and I didn't stop where I should have. Instead, I rolled right into the middle of an intersection with a couple cars coming at me fast.
As Attila Dimedici stated, I don't think it's Christianity you originally believed in (or, if you did, you had no understanding of your faith). Christianity acknowledges that we are all imperfect - nobody is safe from sin. It is only through the saving grace of the Lord that one is "made pure." However, nowhere...NOWHERE...does the Bible say, "Okay...you're saved. Now, sit around on your ass acknowledging how great you are until it's time to die." That is a twisted misinterpretation by people who want to do what they want to do. And, unfortunately, it makes an entire faith look bad.
In actuality, books like James make the call (54 times in 108 verses, as a matter of fact) to live a life that represents the faith you believe in. There is no need to live in guilt, due to the saving grace of God, but there is ALWAYS room for improvement in a person's life. (Some of the topics include: giving into temptations, responding to trials, putting faith into action, taming the tongue, etc.)
In any case, you have already made your decision, and probably don't care what I have to say. Maybe this will be useful to someone else who thinks they know what Christianity is about.
Yes, it only needs an old man in the sky to make the delusion perfect.
It saddens me to see that you were modded Insightful. The GP's question is very far off and would never work for a wide variety of reasons. However, your flamebait response against religion shows your lack of knowledge of what religions embrace. The fact of the matter is, any major religion, and anybody practicing such religion, realizes that humans, as a whole, are a pretty messed up bunch. Nobody is immune from the tragedy that is human nature, and I have seen this acknowledged by many people who practice their faith. More often than not, it is those who don't understand the concepts of a sinful or selfish nature that think an idea expressed in the GP's post will work.
And, as an aside, removing religion would not end the wars, genocides, judgement, etc that pervades our cultures. Religion provides a focal point more often than not because of the topics it attempts to address. However, if you removed religion from this world, I can guarantee you that something else would quickly take its place. The problem isn't religion...it's people.
Perhaps we would be better served by making the very *concept* of genocide or war simply inconceivable. I think we would be a lot better off with "But we've never done this, we've always been better than that!" than with "We'll, here we go yet again."
If you truly think this way, then you are extremely naive to the nature of people. You could *attempt* to eradicate every bad thing that ever existed, but that would not remove the selfish nature the pervades an individual's mind. Humans will still kill, steal, pillage, destroy and hurt others because that is one aspect of our nature. Some call it "original sin" or "self-preservation" or whatever else, but the fact of the matter is that it's there. You have to remember, all that history had to start somewhere. There was a time in which nobody "knew" about genocide...yet it still happened. By removing all references to history (including aspects of an excellent novel like Huckleberry Finn), we only do a disservice to the history that has been lived by previous generations and miss out on the rich (if imperfect) history that permeates our cultures.
Yes, then when you get comfortable, you become a heretic there, because that's what heretics do.
Thank you. This is a point I did not make, but really wish I had. A heretic will wash, rinse, and repeat over and over and never actually change anything.
I bitch and complain at the decisions of management, and you're right, I don't improve anything...but its not for a lack of effort. I tried to fix the system. I offered ideas, constructively and logically, on why Item X is flawed, and how following Strategy Y we could fix Item X to no detriment to Company_Standing Z.
I would argue that you haven't tried to fix the system. You just bitched and complained. "Offering ideas" really means nothing most of the time - EVEN if you are offering them to the person who has the absolute go-ahead to get things done (which, even a president or CEO doesn't have that kind of power).
The fact of the matter is, if you REALLY wanted to change something, you would have to do the work yourself. You may have to do it in your own time at times. Anything else is...well...just complaining.
False. Very false. It's human nature to think, "Everybody else is a moron and I could do better." The fact of the matter is that EVERYBODY thinks that and you are everybody else to everybody else.
The "Heretics" who complain about a company being run by morons are rarely (read: never) coming from the standpoint of actually understanding what is involved with runny a company. Any company of any reasonable size (read: bigger than 10 people) is going to have imperfect aspects to it. It's the nature of working with people (who are also imperfect). As a result, there will always be flaws in the system. Any reasonable person understands that. A good employee will even do what he or she can to improve that aspect of the system. However, a "Heretic" (of which I work with two) will spend his or her time complaining that he or she could do a better job without ever doing anything. The lack of action, first of all, is extremely unhelpful and actually damages a team or company because everybody else begins to buy into the mindset. (In my experience, Heretics tend to be extremely vocal.)
I'm of the opinion that the REAL issue with a Heretic is a combination of a smart person (who knows a lot), combined with a know-it-all attitude (but they don't know everything...even though they think they do)...who wants COMPLETE CONTROL of the system. This last part is the critical component. Any company of any size...even one of five or more people...cannot be run by a single person. There is not enough time in the day. However, the Heretic only THINKS they can do a better job on their own. The sad fact of the matter is that this (generally) smart person sounds like a whiner and a complainer and, in the end, may actually be a detriment to the company.
In one sense, I think the question "Have we entered an era in which electronics serve as mother, cop and coach because we can't manage our own desires?" is flamebait, but, on the other hand, it does pose an interesting question.
First of all, using technology to help humanity - whether it is something major, like producing more/better food, or something minor like making sure we can wake up at the correct time in the morning - is what it is. It's the growth of technology. So, in that respect, nobody is doing anything different than any other person who has had technology...it's just different technology.
However, I find it interesting that the summary posts a question about managing desires. While I know everybody likes to think they are more special than anybody else, and that THEY have no problem managing their desires and wants and needs, all you have to do is pick out any person out of a crowd and there were be SOMETHING that they struggle with. Eating too much. Spending too much. Pornography. Too much time in front of the TV. Overexercising (yes, I know someone who does that). Smoking. Drinking. Whatever. Everybody has something that brings them a great deal of pleasure - so much that they go overboard with it.
So, the question is, is it a bad thing to use this technology that we have at our disposal to get in control of some of our foibles? I would say no. For example, I have a friend who looked at a great deal of pornography. While he enjoyed it, it was greatly affecting his marriage because his wife couldn't live up to the standards he was setting in his mind. In addition, he also neglected his marriage due to his addiction. So, my friend began to use an application on his computer which monitored his web browsing habits. It blocked him where it could, and would email out a weekly email to his wife, myself, and his mother (!!!) regarding websites he visited. When he would screw up, we would be able to call him out on it.
Now, you could say, "Weakling. He should have managed his own impulses." And, I know he wanted to. He knew he was destroying his marriage and didn't want to do that, but, the ease of pornography access was too great for him to resist. He had to control it. Using that application helped a great deal and, after some counseling, he and his wife are happily married. (And, yes, I still receive weekly emails.)
In any case, I think making a statement like, "Have we entered an era in which electronics serve as mother, cop and coach because we can't manage our own desires?" is not only flamebait, it's also seriously judgmental and unrealistic. I do think none of these things should be FORCED on anybody...but there is absolutely no shame in using technology to help control or manage a part of your life that you need help with.
Ah...but you seem to be forgetting that the South Seas is where the investments are at! Never mind that we don't have a business plan...it's the south. And it's the seas. It must be worth something!
I highly doubt that realityimpaired is blocking Zynga to "stick it to the man." More likely, he wants to block Zynga because he hates seeing all the messages and advertisements coming up on his News Feed all the time. It's easier to block an entire publisher than block said publisher's 50 games.
Slashdot Mirror
Angelina Jolie is suspiciously absent...
However there's almost always a way to "fix" routers on different networks since they're mostly independently managed, so you're looking at downtime of a few days to a week max. Nothing that's going to destroy the fabric of society.
I think you underestimate society's use of the internet and networks. It is far more than being able to browse Slashdot and play Farmville. The internet is responsible for financial transactions, shipping management (particularly food sources, oil, etc), power management, etc. If the internet went down, would it be the end of the world? I don't particularly think so. Would there be a whole heap (and I mean A LOT) of problems from the result? You better believe it.
Actually, Google is bringing Programming by Contract to Java. Design by Contract is trademarked by Eiffel Software (and Bertrand Meyer).
I'm not a Catholic, but, to be fair, spending money on yourself is not necessarily incompatible with religion. Yes, it does say in the Bible that it will be "easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven," but it's not because the person is rich. (For those who don't know, Jesus makes this statement after a rich man asked him what he needed to do to enter heaven. Jesus told him to go and sell his possessions and then follow Him. The rich man went away pretty discouraged.) The real incompatibility is when possessions become first over your love for Christ. That is where a lot of people get the common phrase incorrect. Money is not the root of all evil. It never says that anywhere in the Bible. No...instead...it says THE LOVE of money is the root of all evil.
If that person with the iPhone driving the $80,000 SUV is using that SUV to take a lot of food to homeless shelters, or perhaps the driver helps cart animals back and forth to the elderly to cheer them up, or perhaps a million other reasons - then there is absolutely nothing wrong. Heck, even if that person is driving that SUV because they liked all the cupholders it had and it was comfortable for them - then good for them! As long as they don't love it more than they love God, that is a good first step. (And, I know people who love far more worthless things which would fall into the same category.)
Of course, it's easy to judge those who have more (because someone will always have more than you). But, you see, by judging them (something we shouldn't be doing) and jumping to conclusions, you're stepping very close to that "do not covet" law that is pretty excellent as well. Really, a big portion of the "rules" of the Bible are, "Mind your own business unless you're doing good for someone else." Funny enough, people are VERY bad at minding their own business.
No...they just simply...fade away.
People on tech sites tend to vastly over estimate the need for, let alone the desire of, many for high speed internet.
One of the most insightful statements I have read here on Slashdot. We often forget that we are so focused on technical needs that we miss what "real people" really need or want.
Hell, you can enjoy life just fine without touching the net for weeks.
Well...now...that's just blasphemy. :-p
Seriously, though. Excellent post. Technology is fun, but it's not everybody's (most people's) cup of tea.
Genghis Kahn? Huh...I tried to look him up, but couldn't find anything out about him. Lots of information about another guy called Genghis Khan, though. But...that's probably just a coincidence.
It does not support subtitles.
Actually, many of the Netflix streaming movies are now offering options of CC. Not every movie, but I'm seeing it pop up more frequently lately.
Maybe people like crazy?
I did like crazy at one point in my life. Now I don't interact with my ex-wife anymore.
The not pulling out physical media in ages is great until your hard drive dies and you have no backups for your media.
Well, of course, the obvious solution is backup your media. Mozy is a great start - it has already saved me twice (drive died, and then accidentally deleted a folder I hadn't planned on).
People who put their data on a computer's hard drive should always be willing to spend the hundred or so dollars a year to protect that data in case of a failure.
Not trying to troll...but where did they say that? I mean, they support tethering and hotspots on the Droid platform, but it's most definitely not free. (Well, if you root the phone it is...but...) Typically, when you connect with your web browser through the tether/hotspot, Verizon pops up a message asking for $$$ to your plan before you can connect. Did I miss something in TFA?
If you don't trust your sysadmin, they shouldn't be your sysadmin.
Maybe you do trust him. But, workers become disgruntled (without ever seeming to be...until it's too late - look at work places that were shot up with no real indication from the employee), and people have bad days (and lose it), or sometimes someone just messes up (mistakes happen).
"And don't let the chair hit you in the butt on the way out!" - Ballmer
Antilock brakes help stop shorter and quicker.
False.
ABS only makes stops shorter and quicker on dry surfaces. However, on loose traction surfaces (gravel, snow, wet leaves, etc), ABS actually *increases* the braking distance fairly considerably. In this case, you are giving up braking distance for more control. (See here: http://www.monash.edu.au/muarc/reports/Other/RACV%20ABS%20braking%20system%20effectiveness.pdf)
Personally, however, I would rather have a low braking distance. I hate ABS. Almost caused me to die one time when I slid out on a patch of ice and, when I went to hit my brakes, they ABS kicked in and I didn't stop where I should have. Instead, I rolled right into the middle of an intersection with a couple cars coming at me fast.
As Attila Dimedici stated, I don't think it's Christianity you originally believed in (or, if you did, you had no understanding of your faith). Christianity acknowledges that we are all imperfect - nobody is safe from sin. It is only through the saving grace of the Lord that one is "made pure." However, nowhere...NOWHERE...does the Bible say, "Okay...you're saved. Now, sit around on your ass acknowledging how great you are until it's time to die." That is a twisted misinterpretation by people who want to do what they want to do. And, unfortunately, it makes an entire faith look bad.
In actuality, books like James make the call (54 times in 108 verses, as a matter of fact) to live a life that represents the faith you believe in. There is no need to live in guilt, due to the saving grace of God, but there is ALWAYS room for improvement in a person's life. (Some of the topics include: giving into temptations, responding to trials, putting faith into action, taming the tongue, etc.)
In any case, you have already made your decision, and probably don't care what I have to say. Maybe this will be useful to someone else who thinks they know what Christianity is about.
Yes, it only needs an old man in the sky to make the delusion perfect.
It saddens me to see that you were modded Insightful. The GP's question is very far off and would never work for a wide variety of reasons. However, your flamebait response against religion shows your lack of knowledge of what religions embrace. The fact of the matter is, any major religion, and anybody practicing such religion, realizes that humans, as a whole, are a pretty messed up bunch. Nobody is immune from the tragedy that is human nature, and I have seen this acknowledged by many people who practice their faith. More often than not, it is those who don't understand the concepts of a sinful or selfish nature that think an idea expressed in the GP's post will work.
And, as an aside, removing religion would not end the wars, genocides, judgement, etc that pervades our cultures. Religion provides a focal point more often than not because of the topics it attempts to address. However, if you removed religion from this world, I can guarantee you that something else would quickly take its place. The problem isn't religion...it's people.
Perhaps we would be better served by making the very *concept* of genocide or war simply inconceivable. I think we would be a lot better off with "But we've never done this, we've always been better than that!" than with "We'll, here we go yet again."
If you truly think this way, then you are extremely naive to the nature of people. You could *attempt* to eradicate every bad thing that ever existed, but that would not remove the selfish nature the pervades an individual's mind. Humans will still kill, steal, pillage, destroy and hurt others because that is one aspect of our nature. Some call it "original sin" or "self-preservation" or whatever else, but the fact of the matter is that it's there. You have to remember, all that history had to start somewhere. There was a time in which nobody "knew" about genocide...yet it still happened. By removing all references to history (including aspects of an excellent novel like Huckleberry Finn), we only do a disservice to the history that has been lived by previous generations and miss out on the rich (if imperfect) history that permeates our cultures.
Sorry. The iLike device is patented by Apple. My guess is you will soon be hearing from them.
Yes, then when you get comfortable, you become a heretic there, because that's what heretics do.
Thank you. This is a point I did not make, but really wish I had. A heretic will wash, rinse, and repeat over and over and never actually change anything.
I bitch and complain at the decisions of management, and you're right, I don't improve anything...but its not for a lack of effort. I tried to fix the system. I offered ideas, constructively and logically, on why Item X is flawed, and how following Strategy Y we could fix Item X to no detriment to Company_Standing Z.
I would argue that you haven't tried to fix the system. You just bitched and complained. "Offering ideas" really means nothing most of the time - EVEN if you are offering them to the person who has the absolute go-ahead to get things done (which, even a president or CEO doesn't have that kind of power).
The fact of the matter is, if you REALLY wanted to change something, you would have to do the work yourself. You may have to do it in your own time at times. Anything else is...well...just complaining.
False. Very false. It's human nature to think, "Everybody else is a moron and I could do better." The fact of the matter is that EVERYBODY thinks that and you are everybody else to everybody else.
The "Heretics" who complain about a company being run by morons are rarely (read: never) coming from the standpoint of actually understanding what is involved with runny a company. Any company of any reasonable size (read: bigger than 10 people) is going to have imperfect aspects to it. It's the nature of working with people (who are also imperfect). As a result, there will always be flaws in the system. Any reasonable person understands that. A good employee will even do what he or she can to improve that aspect of the system. However, a "Heretic" (of which I work with two) will spend his or her time complaining that he or she could do a better job without ever doing anything. The lack of action, first of all, is extremely unhelpful and actually damages a team or company because everybody else begins to buy into the mindset. (In my experience, Heretics tend to be extremely vocal.)
I'm of the opinion that the REAL issue with a Heretic is a combination of a smart person (who knows a lot), combined with a know-it-all attitude (but they don't know everything...even though they think they do)...who wants COMPLETE CONTROL of the system. This last part is the critical component. Any company of any size...even one of five or more people...cannot be run by a single person. There is not enough time in the day. However, the Heretic only THINKS they can do a better job on their own. The sad fact of the matter is that this (generally) smart person sounds like a whiner and a complainer and, in the end, may actually be a detriment to the company.
In one sense, I think the question "Have we entered an era in which electronics serve as mother, cop and coach because we can't manage our own desires?" is flamebait, but, on the other hand, it does pose an interesting question.
First of all, using technology to help humanity - whether it is something major, like producing more/better food, or something minor like making sure we can wake up at the correct time in the morning - is what it is. It's the growth of technology. So, in that respect, nobody is doing anything different than any other person who has had technology...it's just different technology.
However, I find it interesting that the summary posts a question about managing desires. While I know everybody likes to think they are more special than anybody else, and that THEY have no problem managing their desires and wants and needs, all you have to do is pick out any person out of a crowd and there were be SOMETHING that they struggle with. Eating too much. Spending too much. Pornography. Too much time in front of the TV. Overexercising (yes, I know someone who does that). Smoking. Drinking. Whatever. Everybody has something that brings them a great deal of pleasure - so much that they go overboard with it.
So, the question is, is it a bad thing to use this technology that we have at our disposal to get in control of some of our foibles? I would say no. For example, I have a friend who looked at a great deal of pornography. While he enjoyed it, it was greatly affecting his marriage because his wife couldn't live up to the standards he was setting in his mind. In addition, he also neglected his marriage due to his addiction. So, my friend began to use an application on his computer which monitored his web browsing habits. It blocked him where it could, and would email out a weekly email to his wife, myself, and his mother (!!!) regarding websites he visited. When he would screw up, we would be able to call him out on it.
Now, you could say, "Weakling. He should have managed his own impulses." And, I know he wanted to. He knew he was destroying his marriage and didn't want to do that, but, the ease of pornography access was too great for him to resist. He had to control it. Using that application helped a great deal and, after some counseling, he and his wife are happily married. (And, yes, I still receive weekly emails.)
In any case, I think making a statement like, "Have we entered an era in which electronics serve as mother, cop and coach because we can't manage our own desires?" is not only flamebait, it's also seriously judgmental and unrealistic. I do think none of these things should be FORCED on anybody...but there is absolutely no shame in using technology to help control or manage a part of your life that you need help with.
Ah...but you seem to be forgetting that the South Seas is where the investments are at! Never mind that we don't have a business plan...it's the south. And it's the seas. It must be worth something!
I tried to do that too, but he's pretty good-natured and rarely gets angry.
I highly doubt that realityimpaired is blocking Zynga to "stick it to the man." More likely, he wants to block Zynga because he hates seeing all the messages and advertisements coming up on his News Feed all the time. It's easier to block an entire publisher than block said publisher's 50 games.