That's because Heathrow is a dog's breakfast at the moment. Changing terminals is painful because it's congested, not because of customs impediments thrown up by the government. I regularly fly between the US and the UK, and it's hilarious how different customs experiences are in the different countries:
US: I have a sketchy muslim name, so I invariably get corralled into a side room, fingerprinted, "registered" and interviewed. If it takes less than 2 hours to complete this process, I consider myself fortunate.
UK: the nice lady at the customs booth says "welcome back," scans my passport and waves me through. Total time spent dealing with government officials: less than 2 minutes.
It boils down to the fact that the UK-- and the rest of Europe-- understands the business of accomodating foreigners, and attempts to handle the process flexibly and professionally. The US, on the other hand, is too preoccupied with maintaining it's illusory fortress to treat foreigners as anything more than unavoidable security hazards. This shows when the tourist dollars are totted up: all my vacations have been to Europe and Asia over the last few years, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this.
I love the fact that one of the reasons they "cite" for blocking firefox is a blog post from an undergrad course I took a while back. If this is the level of market research they're doing before blocking off a significant portion of their site traffic, more power to them... Darwin will take care of them in due course.
I don't have kids now, but when my fiancee and I get around to having them there will be no restrictions on what they do on the internet. If they need a computer, they'll have one that's capable of accessing the internet. That said, all their surfing will go through a gateway proxy which will log everything, and these logs WILL be read. The child will know that he/she is being monitored.
That should keep them under control of them if they are technically inept. If, however, they are smart enough to circumvent the logging, I'm pretty sure they'll be smart enough not to get into trouble on the internet, and I'll thank God that I haven't produced a dead-above-the-eyeballs child.
I agree that even well-run banks waste money at times-- but that wastage (at least at my firm) is on the client-relations side. Backend departments like IT, however, are't nearly as profligate because in the end, they're cost centers, while client relations can potentially lead to additional revenue for the firm.
That said, if the need for supercomputer-level parallelization and power crops up, I (gasp) actually trust my bosses to know exactly how and why to use them: one of them worked with Cray Research back when Seymour Cray was coming up with the Cray-1.:)
If the price goes even lower, perhaps they will. I find it difficult to see this happening though: the financial firm I work for has swung from supercomputer to linux clusters, and is showing no signs of going back. The TCO for a bunch of linux blades is just so much lower than a supercomputer... and because banks are so conscious of their bottom lines, they usually don't improve things if they are already working.
I'll be honest: whenever I hear about a new health risk coming from the British press, I just tune it out and start thinking of how they banned wifi in schools to protect young sebastion.
When I was a poor impoverished student a couple of years back, I'd allow myself one treat a week during the summer: one of those slushy frozen mocha drinks they make at Starbucks (not exactly sure what they call it). One busy Sunday afternoon, they forgot to ring me up and handed me my drink. I was working on a bastard of a problem at the time and was a little distracted, so it didn't occur to me until I'd finished the drink that I hadn't paid for it.
I went back to the counter and tried to make it right. The cute register-girl's response? She told EVERYONE behind the counter that I'd owned up to not paying. I was a little embarrassed at this stage, but it was nothing compared to when the manager came up to me and told me that I could have the my drink for free whenever I wanted. If I were white, I'd have been blushing beet red by now.
Apparently, people in this country are stunned when someone does something right... it's a little sad, but it also goes to show that honesty can pay. For the record, I always insisted on paying for my drink whenever I went there after that afternoon... I got something much more valuable instead: the register-girl's phone number.
The problem is that they don't have a very extensive ATM network... it kind of seems to peter out north of Penn Station in New York. It's a real problem, because a lot of NJ-ites like me work in NY, but bank with PNC. Need a twenty for lunch? You get f-ed in the a with third party ATM charges.
I do like their service though... that said, what exactly do you mean when you say that they have their shit together?
Brian Kernighan is very much alive; he is currently teaching undergraduates at Princeton. I happened to stumble into one of his courses by accident while shopping around at the beginning of the semester (COS333), and stuck around for the entire class. I'm glad I did: the man's a treasure trove of UNIX stories and experience, and a great teacher and mentor to boot.
COMING AS I DO FROM A NATION OF DEPOSED MILLIONAIRE PRINCES AND BRUTAL MILITARY DICTATORS, I AM EMAILING YOU TO REQUESTING YOUR ASSISTANCE IN MOVING MONEY IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,000,000 (TM) AWAY FROM THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF THE NATION OF AFRICA TO AVOID [SOB STORY].
IN RETURN FOR YOUR HELP, YOU WILL RECEIVE AN AMOUNT OF NO LESS THAN 120% (POSSIBLY MORE) OF THE TRANSFERRED AMOUNT. PLEASE REPLY AT THE SOONEST WITH NOTIFICATION OF YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THIS DEAL, BANK ACCOUNT INFORMATION AND SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER.
YOURS RESPECTFULLY, GENERIC AFRICA MILLIONAIRE PRINCE
Lots and lots and lots of interesting bits and pieces. The problem is that bits and pieces don't an intersting book make. Also, the style of writing verged on infodump for vast tracts. Fortunately, these defects were fixed in time for Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle (which all rank in my top 50).
I've currently got a couple of 3800+ based dual cores doing server duty and media recording, and a 5200+ for my main desktop rig. I'd spring for Core2's... except for the fact that they cost twice as much and don't add much value to my home network. Basically, AMD beats Intel in terms of value, but loses the "brute force" race.
Slashdot Mirror
My girlfriend and rewound and played that clip at least 10 times.
We laughed all the way as well.
I think we may have problems...
Problem exists between keyboard and chair
... that there are actually 11 million Canadians? Does this figure include moose and grizzly bears?
I'm sorry, but that idea makes far too much sense for it to be seriously considered by lawmakers (or slashdot, for that matter).
Fucking moogles... they took my last 2500 gil for a stupid map in FF12. I should probably get back to work.
That's because Heathrow is a dog's breakfast at the moment. Changing terminals is painful because it's congested, not because of customs impediments thrown up by the government. I regularly fly between the US and the UK, and it's hilarious how different customs experiences are in the different countries:
US: I have a sketchy muslim name, so I invariably get corralled into a side room, fingerprinted, "registered" and interviewed. If it takes less than 2 hours to complete this process, I consider myself fortunate.
UK: the nice lady at the customs booth says "welcome back," scans my passport and waves me through. Total time spent dealing with government officials: less than 2 minutes.
It boils down to the fact that the UK-- and the rest of Europe-- understands the business of accomodating foreigners, and attempts to handle the process flexibly and professionally. The US, on the other hand, is too preoccupied with maintaining it's illusory fortress to treat foreigners as anything more than unavoidable security hazards. This shows when the tourist dollars are totted up: all my vacations have been to Europe and Asia over the last few years, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this.
Why the devil has parent been modded flamebait? Just because he doesn't agree with the groupthink doesn't mean that it's a null/void opinion!
I say, you seem to be hell bent on diluting the already watered-down significance of the elevated hand slap!
I love the fact that one of the reasons they "cite" for blocking firefox is a blog post from an undergrad course I took a while back. If this is the level of market research they're doing before blocking off a significant portion of their site traffic, more power to them... Darwin will take care of them in due course.
I don't have kids now, but when my fiancee and I get around to having them there will be no restrictions on what they do on the internet. If they need a computer, they'll have one that's capable of accessing the internet. That said, all their surfing will go through a gateway proxy which will log everything, and these logs WILL be read. The child will know that he/she is being monitored.
That should keep them under control of them if they are technically inept. If, however, they are smart enough to circumvent the logging, I'm pretty sure they'll be smart enough not to get into trouble on the internet, and I'll thank God that I haven't produced a dead-above-the-eyeballs child.
I agree that even well-run banks waste money at times-- but that wastage (at least at my firm) is on the client-relations side. Backend departments like IT, however, are't nearly as profligate because in the end, they're cost centers, while client relations can potentially lead to additional revenue for the firm.
:)
That said, if the need for supercomputer-level parallelization and power crops up, I (gasp) actually trust my bosses to know exactly how and why to use them: one of them worked with Cray Research back when Seymour Cray was coming up with the Cray-1.
If the price goes even lower, perhaps they will. I find it difficult to see this happening though: the financial firm I work for has swung from supercomputer to linux clusters, and is showing no signs of going back. The TCO for a bunch of linux blades is just so much lower than a supercomputer... and because banks are so conscious of their bottom lines, they usually don't improve things if they are already working.
I'll be honest: whenever I hear about a new health risk coming from the British press, I just tune it out and start thinking of how they banned wifi in schools to protect young sebastion.
When I was a poor impoverished student a couple of years back, I'd allow myself one treat a week during the summer: one of those slushy frozen mocha drinks they make at Starbucks (not exactly sure what they call it). One busy Sunday afternoon, they forgot to ring me up and handed me my drink. I was working on a bastard of a problem at the time and was a little distracted, so it didn't occur to me until I'd finished the drink that I hadn't paid for it.
I went back to the counter and tried to make it right. The cute register-girl's response? She told EVERYONE behind the counter that I'd owned up to not paying. I was a little embarrassed at this stage, but it was nothing compared to when the manager came up to me and told me that I could have the my drink for free whenever I wanted. If I were white, I'd have been blushing beet red by now.
Apparently, people in this country are stunned when someone does something right... it's a little sad, but it also goes to show that honesty can pay. For the record, I always insisted on paying for my drink whenever I went there after that afternoon... I got something much more valuable instead: the register-girl's phone number.
We're still dating.
The problem is that they don't have a very extensive ATM network... it kind of seems to peter out north of Penn Station in New York. It's a real problem, because a lot of NJ-ites like me work in NY, but bank with PNC. Need a twenty for lunch? You get f-ed in the a with third party ATM charges.
I do like their service though... that said, what exactly do you mean when you say that they have their shit together?
I lose at grammar. If only we could take back the dumb posts we make on Slashdot...
Brian Kernighan is very much alive; he is currently teaching undergraduates at Princeton. I happened to stumble into one of his courses by accident while shopping around at the beginning of the semester (COS333), and stuck around for the entire class. I'm glad I did: the man's a treasure trove of UNIX stories and experience, and a great teacher and mentor to boot.
COMING AS I DO FROM A NATION OF DEPOSED MILLIONAIRE PRINCES AND BRUTAL MILITARY DICTATORS, I AM EMAILING YOU TO REQUESTING YOUR ASSISTANCE IN MOVING MONEY IN THE AMOUNT OF $1,000,000 (TM) AWAY FROM THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF THE NATION OF AFRICA TO AVOID [SOB STORY].
IN RETURN FOR YOUR HELP, YOU WILL RECEIVE AN AMOUNT OF NO LESS THAN 120% (POSSIBLY MORE) OF THE TRANSFERRED AMOUNT. PLEASE REPLY AT THE SOONEST WITH NOTIFICATION OF YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THIS DEAL, BANK ACCOUNT INFORMATION AND SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER.
YOURS RESPECTFULLY,
GENERIC AFRICA MILLIONAIRE PRINCE
1 AFRICA ROAD
AFRICA CITY, 12358
NATION OF AFRICA
Whoops! Brain was fried. The fact that it was at 10 in the morning makes it even more disturbing.
$rant = "Stop using SKU in everyday conversation."
For those of you who need it spelled out, run this at the command prompt: perl -wc split ('', $rant)
The correct term is 'model'.
To each his/her own! I haven't read Diamond Age yet, although it is on my list of books to read-- I hear good things about it.
Lots and lots and lots of interesting bits and pieces. The problem is that bits and pieces don't an intersting book make. Also, the style of writing verged on infodump for vast tracts. Fortunately, these defects were fixed in time for Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle (which all rank in my top 50).
I just finished reading Snow Crash. At the beginning, I thought Hiro's story would not end well. By page 700, I thought it wouldn't end at all...
I've currently got a couple of 3800+ based dual cores doing server duty and media recording, and a 5200+ for my main desktop rig. I'd spring for Core2's... except for the fact that they cost twice as much and don't add much value to my home network. Basically, AMD beats Intel in terms of value, but loses the "brute force" race.