You obviously haven't been around long. Some people on the net remember when email was slower than the postal service. 2 weeks to send a normal message was a common thing. It was free to the sender though, because someone else paid the long distance telephone bills (this is pre-breakup so the monopoly charged a lot more than they do today, and there has been a lot of inflation too)
I'm not quite that old, but I've done a lot a messaging on a 300 baud modem. The upgrade to 1200 was something I wished I could afford for years. Then a year latter lightening took out the modem and I was back to 300 baud until I could afford a modem again.
Oh come on, I'm the least likely to have seen the inside of the bar, yet I have. Not only do I not have a socal life, but I also don't drink anyway. Yet I've been in bars. My last choice of a place to visit, but I've been there. When the other guys at work go to the bar for lunch, I don't get much of a choice if I car pooled. (And the lunch in a bar is typically better and cheaper than fast food, so I don't complain about it) When I'm on a buisness trip and the others decide to make plans in the bar, I have little choice. (Not many places you can go to have a meeting)
Why close the bars at all? This is basic freedom people. I don't agree with drinking, but you have the right to destroy your senses if you so choose (you do not however have the right to get my support for your treatment after you destroy your body. you also don't have any right to do anything drunk or not that would endanger the safety of anyone other than yourself). Want to drink all night, that is your buisness. Get off work at 4am (your 8 hour shift happens to be 8pm-4am) and want a quick drink? None of my buisness. Get drunk at anytime and cause problems for others - then I'm mad, and the time has nothing to do with it.
Granted most people work 8am-5pm with a 1 hour lunch, but why does law have to make it inconvient for anyone else.
Re:Bandwidth and cheap media.
on
Why Only Music?
·
· Score: 1
No, you sneak a bill through now that is generic enough to cover video, when the MPAA isn't paying attention because you can't make use of it. When broadband catches up, the laws are already in place, and it is just a matter of convincing your congressmen to not change them, instead of fighting against a change they are making. With luck and congress's slow pace, by the time they get a bill through, people are so used to the current law that congress is not willing to piss off the voters.
Then again, given the slow pace of congress, and the fast pace of technology, by the time anything gets passed, broadband will be more than fast enough to be useful for video.
One more point: the current "holy grail" of broadband to cable operators is Video on demand. Think Pay-per-view, except you choose which videos to watch, they start when you are ready, and are pausable/rewindable. Cable companies would love to replace your local blockbuster type store. They already have the ability to get video to your home, and most have a library of local programs (for the public access channel) that they can contribute. It isn't a big step to put all that content online so you can watch last year's community production of Hamlet when you want too - for a small fee of course. (Hamlet was picked as the example specificly because it is public domain so rights are easy to secure, but securing rights is on-topic to this story)
Cable companies don't care what you watch, so long as they make money. If you rent a movie from a video store they don't make as much money as if you buy a video from them. So the internet fast enough for general movie downloads isn't in their favor, but an internet like service that lets them provide (for a fee, which may be extra monthly like getting HBO is, or may be pay-per-view type charge) content is in their favor and they want it.
Forget about cost as a barrier to entery. Fiber is very cheap. You can get the money to wire a town for fiber. (If not now you could have 5 years ago...) What you couldn't get was permission to install that fiber. Towns regulate who is allowed to install wires under their streets and on their polls. (The polls are not the town's in most cases, but they may as well be because you can't install new ones without permission that you won't get, and you can get space on current ones as a compititor)
Sure, it is easier to deduce the type. However, most of the time it doesn't really matter to me. I can tell that pFoo is a pointer because it is accessed by *pFoo = value, or some such, and if Foo is useful in that part of the code, then scattered about are lots of references to it to judge from. It doesn't matter if foo is a char, an int, or a float, the name itself will be enough of a clue. (filename is string, right? might be a char *, or a class, but well written code will have a style that doesn't mix the two)
Sure I once in a while have to know the type, but when that happens I also need to know exactly how to spell it. That means I either have to scroll to the top of the file anyway to make sure I type the right spelling, or more likely have a header file open in a different window so I can look it up
A Casion wants you personally to win. They make their money by getting a lot of people in, and most of them lose, but they love nothing more than when you win, and go home and tell your friends. Think about it, those who go to vegas and win are always telling their friends and family how much they made, often over a year latter they are still bragging. There is no better advertising than word of mouth from winners. Best of all, individulals can lie, saying things (in complete ignorance) that would be illegal for them to advertise. Those who loose tend to take it in stride "I lost, but not that much, and I had fun", and soon after forget about it. They can loose when you win because you will encourage others to go and loose.
Remember they make money from the numbers. The odds are designed so that some will by random chance beat them and make money, with the goal of getting those people to go home and get more "winners" in. Most people will loose of course, but they want you to hear about the winners, something they can only do if there are a few winners. (Of course many winners come back and loose more latter than they won, which helps them even more)
instantanious if you are insecure
on
IRC in the Dog House?
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
The effects of an attack are instantanious, but only if you are insecure to them. Back when WinNuke was the latest things my brother challanged someone to knock him off. Strange that a Mac protected by a linux firewall (which was very out of date, and insecure) isn't vulnerable to winNuke. (and that was just a 28.8 modem, should have been easy to do if an attacker had any abilities) Now a days whenever someone brags about what a leet attacker they are, we point them to the guy working at an ISP. Very hard to DoS someone with a OC-48 to his desktop...
In other words protect your systems and you will foil a lot of attacks. Most attackers are too lazy to figgure out how to attack something. That is why they are called "script kiddies" they really are kids who only know who to start a script, and if that fails they are lost.
Some book I read as a kid "How do they do that?". Unfortunatly that means my memory could be faulty (though I do remember one guy quoted on the subject); things could have changed in how they do things today; that it is something done, but not admitted to; or something else.
Note that the book is likely either out of print, or has been updated, so you would not only need to find it, but find the version that I read. I no longer have it, so I can't give you any information on which version that might be. I might not even have the title right.
If MRI wasn't so expensive I'd call this a good thing. Got a problem that seems miner, go through a harmless [1] procedure just in case it detects something serious. Ideally MRI machines would be dirt cheap, and comptuers could analise the system enough to say "Not a problem, Problem, or Potential problem", for most people the results are stored so that if latter there is a need the experts looking at a problem can see what is "normal" for you.
Because the machines are so expensive, giving someone an MRI for nothing isn't worth it. If you could have the Nurse give everyone a MRI (and several other simple, quick, and harmless diagnostics) before seeing the doctor general heath would be imporved, if only for 3 people total who have an undected problem.
[1] Of course X-Rays were considered harmless for many years... I have no idea how harmless MRI really is.
As I understood it, SGI said they examined all their contributions closely to be sure they didn't accidently put SysV code in Linux. They also did a general check for other problems, but did not put forth the effort to be sure there are no non-SGI violations. If there are SysV copyright violations they are difficult to find though. That implys any violations are just potential because it can be argued the code is dissimilear enough that either it was independantly written and similear on good enginnering grounds, or not similear enough to count as a violation.
That is one example. I was going to put in some comments about the peace prize becoming a "war prize" once in a while. Eventially I decided it wasn't really on topic, and I didn't want to research such topics to make sure I had details (like the one you gave) incase someone wanted to call troll and demand examples.
There are other examples of prizes being awarded for political gains, if you want to search them out.
The Nobel prize has traditionally been very slow to make awards. They are based not on scientifi merit, but significant scientifi merit. The committe has been burned a few times in the past when the awarded a prize for something that seemed revolutionary and worth a prize today, only to have significant flaws develope meaning the work that seemed for revlutionary is insignificant in 20 years. This work may have seemed cool 20 years ago (though other posters dispute that), but it has since shown lasting value to sciencie.
Remember, Nobel himself was interested in science for the sake of improving people's life. Science for science sake didn't really interest him. (More in the math FAQ on why there isn't a math award) Nobel himself wouldn't have wanted this award given in the '70s just in case it didn't pan out.
One other point, the committe takes into account personal background. If you deserve an award, but they feel your personaly life would lead you to "wasting" it, they will give the award to someone else. Turn your life around, and you may suddenly get an award at 60 for something you did when you were 25.
Of course the nobel committies are political. Some awards are given far too soon, and others are ignored for less achivements of "lesser" merit. Overall though, they do a fairly good job.
The word regulated has changed definition a little since the constitution was written. Today we would read that to mean regulated by rules. Back then it was read as regulated by having sufficant equipment (firearms) to protect the country.
I you are a male living in the US and between 16 and 45 you are a member of the milita, and you have no choice in the matter. (In these more enlightened times we would include females and extend the age to 70)
Try making them. A little wood or metalworking, and some help from a Surplus store and you should be well on your way. For comptuer interfaces, game controllers or keyboards are dirt cheap, buy one to take apart.
Portable if you own a large truck, but recomended for stationary use, I;d love to see if few more Band Orgrans around. Those will a smaller budget may have to "settle" with making their own, while those with a larger budget can get a restored antique to impress their friends.
Anyway you look at it, a beatiful and useless toy that every geek would love the opportunity to play with.
Plexiglass would work, but it lacks a good R-value. Fridges can't keep up with too much heat loss, a large enough window would actually warm your fridge up, a smaller one would still make the fridge run more often, thus wasting electrisity.
If your house is humid the window will fog up, depending on your goals this may or may nto prevent realizing them. (if you just want to know if the light really goes off, you might be able to see enough to tell that. If you want to see what is in there it won't work)
I can just see it: Computer what is the situaiont on the plant Joe just left alice for Steve and took her cat with him. [insert a lot of messy details of some popular soap opera called planet.] evil dictator launches mistle attack for not properly announcing themselves upon arrival in orbit.
In other words first Google needs to figgure out what I really want to search for. Too many terms have multipul meanings.
Perhaps nobody? Next time you go to the bathroom, lug all your computer gear in there and start researching while you do your thing. It seems that they mostly were looking at sound, and most computers have microphones.
then again, the researchers are in finland, and "everyone" knows that the governments in that area of the world are as close as you can get to socalists. (so far...) You have a place to live and food on your table no matter what you do. So if you want to research this you only need to work until you can afford the equipment.
You need to attend God School where you learn how to create something from nothing.
Note that there are subtile details, to understand first. Things like writting all the laws of physics. This is discussed in earlier years. You know, details like what forces should in involved, what the constants nessicary to make them work should be. (and the implications of the constants changing either overtime or randomly) For that matter time itself is discussed in a different class. Conservation of matter is discussed in with general rules, along with the implications of not having it - most of the time a young god will choose to apply conservation of matter to their universe because managing the universe is much simpler. (They are above this law, so really it only affects those inside the system, young gods creating their first universe omay inject or remove matter and energy latter on)
By the time you get to the final class you already have a plan in place, it is just a matter of getting teacher approval, creating it, and then watching what happens.
Note that god school is tough, most gods flunk out before creating a universe. They tend to spend their time causing problems in the universes created by the few Gods that do manage to create their own universe.
My friends encouraged me several years ago to get a GameCube, because they already had PS2 or Xbox. When I go to the one's house we play PS2 (or Xbox, respectively) games, by mixing up the system we get more varity.
I didn't have the money back then though. Today I'm thinking about going the MAME/emulator route. Nothing like a good game of MULE/PacMAN, or such to remind everyone that this is about fun.
3 hours was about right. I got the impression that their job allowed this as a perk. Some local buisness do try to help community you know. They appear to work across the street, so it is just a matter of finding time when you are not in a meeting or otherwise occupied and doing it.
Though honestly, I only know what it looked like: a couple guys in suits, and the one mentioned that he did this rather often and implyed it was within walking distance of work. They gave no impression that it was for money, and may have been one of the group that when they got their check signed it over to charity right there. (I'm not sure how it work cause I was in school and needed the money, but I know they made it easy to give your check to charity)
I should have seen the signs 3 months before
on
How Were You Fired?
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· Score: 1
When hardware asked in the quarterly meeting why the company wasn't doing anything with their group - Plenty of smart people, enough to design the next version of the product, but it wasn't happening. He got the run-around.
About the same time (latter I'd guess) the general manager of our branch "resigned for personal reasons". Rumor immesadiatly was he was demanding a roadmap for the next version of our product, got a promiss to have it by (about a month before this date) and didn't get it.
The entire time after this we worked hard to get the latest version out the door. The date it entered test was the data they formally anounced our jobs were going to india.
Working there was not longer fun, and hadn't been for a several months even before that, but until 3 months before I could honestly say it might just be a normal things it could get fun again. I should have paid the warning signs more attention.
And I at least saw them, and didn't know what I was seeing. I told family (actually a little before the 3 months) that I was going to be looking as soon as some personal things were taken care of.
Except for traffic I get in on the net. I find that if you look hard enough there is higher quality avaible on the net. There is a lot of low quality stuff mixed in to deal with though. Books have an easier to obtain contentration of information once you find them, but the quality isn't there, if only because it is obsolete. More often books are lacking because of one advantage the internet has: there is someone else who has done it to help with specifics. Ask on USENET or a mailing list, and someone who has done that will help your specific problem. Ask a book and it will sit there. Search a bunch of books and you will find a bunch of different answers to similear questions, but they don't quite fit. Thinking is only a partial solution, unless someone who knows the answer is there to guide you, you can come up with the wrong answer.
Traffic is an exception though. I need updates as events happen, and the net doesn't provide a good interface for getting them. I'm stuck with a 55 mile commute (just started the job, planning on moving latter) with several choices of which road to take. Some days 94 is best, sometimes 694. Others 94->35e->694 is best. And many other combinations, and I may have to modify my choice in real time. Even if I had the net in my car it is dangerious to look at the screen while driving. Thus radio fills that need for me.
Slashdot Mirror
You obviously haven't been around long. Some people on the net remember when email was slower than the postal service. 2 weeks to send a normal message was a common thing. It was free to the sender though, because someone else paid the long distance telephone bills (this is pre-breakup so the monopoly charged a lot more than they do today, and there has been a lot of inflation too)
I'm not quite that old, but I've done a lot a messaging on a 300 baud modem. The upgrade to 1200 was something I wished I could afford for years. Then a year latter lightening took out the modem and I was back to 300 baud until I could afford a modem again.
Oh come on, I'm the least likely to have seen the inside of the bar, yet I have. Not only do I not have a socal life, but I also don't drink anyway. Yet I've been in bars. My last choice of a place to visit, but I've been there. When the other guys at work go to the bar for lunch, I don't get much of a choice if I car pooled. (And the lunch in a bar is typically better and cheaper than fast food, so I don't complain about it) When I'm on a buisness trip and the others decide to make plans in the bar, I have little choice. (Not many places you can go to have a meeting)
Why close the bars at all? This is basic freedom people. I don't agree with drinking, but you have the right to destroy your senses if you so choose (you do not however have the right to get my support for your treatment after you destroy your body. you also don't have any right to do anything drunk or not that would endanger the safety of anyone other than yourself). Want to drink all night, that is your buisness. Get off work at 4am (your 8 hour shift happens to be 8pm-4am) and want a quick drink? None of my buisness. Get drunk at anytime and cause problems for others - then I'm mad, and the time has nothing to do with it.
Granted most people work 8am-5pm with a 1 hour lunch, but why does law have to make it inconvient for anyone else.
No, you sneak a bill through now that is generic enough to cover video, when the MPAA isn't paying attention because you can't make use of it. When broadband catches up, the laws are already in place, and it is just a matter of convincing your congressmen to not change them, instead of fighting against a change they are making. With luck and congress's slow pace, by the time they get a bill through, people are so used to the current law that congress is not willing to piss off the voters.
Then again, given the slow pace of congress, and the fast pace of technology, by the time anything gets passed, broadband will be more than fast enough to be useful for video.
One more point: the current "holy grail" of broadband to cable operators is Video on demand. Think Pay-per-view, except you choose which videos to watch, they start when you are ready, and are pausable/rewindable. Cable companies would love to replace your local blockbuster type store. They already have the ability to get video to your home, and most have a library of local programs (for the public access channel) that they can contribute. It isn't a big step to put all that content online so you can watch last year's community production of Hamlet when you want too - for a small fee of course. (Hamlet was picked as the example specificly because it is public domain so rights are easy to secure, but securing rights is on-topic to this story)
Cable companies don't care what you watch, so long as they make money. If you rent a movie from a video store they don't make as much money as if you buy a video from them. So the internet fast enough for general movie downloads isn't in their favor, but an internet like service that lets them provide (for a fee, which may be extra monthly like getting HBO is, or may be pay-per-view type charge) content is in their favor and they want it.
Forget about cost as a barrier to entery. Fiber is very cheap. You can get the money to wire a town for fiber. (If not now you could have 5 years ago...) What you couldn't get was permission to install that fiber. Towns regulate who is allowed to install wires under their streets and on their polls. (The polls are not the town's in most cases, but they may as well be because you can't install new ones without permission that you won't get, and you can get space on current ones as a compititor)
Sure, it is easier to deduce the type. However, most of the time it doesn't really matter to me. I can tell that pFoo is a pointer because it is accessed by *pFoo = value, or some such, and if Foo is useful in that part of the code, then scattered about are lots of references to it to judge from. It doesn't matter if foo is a char, an int, or a float, the name itself will be enough of a clue. (filename is string, right? might be a char *, or a class, but well written code will have a style that doesn't mix the two)
Sure I once in a while have to know the type, but when that happens I also need to know exactly how to spell it. That means I either have to scroll to the top of the file anyway to make sure I type the right spelling, or more likely have a header file open in a different window so I can look it up
A Casion wants you personally to win. They make their money by getting a lot of people in, and most of them lose, but they love nothing more than when you win, and go home and tell your friends. Think about it, those who go to vegas and win are always telling their friends and family how much they made, often over a year latter they are still bragging. There is no better advertising than word of mouth from winners. Best of all, individulals can lie, saying things (in complete ignorance) that would be illegal for them to advertise. Those who loose tend to take it in stride "I lost, but not that much, and I had fun", and soon after forget about it. They can loose when you win because you will encourage others to go and loose.
Remember they make money from the numbers. The odds are designed so that some will by random chance beat them and make money, with the goal of getting those people to go home and get more "winners" in. Most people will loose of course, but they want you to hear about the winners, something they can only do if there are a few winners. (Of course many winners come back and loose more latter than they won, which helps them even more)
The effects of an attack are instantanious, but only if you are insecure to them. Back when WinNuke was the latest things my brother challanged someone to knock him off. Strange that a Mac protected by a linux firewall (which was very out of date, and insecure) isn't vulnerable to winNuke. (and that was just a 28.8 modem, should have been easy to do if an attacker had any abilities) Now a days whenever someone brags about what a leet attacker they are, we point them to the guy working at an ISP. Very hard to DoS someone with a OC-48 to his desktop...
In other words protect your systems and you will foil a lot of attacks. Most attackers are too lazy to figgure out how to attack something. That is why they are called "script kiddies" they really are kids who only know who to start a script, and if that fails they are lost.
Some book I read as a kid "How do they do that?". Unfortunatly that means my memory could be faulty (though I do remember one guy quoted on the subject); things could have changed in how they do things today; that it is something done, but not admitted to; or something else.
Note that the book is likely either out of print, or has been updated, so you would not only need to find it, but find the version that I read. I no longer have it, so I can't give you any information on which version that might be. I might not even have the title right.
If MRI wasn't so expensive I'd call this a good thing. Got a problem that seems miner, go through a harmless [1] procedure just in case it detects something serious. Ideally MRI machines would be dirt cheap, and comptuers could analise the system enough to say "Not a problem, Problem, or Potential problem", for most people the results are stored so that if latter there is a need the experts looking at a problem can see what is "normal" for you.
Because the machines are so expensive, giving someone an MRI for nothing isn't worth it. If you could have the Nurse give everyone a MRI (and several other simple, quick, and harmless diagnostics) before seeing the doctor general heath would be imporved, if only for 3 people total who have an undected problem.
[1] Of course X-Rays were considered harmless for many years... I have no idea how harmless MRI really is.
As I understood it, SGI said they examined all their contributions closely to be sure they didn't accidently put SysV code in Linux. They also did a general check for other problems, but did not put forth the effort to be sure there are no non-SGI violations. If there are SysV copyright violations they are difficult to find though. That implys any violations are just potential because it can be argued the code is dissimilear enough that either it was independantly written and similear on good enginnering grounds, or not similear enough to count as a violation.
That is one example. I was going to put in some comments about the peace prize becoming a "war prize" once in a while. Eventially I decided it wasn't really on topic, and I didn't want to research such topics to make sure I had details (like the one you gave) incase someone wanted to call troll and demand examples.
There are other examples of prizes being awarded for political gains, if you want to search them out.
The Nobel prize has traditionally been very slow to make awards. They are based not on scientifi merit, but significant scientifi merit. The committe has been burned a few times in the past when the awarded a prize for something that seemed revolutionary and worth a prize today, only to have significant flaws develope meaning the work that seemed for revlutionary is insignificant in 20 years. This work may have seemed cool 20 years ago (though other posters dispute that), but it has since shown lasting value to sciencie.
Remember, Nobel himself was interested in science for the sake of improving people's life. Science for science sake didn't really interest him. (More in the math FAQ on why there isn't a math award) Nobel himself wouldn't have wanted this award given in the '70s just in case it didn't pan out.
One other point, the committe takes into account personal background. If you deserve an award, but they feel your personaly life would lead you to "wasting" it, they will give the award to someone else. Turn your life around, and you may suddenly get an award at 60 for something you did when you were 25.
Of course the nobel committies are political. Some awards are given far too soon, and others are ignored for less achivements of "lesser" merit. Overall though, they do a fairly good job.
The word regulated has changed definition a little since the constitution was written. Today we would read that to mean regulated by rules. Back then it was read as regulated by having sufficant equipment (firearms) to protect the country.
I you are a male living in the US and between 16 and 45 you are a member of the milita, and you have no choice in the matter. (In these more enlightened times we would include females and extend the age to 70)
Try making them. A little wood or metalworking, and some help from a Surplus store and you should be well on your way. For comptuer interfaces, game controllers or keyboards are dirt cheap, buy one to take apart.
Portable if you own a large truck, but recomended for stationary use, I;d love to see if few more Band Orgrans around. Those will a smaller budget may have to "settle" with making their own, while those with a larger budget can get a restored antique to impress their friends.
Anyway you look at it, a beatiful and useless toy that every geek would love the opportunity to play with.
Plexiglass would work, but it lacks a good R-value. Fridges can't keep up with too much heat loss, a large enough window would actually warm your fridge up, a smaller one would still make the fridge run more often, thus wasting electrisity.
If your house is humid the window will fog up, depending on your goals this may or may nto prevent realizing them. (if you just want to know if the light really goes off, you might be able to see enough to tell that. If you want to see what is in there it won't work)
I can just see it:
Computer what is the situaiont on the plant
Joe just left alice for Steve and took her cat with him. [insert a lot of messy details of some popular soap opera called planet.]
evil dictator launches mistle attack for not properly announcing themselves upon arrival in orbit.
In other words first Google needs to figgure out what I really want to search for. Too many terms have multipul meanings.
Perhaps nobody? Next time you go to the bathroom, lug all your computer gear in there and start researching while you do your thing. It seems that they mostly were looking at sound, and most computers have microphones.
then again, the researchers are in finland, and "everyone" knows that the governments in that area of the world are as close as you can get to socalists. (so far...) You have a place to live and food on your table no matter what you do. So if you want to research this you only need to work until you can afford the equipment.
You need to attend God School where you learn how to create something from nothing.
Note that there are subtile details, to understand first. Things like writting all the laws of physics. This is discussed in earlier years. You know, details like what forces should in involved, what the constants nessicary to make them work should be. (and the implications of the constants changing either overtime or randomly) For that matter time itself is discussed in a different class. Conservation of matter is discussed in with general rules, along with the implications of not having it - most of the time a young god will choose to apply conservation of matter to their universe because managing the universe is much simpler. (They are above this law, so really it only affects those inside the system, young gods creating their first universe omay inject or remove matter and energy latter on)
By the time you get to the final class you already have a plan in place, it is just a matter of getting teacher approval, creating it, and then watching what happens.
Note that god school is tough, most gods flunk out before creating a universe. They tend to spend their time causing problems in the universes created by the few Gods that do manage to create their own universe.
My friends encouraged me several years ago to get a GameCube, because they already had PS2 or Xbox. When I go to the one's house we play PS2 (or Xbox, respectively) games, by mixing up the system we get more varity.
I didn't have the money back then though. Today I'm thinking about going the MAME/emulator route. Nothing like a good game of MULE/PacMAN, or such to remind everyone that this is about fun.
3 hours was about right. I got the impression that their job allowed this as a perk. Some local buisness do try to help community you know. They appear to work across the street, so it is just a matter of finding time when you are not in a meeting or otherwise occupied and doing it.
Though honestly, I only know what it looked like: a couple guys in suits, and the one mentioned that he did this rather often and implyed it was within walking distance of work. They gave no impression that it was for money, and may have been one of the group that when they got their check signed it over to charity right there. (I'm not sure how it work cause I was in school and needed the money, but I know they made it easy to give your check to charity)
When hardware asked in the quarterly meeting why the company wasn't doing anything with their group - Plenty of smart people, enough to design the next version of the product, but it wasn't happening. He got the run-around.
About the same time (latter I'd guess) the general manager of our branch "resigned for personal reasons". Rumor immesadiatly was he was demanding a roadmap for the next version of our product, got a promiss to have it by (about a month before this date) and didn't get it.
The entire time after this we worked hard to get the latest version out the door. The date it entered test was the data they formally anounced our jobs were going to india.
Working there was not longer fun, and hadn't been for a several months even before that, but until 3 months before I could honestly say it might just be a normal things it could get fun again. I should have paid the warning signs more attention.
And I at least saw them, and didn't know what I was seeing. I told family (actually a little before the 3 months) that I was going to be looking as soon as some personal things were taken care of.
Except for traffic I get in on the net. I find that if you look hard enough there is higher quality avaible on the net. There is a lot of low quality stuff mixed in to deal with though. Books have an easier to obtain contentration of information once you find them, but the quality isn't there, if only because it is obsolete. More often books are lacking because of one advantage the internet has: there is someone else who has done it to help with specifics. Ask on USENET or a mailing list, and someone who has done that will help your specific problem. Ask a book and it will sit there. Search a bunch of books and you will find a bunch of different answers to similear questions, but they don't quite fit. Thinking is only a partial solution, unless someone who knows the answer is there to guide you, you can come up with the wrong answer.
Traffic is an exception though. I need updates as events happen, and the net doesn't provide a good interface for getting them. I'm stuck with a 55 mile commute (just started the job, planning on moving latter) with several choices of which road to take. Some days 94 is best, sometimes 694. Others 94->35e->694 is best. And many other combinations, and I may have to modify my choice in real time. Even if I had the net in my car it is dangerious to look at the screen while driving. Thus radio fills that need for me.