"As far as I know most companies do this as well and have a similar banner"
Not at all, which is one of the problems. Besides which, such a banner does not absolve the user from liability for using the computer to commit illegal activities, nor does it make those actions legal.
All it means is that that user should have zero expectation of privacy, that the computer is for business use only (which most companies issue an annual memo about), and that any evidence of illegal activity will be forwarded to law enforcement.
Nowhere does it confer ownership of any material (like the 'stray' flash drive) tothe user, who is the one who is potentially guilty of accessing unauthorized material.
"Sure, it might be a "valid" career path, but for how many people exactly?"
Quite right. If by "valid," they ean there is a glimmer of hope of being able to make a living off it, sure.
But to me, and countless others, a "valid" career path means a reasonable expectation of being able to 'keep food on my family' and pay for housing, kids' education, etc.
And if by "path," they mean some kind of nebulous mechanism whereby I can work hard to perfect my gaming skills and happen to be charismatic and happen to be in the right place at the right time, and happen to be able to struggle on a pittance for years before I make the big-time, then sure.
But I happen to think of a career path as linear, or branched-linear, where there is actually a path to follow.
"What do you think that message banner and the form you signed to get your account said? You consent to all monitoring and your data on that machine is theirs including your USB drive that you just inserted."
Huh? What does that have to do with picking up a stray flash drive and attempting to read the contents? What account are you talking about, and what message banner?
Add in the fact that the video game industry is now by some methods of calculation now larger than the movie industry, why not?
There is a tone of advertising money out there desperate to find its way into that prime market of young males with disposable income.
"Somehow I doubt that software publishing companies will restrain themselves until every surface possible advertises something and pop-up ads or spam exist in every game."
They won't restrain themselves, but advertisers will. Too low a signal-to-noise ratio means poor returns on their ad placements. I'm sure after the placement market has had some time to gel, there will be an analysis of what the 'optimal' amount of content is.
Otherwise, magazines would be 99% ads, instead of just 50-80% (not including advertorials).
"I had to invade the owner's privacy to see what I could discover from the content of the files."
Wouldn't this be accessing files that you were not granted access to? Isn't this a crime in several US states, and is it really a good idea to admit to it in a column with your picture and name at the top?
Just curious if the 'Good Samaritan' is putting himself at risk (and if it was curiosity or a desire to return the property that was the motivation).
"So they are going to cherry pick what they feel is the compliment of standards to clump together?
Why does that scare me?"
I don't know, but it shouldn't. Why not take the best of column A and the best of Column B? Isn't this a way that a better standard can be developed for all parties?
You said: "I don't agree with the assertions of the author. [...] Whether the genius' contributions are recognized, whether the genius finds an appropriate subject in which to expend his creative energy, these are the questions."
Please, RTFA all the way to the end. You're disputing the main point of the article by agreeing with the article?
The last sentence of TFA: "Society creates the conditions for scientists to be creative and productive--or not."
Genius is, or is not. Whether or not that genius can be translated into valuable scientific discovery depends on external factors.
"Regardless, the intrigue of a conversation spreads on the merits of the conversation... and not necessarily on the qualities of the people engaged in the conversation."
I'd have to disagree. Consider two geniuses, whose letters to each other as they reconciled are considered one of the greatest political correspondences of modern times: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Of course, they knew they were writing for posterity, but still... Do you think that their dialogue would have been even remotely interesting to their successors on the political stage in the US, or to historians, had not they been revered 'fathers' of the Constitution and of the US?
Or the famous letters between Newton and Leibnitz? Their personalities drove the interest in their letters as much as the items discussed did, particularly when those letters became less of theory and more of vitriol.
Personality drives the intrigue of conversation as much as content.
"What happens is that, on occasion, a compelling conversative takes place that really draws in the imagination of the academic crowd."
I agree there. But WHY are those conversations compelling? I believe it is because of the asking of, and attempts to answer, the questions that no one has thought to answer. And it's genius that is able to do so, and it does it best when geniuses can ask of eachother, and build of eachother's questions.
Scientific genius is not knowing the answers... scientific genius is asking the questions no one else has seriously asked.
"No doubt this type of change could also be accounted for with genetic engineering, but I was under the impression that the British and most Europeans in general were pretty dead set against about "frankenfoods" that had been genetically modified."
True, but Hunger has a way of overcoming taboos against food types.
Also, there is a quite difference between GM plants/animals where genes from other organisms have been introduced, and GM products where only the expression of already present genes have been altered (as in this case).
Re: genetic variation of crops for selective breeding -- I'd be really surprised if they didn't start with varietals that are grown in say, Iceland, or Greenland -- some place with a short growing season.
"I find it odd that people post hateful comments or other more moderated comments denying facts that have appeared in many other newspapers"
That's part of the problem. Just because it's been in other newspapers, doesn't mean that it is false. The anger so many of the posters felt had been building up because so many papers have reported the Republican talking points that were demonstrably false.
That's how the spin machine works... get it in enough papers, and everyone assumes it's true.
MTG Salvation published information that they were given by individuals. MTG Salvation is not responsible for where those individuals got the information, or whether those individuals had the right to give them the info.
For the WoTC employees who leaked the info -- depending on their NDA, they may be liable for a civil suit (but good luck proving damages, WoTC!).
Doesn't seem to me like MTG Salvation did anything wrong -- unless the unpublished material was copyrighted (and it normally isn't, until publication).
IANAL. But I am a slashdotter, so if it tangentially involves IP law, or technology, that makes me an expert, right?
"I think this is a case of CSI running a survey and doing a damn fine job on the support but the media (and Slashdot) feel that FBI is better news than CSI."
Thanks for the informative links. However, it is also news that the FBI bungles their reporting of the survey results, not to mention their analysis of such.
The FBI, like any federal agency, needs to justify themselves to the public as well as those that vote on their budget. Little reports like this do so, as well as help people be aware that security issues have real, tangible, profit-reducing costs associated with them.
"'The New Horizons spacecraft will be the fastest ever launched, more than 10 times faster than a speeding bullet.' That is faster then superman.
Not necessarily. Superman is faster than a speeding bullet -- that doesn't mean he is NOT eleven times[1] faster than a speeding bullet.
Besides, how long did it take Him to fly around Earth a few times to reverse time by using his massive amount of drag to reverse the spin of Earth? I bet the same speed would get him past the moon in less than 9 hours. Then again, that movie sucked. Never mind.
"I would never support a lot of the stuff they're doing, but it would seem a bit more legitimate if they could show any of this stuff was actually having an effect."
To me, that's the scary part. Perceived legitimacy means that we'll be saddled with more and more BS like we've been getting.
I don't want to see effectiveness -- I want to see CLEAR and PRESENT DANGER.
It's the usage. A "talent for invention" is not the same as "inventor." Nor is a "talent for politics" the same as "politician."
My post (and its parent) was in reference to the grammatical and usage errors in summary/article, not whether it's possible to have talents in those occupations.
By setting the structure of the sentence as a list of talents, the writer is stating that all of the members of the list belong to the class 'talents.'
"Meanwhile, the continued success and acclaim of Eve Online goes unreported on Slashdot, despite yesterday having won 4 of 7 of MMORPG.com's top awards"
Bah. Those awards are meaningless -- they are determined by which game has the best mechanism for promoting itself to the most fanbois with the most free time.
Give me juried awards, or don't bother handing them out.
Here's an idea -- require referrer statistics for votes, and publish them along with the results. Or give me a random sample of MMORPG players votes.
"Doesn't sound like they really need more computer equipment than the state auditor's office would given the department's duties."
I'd like to see figures for desk staff for each of the departments -- auditor's office employs 140-150, plus outsources if any (from a rough tally I did from their website). General Services has no website, so I couldn't get a count.
Also, more food for thought: The auditor's office is going to be more cost-effective in their purchasing. In any organization, the bean-counters (such as myself) will count cost as a bigger factor in purchasing decisions than other departments. After all, the numbers are the focus of their day.
The nerves are pretty sensitive right now, there is a huge movement to make sure discussions are on-topic etc -- which I agree, need consideration so that/. doesn't just become a tech-centered fark.
But any post that looks like it's impugning/. without valid, on-topic reasons is going to get modded down -- regardless of intent.
As one sig I recall said, "One man's (+5, Funny) is another man's (-1, Troll)."
I sure hope they fix the slowdown problems when dealing with 150+ columns. I spend a lot of time sitting and waiting when I want to add fields to my largest spreadsheet, even longer when I need to do a recalc.
/Access is verboten in my office, since the PHBs can't use it.
Slashdot Mirror
"As far as I know most companies do this as well and have a similar banner"
Not at all, which is one of the problems. Besides which, such a banner does not absolve the user from liability for using the computer to commit illegal activities, nor does it make those actions legal.
All it means is that that user should have zero expectation of privacy, that the computer is for business use only (which most companies issue an annual memo about), and that any evidence of illegal activity will be forwarded to law enforcement.
Nowhere does it confer ownership of any material (like the 'stray' flash drive) tothe user, who is the one who is potentially guilty of accessing unauthorized material.
"Sure, it might be a "valid" career path, but for how many people exactly?"
Quite right. If by "valid," they ean there is a glimmer of hope of being able to make a living off it, sure.
But to me, and countless others, a "valid" career path means a reasonable expectation of being able to 'keep food on my family' and pay for housing, kids' education, etc.
And if by "path," they mean some kind of nebulous mechanism whereby I can work hard to perfect my gaming skills and happen to be charismatic and happen to be in the right place at the right time, and happen to be able to struggle on a pittance for years before I make the big-time, then sure.
But I happen to think of a career path as linear, or branched-linear, where there is actually a path to follow.
"What do you think that message banner and the form you signed to get your account said? You consent to all monitoring and your data on that machine is theirs including your USB drive that you just inserted."
Huh? What does that have to do with picking up a stray flash drive and attempting to read the contents? What account are you talking about, and what message banner?
"Almost non-existant yet somehow in a mere two years it will be worth 4 billion? "
Yes. Considering that 2006 advertising spending will be over one Trillion USD, as it was in 2005 and 2004, just for media advertising, why not?
TNS report on 2005 1st-half advertising
Add in the fact that the video game industry is now by some methods of calculation now larger than the movie industry, why not?
There is a tone of advertising money out there desperate to find its way into that prime market of young males with disposable income.
"Somehow I doubt that software publishing companies will restrain themselves until every surface possible advertises something and pop-up ads or spam exist in every game."
They won't restrain themselves, but advertisers will. Too low a signal-to-noise ratio means poor returns on their ad placements. I'm sure after the placement market has had some time to gel, there will be an analysis of what the 'optimal' amount of content is.
Otherwise, magazines would be 99% ads, instead of just 50-80% (not including advertorials).
"I had to invade the owner's privacy to see what I could discover from the content of the files."
Wouldn't this be accessing files that you were not granted access to? Isn't this a crime in several US states, and is it really a good idea to admit to it in a column with your picture and name at the top?
Just curious if the 'Good Samaritan' is putting himself at risk (and if it was curiosity or a desire to return the property that was the motivation).
"So they are going to cherry pick what they feel is the compliment of standards to clump together?
Why does that scare me?"
I don't know, but it shouldn't. Why not take the best of column A and the best of Column B? Isn't this a way that a better standard can be developed for all parties?
You said: "I don't agree with the assertions of the author. [...] Whether the genius' contributions are recognized, whether the genius finds an appropriate subject in which to expend his creative energy, these are the questions." Please, RTFA all the way to the end. You're disputing the main point of the article by agreeing with the article?
The last sentence of TFA: "Society creates the conditions for scientists to be creative and productive--or not."
Genius is, or is not. Whether or not that genius can be translated into valuable scientific discovery depends on external factors.
"Regardless, the intrigue of a conversation spreads on the merits of the conversation ... and not necessarily on the qualities of the people engaged in the conversation."
I'd have to disagree. Consider two geniuses, whose letters to each other as they reconciled are considered one of the greatest political correspondences of modern times: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Of course, they knew they were writing for posterity, but still... Do you think that their dialogue would have been even remotely interesting to their successors on the political stage in the US, or to historians, had not they been revered 'fathers' of the Constitution and of the US?
Or the famous letters between Newton and Leibnitz? Their personalities drove the interest in their letters as much as the items discussed did, particularly when those letters became less of theory and more of vitriol.
Personality drives the intrigue of conversation as much as content.
"What happens is that, on occasion, a compelling conversative takes place that really draws in the imagination of the academic crowd."
I agree there. But WHY are those conversations compelling? I believe it is because of the asking of, and attempts to answer, the questions that no one has thought to answer. And it's genius that is able to do so, and it does it best when geniuses can ask of eachother, and build of eachother's questions.
Scientific genius is not knowing the answers... scientific genius is asking the questions no one else has seriously asked.
"No doubt this type of change could also be accounted for with genetic engineering, but I was under the impression that the British and most Europeans in general were pretty dead set against about "frankenfoods" that had been genetically modified."
True, but Hunger has a way of overcoming taboos against food types.
Also, there is a quite difference between GM plants/animals where genes from other organisms have been introduced, and GM products where only the expression of already present genes have been altered (as in this case).
Re: genetic variation of crops for selective breeding -- I'd be really surprised if they didn't start with varietals that are grown in say, Iceland, or Greenland -- some place with a short growing season.
I work in print publishing, we have to pay the copyright office to copyright our magazine titles, as well as to renew the copyrights on old issues.
I'm not sure of the distinction between registered copyright and regular copyright...
"I find it odd that people post hateful comments or other more moderated comments denying facts that have appeared in many other newspapers"
That's part of the problem. Just because it's been in other newspapers, doesn't mean that it is false. The anger so many of the posters felt had been building up because so many papers have reported the Republican talking points that were demonstrably false.
That's how the spin machine works... get it in enough papers, and everyone assumes it's true.
MTG Salvation published information that they were given by individuals. MTG Salvation is not responsible for where those individuals got the information, or whether those individuals had the right to give them the info.
For the WoTC employees who leaked the info -- depending on their NDA, they may be liable for a civil suit (but good luck proving damages, WoTC!).
Doesn't seem to me like MTG Salvation did anything wrong -- unless the unpublished material was copyrighted (and it normally isn't, until publication).
IANAL. But I am a slashdotter, so if it tangentially involves IP law, or technology, that makes me an expert, right?
"I think this is a case of CSI running a survey and doing a damn fine job on the support but the media (and Slashdot) feel that FBI is better news than CSI."
Thanks for the informative links. However, it is also news that the FBI bungles their reporting of the survey results, not to mention their analysis of such.
The FBI, like any federal agency, needs to justify themselves to the public as well as those that vote on their budget. Little reports like this do so, as well as help people be aware that security issues have real, tangible, profit-reducing costs associated with them.
Personally, I can't imagine trying to keep my pint from spilling while hopping and jumping.
And I wouldn't put my drink down where I couldn't see it in a D&B.
"This will increase the probe's speed away from the Sun by nearly 4km/s (9,000mph), allowing the spacecraft to reach the ninth planet by July 2015."
:-)
Wonder why they changed it to per hour instead of per second. Must be a "2.5mph feels too slow" thing
9000 mph = 25 mi/s.
What concerns me is how 4 km/s = 25 mi/s. Great to convert to metric now, but we might want to check our conversion factors.
"'The New Horizons spacecraft will be the fastest ever launched, more than 10 times faster than a speeding bullet.' That is faster then superman.
Not necessarily. Superman is faster than a speeding bullet -- that doesn't mean he is NOT eleven times[1] faster than a speeding bullet.
Besides, how long did it take Him to fly around Earth a few times to reverse time by using his massive amount of drag to reverse the spin of Earth? I bet the same speed would get him past the moon in less than 9 hours. Then again, that movie sucked. Never mind.
[1] insert your own Spinal Tap joke here.
"I would never support a lot of the stuff they're doing, but it would seem a bit more legitimate if they could show any of this stuff was actually having an effect."
To me, that's the scary part. Perceived legitimacy means that we'll be saddled with more and more BS like we've been getting.
I don't want to see effectiveness -- I want to see CLEAR and PRESENT DANGER.
Until then, get out and stay out, Uncle Sam.
" NT3.51 had 5 service packs. NT4 had 6.5. w2k had 4. XP might only have 2.
... 6.5 ... 4 ... ~2 ... ?
Next one after that? Won't have any service packs at all!"
5
How do you get 0 as the next number in the sequence?
No matter how hard I try, I keep getting sqrt(pi).
It's the usage. A "talent for invention" is not the same as "inventor." Nor is a "talent for politics" the same as "politician."
My post (and its parent) was in reference to the grammatical and usage errors in summary/article, not whether it's possible to have talents in those occupations.
By setting the structure of the sentence as a list of talents, the writer is stating that all of the members of the list belong to the class 'talents.'
"or see that you're black, and so have a higher risk of sicle cell."
Great, so they'll give me a discount because I'm less affected by malaria?
"Meanwhile, the continued success and acclaim of Eve Online goes unreported on Slashdot, despite yesterday having won 4 of 7 of MMORPG.com's top awards"
Bah. Those awards are meaningless -- they are determined by which game has the best mechanism for promoting itself to the most fanbois with the most free time.
Give me juried awards, or don't bother handing them out.
Here's an idea -- require referrer statistics for votes, and publish them along with the results. Or give me a random sample of MMORPG players votes.
"Doesn't sound like they really need more computer equipment than the state auditor's office would given the department's duties."
I'd like to see figures for desk staff for each of the departments -- auditor's office employs 140-150, plus outsources if any (from a rough tally I did from their website). General Services has no website, so I couldn't get a count.
Also, more food for thought: The auditor's office is going to be more cost-effective in their purchasing. In any organization, the bean-counters (such as myself) will count cost as a bigger factor in purchasing decisions than other departments. After all, the numbers are the focus of their day.
The nerves are pretty sensitive right now, there is a huge movement to make sure discussions are on-topic etc -- which I agree, need consideration so that /. doesn't just become a tech-centered fark.
/. without valid, on-topic reasons is going to get modded down -- regardless of intent.
But any post that looks like it's impugning
As one sig I recall said, "One man's (+5, Funny) is another man's (-1, Troll)."
I sure hope they fix the slowdown problems when dealing with 150+ columns. I spend a lot of time sitting and waiting when I want to add fields to my largest spreadsheet, even longer when I need to do a recalc.
/Access is verboten in my office, since the PHBs can't use it.