1) that would mean that people would have to take responsibility for their actions with a computer and that "i am not a computer person" would no longer be a defense. people don't take responsibility for their actions. ever. more so when computers are involved.
2) what about all of those "geeksquad" types and the screwdriver monkeys at the local PC shop? they are shysters that take people's money to fix a problem caused by other shysters. what are they going to do? go back to work at mcdonald's?
3) who actually learns anything about computers at a school? "school" and "technical skills" go together like virginity and sex.
The IT business moves fast. Having a kid can cause you to effectively be taken out of the race. No matter how much it sucks I've seen it happen a lot.
i agree. something that shouldn't be overlooked is that if you broke into the field once, you can break in again. sure, an 8 year layoff might mean taking support calls again for the second time in your career, but if you did it before, you can do it again.
I get it.. you are one of THOSE users, who thinks he knows more than we do about how computers work, and how corporate IT should be run.
my bet is that the parent poster is a developer or a DBA. the "devs vs. IT" battle is an old one. i'll sum it up: IT guys are fascist pigs, and dev's are whiny spoiled brats. (see also: video conferencing vs IT, R&D vs. IT, and IT vs. the NOC) it's true, everyone really needs to lighten up:-)
it's wrong for people to subvert IT policies. it's wrong for IT departments to implement policies that people have to subvert in order to do their jobs. as we all know, two wrongs don't make a right.
there are two ways to fix the problem:
one way is for IT to exchange compliance for support. IT agrees only to support compliant machines. it will not support non-complaint machines, nor will it remove them. if you want to be a local admin and download tons of crazy crap from the net, go ahead, but you have to provide your own support for your issues. if you have a problem that you can't fix, IT will happily ghost your machine back into compliance or repair any defective hardware. if it has been determined that your machine has done something wrong (transmitted a virus, contained material that puts the company at risk of legal action) then we will pull your network connection until your machine is complaint once again. a clearly defined and easily referenced policy of "quid pro quo" support makes life easier for the IT department and can afford some much needed freedom for the "lone advanced user" who so often runs afoul of draconian IT practices.
the other option is to the separation of development and corporate assets. a development network with few restrictions is available, but it will have no access to or from the corporate LAN or the production environment. all machines on the development network are the sole responsibility of the developers. the DevNet is managed in some manner to keep corporate machines out, and the CorpNet is managed in a similar manner to keep the development machines out (no switching network cables you naughty devs!) the IT department can then administer uniformity on CorpNet until it is blue in the face, and the devs get to be free to do as they please on the DevNet until someone gets sued or arrested.
in both cases, people who think they are smarter than the IT guys get to do as they please and must play ball in order to get support. hilarity ensues whenever one group has to turn to the other for help.
Unfortunately, detecting the fakes isn't enough. The CIA could say "Hey, look, these are faked, you're following cowards" but that'd be dismissed simply due to the source. What really needs to happen is these forgery-detection tools need to get in the hands of the "faithful" so they can convince themselves that they're being led by cowardly stooges.
the problem with the "faithful" is that they have so much faith. faith is not science; it cannot be disproved. this is true not just for islam, but anyone who has Real Faith in anything.
My understanding is that even a conservative legal attempt to define "fair use" would be a bit like trying to define "self defense". It's not a cut-and-dry issue, but rather one that has to be interpreted a bit on a case-by-case basis.
yes, it needs to be determined on a case-by-case basis, by the courts... not by corporations, not by lobbyists, not by useless technologies, not by ISPs, not by site operators, not by high priced legal goon squads and not by trade groups.
the problem is that you can use the DMCA to club fair use and free speech *BEFORE* the courts get involved.
It's been brought under the DHS umbrella. From their website: " Created in March 2003, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative branch of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). "
so my question is WTF is any branch of DHS doing enforcing the DMCA? WTF does this have to do with terrorism? do they think al qaeda's new plan for destroying america is flipping burnt video games?
how is it that these dudes can track down mod chips in people's homes and businesses, but can't find osama bin laden? obviously bin laden isn't slinging mod chips or ICE would crawl up his ass in a matter of minutes.
i am mostly left handed, tho i use my mouse with my right hand because so many mice are shaped for right hands. plus as an IT guy, i spend more time working on servers and other people's computers than i spend using my own computer. when i game (COH, LOTRO), i try to use the mouse as little as possible, but when i do, it's still right handed.
when i use a laptop, i use the touch pad left handed, probably because it's in a neutral position (the center of the keyboard instead of on the right side). i have not run across many left handed trackballs, from what i have seen, they are either right handed (meant for thumb use) or (mostly) ambidextrous.
i have found track balls to be useful in a handful of situations, mostly on cluttered work benches where space might be tight. not having to move the base is very handy when space is limited.
do any other southpaws have a preference when it comes to trackballs?
I don't know about you, but I've been insulted to my face while the insulter had this nice smile on their face.
it has been my experience that it is far easier to be insulting to people by email. as an IT support type, i have gotten a number of insulting emails, often something along the lines of "get your ass over here and fix my..."
even the most vitriolic of senders becomes remarkably pleasant in person. they are always appreciative when i show up in person. the fact that i am close to 300lbs and used to be a linebacker has little to do with it, i am sure.
Maybe you don't realize that there are still police in US cities who are being convicted of torturing suspects.
and maybe you don't realize that right now there is a crack addicted satan worshiping left wing muslim scientologist waiting in the shadows to molest and murder your family and the only thing keeping you safe at night are police with the freedom to search and interrogate whomever they please.
start with something everyone is afraid of (hackers/terrorists)
choose an activity that scares everyone (random violence, hate, abuse)
give the group a mysterious yet simple name (the base, anonymous)
use common scenarios as examples of the "group's" handiwork (bombings, internet threats)
claim the the group operates in total secrecy and without central authority (sleeper cells, anonymous posting)
blame the group for things that may or may not be the responsibility of the group in question.
so maybe this group is big, maybe it's not. maybe random assholes just do things and don't take credit for them, and this group does. maybe the media blames this group for things they are not responsible for. it doesn't matter because we will never know because there isn't enough hard evidence to make a decision.
Why do System Administrators get a day? Why not Database Administrators? Why not Systems Architects? Why not Software Developers? All of these people are needed just as much as any of the others to achieve success.
System Administrators must be much different at other companies because I haven't met one that I've particularly thought deserves a whole freaking day devoted to celebrating them.
devs and IT guys are always at odds. having worked in both product development and IT, i can see where both parties come from. devs see IT guys as draconian control freaks and view IT policies and practices as obstacles to be overcome. IT guys see devs as spoiled brats who have to have everything there way and refuse to consider the possibility that the problem really is with their beloved application and not with the server itself.
one of the lessons in harry potter is that the lines between good and evil are no so clearly drawn. another lesson is that it is not necessary to kill someone in order for them to be defeated. harry faced death on many occasions using a disarming charm instead of a killing curse. on the occasions when he attempted, in his haste and anger, to use a killing curse, it always failed because "you have to mean them".
in "the prisoner of azkaban" we are convinced that sirius black is a raving maddog killer, and yet, once we hear his side of the story, we see that he wasn't to blame for the deaths of harry's parents, nor was he working for voldemort, nor was he even trying to hurt harry in the first place. the only reason we get to learn all of this is because harry chose not to kill sirius when he had the chance, but decided to hear him out instead.
"is snape a friend or a foe?" was a recurring theme throughout all seven books and we were never sure, until the final chapters of the last book, where snape's loyalties truly lied. there are many instances where things are not at all like they appear, not unlike real life.
in real life, we do not have an omniscient author telling us what is good and what is evil... we only have our own, fallible and easily influenced, human judgment. we have no pensieves, no veritas serum, no priore incantantum, no way at all of knowing with absolute certainty, that we are correct and that we have all of the facts when we make a life and death decision.
death in J.K. rawling's world, is permanent and irreversible, just like it is in real life. that is why we must remain principled in our actions that risk human life and why we must always be reluctant to cause harm and suffering. it is true that there will always be those who eschew principle for their own personal interest, but they are few in comparison to the rest of us.
Just for the sake of argument, let's say that you're a die-hard Republican George Bush fan, and you honestly think that this would never be used for such blatant political purposes. Would you say the same thing about Hillary Clinton, who stands a very good chance of being elected in 2008? Because guess what. She's going to have the same powers when she takes office.
People who support the creation of this kind of crap based on their trust of the Guy (or Gal) In Charge right now, whether that person is a Democrat, Republican, or whatever, are idiots. You should never ask yourself what something like this will be used for, you should ask yourself what it can be used for, and then imagine that the politician you hate the most holding the reigns. Then, and only then, can you decide whether a law, executive order, or whatever is good or bad.
that kind of rational, bi-partisan, middle-of-the-road nonsense isn't going to fly here. this is slashdot!
some people seem to think that there are only 2 theories: Evolution and Creationism, and that if I'm saying "Not so fast", I must be spouting creationist nonsense.
your post was not creationist nonsense. it is obvious that we didn't evolve from africa because adam and eve were white:-)
you can use "booze" as a verb (i.e. "boozing it up"... a person who boozes is said to be a "boozer") so what is it's past tense? "boozed" or "bost"? i would wager it is "boozed" therefore, the past tense of "looze" would be "loozed".
Slashdot Mirror
and they'll announce it again exactly a year from now! it's like festivus... we do it every year!
1) that would mean that people would have to take responsibility for their actions with a computer and that "i am not a computer person" would no longer be a defense. people don't take responsibility for their actions. ever. more so when computers are involved.
2) what about all of those "geeksquad" types and the screwdriver monkeys at the local PC shop? they are shysters that take people's money to fix a problem caused by other shysters. what are they going to do? go back to work at mcdonald's?
3) who actually learns anything about computers at a school? "school" and "technical skills" go together like virginity and sex.
i agree. something that shouldn't be overlooked is that if you broke into the field once, you can break in again. sure, an 8 year layoff might mean taking support calls again for the second time in your career, but if you did it before, you can do it again.
my bet is that the parent poster is a developer or a DBA. the "devs vs. IT" battle is an old one. i'll sum it up: IT guys are fascist pigs, and dev's are whiny spoiled brats. (see also: video conferencing vs IT, R&D vs. IT, and IT vs. the NOC) it's true, everyone really needs to lighten up :-)
it's wrong for people to subvert IT policies. it's wrong for IT departments to implement policies that people have to subvert in order to do their jobs. as we all know, two wrongs don't make a right.
there are two ways to fix the problem:
one way is for IT to exchange compliance for support. IT agrees only to support compliant machines. it will not support non-complaint machines, nor will it remove them. if you want to be a local admin and download tons of crazy crap from the net, go ahead, but you have to provide your own support for your issues. if you have a problem that you can't fix, IT will happily ghost your machine back into compliance or repair any defective hardware. if it has been determined that your machine has done something wrong (transmitted a virus, contained material that puts the company at risk of legal action) then we will pull your network connection until your machine is complaint once again. a clearly defined and easily referenced policy of "quid pro quo" support makes life easier for the IT department and can afford some much needed freedom for the "lone advanced user" who so often runs afoul of draconian IT practices.
the other option is to the separation of development and corporate assets. a development network with few restrictions is available, but it will have no access to or from the corporate LAN or the production environment. all machines on the development network are the sole responsibility of the developers. the DevNet is managed in some manner to keep corporate machines out, and the CorpNet is managed in a similar manner to keep the development machines out (no switching network cables you naughty devs!) the IT department can then administer uniformity on CorpNet until it is blue in the face, and the devs get to be free to do as they please on the DevNet until someone gets sued or arrested.
in both cases, people who think they are smarter than the IT guys get to do as they please and must play ball in order to get support. hilarity ensues whenever one group has to turn to the other for help.
the problem with the "faithful" is that they have so much faith. faith is not science; it cannot be disproved. this is true not just for islam, but anyone who has Real Faith in anything.
yes, it needs to be determined on a case-by-case basis, by the courts... not by corporations, not by lobbyists, not by useless technologies, not by ISPs, not by site operators, not by high priced legal goon squads and not by trade groups.
the problem is that you can use the DMCA to club fair use and free speech *BEFORE* the courts get involved.
so my question is WTF is any branch of DHS doing enforcing the DMCA? WTF does this have to do with terrorism? do they think al qaeda's new plan for destroying america is flipping burnt video games?
how is it that these dudes can track down mod chips in people's homes and businesses, but can't find osama bin laden? obviously bin laden isn't slinging mod chips or ICE would crawl up his ass in a matter of minutes.
i am mostly left handed, tho i use my mouse with my right hand because so many mice are shaped for right hands. plus as an IT guy, i spend more time working on servers and other people's computers than i spend using my own computer. when i game (COH, LOTRO), i try to use the mouse as little as possible, but when i do, it's still right handed.
when i use a laptop, i use the touch pad left handed, probably because it's in a neutral position (the center of the keyboard instead of on the right side). i have not run across many left handed trackballs, from what i have seen, they are either right handed (meant for thumb use) or (mostly) ambidextrous.
i have found track balls to be useful in a handful of situations, mostly on cluttered work benches where space might be tight. not having to move the base is very handy when space is limited.
do any other southpaws have a preference when it comes to trackballs?
they are clowns after all... what more could you expect?
of course not, unless it happens to a clown.
a short one on an intramural team.
it has been my experience that it is far easier to be insulting to people by email. as an IT support type, i have gotten a number of insulting emails, often something along the lines of "get your ass over here and fix my..."
even the most vitriolic of senders becomes remarkably pleasant in person. they are always appreciative when i show up in person. the fact that i am close to 300lbs and used to be a linebacker has little to do with it, i am sure.
and maybe you don't realize that right now there is a crack addicted satan worshiping left wing muslim scientologist waiting in the shadows to molest and murder your family and the only thing keeping you safe at night are police with the freedom to search and interrogate whomever they please.
this is the ultimate boogieman story:
so maybe this group is big, maybe it's not. maybe random assholes just do things and don't take credit for them, and this group does. maybe the media blames this group for things they are not responsible for. it doesn't matter because we will never know because there isn't enough hard evidence to make a decision.
devs and IT guys are always at odds. having worked in both product development and IT, i can see where both parties come from. devs see IT guys as draconian control freaks and view IT policies and practices as obstacles to be overcome. IT guys see devs as spoiled brats who have to have everything there way and refuse to consider the possibility that the problem really is with their beloved application and not with the server itself.
they are both right.
because once you go black you never go back.
7.a. plug it back in
7.b. stop fucking unplugging it
because i hate myself :-(
wear an eye patch over one eye. that way you can see and move around, and if you are blinded you have a spare :-)
one of the lessons in harry potter is that the lines between good and evil are no so clearly drawn. another lesson is that it is not necessary to kill someone in order for them to be defeated. harry faced death on many occasions using a disarming charm instead of a killing curse. on the occasions when he attempted, in his haste and anger, to use a killing curse, it always failed because "you have to mean them".
in "the prisoner of azkaban" we are convinced that sirius black is a raving maddog killer, and yet, once we hear his side of the story, we see that he wasn't to blame for the deaths of harry's parents, nor was he working for voldemort, nor was he even trying to hurt harry in the first place. the only reason we get to learn all of this is because harry chose not to kill sirius when he had the chance, but decided to hear him out instead.
"is snape a friend or a foe?" was a recurring theme throughout all seven books and we were never sure, until the final chapters of the last book, where snape's loyalties truly lied. there are many instances where things are not at all like they appear, not unlike real life.
in real life, we do not have an omniscient author telling us what is good and what is evil... we only have our own, fallible and easily influenced, human judgment. we have no pensieves, no veritas serum, no priore incantantum, no way at all of knowing with absolute certainty, that we are correct and that we have all of the facts when we make a life and death decision.
death in J.K. rawling's world, is permanent and irreversible, just like it is in real life. that is why we must remain principled in our actions that risk human life and why we must always be reluctant to cause harm and suffering. it is true that there will always be those who eschew principle for their own personal interest, but they are few in comparison to the rest of us.
i spell that with an EW, like LEWT.
that kind of rational, bi-partisan, middle-of-the-road nonsense isn't going to fly here. this is slashdot!
your post was not creationist nonsense. it is obvious that we didn't evolve from africa because adam and eve were white :-)
you can use "booze" as a verb (i.e. "boozing it up"... a person who boozes is said to be a "boozer") so what is it's past tense? "boozed" or "bost"? i would wager it is "boozed" therefore, the past tense of "looze" would be "loozed".
i think "lose" should be spelled with two O's and a Z just like it sounds... like booze.