I was just thinking that they wouldn't be able to save much money this way. I mean, how many times are they going to have to do re-shoots because of a blue-screen?
This is pretty much my stance on adds. I rarely block them, but the ones that are really annoying, flashing (flash) and/or noisy adds that yell at me (CONGRATULATIONS, YOU'VE BEEN SELECTED TO WIN A FREE iPOD NANO) when I load the page just annoy the crap out of me.
These adds are destined to be blocked for all time, while reasonable adds that do not disrupt my train of thought, or my reading of said web page, won't, and may even get clicked on, if it is for something I find interesting.
I remember the last game of Kingmaker I played. It was suppose to be a "quick" game, and it ended up taking us 11 hours to finish, with three of us playing.
I'll keep that in mind. I should point out, in case I haven't already, that I'm doing this on my own, to kind of push the project onward, and to make myself look a bit better in the eyes of my superiors. My direct manager is in charge of the overall project.
I will look more into this later this week though. The bookmarks are already down.
I'll add that to my list of services to look into. If we can find an all-in-one solution, or one that can be built up from scratch given what little we actually have in place now.
Not certain if they'll like the Linux server bit though. We have only one Unix admin, so that might be an issue. I'm willing to learn and add to my linux knowledge though...
I'm not really certain what we currently have. I know that the floor (water) sensors are minimal, only existing right near the cooling units. They will need to be expanded at the very least. I'm figuring that if we have to expand them, then replacing the few that are already in place won't be that big a deal.
Beyond that, I really don't know what, or even IF we have anything except server monitoring. Currently, we depend on hourly walkthroughs of the data center...
The company I work for is currently looking into remote monitoring of the data center environmental conditions as well as server status. So far, I've found very few options that will do this, and none seem good enough (one will monitor one of our UPS's but not the other one for example).
We currently have one web-based monitoring tool in place for server status, and I doubt they'll be willing to change to another, especially if it is open source. The last time I mentioned an open-source alternative (change management tool) my boss looked afraid. (sigh).
Does anybody have any suggestions along this line? We will need to be able to monitor the data center environment for temp, moisture, water under the floor, as well as UPS availability. From what all of our upper management is saying, they want to eliminate the need for the night-shift Operations group and migrate us all to helpdesk or deskside support, which would mean a real 9-5 type of job for me and the rest of the red-headed stepchildren of out IT department
I tried to open up databases that I was working on for an Access class last summer and most of the functions would not work. In order to make the functionality work the same, I would have most likely had to rewrite the entire thing from scratch.
I don't have the specifics any more, but it became clear very quickly that simply crossing over wouldn't work.
I'll note that I currently use OO on my newest computer because I haven't had the money to pick up a new copy of MS's suite (I spent it all on said computer). Eventually I will do so though, just so I can continue working with Access databases I need to for school. Luckily, Student discounts are the bomb.
I have to agree. I'm 43 and have only just recently come to that conclusion (I'm a slow learner). All the self-paced and occasional classes will not help. Take it from one with experience.
I've been, and still am working in an "operations" job for the past 15 years or so and have gotten really tired of it. I believe the decision I made to go to school, obtain a degree and change my focus is one of the best moves I've ever made. Now, all I need to do is decide what my end focus will be...
Although I do have one benefit that you might not have. The company I now work for has tuition assistance, which will mitigate the cost somewhat.
Who is going to pay to run the servers? Bandwidth costs, and servers cost. How are you going to control cheating? It could be a great example of how FOSS can fail. So not it could also mean bad things for open-source in general.
FOSS does not necessarily (have to) mean free to play. If they can keep the game up and running, with a reasonable player base who pays their monthly dues, the game can at least break even and keep going.
Most MMO's are priced so the company can make a (huge) profit off of it. It's when they don't realize that profit that they get shut down. However, if those who purchase it for nothing more than the desire to keep the game going, they can charge less to only cover the costs.
Mind you, getting the whole thing up and running to begin with is going to be the toughest part, since not only will they have to buy the servers needed, and acquire hosting, bandwidth, power, etc, etc... It's an ambitious project to be certain.
Why do I find it ironic that both sites the author of this piece noted as being used by the schools to help catch cheaters, Turnitin and iThenticate appear to be copies of one another?
I have to agree. I can see no reason why the powers that be would not put a stop to this as soon as it came to light, and I cannot envision ANY company being that stupid.
Personally, I've never had any luck with ghost. My first attempt was going directly to CDR, which even after Ghost told me they were ok (verified), turned out to have some bad disks. The second time I tried to use ghost on my 60 gig C: drive to another, large drive, the image creation simply failed. I don't recall what the error was, but several attempts resulted in the same failure.
What I've found to be a quick, and reliable (as in, I've used it to restore one computer successfully) backup system is Norton Save & Restore. It can back up an active windows XP system quickly to an external or internal drive. It'll backup on schedule, or manually, and will automatically configure itself to back up the documents folder.
I hate sounding like a fanboy, but there are a few (and getting fewer) products that Symantec makes that are worthwhile. This tops the list, IMO.
Unfortunately, it doesn't solve the original question. I will agree with the majority of the posters here though. An external disk is the way to go, not DVD's.
Me, I would copy the CD to an iso file, make it read-only, stick a barcode on the physical CD, then ship the physical CD to an offsite storage facility. If they ever need the physical CD they can get it, but otherwise you work from the iso.
Better yet, simply send the original CD back to the customer. If you have a copy in ISO format, it can be regenerated as often as you need it to be in CD format, and you don't have to store the physical disk.
It just means a lot of disk space on your SAN, but disk is fairly cheap anyway.
1. Read popular story 2. Read new story 3. Make some humorously ironic comment on the current story based on newly-gained group knowledge from previous story. 4. Add optional Soviet Russia joke, Overlord welcome, or "Oh, wait..." sentence fragment at end. 5. Profit!!!
You left a step out, if you plan to profit.
5. Patent the idea 6. Sue anybody who tries to use it. 7. Profit!!!
How about we stop writing word processors and spreadsheets that are capable of running code (other than its own)?
I remember back when I was big on a certain usenet news group, we had a discussion about an email virus. The claim was, when you opened the email (don't recall the name off hand), it would do all sorts of nasty things to your computer, and possibly to your girlfriend/wife/sister/etc. The entire thing was a hoax that preyed on ignorant computer users, and urged them to spread the word.
My argument at the time was basically that an email client could not, or should not execute the text within the email itself, and any client that did, shouldn't be used.
Now I use Outlook on a daily basis, and guess what?
So, let's take a step back to simpler, less efficient applications. Get rid of what causes the vulnerabilities in the first place.
A group of us did this too, about 18-20 years ago now. Our rules were not quite as restrictive as these guys' though. We were allowed pretty much anything that could be considered viable within the bounds of the game. Bombs (exploding balloons), falling rocks (pillows) and even poison (a number of different things were used for poison) were allowed as long as it was even marginally reasonable. If you could picture it being done in a James Bond flick, it was allowed.
I 'killed' my first target through his screen door, posing as someone selling a newspaper subscription, and another by dropping a marble into a coke bottle (not the safest thing to do however) and replacing the lid.
Myself, I was killed in both games, once by 'contact poison' (3 in 1 oil) on the handle to my van, and again by a foam boffer weapon (a spear, if I remember right).
All in all, it is a lot of fun, so long as everybody is careful. In today's anti-terrorism climate it means being even more careful though. The last thing you want is to get shot by the police by being suspicious.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Even on dedicated PVP game servers, the penalty for getting killed by someone is a loss of time. You (typically) cannot loose the money you've accumulated if you are killed by another player. Games differ, but I don't belive by much.
In WoW in particular, you'd have to have characters near enough level on the opposite faction (Hoard/Alliance) in order to do anything, and even then, the player you are after needs to submit to PVP combat to be bothered.
You can antagonize them by swamping the gold-dropping mobs in question, but that is about it.
H.
Re:That's great and all, but...
on
Growing Insulin
·
· Score: 1
While it certainly is not a cure, if it will produce cheaper insulin, including the faster acting types, I'm all for it. I currently spend almost $450 a month on diabetic supplies because I don't have insurance. Making it cheaper would be way cool!
Slashdot Mirror
I was just thinking that they wouldn't be able to save much money this way. I mean, how many times are they going to have to do re-shoots because of a blue-screen?
H.
This is pretty much my stance on adds. I rarely block them, but the ones that are really annoying, flashing (flash) and/or noisy adds that yell at me (CONGRATULATIONS, YOU'VE BEEN SELECTED TO WIN A FREE iPOD NANO) when I load the page just annoy the crap out of me.
These adds are destined to be blocked for all time, while reasonable adds that do not disrupt my train of thought, or my reading of said web page, won't, and may even get clicked on, if it is for something I find interesting.
H.
Heh...
I remember the last game of Kingmaker I played. It was suppose to be a "quick" game, and it ended up taking us 11 hours to finish, with three of us playing.
H.
I'll keep that in mind. I should point out, in case I haven't already, that I'm doing this on my own, to kind of push the project onward, and to make myself look a bit better in the eyes of my superiors. My direct manager is in charge of the overall project.
I will look more into this later this week though. The bookmarks are already down.
H.
I'll add that to my list of services to look into. If we can find an all-in-one solution, or one that can be built up from scratch given what little we actually have in place now.
Not certain if they'll like the Linux server bit though. We have only one Unix admin, so that might be an issue. I'm willing to learn and add to my linux knowledge though...
H.
I'm not really certain what we currently have. I know that the floor (water) sensors are minimal, only existing right near the cooling units. They will need to be expanded at the very least. I'm figuring that if we have to expand them, then replacing the few that are already in place won't be that big a deal.
Beyond that, I really don't know what, or even IF we have anything except server monitoring. Currently, we depend on hourly walkthroughs of the data center...
I'll check into this as well though. Thanks
H.
The company I work for is currently looking into remote monitoring of the data center environmental conditions as well as server status. So far, I've found very few options that will do this, and none seem good enough (one will monitor one of our UPS's but not the other one for example).
We currently have one web-based monitoring tool in place for server status, and I doubt they'll be willing to change to another, especially if it is open source. The last time I mentioned an open-source alternative (change management tool) my boss looked afraid. (sigh).
Does anybody have any suggestions along this line? We will need to be able to monitor the data center environment for temp, moisture, water under the floor, as well as UPS availability. From what all of our upper management is saying, they want to eliminate the need for the night-shift Operations group and migrate us all to helpdesk or deskside support, which would mean a real 9-5 type of job for me and the rest of the red-headed stepchildren of out IT department
H.
I tried to open up databases that I was working on for an Access class last summer and most of the functions would not work. In order to make the functionality work the same, I would have most likely had to rewrite the entire thing from scratch.
I don't have the specifics any more, but it became clear very quickly that simply crossing over wouldn't work.
I'll note that I currently use OO on my newest computer because I haven't had the money to pick up a new copy of MS's suite (I spent it all on said computer). Eventually I will do so though, just so I can continue working with Access databases I need to for school. Luckily, Student discounts are the bomb.
H.
As long as they don't start using bittorrent to get us to our destination.
"Sorry boss. Part of me is still out on I-25. I'll be in the meeting as soon as the pieces arrive."
H.
I have to agree. I'm 43 and have only just recently come to that conclusion (I'm a slow learner). All the self-paced and occasional classes will not help. Take it from one with experience.
I've been, and still am working in an "operations" job for the past 15 years or so and have gotten really tired of it. I believe the decision I made to go to school, obtain a degree and change my focus is one of the best moves I've ever made. Now, all I need to do is decide what my end focus will be...
Although I do have one benefit that you might not have. The company I now work for has tuition assistance, which will mitigate the cost somewhat.
Best of luck whatever you choose.
H.
FOSS does not necessarily (have to) mean free to play. If they can keep the game up and running, with a reasonable player base who pays their monthly dues, the game can at least break even and keep going.
Most MMO's are priced so the company can make a (huge) profit off of it. It's when they don't realize that profit that they get shut down. However, if those who purchase it for nothing more than the desire to keep the game going, they can charge less to only cover the costs.
Mind you, getting the whole thing up and running to begin with is going to be the toughest part, since not only will they have to buy the servers needed, and acquire hosting, bandwidth, power, etc, etc... It's an ambitious project to be certain.
H.
Why do I find it ironic that both sites the author of this piece noted as being used by the schools to help catch cheaters, Turnitin and iThenticate appear to be copies of one another?
H.
I have to agree. I can see no reason why the powers that be would not put a stop to this as soon as it came to light, and I cannot envision ANY company being that stupid.
H.
Personally, I've never had any luck with ghost. My first attempt was going directly to CDR, which even after Ghost told me they were ok (verified), turned out to have some bad disks. The second time I tried to use ghost on my 60 gig C: drive to another, large drive, the image creation simply failed. I don't recall what the error was, but several attempts resulted in the same failure.
What I've found to be a quick, and reliable (as in, I've used it to restore one computer successfully) backup system is Norton Save & Restore. It can back up an active windows XP system quickly to an external or internal drive. It'll backup on schedule, or manually, and will automatically configure itself to back up the documents folder.
I hate sounding like a fanboy, but there are a few (and getting fewer) products that Symantec makes that are worthwhile. This tops the list, IMO.
Unfortunately, it doesn't solve the original question. I will agree with the majority of the posters here though. An external disk is the way to go, not DVD's.
H.
Better yet, simply send the original CD back to the customer. If you have a copy in ISO format, it can be regenerated as often as you need it to be in CD format, and you don't have to store the physical disk.
It just means a lot of disk space on your SAN, but disk is fairly cheap anyway.
H.
You left a step out, if you plan to profit.
5. Patent the idea
6. Sue anybody who tries to use it.
7. Profit!!!
H.
You know, it's been years since I've tried an online NWN game. I might have to give this a shot. I loved the Dark Sun setting.
H.
Yup, that's the one.
H.
a decade or more, at least.
How about we stop writing word processors and spreadsheets that are capable of running code (other than its own)?
I remember back when I was big on a certain usenet news group, we had a discussion about an email virus. The claim was, when you opened the email (don't recall the name off hand), it would do all sorts of nasty things to your computer, and possibly to your girlfriend/wife/sister/etc. The entire thing was a hoax that preyed on ignorant computer users, and urged them to spread the word.
My argument at the time was basically that an email client could not, or should not execute the text within the email itself, and any client that did, shouldn't be used.
Now I use Outlook on a daily basis, and guess what?
So, let's take a step back to simpler, less efficient applications. Get rid of what causes the vulnerabilities in the first place.
Now where did this box come from?
H.
A group of us did this too, about 18-20 years ago now. Our rules were not quite as restrictive as these guys' though. We were allowed pretty much anything that could be considered viable within the bounds of the game. Bombs (exploding balloons), falling rocks (pillows) and even poison (a number of different things were used for poison) were allowed as long as it was even marginally reasonable. If you could picture it being done in a James Bond flick, it was allowed.
I 'killed' my first target through his screen door, posing as someone selling a newspaper subscription, and another by dropping a marble into a coke bottle (not the safest thing to do however) and replacing the lid.
Myself, I was killed in both games, once by 'contact poison' (3 in 1 oil) on the handle to my van, and again by a foam boffer weapon (a spear, if I remember right).
All in all, it is a lot of fun, so long as everybody is careful. In today's anti-terrorism climate it means being even more careful though. The last thing you want is to get shot by the police by being suspicious.
H.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Even on dedicated PVP game servers, the penalty for getting killed by someone is a loss of time. You (typically) cannot loose the money you've accumulated if you are killed by another player. Games differ, but I don't belive by much.
In WoW in particular, you'd have to have characters near enough level on the opposite faction (Hoard/Alliance) in order to do anything, and even then, the player you are after needs to submit to PVP combat to be bothered.
You can antagonize them by swamping the gold-dropping mobs in question, but that is about it.
H.
While it certainly is not a cure, if it will produce cheaper insulin, including the faster acting types, I'm all for it. I currently spend almost $450 a month on diabetic supplies because I don't have insurance. Making it cheaper would be way cool!
H.
'caus it's a story on the intraweb!!!11oneoneone
H.
I've already followed the directions posted by MS to disable it.
H.
Not only that, but...
It might just turn your computers floppy drive, into a stiffy...
H.