Comment Re:Poor guy (Score 1) 70
NU is on quarters rather than eternal semesters...
Comment Re:Poor guy (Score 1) 70
actually, its a university. and there are more women than men.
Comment Re:Really? (Score 0) 324
Right, but doesn't the average still need to be the same (again neglecting evaporation)? otherwise the lake would eventually be growing or shrinking...
Comment Really? (Score 4, Insightful) 324
"It would be even worse if we weren't also locking up lots of water from rivers behind dams like the Hoover Dam."
- Isn't the rate at which it leaves the lake the same as if the dam hadn't been there (with maybe the exception of evaporation...), just with a delay? My understanding was that dams affect latency but not throughput...
Comment rant (Score 0) 580
Looking at getting a job right out of engineering school. Coming from a good school (top 15) with a high GPA (> 3.5). Looks to be easy. I don't really feel like my search is representative of what an average engineering grad deals with but it doesn't really seem that atypical. From what I know from friends back at the state school I almost went to they are getting good paying jobs, no prob. So is there a shortage of jobs? - I dunno, but all these ppl on slashdot are saying yes and all these ppl are saying no... I will say though after a few internships that there is extremely high variability in the capabilities of my fellow engineers. Some are good at hacking - really fast learners, can make anything work and understand anything and everything with ease but their work still ends up a little sloppy. There are some who are slower but put out solid work. Some that can do produce quantity and quality. Some that don't seem to do/know/understand anything and I can't figure out how they got hired.
With respect to the lawyer > MBA > engineer comments - that unfortunately is the feeling I get inside even though deep down somewhere inside I know that I like building useful and cool things. Something that always disappointed me growing up was that no one else built things. Growing up I built countless things, some stupid some awesome - but I did it because I got some internal satisfaction. I could train myself with books, the internet and ppl. I looked in middle school and high school for others that were interested in doing that sort of thing and it was scarce at best. I don't know why this feeling manifests in some and not in others but it does seem like a critical attribute for a successful engineer. I know so many ppl that don't care what they are building at work and so many that do. The ones that do always put out better work. The ones that don't still seem to be fairly productive, but not disruptive or particularly innovative. This has drifted way off topic but I feel like the reason I am struggling with staying in engineering really is the $$ difference that a lawyer/mba makes. It seems like such boring work but it pays so much better. I don't want to give in but at the same time, its hard when at our engineering recruiting events there are law firms head hunting and offering 30-50% more money starting. Compounding this is watching some of the companies I have worked for (as an intern) add/subtract/replace engineers like a commodity. Personally, I have to think that the engineer that innovates, always has the next great idea for their work or the company and enjoys working to make good things will survive commoditization but the engineer that is on autopilot all day will not, or at least I hope. I dunno, I have been so enchanted with engineering since elementary school and lately it has been such a disappointment. Patent wars limit innovation, closed environments suck, companies that don't allow for innovation to move up the bureaucracy. Marketing that makes or breaks good ideas, CEOs (or co-CEOs - no that I am sore or anything...) that have no vision and don't listen to the engineers beneath them and a constant complaint of the imminent demise of the US as China and India take over. What makes me want to stay in engineering? All of my expensive tuition, hard classes and advanced course work just to have w/e stupid task I do on a daily basis outsourced? Engineering needs more quality and less quantity (or at least less dead weight and ppl unwilling/incapable/indifferent to innovation). Then we could pay the real innovators enough to want to stay in it. There should be some kind of rotation in terms of management or some change that would limit complacency. There should be more democracies within companies and more accountability to consumers/employees rather than share holders. There should be so much change - but there won't be. There is no one in a position of power that would want to see this change.
In the mean time, either I take an engineering job for less $$ and sit in a cubicle or lab everyday working on my tiny part of another part of another part that no sees or knows about after production or sell out and just be another lame-o in this stupid system making real money and making decisions that actually affect the company. What would you choose?
With respect to the lawyer > MBA > engineer comments - that unfortunately is the feeling I get inside even though deep down somewhere inside I know that I like building useful and cool things. Something that always disappointed me growing up was that no one else built things. Growing up I built countless things, some stupid some awesome - but I did it because I got some internal satisfaction. I could train myself with books, the internet and ppl. I looked in middle school and high school for others that were interested in doing that sort of thing and it was scarce at best. I don't know why this feeling manifests in some and not in others but it does seem like a critical attribute for a successful engineer. I know so many ppl that don't care what they are building at work and so many that do. The ones that do always put out better work. The ones that don't still seem to be fairly productive, but not disruptive or particularly innovative. This has drifted way off topic but I feel like the reason I am struggling with staying in engineering really is the $$ difference that a lawyer/mba makes. It seems like such boring work but it pays so much better. I don't want to give in but at the same time, its hard when at our engineering recruiting events there are law firms head hunting and offering 30-50% more money starting. Compounding this is watching some of the companies I have worked for (as an intern) add/subtract/replace engineers like a commodity. Personally, I have to think that the engineer that innovates, always has the next great idea for their work or the company and enjoys working to make good things will survive commoditization but the engineer that is on autopilot all day will not, or at least I hope. I dunno, I have been so enchanted with engineering since elementary school and lately it has been such a disappointment. Patent wars limit innovation, closed environments suck, companies that don't allow for innovation to move up the bureaucracy. Marketing that makes or breaks good ideas, CEOs (or co-CEOs - no that I am sore or anything...) that have no vision and don't listen to the engineers beneath them and a constant complaint of the imminent demise of the US as China and India take over. What makes me want to stay in engineering? All of my expensive tuition, hard classes and advanced course work just to have w/e stupid task I do on a daily basis outsourced? Engineering needs more quality and less quantity (or at least less dead weight and ppl unwilling/incapable/indifferent to innovation). Then we could pay the real innovators enough to want to stay in it. There should be some kind of rotation in terms of management or some change that would limit complacency. There should be more democracies within companies and more accountability to consumers/employees rather than share holders. There should be so much change - but there won't be. There is no one in a position of power that would want to see this change.
In the mean time, either I take an engineering job for less $$ and sit in a cubicle or lab everyday working on my tiny part of another part of another part that no sees or knows about after production or sell out and just be another lame-o in this stupid system making real money and making decisions that actually affect the company. What would you choose?
Comment Re:Certainly not first, certainly not 15 minutes, (Score 0) 106
news editors - "omg the sun can be used to make electricity. omg phones need electricity. omg someone put them together. omg why didn't anyone else think of that. omg must be news worthy"
slashdot readers - "omg another stupid story that isn't news worthy. omg this guy has political opinions. omg lets have a flameware"
slashdot readers - "omg another stupid story that isn't news worthy. omg this guy has political opinions. omg lets have a flameware"
Comment MBAs/Consumers (Score 0) 487
At my parents house the garage door opener wasn't working. My dad took the cover off and there was a gear that was stripped. After that he called sears and asked what the cost to fix it would be. The response:
This will be $100+ for the part and $140 for the service fee, after which the sears employee recommended just getting a new one instead.
We have had OK service from this unit but in my mind this was total failure by design (10 years). The gear that failed was a soft plastic gear that could have easily been made of something more durable for a few cents more per unit.
Anyhow, I consulted Google and the instant feature really gave it away. Tons of suggestions related to replacement gears for this unit. I then went to ebay and bought the OEM part from someone for $8 (including the recommended lubricant and instructions). After that came it took less than 15 minutes for my father and I to replace it.
The gear is clearly too soft for the kind of loads it has to handle. The pricing for a replacement + service is way higher than a new unit and replacement part and labor were very minimal.
While I don't want to say that MBAs are at fault for every poor piece of tech or bad direction that a company goes in, I do feel that MBAs are at fault for a highly disposable and irresponsible consumerism. The economics of it (both short and long term) make it easy to understand how this situation arises. Rather than sell a product that will last for 20 or 30 years for 1$ dollar more (or one dollar less in profit), it makes a lot more sense to sell two or three units in that same time.
If consumers were savvy to this they might say "hey, I want to try a different product rather than throw money at the this company taking advantage of me" or they might even demand that statistics be available on these units. But ultimately, consumers don't care. Its unfortunately unrealistic to expect many to open up something to see what that problem is (and in many cases, you can't just open something and figure out what is wrong easily) and it is even more unrealistic to expect that consumers have the attention span and interest to buy from companies who try and build the most durable version of something (if there is an option). That being said, I will not shop at sears anymore.
To me, this problem is systemic at least here in the US, so much so that it is destabilizing our economy and way of life (although our way of life could stand to loose some stability. This type of business strategy is bad for the consumer, bad for companies (long term) and bad for the environment. The consumer ends up paying more. The company sells a ton in the short term, hires more people and then when times are tough and people don't want to fork over money constantly for the latest and greatest after their product fails, the companies fall flat on their face. Environmentally, we have china build them using tons of energy and enjoying their economically advantageous lack of environmental regulation and then we buy them, use them, something small and easy to fix breaks and we put them in a landfill and start over.
What we should do is gradually shift back to an economy where we manufacture in the US with our environmental regulations and stop sending all of our money overseas. MBAs and consumers though need to be encouraged to adopt this kind of institutionalized change. I don't know how to get either party to change but somehow it has to. We need responsible MBAs and if we can't get that we need responsible consumers that hold MBAs and ultimately their corporations accountable. Maybe the governement should incentivize it somehow. If you agree or disagree or have ideas I would love to hear from you.
Dan
This will be $100+ for the part and $140 for the service fee, after which the sears employee recommended just getting a new one instead.
We have had OK service from this unit but in my mind this was total failure by design (10 years). The gear that failed was a soft plastic gear that could have easily been made of something more durable for a few cents more per unit.
Anyhow, I consulted Google and the instant feature really gave it away. Tons of suggestions related to replacement gears for this unit. I then went to ebay and bought the OEM part from someone for $8 (including the recommended lubricant and instructions). After that came it took less than 15 minutes for my father and I to replace it.
The gear is clearly too soft for the kind of loads it has to handle. The pricing for a replacement + service is way higher than a new unit and replacement part and labor were very minimal.
While I don't want to say that MBAs are at fault for every poor piece of tech or bad direction that a company goes in, I do feel that MBAs are at fault for a highly disposable and irresponsible consumerism. The economics of it (both short and long term) make it easy to understand how this situation arises. Rather than sell a product that will last for 20 or 30 years for 1$ dollar more (or one dollar less in profit), it makes a lot more sense to sell two or three units in that same time.
If consumers were savvy to this they might say "hey, I want to try a different product rather than throw money at the this company taking advantage of me" or they might even demand that statistics be available on these units. But ultimately, consumers don't care. Its unfortunately unrealistic to expect many to open up something to see what that problem is (and in many cases, you can't just open something and figure out what is wrong easily) and it is even more unrealistic to expect that consumers have the attention span and interest to buy from companies who try and build the most durable version of something (if there is an option). That being said, I will not shop at sears anymore.
To me, this problem is systemic at least here in the US, so much so that it is destabilizing our economy and way of life (although our way of life could stand to loose some stability. This type of business strategy is bad for the consumer, bad for companies (long term) and bad for the environment. The consumer ends up paying more. The company sells a ton in the short term, hires more people and then when times are tough and people don't want to fork over money constantly for the latest and greatest after their product fails, the companies fall flat on their face. Environmentally, we have china build them using tons of energy and enjoying their economically advantageous lack of environmental regulation and then we buy them, use them, something small and easy to fix breaks and we put them in a landfill and start over.
What we should do is gradually shift back to an economy where we manufacture in the US with our environmental regulations and stop sending all of our money overseas. MBAs and consumers though need to be encouraged to adopt this kind of institutionalized change. I don't know how to get either party to change but somehow it has to. We need responsible MBAs and if we can't get that we need responsible consumers that hold MBAs and ultimately their corporations accountable. Maybe the governement should incentivize it somehow. If you agree or disagree or have ideas I would love to hear from you.
Dan
IT Worker's Revenge Lands Her In Jail
347
aesoteric writes "A 30-year-old IT worker at a Florida-based health centre was this week sentenced to 19 months in a US federal prison for hacking, and then locking, her former employer's IT systems. Four days after being fired from the Suncoast Community Health Centers' for insubordination, Patricia Marie Fowler exacter her revenge by hacking the centre's systems, deleting files, changing passwords, removing access to infrastructure systems, and tampering with pay and accrued leave rates of staff."
Student Googles Himself, Finds He's Accused of Murder 184
University of Florida student Zachary Garcia was more than a little surprised to find out he was wanted for murder after Googling his name. It turns out the police were looking for a different man but had mistakenly used Garcia's photo. From the article: "Investigators originally released a driver's license photo of Zachary Garcia — spelled with an 'A' — but it was Zachery Garcia — spelled with an 'E'— who was charged in connection with the crime."
Carbon Dioxide Emissions Fall Worldwide In 2009 221
Hugh Pickens writes "The Christian Science Monitor reports that the good news is that emissions from burning coal, oil, and natural gas fell 1.3 percent compared with emissions in 2008 primarily because of the global economic downturn and an increase in carbon-dioxide uptake by the oceans and by plants on land. One big factor was La Niña, a natural seesaw shift in climate that takes place across the tropical Pacific every three to seven years, where the climate is cooler and wetter over large regions of land in the tropics, encouraging plant growth in tropical forests. However the bad news is that even with the decrease in emissions the overall concentration of CO2 rose from 385 ppm in 2008 to 387 ppm in 2009, as concentrations continue to rise even as emissions slip because even at the reduced pace, humans are pumping CO2 into the atmosphere faster than natural processes can scrub the gas. Many countries have agreed in principle to try to stabilize emissions at 350 ppm by century's end, which would result in a 50 percent chance of holding the increase in global average temperatures to about 2 degrees C over pre-industrial levels."
Sophos Free A-V For Mac May Kill Time Machine Backups 133
kdawson writes "Herewith the tale of the instantaneous loss of 19 months of Time Machine backup data, with the possible involvement of a fresh install of Sophos's new
free Mac A-V package. Sophos support has been contacted but has not responded as of this writing."
Harry Potter Blamed For India's Disappearing Owls 252
GillBates0 writes "Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has blamed fans of Harry Potter for the demise of wild owls in the country as children seek to emulate the boy wizard by taking the birds as pets. 'Following Harry Potter, there seems to be a strange fascination even among the urban middle classes for presenting their children with owls,' Ramesh said Wednesday, according to comments reported by the BBC."
Immaculate Conception In a Boa Constrictor 478
crudmonkey writes "Researchers have discovered a biological shocker: female boa constrictors are capable of giving birth asexually. But the surprise doesn't end there. The study in Biology Letters found that boa babies produced through this asexual reproduction — also known as parthenogenesis — sport a chromosomal oddity that researchers thought was impossible in reptiles. While researchers admit that the female in the study may have been a genetic freak, they say the findings should press researchers to re-think reptile reproduction. Virgin birth among reptiles, especially primitive ones like boas, they argue may be far commoner than ever expected."
Cisco Social Software Lets You "Stalk" Customers 123
coondoggie writes "Cisco this week unveiled software designed to let companies track customers and prospects on social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, blogs and other public forums and sites. Cisco SocialMiner allows users to monitor status updates, forum posts and blogs of customers so they can be alerted of conversations related to their brand. The software is designed to not only enable enterprises to monitor the conversations of their customers but to engage those that require service, Cisco says."
The Science of Battlestar Galactica 465
gearystwatcher writes "TV science adviser Kevin Grazier talks about getting rid of the Trek babble in Battlestar Galactica. From the article: "Grazier's job was to help keep the technology and science real and credible — even when there were some massive leaps. Grazier didn't just make sure that there was a reason for what we saw — bullets instead of lasers — but also that when the science bit did break into the open, it was more mind-blowing than the writers could have conceived — such as when the humans discover their mechanical Cylon persecutors have evolved to look human.'"
