Comment Re:So what did he post? (Score 2) 922
The media actually hardly ever publish what was written in cases like these. It's easier for the public to accept the judgement if they don't know the details.
Comment It's not the first time (Score 5, Interesting) 922
I made a similar submission this morning regarding this issue.
This guy is being prosecuting for making critical remarks about British soldiers.
These guys were sent to prison for encouraging rioting on Facebook.
The BBC has more information here.
Everyone believes that Democracy won the cold war over Communism, but given what's happening in the west today, how true is that?
This guy is being prosecuting for making critical remarks about British soldiers.
These guys were sent to prison for encouraging rioting on Facebook.
The BBC has more information here.
Everyone believes that Democracy won the cold war over Communism, but given what's happening in the west today, how true is that?
Submission + - UK MPs Threaten New Laws If Google Won't Censor Search (techweekeurope.co.uk)
judgecorp writes: "A committee of British MPs and peers has asked Google to censor search results to protect privacy and threatened to put forward new laws that would force it to do so, if Google fails to comply. The case relates to events such as former Formula One boss Max Mosley's legal bid to prevent Google linking to illegally obtained images of himself."
Submission + - Cloud-based email versus one's own servers: what's best for an organization? (uclouvain.be) 1
Peter Van Roy writes: "Our university, Université catholique de Louvain, currently manages all its email (domain uclouvain.be) through a couple of big servers. They want to replace that by cloud-based email. What are the pros and cons? There are strong opinions both ways: some doubt cloud security and reliability, others see great simplification. Do any Slashdotters have experience with that? The university has around 30000 email addresses, including all staff and students."
Submission + - A New Dimension for Solar Energy (scienceworldreport.com)
fishmike writes: "Intensive research around the world has focused on improving the performance of solar photovoltaic cells and bringing down their cost. But very little attention has been paid to the best ways of arranging those cells, which are typically placed flat on a rooftop or other surface, or sometimes attached to motorized structures that keep the cells pointed toward the sun as it crosses the sky."
Submission + - Want to go to jail over a Facebook posting? Move to the UK then. (guardian.co.uk)
plasm4 writes: 21 year old Liam Stacey has been charged with inciting racial hatred after making comments on twitter about football player Fabrice Muamba who collapsed on the pitch during a game. He will be sentenced Monday and potentially faces a year in prison.
Last week another young man was charged with a racially aggravated public order offence after emotionally commenting on Facebook about 6 British soldiers who died in Afghanistan. The comments suggested that we should also mourn the thousands dying in Afghanistan, and suggested that the soldiers would burn in hell. It's also interesting that most of the websites I've read haven't actually published the comments which don't seem racist at all. The Guardian has a screenshot of his Facebook page.
These aren't the first cases of people arrested over Facebook and Twitter postings. Where do you think the current trends will lead to? If today you can be arrested for trolling in Britain, and given the total lack of public concern over it, what do you think the situation will be like in ten years?
Last week another young man was charged with a racially aggravated public order offence after emotionally commenting on Facebook about 6 British soldiers who died in Afghanistan. The comments suggested that we should also mourn the thousands dying in Afghanistan, and suggested that the soldiers would burn in hell. It's also interesting that most of the websites I've read haven't actually published the comments which don't seem racist at all. The Guardian has a screenshot of his Facebook page.
These aren't the first cases of people arrested over Facebook and Twitter postings. Where do you think the current trends will lead to? If today you can be arrested for trolling in Britain, and given the total lack of public concern over it, what do you think the situation will be like in ten years?
Submission + - James Cameron's Solo Dive to Deepest Spot on Earth (pics) (fellowgeek.com)
An anonymous reader writes: ames Cameron, director of epic films like Avatar, Titanic, The Terminator 1 and 2 and Aliens, happens to have a bit of a love affair with the ocean. So much so that he decided to make a solo dive to plume its deepest depths.
Driving his own custom submarine called the ‘DEEPSEA CHALLENGER’, Cameron descended 35,756 feet, or 6.77 miles, to the deepest discovered spot on the bottom of the ocean, known as the ‘Challenger Deep.” His dive was part of ‘DEEPSEA CHALLENGE’ (they love their capitals in oceanography, apparently), an ocean exploration initiative by National Geographic, Rolex and Cameron. His dive makes him the first person to ever make the dive solo and only the second to ever make a manned dive.
Driving his own custom submarine called the ‘DEEPSEA CHALLENGER’, Cameron descended 35,756 feet, or 6.77 miles, to the deepest discovered spot on the bottom of the ocean, known as the ‘Challenger Deep.” His dive was part of ‘DEEPSEA CHALLENGE’ (they love their capitals in oceanography, apparently), an ocean exploration initiative by National Geographic, Rolex and Cameron. His dive makes him the first person to ever make the dive solo and only the second to ever make a manned dive.
Submission + - News Corp hacked PPV rival to enable illegal free streaming on THOIC (computerworlduk.com)
Qedward writes: A unit of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation allegedly cracked the smartcard codes of ONdigital in a bid to undermine the company's success, according to claims aired on BBC's Panorama programme.
After NDS, a software company owned by News Corp, allegedly cracked the system, the access codes appeared on a pirate website known as The House of Ill Compute (THOIC) where users could use them for illegally accessing free digital television. On BBC Panorama last night, THOIC operator Lee Gibling said he had received over £60,000 a year from Ray Adams, NDS' head of security, for the work.
ONdigital, owned by Granada and Carlton, part of ITV, later went out of business amid mass counterfeiting. This cleared the pay-TV field and left Sky as the key service...
After NDS, a software company owned by News Corp, allegedly cracked the system, the access codes appeared on a pirate website known as The House of Ill Compute (THOIC) where users could use them for illegally accessing free digital television. On BBC Panorama last night, THOIC operator Lee Gibling said he had received over £60,000 a year from Ray Adams, NDS' head of security, for the work.
ONdigital, owned by Granada and Carlton, part of ITV, later went out of business amid mass counterfeiting. This cleared the pay-TV field and left Sky as the key service...
Submission + - UK's largest specialist video games retailer enters administration (mcvuk.com)
RogueyWon writes: "The GAME Group, owners of high street chains GAME and Gamestation, which between them account for a large majority of the UK's specialist games retail market have entered into administration. In the hours following the Group's entry into administration, hundreds of stores were closed and thousands of staff made redundant.
While some of the factors behind the Group's downfall, such as stores located too close to each other and overly-ambitious international expansion, were likely unique to the UK-based company, other factors, such as price competition from supermarkets and online retailers, as well as a reliance on a fickle pre-owned games market, may have wider application."
While some of the factors behind the Group's downfall, such as stores located too close to each other and overly-ambitious international expansion, were likely unique to the UK-based company, other factors, such as price competition from supermarkets and online retailers, as well as a reliance on a fickle pre-owned games market, may have wider application."
Submission + - Ask Slashdot: How to Get Better Developers out of less-than Average Ones (fluther.com)
An anonymous reader writes: I've asked this before in other places, and I'm now turning to you guys to see what sort of advice you can offer.
Some background: I'm a project manager at an offshore company. I don't get to choose the people I work with (can't hire or fire people). We are using all sorts of methodologies (agile, scrum, waterfall, RUP, you-name-it). We are holding both weekly and milestone meetings in which we are trying to learn what went wrong/right. So,this is not a question of motivation (my employer is paying them more than fair, they get full employment benefits, etc ), nor one of simply teaching them new skills. This is more about addressing a problem within the mind-set of the average developer.
I've worked with a lot of people both good and bad during the years. There were a few of them exceptional, but most of them were less-than average. Most of the times I'm usually confronted with guys that are getting stuck way to often, guys that are skipping solutions as they are not careful enough to see past their own coding mistakes and guys that are simply drifting away from the tasks to wherever their day-dream takes them.
I was wondering if (and how) can they be determined to properly pay attention to their work, to be able to determine solutions and to unstuck themselves without me having to check on their work 24/7.
I would really love to worry myself that I'm intervening in their work too much, that I'm always giving them the solution without letting them think. But at this point, I can't see this happening
Some ways I've been suggested to try so far are:
1. Make them read “Addison Wesley – Pragmatic Programmer”
and "Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship" – hold periodic meetings for each chapter and discuss what they have learned so far.
2. Hold some sort of "Quick&Great Code of the Week competition", using a new/unknown language for implementation – given that this would be a new language for everyone, this should give me/us an idea over who is missing what.
3. Get the rest of the management team to analyze "a great TED talk about motivation by Dan Pink" and see if we find anything that works for further motivating them.
So, I'm now wondering: is there anything else? would this approach work?
Some background: I'm a project manager at an offshore company. I don't get to choose the people I work with (can't hire or fire people). We are using all sorts of methodologies (agile, scrum, waterfall, RUP, you-name-it). We are holding both weekly and milestone meetings in which we are trying to learn what went wrong/right. So,this is not a question of motivation (my employer is paying them more than fair, they get full employment benefits, etc ), nor one of simply teaching them new skills. This is more about addressing a problem within the mind-set of the average developer.
I've worked with a lot of people both good and bad during the years. There were a few of them exceptional, but most of them were less-than average. Most of the times I'm usually confronted with guys that are getting stuck way to often, guys that are skipping solutions as they are not careful enough to see past their own coding mistakes and guys that are simply drifting away from the tasks to wherever their day-dream takes them.
I was wondering if (and how) can they be determined to properly pay attention to their work, to be able to determine solutions and to unstuck themselves without me having to check on their work 24/7.
I would really love to worry myself that I'm intervening in their work too much, that I'm always giving them the solution without letting them think. But at this point, I can't see this happening
Some ways I've been suggested to try so far are:
1. Make them read “Addison Wesley – Pragmatic Programmer”
and "Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship" – hold periodic meetings for each chapter and discuss what they have learned so far.
2. Hold some sort of "Quick&Great Code of the Week competition", using a new/unknown language for implementation – given that this would be a new language for everyone, this should give me/us an idea over who is missing what.
3. Get the rest of the management team to analyze "a great TED talk about motivation by Dan Pink" and see if we find anything that works for further motivating them.
So, I'm now wondering: is there anything else? would this approach work?
Comment Re:News... (Score 1) 617
Ars Technica maybe?
Comment Re:Of course it is (Score 3, Informative) 136
It's really worth having a look at the chart in the link.
If you lived to 5 years old, your life expectancy would then be 48. If you lived to be 20, then you would be expected to live to 54.
Comment Re:Seriously? (Score 1) 290
I really hate this type of stereotyping, it is really ignorant. France is not the only cheese maker in Europe. England, Spain, Romania, Italy, Holland all produce very good cheeses too.
Comment Re:If wishes were horses (Score 2) 290
Prices in the US online store are listed without any sales tax. All products sold in the EU have the VAT (sales tax) included into the price. The VAT in the UK is 20%.
Comment Re:Rather than add mod points.. (Score 1) 374
Well I wasn't arguing that an equivalent to the BBC should be created in the US, but yeah other than that I agree. At the same time it's nice that other countries have different systems. No one is perfect and it's nice to observe what seems to work and what doesn't.
