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Comment The grass was denied individual insurance due to p (Score 4, Funny) 1197

The grass on the other side of the Atlantic doesn't seem green at all. Looks more like rotten.

The grass was denied individual insurance due to pre-existing conditions, and the employer had to drop coverage because the costs of premiums increased from $5000 in year 2000 to over $16000 this year.

Meanwhile, Congress sat on it's hands and did almost nothing to help deal with the costs which were spiraling out of control.

Comment Re:It is age discrimination (Score 1) 599

Devil's advocate, why won't older workers work at that price point?

Because there is often another employer willing to hire at a higher price point.

I hear many people complaining about H1B workers, but I have yet to run into a conflict myself after 13 years in this industry (I'm also not over 40).

I could be wrong, but H1B workers seem to work in many of the low-level and entry positions. Workers over age 40 often aren't applying for those positions.

Programming

"Logan's Run" Syndrome In Programming 599

Ian Lamont writes "InfoWorld has an interesting analysis of the reasons behind the relative dearth of programmers over the age of 40. While some people may assume that the recession has provided a handy cover for age discrimination, a closer look suggests that it's the nature of IT itself to push its elderly workers out, in what the article describes as a 'Logan's Run'-like marketplace. A bunch of factors are listed as reasons, including management's misunderstanding of the ways in which developers work: 'Any developer can tell you that not all C or PHP or Java programmers are created equal; some are vastly more productive or creative. However, unless or until there is a way to explicitly demonstrate the productivity differential between a good programmer and a mediocre one, inexperienced or nontechnical hiring managers tend to look at resumes with an eye for youth, under the "more bang for the buck" theory. Cheaper young 'uns will work longer hours and produce more code. The very concept of viewing experience as an asset for raising productivity is a non-factor — much to the detriment of the developer workplace.'"

Comment Re:Damn (Score 1) 50

most of it looks like a low-budget sci-fi from the 80's

I'd like to see if you can make anything better.

Most of this stuff *IS* low-budget sci-fi. Much of this stuff is designed, stitched, welded & hammered at home or a shared studio. You make do with the materials that you can fit into your time and budget. Not everyone has the time or money to build high-budget factory in their garage.

Homebuilt stuff may not look as cool as the shiny stuff you can buy at the store, but it will look better as the maker's skill improves-- that's one of the major drivers behind the DIY movement.

More power to them.

Portables

XCore's EduBook, a Netbook That Runs on AA Batteries 217

I'm typing this on a netbook with no hard drive, not using a chip from Intel or AMD, and powered by AA batteries. Eight rechargeable AAs, to be precise, in a bank of cells right where a Li-Ion battery would sit in a conventional laptop. The batteries charge in place, too (regulation prevents overcharging) meaning that the power cord is a simple three-prong-to-cloverleaf cord, no wall-wart required. It's the EduBook from Xcore (see that page for some photos of the internals, too), and it's a cool concept. Despite some warts, it's one of the most interesting things I ran into on the CES show floor last month (Xcore's Michael Barnes kindly supplied the laptop, straight from the display case). Read on for my review.

Comment Re:look into shwatchr and screen (Score 1) 307

Hrm, it appears that the author of shwatchr hasn't updated it since 2001.

I do like Mike Rash ( Cipherdyne.com ) and have used some of his software (psad will analyze my firewall logs using Snort fingerprints, to help determine the type of attack).

But I would hesitate to use any software which has not been updated in nine years.

Comment Did he mention a disaster? No. (Score 3, Insightful) 366

Did he mention a disaster? No. Did he mention Haiti? No.

Your snide comments are not helpful.

The poster wants to volunteer his technical skills abroad in an area with need. I'm sure there are plenty of places in the world who could use some professional expertise. You yourself suggest that he can help at home, but perhaps he'd like the experience to help abroad.

Unless you have an expertise in food distribution/agriculture, medicine, or communication ... you will probably just be excess baggage.

Really? The Peace Corp seems to be very active in building schools, hospitals and other infrastructure. They aren't excess baggage.

Comment Different interpretations of the law (Score 2, Informative) 303

There are multiple interpretations of the Interstate Commerce Clause. By some interpretations, States do have limited rights to regulate commerce with other states. Also, there seem to be additional interpretations of the law for state-owned services (See the paragraph on "In United Haulers Assoc. v Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Management Authority (2007)".

See the following site a good summary of some of the debates.

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/conlaw/statecommerce.htm

"The Commerce Clause is a grant of power to Congress, not an express limitation on the power of the states to regulate the economy. At least four possible interpretations of the Commerce Clause have been proposed. First, it has been suggested that the Clause gives Congress the exclusive power to regulate commerce. Under this interpretation, states are divested of all power to regulate interstate commerce. Second, it has been suggested that the Clause gives Congress and the states concurrent power to regulate commerce. Under this view, state regulation of commerce is invalid only when it is preempted by federal law. Third, it has been suggested that the Clause assumes that Congress and the states each have their own mutually exclusive zones of regulatory power. Under this interpretation, it becomes the job of the courts to determine whether one sovereign has invaded the exclusive regulatory zone of the other. Finally, it has been suggested that the Clause by its own force divests states of the power to regulate commerce in certain ways, but the states and Congress retain concurrent power to regulate commerce in many other ways. This fourth interpretation, a complicated hybrid of two others, turns out to be the approach taken by the Court in its decisions interpreting the Commerce Clause."

Earth

CIA Teams Up With Scientists To Monitor Climate 417

MikeChino writes "The CIA has just joined up with climate researchers to re-launch a data-sharing initiative that will use spy satellites and other CIA asets to help scientists figure out what climate change is doing to cloud cover, forests, deserts, and more. The collaboration is an extension of the Measurements of Earth Data for Environmental Analysis program, which President Bush canceled in 2001, and it will use reconnaissance satellites to track ice floes moving through the Arctic basin, creating data that could be used for ice forecasts." Even though the program is "basically free" in terms of CIA involvement, the Times notes: "Controversy has often dogged the use of federal intelligence gear for environmental monitoring. In October, days after the CIA opened a small unit to assess the security implications of climate change, Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, said the agency should be fighting terrorists, 'not spying on sea lions.'"

Comment Re:I thought the funding for this was cut? (Score 2, Interesting) 84

From one of the articles "one of the developers spoke about the game seems to cover this. Virtual Heroes, the producer of American's Army, is providing this game. It seems like they have already produced a couple space sims ("Race to Mars" and "Virtual Astronaut"), but I might be wrong.

Comment Re:Don't worry about the quality, feel the cost (Score 1) 215

Except in the US it has to be a doctor who does it, because nobody would settle for a nurse.

Blue Shield/Blue Cross of California and Kaiser Permanente both have a nurse available on the phone, 24/7. I've used it a couple times and it worked out well... many simple things can be diagnosed over the phone with a simple questionnaire. If not, they'll tell you to come and see the doctor, often with a priority appointment the next morning.

Comment Re:To much reinvention (Score 1) 257

Yes, everyone has heard of ZFS on FUSE. I'm not sure I would call that a 'port'-- a port would run natively on a filesystem. ZFS on FUSE is a hack, and would probably never be trustworthy enough to run a Production or Enterprise storage system, or host backup data, or anything outside the hobbyist realm.

That project looks abandoned (No releases in over a year, no news or updates on the blog in over a year). I wish people would stop referring to it until the project becomes active again.

Comment Re:To much reinvention (Score 1) 257

There are Linux ports of ZFS that distance themselves far enough from the GPLd kernel not to be an issue, but they need work.

Got some links or references for any of these Linux ports? These projects can't just 'port' the ZFS code and change the license.

Still, why exclude Macs and Windows? Any system can have ZFS in theory.

He's referring to Vendor supported options. Microsoft doesn't support ZFS, and Apple dropped ZFS support a couple months ago.

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