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Comment: Re:That's just cruel (Score 1) 306

by tgd (#44053267) Attached to: PDP-11 Still Working In Nuclear Plants - For 37 More Years

No, actually I'm not.

Yes, actually, you are.

The GP was being a pedantic twat by picking a definition of generation that was a) clearly not what the article was talking about and b) incorrect based on his/her own choice of definition.

And you're an ignorant twat not only by creating a definition out of thin air that has no bearing on or relation to the actual definitions, but by also by being clueless and thick headed enough to not recognize the difference when they're pointed out to you.

Except that you, and he, are incorrect about the generally approved definition of generation, and the average age of procreation, neither of which are 30 years.

I know this may be hard for you to follow but:

1) The definition of generation that you posted is structurally correct but factually incorrect because "30" is not the number that is standardly used by anyone. It may be used by some people who don't know better, but it is *not* the definition, because there is nowhere in the world where the average generation gap is 30 years. The average in most of the western world is around 25, and globally is about 21.
2) The article is clearly talking about employees, and thus the generation it is referring to is obviously not a biological or sociological generation.

Comment: Re:That's just cruel (Score 1) 306

by tgd (#44052037) Attached to: PDP-11 Still Working In Nuclear Plants - For 37 More Years

In virtually all cases, generations are pegged at 20 years. The common "Gen X", "Gen Y", etc are all 20 year spans. In fact, virtually every named "generation" of the last century were equal or slightly less than 20 years.

You're confusing two different things, which isn't surprising since they more or less use the same word.

  • "Generation", used standalone, is a noun and describes a measure of time expressed in a fraction of human lifetimes and is generally pegged at around 30 years. ("Three generations ago we did this thing or that thing.")
  • "Generation ___" is a proper noun and a descriptive term for a generational cohort or a social generation. ("Millennials are all this social trait or that social trait.")

No, actually I'm not. The GP was being a pedantic twat by picking a definition of generation that was a) clearly not what the article was talking about and b) incorrect based on his/her own choice of definition.

I'm not the least bit confused about the GP's twatness, the definition of "generation", or the obvious intent of the author of the story in using the word.

Comment: Re:That's just cruel (Score 5, Informative) 306

by tgd (#44049277) Attached to: PDP-11 Still Working In Nuclear Plants - For 37 More Years

So? A "generation" is commonly held to be 30 years; the average child (note: not first-born) being born when the parents are approximately 30. Secondly, TFA specifies two generations "coming and going", which means two ENTIRE generations pass; not just one passing and the second one beginning.

That is 60 years, not 37 years. TFS, if not TFA, which I didn't read, is officially stupid.

Commonly by who?

In virtually all cases, generations are pegged at 20 years. The common "Gen X", "Gen Y", etc are all 20 year spans. In fact, virtually every named "generation" of the last century were equal or slightly less than 20 years.

Even if you go by the average age of first birth, in virtually all of the "1st world", its right around 25. The peak averages are barely 30, and globally its in the low 20's, depending on the source.

So by either definition, there's definitely time for two generations ... and if you're talking about the average time in a given position (which is a more meaningful generation when speaking about engineers), you're looking at more like 15 years -- or time for three.

Comment: Re:I'm sure it's effective (Score 4, Insightful) 418

That's not the problem. Just tell people what you're doing. Make sure that it's legal and ethical. Don't be shy of what you're doing. Then we might accept it.

Well, to be fair, telling people what you're doing makes doing it pretty useless when "what you're doing" is covert surveillance.

Comment: Re:Don't we already have this? (Score 1) 257

by tgd (#44010511) Attached to: Prosecutors Push For Anti-Phone-Theft Kill Switches

Something similar has been available for YEARS- all you need do is ask the phone company to invalidate the IMEI number.and/or activate the memory wipe software built into Android, iOS, and Windows phones.

There's still no nationwide database in the US of all stolen IMEI numbers. Even if you tell your carrier that your phone was stolen and they bother to invalidate the number, AFAIK there's nothing stopping the theif from using the phone on a different carrier (assuming the phone is compatible, obviously.)

Well *clearly* this is why networked locked phones are in the public's best interest!

Comment: Re:This seems illogical. (Score 1) 284

by tgd (#43988633) Attached to: Another Study Confirms Hands-Free Texting While Driving Is Unsafe

Its a lot like speaking a second language you're not that familiar with. Your natural flow and grammar doesn't always work and the response you get back isn't always what you expect. It just takes your brain more attention to handle it.

The brain also tends to have a greater problem following dis-embodied conversation. It takes less effort to talk to someone you can see than someone you can't.

There are nuances to how the brain processes things that tend to be a surprise the more we collectively learn about it.

Comment: Re:Too bad they chose NH.... (Score 1) 699

by tgd (#43962895) Attached to: The Free State Project, One Decade Later

NH unemployment is the lowest in the New England, if not the East coast, and has been for the last decade.

I'm not sure if you mean rate or amount... it is, in fact, the lowest amount. Well below the cost of living.

I suspect that's why the rate is so low -- you can't live on unemployment, so you won't get many people on it very long. People will either under employ themselves to get by, or will move out of state.

Comment: Re:Modern Jesus (Score 2) 858

by tgd (#43959953) Attached to: NSA WhistleBlower Outs Himself

They almost certainly started the program with the idea of preventing terrorists setting off truck bombs at shopping malls, and other sorts of terrorist attacks. Could you spell out why that is a misguided policy goal?

If you want to portray it as a form of oppression, then I think you also need to account for the IRS scandal. The IRS has been caught in actually political oppression of groups in opposition to the current administration.

Um, the IRS's job is to make sure that political groups opposed or in support of the current administration doesn't get tax-exempt status under that program.

The issue isn't that the IRS did that to the right-leaning organizations, but that it may not have with the left leaning organizations.

And given that the majority of the names of the organizations in question made it clear just with their name that their primary purpose was politics, the IRS didn't do anything wrong in calling them out for further investigation.

And, from your reply and clear bias in the off topic IRS issue, its clear you don't have an ability to think or reason independently, but I figure its worth pointing out that I didn't, in fact, say it was a misguided policy goal. I simply said the issue isn't either of the parties.

Comment: Dear Slashdot (Score 3, Insightful) 330

by tgd (#43959853) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: How Do You Prove an IT Manager Is Incompetent?

I've been asked to do something as part of my job, have no idea how to do it, can you help me?

Sounds to me like the dimwit submitter is just as incompetent at doing what he's been asked to do as the IT manager.

Which given that and the presupposed IT manager's incompetence suggests its actually the CEO that is the issue at the company.

B players hire C players.

Comment: Re:Modern Jesus (Score 5, Insightful) 858

by tgd (#43955533) Attached to: NSA WhistleBlower Outs Himself

Guess you didn't RTFA. He was going to blow the whistle but held off when Obama got elected because he hoped things would change, instead, they only got worse. Please understand that the "left vs right" thing is just a distraction. Both parties are happily taking our liberties away.

More specifically, the people involved in creating programs like this transcend any particular election cycle.

Its not the parties doing it, on either side. Its the inertia of huge organizations following misguided policies stacked on policies, most likely created by people who really believed it was the best thing for the country.

"Do less" isn't an idea that creates a motivation for change, so time will always trend these sort of things into doing more and more.

Only through hard work and perseverance can one truly suffer.

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