Comment Schizophrenic, he keeps using this word... (Score 2) 209
I do not think it means what he thinks it means.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...
Comment The CEO is Probably Right (Score 2) 383
Unless you're selling your software, IT departments don't make money. They either save money or increase productivity through automating manual processes allowing the company to fire people or produce more product with the same amount of people. Having an IT department that is larger than 1-2% of the company causes the costs to outweigh the gains. You'll have a hard time making your case unless your company can either monazite the work your IT department does or you can prove there will be very significant savings.
Comment Four Words (Score 1) 346
"Interactive Post Install Configuration"
Comment iPod Touch (Score 1) 682
Get him an iPod Touch and just use FaceTime or Skype when he's on wifi at the house.
Comment Re:How did the military pay during WW2? (Score 1) 345
So you think it would be better for us to line everyone up on payday and hand out stacks of cash (like they did in World War 2)? What could possibly go wrong?
As someone who is serving and has server for the last 15 years, I can tell you the only times my pay has been screwed up it has been my fault. This is true for everyone of my troops who has had over/under payment issues. Usually it's because a form did not get turned in that starts or stops an allowance, then the member does not notice the discrepancy for some time. The guy in this article was the exception and apparently has shitty leadership. His First Sergeant or Commander should have been able to get this sorted in under a month, or at least get the "overpayment" collected over a year or two so it didn't effect him while they tracked down the source of the error.
Comment Re:SuSE (Score 1) 573
I definitely second openSUSE. It's rock solid and ships with KDE as a default but with strong Gnome support as well. Yast is awesome for when you just need to configure something, but don't want to spend hours learning config files. It just modifies the same files, so if you have a more complex setup than Yast can handle you can do the config by hand.
If you're exploring Linux in the server space, SUSE works wonderfully, but you'll want to pick up a RHEL clone (either CentOS or Scientific Linux).
Comment Re:Yes. (Score 1) 482
Am I a lawful target? I'm a military member so, yes even when I'm in civilian clothes or at home in bed at night I am a lawful target.
Are all CIA agents lawful targets? Yes. Do they operate from a government facility that is also a lawful target and so clearly identified? Yes. If the US started operating drones from inside elementary schools, then elementary schools would also become lawful targets. The law of armed conflict is really pretty simple, each side attempts to destroy the other's ability to wage war with as little collateral damage as possible. The moment that one side breaks the rules, the other is also permitted to break them as well to stop the damage caused by the original violation. The U.S. generally doesn't respond to enemy LOAC violations with reciprocal violations because doing so make the enemy less likely to surrender.
The bottom line is this:
- If we are at war with a nation and get attacked from within that nation we can and will respond to the attack, probably with kinetic weapons (regardless of the perpetrator).
- If we are not at war with a nation and get attacked, we probably attempt to deal with it diplomatically(regardless of the perpetrator) before proceeding to a military solution. That diplomatic solution may be to seek extradition for prosecution or, possibly clandestine, approval to operate drones in their airspace to eliminate the threat.
Are all CIA agents lawful targets? Yes. Do they operate from a government facility that is also a lawful target and so clearly identified? Yes. If the US started operating drones from inside elementary schools, then elementary schools would also become lawful targets. The law of armed conflict is really pretty simple, each side attempts to destroy the other's ability to wage war with as little collateral damage as possible. The moment that one side breaks the rules, the other is also permitted to break them as well to stop the damage caused by the original violation. The U.S. generally doesn't respond to enemy LOAC violations with reciprocal violations because doing so make the enemy less likely to surrender.
The bottom line is this:
- If we are at war with a nation and get attacked from within that nation we can and will respond to the attack, probably with kinetic weapons (regardless of the perpetrator).
- If we are not at war with a nation and get attacked, we probably attempt to deal with it diplomatically(regardless of the perpetrator) before proceeding to a military solution. That diplomatic solution may be to seek extradition for prosecution or, possibly clandestine, approval to operate drones in their airspace to eliminate the threat.
Comment Re:Yes. (Score 1) 482
Doing so is as much a violation of the Geneva Convention as dressing your infantry in civilian clothes or placing anti aircraft guns atop a hospital. If a nation makes it impossible to differentiate civilians from combatants, their civilians become lawful targets.
Comment Absolutely (Score 1) 482
All members of the enemy military, military civilians, and military contractors are lawful combatants. There is no special protection for IT guys, just like there is no special protection for cooks or personnelists. That's just the way it is and those of us in uniform accept it.
If we are already at war with a nation and one of their civilian population decides to attack us in any way they become an unlawful combatant and give up their protection under the Geneva Convention. The attacked nation has the right to eliminate the threat in any way they see fit, whether that is a counter hack or a guided missile.
If we are not at war and a civilian attacks our network, then it is a criminal matter handled via the state department. Depending on the political tensions, the attacker's nation's response or lack of response may precipitate military actions. This would be true If the crime were murder, theft, or embezzlement, computer crimes are not special.
If we are already at war with a nation and one of their civilian population decides to attack us in any way they become an unlawful combatant and give up their protection under the Geneva Convention. The attacked nation has the right to eliminate the threat in any way they see fit, whether that is a counter hack or a guided missile.
If we are not at war and a civilian attacks our network, then it is a criminal matter handled via the state department. Depending on the political tensions, the attacker's nation's response or lack of response may precipitate military actions. This would be true If the crime were murder, theft, or embezzlement, computer crimes are not special.
Comment Should be Celebrating (Score 1) 409
Never mind the fact that:
- they did not account for multiple tweets from the same person.
- do not consider any term "racist" unless it has been used to "subjugate a people for generations"
- think that 359 TOTAL geocoded tweets out of ALL geocoded tweets (.05%) is statistically significant.
We should be celebrating that only .05% of the population is outwardly racist. Who cares if the south has a marginally higher number or the 359 racist Twitter users. This story is as ludicrous, sensationalized, piece drivel that doesn't really show anything. I've lived in Alabama for almost 3 years now and have yet to run into an openly racist person.
When the author was confronted with questions regarding why he did not do a reciprocal piece, regarding racism against Romney, he argued that there are not words for whites that have the same power as the "n" word for blacks (although he included the word "monkey" in his "study", a word I've heard used to describe fools both white and black alike). It is clear that the authors view is that is impossible whites to be the subject of racism because they were the oppressor 60 years ago. The article leaves you with the implied conclusion that if someone did not vote for Obama, they must be racist (a implication that the author denies in his follow up).
- they did not account for multiple tweets from the same person.
- do not consider any term "racist" unless it has been used to "subjugate a people for generations"
- think that 359 TOTAL geocoded tweets out of ALL geocoded tweets (.05%) is statistically significant.
We should be celebrating that only
When the author was confronted with questions regarding why he did not do a reciprocal piece, regarding racism against Romney, he argued that there are not words for whites that have the same power as the "n" word for blacks (although he included the word "monkey" in his "study", a word I've heard used to describe fools both white and black alike). It is clear that the authors view is that is impossible whites to be the subject of racism because they were the oppressor 60 years ago. The article leaves you with the implied conclusion that if someone did not vote for Obama, they must be racist (a implication that the author denies in his follow up).
The Great Office War 11
You may be thankful that twenty years from now when you are sitting by the fireplace with your grandson on your knee and he asks you what you did in the great Office War, you won't have to cough, shift him to the other knee and say, "Well, your Granddaddy sent a fax in the copy room."
Submission + - Best practices for a lossless music archive
Sparagmei writes: I'm a big music fan, and I like listening to the music I own on various pieces of digital gear. Right now my library's at about 20,000 tracks, ripped from CDs to MP3 at 256kbps (enough that I can't tell the difference on my low-end playback gear).
However, with the MP3 judgment rippling through the world, I'm interested in perhaps moving to a different compression standard. Before I do that, I'd like to ask a question: what lossless format would you recommend for making a digital "master library", which could be (relatively) easily downsampled to a compressed format? Important factors would be true losslessness, filesize (smaller than PCM WAV would be nice), embedded metadata (id3v2-like), existence of automated ripper software, and (to a lesser extent) open-source implementation of such software. Widespread playback implementation of the lossless codec is not an issue for me; the lossless library would likely be burnt to archival DVD media and stored after being downsampling with the chosen compressor.
The reason I ask is this: I've got a 20,000-track re-ripping job ahead of me. I'd like to do that just once, lossless, so that years from now, when I decide to jump from Vorbis to "komprezzor_2039_1337" or whatever, I don't need to drag out the old plastic discs. Thanks!
However, with the MP3 judgment rippling through the world, I'm interested in perhaps moving to a different compression standard. Before I do that, I'd like to ask a question: what lossless format would you recommend for making a digital "master library", which could be (relatively) easily downsampled to a compressed format? Important factors would be true losslessness, filesize (smaller than PCM WAV would be nice), embedded metadata (id3v2-like), existence of automated ripper software, and (to a lesser extent) open-source implementation of such software. Widespread playback implementation of the lossless codec is not an issue for me; the lossless library would likely be burnt to archival DVD media and stored after being downsampling with the chosen compressor.
The reason I ask is this: I've got a 20,000-track re-ripping job ahead of me. I'd like to do that just once, lossless, so that years from now, when I decide to jump from Vorbis to "komprezzor_2039_1337" or whatever, I don't need to drag out the old plastic discs. Thanks!
Submission + - Ubuntu Feisty Fawn gets closer
daria42 writes: Ubuntu developers are finalising preparations for the release of the next version — dubbed Feisty Fawn — of the popular Linux distribution in mid-April. Overnight, Ubuntu developer Tollef Fog Heen announced Ubuntu's main software repository had been frozen — with no changes allowed to the code — as developers got ready to issue a fifth major test version ("Herd 5") of the next version of Ubuntu.
Submission + - Webmail at Work
rtobyr writes: "I don't allow users at my organization to use any third party e-mail. When users complain, I point out that we can't control the security policies of outside systems. End users tend to think that big business will of course have good security; so I ran a test of the "Big Four:" Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL/AIM Mail, and GMail. Yahoo Mail was the only webmail provider to allow delivery of a VBS script. GMail was the only provider to block a zipped VBS script.
End users also tend to think that a big business would never pull security features out from under their customers. We Slashdotters know that AOL and Microsoft have both compromised the security of their customers. I don't know of any security related bad press for Yahoo or Google.
Three of my Big Four either allow VBS attachments or have a poor security track records. So my Ask Slashdot question is this: If you are a network administrator, do you limit your users' ability to use third party e-mail, and if so, do you allow for GMail or other providers that you've deemed to have secure systems and repuations?"
Submission + - Create a systems admin job at my school?
Old_Mountain_Man writes: "I have been working at a K-8 school for the last two school years as a volunteer through an Americorps program called the Montana Technology Corps. In theory, I am here to teach teachers and students how to use technology, but because of the need and my ability to do so, I have become an unofficial Systems Administrator. We also have a contracted Systems Admin that comes in once a week, and works 30 hours or so a month. After this year, the Tech Corps position will no longer be available to the school, so something needs to be done to keep the IT systems of the school functioning. I am going to propose to the school board that they create an official, full time systems administrator position, and, of course, to hire me for that job. We have about 375 students, and probably 40 or so staff that use the computers. We have a lab of 25 machines, workstations in each classroom, a laptop cart, four smartboards and six networked printers and six servers hosting files, applications, Exchange and an Isaserver. In all, about 170 machines that need taken care of. (All Windows) There's no way the contracted systems admin could keep up working only 30 hours a month, so I feel the school needs somebody here full time.
What I am looking for is specific information regarding how many IT support people are needed for this kind of setup. I wonder if there are papers/reports that break down how much support time is needed for different systems that I could take to the school board.
In addition any advice on how to shape my presentation to the board would be useful. Are there others out there that got their jobs similarly? How do you convince a board that they need to start budgeting for this? They have obviously taken the plunge to getting this technology in the school, how do I convince them that they need somebody here to maintain it?"
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