Phoenix.pm: Of software and fish

intertwingled intertwingled at qwest.net
Thu Dec 5 03:41:02 CST 2002


It all got outsourced to India.  I hope you like curry.

Tony

At 12:17 AM 12/5/02 -0700, you wrote:
>
>
>> > there so far.  Every other area of engineering has testing, licensing and
>> > regulation.  Architecture (AIA), Accounting (AICPA), Medicine (AMA), Law
>> > (ABA), and so on, all have an examination and licensing process.   Some
>> > fields even have continuing education and retesting requirements as well.
>>
>> Yet they still suffer from the presence of completely unqualified
>> professionals that are fully licensed to practice.  If you have never
>> experienced this then you lead a charmed life or I lead a cursed one (which
>> is probably more likely!)
>
>OK, here is maybe a better example.
>
>So you go to the brain surgeon to have a tumor removed, and as you are 
>passing out from the anasthetic, the last thing you remember seeing as your 
>eyes blur and you lose conscience is your doctor standing over you reviewing 
>the book "Brain Surgery for Complete Idiots".  When you wake up, you feel 
>much better, but you can't remember who you are, where you live, or what you 
>do for a living.  All you can remember is testifying at something called a 
>"trial" (and guess who was also at the trial, sitting next to the defense 
>attorney?).
>
>Or something like that.  Now, imagine that the US is attacked by hackers who 
>bring down the entire internet, including all of the porn sites.  The US 
>economy comes to a complete halt as our great minds in Washington DC figure 
>out what to do.   After a blue ribbon senate committee, Americans Concerned 
>about Hubcaps, the United Anarchists LLC, People Against Hamburgers, and 
>every other special interest group in the country have thoroughly dissected 
>the incident, and $3.6 trillion dollars later, it is determined that it was 
>just another couple of 8 year olds who figured out one more way to exploit 
>.NET version 7 technology (they wrote their kiddie script in MS 
>VisualBasic++).  All of the states file lawsuits against Microsoft for 
>writing insecure software, and of course, the United States government, who 
>defends Microsoft, saying that a decision against them would be bad for what 
>is then left of the economy (assume Microsoft is one of the last 7 
>corporations left in the country during the 2nd Great Depression of the 
>2010's.   There are only 38 people left employed and every else's 
>unemployment benefits ran out long ago, or they are dead. But those still 
>employed inspire those looking for jobs, admonishing them not to sit around 
>feeling sorry for themselves, suggesting they take $1.50/hr jobs and work 
>their way up, and provide other useful information and free job search 
>sites.).  Luckily, President Ashcroft makes a moving speech in a time of 
>crisis and the public forgets the whole thing 6 weeks later.
>
>So my point is this:   Uh, my point.  What ... is my point?   Er, I forgot.  
>I was going somewhere with this, then I lost it.
>
>I'll try again later after I sleep a bit.  If anyone, friend or foe, can 
>figure this out, I'd greatly appreciate it.   Thanks.
>
>

--
even the safest course is fraught with peril




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