Peter K. wrote:> Jerry Avins <jya@ieee.org> writes: > >> Insurance? >> > > Probably not relevant in Australia, which is where I thought Erik was?Bingo! I'm assuming Jerry was talking about health insurance. From what I hear, health insurance here in Australia is much cheaper and easier to obtain than in the US. Erik -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Erik de Castro Lopo ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Windows was created to keep stupid people away from UNIX." -- Tom Christiansen
To renew my IEEE membership or not?
Started by ●November 10, 2007
Reply by ●November 10, 20072007-11-10
Reply by ●November 10, 20072007-11-10
Eric Jacobsen wrote:> And the email forwarding service, which obviously many of us here use.I've never used that. I have my own domain name and mail server. I doubt the IEEE can provide more features or flexibility than what I already have :-).> The insurance thing has gotten less interesting since the health > insurance program imploded, but the IEEE Life insurance program is > still pretty good.I have life insurance and superannuation elsewhere.> I like the email forwarding thing, I participate in and use the salary > survey stuff as well.Thats one I forgot. I've never used it, but that is something I would find useful. Erik -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Erik de Castro Lopo ----------------------------------------------------------------- "No Silicon Heaven? Preposterous! Where would all the calculators go?" -- Kryten, Red Dwarf
Reply by ●November 10, 20072007-11-10
Erik de Castro Lopo wrote:> Peter K. wrote: > >> Jerry Avins <jya@ieee.org> writes: >> >>> Insurance? >>> >> Probably not relevant in Australia, which is where I thought Erik was? > > Bingo! > > I'm assuming Jerry was talking about health insurance. From what > I hear, health insurance here in Australia is much cheaper and > easier to obtain than in the US.My health insurance as a retiree from Siemens is at least as good as IEEE's and less costly. I used to have their term life insurance, but I don't need it any more; no dependents. Your decision is one I don't have to make. I am a Life Member, no dues required. As a member of both IRE and AIEE, I voted for merger twice. I have since wondered if that was a mistake. On balance, I think not. Jerry -- Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get. �����������������������������������������������������������������������
Reply by ●November 10, 20072007-11-10
On Sat, 10 Nov 2007 11:00:52 -0800, "Fred Marshall" <fmarshallx@remove_the_x.acm.org> wrote:>This gives the opportunity to open a subject that occurs to me every few >years - similar to the question of the prices attached to papers: > >When one is working in a technical field such as ours, there are multiple >standards established by IEEE and other organizations that dictate how >certain things are supposed to be done. IEEE 1014-1987 for the VMEbus at >$88/$110 might be an example. 488 would be an example. IEEE Floating Point >754 is $61. The PCI 2.0 spec sells for $475 it appears. etc. etc. >Now, one might argue that some of the details are already available online >but if one is going to contract to meet such a standard then one wants to >have THE standard for reference. > >When one needs to understand the standard it's pretty much impossible to get >a copy without paying. Now, for companies, that's oerhaps no big deal. >But, for individual workers it's a lot. In view of the educational value of >the standards, why aren't they free? > >Well, of course, if I were the IEEE I'd be thinking about lost revenue. >I've not looked but I'll bet the lost revenue that would be associated with >standards sales would be so small as to be a no-brainer for some educational >program - government or society - to sponsor making them free AND on the >web. There is surely no important cost of distribution by putting them on >the web. > >The benefit of doing this would be to have a better-educated work force. >That helps the industry. etc. etc. > >As a fallback, maybe this is one of those things that membership in IEEE >would make available - to a much greater extent than today.Like this? http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/index.html The Get IEEE 802� program makes IEEE 802� standards available at no charge in PDF format thanks to the sponsors listed to the right. This program grants public access to view and download current individual IEEE Local and Metropolitan Area Network standards at no charge. Regards, Allan
Reply by ●November 10, 20072007-11-10
Erik de Castro Lopo <erikd@mega-nerd.com> writes:> Eric Jacobsen wrote: > > > I like the email forwarding thing, I participate in and use the salary > > survey stuff as well. > > Thats one I forgot. I've never used it, but that is something I > would find useful.As far as I am aware, it's US-centric... and so not really applicable for Oz. Ciao, Peter K. -- "And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended And at night the wondrous glory of the everlasting stars."
Reply by ●November 11, 20072007-11-11
Peter K. wrote:> As far as I am aware, it's US-centric... and so not really > applicable for Oz.It is US-centric, but from my point of view that is a good thing. Since US salaries in my field are somewhat higher than here in Oz (even after the recent increase of the value of the AU dollar in comparison to the US one) I am more than happy to compare myself against US salary levels. Erik -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- Erik de Castro Lopo ----------------------------------------------------------------- Failure is not an option. It comes bundled with your Microsoft product.
Reply by ●November 11, 20072007-11-11
"Allan Herriman" <allanherriman@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:mrmcj39u5dfnfrlodlt5elbfth430oo5rb@4ax.com...> On Sat, 10 Nov 2007 11:00:52 -0800, "Fred Marshall" > <fmarshallx@remove_the_x.acm.org> wrote: > > Like this? > > http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/index.html >Yep. Like that. Although doesn't this program only make standards available after they're 12 months old? And, of course, it's focused on one set of standards. So, a bit less restrictive and more universally applied. Fred
Reply by ●November 11, 20072007-11-11
"Fred Marshall" <fmarshallx@remove_the_x.acm.org> wrote in message news:_didnY1bC5KptKranZ2dnUVZ_uiknZ2d@centurytel.net...> > "Allan Herriman" <allanherriman@hotmail.com> wrote in message > news:mrmcj39u5dfnfrlodlt5elbfth430oo5rb@4ax.com... >> On Sat, 10 Nov 2007 11:00:52 -0800, "Fred Marshall" >> <fmarshallx@remove_the_x.acm.org> wrote: >> >> Like this? >> >> http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/index.html >> > > Yep. Like that. Although doesn't this program only make standards > available after they're 12 months old? And, of course, it's focused on > one set of standards. > > So, a bit less restrictive and more universally applied. > > FredMaybe I didn't mention it or express it very well. The motiviation is to pump the engine of technology development. Each little bit helps. There's an interesting article in the recent Dr. Dobb's Journal talking about computer books, blogs and the shift in how things are shifting in the world of publishing. It seems silly to not have standards freely and quickly available on the web - once and for all. Fred
Reply by ●November 11, 20072007-11-11
"Fred Marshall" <fmarshallx@remove_the_x.acm.org> wrote in message news:w9udnTDQzZ53t6ranZ2dnUVZ_tajnZ2d@centurytel.net...> > It seems silly to not have standards freely and quickly > available on the web - once and for all. >Not to mention the fact that virtually all of the technical papers that these organizations are charging for have already been bought and paid for by U. S. taxpayers. It seems like a trivial additional cost to the taxpayers for the Library of Congress to gather them up and make them available online for free.
Reply by ●November 11, 20072007-11-11
John E. Hadstate wrote:> > "Fred Marshall" <fmarshallx@remove_the_x.acm.org> wrote in message > news:w9udnTDQzZ53t6ranZ2dnUVZ_tajnZ2d@centurytel.net... >> >> It seems silly to not have standards freely and quickly available on >> the web - once and for all. >> > > Not to mention the fact that virtually all of the technical papers that > these organizations are charging for have already been bought and paid > for by U. S. taxpayers. It seems like a trivial additional cost to the > taxpayers for the Library of Congress to gather them up and make them > available online for free.What is European practice? Jerry -- Engineering is the art of making what you want from things you can get. �����������������������������������������������������������������������
