Slashdot Mirror

Almost none of the laid off people were engineers working on the products, its sales, marketing, HR and middle management that gets hit the most.

Where is Godwin's law when you need it?

Or does this prove that Slashdot is not Usenet?

Please see this definition of the word cracker. It actually makes more sense than the word hacker for someone who breaks into something or through something. That is, you don't hack a safe, you crack a safe; you don't hack a secret code, you crack a secret code; etc.

Stop being mindless zealots.

If you're selling cardboard, maybe, rather than computers.

c.

That can tell you what is actually happening, but not what the original programmer wanted to happen, or why he needs it to happen.

Best example of the above: Mel.

Not to be facetious, but how do you know it's the comments, not the code, that are wrong?
Most coders update the code, not the comments. If the code works, and the comments don't corrospond, it's the comments that are borked, IMO.

Hell, I've even been guilty of this stuff on my own projects, even tho they're only simple PERL stuff. I go back 3 months later to add functionality and say "This is what I said, but I'm obviously not doing that anymore". I usually take the time and correct the comments then, however. :D

Yeah, I goofed on that number, and though I've only read two accounts of Cortez using his "god-hood" to any effect (there's another one saying Moctezuma II saw through it but wasn't in a position to toss him out yet) it seems likely enough since it verifiably *did* happen to other European explorers.

As for the "white people" comment... that's the kind of "bow nigger"-ing that should invoke Godwin's Law. Save it.

You have just rediscovered Sturgeon's Law.

See above reply wrt: Godwins Law

Chip H.

I don't have time to deal with your substantial misunderstanding of economics, but as far as this goes:

I'm specifically talking about the local efforts to screw up the public schools, which are apparent. Just today I read that the latest anti-evolution efforts are in Missouri. It's not isolated, it's a pattern. A wedge, if you will. Conservatives take over the school boards and cause havoc.

Apply Hanlon's Razor. The religious right really does believe they're improving education by getting creationist nonsense into the classroom. That's one reason why so many of them send their kids to religious schools.

"Heisenbug as originally defined--and I was there when it happened--are bugs in which clearly the behavior of the system is incorrect, and when you try to look to see why it's incorrect, the problem goes away.

This is a really cool article, but it was especially fun to see the heisenbug mention. Years ago, some fellow CS people and myself conjectured a similar phenomenon that seemed to manifest once in a while, in which a computer malfunction goes away after one "proves" that there's no cause for the error to exist.

Here's a list of heisenbug anecdotes, but note that some of these submissions aren't strictly heisenbugs.

There's a strange quirk of irony here.

The first big worm was in 1988. I remember it made Time magazine (or some similar publication), and for the net to get press in 1988 was a big deal.

The worm was written by Robert T. Morris <RTM>.

RTM's father, Robert Morris, was a high-ranking official in the NSA; if you've read Cuckoo's Egg then you've heard of him.

There's a strange quirk of irony here.

The first big worm was in 1988. I remember it made Time magazine (or some similar publication), and for the net to get press in 1988 was a big deal.

The worm was written by Robert T. Morris <RTM>.

RTM's father, Robert Morris, was a high-ranking official in the NSA; if you've read Cuckoo's Egg then you've heard of him.

Even ordinary script kiddies with rootkits won't bother doing much more than installing a spam zombie or warez/porn ftp server there. Whereas this presented an intuitive, menu-driven, user-friendly way to own a company's business data. And _change_ that data as you see fit.

You don't have to be paranoid to believe that it's how they would want you to think.

There is such a thing as bit rot, just not in the context it's being used here.

As a result, the development staff here lies to their managers, who lie to their directors, who lie to their VP's and on up the line. This points to a breakdown in communication between all levels in IT including the lines between IT and the business.

This is not something unique to IT -- it's something fundamental to any command structure which relies on communication between unequals.

It's only common name is the SNAFU Principle, which was coined by Robert Anton Wilson (there's a very good discussion of it in his book Prometheus Rising).

In Illuminatus!, a satirical study of social pathologies, Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea brought out an important principal that causes trouble in hierarchies: the Snafu Principle. People tend to say what they think the boss wants to hear, especially if they have noticed that the practice of ``shooting the messenger'' is common. This means that the information passed up the pyramid is distorted at each level. Thus, each higher layer of managers tends to have less and less contact with reality, and near the top they are often completely out of touch.

And what if the compiler has a back door?

That's not just an academic question. It's happened

Actually, the bus my brother rode to work went past Langley and had a bunch of CIA employees on it, and he said that the day after the Chinese embassy bombing, he heard a few of them grumbling under their breaths about the Defense Mapping Agency. I think it was just a screwup ... Hanlon's Razor, and all.

It's just that there have been made so many "crappy" science fiction movies lately

That's so true. I want to return to the 1930s, when all the science fiction on the big screen was much less crappy. I mean, Flash Gordon. Buck Rogers. Intellectually fulfilling stuff, that -- the men were men, the alien women were knockouts, and the bad guys were Chinese.

Well, okay, maybe the 1940s. Yeah. "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man." "The Invisible Woman." "One Million B.C." That's more like it.

No? How about the 1950s, which gave us dozens of cinematic classics about giant ants/scorpions/spiders on a rampage, along with "I Was a Teenage Frankenstein," "Devil Girl From Mars," "Jungle Moon Men," "The Man From Planet X," and "Monster From the Ocean Floor?" (Everyone's from somewhere!)

But surely the 1960s are the good old days. I mean, hey, "Barbarella" -- no cheese there. "Gill Women of Venus." "How To Make a Doll." "Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster."

Well, okay. The 1970s gave us "Star Wars," so that's gotta be the oasis in the cinematic desert. Surely that outweighs "Meteor," "Starcrash," "The Giant Spider Invasion," "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth," and "Dracula Versus Frankenstein" (damn that Mary Shelley and her interminable sequels!)

The 1980s certainly produced a lot more science fiction movies than earlier decades, thanks to "Star Wars." But were they good movies? Some were. But I also remember "Interface." "Alien From L.A." "Space Raiders." And the inimitable Scott Baio's "Zapped!" -- what a masterpiece that one was.

Then we get to the 1990s. Surely the advent of really good special effects must have led to an explosion of quality in science-fiction filmmaking. But no -- in fact all of your examples of crappy films are from the 1990s.

So when did "lately" start again?

Sturgeon's Law doesn't have an expiration date or a start date, I'm afraid.

First off, there is a major distinction between "comic books" in general, and "graphic novels" specifically. So, while "hardly anybody reads comics", sales of SOME of the better graphic novels are edging the half-million mark-- enough that (as the author noted) publishers are at least vaguely interested. Publishers don't care if no-one reads what they print.. as long as they buy the damn stuff. =)

You also evidently missed the comparison at the very begining to the Novel-- which went from "considered entertainment suitable only for idle ladies of uncertain morals" to the standard staple of the bookstore today. While the Graphic Novel is not yet a full blown phenomenon of mainstream media, it is GROWING.

As for the shelf space in bookstores, it is not "just starting"-- it is just starting to rise rapidly. Five years ago, Barnes and Noble hit our community (killing two beloved locally owned shops and one despised chain outlet). Four years ago, I was delighted to be able to pick up reprints of Watchmen and Dark Knight, since they had added one shelf row (36") in by the SF, just above the myriad ST books. There are now five such shelf rows of assorted graphic novels, with Manga adding five more and overflowing into a spinner display off to the side -- far less than, say, the 60 shelf rows for general SF, but comparable to the 10 for Star Drek novels.

Which raises your casual dismissal of the Japanese Manga series. Even though I'm an official Goddamn Yankee*, I find your attitude horribly provincial. Even with the Novel, an english-dominated literary form, some of the greatest classics are originally in other languages-- Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, and Flaubert spring to mind. While the Graphic Novel hasn't gotten out of the literary gutter yet, the Japanese have been working on it for a time comparable to the Americans. It should come as no suprise that some of what they've created isn't crap. Manga may be conforming to Sturgeon's law, but not all of it is... crud.

The Graphic Novel may still be in the literary gutter, but the whole point of the article is that it's starting to crawl out, so the mundanes might want to take a look at it.


( * : According to an amicable redneck neighbor of mine, a Yankee is someone from above the Mason Dixon line, especially from the New York/New England area. A Damn Yankee is one who comes down below the Mason Dixon line, and a Goddamn Yankee is one who comes down to stay.)

Economic Left/Right: -2.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -5.95

So I'm Libertarian, slightly left.

I sometimes describe my politics as being Green-Libertarian, or Conservative Anarchist, because I feel that will piss off the most people. And what's the point in talking about politics if you aren't going to piss people off?

Well, that's actually the problem with the people that identify as "left" or "right." A lot of people identify as one, and refuse to listen to anyone that identifies as the other. So instead they just get into shouting matches. It's not true of everyone but reminds me of Sturgeon's Law.

I want to write more about this but maybe later.

Recently on E! Entertainment's, Howard Stern TV Show there was the typical playboy model with her typical fake plastic tits. Her forehead also looked unnatural like it was surgically altered in some way, a fitting plastic women to go with our plastic society. She was Hugh's head girlfriend at the Playboy mansion. When Howard asked her if Hugh gave her an orgasm; there was a predictable dead pause for many seconds, then she looks at the floor and starts saying what a nice guy he is. When Howard asked if she was attracted to Hugh; once again, dead pause but for only a short while, she looks to the floor and again she repeats Hugh is a nice guy even detailing how well Hugh takes care of her financially. Honestly, if I was one of these rich guys getting women only for my money, I would have a severly bruised ego. When I see a man in a Porsche who is ugly I urge to shout to my lung's capacity: "You fucking moron, do you think this Porsche can compensate for your being old and ugly!" Even if these guys attract women it must deveastating to know they are only interested in your wealth, your status and not you.

I do not know why this guy feels the need to go on about his glorified toys, but one thing is for sure. He is not happy with what he has.

I forget to add to my list:
f) he mentions he has an ipod

From his posts we can conclude:

a)He has 1800gb of hd for his music to be ripped lossless and to back it all up
b)He has a 300gb Tivo
c)From this post he shows definite evidence of a desire to get the newer model Ipods with ever bigger HDs. ... "I'll be really psyched when 80 GBs are available, and then (dream dream) it'll take a 160 GB iPod to make me really, really happy." ...

So between his Tivo and music collection that is 2100gb of hd alone right there. He has a total of five macs and a Vaio as well. Who knows how much total hd space he has. We also know he has an Ipod right now and is not satsified with it's capacity and has an interest to purchase newer models as they may come out. How much hd space is enough? I am sitting here typing on a 450mhz PII computer with a 22gb hd and I can say I am content with my hd space.(I must mention I have a router with a 120gb hd. This is obviously not meant to brag since this is a very outdated setup, but the point is I do not care, I am content with what I have.) This guy unlike me, as far as hard drives are concerned will probably never be able to say he is content with what he has.

Parkinson's Law of Data /prov./ ""Data expands to fill the space available for storage"; buying more memory encourages the use of more memory-intensive techniques. It has been observed over the last 10 years that the memory usage of evolving systems tends to double roughly once every 18 months. Fortunately, memory density available for constant dollars also tends to double about once every 12 months (see Moore's Law); unfortunately, the laws of physics guarantee that the latter cannot continue indefinitely."

"Data expands to fill the space available for storage", see the definition in the Jargon File.

And you're probably thinking of Finagle's Law [of Dynamic Negatives]..."Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong" (sometimes stated with the addition "and as soon as possible").

Murphy's Law is "If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it."

Sorry for the extra info, but look at my tagling, for cryin out loud :)

And you're probably thinking of Finagle's Law [of Dynamic Negatives]..."Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong" (sometimes stated with the addition "and as soon as possible").

Murphy's Law is "If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it."

Sorry for the extra info, but look at my tagling, for cryin out loud :)

And you're probably thinking of Finagle's Law [of Dynamic Negatives]..."Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong" (sometimes stated with the addition "and as soon as possible").

Murphy's Law is "If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it."

Sorry for the extra info, but look at my tagling, for cryin out loud :)

Is anyone else annoyed by the amount of story that is given away in trailers now?

Which, if nothing else, makes me believe that it's a practice that will probably never change no matter how annoying it is to some people.

I think it's one of those things that people always assume is worse today than it was before, just because memory is selective and most people prefer nostalgia to bitterness. I think it's more likely that Sturgeon's Law has been true pretty consistently throughout human history.

you are referring to reclections on trusting trust. you are highly exaggerating though. the only reliable reference to an actual incident I found is in the jargon file, but even that is a tongue-in-the-cheek expression. This was not distributed, certainly not to all customers which purchased early versions of "Unix", which is the implication I get from your post.
It would be even harder to do with gcc/glibc as there are many environments where gcc is compiled with the native compiler of that platform, e.g., Solaris. You can check even for Linux though, compile gcc in Solaris, then cross compile gcc to Linux using the gcc you compiled in Solaris, then compile the gcc source with your cross compiled product. and finally compile gnu C library, if there is any malicious code that is inserted by a crooked compiler, it will show.

"Why do you want to mod it down? I am curious? ""

1. The title is a clear violation of Godwin's Law (on my /. setup, we are in fact the end of the thread...).
2. The AC has no idea whether the application has anything to do with the US governments war effort (i.e. maybe its for an Aid Agency ?), yet ...
3.the AC rattles off slogans that have less meaning than those used by late night TV Advertorials.

In short, the post lacked sense, humour or technical merit. The tenuous relevance to the original question is diminsihed to nothing by point 2.

In fact the more I type, the more I feel my life slowly wasting away... 5 minutes that have gone for ever, never to return.

thanks, Magoo

Usually it's the people trying to make the comparison who trivialize the evil

That's because of Sturgeon's Law :) I'm afraid of the 10% of comparisons that may be legitimate getting ignored.

And now..

A fork bomb can kill a person?

Agreed

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

Seems rather appropriate here.

I looked it up.. The first page I found noted: Oddly, when Sturgeon's Law is cited, the final word is almost invariably changed to `crap'.

Unfortunately, most Sci-Fi writers fall into two categories:

Two categories that I suspect you would define as crap. Always remember, 90% of everything is crap.

Taking the "human condition" to the extreme.

It's a common technique in fiction to try and distill down something "pure" about humanity, to reveal things hidden by day-to-day life. Typically this is done by creating an unusual setting to eliminate reader's preconceived notions. You might do this by trapping children on an island, sending someone to fictional lands, or having animals play the parts of humans. That you might set people into a future distopia or future utopia doesn't change the basic technique.

Futures where sex is the only thing driving humanity.

Geez, as a kid I sought out the slightly racier sci-fi and I never saw anything that bad. Sure, I saw books that had alot of sex in them (looks to Heinlein), but where it's the only driving force? Perhaps you're confusing erotica set in a sci-fi setting with the wide variety of sci-fi options.

I hate to break it to the authors, but this sort of society would quickly degrade due to a lack of scientific focus. Not to mention that human feelings on the subject are actually pretty immutable. (No matter what anyone says.)

I hate to break it to you, but many people would argue that lots of human advancement is the indirect result of a desire for nookie. Even ignoring the iffy assumption that human feelings are immutable, if they are immutable they are immutable in that people want sex; not real complicated.

Most of them have space travel as a background to get to a fantasy-like world.

Heaven above, was your reading limited to erotica and Stasheff? Yes, there is alot of great sci-fi that doesn't fit into these two categories. Did Heinlein, Clarke, Orwell, and Asimov never exist? What in the world are you looking for?

Personally, I thought Heinlen's juveniles were the best examples of Sci-Fi.

Oh, that's what you're looking for. Boy's adventure stories and pulp adventure. Great stuff, I enjoy them myself, but it's an amazingly small subset of sci-fi. Sci-fi includes a wide variety of writing, just like historical fiction, fantasy, or modern stories.

Geez, you microsofty, the correct term is guru meditation. This is an article about the Amiga you know.

Dan East

People have to pay off their student loans. In this case, especially, when considering student loans remember TANSTAAFL.

You spelled TANSTAAFL wrong.

a recent comment (which I cannot find) defined "X is uploading" as meaning that the transfer was initiated by by X and the payload is travelling away from X. And "Y is downloading" as: the transfer was initiated by Y and the payload is travelling toward Y.

So according to this, the system on the other end of a download / upload is not uploading / downloading. They are doing something else. Serving / recieving, perhaps.

was that correct or what?

ESR's jargonfile definition defines them in terms of direction only. So according to ESR, when a webserver is serving, it is also uploading. seems wack.

Hey, don't blame Metcalfe for updating an old classic.

Those are great links, except for the one to http://www.parc.xerox.com/, because everyone knows PARC is the place where Xerox does research for everyone else.

Nice poetry, it reminds me of The Story of Mel

The author must be new to the internet. If you go back to the good old days, for example when Yahoo used to be at yahoo.stanford.edu, there were no banner ads. Guess what, the internet was free then.

Those of you not as well versed in the lore as the rest of you would do well to read the legend of Ken Thompson's backdoor login compiler compiler.

90% of everything is crap.

don't get me started with anime writers obsession with young women

I think it's because they haven't grow up yet ... into pussywhipped hypocrites who are supposed to deny biology and thousands of years of history where age ~15 was ripe. Not that I'm defending that borderline pedocrap in todays society or anything, as I find it highly annoying for another reason: I can't stand the way characters in most jap anime always act so embarrassed about anything remotely sexual.

--

Also known as Hanlon's Razor.

Sturgeons Law: 90% of everything is crap.

Nope. L is for Law. But here're the links.

Jargon File Listing for Godwin's Law, and How to post about Nazis and get away with it - the Godwin's Law FAQ (quoted below).

6. "Hitler!" Ha! The thread is over!

Nope, doesn't work that way. Not only is it wrong to say that a thread is over when Godwin's Law is invoked anyway (Usenet threads virtually always outlive their usefulness), but long ago a corollary to the Law was proposed and accepted by Taki "Quirk" Kogama (quirk@swcp.com):

Quirk's Exception: Intentional invocation of this so-called "Nazi Clause" is ineffectual.

Sorry, folks. Nice try, though.

I give pseudo mod: "+1 HHOS"

> Microsoft's own lax security is a plan to pave the way to their heavy handed takeover of your computer.

Two words: Hanlon's Razor.

As much as I love to MS bash (and I do--I really do), I also love to play "Devil's Advocate" because I like to argue, but also because I feel it fosters more interesting discussion.

With that in mind: isn't it possible that these other searches turn up screwy results for Linux simply because they suck? Or maybe because not many people use them. Or at least, if people do use them, maybe they don't use them to search for Linux all that often. Remember Hanlon's Razor.