They only hear half a conversation on the phone, and even that requires a certain proximity, usually. You can always get the little dish thing they advertise to old ladies and kids on late-night TV, but you still only get one side.
Likewise, if they are tailing you all day they only see where you go and what you do when you've got a cop on your ass all day. They don't get to see where you would go on your own, or where you go on your own private property (for instance, if you owned a few hundred acres out in the country). Its more information gathering than is justifiable without a warrant (which is NOT that hard to get).
Do the police require a warrant if they want to follow me around for the day? If yes then I believe this should require a warrant. Else, what's the diff except it costs much less and is more discrete.
Grump
Let's try a better analogy:
Do the police need a warrant to overhear my conversations while I'm on my cell phone in a public place? No, but they are legally required to have one if they're going to bug my phone.
Anyone reading less than some 25 books a year is less likely to improve as fast as people who read a lot.
Okay, I gotta say this one is not necessarily true. I, for instance, tend to read about 10 books a year. Each is dense, and usually no less than 900 pages in length. Compare this with some of the people who work in my office. Several of them probably read 3 books a week, but still can't wrap their head around the fact that if they keep continuously clicking the "Search" button, it will take longer for their search to complete.
Now, there's a few possible reasons for this. The first one could be that I'm a software engineer (although one who has been forced into the role of web monkey by the current job market), whereas they are often-computer-illiterate call center agents. Maybe part of it is that I'm too lazy to code around this issue purely for the benefit of people who can't figure out how to use a web page. Maybe its because I read books on compiler design while they read harlequin romance novels. Could be any of these things. But based purely on number of books, they've got me beat.
How can the existing machines be too big? From what I understand, a dialysis machine simply filters blood by pumping it through the machine. One needle for input, one for output. Was the needle too big or something? I suppose the pump might have been too powerful, but wouldn't that be an easy thing to switch out, rather than creating an entirely new machine?
I'm a (usually) economically conservative person, and i agree totally with this. Government controlled health care is one of the few instances where socializing an industry is in the best interests of society as a while.
It's a great way for geeks to exercise. You get grouped with people at your general level of ability, which mitigates the anxiety of being around people in better shape or higher degree of skill. Also, it allows you to play a game of sorts and hone your skills at something, rather than repetitive biking or jogging, which can easily leave you bored and uninterested.
That's all well and good for instances where you're using pointers as an array type. My issue with removing pointers is for when I want to implement, say, a linked list or a B-Tree. In such instances its significantly more intuitive to use pointers, and its absolutely vital to have control over memory management if you want to write a fast data structure library.
Admittedly, I don't write a lot of B-Trees these days. But if I was going to, I wouldn't be doing it in Java. And yes, I know it can be done in Java. It's just not nearly as elegant or efficient.
--and yet anyone (well, anyone who doesn't have some personal stake in C++) will agree that speed is the ONLY thing C++ has going for it.
I disagree. C++ has pointers, which Java hides from the programmer. That's the main reason I prefer C++ over Java. Well, that and the "training wheels" sensation I get whenever I work with Java.
But for most non time-critical tasks I prefer Python. It's almost too easy.
I'm pretty sure I wasn't born yet.. That's why I'm asking old people like you!
No, but seriously.. Conducting ESP experiments doesn't necessarily mean you're insane. It was done a lot back then. And the general scientific consensus became "No, that's a load of crap." But until the science is done, it neither is or is not a load of crap.
On a semi-related note, most Prius drivers I've seen have been as big of assholes on the road as most Hummer owners. And the way they typically drive (petal to the floor at take off, slam on the breaks at the last moment) completely negates the already negligible increased fuel efficiency the hybrid engine provides.
Not in the code sense, but in the project sense.. I.E. I work on this, you work on that. We can ask each other for help, but this project is my baby and that one is yours.
I'm sure this is anethema to most coders, and that at some point it's not scalable, but it keeps inept coworkers away from my code.
I hate to say it (because it leads to all sorts of accusations of being racist), but from my experience with Indian programmers, that is the case. I'm sure there are some great Indian programmers... I've just never run into any in my 5 years of programming experience. And yes, I've worked with bad white and asian programmers too, but I've also worked with some very good ones.
I think it's a cultural thing.. In India, programming is something you do purely because the pay is better than most any other job you could be doing. Also, Indian education seems to focus more on memorization than on critical thinking. This is great for passing tests, bad for real world problems.
This is not to say that all Indian programmers can't code, or that all Indian programmers are only motivated by money, or that Indians as a whole lack critical thinking skills. It's simply an observation based on my own personal experiences in the software development world.
Now.. Aside from that, I can say that outsourcing is a very big issue for American IT workers. It often does not matter how good you are at coding, if you boss finds someone to do your job for $5/hour on the other side of the pacific ocean, there's a good chance he'll jump at the deal. He might regret it later (for various reasons, not just quality of code), but by that point you're out of a job. The same thing happened to the manufacturing industry some decades ago, and it's coming back to bite us in the ass now that transportation costs more and the dollar is worth less than its equivalent in monopoly money. The same thing will happen to tech.
Seriously.. If I have a week off of work, I don't log on to the net. If I do log on, its only to get directions somewhere. The only reason I actually have broadband is because I have no use for a landline phone, and I hate the dialup providers.
I was a much better programmer when i was just out of college than I am now. A few years of C# and SQL and no chance to use C or to even code anything more interesting than a custom query builder will do that to you.
I guess I could do a lot of this on my own, but after sitting in my cube staring at crappy code and trying to hide the fact that I'm reading slashdot all day, I just don't have the motivation.
So you seem to be arguing for a system targetted towards poor candidates, not good ones.
Nah, I was just trolling. I am, however concerned about the grading system if the quality of your degree is based on a single test you take at the end of the program. Is that how it works there, or have I misunderstood?
In the US you usually have to distinguish yourself through published works and accomplishments. We don't have an official first/second/third class degree system (although some schools are certainly more prestigious than others).
In the UK, if you get 68% in your final year exams at university you get an upper second class degree, and might be able to talk your way up to a first. So 68% is a masters/PhD candidates mark at most places.
Might this be connected to the constant complaints that the UK is falling behind in most every academic subject?
And once the initial "work" is done to get a hand on such software, the incentive to keep doing it is immense. It does take some time initially to dig up sources for cracked software, but once you have the source, getting more software without buying for it is fairly trivial.
So the net effect of crippling DRM methods like this is to drive more people towards cracked soft. Because once you know where to get it, it's easy to get more. The same thing could be said about drug culture... Imagine how many meth users would never have tried the stuff, had they not had to find a drug dealer to sell them weed when they were in high school?
Its interesting how so many prevention systems actually cause more harm than would their absence.
Slashdot Mirror
They only hear half a conversation on the phone, and even that requires a certain proximity, usually. You can always get the little dish thing they advertise to old ladies and kids on late-night TV, but you still only get one side.
Likewise, if they are tailing you all day they only see where you go and what you do when you've got a cop on your ass all day. They don't get to see where you would go on your own, or where you go on your own private property (for instance, if you owned a few hundred acres out in the country). Its more information gathering than is justifiable without a warrant (which is NOT that hard to get).
Do the police require a warrant if they want to follow me around for the day? If yes then I believe this should require a warrant. Else, what's the diff except it costs much less and is more discrete.
Grump
Let's try a better analogy:
Do the police need a warrant to overhear my conversations while I'm on my cell phone in a public place? No, but they are legally required to have one if they're going to bug my phone.
Anyone reading less than some 25 books a year is less likely to improve as fast as people who read a lot.
Okay, I gotta say this one is not necessarily true. I, for instance, tend to read about 10 books a year. Each is dense, and usually no less than 900 pages in length. Compare this with some of the people who work in my office. Several of them probably read 3 books a week, but still can't wrap their head around the fact that if they keep continuously clicking the "Search" button, it will take longer for their search to complete.
Now, there's a few possible reasons for this. The first one could be that I'm a software engineer (although one who has been forced into the role of web monkey by the current job market), whereas they are often-computer-illiterate call center agents. Maybe part of it is that I'm too lazy to code around this issue purely for the benefit of people who can't figure out how to use a web page. Maybe its because I read books on compiler design while they read harlequin romance novels. Could be any of these things. But based purely on number of books, they've got me beat.
How can the existing machines be too big? From what I understand, a dialysis machine simply filters blood by pumping it through the machine. One needle for input, one for output. Was the needle too big or something? I suppose the pump might have been too powerful, but wouldn't that be an easy thing to switch out, rather than creating an entirely new machine?
Um, what am I wrong about? Your post seems to agree with mine, aside from the fact that you're telling me I'm wrong.
I'm a (usually) economically conservative person, and i agree totally with this. Government controlled health care is one of the few instances where socializing an industry is in the best interests of society as a while.
Since in every situation one computer has to be either host or client.. It just happens that one computer can be both.
It's a great way for geeks to exercise. You get grouped with people at your general level of ability, which mitigates the anxiety of being around people in better shape or higher degree of skill. Also, it allows you to play a game of sorts and hone your skills at something, rather than repetitive biking or jogging, which can easily leave you bored and uninterested.
IIRC, it was The Longest Journey that used the rubber ducky with the coat hanger. That was actually one of the later "true" adventure games.
That's all well and good for instances where you're using pointers as an array type. My issue with removing pointers is for when I want to implement, say, a linked list or a B-Tree. In such instances its significantly more intuitive to use pointers, and its absolutely vital to have control over memory management if you want to write a fast data structure library.
Admittedly, I don't write a lot of B-Trees these days. But if I was going to, I wouldn't be doing it in Java. And yes, I know it can be done in Java. It's just not nearly as elegant or efficient.
--and yet anyone (well, anyone who doesn't have some personal stake in C++) will agree that speed is the ONLY thing C++ has going for it.
I disagree. C++ has pointers, which Java hides from the programmer. That's the main reason I prefer C++ over Java. Well, that and the "training wheels" sensation I get whenever I work with Java.
But for most non time-critical tasks I prefer Python. It's almost too easy.
I'm pretty sure I wasn't born yet.. That's why I'm asking old people like you! No, but seriously.. Conducting ESP experiments doesn't necessarily mean you're insane. It was done a lot back then. And the general scientific consensus became "No, that's a load of crap." But until the science is done, it neither is or is not a load of crap.
Now that, my friends, would be true fuel efficiency!
On a semi-related note, most Prius drivers I've seen have been as big of assholes on the road as most Hummer owners. And the way they typically drive (petal to the floor at take off, slam on the breaks at the last moment) completely negates the already negligible increased fuel efficiency the hybrid engine provides.
During his Apollo 14 flight to the moon, he secretly conducted ESP experiments with friends back on Earth.
And how did that go?
Not in the code sense, but in the project sense.. I.E. I work on this, you work on that. We can ask each other for help, but this project is my baby and that one is yours.
I'm sure this is anethema to most coders, and that at some point it's not scalable, but it keeps inept coworkers away from my code.
I hate to say it (because it leads to all sorts of accusations of being racist), but from my experience with Indian programmers, that is the case. I'm sure there are some great Indian programmers... I've just never run into any in my 5 years of programming experience. And yes, I've worked with bad white and asian programmers too, but I've also worked with some very good ones.
I think it's a cultural thing.. In India, programming is something you do purely because the pay is better than most any other job you could be doing. Also, Indian education seems to focus more on memorization than on critical thinking. This is great for passing tests, bad for real world problems.
This is not to say that all Indian programmers can't code, or that all Indian programmers are only motivated by money, or that Indians as a whole lack critical thinking skills. It's simply an observation based on my own personal experiences in the software development world.
Now.. Aside from that, I can say that outsourcing is a very big issue for American IT workers. It often does not matter how good you are at coding, if you boss finds someone to do your job for $5/hour on the other side of the pacific ocean, there's a good chance he'll jump at the deal. He might regret it later (for various reasons, not just quality of code), but by that point you're out of a job. The same thing happened to the manufacturing industry some decades ago, and it's coming back to bite us in the ass now that transportation costs more and the dollar is worth less than its equivalent in monopoly money. The same thing will happen to tech.
I had the same thought too.. I just rarely voice it because I don't care enough about it to get in arguments with star wars fanboys.
Besides, ANYTHING is better than javascript.
I can't believe it.. An idea for a web programming environment that would make me hate web programming slightly less.
Seriously.. If I have a week off of work, I don't log on to the net. If I do log on, its only to get directions somewhere. The only reason I actually have broadband is because I have no use for a landline phone, and I hate the dialup providers.
I guess I could do a lot of this on my own, but after sitting in my cube staring at crappy code and trying to hide the fact that I'm reading slashdot all day, I just don't have the motivation.
So you seem to be arguing for a system targetted towards poor candidates, not good ones.
Nah, I was just trolling. I am, however concerned about the grading system if the quality of your degree is based on a single test you take at the end of the program. Is that how it works there, or have I misunderstood?
In the US you usually have to distinguish yourself through published works and accomplishments. We don't have an official first/second/third class degree system (although some schools are certainly more prestigious than others).
In the UK, if you get 68% in your final year exams at university you get an upper second class degree, and might be able to talk your way up to a first. So 68% is a masters/PhD candidates mark at most places.
Might this be connected to the constant complaints that the UK is falling behind in most every academic subject?