I take classes at a college (basically equivalent of an american State University). We were told flatly at the beginning of courses that all the work we do is property of the university. Period.
I did overhear something about Stockwell Day saying he was
going to legalize marijuana. I'm not a drug user (save caffeine),
but I'll vote for him without hesitation if he really means it. I'd really
like the cops to go back to doing something more useful than busting small-time
users.
He simply said that he would allow a free vote (that is, not bound by the
party line) in the HoC to legalize marijuana. Since he won't get elected
prime minister, this won't happen, since if Day becomes PM, it is quite
unlikely that his hordes of unwashed cavemen would vote YES
to that...
But this is just cheap campaign strategy for him, and possession is
likely to be decriminalized, since:
How many programmers do you know that fart around their
desk all morning, get ramped up around 2:30 PM and end up staying at their
desk till 7 or 8 to get their job done.
At a job I had, I got in around 9:30-10:00 and tried to work while
the other programmer in our department was whining about the boss not being
there.
At 11:00, the boss came in, and spent the next hour fixing the
other programmer's problems.
At 12:00, we (my boss and I) went out to lunch, then went around
bookstores and universities libraries, and sometimes went out of the way
to look at an interesting building (my boss was trained as an engineer,
and was totally inept at history and architecture, and thus enjoyed the
"private lessons").
We would get back between 14:30 and 15:30, where we'd
sit for the next hour listening to the other programmer's problems.
At 16:30-17:00, the other programmer would leave either
for his home or his aerobic classes.
At 17:00, when everybody else left, we started working, coding
until 20:30 or 21:00 or inspiration left us. In that amount
of time, we'd do 2-3 days worth of work. And after, most of the times we'd
go out for a beer and/or cruise for chicks...
We were three (two after the other programmer was fired for gross unproductivity)
guys supporting a whole crew of 14 people (including secretaries, executives,
accountants and other departments which weren't profitable). After 9-10
months of this, my boss told the company to screw itself and left...
It is only legitimate that States get the best and most competent workers
of them all, after all, it's the taxpayer's dollars, and this alone warrants the best
money can buy. This benefits EVERYONE.
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
The mythical man-month
on
Death March
·
· Score: 2
I'm taking a class of "computer project management". I just produced my teacher a copy of "The mythical man-month", asking him if it's a good book, and he flatly told me that he didn't know about it.
Now, what would you think of a class whose teacher doesn't know about that book???
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
Re:I'm on the march right this minute
on
Death March
·
· Score: 2
I'm glad to say I've never been in a trainwreck and have always warned management what's looming long before jumping.
The only train "wreck" I was when it derailed when I was running it. However, the passengers did not believe me that we had derailed, and it wasn't until one actually got up and saw for herself the wheels on the ground that everybody got the notion that we were actually derailed...
At the World Beer Championship in 1994, St-Ambroise
Oatmeal Stout received the second highest rating of the over 200 beers
in the competition and won one of only nine platinum medals awarded.
In that same competition, Guinness Stout got the 57th place.
I must claim my fair share of the blame. When the UK govt
passed the email monitoring bill recently, I rolled my eyes and felt confident
that the NZ Govt would be too busy destroying the economy than to mess
with the privacy of the normal citizens back home. Oops.
What's more important? The privacy of everyone, or the economy of an oligarchy,
ran at the expense of eveyrone else?
I never cease to be amazed at how anglo-saxons are so anal about the
economy, when there are many other things in society as the economy. It
would seem that anglo-saxons do not know anything else...
It is an outrage that the taxpayer now even has to foot
the bill for trying to track down people who took advantage of security
defects in Microsoft products. That would be like GM selling cars with
no locks and then claiming it's the taxpayer's responsibility to find all
the stolen cars.
It's not an outrage, it's just good ole plain business as usual,
sucking-up for croporate welfare.
For years, GM shifted the deadly burden of it's blatantly unsafe cars
onto the back of "bad drivership" and "poor road design", until they were
exposed as the frauds they are.
Other possible motives include economic espionage, though
experts said only a rogue company might knowingly buy stolen software,
using it either to improve its own products or make those products
more compatible with Microsoft's best-selling operating systems.
Well, the article said it all: only BAD companies would want to make products
MORE COMPATIBLE with Windoze...
I usually dismiss it because they use ideograms rather than
an alphabet. I understand the cultural significance (not to mention the
artistic aspects), but they really need to just bite the bullet. Alphabets
are just a better method.
Actually, no. Ideograms are FAR better than alphabets, because alphabets,
being phonetic, restrict the representation into ONE spoken language, whereas
idograms being (drum roll....) ideograms, convey IDEAS and CONCEPTS
into more than one (spoken) language. So written chinese ideograms
are pretty well understood by people who won't dig mandarin chinese...
And, even though I am not a computer-linguist, I suspect that ideograms
would be easier to handle in a AI environment...
Another idea would be to take a GPS beacon embedded into the
device and then track the stolen goods (with the police in tow) and nab
the guys.
GPS is impractical for that. A GPS signal is easily blocked by "natural"
causes (buildings, steep cliffs). However, there is
such a gadget that uses cellular phone technology to track whatever
your fit with it...
Law enforcement is also pretty well clueless. The simple minds law
enforcement mostly appeal to are content with running after robbers (to
feel like heroes), shoot fleeing suspects (to dispose of superfluous testosterone),
run from one restaurant take-out counter to another (to compensate for
not being loved) or simply stake out a speed-trap (to get a feeling of
accomplishment). When you move to the realm of financial fraud, you can
start to see the law-enforcement system being strained (it has trouble
dealing with abstractions), and when you outright move into computers (the
ultimate abstraction level), they simply lose it altogether.
In a previous job, we've dealt with detectives from a *BIG* law-enforcement
agency, and they've done pretty clueless things in an investigation of
a computer-based scam (we've saved the show for them) to whom we had originally
sold the computers and LANs they used to do their scam. The problem is
that they take policemen and try to turn them into hackers. The reverse
should be done: you take competent computer types and make them into policemen.
Becoming a policeman is easy, as it is routinely done for the simple
minded, so it should prove a cinch for computer geeks... (Plus, imagine
the revenge you'd get with the martial-arts training on all those who picked
on you - as of myself, I was so much geek that it was the other geeks who
were bullying me)
... I have a professor who has co-authored a niche book about computational
solutions of partial differential equations. ... It was written in TeX, although the publisher had it re-typeset
when it was published (since typesetters need to get paid), and thus, MANY
errors were introduced. ... He thought about it and said that, in retrospect, the money wasn't
worth it, and that he would have preferred to just publish his correct,
up-to-date version.
Charles Babbage's difference engine used to print it's tables,
not on paper, but on embossed metal sheets which were then used
to print the actual tables.
The idea was to eliminate typesetting-introduced errors.
Funny that history repeats itself, again, and again, and again...
There are SEDs, too. That's for
Smell Emitting Diode.
Basically, that's a GaAs diode tuned for 420 nm emission on which a voltage of about 200 volts is applied for 300 ms.
The result is a foul stench of burned epoxy. The only problem with the design is that it's a single use. But I hear that the researchers are busy looking for a solution...
The article chronicles Netware sneaking in when mainframes
dominated. Then NT slithering in when Novell dominated. Now Linux is permeating
(currently) NT dominated shops.
Anyone else see a pattern here? Ultimately, Linux, FreeBSD, or other
open source tools will come to dominate because they meet the needs of
the organization.
Hmmm. The titillating question one cannot help from deriving from
your statement is "WHAT'S NEXT????"...
Hard drives are a hack because RAM is so expensive and difficult
to maintain without loss (i.e. turn it off, away it goes). With this sort
of technology, presumably we'd have a whole new realm of design to consider,
such that we don't *need* offline storage (which is what hard drives used
to be called) for the CPU to save to in case of power outage.
You don't have to go far to find such computers... Just look at *OLD*
computers with core memory (I even remember seeing an add-on core
memory card for an IBM PC computer)... You could turn-off the computer
at any time and when you turned it back on, the whole RAM was still there,
undisturbed.
Yes. For those of you lucky enough to feel the Truth, then
there can be no doubt about the validity of Christianity. It's only those
that have no guiding morals that seem to feel that there is a lack of proof
- just look out the window for all the proof you could ever need!
Funny, I look at the window, and all I see is other brick walls.
I guess that's the kinda truth one needs to be religious...
You don't need any convoluted bullshit to realize that there is no need
for a god to explain the universe as it is. You just need to realize that:
Stable matter lasts longer than unstable matter. So, as soon as stable
matter happens by chance, it will persist indefinitely. That's how you end up with an "universe".
Matter structures that can reproduce themselves will have a certain advantage
over matter structures that solely happen by chance (and yes, a matter
structure that can reproduce itself can happen by chance). That's how you end up with "life".
Life that can evolve to the point of being able of altering it's environment
to suit itself will have a certain advantage over life that cannot. That's how you end up with "intelligent life".
There. It's very simple. No need for bullshit to understand that.
Nature doesn't bust it's ass. It does things as simple as possible,
so it leaves the evolution to chance.
Current scientific thinking on the causes of the Big Bang are
hazy and rely on a lot of metaphysical baggage which the Creation hypothesis
avoids. Why invoke the existance of an eternal chain of universes evolving
through a cosmic analogue of natural selection or the background space
of "chaotic inflation" when by Occam's razor the existance of a Creator
is a far more elegent theory?
Obviously, if you believe that creationism is "far more elegant" than the
big bang, you must be mathematically challenged enough to buy lottery tickets...
Slashdot Mirror
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
- I did overhear something about Stockwell Day saying he was
going to legalize marijuana. I'm not a drug user (save caffeine),
but I'll vote for him without hesitation if he really means it. I'd really
like the cops to go back to doing something more useful than busting small-time
users.
He simply said that he would allow a free vote (that is, not bound by the party line) in the HoC to legalize marijuana. Since he won't get elected prime minister, this won't happen, since if Day becomes PM, it is quite unlikely that his hordes of unwashed cavemen would vote YES to that...But this is just cheap campaign strategy for him, and possession is likely to be decriminalized, since:
-
The Ontario court of appeals ruled
that the law prohibiting possession is inconstitutional.
-
There is strong support for decriminalization, including from the Association
of Police Chiefs.
So, anyway you vote (except for Day), you can pretty well expect to see Imperial Tobacco joints at the cornerstore before long...--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
At 11:00, the boss came in, and spent the next hour fixing the other programmer's problems.
At 12:00, we (my boss and I) went out to lunch, then went around bookstores and universities libraries, and sometimes went out of the way to look at an interesting building (my boss was trained as an engineer, and was totally inept at history and architecture, and thus enjoyed the "private lessons").
We would get back between 14:30 and 15:30, where we'd sit for the next hour listening to the other programmer's problems.
At 16:30-17:00, the other programmer would leave either for his home or his aerobic classes.
At 17:00, when everybody else left, we started working, coding until 20:30 or 21:00 or inspiration left us. In that amount of time, we'd do 2-3 days worth of work. And after, most of the times we'd go out for a beer and/or cruise for chicks...
We were three (two after the other programmer was fired for gross unproductivity) guys supporting a whole crew of 14 people (including secretaries, executives, accountants and other departments which weren't profitable). After 9-10 months of this, my boss told the company to screw itself and left...
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
It is only legitimate that States get the best and most competent workers of them all, after all, it's the taxpayer's dollars, and this alone warrants the best money can buy. This benefits EVERYONE.
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
Now, what would you think of a class whose teacher doesn't know about that book???
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
'Nuff said.
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
I never cease to be amazed at how anglo-saxons are so anal about the economy, when there are many other things in society as the economy. It would seem that anglo-saxons do not know anything else...
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
It's not an outrage, it's just good ole plain business as usual, sucking-up for croporate welfare.
For years, GM shifted the deadly burden of it's blatantly unsafe cars onto the back of "bad drivership" and "poor road design", until they were exposed as the frauds they are.
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
And, even though I am not a computer-linguist, I suspect that ideograms would be easier to handle in a AI environment...
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
GPS is impractical for that. A GPS signal is easily blocked by "natural" causes (buildings, steep cliffs). However, there is such a gadget that uses cellular phone technology to track whatever your fit with it...
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
In a previous job, we've dealt with detectives from a *BIG* law-enforcement agency, and they've done pretty clueless things in an investigation of a computer-based scam (we've saved the show for them) to whom we had originally sold the computers and LANs they used to do their scam. The problem is that they take policemen and try to turn them into hackers. The reverse should be done: you take competent computer types and make them into policemen.
Becoming a policeman is easy, as it is routinely done for the simple minded, so it should prove a cinch for computer geeks... (Plus, imagine the revenge you'd get with the martial-arts training on all those who picked on you - as of myself, I was so much geek that it was the other geeks who were bullying me)
I am taking a management class right now, and the moonlighting teacher normally works for the same *BIG* law-enforcement agency as above. Well, he has setup a web-BBS& lt;/a> for discussing course issues, and whenever some dope does an anonymous posting to criticize the course he goes apeshit, and shuts down access to the whole of the AC's class-C subnet!!!! He does not seems familiar with the concept of a USER-ID/password, and I have shown him /.
whose principle he hasen't started to fathom. As a result most students
are penalized, since this backwoods place ain't got much ISPs...
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
The idea was to eliminate typesetting-introduced errors.
Funny that history repeats itself, again, and again, and again...
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
Basically, that's a GaAs diode tuned for 420 nm emission on which a voltage of about 200 volts is applied for 300 ms.
The result is a foul stench of burned epoxy. The only problem with the design is that it's a single use. But I hear that the researchers are busy looking for a solution...
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
My CRT monitor as well as my COLOR TV are surely infringing on that patent!!!!
What am I gonna do???
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
Hmmm. The titillating question one cannot help from deriving from your statement is "WHAT'S NEXT????"...
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
I guess that's the kinda truth one needs to be religious...
You don't need any convoluted bullshit to realize that there is no need for a god to explain the universe as it is. You just need to realize that:
-
Stable matter lasts longer than unstable matter. So, as soon as stable
matter happens by chance, it will persist indefinitely.
-
Matter structures that can reproduce themselves will have a certain advantage
over matter structures that solely happen by chance (and yes, a matter
structure that can reproduce itself can happen by chance).
-
Life that can evolve to the point of being able of altering it's environment
to suit itself will have a certain advantage over life that cannot.
There. It's very simple. No need for bullshit to understand that.That's how you end up with an "universe".
That's how you end up with "life".
That's how you end up with "intelligent life".
Nature doesn't bust it's ass. It does things as simple as possible, so it leaves the evolution to chance.
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.
--
Americans are bred for stupidity.