This is a good writeup, but I'm not sure I understand the logic behind the backhanded comment directed at Creationists. And I can't believe I'm seeing this attitude on Slashdot, of all places. Aren't we the ones who prefer Linux to Windows because it doesn't break as often? As rational and intelligent people, many of us professionals and experts in industry and academia, we pride ourselves on choosing the tool that gives us the best results.
Surely, while the discovery of a species of rabbit that no longer walks this Earth may surprise the evolutionists and Science-worshippers, it's plain to see that it fits right in to the Creationist worldview. Extinct species don't have to be our "ancestors." They were just creations that didn't make it through the flood.
So once again, we see Scientists scurrying about, trying to revise their fragile theories so that new information doesn't destroy them. Remember the great Scientist Aristotle? How about Newton? Those guys were the best Science had to offer, and now we know how wrong they were. But have we learned to distrust Science? No. If anything, people just worship it more. Meanwhile, the Bible has been through, count 'em, one revision in the same time period. New discoveries poke holes in Scientific theories, while supporting Biblical ones, almost without fail. And so the Scienc-ists are reduced to snide comments. I guess I shouldn't expect anything better.
This is absurd. Does the consumerist beast that is America know no bounds? When is enough enough? 12000 hours of recording time is more than unnecessary; it's almost offensive. Most people reading this site probably haven't spent that much time outdoors in the last year. It's revolting.
Meanwhile, they'll all be willing to put in overtime in front of their CRTs so that they can afford the fancy new quad-damage TiVo card. This while people in the Middle East struggle on the verge of nuclear war, children in Africa are sold into slavery, and the victims of 9/11 are still warm in the ground. And I'm in hock up to my loogies just trying to make rent and keep my family fed and clod. Have the readers of slashdot no sense of decency?
Um, okay, so this is a bug fix released a couple weeks after the new OS version. Fine, might be newsworthy; we read about *BSD and Linux versions frequently enough, after all. The thing is, the submittor of this "story" (without even a functioning link) even tells us that he got the information from Software Update. That's right: he is telling people about a minor bug fix that is automatically reported by the Operating System of anyone to whom it might apply.
So it's a crystal and a light...a mechanical solution, in other words. Someone tell me how this is different from flipping a coin? True randomness has always been available in the physical world (hence the allure of horse racing). It's only in mathematics, and therefore computing science, that randomness cannot be achieved. And small though this "solution" may be, it doesn't quite count as an algorithm.
As the chief admin of a medium-sized tech firm, I've been looking to upgrade some of our systems. While our main development has always been done on Win2k workstations and HP-UX servers, we've long used Linux (since version 4, IIRC) for low-priority office work, and I've been waiting for Lindows so we could finally upgrade those and get our administrative staff up and running in a GUI of some sort. This looks perfect.
While it's great to see third world nations making headway in traditionally Western scientific endeavors, I have to wonder if this story doesn't have a more sinister side to it. Recall that India shocked the global community recently when satellite data indicated that they had developed nuclear weapons, despite treaties against such activities. If they can put a weather satellite up this cheaply, then they can probably get nuclear missiles up there for not much more. Or maybe they already have. If the US had been more proactive about limiting space research by unstable and undeveloped nations, then we wouldn't have to worry about this. As it is, we're almost forced to bolster our own space weapons so we don't look like sitting ducks.
Why don't you give it away under the GPL? That way, none of your customers will have to pay for it, and they'll be more likely to use your product. Also, some of them might help you improve on it. It's a win-win situation!
Now all I need is a pill that makes me trim and muscular and one that keeps me clean without requiring to shower. Then I can be a normal, healthy member of society.
I've hated intellectual property for as long as anyone. When I started out my career as a young geeklet, I'd frequently pirate games for my Apple ][, and I would always tape music from my friends. I still enjoy copying mp3s and warezing games (though mostly I just don't want to shell out for something that may or may not run under Wine).
But like it or hate it, Linux's success pretty much hinges upon intellectual property laws. Without copyright and patent laws that make the GPL enforceable, Linux would be no better off than *BSD, and certainly wouldn't have made the inroads it has at IBM and HP.
Microsoft will always do fine, with or without intellectual property laws. They sell certification, training, and support in addition to IP. And Linux's only advantages--better stability and security--are only as safe as its code base. If intellectual property laws are repealed, then Linux as we know it is doomed.
Homework questions are traditionally posted to Usenet. Try comp.lang.c++, for starters. Don't forget to include a note that you don't read the newsgroup regularly, so would appreciate being CCed via email, so you won't miss any responses. Good luck!
I will probably get modded down for proposing this, but it seems to me that the notion of "peer review" for academic research has no longer ceased to be of much use, but now may actually act as a disincentive to innovation and discover in academia.
The peer review system dates back to the turn of the century, when leftist ideals based on serving the greatest "public good" enjoyed a surge in popularity. The theory was that all of mankind should be able to offer suggestions and reap the rewards of any research done in university and business contexts. And, for quite some time, it worked as planned. As long as scientists were chosen (and to a degree self-selected) for their devotion to public wellbeing, peer review created a kind of egalitarian pool of discovery and invention.
These days, however, most, if not all research, is performed with profit as a significant motivation. This isn't worse, but it is different. In today's modern age, peer review simply serves to weaken the profit potential of any given line of inquiry. So researchers hesitate to introduce their most promising results to the public. As a result, scientific journals tend to be increasingly filled with uninteresting and dead-end research. In the worst case, good research (that would benefit society as a whole as well as generating profit) is passed by altogether, because no one wants to break his or her back on something that won't pay off, thanks to peer review.
Today's capitalist economy has no place for peer review. Hopefully, we can leave it behind with labor unions, as a good idea, necessary and beneficial at its inception, that has outlived its useful lifetime. It is an anachronism, and should be met with disdain by the research community.
Lots of geeks swear by those all-in-one tools, but with those you usually get the lowest common denominator for each tool, and a bunch of tools you'll never use. I'd recommend just hitting your local hardware store and freestyling it. For a few bucks you can get a decent hammer, crescent wrench (get one metric and one standard), and small saw (unfortunately, many cases and motherboards aren't actually built to standard dimensions). That should be all you need to get started. If you don't have an antistatic leash, you can make one out of a strip of duct tape. Tape one end to your wrist and the other end to something large and metal (I use my car, but metal shelves should suffice), and you're set.
There definitely are ways of communicating that long hours don't help meet deadlines. Work normal hours and beat the deadlines. Meanwhile, start circulating your rsume.
There is no excuse in this modern day and age that workers in any industry should feel compelled to work Industrial Revolution hours. This is one step away from slavery, and your manager should be ashamed. Of course, it's happened before. It happened during the 20's in the breakfast cereals industry, during the 30's in the preserved wood furniture industry, and even in modern times on the sets of Hollywood films like the latest Star Wars prequels. It's a throwback to less progressive times, and should be fought tooth and nail. This is a great example of why coders and technology workers would benefit from unionization. We programmers are not professionals, we are laborers. And we deserve the same protection afforded laborers in other industries.
I'm curious. It seems like an odd time to launch any kind of weather satellites. Europe is still making the transition to the EU, and the Middle East and Africa are in chaos. It strikes me as an unlikely time to invest in new technology, especially given the rising cost of rocket launches with the oil shortage.
I'm wondering if this satellite doesn't have some, shall we say, additional capabilities. Maybe nothing as complicated or as threatening as a missile defense system, but at the very least some surveillance equipment. After all, the difference between taking pictures of clouds and taking pictures of people under those clouds is just an adjustment in focus.
Any Europeans reading Slashdot might want to start carrying an umbrella. Remind anyone else of 1984?
The Internet is great, if you want to figure out that chick who was in the movie with the guy, if you need some information about Linux, or if you want to view some naked ladies. It is not, and I doubt will ever be, a good source for education.
The nature of man is to put forth as little effort as possible to get the most in return. Since web sites are advertising-funded, that means web publishing tends to sensastionalism, as sites try to attract as many "impressions" and "click throughs" as possible. This makes it a terrible place for doing research.
Educators should give up on the pipe dream of using the Internet for educational purposes. Computers in classrooms are important, to teach children how to type, write and format a paper in Microsoft Word, and to play Oregon Trail. These are valuable skills, and (surprise) none of them require the Internet. Schools would put their funds to better use by passing on the 'ternet hookup and instead purchasing some quality glassware for chemistry class.
I know a bunch of people are pissed about MP3 and its licensing and so forth. I think it's a valid complaint. After all, I'm a long-time ex-Windows user, so I know what it's like to get frustrated with the people who make your software.
But when it comes right down to it, you have to choose the right tool for the right job. A lot of times, at client sites where I'd rather use Linux or BSD/OS, I have to go with Win2k, just because the required featureset (ASP, database connectivity, CGI) demands IIS. I think we need to recognize that MP3 is an established and important technology for digital music. Would it be nice if it were all public domain, or GPLed? Of course. But you can't always get what you want, and in this case we have to settle for MP3 with the knowledge that it is truly the appropriate tool for the job at hand.
Actually, it's neither human nor "geek" nature (by the way, I recommend looking up the original definition of "geek" before you go around boasting about how "geeky" you are). It's bald-faced American consumerism, and it disgusts me. Since you're so good at acquiring new "stuff," I suggest you start looking for a new planet; this one's almost used up.
Hey, this sounds great, but...am I the only one who doesn't see the point? I've been running my 500MHz P3 since mid-1998, and it's all the power I need. Even the latest games don't require this amount of firepower. The only reason people keep upgrading is because of advertising. In 25 years we will all be using the same stuff, and laugh about how we all thought that anyone needed 2700MHz CPUs.
Slashdot Mirror
That has to be the dorkiest article write-up I've ever seen on Slashdot. It sounds like a story from those fake news shows they show on airplanes.
We can't predict the weather tomorrow afternoon, but we know what's going to happen in 20 billion years. Tell me another one.
This is a good writeup, but I'm not sure I understand the logic behind the backhanded comment directed at Creationists. And I can't believe I'm seeing this attitude on Slashdot, of all places. Aren't we the ones who prefer Linux to Windows because it doesn't break as often? As rational and intelligent people, many of us professionals and experts in industry and academia, we pride ourselves on choosing the tool that gives us the best results.
Surely, while the discovery of a species of rabbit that no longer walks this Earth may surprise the evolutionists and Science-worshippers, it's plain to see that it fits right in to the Creationist worldview. Extinct species don't have to be our "ancestors." They were just creations that didn't make it through the flood.
So once again, we see Scientists scurrying about, trying to revise their fragile theories so that new information doesn't destroy them. Remember the great Scientist Aristotle? How about Newton? Those guys were the best Science had to offer, and now we know how wrong they were. But have we learned to distrust Science? No. If anything, people just worship it more. Meanwhile, the Bible has been through, count 'em, one revision in the same time period. New discoveries poke holes in Scientific theories, while supporting Biblical ones, almost without fail. And so the Scienc-ists are reduced to snide comments. I guess I shouldn't expect anything better.
This is absurd. Does the consumerist beast that is America know no bounds? When is enough enough? 12000 hours of recording time is more than unnecessary; it's almost offensive. Most people reading this site probably haven't spent that much time outdoors in the last year. It's revolting.
Meanwhile, they'll all be willing to put in overtime in front of their CRTs so that they can afford the fancy new quad-damage TiVo card. This while people in the Middle East struggle on the verge of nuclear war, children in Africa are sold into slavery, and the victims of 9/11 are still warm in the ground. And I'm in hock up to my loogies just trying to make rent and keep my family fed and clod. Have the readers of slashdot no sense of decency?
Um, okay, so this is a bug fix released a couple weeks after the new OS version. Fine, might be newsworthy; we read about *BSD and Linux versions frequently enough, after all. The thing is, the submittor of this "story" (without even a functioning link) even tells us that he got the information from Software Update. That's right: he is telling people about a minor bug fix that is automatically reported by the Operating System of anyone to whom it might apply.
They'll never award you a patent on little people. They've been around forever.
So it's a crystal and a light...a mechanical solution, in other words. Someone tell me how this is different from flipping a coin? True randomness has always been available in the physical world (hence the allure of horse racing). It's only in mathematics, and therefore computing science, that randomness cannot be achieved. And small though this "solution" may be, it doesn't quite count as an algorithm.
As the chief admin of a medium-sized tech firm, I've been looking to upgrade some of our systems. While our main development has always been done on Win2k workstations and HP-UX servers, we've long used Linux (since version 4, IIRC) for low-priority office work, and I've been waiting for Lindows so we could finally upgrade those and get our administrative staff up and running in a GUI of some sort. This looks perfect.
While it's great to see third world nations making headway in traditionally Western scientific endeavors, I have to wonder if this story doesn't have a more sinister side to it. Recall that India shocked the global community recently when satellite data indicated that they had developed nuclear weapons, despite treaties against such activities. If they can put a weather satellite up this cheaply, then they can probably get nuclear missiles up there for not much more. Or maybe they already have. If the US had been more proactive about limiting space research by unstable and undeveloped nations, then we wouldn't have to worry about this. As it is, we're almost forced to bolster our own space weapons so we don't look like sitting ducks.
I hope they start distributing this to white girls.
It worked for slashdot.
Why don't you give it away under the GPL? That way, none of your customers will have to pay for it, and they'll be more likely to use your product. Also, some of them might help you improve on it. It's a win-win situation!
Now all I need is a pill that makes me trim and muscular and one that keeps me clean without requiring to shower. Then I can be a normal, healthy member of society.
I've hated intellectual property for as long as anyone. When I started out my career as a young geeklet, I'd frequently pirate games for my Apple ][, and I would always tape music from my friends. I still enjoy copying mp3s and warezing games (though mostly I just don't want to shell out for something that may or may not run under Wine).
But like it or hate it, Linux's success pretty much hinges upon intellectual property laws. Without copyright and patent laws that make the GPL enforceable, Linux would be no better off than *BSD, and certainly wouldn't have made the inroads it has at IBM and HP.
Microsoft will always do fine, with or without intellectual property laws. They sell certification, training, and support in addition to IP. And Linux's only advantages--better stability and security--are only as safe as its code base. If intellectual property laws are repealed, then Linux as we know it is doomed.
Now I can play QNXRacer on my Dreamcast and put the evil Sega out of business. Or something.
Homework questions are traditionally posted to Usenet. Try comp.lang.c++, for starters. Don't forget to include a note that you don't read the newsgroup regularly, so would appreciate being CCed via email, so you won't miss any responses. Good luck!
I will probably get modded down for proposing this, but it seems to me that the notion of "peer review" for academic research has no longer ceased to be of much use, but now may actually act as a disincentive to innovation and discover in academia.
The peer review system dates back to the turn of the century, when leftist ideals based on serving the greatest "public good" enjoyed a surge in popularity. The theory was that all of mankind should be able to offer suggestions and reap the rewards of any research done in university and business contexts. And, for quite some time, it worked as planned. As long as scientists were chosen (and to a degree self-selected) for their devotion to public wellbeing, peer review created a kind of egalitarian pool of discovery and invention.
These days, however, most, if not all research, is performed with profit as a significant motivation. This isn't worse, but it is different. In today's modern age, peer review simply serves to weaken the profit potential of any given line of inquiry. So researchers hesitate to introduce their most promising results to the public. As a result, scientific journals tend to be increasingly filled with uninteresting and dead-end research. In the worst case, good research (that would benefit society as a whole as well as generating profit) is passed by altogether, because no one wants to break his or her back on something that won't pay off, thanks to peer review.
Today's capitalist economy has no place for peer review. Hopefully, we can leave it behind with labor unions, as a good idea, necessary and beneficial at its inception, that has outlived its useful lifetime. It is an anachronism, and should be met with disdain by the research community.
Lots of geeks swear by those all-in-one tools, but with those you usually get the lowest common denominator for each tool, and a bunch of tools you'll never use. I'd recommend just hitting your local hardware store and freestyling it. For a few bucks you can get a decent hammer, crescent wrench (get one metric and one standard), and small saw (unfortunately, many cases and motherboards aren't actually built to standard dimensions). That should be all you need to get started. If you don't have an antistatic leash, you can make one out of a strip of duct tape. Tape one end to your wrist and the other end to something large and metal (I use my car, but metal shelves should suffice), and you're set.
There definitely are ways of communicating that long hours don't help meet deadlines. Work normal hours and beat the deadlines. Meanwhile, start circulating your rsume.
There is no excuse in this modern day and age that workers in any industry should feel compelled to work Industrial Revolution hours. This is one step away from slavery, and your manager should be ashamed. Of course, it's happened before. It happened during the 20's in the breakfast cereals industry, during the 30's in the preserved wood furniture industry, and even in modern times on the sets of Hollywood films like the latest Star Wars prequels. It's a throwback to less progressive times, and should be fought tooth and nail. This is a great example of why coders and technology workers would benefit from unionization. We programmers are not professionals, we are laborers. And we deserve the same protection afforded laborers in other industries.
Ask Benjamin Franklin, inventor of the static strap.
I'm curious. It seems like an odd time to launch any kind of weather satellites. Europe is still making the transition to the EU, and the Middle East and Africa are in chaos. It strikes me as an unlikely time to invest in new technology, especially given the rising cost of rocket launches with the oil shortage.
I'm wondering if this satellite doesn't have some, shall we say, additional capabilities. Maybe nothing as complicated or as threatening as a missile defense system, but at the very least some surveillance equipment. After all, the difference between taking pictures of clouds and taking pictures of people under those clouds is just an adjustment in focus.
Any Europeans reading Slashdot might want to start carrying an umbrella. Remind anyone else of 1984?
The Internet is great, if you want to figure out that chick who was in the movie with the guy, if you need some information about Linux, or if you want to view some naked ladies. It is not, and I doubt will ever be, a good source for education.
The nature of man is to put forth as little effort as possible to get the most in return. Since web sites are advertising-funded, that means web publishing tends to sensastionalism, as sites try to attract as many "impressions" and "click throughs" as possible. This makes it a terrible place for doing research.
Educators should give up on the pipe dream of using the Internet for educational purposes. Computers in classrooms are important, to teach children how to type, write and format a paper in Microsoft Word, and to play Oregon Trail. These are valuable skills, and (surprise) none of them require the Internet. Schools would put their funds to better use by passing on the 'ternet hookup and instead purchasing some quality glassware for chemistry class.
I know a bunch of people are pissed about MP3 and its licensing and so forth. I think it's a valid complaint. After all, I'm a long-time ex-Windows user, so I know what it's like to get frustrated with the people who make your software.
But when it comes right down to it, you have to choose the right tool for the right job. A lot of times, at client sites where I'd rather use Linux or BSD/OS, I have to go with Win2k, just because the required featureset (ASP, database connectivity, CGI) demands IIS. I think we need to recognize that MP3 is an established and important technology for digital music. Would it be nice if it were all public domain, or GPLed? Of course. But you can't always get what you want, and in this case we have to settle for MP3 with the knowledge that it is truly the appropriate tool for the job at hand.
Actually, it's neither human nor "geek" nature (by the way, I recommend looking up the original definition of "geek" before you go around boasting about how "geeky" you are). It's bald-faced American consumerism, and it disgusts me. Since you're so good at acquiring new "stuff," I suggest you start looking for a new planet; this one's almost used up.
:(
Hey, this sounds great, but...am I the only one who doesn't see the point? I've been running my 500MHz P3 since mid-1998, and it's all the power I need. Even the latest games don't require this amount of firepower. The only reason people keep upgrading is because of advertising. In 25 years we will all be using the same stuff, and laugh about how we all thought that anyone needed 2700MHz CPUs.