Nobody has said they have to release their source to everyone--just the court. Or does that amount to being admitted as evidence and, thus, part of public record?
I remember a review of the source code in the DeCSS trial allegedly preserving the source forever in public records (heh). Can anyone explain the ramifications of allowing government analysts to examine the code? Can a NDA be used in this case?
But the product of an patch integrator wouldn't be the "real" Linux anyway, since even people who get their kernels from kernel.org wouldn't normally use it. In order to do so, they'd have to get and apply a patch which is explicitly "the patches that Linus hasn't applied". The people who would actually do so are the people whose feedback Linus would want in decided whether to apply the patches.
However, the great majority of Linux users will run whatever kernel came with their distro; some others may d/l a new kernel from the distributor as part of an update; the remainder actually go out to kernel.org (and mirrors), d/l, and compile the latest kernel. And, as mentioned in the lkml thread, the distributors are already rolling in patches from the list that aren't in the "official" kernel (plus some of their own stuff). The people at RedHat/Mandrake/SuSe/etc. making kernel decisions are undoubtedly familiar with which kernel variant contains the patches they want.
At any rate, I think the two dangers Rob Landley is attempting to avoid are:
Burnout of key kernel developers/maintainers
A fork
Number 2 is always a possibility, which I think is a Good Thing made possible by the Free nature of the kernel source. However, Rob points out that a fork is best avoided for productivity reasons. The desire to keep the linux kernel project together is strong, but I hope this desire would fail before the interest of the talented developers stuggling with an inefficient revision system.
That would turn out really ugly for the Intel products involved. The amazing thing is that one can build a damn fine, complete AthlonXP 2000+ system (sans monitor/keybd/mouse) for about $1000. With Intel, that same $1000 gets you a 2.2GHz P4, nice mobo, 512 MB RDRAM, and case/PS. Save those pennies, and you can eventually get your video card, sound card, CD-RW, and HDD. And you'll still only see performance on par with your friend's XP2000+ system.
Intel certainly seems capable of producing some really nice products, and they aren't even pushing the 0.13u chips yet, from what I've read. You'd think that if they wanted to show AMD up, they'd just clock them at > 2.5GHz now and keep going. I'm puzzled.
Removing excess whitespace need not make it unreadable if you have a tool that can easily parse XML. jEdit, for instance, has nice XML support via a plugin (hell, what doesn't jEdit have a plugin for?). It will display a nice, collapsible tree for you; I'm pretty sure another plugin will format XML files nicely. I'm sure there are myriad other Free/free tools available to do the same.
So anyway, I'd agree with removing whitespace, as long as your XML compresses significantly from this. If it's machine-generated, there's a decent chance whitespace is already minimized. If not, you may want to strip the whitespace and see if that improves performance adequately. If not, you could always pipe the output through a compression filter, too.
Yeah, our Odyssey has traction control, too, and I know it disengages above 25 mph or so. Of course, that's a completely different system than AWD. I would also argue that, when paired with a decent set of tires (stock tires are typically crap), traction control is entirely adequate for winter driving here in St. Louis. (Funny aside: For the first several months we had the van, my wife thought that she needed to push the "TCS" button to enable traction control. [buries face in hands] )
As for worse gas mileage...well, that may be true in some cases, but I know the CR-V, for example, drives only the front wheels until it senses a loss of traction. It's still better than hauling 3 tons of steel around.:-)
Witness:
Car-based...
Honda CR-V: 22/26 mpg, 3287 lbs.
Toyota RAV4: 23/27 mpg, 2943 lbs.
Ford Escape (I4, MT): 22/25 mpg, 3238 lbs.
Ford Escape (V6): 18/23 mpg, 3458 lbs.
Subaru Impreza wagon: 22/27 mpg, 3100 lbs.
Truck-based...
Nissan XTerra SE: 15/18 mpg, 4229 lbs.
GMC Envoy XLT: 15/21 mpg, 4600 lbs.
GMC Yukon Denali: 12/15 mpg, 5609 lbs.
Dodge Durango SLT: 13/18 mpg, 4629 lbs.
Ford Excursion: ~12 mpg (mixed)*, 7190 lbs.
(Automatic transmission figures used unless otherwise noted)
* Apparently, the Excursion doesn't even qualify as a "light duty" vehicle, so it's exempt from EPA tests. Ford's internal testing reportedly shows the following: 12-15 for the V8, 10-13 (!) for the V10.
It's a sick, sick world we live in. Anyone purchasing a Ford Excursion for non-commercial use should be subject to a hefty "enemy of the environment" tax, as well as a severe tongue lashing.
Yeah, I definitely agree with maggard and the AC. However, I don't have a problem with people driving all SUVs to the mall, Starbucks, and back home. Specifically, the car-based ones generally offer much better fuel economy and provide less of a threat to other motorists. These include (but aren't limited to) models like the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, and Ford Escape/Mazda Tribute. Even better than these are the Subarus...pretty much any of them. AWD, good design, and a lower center of gravity make these much safer vehicles.
As far as the wireless phone and screaming kids...well, don't associate all these attributes with SUVs. Wasting fossil fuels, obstructing view, and endangering other motorists by unnecessarily driving an SUV is a symptom of other larger problems. The most pronounced, I would guess, is a dearth of consideration for others.
My wife and I just stick with our Hondas, as well. I drive a slightly modified Civic; she drives an Odyssey minivan. And let me tell you, that minivan will stomp most SUVs in handling, acceleration, and certainly cargo room.
In the absence of precedent, however, this is required. In addition, this sometimes slow, arduous process results in a law being ruled unconstitutional (in the US, anyway--I don't pretend to know much of the Norwegian justice system). Anyway, the important thing to remember is that untested laws are in a nascent sort of state--sure, they've made it through the legislative approval process, but until a judge has enforced a law, it isn't as "permanent" or binding (I'm not expressing this well; please excuse me:-) ) as a tried-and-true law that has been enforced in multiple cases.
Chances are, there is very little legal precedent established with this "hacker paragraph." Therefore, this could be a very important case as far as the preservation (or dismissal) of Norway's reverse engineering, fair use, etc., rights. Let's hope Norwegian authorities aren't easily swayed by crates of free DVD's.:-)
Good point, but I don't think WinCE is exactly a counterpart to PalmOS. The devices you list generally suffer from poor power consumption (due in part to nifty color displays), too many features, and greater cost. And they've failed to grab significant market share, AFAIK. (Damn, if MS could get off the stupid, traditional Start button/desktop interface, they might have a better product on portable devices today.)
The GBA has a beautiful (if dim) display, fantastic graphic capabilities for its size, runs on 2 AA batteries, and cost me $90. This vaporware device from MS isn't even close, and I don't think it's intended to be.
I have to agree that it looks like an attempt to get into the PDA market. Honestly, I'm surprised it's taken MS this long to make a push for it. A device like this would be convenient, popular, and completely proprietary. One has to wonder if they're a bit late getting into the market, though. Most people who want a PDA already have one--except me.:-( And profit margins can't be too great with Visor units nearing the $100 mark. Then again, we know MS isn't always interested in short term profitability--not that they should be. If taking a loss for a couple years rewards them with 75% market share 3 or 4 years down the line, it's worth it. Witness IE--they provided it for free simply to blow the (admittedly poor) competition into oblivion. They've been >80% successful in this endeavor.
Wait and see, wait and see, I s'pose...
A little ditty about Sauget, IL
on
Monsanto and PCBs
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Sauget is a small town located just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. It has a pretty sad history, as you may have gathered from the article. One of my favorite (now-defunct) bands, Uncle Tupelo, wrote a song about it entitled "Sauget Wind." Give it a listen if you can find the MP3 anywhere. Lyrics/guitar tablature are here.
I knew that Monsanto was responsible for the demise of Sauget, but I had never heard the full story until today. Very interesting.
Hmm, what are your views on ABA? It sounds like perhaps you have some reservations about it. My wife's work is really amazing to me, but I suspect it's just one brand of ABA. She's an independent therapist, and her team uses no physical restraint at all and doesn't punish the children. However, the St. Louis Special School District practices a different form of ABA, which apparently involves forceful restrain at times, among some other methods that would be considered a bit barbaric by my wife's fellow therapists.
Anyway, I was just curious to see if you'd had any contact with ABA therapy and what you thought. Feel free to email if you like.
BTW, I'm also scoping out a side project to create a therapy management app in Java. I'm still in the earliest stages of conception with it, but I have a couple local friends willing to help out. If you're interested at all, let me know.
Actually, the goal of Applied Behavior Analysis is to get the child functioning as a neurotypical person. Many children, of course, will never make it there, but most benefit at least somewhat. Fortunately, one little girl my wife works with is on track to begin kindergarten just like any other kid in a couple years. A year ago, she wasn't even responding to her name anymore.
It is troublesome, though, that the kids who can't make a full recovery may receive less and less support as they grow.
That's a tough break. Have you talked to your employer (or others) about working from home?
I guess the only positive spin I could put on your comment is that autistic children today have much better chances of being helped early on, thanks to programs like Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).
Yeah, it's certainly tough to draw any conclusions in the absence of a controlled environment. Parents who care enough to implement a strictly gluten-free diet, for instance, are probably also providing extensive therapy for their children. One of my wife's "client" families has been doing this for a while. The child has made great strides in her therapy, but there's no way to tell what caused it. She's pretty bright to begin with and has a very dedicated ABA team and caring parents.
Still, the family is, understandably, unwilling to abandon the gluten-free approach as it may have a positive effect and is doing no harm (other than making meal preparation a chore). In any case, it's a burden I don't wish on anyone.
(Com2Kid, I was going to email you, but your address was unavailable on slashdot.)
As mentioned in a post above ("Treatment + how YOU can help"), I'm attempting to do something similar from a different angle--developing software to help parents manage therapy for their autistic children.
I would like to eventually be able to deploy the system on inexpensive boxes in people's homes. Have you had any luck getting computers donated to your "clients" by companies, individuals, etc? I'm also considering hosting the application for a small fee (just enough to cover hardware costs), which would provide convenient access for the therapy team members, but
I predict that such a system would become very popular very quickly (many of these parents partake in online discussions), increasing load on the system.
I would feel absolutely awful if a system failure caused the loss of all that therapy data.
This means I'd need a robust RAID setup, perhaps load balancing, etc., driving up my cost for running the system and, therefore, driving up access fees. These parents have enough to worry about just getting their children to express basic sensations like hunger. They certainly don't need to be shelling out a bunch of cash every month for this tool.
Any ideas? Should I be asking my state of residence (MO) or some federal agency for a grant? I don't even know where to begin, so any help would be appreciated.
My wife...has noticed that a strict classroom environment, with clearly defined and enforced behavioral boundaries but also positive reinforcement and praise, can really help these supposedly autistic kids.
These children aren't autistic. I will agree with the sentiment that doctors often over-diagnose learning disorders (to appease parents, I suppose), but there is little doubt that something serious is happening when a 2-year-old girl stops responding to her name entirely.
My wife (enrolled in an elementary education program) works with autistic children, and the symptoms are very real. Two of them (sisters) are in a very attentive, loving home. The elder daughter is very bright and was making tremendous strides in her development until she suddenly began regressing. It's very sad for parents to see their child slipping away.
Causes aren't certain, but it has been hypothesised that certain substances in a child's diet may trigger or at least aggravate the autistic condition. I know gluten (present in dairy products, wheat, and some other foods, I believe) has been fingered as a possible culprit, but I can't remember the others.
There are far too many misconceptions to address in this topic, but I'd like to at least mention what "treatment" of autism and Asperger's means. First of all, there are no drugs used to "cure" autism. The most effective treatment with which I'm familiar is Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy. My wife works as an ABA therapist for two little girls, both less than 3 years old. The therapy consists of many short exercises which focus on motor imitation, puzzle-solving, speech, etc. Therapy sessions are typically one to three hours long and pretty grueling, actually. Exercises are performed in groups of three or so, and short breaks are taken in between these groups.
There is some very good information available on the web, of course. Here's a pretty useful site I found via Google:
Anyway, due to the sheer number of exercises, data logging and therapy administration become quite a chore--you should see the stacks of paper and manual labor required for tracking a child's progress. AFAIK, the best tool most parents and therapists have at the moment is a spreadsheet. For this reason, I've been considering developing a Java app (likely web-based) to make these tasks more efficient. The software would obviously be Free.
The project is still in its infancy (the scope hasn't even been defined), but if you're interested at all in coding or being notified once something is available for testing/use, feel free to email me at:
I find that sometimes running winfile is the only way to really fix file type associations. You know the routine: RealPlayer/WMP/whatever hijacks 30 different file types, and you have to reset them. File->Associate...
Actually, QuickTime went as far as to claim posession of files it couldn't even read. That's some software brain damage if I ever saw it.
San Jose, CA - In the wake of recent advances in quantum computing research, the world's hi-tech companies are gearing up for what is sure to be the single most significant breakthrough in IT since the integrated circuit. "We have committed our most valued resources to proactive quantum computing initiatives," said Steve Ballmer of Microsoft. "In fact, a year from now, we'll be known as Miqrosoft!" Jenny Tright, PR directory for Oracle-soon-to-be-Oraqle makes similar claims: "Transitioning to a new paradigm is never easy. We worked long and hard with our high-paid marketing consultants before deciding to capitalize on this new technology. After countless bagels, pizza lunches, and French dinners, we arrived at the ultimate strategy: a name change!"
Considerable re-directions seem to be in store for many technology firms, yet some are content with their current strategy. Compaq, in a recent press release, states, "We already have what it will take to compete in the new quantum computing marketplace. Don't be fooled by the imitators--we had a 'q' in our name first!"
The nice thing about the CVS checkout-less model is that the code hogs (you know, the guys who won't commit until Friday afternoon) get stuck with merging changes in if they wait too long and let their source get stale. This is nice because everyone else is free to grab the latest version, do a quick fix, and commit without hounding Mr. Code Hog to check it in.
"catholic," not "Catholic"
on
Longitude
·
· Score: 1
The word "catholic" means universal. In this case, I believe he means that these inventors made advancements in a number of fields. The word "Catholic," of course, refers to a religion.
Check out SDL, the Simple DirectMedia Layer. It is available for a bunch of platforms already (including Win32 and Linux, of course). I've played a couple games, Defendguin being my favorite, and was impressed. It probably has progress to make before being suitably robust for the really complex games, but I think it has definite potential.
The real evaluation of a system should be in TESTING. So who cares if you didn't develop your software by a formal set of specifications? Draw up a comprehensive suite of tests that will "prove" the system to be reliable, and judge the trustworthiness of the system by its performance in these tests.
Unless, that is, you want to blow an inordinate amount of money on closed-source development. I imagine this argument for trustworthiness of software is used often in government agencies very big on documentation, process, etc...not that any of these are bad in moderation. But government agencies do have a budget to spend every year. If they operate efficiently in one period, they will be expected to do so in the future (i.e., their budget will be cut). "Oh, no! We've got to spend the taxpayers' money wisely!"
In the ABS example, simply run rigorous tests of the system to ensure that it behaves properly in all conditions. If it fails and the car smashes into a wall at 50 mph or the brakes lock up, no, of course you can't trust the system. If everything operates correctly, what the hell is the problem?
Slashdot Mirror
Nobody has said they have to release their source to everyone--just the court. Or does that amount to being admitted as evidence and, thus, part of public record?
I remember a review of the source code in the DeCSS trial allegedly preserving the source forever in public records (heh). Can anyone explain the ramifications of allowing government analysts to examine the code? Can a NDA be used in this case?
However, the great majority of Linux users will run whatever kernel came with their distro; some others may d/l a new kernel from the distributor as part of an update; the remainder actually go out to kernel.org (and mirrors), d/l, and compile the latest kernel. And, as mentioned in the lkml thread, the distributors are already rolling in patches from the list that aren't in the "official" kernel (plus some of their own stuff). The people at RedHat/Mandrake/SuSe/etc. making kernel decisions are undoubtedly familiar with which kernel variant contains the patches they want.
At any rate, I think the two dangers Rob Landley is attempting to avoid are:
- Burnout of key kernel developers/maintainers
- A fork
Number 2 is always a possibility, which I think is a Good Thing made possible by the Free nature of the kernel source. However, Rob points out that a fork is best avoided for productivity reasons. The desire to keep the linux kernel project together is strong, but I hope this desire would fail before the interest of the talented developers stuggling with an inefficient revision system.That would turn out really ugly for the Intel products involved. The amazing thing is that one can build a damn fine, complete AthlonXP 2000+ system (sans monitor/keybd/mouse) for about $1000. With Intel, that same $1000 gets you a 2.2GHz P4, nice mobo, 512 MB RDRAM, and case/PS. Save those pennies, and you can eventually get your video card, sound card, CD-RW, and HDD. And you'll still only see performance on par with your friend's XP2000+ system.
Intel certainly seems capable of producing some really nice products, and they aren't even pushing the 0.13u chips yet, from what I've read. You'd think that if they wanted to show AMD up, they'd just clock them at > 2.5GHz now and keep going. I'm puzzled.
Removing excess whitespace need not make it unreadable if you have a tool that can easily parse XML. jEdit, for instance, has nice XML support via a plugin (hell, what doesn't jEdit have a plugin for?). It will display a nice, collapsible tree for you; I'm pretty sure another plugin will format XML files nicely. I'm sure there are myriad other Free/free tools available to do the same.
So anyway, I'd agree with removing whitespace, as long as your XML compresses significantly from this. If it's machine-generated, there's a decent chance whitespace is already minimized. If not, you may want to strip the whitespace and see if that improves performance adequately. If not, you could always pipe the output through a compression filter, too.
As for worse gas mileage...well, that may be true in some cases, but I know the CR-V, for example, drives only the front wheels until it senses a loss of traction. It's still better than hauling 3 tons of steel around.
Witness:
Car-based...
- Honda CR-V: 22/26 mpg, 3287 lbs.
- Toyota RAV4: 23/27 mpg, 2943 lbs.
- Ford Escape (I4, MT): 22/25 mpg, 3238 lbs.
- Ford Escape (V6): 18/23 mpg, 3458 lbs.
- Subaru Impreza wagon: 22/27 mpg, 3100 lbs.
Truck-based...- Nissan XTerra SE: 15/18 mpg, 4229 lbs.
- GMC Envoy XLT: 15/21 mpg, 4600 lbs.
- GMC Yukon Denali: 12/15 mpg, 5609 lbs.
- Dodge Durango SLT: 13/18 mpg, 4629 lbs.
- Ford Excursion: ~12 mpg (mixed)*, 7190 lbs.
(Automatic transmission figures used unless otherwise noted)* Apparently, the Excursion doesn't even qualify as a "light duty" vehicle, so it's exempt from EPA tests. Ford's internal testing reportedly shows the following: 12-15 for the V8, 10-13 (!) for the V10.
It's a sick, sick world we live in. Anyone purchasing a Ford Excursion for non-commercial use should be subject to a hefty "enemy of the environment" tax, as well as a severe tongue lashing.
Yeah, I definitely agree with maggard and the AC. However, I don't have a problem with people driving all SUVs to the mall, Starbucks, and back home. Specifically, the car-based ones generally offer much better fuel economy and provide less of a threat to other motorists. These include (but aren't limited to) models like the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, and Ford Escape/Mazda Tribute. Even better than these are the Subarus...pretty much any of them. AWD, good design, and a lower center of gravity make these much safer vehicles.
As far as the wireless phone and screaming kids...well, don't associate all these attributes with SUVs. Wasting fossil fuels, obstructing view, and endangering other motorists by unnecessarily driving an SUV is a symptom of other larger problems. The most pronounced, I would guess, is a dearth of consideration for others.
My wife and I just stick with our Hondas, as well. I drive a slightly modified Civic; she drives an Odyssey minivan. And let me tell you, that minivan will stomp most SUVs in handling, acceleration, and certainly cargo room.
Note: This appears not to work in Mozilla 0.9.7. :-(
m ercare/contact.jhtml
Tell Philips you appreciate their stance on fair use (even though, yes, I realize they have their own motivations):
www2.consumer.philips.com/global/b2c/common/custo
Going to pricewatch and purchasing Philips equipment is great, but let them know your doing so and why.
In the absence of precedent, however, this is required. In addition, this sometimes slow, arduous process results in a law being ruled unconstitutional (in the US, anyway--I don't pretend to know much of the Norwegian justice system). Anyway, the important thing to remember is that untested laws are in a nascent sort of state--sure, they've made it through the legislative approval process, but until a judge has enforced a law, it isn't as "permanent" or binding (I'm not expressing this well; please excuse me :-) ) as a tried-and-true law that has been enforced in multiple cases.
:-)
Chances are, there is very little legal precedent established with this "hacker paragraph." Therefore, this could be a very important case as far as the preservation (or dismissal) of Norway's reverse engineering, fair use, etc., rights. Let's hope Norwegian authorities aren't easily swayed by crates of free DVD's.
Good point, but I don't think WinCE is exactly a counterpart to PalmOS. The devices you list generally suffer from poor power consumption (due in part to nifty color displays), too many features, and greater cost. And they've failed to grab significant market share, AFAIK. (Damn, if MS could get off the stupid, traditional Start button/desktop interface, they might have a better product on portable devices today.)
The GBA has a beautiful (if dim) display, fantastic graphic capabilities for its size, runs on 2 AA batteries, and cost me $90. This vaporware device from MS isn't even close, and I don't think it's intended to be.
:-( And profit margins can't be too great with Visor units nearing the $100 mark. Then again, we know MS isn't always interested in short term profitability--not that they should be. If taking a loss for a couple years rewards them with 75% market share 3 or 4 years down the line, it's worth it. Witness IE--they provided it for free simply to blow the (admittedly poor) competition into oblivion. They've been >80% successful in this endeavor.
I have to agree that it looks like an attempt to get into the PDA market. Honestly, I'm surprised it's taken MS this long to make a push for it. A device like this would be convenient, popular, and completely proprietary. One has to wonder if they're a bit late getting into the market, though. Most people who want a PDA already have one--except me.
Wait and see, wait and see, I s'pose...
Sauget is a small town located just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. It has a pretty sad history, as you may have gathered from the article. One of my favorite (now-defunct) bands, Uncle Tupelo, wrote a song about it entitled "Sauget Wind." Give it a listen if you can find the MP3 anywhere. Lyrics/guitar tablature are here.
I knew that Monsanto was responsible for the demise of Sauget, but I had never heard the full story until today. Very interesting.
Hmm, what are your views on ABA? It sounds like perhaps you have some reservations about it. My wife's work is really amazing to me, but I suspect it's just one brand of ABA. She's an independent therapist, and her team uses no physical restraint at all and doesn't punish the children. However, the St. Louis Special School District practices a different form of ABA, which apparently involves forceful restrain at times, among some other methods that would be considered a bit barbaric by my wife's fellow therapists.
Anyway, I was just curious to see if you'd had any contact with ABA therapy and what you thought. Feel free to email if you like.
BTW, I'm also scoping out a side project to create a therapy management app in Java. I'm still in the earliest stages of conception with it, but I have a couple local friends willing to help out. If you're interested at all, let me know.
Actually, the goal of Applied Behavior Analysis is to get the child functioning as a neurotypical person. Many children, of course, will never make it there, but most benefit at least somewhat. Fortunately, one little girl my wife works with is on track to begin kindergarten just like any other kid in a couple years. A year ago, she wasn't even responding to her name anymore.
It is troublesome, though, that the kids who can't make a full recovery may receive less and less support as they grow.
That's a tough break. Have you talked to your employer (or others) about working from home?
I guess the only positive spin I could put on your comment is that autistic children today have much better chances of being helped early on, thanks to programs like Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).
Yeah, it's certainly tough to draw any conclusions in the absence of a controlled environment. Parents who care enough to implement a strictly gluten-free diet, for instance, are probably also providing extensive therapy for their children. One of my wife's "client" families has been doing this for a while. The child has made great strides in her therapy, but there's no way to tell what caused it. She's pretty bright to begin with and has a very dedicated ABA team and caring parents.
Still, the family is, understandably, unwilling to abandon the gluten-free approach as it may have a positive effect and is doing no harm (other than making meal preparation a chore). In any case, it's a burden I don't wish on anyone.
As mentioned in a post above ("Treatment + how YOU can help"), I'm attempting to do something similar from a different angle--developing software to help parents manage therapy for their autistic children.
I would like to eventually be able to deploy the system on inexpensive boxes in people's homes. Have you had any luck getting computers donated to your "clients" by companies, individuals, etc? I'm also considering hosting the application for a small fee (just enough to cover hardware costs), which would provide convenient access for the therapy team members, but
- I predict that such a system would become very popular very quickly (many of these parents partake in online discussions), increasing load on the system.
- I would feel absolutely awful if a system failure caused the loss of all that therapy data.
This means I'd need a robust RAID setup, perhaps load balancing, etc., driving up my cost for running the system and, therefore, driving up access fees. These parents have enough to worry about just getting their children to express basic sensations like hunger. They certainly don't need to be shelling out a bunch of cash every month for this tool.Any ideas? Should I be asking my state of residence (MO) or some federal agency for a grant? I don't even know where to begin, so any help would be appreciated.
My wife...has noticed that a strict classroom environment, with clearly defined and enforced behavioral boundaries but also positive reinforcement and praise, can really help these supposedly autistic kids.
These children aren't autistic. I will agree with the sentiment that doctors often over-diagnose learning disorders (to appease parents, I suppose), but there is little doubt that something serious is happening when a 2-year-old girl stops responding to her name entirely.
My wife (enrolled in an elementary education program) works with autistic children, and the symptoms are very real. Two of them (sisters) are in a very attentive, loving home. The elder daughter is very bright and was making tremendous strides in her development until she suddenly began regressing. It's very sad for parents to see their child slipping away. Causes aren't certain, but it has been hypothesised that certain substances in a child's diet may trigger or at least aggravate the autistic condition. I know gluten (present in dairy products, wheat, and some other foods, I believe) has been fingered as a possible culprit, but I can't remember the others.
There are far too many misconceptions to address in this topic, but I'd like to at least mention what "treatment" of autism and Asperger's means. First of all, there are no drugs used to "cure" autism. The most effective treatment with which I'm familiar is Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy. My wife works as an ABA therapist for two little girls, both less than 3 years old. The therapy consists of many short exercises which focus on motor imitation, puzzle-solving, speech, etc. Therapy sessions are typically one to three hours long and pretty grueling, actually. Exercises are performed in groups of three or so, and short breaks are taken in between these groups.
There is some very good information available on the web, of course. Here's a pretty useful site I found via Google:
http://rsaffran.tripod.com/aba.html
Anyway, due to the sheer number of exercises, data logging and therapy administration become quite a chore--you should see the stacks of paper and manual labor required for tracking a child's progress. AFAIK, the best tool most parents and therapists have at the moment is a spreadsheet. For this reason, I've been considering developing a Java app (likely web-based) to make these tasks more efficient. The software would obviously be Free.
The project is still in its infancy (the scope hasn't even been defined), but if you're interested at all in coding or being notified once something is available for testing/use, feel free to email me at:
steveh @ amnesiac.net (remove spaces)
http://brook.pricewatch.com/search/search.asp?crit eria=crusoe
I find that sometimes running winfile is the only way to really fix file type associations. You know the routine: RealPlayer/WMP/whatever hijacks 30 different file types, and you have to reset them. File->Associate...
:-)
Actually, QuickTime went as far as to claim posession of files it couldn't even read. That's some software brain damage if I ever saw it.
Oh, and don't forget progman.exe!
San Jose, CA - In the wake of recent advances in quantum computing research, the world's hi-tech companies are gearing up for what is sure to be the single most significant breakthrough in IT since the integrated circuit. "We have committed our most valued resources to proactive quantum computing initiatives," said Steve Ballmer of Microsoft. "In fact, a year from now, we'll be known as Miqrosoft!" Jenny Tright, PR directory for Oracle-soon-to-be-Oraqle makes similar claims: "Transitioning to a new paradigm is never easy. We worked long and hard with our high-paid marketing consultants before deciding to capitalize on this new technology. After countless bagels, pizza lunches, and French dinners, we arrived at the ultimate strategy: a name change!"
Considerable re-directions seem to be in store for many technology firms, yet some are content with their current strategy. Compaq, in a recent press release, states, "We already have what it will take to compete in the new quantum computing marketplace. Don't be fooled by the imitators--we had a 'q' in our name first!"
Apple could not be reched for comment.
The nice thing about the CVS checkout-less model is that the code hogs (you know, the guys who won't commit until Friday afternoon) get stuck with merging changes in if they wait too long and let their source get stale. This is nice because everyone else is free to grab the latest version, do a quick fix, and commit without hounding Mr. Code Hog to check it in.
The word "catholic" means universal. In this case, I believe he means that these inventors made advancements in a number of fields. The word "Catholic," of course, refers to a religion.
Check out SDL, the Simple DirectMedia Layer. It is available for a bunch of platforms already (including Win32 and Linux, of course). I've played a couple games, Defendguin being my favorite, and was impressed. It probably has progress to make before being suitably robust for the really complex games, but I think it has definite potential.
The real evaluation of a system should be in TESTING. So who cares if you didn't develop your software by a formal set of specifications? Draw up a comprehensive suite of tests that will "prove" the system to be reliable, and judge the trustworthiness of the system by its performance in these tests.
Unless, that is, you want to blow an inordinate amount of money on closed-source development. I imagine this argument for trustworthiness of software is used often in government agencies very big on documentation, process, etc...not that any of these are bad in moderation. But government agencies do have a budget to spend every year. If they operate efficiently in one period, they will be expected to do so in the future (i.e., their budget will be cut). "Oh, no! We've got to spend the taxpayers' money wisely!"
In the ABS example, simply run rigorous tests of the system to ensure that it behaves properly in all conditions. If it fails and the car smashes into a wall at 50 mph or the brakes lock up, no, of course you can't trust the system. If everything operates correctly, what the hell is the problem?