Now, just to be clear on this: Small deficits don't matter. Working under a small deficit means more liquidity, a stronger economy, and therefore more growth, which means you'll be able to pay off more debt later, so you can afford a bigger deficit now, meaning more liquidity...
Once you start dealing with a deficit that's bigger than what you can reasonably expect to grow, you're in deep trouble. We've been operating with far too large a deficit for far too long, made worse by the recession.
They are not perfectly equal, and indeed, I believe both adult- and peer-led socialization is important. However, both provide the social interaction that allows children to experiment with social norms and understand each other.
Too little peer-led interaction, and children lack the recognition that they, too, can be leaders. Too little adult-led interaction and, as you seem to fear, children learn to disregard all authority. The key is balance, and the recognition that your child knows their own development better than you do.
As an aside, Boy Scouts troops are groups of peer-led patrols, who can plan and execute activities without any adult guidance. Sports teams are often led by captains, with the coaches providing support and guidance, but not much of direct leadership. 4-H often encourages collaboration among peers with adults present primarily for answering questions. Many (if not most) such organizations recognize the balance of leadership required for growth, and encourage it.
Not at all. I don't really care whether someone has already written several web apps, or not.
I care more that the programmer recognized when learning that there are good and bad ways to write a program, and went to the effort to learn the differences. Simple things are obvious, yet make an enormous difference:
Don't pollute namespaces with your own functions, especially the default.
Give variables descriptive names when possible, and avoid unwarranted reuse
Include descriptive, well-worded comments for every function, and every nontrivial block
Use frameworks where practical, to avoid the security and maintainability pitfalls of writing your own from scratch
These kinds of practices are straightforward to learn, and make for great habits. However, they aren't the kind of things you'll find on any "PHP in 2 hours" tutorial, and they aren't generally in the material presented in Indian programming schools. Since the writer asked Slashdot, I assume she has already seen the myriad articles and discussions regarding good practices, and is at least aware that such things exist.
Would you really want to pay anything to get PHP written by somebody that learned it in a few months?
Yes, if they're cheap (because they've just learned PHP) but good (because they've just learned PHP, now that it has namespaces and proper objects) and smart (enough to know what good code looks like rather than cheap mass-cut-and-paste crap from outsourced Indian code monkeys).
After learning PHP for a few months with an appropriate eye toward best practices, the OP could produce code that's functional as a starting point for a new web-based business. Sure, it wouldn't be spectacular or particularly efficient, but it'd be enough to show investors the idea and eventually mold into a working system.
Facebook, Google+, and Neopets, and whatever other social time sinks are popular now, are only a part of the picture. Today they serve the same functions as Boy Scouts, football teams, and 4-H did in the 70's. They provide social interaction and reaffirm that the child is a part of society. It's the activity in society that contributes the experience that becomes the responsibility and moral completeness children lack. As children participate in society with their peers, they are increasingly shown that other people have feelings and thoughts of their own. They see that life moves on regardless of their own desires, and they see that the world does not, in fact, revolve entirely around their demands as it seemed to when they were infants.
It worries me. More specifically, I worry that your child will grow up without the social interaction required to empathize with others, so they'll treat every slight criticism as a major offense. Perhaps worse, without understanding other people's thought processes, I worry they'll be unable to recognize the complex interactions of society, and will end up with extreme opinions on important issues, and thinking everyone opposing them is crazy.
I'll second this. I have received many surprising compliments on my bug reports. It takes some time to get used to thinking in terms of a detailed report, but once it's natural, developers will greatly appreciate thorough and clear reports. If your writing is detailed enough, there are companies where the developers will actually look forward to having you test the product. As a developer myself, I have seen far too many terrible reports to count, where the procedure wasn't clear, text was inaccurate, or the "steps to reproduce" didn't actually reproduce the problem (even on the user's machine).
High-quality QA is in demand, but many companies don't even realize it. They see their usual reports as "good enough" and spend countless extra hours trying to reproduce that one unwritten action that caused a problem.
All this crap empowers other adults (and their children) to interfere in my parenting. That shit pisses me off.
Because your parenting is perfect, right? You're not doing any of the terrible things your parents did to you, or that other parents do to their kids. So what if the kids are ostracized by their peers because they didn't see that hilarious picture everybody's talking about? They should be studying astrophysics, not participating in those silly social interactions!
A lot, depending on jurisdiction. If you're in an urban area, there's probably noise restrictions, and explosions are likely too loud. Most cities have broad prohibition on all things explosive in significant quantities, with the intent being that nobody can stockpile enough to blow up anything important. Certain chemicals used to make explosives or that are byproducts of the explosion itself are also highly toxic, so releasing them in your backyard may be a serious health risk for your neighbors.
That said, there are folks who jump through the necessary hoops to set up gatherings at appropriate jurisdictions, but I won't be mentioning any names on Slashdot. If you're interested, try contacting your local police and asking them. Get to know them personally (in a non-stalking kind of way), build a good reputation for being responsible, and see what information they can give you, like perhaps a local chemist with a nice field outside town...
My hometown's station didn't have a ticket booth. We had a sign. Eventually, they got fancy and installed a button with a light inside a little shelter.
I actually rather like that. Sure, its a lot more paperwork and problems for Congress... but then maybe they'll be less likely to waste time on stupid things.
Don't confuse the issue. We all know how evil, corrupt, and greedy* those librarians are! This is clearly an attempt to ensure they're not completely obsolete as books become irrelevant.
*Source: firsthand knowledge. My wife is a librarian, and she steals the bedsheets every night.
So you could say "What is even more absurd is going into debt by much more than we can reasonably expect to gain over a short time". I think somebody already said that.
He's called a kook because his preferred economic theory is to ignore evidence and history, especially when turned into mathematical models, and invest based on psychology. "We think this stock will do well, because the company's CEO is so charismatic" is Austrian School economic advice. The Austrian School is the conspiracy theory of economics. Once in a while, somebody predicts something that happens, but not reliably enough for it to be taken seriously, and the evidence in favor of other theories is far more substantial.
The idea of a perfectly-balanced budget makes little sense for a government. Running with some debt allows the country to have more liquid cash now, and pay for it with growth in a few years. What is even more absurd is going into debt by much more than we can reasonably expect to gain over a short time. Unfortunately, that's what's happening now: With more people unemployed, income taxes are bringing in less revenue than expected, but the contracts still have to be fulfilled, and that means that money has to come from somewhere. China has money to spare, so we sell them bonds to cover our contractual obligations. Of course, this mean we'll owe China a huge amount of money in a while, but that's actually somewhat preferable to defaulting on a large amount now.
There is a possibility that China will forgive some debt in exchange for more lenient political posturing, or extend it to a longer period with little or no additional cost. We'll have to wait and see what happens over the next few years. Maybe Apple will decide to bring its manufacturing to the US, boosting the American economy high enough to cover the debts. Here's hoping.
A biased officer is only a problem if the place paying is one of the parties under suspicion for an offense. If a bar pays a cop to stand there and watch the customers as they get into a fistfight, the officer isn't likely going to be biased toward any particular customer, and only the fighting ones would be in trouble. If the bar arranges with the police that their officers can come in, spend some time in the heated building and have a free (non-alcoholic) drink, in exchange for making regular visual appearances of law enforcement, that can help keep illegal activity out of the bar (and nearby neighborhood) in the first place. If the bar ever is implicated in anything, officers who have benefited from the arrangement can (and should) excuse themselves from the investigation due to the conflict of interest, and officers from another jurisdiction can come in, if needed.
Remember that a part of the police's job is to prevent crime, and if they can get permission to be in a particularly rowdy bar on a Saturday night, their presence can help prevent crimes. Everybody benefits, and nobody's ever likely to get unfair treatment.
Just because people mutually benefit doesn't necessarily mean there's anything illicit or immoral going on.
Unless, of course, it's legal in that jurisdiction to wear their uniform while off-duty, or if the bar has made an arrangement to have police coverage at that particular location (generally with the caveat that the officer might be called away for something more important than watching a bunch of drunks) and it's not really after hours for them.
Very rarely people are trying to do evil, they are more often just negligent in doing their work, or too focused on short term issues that they ignore all the long term consequences.
This is Slashdot. Your rational and empathetic consideration for others' behavior is not welcome here. Start raging about the evil corporations, or we will be forced to mod you "-1, Sane".
Slashdot Mirror
Now, just to be clear on this: Small deficits don't matter. Working under a small deficit means more liquidity, a stronger economy, and therefore more growth, which means you'll be able to pay off more debt later, so you can afford a bigger deficit now, meaning more liquidity...
Once you start dealing with a deficit that's bigger than what you can reasonably expect to grow, you're in deep trouble. We've been operating with far too large a deficit for far too long, made worse by the recession.
Shocking discovery: Anything in excess is bad.
Anything being completely cut out for paranoia is also bad.
They are not perfectly equal, and indeed, I believe both adult- and peer-led socialization is important. However, both provide the social interaction that allows children to experiment with social norms and understand each other.
Too little peer-led interaction, and children lack the recognition that they, too, can be leaders. Too little adult-led interaction and, as you seem to fear, children learn to disregard all authority. The key is balance, and the recognition that your child knows their own development better than you do.
As an aside, Boy Scouts troops are groups of peer-led patrols, who can plan and execute activities without any adult guidance. Sports teams are often led by captains, with the coaches providing support and guidance, but not much of direct leadership. 4-H often encourages collaboration among peers with adults present primarily for answering questions. Many (if not most) such organizations recognize the balance of leadership required for growth, and encourage it.
Not at all. I don't really care whether someone has already written several web apps, or not.
I care more that the programmer recognized when learning that there are good and bad ways to write a program, and went to the effort to learn the differences. Simple things are obvious, yet make an enormous difference:
These kinds of practices are straightforward to learn, and make for great habits. However, they aren't the kind of things you'll find on any "PHP in 2 hours" tutorial, and they aren't generally in the material presented in Indian programming schools. Since the writer asked Slashdot, I assume she has already seen the myriad articles and discussions regarding good practices, and is at least aware that such things exist.
Hallway usability testing is not to be underestimated.
Would you really want to pay anything to get PHP written by somebody that learned it in a few months?
Yes, if they're cheap (because they've just learned PHP) but good (because they've just learned PHP, now that it has namespaces and proper objects) and smart (enough to know what good code looks like rather than cheap mass-cut-and-paste crap from outsourced Indian code monkeys).
After learning PHP for a few months with an appropriate eye toward best practices, the OP could produce code that's functional as a starting point for a new web-based business. Sure, it wouldn't be spectacular or particularly efficient, but it'd be enough to show investors the idea and eventually mold into a working system.
Facebook, Google+, and Neopets, and whatever other social time sinks are popular now, are only a part of the picture. Today they serve the same functions as Boy Scouts, football teams, and 4-H did in the 70's. They provide social interaction and reaffirm that the child is a part of society. It's the activity in society that contributes the experience that becomes the responsibility and moral completeness children lack. As children participate in society with their peers, they are increasingly shown that other people have feelings and thoughts of their own. They see that life moves on regardless of their own desires, and they see that the world does not, in fact, revolve entirely around their demands as it seemed to when they were infants.
It worries me. More specifically, I worry that your child will grow up without the social interaction required to empathize with others, so they'll treat every slight criticism as a major offense. Perhaps worse, without understanding other people's thought processes, I worry they'll be unable to recognize the complex interactions of society, and will end up with extreme opinions on important issues, and thinking everyone opposing them is crazy.
I'll second this. I have received many surprising compliments on my bug reports. It takes some time to get used to thinking in terms of a detailed report, but once it's natural, developers will greatly appreciate thorough and clear reports. If your writing is detailed enough, there are companies where the developers will actually look forward to having you test the product. As a developer myself, I have seen far too many terrible reports to count, where the procedure wasn't clear, text was inaccurate, or the "steps to reproduce" didn't actually reproduce the problem (even on the user's machine).
High-quality QA is in demand, but many companies don't even realize it. They see their usual reports as "good enough" and spend countless extra hours trying to reproduce that one unwritten action that caused a problem.
All this crap empowers other adults (and their children) to interfere in my parenting. That shit pisses me off.
Because your parenting is perfect, right? You're not doing any of the terrible things your parents did to you, or that other parents do to their kids. So what if the kids are ostracized by their peers because they didn't see that hilarious picture everybody's talking about? They should be studying astrophysics, not participating in those silly social interactions!
Alas, I have no mod points, but I do now have coffee on my keyboard. Subtle and well done.
A lot, depending on jurisdiction. If you're in an urban area, there's probably noise restrictions, and explosions are likely too loud. Most cities have broad prohibition on all things explosive in significant quantities, with the intent being that nobody can stockpile enough to blow up anything important. Certain chemicals used to make explosives or that are byproducts of the explosion itself are also highly toxic, so releasing them in your backyard may be a serious health risk for your neighbors.
That said, there are folks who jump through the necessary hoops to set up gatherings at appropriate jurisdictions, but I won't be mentioning any names on Slashdot. If you're interested, try contacting your local police and asking them. Get to know them personally (in a non-stalking kind of way), build a good reputation for being responsible, and see what information they can give you, like perhaps a local chemist with a nice field outside town...
I was being serious. It looks much like this now.
A ticket booth and a platform? Wow!
My hometown's station didn't have a ticket booth. We had a sign. Eventually, they got fancy and installed a button with a light inside a little shelter.
I actually rather like that. Sure, its a lot more paperwork and problems for Congress... but then maybe they'll be less likely to waste time on stupid things.
The petitions have to start going out now, and be submitted, reviewed, and approved by the LoC before the 2013 deadline.
Don't confuse the issue. We all know how evil, corrupt, and greedy* those librarians are! This is clearly an attempt to ensure they're not completely obsolete as books become irrelevant.
*Source: firsthand knowledge. My wife is a librarian, and she steals the bedsheets every night.
So you could say "What is even more absurd is going into debt by much more than we can reasonably expect to gain over a short time". I think somebody already said that.
Also Kenneth Lay.
He's called a kook because his preferred economic theory is to ignore evidence and history, especially when turned into mathematical models, and invest based on psychology. "We think this stock will do well, because the company's CEO is so charismatic" is Austrian School economic advice. The Austrian School is the conspiracy theory of economics. Once in a while, somebody predicts something that happens, but not reliably enough for it to be taken seriously, and the evidence in favor of other theories is far more substantial.
The idea of a perfectly-balanced budget makes little sense for a government. Running with some debt allows the country to have more liquid cash now, and pay for it with growth in a few years. What is even more absurd is going into debt by much more than we can reasonably expect to gain over a short time. Unfortunately, that's what's happening now: With more people unemployed, income taxes are bringing in less revenue than expected, but the contracts still have to be fulfilled, and that means that money has to come from somewhere. China has money to spare, so we sell them bonds to cover our contractual obligations. Of course, this mean we'll owe China a huge amount of money in a while, but that's actually somewhat preferable to defaulting on a large amount now.
There is a possibility that China will forgive some debt in exchange for more lenient political posturing, or extend it to a longer period with little or no additional cost. We'll have to wait and see what happens over the next few years. Maybe Apple will decide to bring its manufacturing to the US, boosting the American economy high enough to cover the debts. Here's hoping.
A biased officer is only a problem if the place paying is one of the parties under suspicion for an offense. If a bar pays a cop to stand there and watch the customers as they get into a fistfight, the officer isn't likely going to be biased toward any particular customer, and only the fighting ones would be in trouble. If the bar arranges with the police that their officers can come in, spend some time in the heated building and have a free (non-alcoholic) drink, in exchange for making regular visual appearances of law enforcement, that can help keep illegal activity out of the bar (and nearby neighborhood) in the first place. If the bar ever is implicated in anything, officers who have benefited from the arrangement can (and should) excuse themselves from the investigation due to the conflict of interest, and officers from another jurisdiction can come in, if needed.
Remember that a part of the police's job is to prevent crime, and if they can get permission to be in a particularly rowdy bar on a Saturday night, their presence can help prevent crimes. Everybody benefits, and nobody's ever likely to get unfair treatment.
Just because people mutually benefit doesn't necessarily mean there's anything illicit or immoral going on.
Unless, of course, it's legal in that jurisdiction to wear their uniform while off-duty, or if the bar has made an arrangement to have police coverage at that particular location (generally with the caveat that the officer might be called away for something more important than watching a bunch of drunks) and it's not really after hours for them.
Only 10% error? That's impressive!
...Gesundheit?
Very rarely people are trying to do evil, they are more often just negligent in doing their work, or too focused on short term issues that they ignore all the long term consequences.
This is Slashdot. Your rational and empathetic consideration for others' behavior is not welcome here. Start raging about the evil corporations, or we will be forced to mod you "-1, Sane".