If your current job isn't challenging you, then get out of it now. Do not delay.
All you are doing is painting yourself into a corner skills-wise that is going to get harder and harder to get out of later. The longer you're doing this basic stuff, the rustier and rustier all the real actual knowledge you got out of your degree is becoming.
Employers don't want rusty people, they want people with skills already.
I did mate, Dept of Philosophy courses in Rationalisation, Logic and Reasoning formed part of my degree at first and second year level. I used logic in a general lay sense, not in a formal declarative sense, you are correct that rationalisation would be a better term.
I'm also not saying that either stance is correct, nor better, simply that many of us here at/. will have this view as/.'ers tend to be more rational, "colder" if you like than the general populace, and as such, having children typically has less appeal.
sorry, but this guy was asking for trouble. Firstly, it wasn't just any old bank, it was the Reserve Bank (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserve_Bank_of_New_ Zealand), secondly, when he discovered this flaw he didn't just tell them about it, he said basically "I found a flaw, now pay me money".
You don't mess with the systems controlling an entire countries economy, and then demand money for it, if you do, well, Darwin would like a word with you.
I'm very nearly 30. And I have to agree with the grandparent on his points to the most part. If you'rea nerd you tend to look at things (everything) logically, if you take that approach to having children, there really is no logical reason to do so in this day and age. Logically, a person is better focusing energy on wealth creation, when you're old and decrepid, you can pay somebody to look after you.
It's only when you bring emotion into the equation that some find that having children serves a purpose. But without emotion, you are hard pressed to find a really good reason.
I suspect grandparent was thinking of the Aloha Air accident rather than the UA one.
As I recall, the Aloha Air accident is thought to have been caused by stress fractures initially which released a small break-away area of skin, but due to corrosion and further strees around rivets it basically unzipped half the aircraft's roof. A stewardess was sucked out, but the aircraft (or rather what was left of it) made an otherwise safe landing, I don't recall if anybody else was lost in the accident, I don't think so.
First, I'd like to know what exactly is wrong with Opera's Javascript implementation that D2 can't be made to work with it - especially Opera 9, I think somebody just couldn't be bothered.
Second, I tried D2 a while ago (I'm not a subscriber though, I guess some non-subscribers got the opportunity too), and I didn't like it much. Slow, slow, slow and did I mention slow.
Lots of people are still using Windows XP, and lots of users with XP don't update. I'd go so far as to say that probably the majority of Windows users fall into one of those two camps, and thus won't get the update. But only time will tell.
Let's just hope that IE 7 will like CSS more than IE 6!
The sad thing is, that even if it does, the take up of IE7 is going to be so slow that IMHO, I expect well over 50% of IE users to still be using IE 6 or lower for years. Even with all the security problems, people continue to use very old versions of IE - because they simply don't care, thier "Internet" works, so why should they change it.
In short, IE 7 getting better support for CSS isn't going to make life any easier for web developers, it's not going to mean we can remove annoyances to work around IE 6 and lower, in fact it's probably just going to create more work, because it's yet another version of IE that we need to test websites in, lord knows there will be new bugs.
This story is somewhat timely for me. I am secretary of a club, we have a large quantity of documents collected over the last 20 years or so, some hand written, some typed, forms, invoices, minutes of meetings, letters sent to and from etc etc. There are a LOT of documents.
Lately I've been thinking about computerizing these documents into a web based system, so that any of the club executive can search and pull out a document they need etc, we could also flag documents as "general release" so that people could read interesting stuff from our past. And of course it would also serve as a secure backup of our documents, incase of fire, theft, alien invasion...
I think what is needed is a rough OCR system, that is, an OCR system that's not trying to be perfect, but can at least make about 50% accuracy on both typed and handwritten (without training!) documents, and preferably where it wasn't pretty certain it was correct, it would just skip words. The idea being that I'd run each document (big job, but doesn't matter if it takes a year) through a scanner, OCR it to get some searchable content, then store it as a PDF, or jpeg or something.
Anybody know of such an (open source, or at least free as in beer) OCR system?
The forked code was GPL'd, you cannot revoke GPL once it's given. Jorg has no say in how his GPL'd code is used, modified or distributed provided it is in accordance with the GPL version with which it was released.
The problem is that he has wrapped parts of his software package in two different, incompatible licences... if you like to continue the chicken suit analogy
1. You may distribute this software only if you wear a chicken suit and 2. You may distribute this software only if you do not wear a chicken suit
so Jorg says you cannot distribute the software unless you both do, and do not, at the same time, wear a chicken suit. Fairly obviously, in this universe, distributing software under those conditions would be somewhat impossible.
The deb maintainers have tried to show Jorg this problem, but he is unwilling to change the situation, and as a result the only way that deb can legitimately distribute this software is to fork it from before the second licence was imposed and continue development themselves.
Basically, they've given Jorg every opportunity to correct the problem so he can continue to have his package legally distributed by debian, he's refused for whatever reason, and so debian has NO CHOICE but to fork it, drop it, or distribute it illegally. They chose rightly to fork it.
Really, the only way to do a cleanup of your typical dog's breakfast collection of html is
1. Tidy the pages (using htmltidy) 2. Use a custom written script in whatever language (perl is good) to do as much of the task as possible automatically (things like replacing static headers with includes) - you'll need to be good with regex 3. Open the pages manually, and finish the job - I like Dreamweaver for this particularly if it's a complicated table based layout
whatever the case, it's going to take you a lot of time and energy, there is no quick fix.
The point is, it's the BROWSER that should be presenting the user with options of what to do when a domain is unresolvable, some browsers might just display an error, others a search, others might try and fix it, others might ask the user what they want to do... Earthlink has usurped that.
As others have pointed out, it's not just the web that's the problem, silently resolving invalid domains to some other IP has much wider ramifications, from spam elimination, to email security.
CDTV and the A570 (I think the correct number) CDROM Sidecar for the A500 came out long before the CD32. I had both an A570 on an A500 and a standard SCSI cdrom in an A3000.
We had a PC almost burn down the house once, literally, two fire engine callout with respirators, toxic smoke billowing out of windows, carpet on fire, sofa on fire, bed on fire, insurance claim to redecorate because of all the smoke damage, and the PC - pretty much nothing left of it except the case - it must have got SERIOUSLY hot inside that case.
Don't know what happened to it, the thing basically spontaneoously combusted and had a complete melt down. Scary stuff.
I really don't understand why Microsoft is continuing IE, I just don't see what purpose it holds any more.
People might cry "it's for lock-in", but that doesn't really make sense... 1. Other browsers are now just as capable as IE for 99% of sites that Joe Public uses, the other 1% could be fixed, and for the sites that can't be, well there still is IE5 to 6 for those, they're mostly going to be intranet closed systems anyway. If other browsers can do the job, there is no lock-in left anyway. 2. IE could buy Opera for example, or at least licence them, I'm sure thier pockets are deep enough for either of those. And with that, they could extend the already GOOD browser with thier own "lock-in" features if it came to that. I, as a developer, wouldn't mind in the slightest, just because they add lock-in features doesn't mean we have to use them, we can code for the lowest common denominator, without IE in the picture, that's a pretty good level to code at, with IE it's a nightmare.
People might also say it's because IE is core to Windows, but I don't see that being a problem either... 1. So, leave IE 6 in there as a deprecated interface for a while, you could limit it to local URL's if security is a concern. 2. Make a compatability API to make transitioning applications easier.
People might say it's because of branding... 1. As I already pointed out they could buy or licence a closed source system, and call it thiers. 2. They could go with an open source engine (gecko/khtml) and still stick thier name on it (however they probably would need to release thier modified source, not a problem if they don't put anything proprietry in there). Hell they can call it "Internet Explorer 8", doesn't matter what it is under the hood, the masses won't know.
Call me stupid, but I just don't see why Microsoft is clinging so strongly onto IE, it seems to me that it's become a mess of iterative development and either should be started from scratch, or replaced with a better engine.
I say Microsoft should just cut thier losses, write a check with a large number of 0's, and send it to Opera, or even Mozilla. And come out with a more secure, standards compliant, and actually GOOD engine for Internet Explorer, and Windows.
IANAL - and that's really the crux of the matter, neither are you, neither are 95% (ass pluck statistic) of Slashdot. If you're worried, take the contract to a lawyer (preferably experienced in intellectual property things), explain to them your concerns, have them examine and make any proposed alterations they think would be necessary.
Don't be pressured into signing something you're not satisfied with, in most civilised countries a (potential) employer cannot hand you a contract and say sign now or sign out, you can and should take the time you need to properly examine the contract, by professionals if necessary.
Slashdot Mirror
If your current job isn't challenging you, then get out of it now. Do not delay.
All you are doing is painting yourself into a corner skills-wise that is going to get harder and harder to get out of later. The longer you're doing this basic stuff, the rustier and rustier all the real actual knowledge you got out of your degree is becoming.
Employers don't want rusty people, they want people with skills already.
Get out now.
Bollocks. I'm in opera now on a Linux box, and I just changed a "tab" into an MDI window. Right-click on the tab, select Restore.
Because it's an original work of your own!
Knuth doesn't use e-mail, so probably why not included.
I did mate, Dept of Philosophy courses in Rationalisation, Logic and Reasoning formed part of my degree at first and second year level. I used logic in a general lay sense, not in a formal declarative sense, you are correct that rationalisation would be a better term.
/. will have this view as /.'ers tend to be more rational, "colder" if you like than the general populace, and as such, having children typically has less appeal.
I'm also not saying that either stance is correct, nor better, simply that many of us here at
sorry, but this guy was asking for trouble. Firstly, it wasn't just any old bank, it was the Reserve Bank (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserve_Bank_of_New_ Zealand), secondly, when he discovered this flaw he didn't just tell them about it, he said basically "I found a flaw, now pay me money".
You don't mess with the systems controlling an entire countries economy, and then demand money for it, if you do, well, Darwin would like a word with you.
I'm very nearly 30. And I have to agree with the grandparent on his points to the most part. If you'rea nerd you tend to look at things (everything) logically, if you take that approach to having children, there really is no logical reason to do so in this day and age. Logically, a person is better focusing energy on wealth creation, when you're old and decrepid, you can pay somebody to look after you.
It's only when you bring emotion into the equation that some find that having children serves a purpose. But without emotion, you are hard pressed to find a really good reason.
Purely out of interest, why did you choose Match.Com (paid, not very "smart") over, say, OKCupid.com (free, sort of "smart").
I suspect grandparent was thinking of the Aloha Air accident rather than the UA one.
As I recall, the Aloha Air accident is thought to have been caused by stress fractures initially which released a small break-away area of skin, but due to corrosion and further strees around rivets it basically unzipped half the aircraft's roof. A stewardess was sucked out, but the aircraft (or rather what was left of it) made an otherwise safe landing, I don't recall if anybody else was lost in the accident, I don't think so.
First, I'd like to know what exactly is wrong with Opera's Javascript implementation that D2 can't be made to work with it - especially Opera 9, I think somebody just couldn't be bothered.
Second, I tried D2 a while ago (I'm not a subscriber though, I guess some non-subscribers got the opportunity too), and I didn't like it much. Slow, slow, slow and did I mention slow.
Grr, that should heva been "using Windows < XP"
Lots of people are still using Windows XP, and lots of users with XP don't update. I'd go so far as to say that probably the majority of Windows users fall into one of those two camps, and thus won't get the update. But only time will tell.
The sad thing is, that even if it does, the take up of IE7 is going to be so slow that IMHO, I expect well over 50% of IE users to still be using IE 6 or lower for years. Even with all the security problems, people continue to use very old versions of IE - because they simply don't care, thier "Internet" works, so why should they change it.
In short, IE 7 getting better support for CSS isn't going to make life any easier for web developers, it's not going to mean we can remove annoyances to work around IE 6 and lower, in fact it's probably just going to create more work, because it's yet another version of IE that we need to test websites in, lord knows there will be new bugs.
LUnix, not Linux.
Double of zero isn't that enticing.
This story is somewhat timely for me. I am secretary of a club, we have a large quantity of documents collected over the last 20 years or so, some hand written, some typed, forms, invoices, minutes of meetings, letters sent to and from etc etc. There are a LOT of documents.
Lately I've been thinking about computerizing these documents into a web based system, so that any of the club executive can search and pull out a document they need etc, we could also flag documents as "general release" so that people could read interesting stuff from our past. And of course it would also serve as a secure backup of our documents, incase of fire, theft, alien invasion...
I think what is needed is a rough OCR system, that is, an OCR system that's not trying to be perfect, but can at least make about 50% accuracy on both typed and handwritten (without training!) documents, and preferably where it wasn't pretty certain it was correct, it would just skip words. The idea being that I'd run each document (big job, but doesn't matter if it takes a year) through a scanner, OCR it to get some searchable content, then store it as a PDF, or jpeg or something.
Anybody know of such an (open source, or at least free as in beer) OCR system?
The forked code was GPL'd, you cannot revoke GPL once it's given. Jorg has no say in how his GPL'd code is used, modified or distributed provided it is in accordance with the GPL version with which it was released.
The problem is that he has wrapped parts of his software package in two different, incompatible licences... if you like to continue the chicken suit analogy
1. You may distribute this software only if you wear a chicken suit
and 2. You may distribute this software only if you do not wear a chicken suit
so Jorg says you cannot distribute the software unless you both do, and do not, at the same time, wear a chicken suit. Fairly obviously, in this universe, distributing software under those conditions would be somewhat impossible.
The deb maintainers have tried to show Jorg this problem, but he is unwilling to change the situation, and as a result the only way that deb can legitimately distribute this software is to fork it from before the second licence was imposed and continue development themselves.
Basically, they've given Jorg every opportunity to correct the problem so he can continue to have his package legally distributed by debian, he's refused for whatever reason, and so debian has NO CHOICE but to fork it, drop it, or distribute it illegally. They chose rightly to fork it.
Really, the only way to do a cleanup of your typical dog's breakfast collection of html is
1. Tidy the pages (using htmltidy)
2. Use a custom written script in whatever language (perl is good) to do as much of the task as possible automatically (things like replacing static headers with includes) - you'll need to be good with regex
3. Open the pages manually, and finish the job - I like Dreamweaver for this particularly if it's a complicated table based layout
whatever the case, it's going to take you a lot of time and energy, there is no quick fix.
The point is, it's the BROWSER that should be presenting the user with options of what to do when a domain is unresolvable, some browsers might just display an error, others a search, others might try and fix it, others might ask the user what they want to do... Earthlink has usurped that.
As others have pointed out, it's not just the web that's the problem, silently resolving invalid domains to some other IP has much wider ramifications, from spam elimination, to email security.
CDTV and the A570 (I think the correct number) CDROM Sidecar for the A500 came out long before the CD32. I had both an A570 on an A500 and a standard SCSI cdrom in an A3000.
We had a PC almost burn down the house once, literally, two fire engine callout with respirators, toxic smoke billowing out of windows, carpet on fire, sofa on fire, bed on fire, insurance claim to redecorate because of all the smoke damage, and the PC - pretty much nothing left of it except the case - it must have got SERIOUSLY hot inside that case.
Don't know what happened to it, the thing basically spontaneoously combusted and had a complete melt down. Scary stuff.
If I break into your house. Plant some kiddie porn videos, and call the cops, does this mean you should not be busted, tried and convicted.
I really don't understand why Microsoft is continuing IE, I just don't see what purpose it holds any more.
People might cry "it's for lock-in", but that doesn't really make sense...
1. Other browsers are now just as capable as IE for 99% of sites that Joe Public uses, the other 1% could be fixed, and for the sites that can't be, well there still is IE5 to 6 for those, they're mostly going to be intranet closed systems anyway. If other browsers can do the job, there is no lock-in left anyway.
2. IE could buy Opera for example, or at least licence them, I'm sure thier pockets are deep enough for either of those. And with that, they could extend the already GOOD browser with thier own "lock-in" features if it came to that. I, as a developer, wouldn't mind in the slightest, just because they add lock-in features doesn't mean we have to use them, we can code for the lowest common denominator, without IE in the picture, that's a pretty good level to code at, with IE it's a nightmare.
People might also say it's because IE is core to Windows, but I don't see that being a problem either...
1. So, leave IE 6 in there as a deprecated interface for a while, you could limit it to local URL's if security is a concern.
2. Make a compatability API to make transitioning applications easier.
People might say it's because of branding...
1. As I already pointed out they could buy or licence a closed source system, and call it thiers.
2. They could go with an open source engine (gecko/khtml) and still stick thier name on it (however they probably would need to release thier modified source, not a problem if they don't put anything proprietry in there). Hell they can call it "Internet Explorer 8", doesn't matter what it is under the hood, the masses won't know.
Call me stupid, but I just don't see why Microsoft is clinging so strongly onto IE, it seems to me that it's become a mess of iterative development and either should be started from scratch, or replaced with a better engine.
I say Microsoft should just cut thier losses, write a check with a large number of 0's, and send it to Opera, or even Mozilla. And come out with a more secure, standards compliant, and actually GOOD engine for Internet Explorer, and Windows.
IANAL - and that's really the crux of the matter, neither are you, neither are 95% (ass pluck statistic) of Slashdot. If you're worried, take the contract to a lawyer (preferably experienced in intellectual property things), explain to them your concerns, have them examine and make any proposed alterations they think would be necessary.
Don't be pressured into signing something you're not satisfied with, in most civilised countries a (potential) employer cannot hand you a contract and say sign now or sign out, you can and should take the time you need to properly examine the contract, by professionals if necessary.