But if by engineer we mean "someone who is licenced", then we will need a new word for what engineering used to mean:
"The person who applies scientific and mathematic principles to design or develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes " (of course there are many definitions, but this is the one I found most useful)
Or if you are arguing that only *Professional* Engineer might imply liscencing... then what am I? an amateur Engineer? I am not, because I get paid for my work (an therefore I am a professional), but still it would be cool because that way I could compete in the Summer Engineering Olympics.
if their simple programmers want to be called engineers
Of course! Civil engineers are inherently superior to *simple* programmers!
Look, I could not care less if we are called engineers or not. I never spent a minute on that stupid debate, and not planning on doing it now, but let me clarify something for you: our profession is anything but simple. Software engineers/programmers/alchemists or whatever you want to call them created some of the most complex systems of the history of humankind, which you seem unable to understand.
Sure, you click-and-dragged some pictures into power point and created a presentation once, how hard is that? because that's basically what programmers do: click-and-dragging a "add friend" button, then a "i like it" button..... and facebook's done!! isn't it?
We are talking about automating an annoying process here (commuting), so you can do more productive things with your life. Nobody says we should automate tennis, handball, or rock concerts (actually, we pay to see the real thing, and not an automated copy -playback-).
Besides, I don't understand your point of us "not needing to exist at all anymore". Do you "need" to exist NOW ?.
I was tempted to say that you are wrong, that unemployment is a problem in general but not within CS, because I live a country with one of the crappier economy of Western Europe (Spain), with circa 20% employment and neither me nor any of my classmates from around Europe had problems finding CS jobs.
Then I searched for some data to back up my personal experience and found this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10477551
it sounds like the point of this is to limit greenhouse gas emissions
It is not. The point is to move those emissions outside the densely populated Paris.
BTW, you got a very good example of counter-productive regulation that I didn't think of. It reminds me of a history of the French government offering money for each rat captured in one of their colonies during a plague. Instead of eradicating the plague, it lead to rat-farming by natives.
Rome? c'mon in Rome you have real traffic lights and zebra crossings that people follow to *some* degree. Try Palermo or Napoli for a real taste of insanity driving!!
Totally agree, but reconverting all the industrial system is extremely difficult, whilst regulating the causes of smog in highly populated areas is relatively easy and may have dramatically positive effects, like the Clean Air Act passed in response to London's Great Smog of '52.
Besides, CO2 emissions, from cars or elsewhere, seems to be affecting the atmosphere and adding to the global warming, but it is NOT dangerous to breathe, unless in very high concentrations. CO, soot and other stuff is dangerous to breathe, but CO2 is not.
On the other hand, the people in office might say "hey, if we have nothing to hide, why should you?" and infringe on citizens' privacy on that basis
My employer can lawfully read my work email with no problem. If I tried to read his email I would get fired, if not sued.
Now it all depends on who you consider to be "the boss" and who "the employee" in the government/people relationship.
I'd also guess that the initial contact in either Spain or France is in English and only switches to the native language by mutual agreement between the pilot and the controller.
There are 6 ICAO languages (English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Russian, and Chinese). If the local language is an official ICAO language, it can be used as long as both the ATC and pilot speak the language (check this ATC communications from Madrid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fifHL4-6Vdk)
If the local language is not an ICAO language (like say Japanese) then ALL communications are in English.
Once you go international, the language for commercial aviation is English
If you flight from Buenos Aires to Madrid, you are not mandated to use English at any point.
Of course, many people (like me) think this may be dangerous, because it's always a good idea that ALL pilots can understand ALL communications in the airport. I read about some South American airports starting to use English all Wednesdays as a measure to get people used to all-English communications. So far I heard nothing similar being implemented here in Europe, and if I know my country and my neighbours, we won't be seeing that any time soon.
ALL of the air traffic controllers and commercial pilots communicate with each other in English
No they don't. At least not in France and Spain. They use their respective languages quite often (and English too, of course), even in big international airports like Madrid-Barajas. There are some examples on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvb5oCT_zmo&feature=related).
Of course, forcing all commercial pilots and ATCs into learning and using English would make a lot of sense, but in this moment that's not the case.
Try building a civilization without religion. So far every attempt has ended in Horrors far worse than any nuke unleashed to date
Citation needed. There are a few countries in Europe (plus NZ) where the majority of the population does not practice any religion, nor believe in any kind of god of spirit, and still manage to have a relatively (at least in comparison to some of their god-fearing neighbours) peaceful culture.
Besides, you fall into snobbery by declaring yourself agnostic and then state that, for whatever reason you fail to mention besides a reference to no less than "The Matrix", the rest of the society is not ready for taking that step.
Spain is the 2nd most restrictive country regarding the possession of firearms (according to wikipedia), and even there it is legal to have them in your house*. The problem comes with carrying them.
*Ok, not every kind of guns.
I agree with you that DoS can be against freedom of speech, but the fact that censorship is applied by the government makes a huge difference in several ways.
First, with censorship not only you are disallowed of using certain resource (like publishing a web or book), but you are also disallowed of *expressing* the idea in any way.
Then, the state has the monopoly of violence, and if you disobey a law they can ultimately use that violence on you ( by putting you in jail, for instance), while an unsuccessful DoS attacker can only resign him/herself.
really? so building an unshielded nuclear reactor should be OK just as long as it's kept in your own home?
Clearly there are limits to this principle. The trick is figuring out where they are.
In that case, the radiation won't be kept in your own home, so that's not a valid point.
But if you shield the thing right, you can for sure build your own nuclear reactor, in Spain or otherwise (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10385853)
Some people have hormonal disorders that makes them grow fat no matter what they eat. Of course, following your mentioned thermodinamics law they could just stop eating... at the expense of their health (or even life. Maybe you heard about something called anorexia). Not everybody can be thin, if people cannot see this, then they are not fighting fat, but reality.
I think that as long as the electric resistance of the human body is more or less constant, talking about current and voltage is quite equivalent in this case
Slashdot Mirror
You went too far mate
But if by engineer we mean "someone who is licenced", then we will need a new word for what engineering used to mean:
"The person who applies scientific and mathematic principles to design or develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes "
(of course there are many definitions, but this is the one I found most useful)
Or if you are arguing that only *Professional* Engineer might imply liscencing... then what am I? an amateur Engineer? I am not, because I get paid for my work (an therefore I am a professional), but still it would be cool because that way I could compete in the Summer Engineering Olympics.
if their simple programmers want to be called engineers
Of course! Civil engineers are inherently superior to *simple* programmers!
Look, I could not care less if we are called engineers or not. I never spent a minute on that stupid debate, and not planning on doing it now, but let me clarify something for you: our profession is anything but simple.
Software engineers/programmers/alchemists or whatever you want to call them created some of the most complex systems of the history of humankind, which you seem unable to understand.
Sure, you click-and-dragged some pictures into power point and created a presentation once, how hard is that? because that's basically what programmers do: click-and-dragging a "add friend" button, then a "i like it" button..... and facebook's done!! isn't it?
We are talking about automating an annoying process here (commuting), so you can do more productive things with your life. Nobody says we should automate tennis, handball, or rock concerts (actually, we pay to see the real thing, and not an automated copy -playback-).
Besides, I don't understand your point of us "not needing to exist at all anymore". Do you "need" to exist NOW ?.
Can't salaried people get pay rises in the US?
I was tempted to say that you are wrong, that unemployment is a problem in general but not within CS, because I live a country with one of the crappier economy of Western Europe (Spain), with circa 20% employment and neither me nor any of my classmates from around Europe had problems finding CS jobs.
Then I searched for some data to back up my personal experience and found this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10477551
Moral of the story: less anecdote, more data
Why would anyone want to tow a boat INTO Paris?????
it sounds like the point of this is to limit greenhouse gas emissions
It is not. The point is to move those emissions outside the densely populated Paris.
BTW, you got a very good example of counter-productive regulation that I didn't think of. It reminds me of a history of the French government offering money for each rat captured in one of their colonies during a plague. Instead of eradicating the plague, it lead to rat-farming by natives.
Rome? c'mon in Rome you have real traffic lights and zebra crossings that people follow to *some* degree. Try Palermo or Napoli for a real taste of insanity driving!!
Totally agree, but reconverting all the industrial system is extremely difficult, whilst regulating the causes of smog in highly populated areas is relatively easy and may have dramatically positive effects, like the Clean Air Act passed in response to London's Great Smog of '52.
Besides, CO2 emissions, from cars or elsewhere, seems to be affecting the atmosphere and adding to the global warming, but it is NOT dangerous to breathe, unless in very high concentrations. CO, soot and other stuff is dangerous to breathe, but CO2 is not.
Breathing CO2 is not harmful.
But breathing soot, CO, Nitrogen Oxides and other stuff typically found on exhaust gas is.
On the other hand, the people in office might say "hey, if we have nothing to hide, why should you?" and infringe on citizens' privacy on that basis
My employer can lawfully read my work email with no problem. If I tried to read his email I would get fired, if not sued.
Now it all depends on who you consider to be "the boss" and who "the employee" in the government/people relationship.
I'd also guess that the initial contact in either Spain or France is in English and only switches to the native language by mutual agreement between the pilot and the controller.
There are 6 ICAO languages (English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Russian, and Chinese). If the local language is an official ICAO language, it can be used as long as both the ATC and pilot speak the language (check this ATC communications from Madrid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fifHL4-6Vdk) If the local language is not an ICAO language (like say Japanese) then ALL communications are in English.
Once you go international, the language for commercial aviation is English
If you flight from Buenos Aires to Madrid, you are not mandated to use English at any point.
Of course, many people (like me) think this may be dangerous, because it's always a good idea that ALL pilots can understand ALL communications in the airport. I read about some South American airports starting to use English all Wednesdays as a measure to get people used to all-English communications. So far I heard nothing similar being implemented here in Europe, and if I know my country and my neighbours, we won't be seeing that any time soon.
ALL of the air traffic controllers and commercial pilots communicate with each other in English
No they don't. At least not in France and Spain. They use their respective languages quite often (and English too, of course), even in big international airports like Madrid-Barajas. There are some examples on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvb5oCT_zmo&feature=related).
Of course, forcing all commercial pilots and ATCs into learning and using English would make a lot of sense, but in this moment that's not the case.
In my county (Spain) it's even more draconian, because you have to pay the "Privacy Tax" even if file sharing has always been legal.
Interpol can only be activated against individuals that are international criminals - their crimes spawn country boundaries
That's what wikipedia says but I checked the provided sources (including Interpol's constitution) and I see no reference to that restriction.
Try building a civilization without religion. So far every attempt has ended in Horrors far worse than any nuke unleashed to date
Citation needed. There are a few countries in Europe (plus NZ) where the majority of the population does not practice any religion, nor believe in any kind of god of spirit, and still manage to have a relatively (at least in comparison to some of their god-fearing neighbours) peaceful culture.
Besides, you fall into snobbery by declaring yourself agnostic and then state that, for whatever reason you fail to mention besides a reference to no less than "The Matrix", the rest of the society is not ready for taking that step.
Spain is the 2nd most restrictive country regarding the possession of firearms (according to wikipedia), and even there it is legal to have them in your house*. The problem comes with carrying them. *Ok, not every kind of guns.
If you reach a point when you need guns to fight the government, then whether or not you have a permission to bear those arms makes no difference.
I agree with you that DoS can be against freedom of speech, but the fact that censorship is applied by the government makes a huge difference in several ways. First, with censorship not only you are disallowed of using certain resource (like publishing a web or book), but you are also disallowed of *expressing* the idea in any way. Then, the state has the monopoly of violence, and if you disobey a law they can ultimately use that violence on you ( by putting you in jail, for instance), while an unsuccessful DoS attacker can only resign him/herself.
And that's EXACTLY his point
really? so building an unshielded nuclear reactor should be OK just as long as it's kept in your own home?
Clearly there are limits to this principle. The trick is figuring out where they are.
In that case, the radiation won't be kept in your own home, so that's not a valid point. But if you shield the thing right, you can for sure build your own nuclear reactor, in Spain or otherwise (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10385853)
Some people have hormonal disorders that makes them grow fat no matter what they eat. Of course, following your mentioned thermodinamics law they could just stop eating... at the expense of their health (or even life. Maybe you heard about something called anorexia). Not everybody can be thin, if people cannot see this, then they are not fighting fat, but reality.
I think that as long as the electric resistance of the human body is more or less constant, talking about current and voltage is quite equivalent in this case
You must be joking!! people on Digg alway go off-topic and they never RTFA. Oh! wait....