At 10-12mph you're not really jogging so much as sprinting. Your average jogger cannot and does not keep up a pace of a 5-6 minute mile.
A 6 minute mile is nowhere near a sprint, and it's not unreasonable to see a fit person doing an 18 minute 3 mile "jog" around the block. It happens, and it's not unreasonable. I picked that pace for a reason. Why ban fit people from the sidewalk?
Yes, 10mph == 6 minute mile. And..12mph == 5 minute mile. And..14mph == 4.30 minute mile (4:20 roughtly.. not a sprint) And..15mph == 60 second quater mile (not a sprint) And..22.5mph == 10 second 100meters. That's a sprint.
The most effective way to cut pollution is to pollute less on our twice daily commutes by driving more efficient vehicles more often.
Actually, a much easier way would be to live closer to work. It think we should penalize people that have to drive more than 20 US miles to work in this country. Having a 4WD vehicle or an SUV is nearly neccessary sometimes in the US (think Michigan winters). If you live but 5 miles from work and drive a 1987 Chevy pickup w/ 4WD drive you're actually a better citizen than the tree-hugging-hippie that drives his electric/gas powered Honda 60 miles to work. On top of that, the 1987 pickup could almost be considered recycling, whereas the brand new Honda caused alot of pollution just to make, and you cause more damage on a daily basis than the above pickup driver.
I live 7 miles from work and I drive a Jetta that gets 26mp/g, so I'm the ultimate hippie if you really think about it. Though, 2 months ago I drove 110 miles every day to work and back in that Jetta -- so at the time I was the ultimate Earth Bashing Mother F-er out there I guess. But hey, I had a fuel efficient car!
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Sorry guys, but we haven't really been on Earth that long, and we certainly haven't been studying the Earth long enough to make a rational decision about how we're affecting it. Many will dispute me, I'm sure of that, but anybody that can lay down 2,000 years of recorded earth climate history in front of me and show me otherwise will convince that I'm wrong. You come short of that by 1,000 years of history and I'm sorry -- you have no case. Grab an "old geezer" that's 100 years old, they'll tell you that they've seen "weird shit' like our climate before in our life. It's a cycle. Get used to it.
I say burn up the fossil fuels as fast as we can -- ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Oil, to CO(2) and back to earth again. It all works out. The sooner we get off fossil fuels the better though -- I hate sucking down exhaust fumes on my commute to work now. That's the real danger if you ask me. Fuck the earth, I care about my lungs. Ever tried running on city sidewalks? It's hell on your lungs. The earth can deal with that -- I can't. When I'm halfway through a 10 mile run I don't want to suck in exhaust at a stop-sign... I want to be able to nab a drink from your tailpipe. That's what I want form hydrogen fuel call cars:)
Human corruption, not pollution, will be the end of the earth. Go ahead and drive your gas guzzling pollution machine. Just be a good person while you're at it. I'd much rather have a plethora of drivers in the world with 454 Chevy's in their cars who lead good lives and treated people with respect than Honda gas/electric drivers that had no morals.
Granted, this only resonates off the Jewish/Christian population, but hey, I'll stick my kneck out there this time. Do you -really- think it matters at the Pearly Gates if you drove a gas guzzler or a fuel efficient car? Think about it....
And if you're instinct is to flame me... well.. I hope you come around.
I can see bikes being forbidden from sidewalks -- they take up 4-5' of space and don't have a 0 foot stopping distance. On top of that, they're awkward -- they -can- fall over in the event of a near accident. I agree with that.
Walking human beings can stop in 0 feet, and don't typically fall over in an accident. When they do it's not a hazard really.
A runner on the other hand, or a jogger, trodding along at 10-12 mph doesn't have a 0 stopping distance either, but doesn't usually fall over if they try and halt before they hit somebody. The average stride of a good runner at a good clip will be 6 feet. A jogger will be closer to 4 feet, and it'll take 2.5 strides to really halt their momentum.
How does this compare to a Segway? Last I knew the bugger would halt within a foot or two from a 12mph speed and sure as shit not fall down. It seems safer than a jogger to me. Granted, the Segway + Human is going to average 70 lbs more than just the human, but is SF going to ban people that weight 200lbs from jogging above 10mph now?
Looks to me like a knee-jerk reaction, which is surprising coming from SF. Where I'm from (West Michigan) SF is known as a rather "liberal" area open to new ideas.
Oh well, I don't live there, and I have no intention of owning a Segway (Hello BMW motorcycle.. almost there).... so it's of no importance to me.
I just find it funny that a 200lbs 12mph Segway rider could be illegal, when a 200lb 12mph jogger is perfectly safe.
Do you ever go to work? Go out with friends? Buy groceries?
Of course, but I do not work at a CD shop, I do not hang out in CD shops, and I most certainly do not buy groceries from a CD shop. I have to go out of my way to purchase it. I can't reasonably expect to download a bag of groceries over HTTP -- but I -can- do that with music.
You *can* purhcase a complete album, and often singles from several online stores. You can also return the product if you're not happy with, often online or in store.
I sure can -- but I have to wait a few days before it gets here. What time I saved by buying it online from home is negated by the fact that it's not there right when I wanted it. The music industry has the ability to send their products to consumers faster than any other major industry out there. Movies are too large, so they can't do it -- but the time will come. I don't consider books to be in the same category, because having a real paper printed copy is of value. Burning a CD once I've got the media is rather trivial though, and it's every bit as useful as the one I'd get from a store.
In related news, jkcity writes: "according to this article by the BBC, the Chinese plan to have a man in space by October 2003."
Ya know... given that they invented black powder and have some pretty small people living there you'd have thought this would have happened already. Either by design or by accident.
There's really no reason for me to get into my car and make a 30 minute round trip to sample an album when I can feasibly do so in my own apartment and then purchase the album within 5 minutes. I used to live 30 minutes from the nearest record store (back in 1998). Back then it was more time-effectictive for me to download an MP3 than it was to drive to the store and buy it. Why would I pay money to be inconvienced?
Secondly -- if I sample the music and don't buy it then the -retailer- is picking up the cost of me being in their store rather than the entity that stands the most to gain from a possible purchase: The RIAA. They promote the music, let them use up their bandwidth to provide me samples of their artists songs. The retailler is their to retail, not to market.
Third -- If I could purchase an album entirely, or single tracks from my own apartment that alone would save me the 30 minute drive that I have to make even when I -DO- live in a major city. To me that 30 minutes is easily worth 5 dollars that I would spend in gas and hassle getting into town and back again. It's cost effective for me to go out and legally buy the artist I just heard on the radio from my own apartment, yet I cannot legally do it. It irks me to no end.
I've been saying since 1998 when I had to hunt down MP3s over FTP server indexing sytems that if I could just LEGALLY buy a track for.75cents a pop and get it from a reliable source I'd do it in a heartbet and on a regular basis. I still can't do that though, and there is -NO- good reason why. The RIAA may very well say that by offering digital media they'll only make it easier for people to pirate -- but guess what? Your digital consumers are already putting things into.OGG and.MP3 as soon as they get home. I sure as heck do. Do I share out across the 'net once I've got it in that format? No -- only to people I know that have interest in the music and may very well go out and buy the CD also.
As an aside: I've previously purchased every single one of the Smashing Pumpkins albums over the years. In fact, I've bought Siamese Dream at least twice. I don't have any of them in my posession now, yet I've got about 80% of them still left in MP3 from what I ripped them. I'm very tempted to go out and buy the whole collection again, but not when I know I'm getting ripped off at $18 a CD. Heck, I bought some of the originals for less than what I'd pay now.
I'm sorry, but this just gets my goat. The record industry insists that they're loosing business and it's just horrid what P2P is doing to them, and it's all piracy's fault.
Find me another mutli-billiion dollar a year industry that's NOT hurting in this day and age and I'll give you a cookie. On top of that, they're a non-essential industry! They should be hurting more than anybody else out there right now!
Okay, lets assume this is horrible to the record industry. The industry is just decimated by P2P right now for arguments sake -- who the hell do you know of right now that's been laid off by them and is hurting economically because of it? Anybody?
Lets step back into the world of -real- products with value right now. They're hurting... badly. I've seen Steelcase (a fortune 500 company recently) cut back their staff by large marks because of the economy. People aren't pirating office equipemnt, it's just a bad economy. There's rumors of a automotive parts manufacturer shutting down here too -- and that's not because of piracy. People still drive cars, and beleive it or not, they usually buy them. Yet, still, they're hurting. People are getting laid of from real jobs in real industries, yet these SOBs have the gaul to say that their sales are slumping and beleive that it's somebody else's problem that it's happening.
Bull... fucking...shit. Welcome to the real world, fellas. When people who make products people actually need are out of work you can sure as hell bet people that make things that noboby really needs are going to be hurting for money.
But I guess only "true professionals" should have a voice on the internet, right?
They can have their place... but don't expect my browser to render shitty code is all I'm asking for.
They can write all the slop they want -- but I'm pissed when I see major sites totally ignore standards and tell me that it works on Internet Explorer 6.0 and that my Mozilla 1.2.1 isn't good enough for them.
Show up, talk the talk and look like you belong there and people will tell you anything.
Another good trick, which I learned from a brother that drives truck in the spring, is to carry a clipboard and walk briskly to get wher're you're going, even if you don't know where to go. Just don't hesitate at turns, act like you know where you're going. Don't even slow down for a security, or anybody looking at you weird. If they say anything, just hold up the clipboard and say, "I gotta get this signed." or anything that seems reasonable. Works quite well when you don't want to wade through person after person trying to get your job done.
I used to pull something similar when doing a project at a manufacturing plant. You just walk right in, look straight ahead and don't slow down. Helps if you've got a cellphone too -- just pull it out and start talking before you walk in and keep the discussion about business, well the fake discussion. You can have alot of fun with this stuff.:)
Browsers that render bad sites badly are bad browsers.
Sites that don't render properly are bad sites.
Like it or not, HTML from 4.0 downwards was never properly defined,
I find that hard to beleive -- ever seen the HTML spec? It's pretty detailed in what is allowed and what isn't allowed. You shouldn't design your sites based upon browser-magic either. If there's no rule that says the results your getting are right, don't just assume you're right.
never properly rendered (by browsers),
Agreed.
never properly generated (by editors, perl scripts) and never properly written by human beings.
Whoop -- backup there. Sure, there's a lot of slop HTML out there but that doesn't mean it's the browser's fault!. Do we blame C compilers for not properly compiling syntax-error ridden code? Heck no.
If your browser doesn't handle these quirks then a fair proportion of the web will not render properly.
It's hard to say what's proper, isn't it? I mean, if the code doesn't specificaly say how the site supposed to look, and there's no 3rd party standard out there to reference against the best you can do is try and read the mind of every nutjob out there that declared themselves an HTML expert.
...which don't render because there is no DOCTYPE or because the site puts the wrong tag inside another tag, or where the JS document.writes an infinite number of nested IFRAMEs.
So, when there's no DOCTYPE what should the browser do? Email the webmaster and ask them what they wanted the site to look like? Again, with no 3rd party reference you have NO idea what they wanted the site to look like. HTML/CSS tells the browser what to show and where to put it and how to put it there. If they can't use the language properly to communicate their desires it is -IMPOSSIBLE- to be sure you're rendering the right thing.
I yearn for the day when web development is actually done by true professionals.
IMHO, states should think about eliminating unnecessary government programs instead of looking for more revenue. That's the best in the long run. It ensures a fiscially responsible government that isn't bloated.
Then vote Libertian whenever you can, and encourage others to do so.
OK, this takes care of the terminal in my powder room. How about the rest of the network? Maybe I could have a toilet installed in my office. Come to think of it that's not such a bad idea...
I learned something from a Penn & Teller show a year or so ago. You only need a sink or a urinal in your office -- not both.
Ehm.. if you're on a Sun keyboard. PC (and I think mac) put it on the top left -- next to the 1 key.
Erhm... that's probably why they're NOT in CS.
on
Girls not Going into CS
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· Score: 5, Insightful
Girls statistically outperform boys overall in grade school and make up 57% of college graduates,
I'd imagine the majority of the CS crowd were fairly high performers in school, but I honestly don't see too many of them being validictorians and such. They tend to put doing exciting activies above their studies NOT related to computer science. We're typically not a well rounded bunch when it comes to academics. Personally my home libary is greatly biased because of this. I've got books one:
Computer tech books.
Physics (Einstein, Hawkings, etc.)
Religion (Judiasm, Christianity and Islam).
The ratio to tech books to other is 5:1, if not more lopsided too. Face is, CS people tend to only ever concentrate at one thing at a given time. Women just aren't wired this way, which is why hanging out with "CS creeps" doesn't appeal to many of them.
Just my two cents anyway. My last job had 3 women in a company of about 16. One was a programmmer, the other to were hired as programmers but moved into management positions because they got so sick of programming. My current job has erhm... 2 women out of 25 in technical positions. It's just a different type of person that likes to do this stuff, and women don't find it appealing. Fine by me.
Re:Slashdot effect (the good, bad, and the FAQ)
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Barcode-Controlled Home?
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· Score: 1, Offtopic
For the record, I've had news sites (e.g. MSNBC) do a story that involved some piece of content on my site, and generally, they ask my permission first, checking that I'm OK with it and that my servers can handle it. If they can take a few moments to do this, surely Slashdot can as well.
MSNBC has some semblence of journalistic integrity too... I'd imagine they actually do a -bit- of research before posting their stories. We all know Slashdot doesn't. Why would Slashdot take a courtesy clue from them?
Editors: 'Cmon, you're from West Michigan, not NYC! Have a little bit of courtsey and start using some common sense here. Yes, I've read the FAQ many times. No, it doesn't make s single bit of friggen sense, especially now that Google does exactly what you're saying is bad.
...and Steve the "Dude" guy of Dell fame to market this 'innovative' (heh) new technology. Could you imagine how amazing that marketing campaign would be?
I don't think anyone out there goes "I only know C, I don't use C++ because
I'm wary of anybody that says they "know" a language. I'm also wary of anybody looking to hire me that wants me to "know" a language.
I don't have a single language in my arsenal that I -really- know. Which means i probably know more about them than the people that -say- they know them. Last time I looked at the 3rd edition of The C++ Programming Language Bjarne himself states that he doesn't consider himself an expert in C++. He learned a lot about how to use the language when writing the book -- other people now knew more about C++ than he did.
I try and get this point across when interviewing and such. "No, I don't consider myself an expert in X but I can honestly tell you that there's a good chance I've got a better handle on it than most people who would dare say they're actually an expert." Seems to go over well -- I start Monday:).
The funniest language to really poke at here is HTML -- it's simple compared to an actual programming language. I once actually dared say I -knew- HTML when I was still in college. As I learned more about XML and markup languages in general, it dawned on me that I still didn't get HTML. So, I'm still learning that one 5 years later.
If you're out there thinking you know HTML -- go grab the spec from www.w3c.org for HTML 4.01, jam 400+ pages of paper in your printer and print it out. I see people that are HTML "experts" doing:
<table.....> <form....>
And then VB experts: If (objDatabase Is not Null and objDataBase.NoErrors()) Then...
E-gads brain.
Re:Maybe if teachers worked with technology instea
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Professors vs. WiFi
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· Score: 2
What a stupid idea, a teacher using IM *in class.* They're in the same room, they should talk! I can concoct scenarios in which that's not stupid but they almost never happen in real life.
I can think of time when having IM software in the classroom would have been great. I once had a professor in an algorithms and data structures class that had a function that went something like this:
int something(int data, int &counter) {
*counter++;// do something with data
something(data, counter); }
My C is shoddy, as it's been a while, but something along those lines. I proposed:
int something(data) {
static int counter = 0;
counter++;// do stuff
something(data); }
I actually spent 2-3 minutes trying to get the idea across that I thought it'd be better not to pollute the stack with a 4 byte pointer everytime, but the professor disagreed -- however he had no reason to disagree, he just said I was wrong. I honestly think it's because I didn't have the opportunity to just -write- the code down for him to see. He wasn't a native English speaker, and it was horribly hard to communicate with him sometimes, but we all spoke code well. Yes, I could write it on the board, but doing that with code in front of class is cumbersome, as you have to walk up, take the time to write nice, etc.
Another possible use: no more waiting your turn to ask a question. You could IM the professor right in the middle of what he's saying, provdided you can still -listen- while typing, and send the question up to him. They can then handle it whenever they feel like it, or ignore it entirely if they know they'll be answering it a bit later on. Less interruption to the class in general, IMHO, and the prof could have a recorded log of things that students asked during the lecture, which may be of use the next time around as they can structure things differently if they notice pattern.
Also, we shouldn't discount student to student interaction behind the professor's back so to speak. There are times, when I know people in classes very well, and they know how I think. For them to be able to shoot notes back and forth quickly can be a good thing, so long as neither is too distracted to keep paying attention go the lecture. I'll never forget when sigma notation was being taught to me in highschool and I just didn't get it... guy sitting next to me could tell that, so he just leaned over and whispered "it's a for loop." Bonk! The light went on and the rest of the class made more sense to me.
I could see it being useful... but then again, I IM people just a couple of cubicles away:).
Re:So professors get paid just to show up
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Professors vs. WiFi
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· Score: 2
You want to make a boring course like C programming fun? Find someone who can speak REALLY well, not someone from india with an accent. Find someone who can communicate the basics of programming but in a unique way, complete with jokes, and very detailed explainations including visual.
Bravo! I consider the ability to joke with your class and keep them involved by pulling the subject back into the real world and to their previous experiences the mark of a really good professor. They're not there to profess the book back to me verbatim -- they're there to profess -their- knowledge and -their- experience; the book's there to supplement that and works as a nice recorded series of facts to assist in getting a more complete picture of the subject area.
One of the best professors I've ever had would typically give 1 or 2 stories from previous jobs in each class. Usually they were funny too -- he had a great sense of humor. I've even created my own rule of software design from one of his stories and named it after him. "The Jorgensen Rule". Here's the story:
He was working on a team that designed ATM machines, and they had the thing down rock solid. Diagramed every possible event out with state machines (as that was the topic at hand), nailed down every possible outcome and had a routine to handle it. This was quite some time ago mind you. They were deployed in Germany from what I remember, and only once did the thing actually crash.
The engineers were baffled, how the hell did somebody crash their prefectly coded ATM machine? What could they have possibly done to throw it into an unvrecoverable error state?
Some drunk guy stuck a McDonald's fish sandwich into the "deposit" slot instead of his envelope. Well, the engineers never quite thought of that one. So, Jorgensen's rule: You can make it fool proof -- but you can't make it damn fool proof.
For the record I pretty much failed the class. The subject matter was really frustrating for me, and I still consider it a rather flakey area of software design (visual diagrams). I'm glad I got a cursory knowledge of the subject, but just never got into it enough to make it seem really imporant to me. I do wish I had done better on some of my assignments though -- I turned in some really really shoddy stuff that I'm still embarassed about to this day.
If by "kit" you mean those "Mr. Brew" things you can find in most stores, don't bother -- that beer is terrible. Instead, find your local brewery supply store and get the proper items. If, on the other hand, you mean a "kit" from your local brewery supplier that includes the necessary items you need for brewing, then great. My roommate made a batch of homebrew earlier in December, turned out really good.
Nah.. I got the real deal. I helped a buddy do a Mr. Brew thing because he's not too quick on the uptake with reading directions and sterilization, but I went out and got the real deal. Four gallon pot for boiling wort, 2 6.5 gallon buckets, one for fermentation and one for bottling, bottle capper, hydrometer, proper thermometer, siphon tubing, etc.
It'll be a week and a half before the first batch is done, but damn do I have fun watching the little CO2 bubbles coming out of the airlock:)
I can't stand reading pages with dozens of animated gifs all going off at the same time. ugh.:-)
Ugh... I know what you mean. I end up on sites sometimes with articles surrounded by flash advertisements too close to the content. I've resorted to sticking post-it notes on my screen to block the darned things out while I try and read.
Head to www.activepdf.com for an example of something -not- to do. They need to whack their flash monkey upside the head with a baseball bat.
Slashdot Mirror
At 10-12mph you're not really jogging so much as sprinting. Your average jogger cannot and does not keep up a pace of a 5-6 minute mile.
A 6 minute mile is nowhere near a sprint, and it's not unreasonable to see a fit person doing an 18 minute 3 mile "jog" around the block. It happens, and it's not unreasonable. I picked that pace for a reason. Why ban fit people from the sidewalk?
Yes, 10mph == 6 minute mile.
And..12mph == 5 minute mile.
And..14mph == 4.30 minute mile (4:20 roughtly.. not a sprint)
And..15mph == 60 second quater mile (not a sprint)
And..22.5mph == 10 second 100meters. That's a sprint.
The most effective way to cut pollution is to pollute less on our twice daily commutes by driving more efficient vehicles more often.
:)
... well .. I hope you come around.
Actually, a much easier way would be to live closer to work. It think we should penalize people that have to drive more than 20 US miles to work in this country. Having a 4WD vehicle or an SUV is nearly neccessary sometimes in the US (think Michigan winters). If you live but 5 miles from work and drive a 1987 Chevy pickup w/ 4WD drive you're actually a better citizen than the tree-hugging-hippie that drives his electric/gas powered Honda 60 miles to work. On top of that, the 1987 pickup could almost be considered recycling, whereas the brand new Honda caused alot of pollution just to make, and you cause more damage on a daily basis than the above pickup driver.
I live 7 miles from work and I drive a Jetta that gets 26mp/g, so I'm the ultimate hippie if you really think about it. Though, 2 months ago I drove 110 miles every day to work and back in that Jetta -- so at the time I was the ultimate Earth Bashing Mother F-er out there I guess. But hey, I had a fuel efficient car!
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Sorry guys, but we haven't really been on Earth that long, and we certainly haven't been studying the Earth long enough to make a rational decision about how we're affecting it. Many will dispute me, I'm sure of that, but anybody that can lay down 2,000 years of recorded earth climate history in front of me and show me otherwise will convince that I'm wrong. You come short of that by 1,000 years of history and I'm sorry -- you have no case. Grab an "old geezer" that's 100 years old, they'll tell you that they've seen "weird shit' like our climate before in our life. It's a cycle. Get used to it.
I say burn up the fossil fuels as fast as we can -- ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Oil, to CO(2) and back to earth again. It all works out. The sooner we get off fossil fuels the better though -- I hate sucking down exhaust fumes on my commute to work now. That's the real danger if you ask me. Fuck the earth, I care about my lungs. Ever tried running on city sidewalks? It's hell on your lungs. The earth can deal with that -- I can't. When I'm halfway through a 10 mile run I don't want to suck in exhaust at a stop-sign... I want to be able to nab a drink from your tailpipe. That's what I want form hydrogen fuel call cars
Human corruption, not pollution, will be the end of the earth. Go ahead and drive your gas guzzling pollution machine. Just be a good person while you're at it. I'd much rather have a plethora of drivers in the world with 454 Chevy's in their cars who lead good lives and treated people with respect than Honda gas/electric drivers that had no morals.
Granted, this only resonates off the Jewish/Christian population, but hey, I'll stick my kneck out there this time. Do you -really- think it matters at the Pearly Gates if you drove a gas guzzler or a fuel efficient car? Think about it....
And if you're instinct is to flame me
I can see bikes being forbidden from sidewalks -- they take up 4-5' of space and don't have a 0 foot stopping distance. On top of that, they're awkward -- they -can- fall over in the event of a near accident. I agree with that.
Walking human beings can stop in 0 feet, and don't typically fall over in an accident. When they do it's not a hazard really.
A runner on the other hand, or a jogger, trodding along at 10-12 mph doesn't have a 0 stopping distance either, but doesn't usually fall over if they try and halt before they hit somebody. The average stride of a good runner at a good clip will be 6 feet. A jogger will be closer to 4 feet, and it'll take 2.5 strides to really halt their momentum.
How does this compare to a Segway? Last I knew the bugger would halt within a foot or two from a 12mph speed and sure as shit not fall down. It seems safer than a jogger to me. Granted, the Segway + Human is going to average 70 lbs more than just the human, but is SF going to ban people that weight 200lbs from jogging above 10mph now?
Looks to me like a knee-jerk reaction, which is surprising coming from SF. Where I'm from (West Michigan) SF is known as a rather "liberal" area open to new ideas.
Oh well, I don't live there, and I have no intention of owning a Segway (Hello BMW motorcycle.. almost there).... so it's of no importance to me.
I just find it funny that a 200lbs 12mph Segway rider could be illegal, when a 200lb 12mph jogger is perfectly safe.
Do you ever go to work? Go out with friends? Buy groceries?
Of course, but I do not work at a CD shop, I do not hang out in CD shops, and I most certainly do not buy groceries from a CD shop. I have to go out of my way to purchase it. I can't reasonably expect to download a bag of groceries over HTTP -- but I -can- do that with music.
You *can* purhcase a complete album, and often singles from several online stores. You can also return the product if you're not happy with, often online or in store.
I sure can -- but I have to wait a few days before it gets here. What time I saved by buying it online from home is negated by the fact that it's not there right when I wanted it. The music industry has the ability to send their products to consumers faster than any other major industry out there. Movies are too large, so they can't do it -- but the time will come. I don't consider books to be in the same category, because having a real paper printed copy is of value. Burning a CD once I've got the media is rather trivial though, and it's every bit as useful as the one I'd get from a store.
Unless they've lost control of the windows name themselves,
MS's naming schemes really get to me.
First, they have an OS that displays windows on your screen. They call it Windows.
They make a program to manage your money, and it's called Money.
They make a SQL database server, and they call it SQL Server.
They make a program that plays media, and it's called Media Player.
I'm sure there are more examples too -- just ones I can think of off the top of my head. Ever had this discussion when your fellow IT workers before?
"What are they using for a database?"
"A sql server."
"Which one?"
"SQL Server.... you know, from MS."
"Oh."
Give me names like Informix, Postgres, and Oracle any day.
Justin Buist
In related news, jkcity writes: "according to this article by the BBC, the Chinese plan to have a man in space by October 2003."
Ya know... given that they invented black powder and have some pretty small people living there you'd have thought this would have happened already. Either by design or by accident.
See my comment about walking into a "store".
.75cents a pop and get it from a reliable source I'd do it in a heartbet and on a regular basis. I still can't do that though, and there is -NO- good reason why. The RIAA may very well say that by offering digital media they'll only make it easier for people to pirate -- but guess what? Your digital consumers are already putting things into .OGG and .MP3 as soon as they get home. I sure as heck do. Do I share out across the 'net once I've got it in that format? No -- only to people I know that have interest in the music and may very well go out and buy the CD also.
There's really no reason for me to get into my car and make a 30 minute round trip to sample an album when I can feasibly do so in my own apartment and then purchase the album within 5 minutes. I used to live 30 minutes from the nearest record store (back in 1998). Back then it was more time-effectictive for me to download an MP3 than it was to drive to the store and buy it. Why would I pay money to be inconvienced?
Secondly -- if I sample the music and don't buy it then the -retailer- is picking up the cost of me being in their store rather than the entity that stands the most to gain from a possible purchase: The RIAA. They promote the music, let them use up their bandwidth to provide me samples of their artists songs. The retailler is their to retail, not to market.
Third -- If I could purchase an album entirely, or single tracks from my own apartment that alone would save me the 30 minute drive that I have to make even when I -DO- live in a major city. To me that 30 minutes is easily worth 5 dollars that I would spend in gas and hassle getting into town and back again. It's cost effective for me to go out and legally buy the artist I just heard on the radio from my own apartment, yet I cannot legally do it. It irks me to no end.
I've been saying since 1998 when I had to hunt down MP3s over FTP server indexing sytems that if I could just LEGALLY buy a track for
As an aside: I've previously purchased every single one of the Smashing Pumpkins albums over the years. In fact, I've bought Siamese Dream at least twice. I don't have any of them in my posession now, yet I've got about 80% of them still left in MP3 from what I ripped them. I'm very tempted to go out and buy the whole collection again, but not when I know I'm getting ripped off at $18 a CD. Heck, I bought some of the originals for less than what I'd pay now.
Such is life.
I'm sorry, but this just gets my goat. The record industry insists that they're loosing business and it's just horrid what P2P is doing to them, and it's all piracy's fault.
Find me another mutli-billiion dollar a year industry that's NOT hurting in this day and age and I'll give you a cookie. On top of that, they're a non-essential industry! They should be hurting more than anybody else out there right now!
Okay, lets assume this is horrible to the record industry. The industry is just decimated by P2P right now for arguments sake -- who the hell do you know of right now that's been laid off by them and is hurting economically because of it? Anybody?
Lets step back into the world of -real- products with value right now. They're hurting... badly. I've seen Steelcase (a fortune 500 company recently) cut back their staff by large marks because of the economy. People aren't pirating office equipemnt, it's just a bad economy. There's rumors of a automotive parts manufacturer shutting down here too -- and that's not because of piracy. People still drive cars, and beleive it or not, they usually buy them. Yet, still, they're hurting. People are getting laid of from real jobs in real industries, yet these SOBs have the gaul to say that their sales are slumping and beleive that it's somebody else's problem that it's happening.
Bull... fucking...shit. Welcome to the real world, fellas. When people who make products people actually need are out of work you can sure as hell bet people that make things that noboby really needs are going to be hurting for money.
A computer doesn't have a bad day. A computer does not come to work drunk,
:)
You've never worked in software development, have you?
But I guess only "true professionals" should have a voice on the internet, right?
They can have their place... but don't expect my browser to render shitty code is all I'm asking for.
They can write all the slop they want -- but I'm pissed when I see major sites totally ignore standards and tell me that it works on Internet Explorer 6.0 and that my Mozilla 1.2.1 isn't good enough for them.
Show up, talk the talk and look like you belong there and people will tell you anything.
:)
Another good trick, which I learned from a brother that drives truck in the spring, is to carry a clipboard and walk briskly to get wher're you're going, even if you don't know where to go. Just don't hesitate at turns, act like you know where you're going. Don't even slow down for a security, or anybody looking at you weird. If they say anything, just hold up the clipboard and say, "I gotta get this signed." or anything that seems reasonable. Works quite well when you don't want to wade through person after person trying to get your job done.
I used to pull something similar when doing a project at a manufacturing plant. You just walk right in, look straight ahead and don't slow down. Helps if you've got a cellphone too -- just pull it out and start talking before you walk in and keep the discussion about business, well the fake discussion. You can have alot of fun with this stuff.
Browsers that render bad sites badly are bad browsers.
...which don't render because there is no DOCTYPE or because the site puts the wrong tag inside another tag, or where the JS document.writes an infinite number of nested IFRAMEs.
Sites that don't render properly are bad sites.
Like it or not, HTML from 4.0 downwards was never properly defined,
I find that hard to beleive -- ever seen the HTML spec? It's pretty detailed in what is allowed and what isn't allowed. You shouldn't design your sites based upon browser-magic either. If there's no rule that says the results your getting are right, don't just assume you're right.
never properly rendered (by browsers),
Agreed.
never properly generated (by editors, perl scripts) and never properly written by human beings.
Whoop -- backup there. Sure, there's a lot of slop HTML out there but that doesn't mean it's the browser's fault!. Do we blame C compilers for not properly compiling syntax-error ridden code? Heck no.
If your browser doesn't handle these quirks then a fair proportion of the web will not render properly.
It's hard to say what's proper, isn't it? I mean, if the code doesn't specificaly say how the site supposed to look, and there's no 3rd party standard out there to reference against the best you can do is try and read the mind of every nutjob out there that declared themselves an HTML expert.
So, when there's no DOCTYPE what should the browser do? Email the webmaster and ask them what they wanted the site to look like? Again, with no 3rd party reference you have NO idea what they wanted the site to look like. HTML/CSS tells the browser what to show and where to put it and how to put it there. If they can't use the language properly to communicate their desires it is -IMPOSSIBLE- to be sure you're rendering the right thing.
I yearn for the day when web development is actually done by true professionals.
IMHO, states should think about eliminating unnecessary government programs instead of looking for more revenue. That's the best in the long run. It ensures a fiscially responsible government that isn't bloated.
Then vote Libertian whenever you can, and encourage others to do so.
OK, this takes care of the terminal in my powder room. How about the rest of the network? Maybe I could have a toilet installed in my office. Come to think of it that's not such a bad idea...
I learned something from a Penn & Teller show a year or so ago. You only need a sink or a urinal in your office -- not both.
` - with ~ at the top right and
Ehm.. if you're on a Sun keyboard. PC (and I think mac) put it on the top left -- next to the 1 key.
I'd imagine the majority of the CS crowd were fairly high performers in school, but I honestly don't see too many of them being validictorians and such. They tend to put doing exciting activies above their studies NOT related to computer science. We're typically not a well rounded bunch when it comes to academics. Personally my home libary is greatly biased because of this. I've got books one:
The ratio to tech books to other is 5:1, if not more lopsided too. Face is, CS people tend to only ever concentrate at one thing at a given time. Women just aren't wired this way, which is why hanging out with "CS creeps" doesn't appeal to many of them.
Just my two cents anyway. My last job had 3 women in a company of about 16. One was a programmmer, the other to were hired as programmers but moved into management positions because they got so sick of programming. My current job has erhm... 2 women out of 25 in technical positions. It's just a different type of person that likes to do this stuff, and women don't find it appealing. Fine by me.
For the record, I've had news sites (e.g. MSNBC) do a story that involved some piece of content on my site, and generally, they ask my permission first, checking that I'm OK with it and that my servers can handle it. If they can take a few moments to do this, surely Slashdot can as well.
MSNBC has some semblence of journalistic integrity too... I'd imagine they actually do a -bit- of research before posting their stories. We all know Slashdot doesn't. Why would Slashdot take a courtesy clue from them?
Editors: 'Cmon, you're from West Michigan, not NYC! Have a little bit of courtsey and start using some common sense here. Yes, I've read the FAQ many times. No, it doesn't make s single bit of friggen sense, especially now that Google does exactly what you're saying is bad.
Crikey.
...and Steve the "Dude" guy of Dell fame to market this 'innovative' (heh) new technology. Could you imagine how amazing that marketing campaign would be?
Yeah.
Dude, you're getting screwed...
I don't think anyone out there goes "I only know C, I don't use C++ because
:).
.....> ....>
...
I'm wary of anybody that says they "know" a language. I'm also wary of anybody looking to hire me that wants me to "know" a language.
I don't have a single language in my arsenal that I -really- know. Which means i probably know more about them than the people that -say- they know them. Last time I looked at the 3rd edition of The C++ Programming Language Bjarne himself states that he doesn't consider himself an expert in C++. He learned a lot about how to use the language when writing the book -- other people now knew more about C++ than he did.
I try and get this point across when interviewing and such. "No, I don't consider myself an expert in X but I can honestly tell you that there's a good chance I've got a better handle on it than most people who would dare say they're actually an expert." Seems to go over well -- I start Monday
The funniest language to really poke at here is HTML -- it's simple compared to an actual programming language. I once actually dared say I -knew- HTML when I was still in college. As I learned more about XML and markup languages in general, it dawned on me that I still didn't get HTML. So, I'm still learning that one 5 years later.
If you're out there thinking you know HTML -- go grab the spec from www.w3c.org for HTML 4.01, jam 400+ pages of paper in your printer and print it out. I see people that are HTML "experts" doing:
<table
<form
And then VB experts:
If (objDatabase Is not Null and objDataBase.NoErrors()) Then
E-gads brain.
What a stupid idea, a teacher using IM *in class.* They're in the same room, they should talk! I can concoct scenarios in which that's not stupid but they almost never happen in real life.
// do something with data
// do stuff
... guy sitting next to me could tell that, so he just leaned over and whispered "it's a for loop." Bonk! The light went on and the rest of the class made more sense to me.
:).
I can think of time when having IM software in the classroom would have been great. I once had a professor in an algorithms and data structures class that had a function that went something like this:
int something(int data, int &counter)
{
*counter++;
something(data, counter);
}
My C is shoddy, as it's been a while, but something along those lines. I proposed:
int something(data)
{
static int counter = 0;
counter++;
something(data);
}
I actually spent 2-3 minutes trying to get the idea across that I thought it'd be better not to pollute the stack with a 4 byte pointer everytime, but the professor disagreed -- however he had no reason to disagree, he just said I was wrong. I honestly think it's because I didn't have the opportunity to just -write- the code down for him to see. He wasn't a native English speaker, and it was horribly hard to communicate with him sometimes, but we all spoke code well. Yes, I could write it on the board, but doing that with code in front of class is cumbersome, as you have to walk up, take the time to write nice, etc.
Another possible use: no more waiting your turn to ask a question. You could IM the professor right in the middle of what he's saying, provdided you can still -listen- while typing, and send the question up to him. They can then handle it whenever they feel like it, or ignore it entirely if they know they'll be answering it a bit later on. Less interruption to the class in general, IMHO, and the prof could have a recorded log of things that students asked during the lecture, which may be of use the next time around as they can structure things differently if they notice pattern.
Also, we shouldn't discount student to student interaction behind the professor's back so to speak. There are times, when I know people in classes very well, and they know how I think. For them to be able to shoot notes back and forth quickly can be a good thing, so long as neither is too distracted to keep paying attention go the lecture. I'll never forget when sigma notation was being taught to me in highschool and I just didn't get it
I could see it being useful... but then again, I IM people just a couple of cubicles away
You want to make a boring course like C programming fun? Find someone who can speak REALLY well, not someone from india with an accent.
Find someone who can communicate the basics of programming but in a unique way, complete with jokes, and very detailed explainations including visual.
Bravo! I consider the ability to joke with your class and keep them involved by pulling the subject back into the real world and to their previous experiences the mark of a really good professor. They're not there to profess the book back to me verbatim -- they're there to profess -their- knowledge and -their- experience; the book's there to supplement that and works as a nice recorded series of facts to assist in getting a more complete picture of the subject area.
One of the best professors I've ever had would typically give 1 or 2 stories from previous jobs in each class. Usually they were funny too -- he had a great sense of humor. I've even created my own rule of software design from one of his stories and named it after him. "The Jorgensen Rule". Here's the story:
He was working on a team that designed ATM machines, and they had the thing down rock solid. Diagramed every possible event out with state machines (as that was the topic at hand), nailed down every possible outcome and had a routine to handle it. This was quite some time ago mind you. They were deployed in Germany from what I remember, and only once did the thing actually crash.
The engineers were baffled, how the hell did somebody crash their prefectly coded ATM machine? What could they have possibly done to throw it into an unvrecoverable error state?
Some drunk guy stuck a McDonald's fish sandwich into the "deposit" slot instead of his envelope. Well, the engineers never quite thought of that one. So, Jorgensen's rule: You can make it fool proof -- but you can't make it damn fool proof.
For the record I pretty much failed the class. The subject matter was really frustrating for me, and I still consider it a rather flakey area of software design (visual diagrams). I'm glad I got a cursory knowledge of the subject, but just never got into it enough to make it seem really imporant to me. I do wish I had done better on some of my assignments though -- I turned in some really really shoddy stuff that I'm still embarassed about to this day.
Justin Buist
If by "kit" you mean those "Mr. Brew" things you can find in most stores, don't bother -- that beer is terrible. Instead, find your local brewery supply store and get the proper items. If, on the other hand, you mean a "kit" from your local brewery supplier that includes the necessary items you need for brewing, then great. My roommate made a batch of homebrew earlier in December, turned out really good.
:)
Nah.. I got the real deal. I helped a buddy do a Mr. Brew thing because he's not too quick on the uptake with reading directions and sterilization, but I went out and got the real deal. Four gallon pot for boiling wort, 2 6.5 gallon buckets, one for fermentation and one for bottling, bottle capper, hydrometer, proper thermometer, siphon tubing, etc.
It'll be a week and a half before the first batch is done, but damn do I have fun watching the little CO2 bubbles coming out of the airlock
It's actually a little bit of biology mixed in with a bit of chemistry; but it's really fun to play with.
:) I could entertain myself for hours with this thing.
It's a home-brew kit for making my own beer
In other light I know of schools and many other instutions switching to MS bassed mail systems due to ease of maintence
Bwaaaaaaaaaahahahahah! Hah!
They'll be back once Exchange hoses up all their data. They will be back.
I can't stand reading pages with dozens of animated gifs all going off at the same time. ugh. :-)
Ugh... I know what you mean. I end up on sites sometimes with articles surrounded by flash advertisements too close to the content. I've resorted to sticking post-it notes on my screen to block the darned things out while I try and read.
Head to www.activepdf.com for an example of something -not- to do. They need to whack their flash monkey upside the head with a baseball bat.