My first coding job was at NIST (then NBS). I took code written by engineers, and made it usable by someone other than the engineer who wrote it.
In most cases the input UI consisted of a '?' prompt at which you were to enter a comma separated list of floating point numbers, and the output UI
consisted of a block of comma separated floating point numbers.
The more interesting part of the assignment was eliminating inputs that could be derived from other inputs. You would have thought that an engineer
would have done that without thinking about it - mostly not.
At one point I was driving a semi to make ends meet
while the IT scene was recovering (circa 2002/03 ish).
I stopped at some fast food joint in Minnesota. It took
me a while to realize that the lady behind the counter
actually was speaking English. She couldn't understand me
either.
What is this "in the most efficient manner possible" business?
Evolution proceeds from random mutations. Changes that make
survival long enough to reproduce more likely are passed on,
even if they do a piss poor job of it. If it kinda works it
sticks around. You call that efficient?
I cannot absolutely know that there is no Easter Bunny.
I can see about the same probability for the Easter Bunny and Sky Daddy
(or Zeus). I guess that makes me an agnostic. Kind of trivializes the
distinction between agnosticism and atheism.
Slashdot Mirror
I am leaving now. I will check in again on the 17th.
If the Beta is still on track to replace Slashdot 'classic'
I will leave for good.
Fuck the Beta.
I'm not!
I think you just refuted your own assertion.
Hal Clement The Nitrogen Fix
ISBN 0-441-58117-X
Yep. He is just as guilty as Rosa Parks.
Damn! I already spent my mod points.
Hmmm, if I remember correctly, Saul of Tarsus was a tax collector.
heh, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074205/
So, you're suggesting separate but equal? Where have I heard that before?
This gets my nomination for most universally applicable comment.
Ringworld
Hmm, I had the exact same thought, but about the 'religionists'.
My first coding job was at NIST (then NBS). I took code written by engineers, and made it usable by someone other than the engineer who wrote it. In most cases the input UI consisted of a '?' prompt at which you were to enter a comma separated list of floating point numbers, and the output UI consisted of a block of comma separated floating point numbers. The more interesting part of the assignment was eliminating inputs that could be derived from other inputs. You would have thought that an engineer would have done that without thinking about it - mostly not.
Maybe there wasn't enough space in the margin.
Neither do they.
So, are we talking Stuxnet, or Iocane powder?
At one point I was driving a semi to make ends meet
while the IT scene was recovering (circa 2002/03 ish).
I stopped at some fast food joint in Minnesota. It took
me a while to realize that the lady behind the counter
actually was speaking English. She couldn't understand me
either.
You don't need to go that far back
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_clergy_involvement_with_the_Ustase#Role_of_the_Vatican/
The "good" behavior of the Vatican, just like most institutions
is mostly based on what they believe they can get away with.
At least not lately...
Rosa Parks broke the law also.
For similar reasons.
"Balmer Boils Babies" I knew it! That rat bastard, I knew it!
"But in the end, they'll meet the same fate as the dinos."
They'll appear in a coloring book being ridden by Jesus?
What is this "in the most efficient manner possible" business?
Evolution proceeds from random mutations. Changes that make
survival long enough to reproduce more likely are passed on,
even if they do a piss poor job of it. If it kinda works it
sticks around. You call that efficient?
I cannot absolutely know that there is no Easter Bunny.
I can see about the same probability for the Easter Bunny and Sky Daddy
(or Zeus). I guess that makes me an agnostic. Kind of trivializes the
distinction between agnosticism and atheism.
"Act like a dumb shit and they will treat you as an equal"
-J. R. "Bob" Dobbs