The Electoral College is there for the stated reason that, it makes less likely that the large cities will always control the elections.
There is also a second reason, proved mathematically about a decade ago, that individual voters have more power in elections that have intermediate groups, such as states or counties. In a full popular election individual voters have much less chance of being able to swing an election one way or the other. Look it up...
Also, a full pure democracy is not the best thing, see the thing called "The Tyranny of the Majority".
(If you really want to know how to fix things, see "Approval Voting" ! )
(Same with consumers. We moan, bitch, and complain about the poor quality of the cheap item we bought and then go out and... buy the cheapest one again.)
A better way is to find out the range in prices and pick one from the middle. Never buy cheap -or- expensive! Works for me... 8-)
Stuff like adherence to Geneva Convention: nuclear bombing a city (with "small" 2kt nuclear weapons), purposefully attacking civilian infrastructure to intimidate the population, that sort of thing. And right at the beginning of the book.
So just like WWII then.
Yes. But we are supposed to be OK with that. And I am not OK with that.
The characters in the book were ok with it. The citizens in WWII were ok with it. You are not one of the characters in the book.
... I actually re-read the portion describing it and they DO restrict rights to those who served in the Federal Service. Though the book does state that most servicemen (as in most real armies) do not see any combat....
In the book, "Federal Service" includes many things besides Military. What we call First Responders, things like Forest FireWatch, Space exploration, Disaster Rescue, many things that most don't want to do but has to be done.
Keep in mind that a -lot- of respected people say -anything- that's new will fail, because they know that the words will be forgotten if it succeeds and remembered if it does fail. It gets them a fake reputation for predicting the future, but that doesn't make it a good idea to listen to them. 8-)
There are reports that Amazon has been mixing products in their warehouse bins, if they have the same part number, even if they belong to different sellers. That might be ok if the products are actually identical, but if "pirate" materials get sent by one seller, they could be sold to customers from other sellers.
In other words, if fakes get into their warehouse it could get into anyones sales. So buying from reliable sellers is no protection.
I think mixing products from different sellers that way is criminal?
This is common everywhere: how to capture specific domain knowledge? And remember, it's a two-way process. The knowledge of the current expert has to be recorded in some way, and then, the new guy has to be trained to the intricacies of the previous procedure....
The place that records the previous expert's knowledge is called "Source Code". Destroy that and you will start as an ignorant beginner. 8-)
It's actually worse than that. If there's a problem with the hardware, i.e. it's known to be failing to do what it's supposed to, it's the software people who're tasked with making a "workaround", i.e. frigging their own code to correct the error rather than the (often more expensive) hardware mod. I've got so many software projects behind me with hacks for hardware bugs you wouldn't believe. "isn't that what software is for?" is the inevitable bollocks you get from hardware engineers when confronted with the problem.
Detecting when the hardware fails -is- part of the software's job. Industrial software does this routinely. Why can't aerospace software?
But launching with known-bad hardware is criminal... 8-P
One problem with working from home could be that others in your household might assume that you'll be able to take care of all house-related matters/chores, etc., since "you are there anyway"...
Working at home requires a room with a door, just as much as at the office. And it helps to explain that if no work, no food! 8-)
They might have had temperature swings imposed from outside. Could these phones have been regularly left in the windshield of a car in the summer sun? That might do it. But only if the solder joints were weaker than the ones I have worked with...
Slashdot Mirror
The Electoral College is there for the stated reason that, it makes less likely that the large cities will always control the elections.
There is also a second reason, proved mathematically about a decade ago, that individual voters have more power in elections that have intermediate groups, such as states or counties. In a full popular election individual voters have much less chance of being able to swing an election one way or the other. Look it up...
Also, a full pure democracy is not the best thing, see the thing called "The Tyranny of the Majority".
(If you really want to know how to fix things, see "Approval Voting" ! )
(Same with consumers. We moan, bitch, and complain about the poor quality of the cheap item we bought and then go out and... buy the cheapest one again.)
A better way is to find out the range in prices and pick one from the middle. Never buy cheap -or- expensive!
Works for me... 8-)
That also means that much of the "flack" about the book is from people that did not understand what the book was saying, but assumed they did.
That's why people with military experience tend to feel better about it, the military teaches people to be more careful with things! ;-)
Admiral Yamamoto rejected the idea, saying "We cannot land on the mainland of America, every blade of grass would have a rifle behind it!"
Satire is what happens when someone wants to make Innovative Art, but doesn't know how, and then gets despirate.
Never do satire, especially when people can't see your face. It will only make people thing you are a bit stupid... ;-)
So just like WWII then.
Yes. But we are supposed to be OK with that. And I am not OK with that.
The characters in the book were ok with it. The citizens in WWII were ok with it. You are not one of the characters in the book.
... I actually re-read the portion describing it and they DO restrict rights to those who served in the Federal Service. Though the book does state that most servicemen (as in most real armies) do not see any combat. ...
In the book, "Federal Service" includes many things besides Military. What we call First Responders, things like Forest FireWatch, Space exploration, Disaster Rescue, many things that most don't want to do but has to be done.
Are those darn kids on your lawn again?
The kids that were on my lawn were sent over to Iraq, and have not come back...
"If Engineers built buildings the way Programmers write programs, the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization."
If you program it properly in the beginning, with the error checks in place, then it takes -less- time, not more. 8-)
I am impressed an 86 year old grandmother had the general tech-awareness to imagine that as a possibility. ...
To quote a very old phrase: "Don't try to teach your grandmother how to suck eggs!"
Most -people- are not very good at computers, or security, even if they carry smartphones...
The thing that really bothers me, is that honest sellers could have their customers getting fake products that are entirely beyond their control!
Keep in mind that a -lot- of respected people say -anything- that's new will fail, because they know that the words will be forgotten if it succeeds and remembered if it does fail. It gets them a fake reputation for predicting the future, but that doesn't make it a good idea to listen to them. 8-)
There are reports that Amazon has been mixing products in their warehouse bins, if they have the same part number, even if they belong to different sellers. That might be ok if the products are actually identical, but if "pirate" materials get sent by one seller, they could be sold to customers from other sellers.
In other words, if fakes get into their warehouse it could get into anyones sales. So buying from reliable sellers is no protection.
I think mixing products from different sellers that way is criminal?
This is common everywhere: how to capture specific domain knowledge? And remember, it's a two-way process. The knowledge of the current expert has to be recorded in some way, and then, the new guy has to be trained to the intricacies of the previous procedure. ...
The place that records the previous expert's knowledge is called "Source Code". Destroy that and you will start as an ignorant beginner. 8-)
Don't believe what "everyone says". ;-)
It's actually worse than that. If there's a problem with the hardware, i.e. it's known to be failing to do what it's supposed to, it's the software people who're tasked with making a "workaround", i.e. frigging their own code to correct the error rather than the (often more expensive) hardware mod. I've got so many software projects behind me with hacks for hardware bugs you wouldn't believe. "isn't that what software is for?" is the inevitable bollocks you get from hardware engineers when confronted with the problem.
Detecting when the hardware fails -is- part of the software's job. Industrial software does this routinely. Why can't aerospace software?
But launching with known-bad hardware is criminal... 8-P
Googled DATDP and couldn't find anything. What does it stand for?
He must work for a eupopean space agency, they don't define their acronyms. Or maybe it was nasa...
Um... there is bad code AND bad testing! 8-P
All code should be considered bad, until it passes testing. All testing should be considered bad, until it finds some bugs. Wash and repeat... ;-)
Of course, testing costs money and it's better to buy the boss a new big desk... right??
People who know, know that for 20 years it has been "AS" = Artificial Stupid.
Arguing whether computers can have True Intellegence is an exercise in futility, sinse Humans do not have True Intellegence! ;-)
That's because the history and the laws are written by those who win the election!
One problem with working from home could be that others in your household might assume that you'll be able to take care of all house-related matters/chores, etc., since "you are there anyway" ...
Working at home requires a room with a door, just as much as at the office. And it helps to explain that if no work, no food! 8-)
Marketing is 100% BS.
Well... not 100%. Maybe 25% to 50%. But they -are- taught that lies are part of their job. 8-P
If the Engineers and Technicians didn't fill in the gaps, that no one even told them about, then the Marketeers would be in jail for fraud! ;-)
Maybe some people have found jobs that they enjoy doing?
Maybe they retire, get bored in a month or two, and go back to work as a "consultant"?
One thing: People that work at something, even volunteer work, tend to live longer...
... - modern humans were molded by the force of hundreds of thousands of years of evolution to be well adapted to tribal life here on Earth. ...
True. But evolution is not over yet.
Especially since there was a 6 year interval between the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975 and the first flight of the Columbia orbiter in 1981.
Was there as much much hand-wringing about not being able to launch a guy ourselves then? No.
Actually, Yes, there was.
It just wasn't on twitter (which didn't exist yet). 8-P
They might have had temperature swings imposed from outside. Could these phones have been regularly left in the windshield of a car in the summer sun? That might do it. But only if the solder joints were weaker than the ones I have worked with...