Yeah, I think it is a play on a old line by Russian comedian "Yakof Smirnov" or something like that. I don't remember the exact original joke, but he was a middling-poor comedian. (Probably better know for his "What a country!" line than this formulation, actually...at least that's what MAD magaine chose to rip on.)
I had a book of his when I was young. My favorite joke: "In Russia, we have saying: Women are like buses.
There are rumors that Terra-Lycos (TRLY) is talking with Salon management to buy Salon. Well, it is only a rumor, but feaseable when Terra-Lycos has more cash than any other portal/dot.com o whatever.
Huh. Just had some friends laid off from Lycos.
They got Lycos *and* got lost.
I just wish there were, like, really rich people who were willing to fund interesting stuff like word.com or suck.com, kind of like that heiress lady giving $100million to a Poetry magazine.
I mean, guess if they had always thought that way they wouldn't have their bajillions, but now that they do, it would be cool if they could fund worthy online ventures.
I wonder how something like this compares to the "MoneyMaker", a middling low tech human-powered irrigation device that they're selling to farmers in Kenya...from the article from:
the MoneyMaker Plus is small enough to be carried on a bicycle, simple enough that it can be installed by the farmer and repaired without any tools, and powerful enough that it can irrigate 1½ acres a day.
Seems like this answers a real direct need...except for the markets contact, I'm not sure what the simputer offers.
I know you're being a little silly, but I think the same principles apply. Throwing/hitting a golfball is the flip side of catching...you don't get the instant feedback loop that you do with catching, but practice it enough times, see how you do and do better 'til your muscles 'know' what to do.
Not too too long ago, he took a gamble, and changed his swing for more power. For a short time his game suffered a bit, but then he came back better than ever. Do you really believe he got better at doing math in the meanwhile?
On a similar note, pretty soon I gotta head out for my darts league. I'm a total n00b, but still, my muscles are learning how to get consistent throws in.
Yeah, I know some people think that these science disaster articles tend to spring up more right before related majorfilmreleases, but it sounds like that magnetic fields flipping thing is much more of a clear and present danger...more present, anyway.
the irresponsibility lies with the company who released IE - with huge holes. once the holes are found, it is then their job to release patches, no?
It's interesting how the later Windows OSes, XP etc, are a hell of a lot better at encouraging and allowing frequent patch upgrades. In a case like that, it's probably a very good thing, but I think a lot of the slashdot crowd might have privacy issues with it.
I really doubt it's doing all those calculations as calculations per se (and that's one of the things that started to bug me about the monologues in Douglas Adams' "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency")...I betcha we're doing very rough aproximations, and then sticking the results in a tight feedback loop that spends that 3-4 seconds adjusting and readjusting our position relative to the object.
Saying that we must be doing the same kind of computing an artillery firing program does is as misleading as saying a chess playing computer is "thinking" in the same way we are when we play chess. Black box, it's intelligence when a computer plays chess and calculation when we catch a frisbee, but don't be fooled into thinking humans and machines are anywhere near thinking in the same kinds of ways.
This assumption has been a big handicap in AI, I think...we give ourselves too much credit for applying formal logic too many places, when really we're just faking it...then we're surprised when computers (which are lousy fakers so far) can't think like we can.
You were hardercore than I was at that time (and age I think)....we mostly just had those watches that transformed (ala the transformers, but not so branded)...one was a little man, one was a scorpion, don't remember if there were any others.
Dang, can't wrangle up a google search to find any pix.
Yeah, I like that South Park commercial that's out, where Cartman and them are acting out LotR, and they pass another group of kids. Other kids: "We're playing Harry Potter!" Cartman: "Hahahaha--Dorks!"
Even people who know what a "plus two" sword is can have people to look down on.
Anyone who is reading slashdot and posting to slashdot from Monday to Friday during the hours of 8AM to 5PM doesn't have a lot piling up on their to-do list.
That's not neccesarily true. They might just be not acting responsibly.
I know sometimes I get this perverse need to do anything but what I'm supposed to be doing when things get tight schedule-wise. Goes all the way back to my college days.
One of my favorite cartoons had a caption "both a depressant *and* a stimulant", and was of a boss passing over paper to a deskworker and saying "work harder or you're fired"...
Crap, looks like my previous attempt to reply to this didn't get through, maybe I previewed without submitting.
Anyway, I know that's a "standard" and I'm arguing against it. Sure it only takes a split second more to read and parse, but multipy that by a bajillion slashdot readers and you're talking some serious geek hours in total. Just from a UI perspective, its bad. On my own blog, in the few cases where I need to provide the "homepage" URL, I might write it without linking, as in
(Obviously when I link on my blog, it doesn't follow with server URL) Seriously. No one is impressed with the ability to create extra links, and usually no one needs the additional information. It just makes it a lot harder to get to the meat of a good story.
And who are all these damn busybodies who don't have anything better to do than mod (-1; Offtopic) ? Is there a forum I'm missing for metaconversation? Enjoy your mod points, you heroic bozos.
the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that
Jeez. Here, "Atlanta-Journal-Constitution is" links to the (relatively useless) frontpage of the newspaper site, while "reporting" is the single word that links to the article. There's not even any space between the links!
Hello people! We know how to backtrack URLs to get to the main site....assuming it's not an obvious domain from the journal name, and even then it's highly likely that the actual article page will have a nice fat old link to the main site. Jeez.
What, you think I can make over $200K as a prostitute? Have you seen my body lately?
As for drugs, I dunno. It's dangerous and tough to break into.
In both those cases it would take a lot of good fortune to make more than my current salary I think, which is less than half of that $200K figure.
[devil's advocate] I get hassled by Spam all the time, since in the past (and present) I've had my email spattered on my various websites and whast not. I've learned to deal with it, with a whitelist system it's not too bad. So why shouldn't I see a piece of that action?
I wonder if businesses will ever wind up realizing that with the India import programmers, you tend to get what you pay for.
I'm surprised how true this has held up. Don't get me wrong, about 1/4 or so of the Indian developers I've worked with have been topnotch--and, as far as I could tell, paid about as well as me. But those other ones? Terrible, terrible developers. Between the language barriers and a general scattershot approach they to every problem, they're really worthless.
Gawd, I loved those magazines. Antic was terrific...I lovingly dwelled over each one. And then I got a big score, when I inherited my Uncle's C=64, I got like 5 years of Compute's Gazette...WITH DISKS! So I didn't have to type in all those programs (though I put in my share of type in.)
Anyway, one of the best unknown games for the C=64 came from that magazine...Crossroads! (and its sequal) It was so cool, using character graphics with pixelated explosions to put hundreds of monsters on screen, each with their own allies and enemies among the other monsters. I wrote a review of both games that's at... check 'em out, they're both great.
yeah, it's tough to really do well in the handheld games market, especially if it's not your primary focus (and if handheld games *are* your main focus you'll be hard pressed to beat Nintendo anyway.)
I don't think palm games ever really came into their own. There are some great ones out there, but the controls never were that sharp, and I don't think it ever really caught on.
A GBA+phone...that's an intriguing idea, but I dunno if it would work. Part of the problem with combo devices is you're dealing with two different schedules of built in obsolecence, game platforms move on, and people get sick of their current phones and want the smaller sleeker model, but not neccesarily at the same time.
Or, failing that, how one fakes looking like one resume and interview wise.
I'm worried about the offshore issue. I'm a somewhat well cultured (I was going to say well-rounded but decided to duck the obvious joke) programmer in his late-20s (English as well as Comp Sci major from the mid90s) but I don't know what I'll do if this career path proves infeasible.
Still, I think the hassle bar is way high for offshore development. They have as many or more really bad programmers as we do, and when combined with a lenghtening of the critical product management/feedback loop, that can be deadly. I just hope enough companies realize that before they get too much in bed with these guys.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, I think it is a play on a old line by Russian comedian "Yakof Smirnov" or something like that. I don't remember the exact original joke, but he was a middling-poor comedian. (Probably better know for his "What a country!" line than this formulation, actually...at least that's what MAD magaine chose to rip on.)
I had a book of his when I was young. My favorite joke:
"In Russia, we have saying: Women are like buses.
That's the saying."
So, what does Radio Shack carry these days?
"Radio Shack: You've Got Questions, We've Got Cellphone Plans"
There are rumors that Terra-Lycos (TRLY) is talking with Salon management to buy Salon. Well, it is only a rumor, but feaseable when Terra-Lycos has more cash than any other portal/dot.com o whatever.
Huh. Just had some friends laid off from Lycos.
They got Lycos *and* got lost.
I just wish there were, like, really rich people who were willing to fund interesting stuff like word.com or suck.com, kind of like that heiress lady giving $100million to a Poetry magazine.
I mean, guess if they had always thought that way they wouldn't have their bajillions, but now that they do, it would be cool if they could fund worthy online ventures.
Seems like this answers a real direct need...except for the markets contact, I'm not sure what the simputer offers.
Then explain Tiger Woods. ;)
I know you're being a little silly, but I think the same principles apply. Throwing/hitting a golfball is the flip side of catching...you don't get the instant feedback loop that you do with catching, but practice it enough times, see how you do and do better 'til your muscles 'know' what to do.
Not too too long ago, he took a gamble, and changed his swing for more power. For a short time his game suffered a bit, but then he came back better than ever. Do you really believe he got better at doing math in the meanwhile?
On a similar note, pretty soon I gotta head out for my darts league. I'm a total n00b, but still, my muscles are learning how to get consistent throws in.
Yeah, I know some people think that these science disaster articles tend to spring up more right before related major film releases,
but it sounds like that magnetic fields flipping
thing is much more of a clear and present danger...more present, anyway.
the irresponsibility lies with the company who released IE - with huge holes. once the holes are found, it is then their job to release patches, no?
It's interesting how the later Windows OSes, XP etc, are a hell of a lot better at encouraging and allowing frequent patch upgrades. In a case like that, it's probably a very good thing, but I think a lot of the slashdot crowd might have privacy issues with it.
I really doubt it's doing all those calculations as calculations per se (and that's one of the things that started to bug me about the monologues in Douglas Adams' "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency")...I betcha we're doing very rough aproximations, and then sticking the results in a tight feedback loop that spends that 3-4 seconds adjusting and readjusting our position relative to the object.
Saying that we must be doing the same kind of computing an artillery firing program does is as misleading as saying a chess playing computer is "thinking" in the same way we are when we play chess. Black box, it's intelligence when a computer plays chess and calculation when we catch a frisbee, but don't be fooled into thinking humans and machines are anywhere near thinking in the same kinds of ways.
This assumption has been a big handicap in AI, I think...we give ourselves too much credit for applying formal logic too many places, when really we're just faking it...then we're surprised when computers (which are lousy fakers so far) can't think like we can.
You were hardercore than I was at that time (and age I think)....we mostly just had those watches that transformed (ala the transformers, but not so branded)...one was a little man, one was a scorpion, don't remember if there were any others.
Dang, can't wrangle up a google search to find any pix.
Oh yeah...I think that's what he yelled in the first version of the commercial as well, but later ones changed it to "dorks".
Still, I love his mocking laughter...
I feel much better being a fan of JRR Tolkien.
Yeah, I like that South Park commercial that's out, where Cartman and them are acting out LotR, and they pass another group of kids.
Other kids: "We're playing Harry Potter!"
Cartman: "Hahahaha--Dorks!"
Even people who know what a "plus two" sword is can have people to look down on.
Anyone who is reading slashdot and posting to slashdot from Monday to Friday during the hours of 8AM to 5PM doesn't have a lot piling up on their to-do list.
That's not neccesarily true. They might just be not acting responsibly.
I know sometimes I get this perverse need to do anything but what I'm supposed to be doing when things get tight schedule-wise. Goes all the way back to my college days.
One of my favorite cartoons had a caption "both a depressant *and* a stimulant", and was of a boss passing over paper to a deskworker and saying "work harder or you're fired"...
My wife's company was looking for a new techie intern, and was embarassed at how many people w/ master's were applying.
Yeah, that actually sounds like a fun job.
I tend to have super productivity on tiny teams, when I feel what I do really matters, and I know the higherups will see it mattering.
Much less fun to be a hero on a large team.
Crap, looks like my previous attempt to reply to this didn't get through, maybe I previewed without submitting.
Anyway, I know that's a "standard" and I'm arguing against it. Sure it only takes a split second more to read and parse, but multipy that by a bajillion slashdot readers and you're talking some serious geek hours in total. Just from a UI perspective, its bad. On my own blog, in the few cases where I need to provide the "homepage" URL, I might write it without linking, as in
slashdot.com had an interesting article the other day
(Obviously when I link on my blog, it doesn't follow with server URL) Seriously. No one is impressed with the ability to create extra links, and usually no one needs the additional information. It just makes it a lot harder to get to the meat of a good story.
And who are all these damn busybodies who don't have anything better to do than mod (-1; Offtopic) ? Is there a forum I'm missing for metaconversation? Enjoy your mod points, you heroic bozos.
the post has been edited, actually. "is" used to be inside the closing a tag for the link to the frontpage of the paper.
the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that
Jeez. Here, "Atlanta-Journal-Constitution is" links to the (relatively useless) frontpage of the newspaper site, while "reporting" is the single word that links to the article. There's not even any space between the links!
Hello people! We know how to backtrack URLs to get to the main site....assuming it's not an obvious domain from the journal name, and even then it's highly likely that the actual article page will have a nice fat old link to the main site. Jeez.
What, you think I can make over $200K as a prostitute? Have you seen my body lately?
As for drugs, I dunno. It's dangerous and tough to break into.
In both those cases it would take a lot of good fortune to make more than my current salary I think, which is less than half of that $200K figure.
[devil's advocate]
I get hassled by Spam all the time, since in the past (and present) I've had my email spattered on my various websites and whast not. I've learned to deal with it, with a whitelist system it's not too bad. So why shouldn't I see a piece of that action?
[/devil's advocate]
Two Hundred Thousand a year????
Good god, am I in the wrong job? I'm only a semi-moral person after all...
I wonder if businesses will ever wind up realizing that with the India import programmers, you tend to get what you pay for.
I'm surprised how true this has held up. Don't get me wrong, about 1/4 or so of the Indian developers I've worked with have been topnotch--and, as far as I could tell, paid about as well as me. But those other ones? Terrible, terrible developers. Between the language barriers and a general scattershot approach they to every problem, they're really worthless.
I think it should be available from a review I wrote for
Gawd, I loved those magazines. Antic was terrific...I lovingly dwelled over each one. And then I got a big score, when I inherited my Uncle's C=64, I got like 5 years of Compute's Gazette...WITH DISKS! So I didn't have to type in all those programs (though I put in my share of type in.)
... check 'em out, they're both great.
Anyway, one of the best unknown games for the C=64 came from that magazine...Crossroads! (and its sequal) It was so cool, using character graphics with pixelated explosions to put hundreds of monsters on screen, each with their own allies and enemies among the other monsters. I wrote a review of both games that's at
yeah, it's tough to really do well in the handheld games market, especially if it's not your primary focus (and if handheld games *are* your main focus you'll be hard pressed to beat Nintendo anyway.)
I don't think palm games ever really came into their own. There are some great ones out there, but the controls never were that sharp, and I don't think it ever really caught on.
A GBA+phone...that's an intriguing idea, but I dunno if it would work. Part of the problem with combo devices is you're dealing with two different schedules of built in obsolecence, game platforms move on, and people get sick of their current phones and want the smaller sleeker model, but not neccesarily at the same time.
I wonder how one becomes a "star programmer".
Or, failing that, how one fakes looking like one resume and interview wise.
I'm worried about the offshore issue. I'm a somewhat well cultured (I was going to say well-rounded but decided to duck the obvious joke) programmer in his late-20s (English as well as Comp Sci major from the mid90s) but I don't know what I'll do if this career path proves infeasible.
Still, I think the hassle bar is way high for offshore development. They have as many or more really bad programmers as we do, and when combined with a lenghtening of the critical product management/feedback loop, that can be deadly. I just hope enough companies realize that before they get too much in bed with these guys.