Hi. I am the senior software architect for a rather large and well-known company doing business on the internet (~$1M/day in online revenue). One of the first things I did after taking this position, with the goal of turning the development team (100+ engineers) into a top-flight software house, was put a process in place to use a bug-tracking system not just for post-deployment defect control, but also during the development phase. Each task is tracked through a ticket and tied to a particular branch in our source control system. This creates a running log of not just the work itself, but also the thought that goes into the work.
While there was some resistance at first among developers and managers that had never done this before, over a few short months our code quality has improved and our production increased. In fact, the final case was made when comparing two teams of roughly equal size, one using the tracking system during development, one not. The one that was using it not only had fewer defects, but had written about twice as much code in the same time period. And the real benefit will come a year or two from now when we need to go back and triage a decision or issue long after the original engineers have moved around.
We happen to be using bugzilla and cvs as they are free, easy to modify to meet our needs, and familiar, but you could do this with just about any tool that allows you to track arbitrary issues.
Personally, I'd love to see a public wireless access point in Tompkins. I spend a great deal of my time in the coffee shops next to the park (alt.coffee and pick me up) and would consider dragging my laptop out with me if the range was sufficient. I had been considering getting one of the Sprint PCS Vision plans, but a few public access points would make this less of a necessity. Also, depending on where they put the transmitter, my roof may be line of site (from E3rd between C and D). I could definitely be inspired to set up a pringles can and see how it goes.
On a related note -- I have a Linksys WAP11 in my apartment and recently stopped bothering with the encryption, figuring that if anyone else in my building wanted to use it, I don't really mind. However, I'd love to know if they were. Is there anyway you can check out who using the connection short of just sniffing the LAN for packets that are not your own?
> From where I am (Chico, CA), to go to Portland OR using Amtrak, it takes 14 hours and costs $100. In comparison, it takes 12 hours and costs $59 by Greyhound.
Or you could fly from CIC to PDX for well less than $200 (actually, $164 on United right now) and get there in around four hours.
Point being, rail is also barely price competetive with air these days. No wonder they have problems, if the bus is cheaper and faster, and flying is just a little more expensive and way faster.
Did anyone even read this?!?
on
We Are Not Related
·
· Score: 1, Redundant
What?
Quote from the article:
Currently, we have no scientific data proving that aliens come to Earth from other planets. However, the first idea that comes to mind is that UFOs are from other planets. If we rely upon many statements and the evidence of UFOs or extraterrestrial visits to Earth, we can consider our planet as a space colony. And different space centers are very active here. They send their robots, cyborgs, and hominids to the Earth to collect information and materials, to perform experiments on human beings, including even complex surgical operations. In many cases, these operations resulted in mutilations later treated as abnormalities by pathologoanatomists and archeologists. The experiments were evidently performed with a view to create new cloned creatures. These facts allow one to say talk about the alien origin of Homo sapiens.
I don't know whether the poster linked to the wrong site, but this sure as hell isn't about scientists proving anything about pre-historic DNA.
> 3 minutes ago: It is decompacted and 0.3 is overwritten
Cool. But you forgot something. Read the release notes for 0.4.
I'll quote it here:
PLEASE NOTE: You MUST create a new profile for Phoenix 0.4. We made changes to several items including pop-up whitelisting which are not compatible with the 0.3 and even recent nightly profiles. To create a new profile start Phoenix by running phoenix.exe -ProfileManager and click on the "Create Profile" button. You must also delete your old Phoenix directory rather than just overwriting the files there. Not doing so WILL result in problems and you should not file any bugs on Phoenix unless you've first done a clean install and tested on a new profile. As Phoenix stabilizes more this will not be necessary but until then these steps are absolutely necessary.
> People get one and install Linux onto it (eleven seconds)
The interesting thing about this is that the tablet PC may be a more powerful tool running Windows XP than it would be running Linux. Much as we all like to talk about how MS doesn't innovate, their work on handwriting recognition may actually be years ahead of any open-source alternative.
Of course, if I had one I'd *still* install Linux on it. In a partition. Take notes and use the pen in XP, and write code via the keyboard under Linux. Then again, you can use xemacs under Windows, so sometimes even the reboot may be more trouble than it is worth. I'm willing to give proper credit to MS for bringing the next generation of portable technologies to the masses -- and it may even be worth the cost, in terms of absolutely absurd and offensive licensing practices.
Oh, and I forgot to add, Samba rocks, rsync rocks, and Andrew Tridgell rocks. I don't mean at all to take away from the contributions of an amazing individual in the open source movement.
> In 50 years time I doubt anyone would have ever heard of Samba, but they'll probably be using rsync in one way or another
Think so? The Univac was state of the art in 1952. Considering that the progress of technology is accelerating over time (check out The History of Computing Timeline), do you really think that the ideas behind rsync are going to be relevant? Network throughput is already getting massive. If we could fast-forward to 2052, I imagine we would barely recognize the technologies in use.
Do you think that Turing could have even fathomed performing a billion operations a second and having a almost a terrabyte of storage available and (almost) accessible anywhere on the planet at megabit data transfer rates? In our homes? For an inflation adjusted price of under $100? You have to be kidding me -- it would have blown his mind.
In 2052 CPU power will be effectively unlimited (imagine doing a billion billion operations per second), storage constraints meaningless, and, if networking trends continue and/or quantum plays out (as it may), effectively instantaneous access to that data.
Think we'll still be diff-ing data to squeeze the most out of the net? In 2052 that is the last thing we'll be bothering with.
All this only hold true of course if we assume that technology will improve as fast as it historically has and that we don't hit a cataclysmic end to human progress in general (plague, nuclear armageddon, etc). But if the last 50 years have been any indication, what we will see in 2052 will bare little resemblance to what we have in 2002.
More information? Hardly. That article was 278 words long, including headline and byline. The slashdot synopsis just about covered the entire thing.
No wait, let me quote it here (it won't even overflow a slashdot comment):
By Jeff Flock, CNN:
Scott Jones' home is 27,000 square feet of both showcase and laboratory for the technologies he develops. He's his own lab rat.
Touch-screen panels throughout the house run lights, security, heat and cooling systems, and video and audio libraries. Speakers are embedded in the walls and ceilings behind the plaster.
"I wanted great sound quality throughout the house but I did not want to have ugly speakers," Jones said.
Even waking up in the morning is a high-tech venture. His alarm clock neither beeps nor buzzes; instead, music begins to play, curtains open on sunshine and lights switch on. And in the bathroom, the shower starts flowing.
Jones is the head of Escient Technologies, a company that develops in-home systems that merge Internet power with electronic appliances and devices. His patented voicemail technology is used by the majority of telephone companies throughout the world.
While Jones is traveling, he can check in on his abode via the Internet. As part of the security system, cameras are trained on every room of the house and every entrance. He can go on the Web and with a few clicks, zoom in on parts of the house or unlock doors from half a world away.
Why does Jones need a home that includes a movie theater that seats 20 and wine cellar accessible only by fingerprint scan?
According to Jones, "I like to build things and change the world."
[Apologies for the slightly off-topic nature of this post. But it appears highly relevant because of the thread.]
How long before Taco or one of the other Slashdot editors is accused of and sued for libel by one of the individuals or corporations that is commented on (and perhaps defamed) on the site?
By the Lectric Law Library's definition, libel is:
Published material meeting three conditions: The material is defamatory either on its face or indirectly; The defamatory statement is about someone who is identifiable to one or more persons; and, The material must be distributed to someone other than the offended party; i.e. published; distinguished from slander. [The 'Lectric Law Library]
A publication without justification or lawful excuse which is calculated to injure the reputation of another by exposing him to hatred, contempt or ridicule. [CyberLibel]
I tried out the Libel Checklist over at UTexas, and found that a good number of posts by slashdot editor's could at least be considered suspect of libel claims. However, I am anything but a lawyer, and would love to hear a lawyer comment on this.
For example, if an editor posts a comment in response to an article saying something to the effect of "so-and-so's marketing practices are highly suspect and should be avoided by all good slashdotters." If the statement is not provably true, is not a fair report of an official and public record, is not a matter of public concern, is not merely abusive, is not consentual, and is not clearly an opinion, then such statements could, I believe, be intrepreted as libel.
Furthermore, could the users of Slashdot also be sued for libel due to their comments?
Or worse, could I be sued for libel for raising this very question about Rob and Slashdot? Uh-oh. Nevermind...
Slashdot Mirror
Hi. I am the senior software architect for a rather large and well-known company doing business on the internet (~$1M/day in online revenue). One of the first things I did after taking this position, with the goal of turning the development team (100+ engineers) into a top-flight software house, was put a process in place to use a bug-tracking system not just for post-deployment defect control, but also during the development phase. Each task is tracked through a ticket and tied to a particular branch in our source control system. This creates a running log of not just the work itself, but also the thought that goes into the work.
While there was some resistance at first among developers and managers that had never done this before, over a few short months our code quality has improved and our production increased. In fact, the final case was made when comparing two teams of roughly equal size, one using the tracking system during development, one not. The one that was using it not only had fewer defects, but had written about twice as much code in the same time period. And the real benefit will come a year or two from now when we need to go back and triage a decision or issue long after the original engineers have moved around.
We happen to be using bugzilla and cvs as they are free, easy to modify to meet our needs, and familiar, but you could do this with just about any tool that allows you to track arbitrary issues.
Good luck -- and don't give up.
> There are many interesting websites out there dealing with games. Please quit linking to the worst one.
Which ones do you recommend? I'm tired of GameSpy and GameSpot (now that it's mostly pay) as well...
> Oh well, I'm sure You've Got Mail II will be pretty cool.
Ha. Although I suspect it will be called You've Got Mailer.
Or, You've Got More Mail.
No wait, I Still Know You've Got Mail.
Thanks folks, I'll be here all week.
> or why hearing a particular song can bring back a high school dance
Maybe because it was played at the high school dance?
Personally, I'd love to see a public wireless access point in Tompkins. I spend a great deal of my time in the coffee shops next to the park (alt.coffee and pick me up) and would consider dragging my laptop out with me if the range was sufficient. I had been considering getting one of the Sprint PCS Vision plans, but a few public access points would make this less of a necessity. Also, depending on where they put the transmitter, my roof may be line of site (from E3rd between C and D). I could definitely be inspired to set up a pringles can and see how it goes.
On a related note -- I have a Linksys WAP11 in my apartment and recently stopped bothering with the encryption, figuring that if anyone else in my building wanted to use it, I don't really mind. However, I'd love to know if they were. Is there anyway you can check out who using the connection short of just sniffing the LAN for packets that are not your own?
> I can't be sure about Studebakers but in the case of classic Ferraris and Porsche's I'm fairly certain the idea is still to get laid.
I'm rather sure it is easier to get laid in a vintage Studebaker than a Ferrari.
More leg room and all.
> From where I am (Chico, CA), to go to Portland OR using Amtrak, it takes 14 hours and costs $100. In comparison, it takes 12 hours and costs $59 by Greyhound.
Or you could fly from CIC to PDX for well less than $200 (actually, $164 on United right now) and get there in around four hours.
Point being, rail is also barely price competetive with air these days. No wonder they have problems, if the bus is cheaper and faster, and flying is just a little more expensive and way faster.
Quote from the article:
I don't know whether the poster linked to the wrong site, but this sure as hell isn't about scientists proving anything about pre-historic DNA.
>Anybody else read that expecting to hear "And then I rolled a three..."?
Based on most of the people I've known that would build a compost bin, I did expect something that started with "and then I rolled a..."
But it didn't end in "three." : )
> The new root zone hints can be grabbed from ftp://rs.internic.net/domain/named.root or ftp://ftp.internic.net/domain/named.root.
/var/named/ (or wherever you installed it).
For those running bind, you may want to try this instead:
dig @e.root-servers.net . ns > root.hints
It will generate the root list automatically, ready for you to drop into
> Phoenix: Not sufficiently faster to make up for the fact that I can't search google straight out of the address bar.
You can in 0.4 if you are willing to type "google <search string>" into the address bar. Is that good enough?
Cool. But you forgot something. Read the release notes for 0.4.
I'll quote it here:
> People get one and install Linux onto it (eleven seconds)
The interesting thing about this is that the tablet PC may be a more powerful tool running Windows XP than it would be running Linux. Much as we all like to talk about how MS doesn't innovate, their work on handwriting recognition may actually be years ahead of any open-source alternative.
Of course, if I had one I'd *still* install Linux on it. In a partition. Take notes and use the pen in XP, and write code via the keyboard under Linux. Then again, you can use xemacs under Windows, so sometimes even the reboot may be more trouble than it is worth. I'm willing to give proper credit to MS for bringing the next generation of portable technologies to the masses -- and it may even be worth the cost, in terms of absolutely absurd and offensive licensing practices.
> Think so? [...]
Oh, and I forgot to add, Samba rocks, rsync rocks, and Andrew Tridgell rocks. I don't mean at all to take away from the contributions of an amazing individual in the open source movement.
> In 50 years time I doubt anyone would have ever heard of Samba, but they'll probably be using rsync in one way or another
Think so? The Univac was state of the art in 1952. Considering that the progress of technology is accelerating over time (check out The History of Computing Timeline), do you really think that the ideas behind rsync are going to be relevant? Network throughput is already getting massive. If we could fast-forward to 2052, I imagine we would barely recognize the technologies in use.
Do you think that Turing could have even fathomed performing a billion operations a second and having a almost a terrabyte of storage available and (almost) accessible anywhere on the planet at megabit data transfer rates? In our homes? For an inflation adjusted price of under $100? You have to be kidding me -- it would have blown his mind.
In 2052 CPU power will be effectively unlimited (imagine doing a billion billion operations per second), storage constraints meaningless, and, if networking trends continue and/or quantum plays out (as it may), effectively instantaneous access to that data.
Think we'll still be diff-ing data to squeeze the most out of the net? In 2052 that is the last thing we'll be bothering with.
All this only hold true of course if we assume that technology will improve as fast as it historically has and that we don't hit a cataclysmic end to human progress in general (plague, nuclear armageddon, etc). But if the last 50 years have been any indication, what we will see in 2052 will bare little resemblance to what we have in 2002.
Check out scottajones.com for actual information about the house, not the short CNN blurb.
More information? Hardly. That article was 278 words long, including headline and byline. The slashdot synopsis just about covered the entire thing.
No wait, let me quote it here (it won't even overflow a slashdot comment):
By Jeff Flock, CNN:
Yup. That's all folks. : )
> who hasn't heard a mechanic say, "Welp, the '89 model uses a Peugeot transmission"?
I, for one, have never, ever, heard anyone say "Welp, the '89' model uses a Peugeot transmission."
Hi,
If Martin Fowler's Refactoring is not on your list, it should be added.
This book is changing the way people write code, and is up there with Knuth's books, Kernighan and Ritchie, and Design Patterns in terms of influence over software development.
Ha.
An Eph is the mascot of Williams College. Joe, the author of this software, went there. Still doesn't explain what an Eph is, but this page tries to.
"This is especially interesting in context of the crappy passwords story that ran on Slashdot that ran few days back."
:)
And it is even more interesting in context of the the the using images as passwords story that ran on Slashdot that ran [sic] a few days back.
[Apologies for the slightly off-topic nature of this post. But it appears highly relevant because of the thread.]
How long before Taco or one of the other Slashdot editors is accused of and sued for libel by one of the individuals or corporations that is commented on (and perhaps defamed) on the site?
By the Lectric Law Library's definition, libel is:
Published material meeting three conditions: The material is defamatory either on its face or indirectly; The defamatory statement is about someone who is identifiable to one or more persons; and, The material must be distributed to someone other than the offended party; i.e. published; distinguished from slander. [The 'Lectric Law Library]
By the CyberLibel definition:
A publication without justification or lawful excuse which is calculated to injure the reputation of another by exposing him to hatred, contempt or ridicule. [CyberLibel]
I tried out the Libel Checklist over at UTexas, and found that a good number of posts by slashdot editor's could at least be considered suspect of libel claims. However, I am anything but a lawyer, and would love to hear a lawyer comment on this.
For example, if an editor posts a comment in response to an article saying something to the effect of "so-and-so's marketing practices are highly suspect and should be avoided by all good slashdotters." If the statement is not provably true, is not a fair report of an official and public record, is not a matter of public concern, is not merely abusive, is not consentual, and is not clearly an opinion, then such statements could, I believe, be intrepreted as libel.
Furthermore, could the users of Slashdot also be sued for libel due to their comments?
Or worse, could I be sued for libel for raising this very question about Rob and Slashdot? Uh-oh. Nevermind...
Unfortunately, there was no violence before 1952, because we all know that violence is caused by video games.
As opposed to fortunately?
Drink your coffee, Taco.
If I buy a padlock, it is perfectly legal for me to bring it home and pick it open with paper clip. Even though picking it is not the intended use.
The question is -- is it, or rather, should it be, legal for me to disseminate information about _how_ to pick that lock?
(The answer is _of course_. The really interesting question is _why_.)
From the site:
Enhanced IR can reach AV products several feet away
So can my arm.