Access to Information != Not Isolated
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Disconnected
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· Score: 2
There is an incredible amount of information accessible to those of us who are 'connected', but how much of that information is worth anything. Most of what passes for news today is not news at all. Most of the 'facts' reported will later be found to be either inaccurate or complete fabrications within twenty years or so.
What are the isolates isolated from anyway? From what someone outside of their circle deems important. Do remote tribal people feel isolated? I would imagine that they feel far more connected with one another than those of us who are connected only through the ether. Aren't we all to some extent isolated (or insulated perhaps) from most of the rest of the world? By the definition (as I understood it) of this author, most of our leaders are isolates, depending on a cadre of 'connected' individuals to sort through the flotsam and jetsam of the information cesspool to locate the important information -- the kind of stuff one needs in order to make an informed decision.
I know, some of you will say, "I don't want to be dependant on others for my information. I do my own research." The fact is we who are 'connected' don't do our own research for most things. We cruise around the net looking for information that is provided by others and then we decide which information is valid and which is not (usually based upon our own mental filters rather than the validity of the data -- discounting sources here and accepting others that validate what we already believe).
Having seen both the Robot Olympics and Robot Wars, on the BBC, made by the same company, I came to the opinion that AI robots built with routines in advance are tedious and dull.
They show Robot Wars in the US on some PBS stations. I've caught a couple of the shows and it's fun. The announcer is somewhat annoying as his excitement level is higher than the action usually warrants. But there is a soccer (football for some of you) competition using robots rather than RC that is really pretty amazing to watch.
I too changed my diet and started working with weights this year. A lot of aches and pains disappeard along with a 'hereditary' hypertension problem that required two different medications (which only brought my BP to levels 'approaching' acceptable).
I used to change hand positions whenever the wrist pain manifested and after a short while they'd subside. They used to teach proper hand/wrist position in typing class on those IBM Selectrics. Most of us type with our wrists resting on, oddly enough, a 'wrist rest' or desk top, with our hands cocked backward. This restricts the carpal tunnel and makes for increased friction as the tendons go sawing back and forth around an unnatural bend. Personally (no studies to back this up) I believe that concert pianists can practice for ten hours without RSI symptoms because they are taught proper form, wrists straight or even arched upward slightly. Practicing the piano is more intense than programming (or even correspondence) because the pressure on the keys must vary quite a bit and you get to rest while typing - to gather your thoughts, check what you've just typed, etc - while the pianist generally only rests briefly between numbers.
Professional announcers wanted:
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IT Olympics
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· Score: 1
....although listening to some of the Olympic announcers is comical in its own right.
My favorite from Atlanta was John Tesh announcing gymnastics.
After the first competitor in any event, "That's the score to beat."
Re:This sounds like it's EXACTLY what a newbie nee
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Think Unix
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· Score: 1
I think the performance issue is actually a perception issue. You don't have the option with the GUI OS's to do significant amounts of work from the CLI, so the system is as fast or as slow as it always is. If it's too slow, throw money into faster components or a new box. Of course, if all you're using is PING.....
As far as being less intuitive, I don't think any GUI lives up to the 'intuitive' hype. I remember when the Apple Lisa came out and I watched all kinds of people move the mouse and click on icons and get frustrated when nothing happened. Not intuitive. We only think GUI's are intuitive because we've used them for such a long time.
Re:This sounds like it's EXACTLY what a newbie nee
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Think Unix
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· Score: 1
I'm assuming that you refer to the CLI since X is neither any less or more 'intuitive' than other GUI's (I'm sure there are those who would differ). The complexity you refer to allows efficiencies flexibility that just doesn't exist in the GUI realm. I run X on my Linux box, but I still find myself going to a term window to do many things that are actually easier from the command line or are nigh on to impossible in the GUI.
With a fuel cell you should have no dependency on the electric grid. You are still dependent upon a supplier for propane or natural gas, but you'd be off the grid and free from the spikes, drops, brownouts and total outages that are part of that system.
Hydrogen is another interesting alternative. You can convert distilled water (which you can use a solar distiller and tap water or even gray water to generate). Be sure to check out the solar array that powers a Sterling engine if you visit this site.
I think there are two errors disguised in this (otherwise well-written) article. The first is the misunderstanding the author applies to the term 'centralized'. I've always equated the lack of 'centralized' management with the lack of Dilbertesque PHB's -- some external manager who may not know how to do anything remotely computer related beyond playing with spreadsheets and gannt charts. The fact that someone involved in the project takes up the mantle of leadership is not the same thing at all. If the project leader's incompetent or the project itself is worthless, the quality coders will beat a hasty retreat. I never did think that thousands of programmers wrote in isolation and somehow all the parts just fell together and I suspect nobody else thought that either.
The second thing that caught my attention is the twisting of the Cathedral portion of the analogy. Did anybody here really think the paradigm was that of builders of Cathedrals? Isn't the idea that the Cathedral represents the top-down approach to managing software production, with an anointed priesthood in control? The ten commandments vs the thousand suggestions? Sure, most of the suggestions won't be worth the bandwidth used to send them, but I expected those would be culled out, not added without discretion. I don't think that expectation falls outside of the idea of the Bazaar either. If I'm running a booth in a bazaar, I am free to accept or reject any ideas about how to run things. If I buy a McDonalds franchise, I'll serve Big Macs and Quarter Pounders, not Whoppers.
Looking back over the article, I can see how he would view his talking about "forgiveness" as a request to others to also bury the hatchet. But by phrasing it the way he did - by not making it totally clear that he considered it to be Over, Kaput, End Of Story (he did say this, but it was slighty obusfucated), it looked like he was jabbing one more time.
I use Gnome rather than KDE, so I don't have an axe to grind, but it seemed to me that RMS implied in the earlier editorial that it wouldn't be over until the KDE development team sought for and obtained forgiveness from all authors whose code had been used in violation of its given license.
I think a better worded article would not have generated the responses he received. Had he spent more time dealing with the issue of past violations being sufficient to preclude use of code in perpetuity, he would have been able to call for developers to grant forgiveness as an act of embracing the changes that had been made and leading by example. Instead it looked like he was beating his own drum (look how nice I am) while continuing to withhold 'approval'.
*no offense to any Amish folk reading or hearing about this post;-)
I am stunned as I sit here reading slashdot in the warm glow of my kerosene powered laptop deep in the fertile Pennsylvania farmlands cultivated by my ancestors. If you didn't mean it to be offensive, why add the 'Amish' modifier? What would have been wrong with, "along with that judge that they rented"?
Nah. If you're trying to pile on the karma you post at +1 or nobody moderates you up since you're already at a +2.
If you do post at a +2 and some AC commands his lackeys to moderate you down as an abuse of the moderation system, some newbie will comply because, "That Anonymous Coward guy posts more than anybody else here. He must know the ropes better'n anybody."
Listen, I don't belive in gun control, and I don't belive in censorship, but saying that selling violent video games is more harmful than selling weapons is just plain ludicrous.
I never made such an assertion.
If you take one person, who is realatively non-violent and sell him a violent video game, what is he going to do with it?
As opposed to what a relatively (whatever that means) non-violent person would do with a gun?
However if you sell him a handgun he now has more potential destructive force, whether he uses it or not is irrelevant.
How is it irrelevant? If someone shoots me or doesn't shoot me it is certainly relevant to me.
We're talking about potential forces here, someone with a box and a CD in a jewel case has a lower potential destructive force than someone with a weapon.
No, that's not at all what was being said. While your statement above is true, it is out of context with regard to the discussion. If that were what we were discussing, I'd have to say that I'd rather meet a group of Arizona cowboys with pistols while hiking than a group of gangstas with baseball bats spoiling for a fight. The holstered potential of the cowboys (and they do exist) does not bother me as much as the aggressive nature of the gang bangers (even without the bats).
Potential is non-existent. I don't get paid for my potential. I get paid for what I do. I'm not concerned with someone's potential for violence, but I am concerned with their propensity for violence.
Picking apart the words of one argument does not negate all arguments.
I never said it did. In fact, I didn't take issue with the argument at all. I just pointed out that you can't use the the two statements as a logical contrast because they come from two different perspectives. What I pointed out was the difference between a logical presentation and emotional rhetoric.
Every weapon sold has the possibility of being used.
Every video game sold does not turn people into violent zombies with the goal of blowing up NYC.
You're not being consistent in your comparison. If you rephrase the first statement to more closely match the second...
Every weapon sold does not turn people into violent zombies with the goal of blowing up NYC.
You wind up with a similar statement, not a contrasting one. Therefore, there is not a much more powerful argument for your position. If the proof is in the millions of gamers who don't turn violent, then the proof is also in the millions of shooters who do not turn violent. The violence statistics are the same no matter which postition you take.
Maybe it would be interesting to find out how many people grow up playing violent games who acquired weapons just before 'going postal' vs. how many people who grew up with guns started gaming just prior to same.
Now, I'm not saying that it is the right thing to do, to hire a graduatated Turnip, but I think his case makes the point quite clearly, don't you? He's got a degree, he's got a job. He's an idiot, but that's besides the point.
At your workplace that may be true, but it doesn't necessarily hold true elsewhere. I will grant that it is more difficult to get in the door without the sheepskin, but I disagreed primarily with the idea that a formal education is 'not optional'. It might as easily be conceded that the fact an idiot can make it through the process and obtain a degree proves the opposing point of view.
Our turnip died (literally) within months of taking the job. He had a massive coronary due to his overindulgence in the pastry department. Your term, 'graduatated' would probably be more accurate for these fellows and their ilk if it were modified to 'graduatater' (as in potato [with or without an 'e' if you like]).
I had a keen ability to sniff out bugs that just seemed impossible by everybody else. Finding a couple of them that everybody had given up on was the turning factor in gaining acceptance. But technical ability was only part of the acceptance. I had to learn quickly that I had to treat these people with much respect even though they didn't respect me. With the finding of bugs I didn't announce, or paraide the fact. I just humbly asked for the next bug/project to work on.
Sounds like your people skills are on par with your technical skills. That's a rarity in this field. Two other extremes are the code drones, unaware of their surroundings (including coworkers) and arrogant jerks who want everyone to be aware of them and how bright (they think) they are and demanding respect they haven't yet earned.
The point was that, all else being equal, a diploma beats lack thereof.
Had you stopped there I could have agreed 100%. But the remainder of your post misses the point that all else is rarely equal.
Of course experience matters - the discussion is not about education vs experience in the long term, but about whether or not education is optional, and it is not.
A friend of mine was talking with a sales--- um, 'enrollment counselor' at a tech school his son was looking at. The 'counselor' mentioned that without an education the boy would never amount to anything. At that, both father and son got up to leave since he is a very successful IT consultant who travels the country, commands a high fee and has no degree.
Conversely, I had to train a recent college grad who had the cognitive ability of a turnip (if I've offended any turnips, my apologies). The only thing that expanded during his college years was his waistline. The boy would eat two dozen maple donuts for breakfast every morning.
Some folks learn a great deal through the give-and-take intellectual free-for-all that college can be. For others, college is spiraling GPA's and a string of parties. Still others choose not to go to college at all. Some people who go to college have made a mistake. Some people who don't go to college have made a mistake. Formal education is optional. The trick is determining which is the best option for the individual.
I have plenty of sympathy for your condition, but companies are not charities. You are paid to do a job, and as you said yourself, you weren't getting as much done as you used to. I see no reason for them not to reduce your pay at the least.
Lower pay wasn't an option. I had pushed myself to come back to work early because other employees were donating their vacation time since the company didn't have sick leave. Came in one morning and by noon I was gone. No warning, no severence, no nothin'.
One of the two guys they hired to replace me didn't know the difference between a zero and the letter 'O'. I liked that.
OK, but you did find something new. That doesn't sound like what the original poster was talking about, wherein older people cannot get jobs at all.
Heck. I'm only in my early 40's. As you get older though, the prospects narrow. One poster said he could find another job witin a month. I used to feel that way. Unless you wear a cape and the wind blows through your hair (if you still have some - hair, not wind) it gets harder to land on your feet.
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What are the isolates isolated from anyway? From what someone outside of their circle deems important. Do remote tribal people feel isolated? I would imagine that they feel far more connected with one another than those of us who are connected only through the ether. Aren't we all to some extent isolated (or insulated perhaps) from most of the rest of the world? By the definition (as I understood it) of this author, most of our leaders are isolates, depending on a cadre of 'connected' individuals to sort through the flotsam and jetsam of the information cesspool to locate the important information -- the kind of stuff one needs in order to make an informed decision.
I know, some of you will say, "I don't want to be dependant on others for my information. I do my own research." The fact is we who are 'connected' don't do our own research for most things. We cruise around the net looking for information that is provided by others and then we decide which information is valid and which is not (usually based upon our own mental filters rather than the validity of the data -- discounting sources here and accepting others that validate what we already believe).
I thought the article indicated that the mic on the Visor would still have to be used with the headset.
They show Robot Wars in the US on some PBS stations. I've caught a couple of the shows and it's fun. The announcer is somewhat annoying as his excitement level is higher than the action usually warrants. But there is a soccer (football for some of you) competition using robots rather than RC that is really pretty amazing to watch.
I dunno. My hard drive quit working at the bottom of my pool and even with buoyancy that's nowhere near zero gravity.
I used to change hand positions whenever the wrist pain manifested and after a short while they'd subside. They used to teach proper hand/wrist position in typing class on those IBM Selectrics. Most of us type with our wrists resting on, oddly enough, a 'wrist rest' or desk top, with our hands cocked backward. This restricts the carpal tunnel and makes for increased friction as the tendons go sawing back and forth around an unnatural bend. Personally (no studies to back this up) I believe that concert pianists can practice for ten hours without RSI symptoms because they are taught proper form, wrists straight or even arched upward slightly. Practicing the piano is more intense than programming (or even correspondence) because the pressure on the keys must vary quite a bit and you get to rest while typing - to gather your thoughts, check what you've just typed, etc - while the pianist generally only rests briefly between numbers.
My favorite from Atlanta was John Tesh announcing gymnastics.
After the first competitor in any event, "That's the score to beat."
As far as being less intuitive, I don't think any GUI lives up to the 'intuitive' hype. I remember when the Apple Lisa came out and I watched all kinds of people move the mouse and click on icons and get frustrated when nothing happened. Not intuitive. We only think GUI's are intuitive because we've used them for such a long time.
I'm assuming that you refer to the CLI since X is neither any less or more 'intuitive' than other GUI's (I'm sure there are those who would differ). The complexity you refer to allows efficiencies flexibility that just doesn't exist in the GUI realm. I run X on my Linux box, but I still find myself going to a term window to do many things that are actually easier from the command line or are nigh on to impossible in the GUI.
Hydrogen is another interesting alternative. You can convert distilled water (which you can use a solar distiller and tap water or even gray water to generate). Be sure to check out the solar array that powers a Sterling engine if you visit this site.
The second thing that caught my attention is the twisting of the Cathedral portion of the analogy. Did anybody here really think the paradigm was that of builders of Cathedrals? Isn't the idea that the Cathedral represents the top-down approach to managing software production, with an anointed priesthood in control? The ten commandments vs the thousand suggestions? Sure, most of the suggestions won't be worth the bandwidth used to send them, but I expected those would be culled out, not added without discretion. I don't think that expectation falls outside of the idea of the Bazaar either. If I'm running a booth in a bazaar, I am free to accept or reject any ideas about how to run things. If I buy a McDonalds franchise, I'll serve Big Macs and Quarter Pounders, not Whoppers.
"MOEQ? Managers of excellent quality? I don't think they exist."
With apologies to the ROUS's of The Princess Bride.
Dang. Nobody's gonna believe I'm a house-script kiddie. I know how to spell.
Actually, you can just go here and add google search buttons to your netscape personal toolbar with a click and drag.
I use Gnome rather than KDE, so I don't have an axe to grind, but it seemed to me that RMS implied in the earlier editorial that it wouldn't be over until the KDE development team sought for and obtained forgiveness from all authors whose code had been used in violation of its given license.
I think a better worded article would not have generated the responses he received. Had he spent more time dealing with the issue of past violations being sufficient to preclude use of code in perpetuity, he would have been able to call for developers to grant forgiveness as an act of embracing the changes that had been made and leading by example. Instead it looked like he was beating his own drum (look how nice I am) while continuing to withhold 'approval'.
Of course, she never would have asked the latter.
*no offense to any Amish folk reading or hearing about this post ;-)
I am stunned as I sit here reading slashdot in the warm glow of my kerosene powered laptop deep in the fertile Pennsylvania farmlands cultivated by my ancestors. If you didn't mean it to be offensive, why add the 'Amish' modifier? What would have been wrong with, "along with that judge that they rented"?
No shoo-fly pie for thee.
If you do post at a +2 and some AC commands his lackeys to moderate you down as an abuse of the moderation system, some newbie will comply because, "That Anonymous Coward guy posts more than anybody else here. He must know the ropes better'n anybody."
Microsoft with a sense of humor? Now there's a joke I don't get.
I never made such an assertion.
If you take one person, who is realatively non-violent and sell him a violent video game, what is he going to do with it?
As opposed to what a relatively (whatever that means) non-violent person would do with a gun?
However if you sell him a handgun he now has more potential destructive force, whether he uses it or not is irrelevant.
How is it irrelevant? If someone shoots me or doesn't shoot me it is certainly relevant to me.
We're talking about potential forces here, someone with a box and a CD in a jewel case has a lower potential destructive force than someone with a weapon.
No, that's not at all what was being said. While your statement above is true, it is out of context with regard to the discussion. If that were what we were discussing, I'd have to say that I'd rather meet a group of Arizona cowboys with pistols while hiking than a group of gangstas with baseball bats spoiling for a fight. The holstered potential of the cowboys (and they do exist) does not bother me as much as the aggressive nature of the gang bangers (even without the bats).
Potential is non-existent. I don't get paid for my potential. I get paid for what I do. I'm not concerned with someone's potential for violence, but I am concerned with their propensity for violence.
Picking apart the words of one argument does not negate all arguments.
I never said it did. In fact, I didn't take issue with the argument at all. I just pointed out that you can't use the the two statements as a logical contrast because they come from two different perspectives. What I pointed out was the difference between a logical presentation and emotional rhetoric.
Every weapon sold has the possibility of being used.
Every video game sold does not turn people into violent zombies with the goal of blowing up NYC.
You're not being consistent in your comparison. If you rephrase the first statement to more closely match the second...
Every weapon sold does not turn people into violent zombies with the goal of blowing up NYC.
You wind up with a similar statement, not a contrasting one. Therefore, there is not a much more powerful argument for your position. If the proof is in the millions of gamers who don't turn violent, then the proof is also in the millions of shooters who do not turn violent. The violence statistics are the same no matter which postition you take.
Maybe it would be interesting to find out how many people grow up playing violent games who acquired weapons just before 'going postal' vs. how many people who grew up with guns started gaming just prior to same.
At your workplace that may be true, but it doesn't necessarily hold true elsewhere. I will grant that it is more difficult to get in the door without the sheepskin, but I disagreed primarily with the idea that a formal education is 'not optional'. It might as easily be conceded that the fact an idiot can make it through the process and obtain a degree proves the opposing point of view.
Our turnip died (literally) within months of taking the job. He had a massive coronary due to his overindulgence in the pastry department. Your term, 'graduatated' would probably be more accurate for these fellows and their ilk if it were modified to 'graduatater' (as in potato [with or without an 'e' if you like]).
Sounds like your people skills are on par with your technical skills. That's a rarity in this field. Two other extremes are the code drones, unaware of their surroundings (including coworkers) and arrogant jerks who want everyone to be aware of them and how bright (they think) they are and demanding respect they haven't yet earned.
Had you stopped there I could have agreed 100%. But the remainder of your post misses the point that all else is rarely equal.
Of course experience matters - the discussion is not about education vs experience in the long term, but about whether or not education is optional, and it is not.
A friend of mine was talking with a sales--- um, 'enrollment counselor' at a tech school his son was looking at. The 'counselor' mentioned that without an education the boy would never amount to anything. At that, both father and son got up to leave since he is a very successful IT consultant who travels the country, commands a high fee and has no degree.
Conversely, I had to train a recent college grad who had the cognitive ability of a turnip (if I've offended any turnips, my apologies). The only thing that expanded during his college years was his waistline. The boy would eat two dozen maple donuts for breakfast every morning.
Some folks learn a great deal through the give-and-take intellectual free-for-all that college can be. For others, college is spiraling GPA's and a string of parties. Still others choose not to go to college at all. Some people who go to college have made a mistake. Some people who don't go to college have made a mistake. Formal education is optional. The trick is determining which is the best option for the individual.
Hmph! I thought that's what reading and travel were for. Some of those other 'disciplines' don't so much teach as indoctrinate.
Lower pay wasn't an option. I had pushed myself to come back to work early because other employees were donating their vacation time since the company didn't have sick leave. Came in one morning and by noon I was gone. No warning, no severence, no nothin'.
One of the two guys they hired to replace me didn't know the difference between a zero and the letter 'O'. I liked that.
OK, but you did find something new. That doesn't sound like what the original poster was talking about, wherein older people cannot get jobs at all.
Heck. I'm only in my early 40's. As you get older though, the prospects narrow. One poster said he could find another job witin a month. I used to feel that way. Unless you wear a cape and the wind blows through your hair (if you still have some - hair, not wind) it gets harder to land on your feet.