How the hell does this apply to Stallman? You may not agree with him, and you may even think he's a fanatic, but he makes his arguments in a much more civilized (and convincing) way than screaming obscenities at everyone who disagrees with him.
Here's a clue: the space race was about sending both unmanned and manned missions into space, including earth orbit, the moon, and other planets. The arms race was about developing better ways to nuke the other side (though also likely suicidal).
Perhaps you meant to say that both were motivated by competition with, and hostility towards, the USSR, although it's hard to see how the space race was motivated by hostility, since it wasn't aggressive. Did they sometimes use similar technologies, like rockets? Yes, as indeed computers were also used for both. In other words, they were the same thing... if you completely ignore the differences.
No, read more carefully. Nowhere does it say I expected to encounter a troll who criticized the Chinese effort because it was motivated in part by a desire for prestige and publicity. Moreover I specifically said "I've also got no problem with that being part of the motivation." Now what was your point?
Big difference: China landings are driven by science and verifiable by high-tech equipment. US Hollywood moon landings were driven by hate towards Russians who put first man in space.
Here I was expecting some troll to criticize the Chinese effort for being a copy of what was done 40+ years ago, or simply a stunt. Instead I find a troll saying "China landings are... verifiable by high-tech equipment", thus implying that US efforts weren't. Are you a conspiracy nut suggesting the US landings were faked?
"China landings are driven by science...". The science is great, but if you think that prestige and publicity aren't part of the reason for the Chinese effort, then I've got a bridge to sell you. I've also got no problem with that being part of the motivation.
"US Hollywood moon landings were driven by hate towards Russians who put first man in space." Wow, you've heard about the space race - a term that was coined at the time because it described the obvious. BTW, what do you think motivated the USSR? It wouldn't have been a race without at least two sides. However, "hate" is a ridiculously way to describe such a competition. Whatever you say about the motivation, the space race was a lot more peaceful than the arms race. A nice side effect was all the science done and the technology developed. Out of curiosity though, what was Hollywood about the moon landings? That they televised it? Not even Hollywood is that good - it got 125M viewers around the world. Maybe it had something to do with it being such an impressive and historic event, albeit a silly thing like the first time that people set foot on any body other than the earth.
P.S. You also overlook that this Chinese probe is more analogous to a Soviet mission of 40 years ago, than to the manned US landings, But hey, any idiotic excuse to bash the US, right?
I'd ask about Clojure, but I don't know what to call its users. Clojureners? Clojurists? Clojuristas? Quick - we need a standard before this gets out of hand.
Poe's law? Whoosh? Either you missed my sarcasm, or I'm missing yours. 20 years ago they said we needed the H-1B program as a "temporary" measure until more Americans were educated in the appropriate skills. That temporary measure is still in effect.
You forgot Pittsburgh (I always liked that one because it seems so incongruous), not to mention other smaller tech hubs, like Boulder, S. Florida, etc. In fact most metropolitan areas have at least some jobs. Seems like these computer things are catching on.
I pick on SV because it's so provincial. By contrast, I never got the feeling in Boston for example, that they were unaware of the rest of the country, or unaware there was serious work elsewhere. Obviously SV is the biggest tech center in the country, but it's not the be all and end all. VC's don't seem to like anything that takes more than an hour to drive to. Have they heard about these newfangled jet airplanes? Communicating by phone, or even this hot new thing called the Internets?
More importantly, SV companies seem to be the ones that scream the loudest about the supposed programmer shortage and the need for more H-1B's. If you can't find enough people in SV, or the costs or too high, then look somewhere else. Much of the reason that you can't find more people there is that the cost of living is too high. What about letting SV become more urbanized? That's the usual response to high real estate demand in a small area. Don't ask for national policy to be changed just to benefit one small area of the country.
Maybe someday people in Silicon Valley will look at Google maps and realize that there are parts of the country outside the Bay Area. It would also do much to alleviate the supposed shortage of good programmers.
Underprivileged? Zuck was the very definition of privilege and advantage when growing up. His background was upper middle class at the very least.
One word: sarcasm.
And, even if he was born and raised the poorest of the poor, I dare say he's doing well enough now not to have to make a few bucks more by screwing his fellow citizens.
Programming is one way of building the logic skills that one needs in order to learn critical thinking.
Yes, and also very good at teaching people to define things precisely (what you want a program to do, etc.). I think that's a useful skill - I especially think that after dealing with people who can't do it to save their lives (I'm sure many programmers share that frustration).
I've no objection to teaching kids how to program. It's not a fundamental skill or subject, but it can still be useful. My problem is with the fact that this is nothing more than a publicity stunt to give a positive image to the real agenda, and that "journalists" either can't or won't think critically enough to understand and say that. It's all "ooh, look at the wonderful thing they're doing for the children". Even to the extent that "journalists" recognize that it's a publicity stunt, they consider it a good thing and don't link it in any way to the real agenda. For example, the Mercury News column makes no mention of Zuck's lobbying organization, and happily regurgitates unfounded statements like "the United States is facing a growing shortage of skilled programmers".
The one thing about this I have to grudgingly admire is that these people are propaganda geniuses. They've got the friggin' president giving cover to their real agenda (maybe not so surprising - he's been bought and paid for anyway).
Perhaps the child labor laws are overly restrictive, but in most states you also have to graduate from grade school before seeking full-time employment.
Programming is not a fundamental skill or subject, and teaches nothing that can't be taught with a number of other subjects, like math (dons Nomex undies). I have no objection to teaching it in schools, and it may even be useful for a few people, but let's not get carried away with the self importance, shall we?
'Yes, we can all agree that this week's big Hour of Code initiative is a publicity stunt,' writes the Mercury News' Mike Cassidy, 'but you know what? A publicity stunt is exactly what we need.'
Need for what? It's just a way to deflect attention from the real agenda of h1bsrus.org. No, even worse, to convince people that there really is a shortage of programmers, and gosh we're trying to get more Americans to learn it (bonus points for your propaganda if they're minorities), but it takes time, and so we really really need to up the H-1B quota (temporarily, of course) by a million or whatever they want (ask for a million - settle for a half).
I can understand Zuck, et al, spouting propaganda to get out of their personally horrid underprivileged conditions, but what annoys me is the media buying into this crap. How about a little counterpoint that the only indications of a programmer shortage are the testimonials of people with a serious vested interest, and not any of those silly objective facts. Forget programming - what they really need to teach in schools is critical thinking.
There are quite a few techniques for dealing with that, although at such close range I'd imagine they'd work better w/ lidar than radar. Emphasis seems to be on lidar anyway.
My dad is from Pittsburgh, and if he could get around snowy hills with that configuration...
It's not just a question of whether you can, but which is the preferable approach.
Four wheel drive was complicated and expensive
Agreed. AWD is very popular these days, but unless you live in a very snowy area it doesn't make sense. I don't need two extra differentials, two extra half-axles, and 6 extra U-joints (the last being the most likely source of trouble).
FWD was and is pretty crappy for handling in all of the rest of the year, with a few standout exceptions.
If there are a few standout exceptions, it proves it's not an inherent problem with FWD. The whole "bad handling" thing just isn't an issue in the 21st century, unless you have a serious sports car or something (and actually drive it as such). Having left the Formula 1 circuit, I don't have problems in dry weather. Hence whatever small handling or traction issues there are w/ FWD in the dry, is more than compensated for by the superiority in rain and snow.
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How the hell does this apply to Stallman? You may not agree with him, and you may even think he's a fanatic, but he makes his arguments in a much more civilized (and convincing) way than screaming obscenities at everyone who disagrees with him.
How appropriate. If you watch video of Zhou Enlai, you can see that was his style of applause.
Here's a clue: the space race was about sending both unmanned and manned missions into space, including earth orbit, the moon, and other planets. The arms race was about developing better ways to nuke the other side (though also likely suicidal).
Perhaps you meant to say that both were motivated by competition with, and hostility towards, the USSR, although it's hard to see how the space race was motivated by hostility, since it wasn't aggressive. Did they sometimes use similar technologies, like rockets? Yes, as indeed computers were also used for both. In other words, they were the same thing ... if you completely ignore the differences.
No, read more carefully. Nowhere does it say I expected to encounter a troll who criticized the Chinese effort because it was motivated in part by a desire for prestige and publicity. Moreover I specifically said "I've also got no problem with that being part of the motivation." Now what was your point?
That's way too simple, reasonable and straightforward for Slashdot, but I heartily agree anyway.
Big difference: China landings are driven by science and verifiable by high-tech equipment.
US Hollywood moon landings were driven by hate towards Russians who put first man in space.
Here I was expecting some troll to criticize the Chinese effort for being a copy of what was done 40+ years ago, or simply a stunt. Instead I find a troll saying "China landings are ... verifiable by high-tech equipment", thus implying that US efforts weren't. Are you a conspiracy nut suggesting the US landings were faked?
"China landings are driven by science ...". The science is great, but if you think that prestige and publicity aren't part of the reason for the Chinese effort, then I've got a bridge to sell you. I've also got no problem with that being part of the motivation.
"US Hollywood moon landings were driven by hate towards Russians who put first man in space." Wow, you've heard about the space race - a term that was coined at the time because it described the obvious. BTW, what do you think motivated the USSR? It wouldn't have been a race without at least two sides. However, "hate" is a ridiculously way to describe such a competition. Whatever you say about the motivation, the space race was a lot more peaceful than the arms race. A nice side effect was all the science done and the technology developed. Out of curiosity though, what was Hollywood about the moon landings? That they televised it? Not even Hollywood is that good - it got 125M viewers around the world. Maybe it had something to do with it being such an impressive and historic event, albeit a silly thing like the first time that people set foot on any body other than the earth.
P.S. You also overlook that this Chinese probe is more analogous to a Soviet mission of 40 years ago, than to the manned US landings, But hey, any idiotic excuse to bash the US, right?
I'd ask about Clojure, but I don't know what to call its users. Clojureners? Clojurists? Clojuristas? Quick - we need a standard before this gets out of hand.
Poe's law? Whoosh? Either you missed my sarcasm, or I'm missing yours. 20 years ago they said we needed the H-1B program as a "temporary" measure until more Americans were educated in the appropriate skills. That temporary measure is still in effect.
You forgot Pittsburgh (I always liked that one because it seems so incongruous), not to mention other smaller tech hubs, like Boulder, S. Florida, etc. In fact most metropolitan areas have at least some jobs. Seems like these computer things are catching on.
I pick on SV because it's so provincial. By contrast, I never got the feeling in Boston for example, that they were unaware of the rest of the country, or unaware there was serious work elsewhere. Obviously SV is the biggest tech center in the country, but it's not the be all and end all. VC's don't seem to like anything that takes more than an hour to drive to. Have they heard about these newfangled jet airplanes? Communicating by phone, or even this hot new thing called the Internets?
More importantly, SV companies seem to be the ones that scream the loudest about the supposed programmer shortage and the need for more H-1B's. If you can't find enough people in SV, or the costs or too high, then look somewhere else. Much of the reason that you can't find more people there is that the cost of living is too high. What about letting SV become more urbanized? That's the usual response to high real estate demand in a small area. Don't ask for national policy to be changed just to benefit one small area of the country.
Maybe someday people in Silicon Valley will look at Google maps and realize that there are parts of the country outside the Bay Area. It would also do much to alleviate the supposed shortage of good programmers.
A major focus of our program is "thinking like an engineer".
You can't teach being brain dead - that's a skill I was born with.
My older sister insisted "you need to take a programming class" so I added it to my schedule. 30+ years later I'm still programming.
After 30 years you should stop blaming your sister.
"and written 406,022,512 lines of code"
Any good Lisper will tell you he could have done that with 100 lines and some macros.
The kids haven't graduated yet - we need the H-1B's as a temporary measure (just like we did 20 years ago).
Underprivileged? Zuck was the very definition of privilege and advantage when growing up. His background was upper middle class at the very least.
One word: sarcasm.
And, even if he was born and raised the poorest of the poor, I dare say he's doing well enough now not to have to make a few bucks more by screwing his fellow citizens.
Programming is one way of building the logic skills that one needs in order to learn critical thinking.
Yes, and also very good at teaching people to define things precisely (what you want a program to do, etc.). I think that's a useful skill - I especially think that after dealing with people who can't do it to save their lives (I'm sure many programmers share that frustration).
I've no objection to teaching kids how to program. It's not a fundamental skill or subject, but it can still be useful. My problem is with the fact that this is nothing more than a publicity stunt to give a positive image to the real agenda, and that "journalists" either can't or won't think critically enough to understand and say that. It's all "ooh, look at the wonderful thing they're doing for the children". Even to the extent that "journalists" recognize that it's a publicity stunt, they consider it a good thing and don't link it in any way to the real agenda. For example, the Mercury News column makes no mention of Zuck's lobbying organization, and happily regurgitates unfounded statements like "the United States is facing a growing shortage of skilled programmers".
The one thing about this I have to grudgingly admire is that these people are propaganda geniuses. They've got the friggin' president giving cover to their real agenda (maybe not so surprising - he's been bought and paid for anyway).
Perhaps the child labor laws are overly restrictive, but in most states you also have to graduate from grade school before seeking full-time employment.
computers can be tools that do what we tell them to do
How long have you been programming?
That's like saying maybe a few of the students who actually spent 100 years learning engineering would be able to create a perpetual motion machine.
Programming is not a fundamental skill or subject, and teaches nothing that can't be taught with a number of other subjects, like math (dons Nomex undies). I have no objection to teaching it in schools, and it may even be useful for a few people, but let's not get carried away with the self importance, shall we?
'Yes, we can all agree that this week's big Hour of Code initiative is a publicity stunt,' writes the Mercury News' Mike Cassidy, 'but you know what? A publicity stunt is exactly what we need.'
Need for what? It's just a way to deflect attention from the real agenda of h1bsrus.org. No, even worse, to convince people that there really is a shortage of programmers, and gosh we're trying to get more Americans to learn it (bonus points for your propaganda if they're minorities), but it takes time, and so we really really need to up the H-1B quota (temporarily, of course) by a million or whatever they want (ask for a million - settle for a half).
I can understand Zuck, et al, spouting propaganda to get out of their personally horrid underprivileged conditions, but what annoys me is the media buying into this crap. How about a little counterpoint that the only indications of a programmer shortage are the testimonials of people with a serious vested interest, and not any of those silly objective facts. Forget programming - what they really need to teach in schools is critical thinking.
There are quite a few techniques for dealing with that, although at such close range I'd imagine they'd work better w/ lidar than radar. Emphasis seems to be on lidar anyway.
Probably so. Of course in the 60's they also predicted that flat screen TV's were 10 years in the future, so maybe we'll eventually get it.
Wipers don't help when something is covered in ice.
My dad is from Pittsburgh, and if he could get around snowy hills with that configuration ...
It's not just a question of whether you can, but which is the preferable approach.
Four wheel drive was complicated and expensive
Agreed. AWD is very popular these days, but unless you live in a very snowy area it doesn't make sense. I don't need two extra differentials, two extra half-axles, and 6 extra U-joints (the last being the most likely source of trouble).
FWD was and is pretty crappy for handling in all of the rest of the year, with a few standout exceptions.
If there are a few standout exceptions, it proves it's not an inherent problem with FWD. The whole "bad handling" thing just isn't an issue in the 21st century, unless you have a serious sports car or something (and actually drive it as such). Having left the Formula 1 circuit, I don't have problems in dry weather. Hence whatever small handling or traction issues there are w/ FWD in the dry, is more than compensated for by the superiority in rain and snow.