Actually he's not that interested in TeX these days. Sure, he still undertakes maintenance periodically, but other things in CS, math and TAOCP are more important to him: TeX is simply a tool.
Maybe the earth-shaking announcement is that he's using Word:-)
It's the wrong model. This has been said again and again, but it still hasn't percolated through the brains of the auto companies.
You buy an electric (or hybrid) car.
It comes with a fully-charged battery.
The batteries are all standard: one of a small range of standardised sizes and shapes which slide or lift out on standard fittings
Capacities can vary as time goes on and the technology develops but the packages stay the same
When you run low, you go to a garage, slide out the discharged battery, slide in a recharged one, pay, and drive away
The battery takes you as far and as fast as a tank of fuel (gotta work on that one)
The garage puts the discharged battery on charge and it goes to the next customer for that size/shape
You don't "own" the battery any more than you "own" the gas cylinder in your camper-van or holiday home: it just cycles into the supply chain for refilling.
This will only work if all batteries use a standard box and fitment. OK, if you drive some highly specialist boy-racer rig, you use and pay for some highly specialist non-standard battery. Your choice. Once we allow the auto companies to get away with individual proprietary boxes and fitments, the game is over and you, the driver, are screwed for ever.
Imagine if every manufacturer of lightbulbs had their own proprietary fitting. We'd still be using coal-gas to light our houses...
Who gives a tinker's spit about "managing" your "photos"? I want to edit images, so I'll install GIMP and set all the filetypes back where they belong. Iff I connect my camera, then perhaps I want to invoke something to offload selected pix and file them by date. F-Spot was about as useful as a wet paper bag at managing photos, with an incomprehensible interface and no editing.
Isn't this one of those things where you have to be talking on your phone for several hours a day for several years?
I use mine for an average of two calls a day, each lasting an average of 20 sec.
Or is it the latent emissions (eg polling the nearest tower) or the non-voice work (texts, emails, tweets, etc) that do it?
I don't want to tinker, but if I fix something simple like an air filter, I want to be able to reset the console warning lights.
Currently you need a specially-adapted laptop, a highly proprietary cable, and some very expensive software. Garages can afford this: individuals can't.
You don't have permission to access/general/278200/top-10-things-hollywood-thinks-computers-can-do/5 on this server.
Apache Server at dev.uk.expertreviews.denint.co.uk Port 80
>>such a thing is probably decades if not centuries away.
Actually not. A client of mine does a lot of work on legislative projects to get very much the effect you describe. Doubtless there are others doing this too.
It's a little more complex than you imagine, though, as a patch on one statute may be a deletion on another, which in turn affects yet another, which has implications for a different section of the first statute, changes to which affect the first patch, end so on, somewhere between ad nauseam and ad infinitum. Apparently it is possible, though; you just have to do the math. I dimly recall a paper from an ?Italian group at a conference years ago which dealt with the theoretical underpinning for this kind of thing (in either SGML or XML).
>> [...] doesn't detect dual boot set ups properly
That would kill it stone dead for me [plus see below].
From the linked page:
F-Spot replaces the GIMP [Lunacy. Two non-competing apps. F-Spot is a massively irritating and intrusive thing that pops up every time I connect my camera, has an incomprehensible interface, and which stomps around the place looking for images to blow into the screensaver. GIMP is a graphics editor. WTF were they thinking?]
PiTiVi video editor added [Couldn't care less]
GNOME 2.30 [Good]
New themes: Ambiance and Radiance [Couldn't care less]
New wallpaper [Couldn't care less]
Linux kernel 2.6.32 [Good]
New nVidia hardware driver [Good, provided it doesn't break my old Dell like 7.10 and 8.10 did by lying about how it supported the legacy cards]
Gwibber social media application [Couldn't care less]
Faster boot time, with a different look and feel on the bootsplash screen [Good]
Ubuntu One adds contacts and bookmark sharing [Couldn't care less]
Ubuntu One music store integrated into Ryhthmbox [Couldn't care less]
Ubuntu Software Center 2.0 [Is this like Synaptic or something?]
It sounds to me a like there's too much window-dressing here for work users. But it should be attractive to the domestic user or newcomer.
If it suffers from the same unbelievably crass design flaw as the Hero's Android does (no proxy settings in wifi connections), then it's useless in corporations or on campuses.
For "unbelievably crass design flaw", read "engineered inability designed to maximise telcos' 3G/Edge revenue streams so they will stock the device" (according to how paranoid you are:-)
There is no lack of programming candidates who can actually program.
There is a lack of candidates who can program and who are prepared to work 16-20 hrs a day for peanuts for a corporation who will sling them out the door at zero notice.
The problem isn't so much the rate as the fact that yellow cab drivers don't appear to know their way around the city, and can't speak any recognisable form of English. I would have more sympathy with them if they behaved more professionally.
background: black
foreground: X11:peachpuff or #99CF96
font: X11:10x20 or Monaco 12pt
That's almost exactly how my Emacs starts up, except I tend to use 12x24 for text documents (eg XML, LaTeX, etc) as it's even more readable; I don't do a lot of programming these days. The trick is to get the right set of colours for font-lock-mode...
Ten to one the IT dept had an internally-developed product that did pretty much the same as yours did, and they didn't want to lose their baby to an outside solution. Or perhaps their was actually better, or they believed it was.
An interpreted language for sure -- Python is a good choice, but not the only one. Adding the complexities of compiling and linking are wholly unnecessary for a beginner. And preferably something with a decent development interface. But as already noted, only if he's interested. If he's not, buy him something physical and extensible instead (eg Lego)
Region code? WTF is a region code in your wireless setup? I've lugged laptops over half the planet and never needed to reset anything to get wireless...
Power cord is easily changed, or buy one of those multi-prong adapters. No new transformer charger should be needed: all laptops seem to be auto-voltage-sensing now. But yes, bring the lapdog. Internet cafes are all over London, but they're a hassle compared with having your own machine.
Make sure the laptop is charged before both outward *and* return flights -- the only hassle you're likely to get is from security asking you to turn it on when you find it's discharged...
Who was it wrote that SF short about the civilisation that suddenly thought of putting humans into their spaceships, they were so much more flexible than computers...
Using the word 'pussy' on school time is simply not that bad.
Of course it's not. Only Americans get upset about this kind of thing. Sure, the school guy was a dickhead, and the newspaper guy was an asshole, but the school principal should have had the guts just to thank the newspaper politely and inform them that the matter would be dealt with, and then reprimand the OP.
Instead you've got the civil liberties crowd indulging in a lot of bleeding-heart willy-waving about "rights", and the politically-correct crowd going all anal-retentive and thin-lipped about "abuse" of an employer's PC. Any wonder the country's gone to the dogs^H^H^H^Hcats^H^H^H^Hpussies...
F-Spot truly sucks. Every time I try to use it's it's empty and wants to "import" stuff from my Photos directory all over again. The interface is ghastly, and it runs like a turd in porridge. The quicker someone can write a photo manager that works, the better.
I installed Karmic on my old Dell desktop the other day and it's been remarkably free of problems. It got my vNivia Geforce4 screen working properly first shot, which neither of the two previous releases could do at all (they just hung). Two critical (for me) packages were omitted (KPDF and KDVI) but that's not Ubuntu's fault: KDE changed the game. The only serious flaw was an apparently buggy GTK that led to Emacs22's dynamic menus failing to update (there's a simple workaround). Otherwise it's been trouble-free, and faster than 8.04, so I just installed it on a Dell laptop, and it's fine there too. But both of these were complete wipe-and-installs, not upgrades. I got bitten by an upgrade once: never again. I just watched a colleague installing Windows 7, which caused more trouble than it is worth.
...the drive for constant excellence seems obsessive rather than healthy...
It's the penalty we pay for political correctness. In the Bad Old Days, too many people (in all fields, not just academia) were allowed to progress up the ladder without adequate controls. When the controls were implemented, they were (are) too harshly applied, so new people are driven away from the field.
There is no shortage of scientists, any more than there's a shortage of IT developers. There is a shortage of {scientists|developers|...} prepared to work for peanuts 16-20 hrs a day, including unpaid overtime, and prepared to do this for a clueless PHB.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe the earth-shaking announcement is that he's using Word :-)
Maybe it's a proof that 2^5 != 32 after all...
You obviously move in the wrong circles :-)
You don't "own" the battery any more than you "own" the gas cylinder in your camper-van or holiday home: it just cycles into the supply chain for refilling.
This will only work if all batteries use a standard box and fitment. OK, if you drive some highly specialist boy-racer rig, you use and pay for some highly specialist non-standard battery. Your choice. Once we allow the auto companies to get away with individual proprietary boxes and fitments, the game is over and you, the driver, are screwed for ever.
Imagine if every manufacturer of lightbulbs had their own proprietary fitting. We'd still be using coal-gas to light our houses...
Who gives a tinker's spit about "managing" your "photos"? I want to edit images, so I'll install GIMP and set all the filetypes back where they belong. Iff I connect my camera, then perhaps I want to invoke something to offload selected pix and file them by date. F-Spot was about as useful as a wet paper bag at managing photos, with an incomprehensible interface and no editing.
Isn't this one of those things where you have to be talking on your phone for several hours a day for several years? I use mine for an average of two calls a day, each lasting an average of 20 sec. Or is it the latent emissions (eg polling the nearest tower) or the non-voice work (texts, emails, tweets, etc) that do it?
Currently you need a specially-adapted laptop, a highly proprietary cable, and some very expensive software. Garages can afford this: individuals can't.
You don't have permission to access /general/278200/top-10-things-hollywood-thinks-computers-can-do/5 on this server.
Apache Server at dev.uk.expertreviews.denint.co.uk Port 80
Sigh
Actually not. A client of mine does a lot of work on legislative projects to get very much the effect you describe. Doubtless there are others doing this too.
It's a little more complex than you imagine, though, as a patch on one statute may be a deletion on another, which in turn affects yet another, which has implications for a different section of the first statute, changes to which affect the first patch, end so on, somewhere between ad nauseam and ad infinitum. Apparently it is possible, though; you just have to do the math. I dimly recall a paper from an ?Italian group at a conference years ago which dealt with the theoretical underpinning for this kind of thing (in either SGML or XML).
That would kill it stone dead for me [plus see below].
From the linked page:
It sounds to me a like there's too much window-dressing here for work users. But it should be attractive to the domestic user or newcomer.
For "unbelievably crass design flaw", read "engineered inability designed to maximise telcos' 3G/Edge revenue streams so they will stock the device" (according to how paranoid you are :-)
So WTF is Wayne Crookes anyway and what's his beef?
There is a lack of candidates who can program and who are prepared to work 16-20 hrs a day for peanuts for a corporation who will sling them out the door at zero notice.
I can think of porn a number of ways chocolate to retain the reader's $$$ attention...
All your font are belong to us...
The problem isn't so much the rate as the fact that yellow cab drivers don't appear to know their way around the city, and can't speak any recognisable form of English. I would have more sympathy with them if they behaved more professionally.
background: black
foreground: X11:peachpuff or #99CF96
font: X11:10x20 or Monaco 12pt
That's almost exactly how my Emacs starts up, except I tend to use 12x24 for text documents (eg XML, LaTeX, etc) as it's even more readable; I don't do a lot of programming these days. The trick is to get the right set of colours for font-lock-mode...
Ten to one the IT dept had an internally-developed product that did pretty much the same as yours did, and they didn't want to lose their baby to an outside solution. Or perhaps their was actually better, or they believed it was.
An interpreted language for sure -- Python is a good choice, but not the only one. Adding the complexities of compiling and linking are wholly unnecessary for a beginner. And preferably something with a decent development interface. But as already noted, only if he's interested. If he's not, buy him something physical and extensible instead (eg Lego)
Region code? WTF is a region code in your wireless setup? I've lugged laptops over half the planet and never needed to reset anything to get wireless...
Power cord is easily changed, or buy one of those multi-prong adapters. No new transformer charger should be needed: all laptops seem to be auto-voltage-sensing now. But yes, bring the lapdog. Internet cafes are all over London, but they're a hassle compared with having your own machine.
Make sure the laptop is charged before both outward *and* return flights -- the only hassle you're likely to get is from security asking you to turn it on when you find it's discharged...
Who was it wrote that SF short about the civilisation that suddenly thought of putting humans into their spaceships, they were so much more flexible than computers...
Using the word 'pussy' on school time is simply not that bad.
Of course it's not. Only Americans get upset about this kind of thing. Sure, the school guy was a dickhead, and the newspaper guy was an asshole, but the school principal should have had the guts just to thank the newspaper politely and inform them that the matter would be dealt with, and then reprimand the OP.
Instead you've got the civil liberties crowd indulging in a lot of bleeding-heart willy-waving about "rights", and the politically-correct crowd going all anal-retentive and thin-lipped about "abuse" of an employer's PC. Any wonder the country's gone to the dogs^H^H^H^Hcats^H^H^H^Hpussies...
The danger now is that F-Spot will grow [...]
F-Spot truly sucks. Every time I try to use it's it's empty and wants to "import" stuff from my Photos directory all over again. The interface is ghastly, and it runs like a turd in porridge. The quicker someone can write a photo manager that works, the better.
I installed Karmic on my old Dell desktop the other day and it's been remarkably free of problems. It got my vNivia Geforce4 screen working properly first shot, which neither of the two previous releases could do at all (they just hung). Two critical (for me) packages were omitted (KPDF and KDVI) but that's not Ubuntu's fault: KDE changed the game. The only serious flaw was an apparently buggy GTK that led to Emacs22's dynamic menus failing to update (there's a simple workaround). Otherwise it's been trouble-free, and faster than 8.04, so I just installed it on a Dell laptop, and it's fine there too. But both of these were complete wipe-and-installs, not upgrades. I got bitten by an upgrade once: never again. I just watched a colleague installing Windows 7, which caused more trouble than it is worth.
...the drive for constant excellence seems obsessive rather than healthy...
It's the penalty we pay for political correctness. In the Bad Old Days, too many people (in all fields, not just academia) were allowed to progress up the ladder without adequate controls. When the controls were implemented, they were (are) too harshly applied, so new people are driven away from the field.
There is no shortage of scientists, any more than there's a shortage of IT developers. There is a shortage of {scientists|developers|...} prepared to work for peanuts 16-20 hrs a day, including unpaid overtime, and prepared to do this for a clueless PHB.