Re:... to feed the hungry or to save your soul?
on
Geek Charities?
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· Score: 1
Spend a little time in the poorest countries of sub-Saharan Africa and you will realize that the folks there really don't give a damn about intellectual property rights. They are much more concerned about whether or not the harvest in the wet season will last through the dry season. To suggest that a donation to the EFF will do more for poor people than direct charities is, I believe, a little naive.
I work at a company that is in the process of closing it's Portland, Oregon, office. Most of the software engineers, along with several other employees (perhaps 25 folks in all), were offered relocation packages to the office in the Valley. Exactly one person took them up on the offer.
What I find most astounding about this is that our colleagues in the Valley are aghast that we would not jump at the chance to move there. They actually say things like, "But this is your chance to get into the Valley!"
What if you found the polynomial solution to Minesweeper and it did give you insight into RSA? Would you take the million? Or would you try to make even more money off an RSA solution?
While I agree with most of your post (I too am voting Gore primarily because of social, environmental, and foreign policy concerns), but your statement that low turnout is a clear sign most people want a change just doesn't ring true.
Look at what happens in countries like Zimbabwe when a dictator calls elections: despite outrageous political violence perpetrated by the ruling party, turnout was huge: over 90%, I believe. If people want change, they vote.
It seems possible that low turnout is a sign that people are relatively happy with their government
Though moderated as "informative", this comment offers no link to any position paper by Nader talking about a maximum wage. In fact, a search of Nader's web site for the phrase "maximum wage" yields no results.
No, you won't find multi-millionaires getting little "merrit" [sic] badges by skiing Everest. The only reason you have multi-millionaires climbing Everest is because Sherpas and guides fix ropes which they climb with ascenders. There is no real climbing involved for these clients (though, admittedly, they do have to be tremendously fit.)
To ski Everest is a completely different story. You have to be a world class skier, and there are not many of those around.
You comment about the rescue of idiots who get lost, break a let, etc., really demonstrates your complete lack of knowledge about the sport of mountaineering. As in most parts of the world, there is no rescue above, say, 20,000 feet. If you get hurt up there, you have to rely on yourself or other party members to help you down.
Since you have obviously read too many stories about inexperienced mountaineers being rescued from relatively minor peaks like Ranier, I would also like to point out that something like 90% of all search and rescue costs in the US are for lost dayhikers, children of stupid parents, and the like. Mountaineering accidents and rescues get the press, of course, but are very infrequent compared to the search and rescue of people who go out in the woods once a year.
Re:It's not the knowledge, it's the hours ...
on
Too Old To Code?
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· Score: 4
You seem to be implying that because young guys are willing (and able) to work 80-hour weeks, they are better at saving really badly managed projects than old farts like me (36 years old) who tend to work mostly 40-hour weeks. In point of fact, it was probably those youngsters working 80-hour weeks that got the project in trouble in the first place. It takes them 80 hours to do what I do in 20. And then it's crappy code that probably will take me 80 hours to untangle when I have to make a change.
How can code be free speech? If I make a piece of hardware do exactly the same thing as a piece of software, does the piece of hardware become "speech"?
The only drawback is depositing funds by mail? If you have an ATM card, maybe it would be worth the service charge from another bank to use their ATM for deposits.
As long as the courts grant temporary injunctions preventing other companies from using similar technologies, Amazon wins. For instance, even if the courts throw out the patent on one-click shopping, Amazon has already succeeded in preventing B&N from using such technology for months. Those months can be critical to both the bottom line and building brand loyalty. Hopefully, the courts will recognize this pattern of abuse, and, in the future, temporary injunctions will not be granted to Amazon.
Nor does it integrate seamlessly with a tax program. I'm pretty diligent about keeping records in Quicken, and, at the end of the year, I spend 20 bucks on TurboTax, import my Quicken transactions, and file online. Could such functionality ever come out of an open source model?
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Spend a little time in the poorest countries of sub-Saharan Africa and you will realize that the folks there really don't give a damn about intellectual property rights. They are much more concerned about whether or not the harvest in the wet season will last through the dry season. To suggest that a donation to the EFF will do more for poor people than direct charities is, I believe, a little naive.
I work at a company that is in the process of closing it's Portland, Oregon, office. Most of the software engineers, along with several other employees (perhaps 25 folks in all), were offered relocation packages to the office in the Valley. Exactly one person took them up on the offer.
What I find most astounding about this is that our colleagues in the Valley are aghast that we would not jump at the chance to move there. They actually say things like, "But this is your chance to get into the Valley!"
Well, thanks, but no thanks.
What if you found the polynomial solution to Minesweeper and it did give you insight into RSA? Would you take the million? Or would you try to make even more money off an RSA solution?
Hacking tools don't crack systems, people do.
Look at what happens in countries like Zimbabwe when a dictator calls elections: despite outrageous political violence perpetrated by the ruling party, turnout was huge: over 90%, I believe. If people want change, they vote.
It seems possible that low turnout is a sign that people are relatively happy with their government
Though moderated as "informative", this comment offers no link to any position paper by Nader talking about a maximum wage. In fact, a search of Nader's web site for the phrase "maximum wage" yields no results.
A maximum wage was a plank in Jello Biafra's platform in the Green Party primary.
No, you won't find multi-millionaires getting little "merrit" [sic] badges by skiing Everest. The only reason you have multi-millionaires climbing Everest is because Sherpas and guides fix ropes which they climb with ascenders. There is no real climbing involved for these clients (though, admittedly, they do have to be tremendously fit.) To ski Everest is a completely different story. You have to be a world class skier, and there are not many of those around. You comment about the rescue of idiots who get lost, break a let, etc., really demonstrates your complete lack of knowledge about the sport of mountaineering. As in most parts of the world, there is no rescue above, say, 20,000 feet. If you get hurt up there, you have to rely on yourself or other party members to help you down. Since you have obviously read too many stories about inexperienced mountaineers being rescued from relatively minor peaks like Ranier, I would also like to point out that something like 90% of all search and rescue costs in the US are for lost dayhikers, children of stupid parents, and the like. Mountaineering accidents and rescues get the press, of course, but are very infrequent compared to the search and rescue of people who go out in the woods once a year.
So why is this news?
Who would Mr. Gates sell his house to?
You seem to be implying that because young guys are willing (and able) to work 80-hour weeks, they are better at saving really badly managed projects than old farts like me (36 years old) who tend to work mostly 40-hour weeks. In point of fact, it was probably those youngsters working 80-hour weeks that got the project in trouble in the first place. It takes them 80 hours to do what I do in 20. And then it's crappy code that probably will take me 80 hours to untangle when I have to make a change.
How can code be free speech? If I make a piece of hardware do exactly the same thing as a piece of software, does the piece of hardware become "speech"?
The only drawback is depositing funds by mail? If you have an ATM card, maybe it would be worth the service charge from another bank to use their ATM for deposits.
As long as the courts grant temporary injunctions preventing other companies from using similar technologies, Amazon wins. For instance, even if the courts throw out the patent on one-click shopping, Amazon has already succeeded in preventing B&N from using such technology for months. Those months can be critical to both the bottom line and building brand loyalty. Hopefully, the courts will recognize this pattern of abuse, and, in the future, temporary injunctions will not be granted to Amazon.
Nor does it integrate seamlessly with a tax program. I'm pretty diligent about keeping records in Quicken, and, at the end of the year, I spend 20 bucks on TurboTax, import my Quicken transactions, and file online. Could such functionality ever come out of an open source model?
But that doesn't seem to be the case with Amazon, because they ARE suing B&N for the use of one-click shopping.