Nice for a laugh, not much else
on
The Know-It-All
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· Score: 2, Informative
I got the book for a Christmas gift. It's a cute book from the parts that I've read, but I'll be taking it back for something a little more interesting.
The book is actually an executive overview of the EB, and each snippet is interwoven with his experiences in that point of his life. Some parts are hilarious, but it's not much deeper than a casual read.
The biggest challenges aren't kicking and blocking. How will they handle a goalie bot being able to recognize an incoming ball and block it. And what if the ball has spin on it? 2050 seems like a long way away, but if you look at the state of today's vision recognition we have a long way to go.
Also, there's the interesting question of logistics: will the World Cup champion team want to play against a team of robots? How would you like to miss the ball and kick your shin right into a robot's aliminum alloy leg? Ouch!
It sounds like 16-bit integers are being used in the SBS International scheduling software to identify transactions. Given that the software is 15 years old, this design decision perhaps was made to save on memory usage. In retrospect, 16-bit integers were probably not a good choice.
Rubbish. Don't judge yesteryear's programs by today's standards. Back then 4MB RAM cost more than $200. That's how important memory conservation was. In 1989 using an int was a perfectly acceptable choice. If you were programming back then you'd know how loathe programmers were to use longs when they didn't have to. (Granted an unsigned int would've worked better here, but that 64K limit could've also been reached.)
The software spec probably says something to the effect of "Don't attempt to schedule more than 32,767 crew changes." If you're running software that's more than a decade old you need to know what the limits of your software are.
Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go.
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living,
But the child born on the Sabbath Day,
Is fair and wise and good and gay.*
In case that link doesn't work, with the recent Google Groups changes and all, search for "Which version of Windows CE and Shell should be used" instead.
I can easily bring up a regular Windows search window by using the keyboard combo [Win] + f. Too bad the closest corresponding thing with the Google desktop search is [move mouse to system tray] + [right-click on google search icon] + Search (or s). Ugh. Oh well, mousers: 1, keyboarders: 0.
By the way, it would be nice to see the search window open up in something a little more lightweight than a full-blown instance of IE.
Within the decade the spinning hard disk may go the way of the floppy and CRT.
Within the decade the spinning hard disk may be capable of holding terabytes, or even petabytes, on a single platter. And it will be orders of magnitude cheaper than solid state storage as we know it. I doubt that hard drives will go the way of the dodo anytime soon.
Just as a comparison, look at how many backup solutions still use tape media (and use it very effectively and cheaply, I might add).
I've been running SETI clients for a while now, and I suppose if someone asked my why I do it, I would say that I do it now just because I did it before.
I don't have any illusions about actually finding intelligent, extraterrestrial communications with SETI anymore. (And if anyone does, I'm not holding out hope that it's me.) In fact, I think that we should seriously question whether the entire premise of SETI@home--that other life forms would transmit data at the radio frequency of water--is still valid. Is it reasonable to assume that two completely different creatures would logically arrive at the same conclusion for how to communicate? Considering the amount of diversity on our planet alone, maybe not.
Could a blind man and a deaf man put together in a giant, dark auditorium find a way to communicate? That would be the easy problem; the hard one is finding a way to communicate with any intelligent life that's light years away out there.
Actually, wood brought back from Mt. Arrarat by Fernand Navarra was carbon dated, and found to be about 1,700 years old, way too young for it to be from a Biblical ark.
However, W. F. Libby, inventor of radiocarbon dating, thought that the samples that were tested had been contaminated by their surroundings, and by the rate of decay in high altitude. So nothing has been conclusively shown either way.
As if pictures can't be doctored and are absolute proof...
Geesh...any other scientific expedition would have Slashdotters agog at the future possibilities and clamoring to give their right arm to tag along. But a trip to find Noah's ark and (possibly) prove a Biblical story correct? Woah, can't have that now, can we?
Now if they do find something, wouldn't that mess up your preconceptions...
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The book is actually an executive overview of the EB, and each snippet is interwoven with his experiences in that point of his life. Some parts are hilarious, but it's not much deeper than a casual read.
FWIW, of course. YMMV.
As the old saying goes, when you stop pursuing your customers and start pursuing your customers' money, eventually you wind up with neither.
Thanks very much for your malformed links to
- A generic laptop mouse on Amazon
- A bogus keyboard that no one in their right mind would use
- A 2" display that would never work for this project (so small yet it still requires a power adapter)
- A 4" display made by a company that's out of business
+5 Insightful, indeed. Hrrrmph.Also, there's the interesting question of logistics: will the World Cup champion team want to play against a team of robots? How would you like to miss the ball and kick your shin right into a robot's aliminum alloy leg? Ouch!
Rubbish. Don't judge yesteryear's programs by today's standards. Back then 4MB RAM cost more than $200. That's how important memory conservation was. In 1989 using an int was a perfectly acceptable choice. If you were programming back then you'd know how loathe programmers were to use longs when they didn't have to. (Granted an unsigned int would've worked better here, but that 64K limit could've also been reached.)
The software spec probably says something to the effect of "Don't attempt to schedule more than 32,767 crew changes." If you're running software that's more than a decade old you need to know what the limits of your software are.
But if one were, he'd be about 100 feet farther away now.
I'm interested to know where does it clearly say that?
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go.
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for a living,
But the child born on the Sabbath Day,
Is fair and wise and good and gay.*
(* but not in the modern sense of the word)
except the failure to be able to read or write
In case that link doesn't work, with the recent Google Groups changes and all, search for "Which version of Windows CE and Shell should be used" instead.
It's not too bad. Here in Chicago, they tell us what the results are before we vote!
Uh, hello. How was this modded anything but the flamebait expletive-laced troll that it is? A bunch of pissed off moderators today, maybe?
Apparently there haven't been many attempts at running Slashdot submissions through a splel chekcer.
In a related story, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that when saying the pledge of allegience all school children must say "under zilla."
By the way, it would be nice to see the search window open up in something a little more lightweight than a full-blown instance of IE.
What adoption? When was the last time you used a Bluetooth-enabled device to do anything useful?
Within the decade the spinning hard disk may be capable of holding terabytes, or even petabytes, on a single platter. And it will be orders of magnitude cheaper than solid state storage as we know it. I doubt that hard drives will go the way of the dodo anytime soon.
Just as a comparison, look at how many backup solutions still use tape media (and use it very effectively and cheaply, I might add).
So what newsreader to you recommend these days?
I've been running SETI clients for a while now, and I suppose if someone asked my why I do it, I would say that I do it now just because I did it before.
I don't have any illusions about actually finding intelligent, extraterrestrial communications with SETI anymore. (And if anyone does, I'm not holding out hope that it's me.) In fact, I think that we should seriously question whether the entire premise of SETI@home--that other life forms would transmit data at the radio frequency of water--is still valid. Is it reasonable to assume that two completely different creatures would logically arrive at the same conclusion for how to communicate? Considering the amount of diversity on our planet alone, maybe not.
Could a blind man and a deaf man put together in a giant, dark auditorium find a way to communicate? That would be the easy problem; the hard one is finding a way to communicate with any intelligent life that's light years away out there.
Assuming it's out there in the first place...
However, W. F. Libby, inventor of radiocarbon dating, thought that the samples that were tested had been contaminated by their surroundings, and by the rate of decay in high altitude. So nothing has been conclusively shown either way.
Geesh...any other scientific expedition would have Slashdotters agog at the future possibilities and clamoring to give their right arm to tag along. But a trip to find Noah's ark and (possibly) prove a Biblical story correct? Woah, can't have that now, can we?
Now if they do find something, wouldn't that mess up your preconceptions...
This has been a public service announcement from the happily unemployed.
I wish you could moderated higher than +5, Insightful, because that's one of the smartest things I've seen posted on Slashdot in a while.
So you're the guy they were talking about!
Does that have something to do with the shape of Patrick Stewart's bald head?