I was mildly surprised to see such a pro-Linux article coming from ZDNet. In the past they have been a solid Microsoft advocate. This seems to be another sign that Open Source is gaining its critical mass.
There might be a perfectly good reason this is occurring. It might be a software error. It might be a temporary fix for a temporary problem. Who knows?
But even if it is intentional, it is totally within their rights to set up their servers any way they see fit.
I absolutely agree. So many "systems" people design in vacuo, and have totally forgotten that the environment of the software is a critical component. It is just as important as their damn diagrams. They should dip into the code occasionally to get a reality check. I'm not decrying systems analysis and design. But totally separating the design from the implementation is insane. It is like building a dam, without requiring the architect to know about concrete.
I'm frankly sick of architects (that's the term for people who say they design software but don't actually design software) who bemoan the gap between their glorious visions and the real products their teams end up producing. These people need to click "Close" on their UML models and go get their hands dirty by writing parts of the production code.
The software world already has too many Idea Men. I wish that UML and other design tools had something like a taxi fare meter, to keep reminding them "it will cost you this much."
As long as they want it, either pay for it,
or let someone else pay for it, and move
the project to another state. Johns Hopkins has been so incredibly skillful at mismanaging the HST program, they need to move on to something new.
Let California or Texas run it. Some state with skill. Some non-welfare state.
I am surprised that there are so many people
voicing righteous indignation at this fellow,
and at Coast to Coast. It is pure mindless enjoyment. All of the posters seem so outraged
that the people who believe in this stuff take
it so seriously. It seems that the debunkers need to take a pill, too. It is just a radio program, not to be taken seriously. Besides, the endless parade of "special" people on the show is a treasure trove of entertainment. I don't listen to it anymore,
but it was a great time-waster in the 90's.
And it has an unintended benefit, actually. Don't you realize that
by getting so many people to argue these silly
facts, the producers of the show have inadvertently, as a side effect, caused many people to believe in logic and the scientific method?
My favorite theme on the show, by the way,
was Bottomless Holes.
God bless the chupacabras, the inventors of
perpetual motion machines and engines that
run on water. Give thanks to the guys that
walk the streets dressed as Killer Bees. They
make life a bit more interesting.
Really, all of this ruminating about
what should be done with this Open
Source project's resources is moot.
The project and its assets belong to
Mozilla.org and its contributors.
The license allows others to use it. The
Mozilla guys are not pulling stuff out of Open
Source. They are taking material which is originally their own, and putting it into Open Source.
Different computer languages perform best when applied to their own domain of tasks. The same
goes for human languages.
For a nonhuman example, consider Calculus notation, which is totally impractical and difficult for common use.
For everyday use, simple arithmetic works well and provides the "ease of use" we need for accomplishing everyday tasks. Calculus is out of place in our daily lives. Calculus is, however, a time-saving shorthand notation that greatly simplifies its intended domain. Calculus notation provides a speedy way to
work out a problem of its type, while hiding the low-level mechanics from the human. Using simple arithmetic to solve a problem in the Calculus domain would display no "ease of use" at all. For instance, remember when Newton worked out his theories on gravity and orbital motions concisely in the Calculus. He later needed to re-write the proofs in much longer and more difficult geometry to present his ideas to others.
Now, for a human example, look at the Creole set of languages. These are the synthetic languages that were born when people of many tongues (often slaves) were brought together and were compelled to communicate with each other in order to cope with their foreign environment. The resulting languages were (at first) terribly inefficient at expressing complicated ideas. But they were awesomely efficient in their given task: to provide a common bridge among the babel of tongues.
Maybe there is a human language out there, whose design and model are best suited for AI? Maybe there is some language out there whose mechanics can greatly simplify some of our current horrendously complicated systems. Who knows. Maybe this really is akin to finding that miracle drug in the rain forest before the plants are extinct.
I'm sure the guys in Maryland will probably be coming up with daily or weekly ASTOUNDING DISCOVERIES! in order to keep funding at
Johns Hopkins.
What can they do to gather funding from other than government sources? What other countries would like to help?
At one time I expected this telescope to the the most incredible scientific instrument ever built. But my enthusiasm for it was damaged when they neglected to test it before launch. Did the telescope project accept the responsibility for the failure, and cover the cost of the repair mission themselves? No. They went back to the well of public funding again. And they have done it since then again. I think the public has paid enough. Let's launch some new technology.
The problems affected a technology in the newest versions of Windows known as "abstract syntax notation," a way to share data across different computers. Some of Microsoft's built-in security features - such as its Kerberos cryptography system - rely on the flawed software.
Well, if they want it, they can have
it. I have never liked ASN.1. So
horribly cryptic, it must be a security
feature rather than a grammar. It
must have been invented by the
same fascists who make sendmail.cf.
I'm not saying that x86 is bad. It
is sitting on almost every desktop
already.
But if you want to be able to teach
assembly with fewer architecture-dependent
quirks, try something with a cleaner
instruction set, like MC68k or PowerPC.
Orthogonal, linear address space,
elegant indexing, etc.
But the theory of the article is right.
Too many programmers are coming out of
schools with little or no understanding
of the hardware. They have too much
tunnel vision in their narrow field
of expertise. And I agree with
Assembly first, other languages afterward.
This is much like teaching Calculus. Teach
them the hard way first, then the shortcuts.
This is yet another of those long term goals that
the president will not need to deliver in the short
run. There will be no money, no manpower, no political arm-twisting.
If you recall, he promised a renewed emphasis on space after the shuttle crash. This is probably a gentle way of telling NASA that this will not happen, that any new programs will be deferred to another president.
Remember that scene when the sub is sitting at the bottom of the Straits of Gilbraltar, hounded by British destroyers? They were so deep that the rivets were popping out.
In a tunnel like this, that would be overhead. Is that a scary thought, or what?
This is my favorite Heinlein book... and talk about imitated!
How many times did Star Trek have an episode about a culture who forgot its ancestors, or its raison d'etre? This is one of the most common story lines today in SF.
In his analysis, when he goes from
proposition to conclusion, he says,
"Clearly...blah blah...(unproven conclusion)". This is the classic way of punting when there
is no proof, or the proponent does not
wish to go to the effort of making one.
So when the poster uses the term "debunk,"
he overstates his case.
I consider SVG to be the "next big thing" in HTML. It only seems to be stalled for lack of critical mass. People aren't using SVG since no browser supports it natively. No browser supports it natively since people don't use it yet.
But it is SO tantalizingly close in Mozilla, that it is painful to see it so far away. Checking the progress of SVG in Mozilla, it seems to be stagnating. It really needs some General Patton to force-march it toward a release.
I mean, it is just one survey. In the
scientific world, that equals one experiment,
which should be considered in the context of the
others, which are equally valid.
From what I read, it is 3 things:
1) A survey
2) An analysis of the results
3) A conclusion based on the analysis.
I don't think that this constitutes proof at all. Maybe the author needs to take a Logic course.
True. It is not ever absolutely dark. It is, however, when not directly lit by the Sun, much darker than the Earthside part of the moon is when it is similarly shielded from the Sun.
Why? Because the nearer side is lit by the reflected light from the Earth! Enormously brighter than moonlight.
Slashdot Mirror
I was mildly surprised to see such a pro-Linux article coming from ZDNet. In the past they have been a solid Microsoft advocate. This seems to be another sign that Open Source is gaining its critical mass.
But even if it is intentional, it is totally within their rights to set up their servers any way they see fit.
Let California or Texas run it. Some state with skill. Some non-welfare state.
And it has an unintended benefit, actually. Don't you realize that by getting so many people to argue these silly facts, the producers of the show have inadvertently, as a side effect, caused many people to believe in logic and the scientific method?
My favorite theme on the show, by the way, was Bottomless Holes.
God bless the chupacabras, the inventors of perpetual motion machines and engines that run on water. Give thanks to the guys that walk the streets dressed as Killer Bees. They make life a bit more interesting.
The license allows others to use it. The Mozilla guys are not pulling stuff out of Open Source. They are taking material which is originally their own, and putting it into Open Source.
People seem to forget this.
For a nonhuman example, consider Calculus notation, which is totally impractical and difficult for common use. For everyday use, simple arithmetic works well and provides the "ease of use" we need for accomplishing everyday tasks. Calculus is out of place in our daily lives. Calculus is, however, a time-saving shorthand notation that greatly simplifies its intended domain. Calculus notation provides a speedy way to work out a problem of its type, while hiding the low-level mechanics from the human. Using simple arithmetic to solve a problem in the Calculus domain would display no "ease of use" at all. For instance, remember when Newton worked out his theories on gravity and orbital motions concisely in the Calculus. He later needed to re-write the proofs in much longer and more difficult geometry to present his ideas to others.
Now, for a human example, look at the Creole set of languages. These are the synthetic languages that were born when people of many tongues (often slaves) were brought together and were compelled to communicate with each other in order to cope with their foreign environment. The resulting languages were (at first) terribly inefficient at expressing complicated ideas. But they were awesomely efficient in their given task: to provide a common bridge among the babel of tongues.
Maybe there is a human language out there, whose design and model are best suited for AI? Maybe there is some language out there whose mechanics can greatly simplify some of our current horrendously complicated systems. Who knows. Maybe this really is akin to finding that miracle drug in the rain forest before the plants are extinct.
What can they do to gather funding from other than government sources? What other countries would like to help?
At one time I expected this telescope to the the most incredible scientific instrument ever built. But my enthusiasm for it was damaged when they neglected to test it before launch. Did the telescope project accept the responsibility for the failure, and cover the cost of the repair mission themselves? No. They went back to the well of public funding again. And they have done it since then again. I think the public has paid enough. Let's launch some new technology.
Why would /. readers feel any outrage?
But if you want to be able to teach assembly with fewer architecture-dependent quirks, try something with a cleaner instruction set, like MC68k or PowerPC. Orthogonal, linear address space, elegant indexing, etc.
But the theory of the article is right. Too many programmers are coming out of schools with little or no understanding of the hardware. They have too much tunnel vision in their narrow field of expertise. And I agree with Assembly first, other languages afterward. This is much like teaching Calculus. Teach them the hard way first, then the shortcuts.
PUT SOME HARDWARE IN THE AIR!
Honestly, these old-world guys can talk a big tale. On paper, they have already done it.
If not, shouldn't there be? That would
seem to be a solution to this problem.
Why do you guys keep posting this stuff?
Claiming controversy where none exists?
If you recall, he promised a renewed emphasis on space after the shuttle crash. This is probably a gentle way of telling NASA that this will not happen, that any new programs will be deferred to another president.
In a tunnel like this, that would be overhead . Is that a scary thought, or what?
How many times did Star Trek have an episode about a culture who forgot its ancestors, or its raison d'etre? This is one of the most common story lines today in SF.
In his analysis, when he goes from proposition to conclusion, he says, "Clearly...blah blah ...(unproven conclusion)". This is the classic way of punting when there
is no proof, or the proponent does not
wish to go to the effort of making one.
So when the poster uses the term "debunk,"
he overstates his case.
Glad you caught that. Might be a trademark problem.
I absolutely agree. Although this is a tempest in a teacup, RedHat could have been responsible enough to spend 15 seconds to Google for the word.
It says "ultrasonic motor". Maybe the power source -is- ultrasonics; meaning it is passively powered by ultrasonic waves from a nearby transponder.
But it is SO tantalizingly close in Mozilla, that it is painful to see it so far away. Checking the progress of SVG in Mozilla, it seems to be stagnating. It really needs some General Patton to force-march it toward a release.
From what I read, it is 3 things:
1) A survey
2) An analysis of the results
3) A conclusion based on the analysis.
I don't think that this constitutes proof at all. Maybe the author needs to take a Logic course.
Why? Because the nearer side is lit by the reflected light from the Earth! Enormously brighter than moonlight.