Well, never fear, the REAL news about the iBook consumer portable ( iBook )shouldn't make you feel too inadequate about your PowerBook! The new consumer portable is cute, but I'd rather have your machine...:-)
It has been suggested that our society is making a transition from one that prefers to be entertained passively (e.g. TV, movies) to one that prefers interactive entertainment (e.g. Nintendo and Sega games, using internet resources). So, the article isn't all that surprising. Many web resources provide information that some people might have previously gotten from TV (such as news) in 24/7 availability. I imagine as more households get online, and the opportunities for online entertainment increase, the trend of watching less TV will continue.
I know, in our household, the number of hours of TV watched would probably be even fewer if my husband and myself could both be online at the same time!;-)
I just read the CAP review of South Park - quite entertaining in some ways! Of course, I am not exactly sure what they are trying to do...
"A child cannot escape being influenced by this useless..."
Huh? It isn't a kid's show! Does animation==kid's show still prevail? Do you think the Christian folks reading this stuff would let their kids see the TV episodes of South Park?
BTW, I sat through a seminar recently where a psych researcher showed data revealing that there is a higher percentage of violence in kid's shows than in prime-time shows... maybe these CAP folks should be targeting something their kids actually might see?
This article certainly gives food for thought. I really don't want to be 'eased out' when I am 35 years old, and I do want some sort of life outside work. (Actually, I work at a university, so I think that we don't get exploited as much as in the corporate world... though, allegedly, we don't get paid as much as those in the corporate world, either!) I have forwarded the URL to several friends who are also working in New Media/IT.
However, this isn't the only career with these sorts of problems. Before becoming a programmer, I was a graduate student in micro/molecular biology. As a graduate student I was expected to work far more than 40 hours a week on a stipend of approx 15K/yr (at the University I attended - this will vary depending on the institution, city, etc.) This included my lab work and teaching. What happens when you finish your doctorate? Why, you continue with post-doctorate work (or training). Post-docs tend to be 1-5 year positions, usually salaried between 20-35 K/year, few benefits, if any. And once you have finished one or two post-docs, THEN you can apply for a permanent job! The good ones are apparently hard to get - with cutbacks in education, many professorial jobs are being eliminated. Industry jobs are often less than secure in biotechnology. Most of these jobs are not lucrative, either (with the odd exception, of course!), and there is sometimes a bias against older applicants, or people with gaps in publication records. (If you are a female scientist, wanting to have a family, you will likely be creating those dreaded publication gaps.) Life is expected to revolve around your science, and from what I have seen, young scientists spend more time in the lab than programmers in the office around here!
Anyhow, it is tough to be an educated professional these days, in several fields. I enjoy what I am doing at the moment, and it pays reasonably well. Someday, I may have to switch careers again (when I am eased out at 35, perhaps?), but I know I won't be the only person in this boat. I don't see any immediate solutions to the overall problems in the industry, so it is probably up to each individual to keep their own options open, and decide the order of priorities in their lives.
Well-said! I am a subscriber of Shaw@Home (Calgary, AB) and the service here is spotty. It would be difficult to give up the 24/7 access, and speedy download speeds, but latency is a *very* common problem here. We have had other problems too - outages are common. (In one case we were without service for a WEEK, tech service was pretty much non-existent, but we did manage to get a refund for that week.)
Anyone thinking of subscribing to @Home service may want to think twice. If you are playing lots of online games, or you need to interact with a remote terminal (I have had telnet sessions that were just painful, waiting more than 30 seconds to see a keystroke on my emulator screen) this service may not be for you. If you know someone in your area of the city who has the service, try to check it out in prime-time... this may give an indication of what service will be like. Unfortunately, I think the cable companies are signing up customers faster than they are upgrading the equipment, so even if you are getting good rates now, this may change in the future.
It sucks, I hate the problems we have with @Home, but we can't afford DSL right now... going back to the 56.6 and tying up our phone line just doesn't seem like an option!
Well, not to get into a serious discussion, but...
a) Most spam I get comes through my free web addresses - these are the ones I post to newsgroups with. I am probably in somewhat of a minority right now, too - my ISP is a cable provider, and their price has actually dropped over the years. b) My phone company keeps charging me more money every few months for a basic account. Apparently, the cost of supporting local phone service is quite high... I am guessing the telemarketers don't lessen the load!
I have to say that I am glad I have not yet received a telemarketer call on my cell phone yet - THAT would really bother me!
Anyhow, I still hate Spam. But I dislike having to deal with telemarketers more.
Like the majority of people (with the possible exception of folks who don't get much mail and are happy to see ANYTHING appear in their 'in-box') I despise Spam. However, having chosen to work from home today thinking I would have some peace and quiet during my coding, I realized something.
I prefer Spam to telemarketers!
At least with Spam, I can just hit the delete key and it is gone! I suppose I could just hang up on the telemarketers, but years of social conditioning make that nearly impossible...
I like gadgets, in general, but I am not too keen on the Factoid... Yeah, we are already exhibiting "proof of a human desire in this area, as we already build and buy "remembering" devices", but IMO it isn't always a good substitution. We are at risk of losing a lot of real quality memories in our pursuit to record events for future replay - for example in a typical wedding, the bride, groom and family are often so concerned about the videotape turning out well that they can't concentrate on the true moment at hand. What is more precious, the memory of that special day or the VHS version that will gather dust? Even a journal entry is more personal, as it is tinged by the writer's perception of the memory.
Will we soon all be walking around, clutching our Factoids, frantic if the server is down for fear we will lose a 'moment' from our lives? Yuck.
Good idea re: using XML for a cv - I am impressed by your examples! (Currently I have several versions of my resume: RTF, Word, plain text, HTML and CSS-enhanced HTML.)
I hope that eventually we can routinely use XML in this way... but unfortunately I just can't see the majority of HR departments moving to something this innovative and efficient...
The idea of peer-reviewed websites for dissemination of medical/scientific information seems like a good idea. People (including me!) already go to the web to look for information, spending many on-line hours sifting through numerous 'health-related' sites. In the case of health care, unfortunately, the gamble of trusting non-peer-reviewed information can be dangerous.
There will be struggles as the medical and scientific communities try to come to terms with a change as large as the dissemination of information electronically (rather than in paper-based journals), but this change will happen despite the FUD of the establishment.
Unfortunately, despite some superficial similarities, drawing a parallel between Dr. Varnus and 'Buffy' may only trivialize what is likely a significant advancement in communication of biological/medical information.
YS
Interesting but unlikely to be used much
on
DNA Encryption
·
· Score: 1
From the limited information in the BBC article, it seems pretty unlikely that this type of encryption will be widely used. The expense and effort that would go into: a) modification/creation of desired DNA sequences b) DNA analysis would make this technique prohibitive. And, in terms of security, how many people would you trust in these labs anyway? (A one-man operation would probably have trouble handling many samples...)
And, as mentioned elsewhere, this technology is nowhere near the point where they can insert coded messages into your own genome! They could, however, put the information into self-replicating circles of DNA (plasmids) that can be propagated in microorganisms... this would give you other ways to send your encrypted message (in food, tiny vials, a handshake even!). Of course, this would still be expensive and time-consuming...
(Before I began my developing career I was a molecular biologist, and stories like this always catch my eye... Now I will have to read the actual Nature paper to see the details!)
Is this discussion *really* about Linux on Macs? As per usual with a Mac-related story, there are several posts which seem to stray from the main topic.
Still looking for some kind of filter so I can read the interesting (well, at least relevant) posts rather than the 'Macs-suck' posts...
The idea of Perl replacing VB/VBA is seems a little farfetched. MS has a huge investment in VB, and there is a large developer community dependent on it as well. VBA is also relied upon heavily in many Win apps at the moment. Perl is a different tool, IMHO, for the most part. On NT, I use Perl for CGI scripting... I use VB when I want to quickly whip up a GUI that will be used on Windows only.
As far as I can see, MS seems to try to keep its fingers in as many pies as possible...
Let me start by saying that I enjoy reading/. articles and usually the discussions that follow. There are generally enough intelligent, informative, open-minded posts to make it worth my time to read them.
I should also mention that I work on Macs, PCs, Unix and Linux. These are tools, each has strengths, and I am not an evangelist for any particular platform,
However, it seems that any time a story to Macs appears on/., it is just an opportunity for the same old arguments to get rehashed. For example, in this case, there are a handful of useful posts concerning the OS X story. The rest are the SAME old trolls and useless arguments that I have seen any time I look through posts re: a Mac related story, many not related to the current story at all!!!
Moderation helps a little, but it is too bad I can't filter the posts by some more specific criteria. In this case, I'd be interested in seeing: - who has tested this phenomenon on an OSX box - recent information about this bug - information about this (or similar) phenomena on OTHER Apache servers
Am I in the minority here to be interested in the technical issues here? Are there really that many people who would rather bicker about the Mac GUI vs other GUIs or whether a one-button mouse is inherently inferior to a multi-button mouse? I am sure that I will be flamed as a result of this message, but I am frustrated (and disappointed) by the petty squabbling that is going on, and curious if anyone else out there feels the same way.
I am a self-professed geek, and I _loved_ "The Matrix". So did all my geek friends. However, despite the incredible CG special effects and sci-fi aspects, this movie has more of a following than just the "geek crowd". My non-programmer, non-techie friends who have seen the movie have raved about it. The characters and the story are accessible to all, even if you do not have a technical background or inclination.
I also found it interesting to see a thread on the "alt.yoga" newsgroup talking about "The Matrix". Many people in this rather un-techie ng were moved by the ideas in the film dealing with "What is reality?". This movie has more to it than what first meets the eye, too...
I agree with Jerf - in fact, even the wording of most of the "correct answers" does not seem very Jedi-like. Would it have been THAT difficult to make a "test" that really made you think about the Jedi philosophy - or, barring that, some SW trivia?
Well, I am using MacOS 8.6 and I wasn't surprised to see the applet crash when I tried to load it into NS 4.5. Unless you have the Java Plug-in (and the page specifies use of it), you are stuck using the NS JVM, which is rather out-of-date. Although I rarely use IE, it is my preferred browser for viewing Java, as you can select the Apple MRJ in the preferences. The Apple MRJ (so long as you get the latest version from Apple) is the most up to date VM available for the Mac AFAIK.
It sucks, but we're used to work arounds on a Mac, aren't we?
I do think it is great that the strip will be published by O'Reilly, but unless the comics are new, and not published on the web, I can't see why I would buy them. One of the things I really like about the online strip is that I can read them for free, and print out the ones I want to stick up in my cubicle... It's not that I don't want to see Iliad getting some financial rewards for his work, it just isn't common sense for me to spend the $$.
If they are _new_ comics, though, it is a different story!
Is it just me, or does this sound like a pyramid scheme or maybe even... Mary Kay/Amway sales???
"Move up through the campaign ranks - you start out as an I-Team field organizer. The more activists you recruit, the more responsibility you will have. "
While capitalism may not be perfect, I personally do not think that "destroy(ing) the monetary system" is any kind of action that can result in improving our system. Really, if you want to change the system, propose and work for something better, don't just attack the existing state(and those who dwell within)!
In my case, as I work at a University, if I take an unnecessary sick-day, there is a cost to the institution... which is funded in a large part by tax-payers!
And what about the poor schmoes that DO work while their "consumer terrorist" coworkers call in sick? Is punishing them by making them carry a bigger workload part of this whole plan?
I probably _could_ take the 19th off, my workplace is pretty flexible about this stuff, but do I want to? Part of me wants to see the movie as soon as I possibly can... and part of me wonders how many children will be attending the afternoon shows...
I wonder if any of our local (Calgary) theatres will be having a midnight showing...?
I wasn't *absolutely* sure this was a joke until I read this article... Now I am quite impressed at the foresight and work that went into this AFD prank! It is doubly amusing to see the reactions of folks to this one.
My only problem - I don't have my User Friendly fix for the day!!! How can I possibly start coding without it?!?!?
Slashdot Mirror
Well, never fear, the REAL news about the iBook consumer portable ( iBook )shouldn't make you feel too inadequate about your PowerBook! The new consumer portable is cute, but I'd rather have your machine ... :-)
YS
It has been suggested that our society is making a transition from one that prefers to be entertained passively (e.g. TV, movies) to one that prefers interactive entertainment (e.g. Nintendo and Sega games, using internet resources). So, the article isn't all that surprising. Many web resources provide information that some people might have previously gotten from TV (such as news) in 24/7 availability. I imagine as more households get online, and the opportunities for online entertainment increase, the trend of watching less TV will continue.
;-)
I know, in our household, the number of hours of TV watched would probably be even fewer if my husband and myself could both be online at the same time!
YS
I just read the CAP review of South Park - quite entertaining in some ways! Of course, I am not exactly sure what they are trying to do ...
..."
... maybe these CAP folks should be targeting something their kids actually might see?
"A child cannot escape being influenced by this useless
Huh? It isn't a kid's show! Does animation==kid's show still prevail? Do you think the Christian folks reading this stuff would let their kids see the TV episodes of South Park?
BTW, I sat through a seminar recently where a psych researcher showed data revealing that there is a higher percentage of violence in kid's shows than in prime-time shows
YS
This article certainly gives food for thought. I really don't want to be 'eased out' when I am 35 years old, and I do want some sort of life outside work. (Actually, I work at a university, so I think that we don't get exploited as much as in the corporate world ... though, allegedly, we don't get paid as much as those in the corporate world, either!) I have forwarded the URL to several friends who are also working in New Media/IT.
However, this isn't the only career with these sorts of problems. Before becoming a programmer, I was a graduate student in micro/molecular biology. As a graduate student I was expected to work far more than 40 hours a week on a stipend of approx 15K/yr (at the University I attended - this will vary depending on the institution, city, etc.) This included my lab work and teaching. What happens when you finish your doctorate? Why, you continue with post-doctorate work (or training). Post-docs tend to be 1-5 year positions, usually salaried between 20-35 K/year, few benefits, if any. And once you have finished one or two post-docs, THEN you can apply for a permanent job! The good ones are apparently hard to get - with cutbacks in education, many professorial jobs are being eliminated. Industry jobs are often less than secure in biotechnology. Most of these jobs are not lucrative, either (with the odd exception, of course!), and there is sometimes a bias against older applicants, or people with gaps in publication records. (If you are a female scientist, wanting to have a family, you will likely be creating those dreaded publication gaps.) Life is expected to revolve around your science, and from what I have seen, young scientists spend more time in the lab than programmers in the office around here!
Anyhow, it is tough to be an educated professional these days, in several fields. I enjoy what I am doing at the moment, and it pays reasonably well. Someday, I may have to switch careers again (when I am eased out at 35, perhaps?), but I know I won't be the only person in this boat. I don't see any immediate solutions to the overall problems in the industry, so it is probably up to each individual to keep their own options open, and decide the order of priorities in their lives.
YS
Well-said! I am a subscriber of Shaw@Home (Calgary, AB) and the service here is spotty. It would be difficult to give up the 24/7 access, and speedy download speeds, but latency is a *very* common problem here. We have had other problems too - outages are common. (In one case we were without service for a WEEK, tech service was pretty much non-existent, but we did manage to get a refund for that week.)
... this may give an indication of what service will be like. Unfortunately, I think the cable companies are signing up customers faster than they are upgrading the equipment, so even if you are getting good rates now, this may change in the future.
... going back to the 56.6 and tying up our phone line just doesn't seem like an option!
Anyone thinking of subscribing to @Home service may want to think twice. If you are playing lots of online games, or you need to interact with a remote terminal (I have had telnet sessions that were just painful, waiting more than 30 seconds to see a keystroke on my emulator screen) this service may not be for you. If you know someone in your area of the city who has the service, try to check it out in prime-time
It sucks, I hate the problems we have with @Home, but we can't afford DSL right now
YS
Unfortunately, I have had similar problems not only going between Mac and Win Office, but between different machines running Office 97 on Windows.
...
Interesting how that doesn't happen with most other file types
YS
Well, not to get into a serious discussion, but ...
... I am guessing the telemarketers don't lessen the load!
a) Most spam I get comes through my free web addresses - these are the ones I post to newsgroups with. I am probably in somewhat of a minority right now, too - my ISP is a cable provider, and their price has actually dropped over the years.
b) My phone company keeps charging me more money every few months for a basic account. Apparently, the cost of supporting local phone service is quite high
I have to say that I am glad I have not yet received a telemarketer call on my cell phone yet - THAT would really bother me!
Anyhow, I still hate Spam. But I dislike having to deal with telemarketers more.
YS
Like the majority of people (with the possible exception of folks who don't get much mail and are happy to see ANYTHING appear in their 'in-box') I despise Spam. However, having chosen to work from home today thinking I would have some peace and quiet during my coding, I realized something.
...
I prefer Spam to telemarketers!
At least with Spam, I can just hit the delete key and it is gone! I suppose I could just hang up on the telemarketers, but years of social conditioning make that nearly impossible
YS
I like gadgets, in general, but I am not too keen on the Factoid ... Yeah, we are already exhibiting "proof of a human desire in this area, as we already build and buy "remembering" devices", but IMO it isn't always a good substitution. We are at risk of losing a lot of real quality memories in our pursuit to record events for future replay - for example in a typical wedding, the bride, groom and family are often so concerned about the videotape turning out well that they can't concentrate on the true moment at hand. What is more precious, the memory of that special day or the VHS version that will gather dust? Even a journal entry is more personal, as it is tinged by the writer's perception of the memory.
Will we soon all be walking around, clutching our Factoids, frantic if the server is down for fear we will lose a 'moment' from our lives? Yuck.
YS
Good idea re: using XML for a cv - I am impressed by your examples! (Currently I have several versions of my resume: RTF, Word, plain text, HTML and CSS-enhanced HTML.)
... but unfortunately I just can't see the majority of HR departments moving to something this innovative and efficient ...
I hope that eventually we can routinely use XML in this way
The idea of peer-reviewed websites for dissemination of medical/scientific information seems like a good idea. People (including me!) already go to the web to look for information, spending many on-line hours sifting through numerous 'health-related' sites. In the case of health care, unfortunately, the gamble of trusting non-peer-reviewed information can be dangerous.
There will be struggles as the medical and scientific communities try to come to terms with a change as large as the dissemination of information electronically (rather than in paper-based journals), but this change will happen despite the FUD of the establishment.
Unfortunately, despite some superficial similarities, drawing a parallel between Dr. Varnus and 'Buffy' may only trivialize what is likely a significant advancement in communication of biological/medical information.
YS
From the limited information in the BBC article, it seems pretty unlikely that this type of encryption will be widely used. The expense and effort that would go into: ...)
... this would give you other ways to send your encrypted message (in food, tiny vials, a handshake even!). Of course, this would still be expensive and time-consuming ...
... Now I will have to read the actual Nature paper to see the details!)
a) modification/creation of desired DNA sequences
b) DNA analysis
would make this technique prohibitive. And, in terms of security, how many people would you trust in these labs anyway? (A one-man operation would probably have trouble handling many samples
And, as mentioned elsewhere, this technology is nowhere near the point where they can insert coded messages into your own genome! They could, however, put the information into self-replicating circles of DNA (plasmids) that can be propagated in microorganisms
(Before I began my developing career I was a molecular biologist, and stories like this always catch my eye
YS
Is this discussion *really* about Linux on Macs? As per usual with a Mac-related story, there are several posts which seem to stray from the main topic.
...
Still looking for some kind of filter so I can read the interesting (well, at least relevant) posts rather than the 'Macs-suck' posts
YS
The idea of Perl replacing VB/VBA is seems a little farfetched. MS has a huge investment in VB, and there is a large developer community dependent on it as well. VBA is also relied upon heavily in many Win apps at the moment. Perl is a different tool, IMHO, for the most part. On NT, I use Perl for CGI scripting ... I use VB when I want to quickly whip up a GUI that will be used on Windows only.
...
As far as I can see, MS seems to try to keep its fingers in as many pies as possible
YS
Let me start by saying that I enjoy reading /. articles and usually the discussions that follow. There are generally enough intelligent, informative, open-minded posts to make it worth my time to read them.
/., it is just an opportunity for the same old arguments to get rehashed. For example, in this case, there are a handful of useful posts concerning the OS X story. The rest are the SAME old trolls and useless arguments that I have seen any time I look through posts re: a Mac related story, many not related to the current story at all!!!
I should also mention that I work on Macs, PCs, Unix and Linux. These are tools, each has strengths, and I am not an evangelist for any particular platform,
However, it seems that any time a story to Macs appears on
Moderation helps a little, but it is too bad I can't filter the posts by some more specific criteria. In this case, I'd be interested in seeing:
- who has tested this phenomenon on an OSX box
- recent information about this bug
- information about this (or similar) phenomena on OTHER Apache servers
Am I in the minority here to be interested in the technical issues here? Are there really that many people who would rather bicker about the Mac GUI vs other GUIs or whether a one-button mouse is inherently inferior to a multi-button mouse? I am sure that I will be flamed as a result of this message, but I am frustrated (and disappointed) by the petty squabbling that is going on, and curious if anyone else out there feels the same way.
YS
I am a self-professed geek, and I _loved_ "The Matrix". So did all my geek friends. However, despite the incredible CG special effects and sci-fi aspects, this movie has more of a following than just the "geek crowd". My non-programmer, non-techie friends who have seen the movie have raved about it. The characters and the story are accessible to all, even if you do not have a technical background or inclination.
...
I also found it interesting to see a thread on the "alt.yoga" newsgroup talking about "The Matrix". Many people in this rather un-techie ng were moved by the ideas in the film dealing with "What is reality?". This movie has more to it than what first meets the eye, too
YS
I think Yoda would be very disappointed!
... that gives me an idea ... ;-)
I agree with Jerf - in fact, even the wording of most of the "correct answers" does not seem very Jedi-like. Would it have been THAT difficult to make a "test" that really made you think about the Jedi philosophy - or, barring that, some SW trivia?
Hmmm
YS
Well, I am using MacOS 8.6 and I wasn't surprised to see the applet crash when I tried to load it into NS 4.5. Unless you have the Java Plug-in (and the page specifies use of it), you are stuck using the NS JVM, which is rather out-of-date. Although I rarely use IE, it is my preferred browser for viewing Java, as you can select the Apple MRJ in the preferences. The Apple MRJ (so long as you get the latest version from Apple) is the most up to date VM available for the Mac AFAIK.
It sucks, but we're used to work arounds on a Mac, aren't we?
YS
I probably won't be buying the book ...
... It's not that I don't want to see Iliad getting some financial rewards for his work, it just isn't common sense for me to spend the $$.
I do think it is great that the strip will be published by O'Reilly, but unless the comics are new, and not published on the web, I can't see why I would buy them. One of the things I really like about the online strip is that I can read them for free, and print out the ones I want to stick up in my cubicle
If they are _new_ comics, though, it is a different story!
Is it just me, or does this sound like a pyramid scheme or maybe even ... Mary Kay/Amway sales???
...
"Move up through the campaign ranks - you start out as an I-Team field organizer. The more activists you recruit, the more responsibility you will have. "
This disturbs me
YS.
While capitalism may not be perfect, I personally do not think that "destroy(ing) the monetary system" is any kind of action that can result in improving our system. Really, if you want to change the system, propose and work for something better, don't just attack the existing state(and those who dwell within)!
... which is funded in a large part by tax-payers!
In my case, as I work at a University, if I take an unnecessary sick-day, there is a cost to the institution
And what about the poor schmoes that DO work while their "consumer terrorist" coworkers call in sick? Is punishing them by making them carry a bigger workload part of this whole plan?
YS
I probably _could_ take the 19th off, my workplace is pretty flexible about this stuff, but do I want to? Part of me wants to see the movie as soon as I possibly can ... and part of me wonders how many children will be attending the afternoon shows ...
...?
I wonder if any of our local (Calgary) theatres will be having a midnight showing
Drat, it's yesterday's!!!
I wasn't *absolutely* sure this was a joke until I read this article ... Now I am quite impressed at the foresight and work that went into this AFD prank! It is doubly amusing to see the reactions of folks to this one.
My only problem - I don't have my User Friendly fix for the day!!! How can I possibly start coding without it?!?!?
;o)
YS
Hehe, I *thought* I saw Duchovney's head! I really have to watch that part again in slo-mo ...