Likewise: VAX/VMS over DECnet. I still remember vividly the sudden paradigm shift I experienced at the time: one day I was used to "green screen" alphanumeric terminals, the next I suddenly understood the immense power and flexibility of a large bitmapped colour monitor. Previously I had thought that such workstations were only for graphic designers, people using CAD/CAM packages, or poncey pretentious managers who just wanted to have the latest hardware. After the first couple of hours on a training course, I grasped how useful it was to have several terminal windows open simultaneously - optionally on different computers.
As an afterthought, I might point out that no PC I have used since 1985 has offered any fundamental improvement over the VAXstation I had then. Processor frequency, RAM, and hard drive capacity have all increased vastly; but response time and basic capability have hardly improved.
to understand how a machine could be made to pass the Turing test (or the woman test) honestly and thoroughly. To do so, it would have to understand arbitrary human statements and questions: not just "why is the sky blue?" (relatively easy) but "why doesn't my wife understand me?" and "is the real rational, as Hegel posited, and if so (or not) why (not)?" Note that the machine could reasonably pretend to know nothing about Hegel, but it would have to react like a normal human being. No obfuscation such as pretending to be foreign, a child, thoroughly ignorant, or befuddled by drugs should be accepted.
Going a little further, it would have to cope with (very) simple jokes such as "I asked my dog which team would win the World Cup"/"What did he say?"/"Nothing. HE'S A DOG".
"The Government Can No Longer Track Your Cell Phone Without a Warrant"
The headline is slightly inaccurate. It should read:
"The Government Can No Longer Legally Track Your Cell Phone Without a Warrant"
But since history demonstrates conclusively that the government couldn't care less about staying within the law, that makes very little difference. It most certainly can track your cell phone without a warrant, it most probably does so, and you would be most unwise to assume it isn't doing so.
To frighten any other potential troublemakers. Just keep your nose clean, keep your head down, do what you are told and never complain or criticize the authorities. And you'll have nothing to fear. Otherwise...
Contrast the treatment bin Laden received: captured while completely defenceless and indeed stark naked, cynically murdered, and his body dumped into the ocean. Whereas it would have been perfectly easy to bring him back to the USA to stand trial.
You are wrong in stating that they would "have been hanged immediately by a squad of soldiers". Maybe you have been watching too many Hollywood movies. The fledgling USA copied its justice system lock, stock and barrel from that of Britain.
The rebels would have been arrested and detained in prison. They would then have been tried for the crime of treason, and - in view of the overwhelming evidence against them - found guilty and hanged by order of the court. Exactly as all those found guilty of treason against the USA have been executed by order of the courts.
Don't forget the 2 million plus in Iraq, and the 1 million plus in Iran (killed in the war Saddam began, egged on and supported by the USA). There are enough million-plus figures without getting down into the tens of thousands here and there (e.g. Libya).
Actually, the USA is a terrorist nation - indeed, the only really significant one since the Third Reich, Mao and Pol Pot. Iran, on the other hand, has not attacked anyone since it was recreated on the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire nearly a century ago. (In spite of having its democratic constitution overthrown by US agents, and being ferociously attacked, at the direct instigation of the US government, by Iraq with a loss of over 1 million of its citizens).
If you aren't convinced, try totting up the numbers of people killed, maimed, bereaved, and rendered homeless by each of these nations since 1945.
"Go to country where I can get my hand cut off for offending the authorities? No."
If you're a US resident, don't forget that you already live in a country where you can be killed without warning or due process (or made to disappear for the rest of your life) for offending the authorities. (Or even for having a name that some cretin thinks is like some other name that some other cretin put on a list).
Unfortunately for the premise of this study, Dr Ioannidis' well-known findings suggest that most scientific papers are also inaccurate. So we can't draw reliable conclusions as to the accuracy of Wikipedia articles. Indeed, it is possible - though admittedly quite unlikely - that the Wikipedia articles are correct in each case, and the scientific papers incorrect.
The situation seems analogous to that of a journalist and/or photographer reporting on a disaster in which people are hurt or killed. It is often said that they would help more if they dropped their notebooks and cameras and pitched in to help rescuers. But then no one would be doing the presumably useful job of recording events.
The researchers in this case were trying to establish the accuracy of Wikipedia articles. Simultaneously editing would be both a distraction and a conflict of interest - much like moderating and contributing to the same Slashdot thread.
"A study led by King’s College London found that the combination of olive oil and salad holds the key to keeping the risk of high blood pressure down. A large salad with a simple dressing combines the necessary unsaturated fats with nitrate-rich vegetables".
It certainly is true that many people have a nodding acquaintance with Microsoft products - although surprisingly few have mastered, say, 10% of their features. (Largely because so many of those features were added only so as to win tick-in-the-box sales contests). So, in the short term, there is some advantage in continuing with them. Just as there is some advantage in never training staff, just hoping to hire people with existing experience.
In the medium term, let alone the long term, such policies are very risky. The changes in UI between consecutive releases of Microsoft Office can be greater than those between an earlier version and an open-source alternative. As we have seen, many people baulked at the huge difference in UI between Windows 7 and Windows 8. And of course, if no one ever trains staff, eventually there will not be enough people with the necessary experience to go round.
Unfortunately our implementation of capitalism encourages extreme short-termism. Why not slash and burn while you are in a given job, as long as you can be fairly sure of getting promoted before the harm is noticed? Better still, your successor will look really bad, thus improving your image (relatively). And of course, if you accept the principle of never adopting any software that everyone isn't familiar with, by and by you will find that all your software is obsolete. As is your staff's experience.
I know Slashdot is popular with a lot of folks with "a zany sense of humour". But suggesting the nuclear bombing of Moscow - or anywhere else - is not clever and it's not funny. It's wicked, and I say that with no religious agenda. If the word "wicked" has any meaning, this is a perfect example of it.
To some extent, I suppose I am a Space Nutter myself. It must have been about 1957 that I first opened some Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke and other SF books and thrilled to the stories of galactic exploration and gigantic interstellar empires. I'm all for manned space exploration, even though I must admit that nowadays I can't entirely justify it in practical terms.
But what's this stuff about "the end of man kind"?
Why do people mod "Troll" or "Flamebait" when I ask them to explain what they are talking about? I'm disinclined to bandy insults in a forum that I thought was aimed at constructive discussion and debate. Maybe I should taper off reading Slashdot, and stop contributing.
"Cutting us off from space is the worst thing we can do, and will certainly result in the end of man kind".
Eh? What on earth are you talking about? Please explain how not sending a tiny handful of astronauts into space, at immense cost and considerable risk, will affect the survival of the race. As far as I know no one, not even the most wildly enthusiastic advocate of space exploration, has ever said anything of the kind.
Actually, it isn't. The USA spent $5 billion - quite openly - to foment a coup d'etat which overthrew the democratically elected government of Ukraine and replaced with an unelected bunch of foaming fascist killers. This was probably intended to provoke the Russians into invading to protect their people. That was never going to work, though; the Russians are famous for chess skill, and they more or less pioneered the art of "maskirovka" - the misleading feint, followed by an unexpected blow elsewhere. They were hardly going to fall into such an obvious bear trap.
What's more, economically and politically it would be very unfavourable for Russia to get involved in Ukraine - let alone invade or take over. Ukraine is a relatively poor nation these days, and Russia would just acquire a lot of headaches and liabilities - not to mention precipitating an extremely dangerous military confrontation with NATO.
The Russians' best course, as I am sure they are aware, is to stand back and watch Obama and his minions play their silly games. Meanwhile, they can sell their oil and gas to China and other Asian nations, and talk quietly to China, Pakistan, Iran and other countries actively threatened by US aggression. And one of these days, they will all stop using the dollar.
Yes, it's kind of a very lucky virtuous circle that leads to great wealth and success. You need Woz (the brains), but without Jobs (the huckster) Woz would, at best, get a decently paid job working for some corporation. Likewise, Jobs on his own couldn't strike it rich without some big breakthrough that comes only from a technical guy like Woz. So they both need each other; but when the alchemy happens and the money rains down, 99.99% of it sticks to the huckster.
Slashdot Mirror
Likewise: VAX/VMS over DECnet. I still remember vividly the sudden paradigm shift I experienced at the time: one day I was used to "green screen" alphanumeric terminals, the next I suddenly understood the immense power and flexibility of a large bitmapped colour monitor. Previously I had thought that such workstations were only for graphic designers, people using CAD/CAM packages, or poncey pretentious managers who just wanted to have the latest hardware. After the first couple of hours on a training course, I grasped how useful it was to have several terminal windows open simultaneously - optionally on different computers.
As an afterthought, I might point out that no PC I have used since 1985 has offered any fundamental improvement over the VAXstation I had then. Processor frequency, RAM, and hard drive capacity have all increased vastly; but response time and basic capability have hardly improved.
to understand how a machine could be made to pass the Turing test (or the woman test) honestly and thoroughly. To do so, it would have to understand arbitrary human statements and questions: not just "why is the sky blue?" (relatively easy) but "why doesn't my wife understand me?" and "is the real rational, as Hegel posited, and if so (or not) why (not)?" Note that the machine could reasonably pretend to know nothing about Hegel, but it would have to react like a normal human being. No obfuscation such as pretending to be foreign, a child, thoroughly ignorant, or befuddled by drugs should be accepted.
Going a little further, it would have to cope with (very) simple jokes such as "I asked my dog which team would win the World Cup"/"What did he say?"/"Nothing. HE'S A DOG".
Please moderate parent up up UP. He hit the nail right on the head.
"The Government Can No Longer Track Your Cell Phone Without a Warrant"
The headline is slightly inaccurate. It should read:
"The Government Can No Longer Legally Track Your Cell Phone Without a Warrant"
But since history demonstrates conclusively that the government couldn't care less about staying within the law, that makes very little difference. It most certainly can track your cell phone without a warrant, it most probably does so, and you would be most unwise to assume it isn't doing so.
"Then why bother announcing there is a trial?"
To frighten any other potential troublemakers. Just keep your nose clean, keep your head down, do what you are told and never complain or criticize the authorities. And you'll have nothing to fear. Otherwise...
... he wants his Star Chamber back.
There were also notes of congratulations from Cardinal Richelieu and Joe Stalin.
Contrast the treatment bin Laden received: captured while completely defenceless and indeed stark naked, cynically murdered, and his body dumped into the ocean. Whereas it would have been perfectly easy to bring him back to the USA to stand trial.
You are wrong in stating that they would "have been hanged immediately by a squad of soldiers". Maybe you have been watching too many Hollywood movies. The fledgling USA copied its justice system lock, stock and barrel from that of Britain.
The rebels would have been arrested and detained in prison. They would then have been tried for the crime of treason, and - in view of the overwhelming evidence against them - found guilty and hanged by order of the court. Exactly as all those found guilty of treason against the USA have been executed by order of the courts.
Is this the earliest recorded invocation of Godwin?
"How many people has the US executed for being homosexual?"
Quite a few in the past:
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/...
And perhaps quite a few more in the future:
http://www.toledonewsnow.com/s...
Don't forget the 2 million plus in Iraq, and the 1 million plus in Iran (killed in the war Saddam began, egged on and supported by the USA). There are enough million-plus figures without getting down into the tens of thousands here and there (e.g. Libya).
Actually, the USA is a terrorist nation - indeed, the only really significant one since the Third Reich, Mao and Pol Pot. Iran, on the other hand, has not attacked anyone since it was recreated on the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire nearly a century ago. (In spite of having its democratic constitution overthrown by US agents, and being ferociously attacked, at the direct instigation of the US government, by Iraq with a loss of over 1 million of its citizens).
If you aren't convinced, try totting up the numbers of people killed, maimed, bereaved, and rendered homeless by each of these nations since 1945.
"Go to country where I can get my hand cut off for offending the authorities? No."
If you're a US resident, don't forget that you already live in a country where you can be killed without warning or due process (or made to disappear for the rest of your life) for offending the authorities. (Or even for having a name that some cretin thinks is like some other name that some other cretin put on a list).
Unfortunately for the premise of this study, Dr Ioannidis' well-known findings suggest that most scientific papers are also inaccurate. So we can't draw reliable conclusions as to the accuracy of Wikipedia articles. Indeed, it is possible - though admittedly quite unlikely - that the Wikipedia articles are correct in each case, and the scientific papers incorrect.
See http://www.plosmedicine.org/ar...
The situation seems analogous to that of a journalist and/or photographer reporting on a disaster in which people are hurt or killed. It is often said that they would help more if they dropped their notebooks and cameras and pitched in to help rescuers. But then no one would be doing the presumably useful job of recording events.
The researchers in this case were trying to establish the accuracy of Wikipedia articles. Simultaneously editing would be both a distraction and a conflict of interest - much like moderating and contributing to the same Slashdot thread.
"A study led by King’s College London found that the combination of olive oil and salad holds the key to keeping the risk of high blood pressure down. A large salad with a simple dressing combines the necessary unsaturated fats with nitrate-rich vegetables".
http://www.independent.co.uk/l...
Everyone on the B ship, basically.
It certainly is true that many people have a nodding acquaintance with Microsoft products - although surprisingly few have mastered, say, 10% of their features. (Largely because so many of those features were added only so as to win tick-in-the-box sales contests). So, in the short term, there is some advantage in continuing with them. Just as there is some advantage in never training staff, just hoping to hire people with existing experience.
In the medium term, let alone the long term, such policies are very risky. The changes in UI between consecutive releases of Microsoft Office can be greater than those between an earlier version and an open-source alternative. As we have seen, many people baulked at the huge difference in UI between Windows 7 and Windows 8. And of course, if no one ever trains staff, eventually there will not be enough people with the necessary experience to go round.
Unfortunately our implementation of capitalism encourages extreme short-termism. Why not slash and burn while you are in a given job, as long as you can be fairly sure of getting promoted before the harm is noticed? Better still, your successor will look really bad, thus improving your image (relatively). And of course, if you accept the principle of never adopting any software that everyone isn't familiar with, by and by you will find that all your software is obsolete. As is your staff's experience.
...and this gets modded "Insightful".
I know Slashdot is popular with a lot of folks with "a zany sense of humour". But suggesting the nuclear bombing of Moscow - or anywhere else - is not clever and it's not funny. It's wicked, and I say that with no religious agenda. If the word "wicked" has any meaning, this is a perfect example of it.
To some extent, I suppose I am a Space Nutter myself. It must have been about 1957 that I first opened some Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke and other SF books and thrilled to the stories of galactic exploration and gigantic interstellar empires. I'm all for manned space exploration, even though I must admit that nowadays I can't entirely justify it in practical terms.
But what's this stuff about "the end of man kind"?
Why do people mod "Troll" or "Flamebait" when I ask them to explain what they are talking about? I'm disinclined to bandy insults in a forum that I thought was aimed at constructive discussion and debate. Maybe I should taper off reading Slashdot, and stop contributing.
"Cutting us off from space is the worst thing we can do, and will certainly result in the end of man kind".
Eh? What on earth are you talking about? Please explain how not sending a tiny handful of astronauts into space, at immense cost and considerable risk, will affect the survival of the race. As far as I know no one, not even the most wildly enthusiastic advocate of space exploration, has ever said anything of the kind.
Actually, it isn't. The USA spent $5 billion - quite openly - to foment a coup d'etat which overthrew the democratically elected government of Ukraine and replaced with an unelected bunch of foaming fascist killers. This was probably intended to provoke the Russians into invading to protect their people. That was never going to work, though; the Russians are famous for chess skill, and they more or less pioneered the art of "maskirovka" - the misleading feint, followed by an unexpected blow elsewhere. They were hardly going to fall into such an obvious bear trap.
What's more, economically and politically it would be very unfavourable for Russia to get involved in Ukraine - let alone invade or take over. Ukraine is a relatively poor nation these days, and Russia would just acquire a lot of headaches and liabilities - not to mention precipitating an extremely dangerous military confrontation with NATO.
The Russians' best course, as I am sure they are aware, is to stand back and watch Obama and his minions play their silly games. Meanwhile, they can sell their oil and gas to China and other Asian nations, and talk quietly to China, Pakistan, Iran and other countries actively threatened by US aggression. And one of these days, they will all stop using the dollar.
Yes, it's kind of a very lucky virtuous circle that leads to great wealth and success. You need Woz (the brains), but without Jobs (the huckster) Woz would, at best, get a decently paid job working for some corporation. Likewise, Jobs on his own couldn't strike it rich without some big breakthrough that comes only from a technical guy like Woz. So they both need each other; but when the alchemy happens and the money rains down, 99.99% of it sticks to the huckster.
" Some of the stuff in it is just plain wrong..."
Now THAT really does call for a citation. Please state what parts of "The Mythical Man-Month" are "just plain wrong".