I think you may have misunderstood the parent's assertion. I think he meant that Wozniak owed whatever wealth and business success he achieved to riding Jobs' coattails.
Ironically, I completely agree with your remark that, without Wozniak, Jobs "probably would have ended up as a used car salesman". (Although even then, he probably would have wound up a billionaire). Unfortunately, due to the way our society is structured, it is NOT the geniuses who are rewarded but the people, like Jobs, who exploit their ideas.
... of anyone discussing the topic? In case everyone has forgotten, that is the attempt by the Marshall Islands to sue the nuclear powers for ignoring their obligations to disarm. Also to sue the USA for exploding nuclear and thermonuclear weapons on its (tiny) territory?
Golf certainly is frustrating. That's quite deliberate, as it makes excelling very difficult and thus worthwhile. Think of it as like a Scottish martial art... taking years to become fairly proficient, and never being sure of reaching that elusive perfection.
But golf is also a spiritual discipline. It teaches you self-control, patience, and sportsmanship. Witness the far better behaviour of professional golfers, compared to soccer players and many other sportsmen.
"Do remember that poison gas is a WMD, and under US policy is treated exactly the same way as nuclear weapons".
In the sense that the USA maintains enormous stocks of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons? Presumably the policy you refer to is "let's have more of them all".
Sorry, in those days there were no links. Indeed, there was no Internet. I offered the anecdote purely as something I remember because it made a deep impression on me at the time. (The same mathematician who told me about it had also been refused entry to the USA because he had recently attended a conference in Poland, then a communist state).
Many years ago, I recall that the US government refused entry to certain Russian mathematicians coming to attend a major conference in the USA. The reason given was that the commies were obviously trying to steal good ol' American know-how. The funny part was that the Russians in question were actually the world experts at the time (in that particular field), so the only people who lost out were the American mathematicians who had hoped to learn from them.
It's one thing to have a policy of pretending that all worthwhile innovation originates in the USA. It's quite another thing to start believing that's true. (See, for example, Joy's Law: ""No matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for someone else”).
If you're old enough, you can distinctly remember when exactly the same thing was said about Japanese products. (I refer to the post-WW2 period, roughly from 1950 to about 1970). Then Japanese products suddenly became synonymous with quality so high that most US companies couldn't begin to match it.
"It is practically impossible to teach good programming style to students that have had prior exposure to Basic; as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration". - Edsger Dijkstra
Could it be that people are quick to label an opinion "troll" if they find it unsympathetic? Yes, I believe it could. Please remember that open-mindedness is an important virtue.
LMAO, you don't know how evolution works, do you? What possible advantage could autism provide, when it renders most afflicted persons unsociable and awkward and therefore highly unlikely to pass on their genes?
Have you ever wondered why homosexuality persists, in that case? Once you give it a little thought, you can see that there may be all sorts of unobvious benefits. And equally obviously, heterosexual couples have been giving birth to homosexual offspring as long as there has been a human race.
That being so, why wouldn't the same apply to autistic people? If you believe in technical progress, and want it to continue, we need more people who are mostly interested in truth, logic, numbers, and scientific inquiry.
In the special case of bus and taxi drivers (and ambulances and police vehicles and fire engines and...) there are strong arguments for allowing communication while driving. They aren't just chatting for the sake of chatting - and they often can't afford to pull over and stop before they talk. However, such people can be (and are) trained to keep communication to the minimum, so they can get back to driving (or whatever).
Far too many people nowadays seem honestly to believe that it's a more efficient use of time to juggle several activities at once. If they only knew, even a computer (single-core) doesn't run several programs simultaneously; instead, it time-slices them. The big difference is that, when a computer process is preempted, its data is safely stored on the stack whether it's two bytes or 20 million. Human short-term memory evolved to handle half a dozen or so items, not more - and it's apt to drop them on the floor if it gets a sudden shock or surprise.
So what happens when your hard drive goes or you switch computers, then your data is gone because the key stored in the local storage that is no longer accessible!
Actually, that objection applies to all encryption systems. You must have a key - which must also be hard to guess, thus fairly long and random - and that key must always be available to YOU. Once you recognize the necessity, there are many ways to handle it. Two or three USB sticks, for example (in case you lose one).
More generally, the objections to this approach seem to be largely based on cost and inconvenience. That's fine: you simply have to take a view of how much security and privacy are worth to you.
Sorry, the story I linked to related to the International Date Line not the Equator. I was thinking of the much older stories about an F-14 or F-16 that flipped upside down when it crossed the Equator due to some software bug. Here is a reputable source for that (but only as a rumour): http://www.yourdonreport.com/i...
I may be wrong, but looking at the map it seems the plane was on exactly the opposite course from where it should have been going. Strange problems are not unknown with computer-controlled navigation systems going haywire when crossing the Equator, and oddly enough MH370 went AWOL quite close to the Equator...
The Iranians are a subtle people. Maybe its only purpose is to tie up thousands of American intelligence analysts and generals racking their brains to think what it's for. To the detriment of useful work. It might also deter the Pentagon from sending its carriers too close to Iran, just in case. That would be a bonus.
There's even an amusing moral: stick your nose into other people's business, where it doesn't belong, and you may end up with a severe headache and nothing to show for it.
Come to think of it, the Chinese and the Russians have a reputation for subtlety too, as well as extremely long memories. Looks as if Uncle Sam is making the wrong kind of enemies these days.
'Tacit repayment of Lend Lease by the British included several valuable technologies, including those related to radar, sonar, jet engines, nuclear weapons, antitank weaponry, rockets, superchargers, gyroscopic gunsights, submarine detection, selfsealing fuel tanks, and plastic explosives. Many of these were transferred by the Tizard Mission. The official historian of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, James Phinney Baxter III, wrote: "When the members of the Tizard Mission brought the cavity magnetron to America in 1940, they carried the most valuable cargo ever brought to our shores."'
"The mock-up, which American officials described as more like a barge than a warship, has no nuclear propulsion system..."
Duh, how could it have nuclear propulsion when two-thirds of the world's diplomats and spooks (the USA's own plus its faithful servants, that is) spend most of their time ensuring that Iran never gets any nuclear technology, no matter how simple and peaceful?
OTOH, a moment's thought reveals that it doesn't need nuclear propulsion, whose main advantage is the ability to sail around the world several times without refuelling. It's unlikely that Iran wishes to indulge in "force projection" in the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific, since it's actually a very peaceable nation. (Please check the history books before violently disagreeing).
People's reactions on Slashdot are very odd. I suppose Americans know their way around the intricate maze of prejudices and bigotry. Personally, I have no particular dislike of Obama: I mentioned him merely because he is the incumbent figurehead, er, President. Everything I said applies in equal measure to both Bushes, Clinton, Reagan, etc. etc.
And many Americans want to think of the US as the hero of WWII. Really, it was Britain. They were fighting alone for almost 2 years until the US got off its ass an entered the war -- and only after Pearl Harbor.
The British get good marks for determination and cheerful persistence, but the truth is that without help we would have been lucky to retain our own independence. We could never have staged an invasion of the Continent.
Like them or not - and personally, I have a lot of regard for their good qualities - the Soviets were the people who shouldered at least three-quarters of the load and broke the back of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS. Operation Bagration alone - launched to coincide with the Normandy landings - was on a far bigger scale, destroying an entire German Army Group and inflicting half a million casualties. They deserve all the more credit in that at least ten Soviets died for every German killed on the Eastern Front; yet they never gave up.
"Which means every country in the world will (and ought, if they intend to remain safe) seek nuclear weapons to prevent this kind of aggression in the future".
Yes, that certainly is the lesson of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Iran, and Syria... in contrast to Pakistan and North Korea. The strong do as they will, the weak as they must. Iraq was invaded, and Iran has been threatened and harassed, precisely because they were known NOT to have "WMD". Don't be distracted or confused by the things politicians say: instead, watch what they do.
Slashdot Mirror
I think you may have misunderstood the parent's assertion. I think he meant that Wozniak owed whatever wealth and business success he achieved to riding Jobs' coattails.
Ironically, I completely agree with your remark that, without Wozniak, Jobs "probably would have ended up as a used car salesman". (Although even then, he probably would have wound up a billionaire). Unfortunately, due to the way our society is structured, it is NOT the geniuses who are rewarded but the people, like Jobs, who exploit their ideas.
... of anyone discussing the topic? In case everyone has forgotten, that is the attempt by the Marshall Islands to sue the nuclear powers for ignoring their obligations to disarm. Also to sue the USA for exploding nuclear and thermonuclear weapons on its (tiny) territory?
Golf certainly is frustrating. That's quite deliberate, as it makes excelling very difficult and thus worthwhile. Think of it as like a Scottish martial art... taking years to become fairly proficient, and never being sure of reaching that elusive perfection.
But golf is also a spiritual discipline. It teaches you self-control, patience, and sportsmanship. Witness the far better behaviour of professional golfers, compared to soccer players and many other sportsmen.
"Do remember that poison gas is a WMD, and under US policy is treated exactly the same way as nuclear weapons".
In the sense that the USA maintains enormous stocks of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons? Presumably the policy you refer to is "let's have more of them all".
I would never, ever trust anyone who dismisses out of hand all utterances by any specific individual. It's a sure sign of a rigid, closed mind.
Sorry, in those days there were no links. Indeed, there was no Internet. I offered the anecdote purely as something I remember because it made a deep impression on me at the time. (The same mathematician who told me about it had also been refused entry to the USA because he had recently attended a conference in Poland, then a communist state).
Many years ago, I recall that the US government refused entry to certain Russian mathematicians coming to attend a major conference in the USA. The reason given was that the commies were obviously trying to steal good ol' American know-how. The funny part was that the Russians in question were actually the world experts at the time (in that particular field), so the only people who lost out were the American mathematicians who had hoped to learn from them.
It's one thing to have a policy of pretending that all worthwhile innovation originates in the USA. It's quite another thing to start believing that's true. (See, for example, Joy's Law: ""No matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for someone else”).
If you're old enough, you can distinctly remember when exactly the same thing was said about Japanese products. (I refer to the post-WW2 period, roughly from 1950 to about 1970). Then Japanese products suddenly became synonymous with quality so high that most US companies couldn't begin to match it.
"It is practically impossible to teach good programming style to students that have had prior exposure to Basic; as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration".
- Edsger Dijkstra
Actually, we are all made of antimatter. It was just misnamed "matter" because it's a shorter word.
Could it be that people are quick to label an opinion "troll" if they find it unsympathetic? Yes, I believe it could. Please remember that open-mindedness is an important virtue.
LMAO, you don't know how evolution works, do you? What possible advantage could autism provide, when it renders most afflicted persons unsociable and awkward and therefore highly unlikely to pass on their genes?
Have you ever wondered why homosexuality persists, in that case? Once you give it a little thought, you can see that there may be all sorts of unobvious benefits. And equally obviously, heterosexual couples have been giving birth to homosexual offspring as long as there has been a human race.
That being so, why wouldn't the same apply to autistic people? If you believe in technical progress, and want it to continue, we need more people who are mostly interested in truth, logic, numbers, and scientific inquiry.
In the special case of bus and taxi drivers (and ambulances and police vehicles and fire engines and...) there are strong arguments for allowing communication while driving. They aren't just chatting for the sake of chatting - and they often can't afford to pull over and stop before they talk. However, such people can be (and are) trained to keep communication to the minimum, so they can get back to driving (or whatever).
Far too many people nowadays seem honestly to believe that it's a more efficient use of time to juggle several activities at once. If they only knew, even a computer (single-core) doesn't run several programs simultaneously; instead, it time-slices them. The big difference is that, when a computer process is preempted, its data is safely stored on the stack whether it's two bytes or 20 million. Human short-term memory evolved to handle half a dozen or so items, not more - and it's apt to drop them on the floor if it gets a sudden shock or surprise.
So what happens when your hard drive goes or you switch computers, then your data is gone because the key stored in the local storage that is no longer accessible!
Actually, that objection applies to all encryption systems. You must have a key - which must also be hard to guess, thus fairly long and random - and that key must always be available to YOU. Once you recognize the necessity, there are many ways to handle it. Two or three USB sticks, for example (in case you lose one).
More generally, the objections to this approach seem to be largely based on cost and inconvenience. That's fine: you simply have to take a view of how much security and privacy are worth to you.
Sorry, the story I linked to related to the International Date Line not the Equator. I was thinking of the much older stories about an F-14 or F-16 that flipped upside down when it crossed the Equator due to some software bug. Here is a reputable source for that (but only as a rumour): http://www.yourdonreport.com/i...
I may be wrong, but looking at the map it seems the plane was on exactly the opposite course from where it should have been going. Strange problems are not unknown with computer-controlled navigation systems going haywire when crossing the Equator, and oddly enough MH370 went AWOL quite close to the Equator...
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2...
The Iranians are a subtle people. Maybe its only purpose is to tie up thousands of American intelligence analysts and generals racking their brains to think what it's for. To the detriment of useful work. It might also deter the Pentagon from sending its carriers too close to Iran, just in case. That would be a bonus.
There's even an amusing moral: stick your nose into other people's business, where it doesn't belong, and you may end up with a severe headache and nothing to show for it.
Come to think of it, the Chinese and the Russians have a reputation for subtlety too, as well as extremely long memories. Looks as if Uncle Sam is making the wrong kind of enemies these days.
'Tacit repayment of Lend Lease by the British included several valuable technologies, including those related to radar, sonar, jet engines, nuclear weapons, antitank weaponry, rockets, superchargers, gyroscopic gunsights, submarine detection, selfsealing fuel tanks, and plastic explosives. Many of these were transferred by the Tizard Mission. The official historian of the Office of Scientific Research and Development, James Phinney Baxter III, wrote: "When the members of the Tizard Mission brought the cavity magnetron to America in 1940, they carried the most valuable cargo ever brought to our shores."'
The generous US government naturally wrote off the debt after WW2 ended - NOT. http://www.politics.co.uk/news...
"The mock-up, which American officials described as more like a barge than a warship, has no nuclear propulsion system..."
Duh, how could it have nuclear propulsion when two-thirds of the world's diplomats and spooks (the USA's own plus its faithful servants, that is) spend most of their time ensuring that Iran never gets any nuclear technology, no matter how simple and peaceful?
OTOH, a moment's thought reveals that it doesn't need nuclear propulsion, whose main advantage is the ability to sail around the world several times without refuelling. It's unlikely that Iran wishes to indulge in "force projection" in the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific, since it's actually a very peaceable nation. (Please check the history books before violently disagreeing).
"I could have swore that self-determination is one of my country's (the United States) core values..."
You would think so, wouldn't you? Three words for you:
"American Civil War"
Allow me to point out, for the record, that the parent is factually correct and whoever modded it "Troll" is a fool, a knave, or both.
People's reactions on Slashdot are very odd. I suppose Americans know their way around the intricate maze of prejudices and bigotry. Personally, I have no particular dislike of Obama: I mentioned him merely because he is the incumbent figurehead, er, President. Everything I said applies in equal measure to both Bushes, Clinton, Reagan, etc. etc.
And many Americans want to think of the US as the hero of WWII. Really, it was Britain. They were fighting alone for almost 2 years until the US got off its ass an entered the war -- and only after Pearl Harbor.
The British get good marks for determination and cheerful persistence, but the truth is that without help we would have been lucky to retain our own independence. We could never have staged an invasion of the Continent.
Like them or not - and personally, I have a lot of regard for their good qualities - the Soviets were the people who shouldered at least three-quarters of the load and broke the back of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS. Operation Bagration alone - launched to coincide with the Normandy landings - was on a far bigger scale, destroying an entire German Army Group and inflicting half a million casualties. They deserve all the more credit in that at least ten Soviets died for every German killed on the Eastern Front; yet they never gave up.
"Which means every country in the world will (and ought, if they intend to remain safe) seek nuclear weapons to prevent this kind of aggression in the future".
Yes, that certainly is the lesson of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Iran, and Syria... in contrast to Pakistan and North Korea. The strong do as they will, the weak as they must. Iraq was invaded, and Iran has been threatened and harassed, precisely because they were known NOT to have "WMD". Don't be distracted or confused by the things politicians say: instead, watch what they do.