so.. since you had to explain it did you take the gig? hmm
Yes. The manager I explained it to was not a programmer. We chatted enough that day that I was able to get the impression that he was smart and reasonable.
How is calculating complexity "trivia"? Were the algorithms only described by name?
There was no calculation of complexity. There was merely the regurgitation of the textbook run time complexity of XXXsort that assumed randomly ordered data, ignored constants, assumed a sufficiently large n, etc. It was literally something like: Q. Bubble sort? A. O(n^2).
Seriously, if they'd had a reliable backup diesel generator we wouldn't have these problems in the first place.
It's pretty easy to sit back and do an armchair analysis of the situation after the shit has already hit the fan.
Its not quite armchair analysis when its standard operating procedure at other sites.
The flooding caused by the tsunami knocked those generators offline. I live in an area that's prone to flooding and it's harder than you think to keep even a small generator out of harm's way when the water level starts rising.
And in southern california a power plant on the coast has backup generators in storage farther inland on higher ground. I'm not saying the so cal plant is necessarily better designed or prepared, I'm am just arguing against the armchair claim on this particular backup generator point.
Did the position give you the opportunity to apply that knowledge?
Yes. I needed to sort data in a time critical manner. I thought about the nature of my data, mostly already sorted, consulted Knuth's summary table and tried the algorithm he identified as having good performance on data of that nature. After implementation I profiled a run with a large data set and the sorting code barely showed up, 1% execution time. Good enough, moved on to next task.
Don't look down on those questions. The day You try You will realize that designing good problems is *much* harder than solving them.
Actually when I took that test I had already designed programming tests for job interviews at my previous employer. One of my first tasks at the new employer was to create a new test. I realize creating such tests is hard. The problem with the one I took was that the author had not really put much effort into it. It looked liked someone copied questions from undergraduate computer science quizzes.
They'll be a nice addition to the other pristine volumes on your "personality bookshelf"...
Be forewarned. Some of us who have fairly pristine looking copies today once pooled resources and read a shared copy back in the day.
Only students of advance academic computing theory can actually glean anything from them... Very different for our "instructables" DIY culture.
I think it is a little more approachable than you suggest. I read it sophomore year of a computer science program, while some proofs were beyond my abilities the concepts and algorithms were not. Basically these volumes can be used as practical references to algorithms and concepts. Part of the popularity of the books is due to its making grad school level work practical, you get the fancy math with greek letters:-) and you get assembly language level implementations.
Also I've know a few DIY'ers who read university level materials on their own initiative. YMMV.
Much like the other books in the series, this latest piece is undoubtedly an instant classic, not to be missing in any serious computer science library or book collection.
During a job interview I was given a test. Some questions/problems were good, other were not. One of the not-so-good questions presented 8 or so sorting algorithms and asked for their run time complexity (O notation). I answered bubble sort and quick sort and then added that I bought Knuth vol 3 so I didn't have to memorize such trivia. I'm not sure the engineer who created and graded the test liked the answer but the manager of the team (not an engineer) loved the answer after I explained what Knuth vol 3 was. I got hired.
And also, real bird also depend on constant intervention of the software, i.e brain.
Birds have not evolved to handle inherently aerodynamically unstable systems. The demands on their brains are probably closer to the human pilot flying older inherently stable designs than more modern designs that can't fly without thousands of corrections per second on multiple control surfaces controlled by computers.
The whole thing depends on the constant intervention of the software to keep it under control
That seems to be a fairly well understood problem. Hasn't pretty much every fighter aircraft from the 1970's F16 onward required such software intervention? Inherent flight instability being leveraged for greater performance?
They can do math, which puts them well ahead of MBA graduates.
You seem to get your info on MBAs from TV and movies. May I suggest that Hollywood portrays MBAs no more accurately than they portray hackers and computer programmers?
I'm a sort of recent MBA grad. Previously I used to hold the typical arrogant engineer's attitude towards all things business. Part of the reason I enjoyed business school so much was that I was amused to see how wrong and ignorant I was. For example a marketing class was *not* about using psychology to trick and manipulate consumers. It was about how to scientifically determine actual "wants" rather than stated "wants" (actual and stated desires are not necessarily the same - a common problem with surveys) to build a prioritized weighted list of features and to build a mathematical model for a market. Running a simulation on the market as it exists and after new products with new features are introduced was then used to make informed decisions. The methods, math and science used was comparable to classes I've had in the traditional sciences. These methods have their limitations and inaccuracies, they are after all just models of extraordinarily complex systems, but I was thrilled to learn that forecasts of consumer market can be based in science and math as opposed to numbers just pulled from... uh... the air.
... You don't sell something to the US government with certain advertised capabilities, then take away those capabilities, then sue the US government for using them...
The Air Force is probably not connecting to the internet and getting firmware updates from Sony.
Gaming consoles to do graphics processing, makes sense. They must have quite some specialised graphics related horse power, considering their planned output.
Not necessarily. The specialized hardware is designed to take a mathematical model of a world and to render that model into an image. Image processing, or more accurately computer vision - the part of image processing and artificial intelligence that is more relevant here, goes in the opposite direction. Computer vision takes an image and tries to generate mathematical models that describe the objects in the scene. For example recognizing if an object is a rock or a tank or an ambulance.
So I suspect the performance advantage offered by PS3 hardware is from the more general components not the specialized graphics components. Solving these sort of problems are really about number crunching.
In general, DC power is economical only if the wiring between the computers and the DC source is less than 35 feet in length.
Rewiring an office for DC is not necessarily required. Consider our current desks with their power strips and multiple AC converters (built-in or bricks) for the various devices. Now imaging a power strip that has an AC converter and multiple DC outlets where DC powered devices (computer, monitor, printer, 2.1/5.1 speakers, router, external HD, etc) plug in. I think that would be a practical and easily attainable configuration if we could have a standard (like USB smartphone charging).
Damn this is such an old argument that has been covered thoroughly for two decades.
Yes, as I wrote earlier the build-out of a PC to match a Mac fallacy has been going on for decades. Hence the reference to Mac advocates of old who defended *everyone* getting a SCSI drive. A "necessary" that Apple eventually admitted wasn't so necessary for everyone.
Apple is like a car manufacturer that makes premium models and doesn't offer a lot of economical cars.
Oh good, car analogies. BMW offers buyers many options on a particular model car: optional convertible, optional sport package, optional convenience package, optional premium package,... If BMW were like Apple then you would only be able to buy convertibles with sport, convenience and premium packages, all would be "standard". Come on, was the preceding any sillier than your Kia ruse?;-)
Don't, however, come on slashdot and pretend your $500 HP (Kia) is the same thing as my $1800 MBP (BMW) because all you'd have to do is upgrade the engine, chassis, suspension parts, exhaust, and transmission on the Kia to have the same specs as the BMW and you'd have done it for $5,000 less.
You misrepresent my position. My position is that building-out a PC to match Mac specs to demonstrate a price equivalency is inherently flawed. It erroneously assumes that the Mac contains a required feature set. My argument is that for many users there are superfluous features that the build-out does not need to match. Again, my problem is not with buying a Mac (I've done so many times - I'm typing this on a MacBook), my problem is with using a Mac as the definition of what features are standard for all computer users.
To put things in the silly car analogy language my point could be expressed as the MacBook Pro is like a BMW series 5. However many people would be better served by a BMW series 3, so building-out other cars to match series 5 features is a bogus comparison. Does that help?;-)
Personally I'm done with the bad car analogies so I'm hoping you don't answer that question. However if you would like to talk computers...
A Bluetooth interface is almost free. I don't think it's reasonable to expect a part that costs less than $5 to be optional. That it is in PC laptops is, IMHO, a scam. The material cost of the lighted keyboard is probably also pretty low, although there is undoubtedly a design cost.
What a chip costs is not a good indicator of what a computer manufacturer charges for it. If you look at RAM and HD upgrades Apple and Dell seem about the same. So if Dell is charging a certain amount for lighted keyboards and bluetooth then its a pretty safe bet Apple would charge about the same, or more accurately has built that amount into the price of the MacBook Pro. Apple charges a lot more for their laptops after all.
FWIW, the lighted keyboard and bluetooth were only mentioned because the original poster mentioned them as extra features he likes. They were not meant to be representative of features that could be options.
You have misunderstood my post. Buying a Mac is not what is bogus, neither is buying bigger more capable Macs. What is bogus is the argument that if you build out a Dell to include all features found in a Mac then you can demonstrate that Macs don't cost that much more. The flaw in that logic is building out the Dell to match. The real comparison is to a machine that matches a users needs.
Its not the features present its the features actually needed/used
My 2007 MacBook Pro has two features that I've not used: the dual-link DVI (only used it as single-link) and the ExpressCard slot, and I may end up using the ExpressCard slot to add an eSATA port in the future. I'm not really sure which features you consider to be 'gold plating' for these machines.
We could start with the two examples the original post offered as nice features. A lighted keyboard and bluetooth, I think it reasonable for such things to be optional. I'm sure we could make a longer list but I think the point has been made.
Last time I went and customised a laptop to have everything my macbook pro like a lit keyboard and bluetooth (yes Dell considered that an extra) it was reach the same price.
This type of argument has been bogus for *many* years, ie "but Macs have SCSI drives" of decades past. Its not the features present its the features actually needed/used. Macs have often been "gold plated" to a degree, including features only a small number of high end users needed/wanted. It is honest to say this inflates the price for more ordinary users. Last time I took a close look, a few years ago, the MacBook looked like to be a better deal than the MacBook Pro due to the "gold plating". The ordinary MacBook would have made a better comparison against Dells.
Do you want a list of Dell models that my employer has concluded have design flaws or do you just want to fling mud at Apple? (here's a hint: Every manufacturer has issues with their machines, including Apple).
Yes every company has the occasional lemon but they deserve to have mud flung at the lemon. It's part of the incentive system to get it right.
Part of the justification of higher prices for Macs is that they are of higher quality than Dells. So your argument is not convincing. Furthermore what percentage of Dell's laptop sales does your list represent? Are they high end models? Compare that to what percentage of Apple laptop sales the MacBook Pro represents and where the MacBook Pro stands with respect to Apple's high end offerings.
In short, IF the reports of problems are bogus then flame on. But IF the reports of problems are accurate why excuse them?
As a California resident there is a genuine necessity to be able to handle a week or so on your own. It can be mostly handled by not letting your inventory of normal items get to zero.
Depending on your family size have an extra case or two of bottled water, 3L per person per day. If you need one for reserve then buy two. When you consume one through normal activities buy a replacement. This way you always have 1 to 2 available. Also keep 1-2L in your car in case you end up having to walk home. You can also do something similar with soda and ice tea purchases, have a little extra. These comfort-drinks can offer a little morale boost when you are waiting a few days for the utilities to be restored.
Similar story for soups and other canned food (and of course a manually operated can opener), snack/energy bars, etc. Buy some more cans/bars when you get halfway through your normal inventory. Similar story for paper plates, bowls and towels. Similar story for a bottle of hand sanitizer (use instead of soap to conserve water if necessary). Also keep are few snack/energy bars in the car with the water.
Similar story for the charcoal briquettes for your tailgating and backyard BBQs. When the power is going to be out for a few days you don't start eating your canned soups and baked beans, you start barbecuing any meat you have in the freezer.
Similar story for trash bags (they may need to become your toilet bowl liners when water is out), have an extra box of them plus an extra package of toilet paper and a second bottle of hand sanitizer (one for food plus one for toilet - don't share).
Your home should already have a first aid kit, fire extinguisher, flashlight and a wrench to turn off the gas line to your house. I suppose to get all survival kit'ish you should get a battery/crank radio that gets AM/FM/NOAA weather band. And of course repeat the previously established pattern for batteries, buy replacements before you run out. Have a flashlight that uses the same batteries as your remote controls.
I think that largely covers it. Personally I'd be a little more comfortable since I occasionally do overnight backpacking trips so I have that gear as well. When I buy dehydrated food for such trips I tend to buy a dozen packages at a time since there is a price discount for doing so. A dozen packages will last about two years but the packages last five. Obviously these can also be used in a disaster. I get your general point to a degree, you do grossly overstate it though. I've smiled as the person in front of me, who will never do anything beyond car camping if that, is buying dehydrated food packets and coast guard approved water packets for their earthquake kit. However I would never share my thoughts with the person. If having some specialized stuff from the camping store makes them more comfortable than having day-to-day items from the grocery store that's fine. Feeling prepared is good and they are doing far better than the folks who give it no thought at all.
Where are our floating cities, we've been promised floating cities and flying cars. I want my god damned flying car!
Research performed by Larry Niven suggests that we need at least two unrelated forms of superconducting material to have minimal redundancy in the power distribution subsystems, preferably four unrelated forms for quad redundancy.
So pointing out that a legal issue is GPL specific and does not affect open source is general is ideological?
No. However, supporting BSD licences over GPL because the latter are 'viral' is an ideological choice. Choosing a BSD license because one believes it to be more 'free' is an ideological choice. My real point here is that the BSD license is at least as 'ideological' as the GPL, and according to your logic, that 'its adoption will be impeded to some degree', just like the GPL.
Actually choosing BSD is practical, completely unencumbered. Saying one is ideological because one rejects an ideology or its restrictions is as logical as saying one is religious because one rejects a religion or its practices.
For example while Google chose GPL based code Apple, Sun, etc chose BSD based code.
How did the BSD-style licenses help Apple and Oracle develop open-source projects?
Apple development or contributions: Darwin, Mach, FreeBSD, Bonjour, WebKit, HFS,...
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so.. since you had to explain it did you take the gig? hmm
Yes. The manager I explained it to was not a programmer. We chatted enough that day that I was able to get the impression that he was smart and reasonable.
How is calculating complexity "trivia"? Were the algorithms only described by name?
There was no calculation of complexity. There was merely the regurgitation of the textbook run time complexity of XXXsort that assumed randomly ordered data, ignored constants, assumed a sufficiently large n, etc. It was literally something like: Q. Bubble sort? A. O(n^2).
Seriously, if they'd had a reliable backup diesel generator we wouldn't have these problems in the first place.
It's pretty easy to sit back and do an armchair analysis of the situation after the shit has already hit the fan.
Its not quite armchair analysis when its standard operating procedure at other sites.
The flooding caused by the tsunami knocked those generators offline. I live in an area that's prone to flooding and it's harder than you think to keep even a small generator out of harm's way when the water level starts rising.
And in southern california a power plant on the coast has backup generators in storage farther inland on higher ground. I'm not saying the so cal plant is necessarily better designed or prepared, I'm am just arguing against the armchair claim on this particular backup generator point.
Did the position give you the opportunity to apply that knowledge?
Yes. I needed to sort data in a time critical manner. I thought about the nature of my data, mostly already sorted, consulted Knuth's summary table and tried the algorithm he identified as having good performance on data of that nature. After implementation I profiled a run with a large data set and the sorting code barely showed up, 1% execution time. Good enough, moved on to next task.
Don't look down on those questions. The day You try You will realize that designing good problems is *much* harder than solving them.
Actually when I took that test I had already designed programming tests for job interviews at my previous employer. One of my first tasks at the new employer was to create a new test. I realize creating such tests is hard. The problem with the one I took was that the author had not really put much effort into it. It looked liked someone copied questions from undergraduate computer science quizzes.
They'll be a nice addition to the other pristine volumes on your "personality bookshelf" ...
Be forewarned. Some of us who have fairly pristine looking copies today once pooled resources and read a shared copy back in the day.
Only students of advance academic computing theory can actually glean anything from them ... Very different for our "instructables" DIY culture.
I think it is a little more approachable than you suggest. I read it sophomore year of a computer science program, while some proofs were beyond my abilities the concepts and algorithms were not. Basically these volumes can be used as practical references to algorithms and concepts. Part of the popularity of the books is due to its making grad school level work practical, you get the fancy math with greek letters :-) and you get assembly language level implementations.
Also I've know a few DIY'ers who read university level materials on their own initiative. YMMV.
Much like the other books in the series, this latest piece is undoubtedly an instant classic, not to be missing in any serious computer science library or book collection.
During a job interview I was given a test. Some questions/problems were good, other were not. One of the not-so-good questions presented 8 or so sorting algorithms and asked for their run time complexity (O notation). I answered bubble sort and quick sort and then added that I bought Knuth vol 3 so I didn't have to memorize such trivia. I'm not sure the engineer who created and graded the test liked the answer but the manager of the team (not an engineer) loved the answer after I explained what Knuth vol 3 was. I got hired.
And also, real bird also depend on constant intervention of the software, i.e brain.
Birds have not evolved to handle inherently aerodynamically unstable systems. The demands on their brains are probably closer to the human pilot flying older inherently stable designs than more modern designs that can't fly without thousands of corrections per second on multiple control surfaces controlled by computers.
The whole thing depends on the constant intervention of the software to keep it under control
That seems to be a fairly well understood problem. Hasn't pretty much every fighter aircraft from the 1970's F16 onward required such software intervention? Inherent flight instability being leveraged for greater performance?
Could this signal a change in how mainstream users see devices like this?
Its more likely to signal an upcoming change in Nook design and/or software.
Could rooting Android devices like the Nook ever become mainstream?"
Perhaps after the Linux desktop becomes mainstream.
They can do math, which puts them well ahead of MBA graduates.
You seem to get your info on MBAs from TV and movies. May I suggest that Hollywood portrays MBAs no more accurately than they portray hackers and computer programmers?
... uh ... the air.
I'm a sort of recent MBA grad. Previously I used to hold the typical arrogant engineer's attitude towards all things business. Part of the reason I enjoyed business school so much was that I was amused to see how wrong and ignorant I was. For example a marketing class was *not* about using psychology to trick and manipulate consumers. It was about how to scientifically determine actual "wants" rather than stated "wants" (actual and stated desires are not necessarily the same - a common problem with surveys) to build a prioritized weighted list of features and to build a mathematical model for a market. Running a simulation on the market as it exists and after new products with new features are introduced was then used to make informed decisions. The methods, math and science used was comparable to classes I've had in the traditional sciences. These methods have their limitations and inaccuracies, they are after all just models of extraordinarily complex systems, but I was thrilled to learn that forecasts of consumer market can be based in science and math as opposed to numbers just pulled from
... You don't sell something to the US government with certain advertised capabilities, then take away those capabilities, then sue the US government for using them ...
The Air Force is probably not connecting to the internet and getting firmware updates from Sony.
Gaming consoles to do graphics processing, makes sense. They must have quite some specialised graphics related horse power, considering their planned output.
Not necessarily. The specialized hardware is designed to take a mathematical model of a world and to render that model into an image. Image processing, or more accurately computer vision - the part of image processing and artificial intelligence that is more relevant here, goes in the opposite direction. Computer vision takes an image and tries to generate mathematical models that describe the objects in the scene. For example recognizing if an object is a rock or a tank or an ambulance.
So I suspect the performance advantage offered by PS3 hardware is from the more general components not the specialized graphics components. Solving these sort of problems are really about number crunching.
In general, DC power is economical only if the wiring between the computers and the DC source is less than 35 feet in length.
Rewiring an office for DC is not necessarily required. Consider our current desks with their power strips and multiple AC converters (built-in or bricks) for the various devices. Now imaging a power strip that has an AC converter and multiple DC outlets where DC powered devices (computer, monitor, printer, 2.1/5.1 speakers, router, external HD, etc) plug in. I think that would be a practical and easily attainable configuration if we could have a standard (like USB smartphone charging).
Damn this is such an old argument that has been covered thoroughly for two decades.
Yes, as I wrote earlier the build-out of a PC to match a Mac fallacy has been going on for decades. Hence the reference to Mac advocates of old who defended *everyone* getting a SCSI drive. A "necessary" that Apple eventually admitted wasn't so necessary for everyone.
Apple is like a car manufacturer that makes premium models and doesn't offer a lot of economical cars.
Oh good, car analogies. BMW offers buyers many options on a particular model car: optional convertible, optional sport package, optional convenience package, optional premium package, ... If BMW were like Apple then you would only be able to buy convertibles with sport, convenience and premium packages, all would be "standard". Come on, was the preceding any sillier than your Kia ruse? ;-)
Don't, however, come on slashdot and pretend your $500 HP (Kia) is the same thing as my $1800 MBP (BMW) because all you'd have to do is upgrade the engine, chassis, suspension parts, exhaust, and transmission on the Kia to have the same specs as the BMW and you'd have done it for $5,000 less.
You misrepresent my position. My position is that building-out a PC to match Mac specs to demonstrate a price equivalency is inherently flawed. It erroneously assumes that the Mac contains a required feature set. My argument is that for many users there are superfluous features that the build-out does not need to match. Again, my problem is not with buying a Mac (I've done so many times - I'm typing this on a MacBook), my problem is with using a Mac as the definition of what features are standard for all computer users.
;-)
...
To put things in the silly car analogy language my point could be expressed as the MacBook Pro is like a BMW series 5. However many people would be better served by a BMW series 3, so building-out other cars to match series 5 features is a bogus comparison. Does that help?
Personally I'm done with the bad car analogies so I'm hoping you don't answer that question. However if you would like to talk computers
A Bluetooth interface is almost free. I don't think it's reasonable to expect a part that costs less than $5 to be optional. That it is in PC laptops is, IMHO, a scam. The material cost of the lighted keyboard is probably also pretty low, although there is undoubtedly a design cost.
What a chip costs is not a good indicator of what a computer manufacturer charges for it. If you look at RAM and HD upgrades Apple and Dell seem about the same. So if Dell is charging a certain amount for lighted keyboards and bluetooth then its a pretty safe bet Apple would charge about the same, or more accurately has built that amount into the price of the MacBook Pro. Apple charges a lot more for their laptops after all.
FWIW, the lighted keyboard and bluetooth were only mentioned because the original poster mentioned them as extra features he likes. They were not meant to be representative of features that could be options.
"Lemons" are not the things that wear out over time. "Lemons" are the things that are have problems when new.
You have misunderstood my post. Buying a Mac is not what is bogus, neither is buying bigger more capable Macs. What is bogus is the argument that if you build out a Dell to include all features found in a Mac then you can demonstrate that Macs don't cost that much more. The flaw in that logic is building out the Dell to match. The real comparison is to a machine that matches a users needs.
Its not the features present its the features actually needed/used
My 2007 MacBook Pro has two features that I've not used: the dual-link DVI (only used it as single-link) and the ExpressCard slot, and I may end up using the ExpressCard slot to add an eSATA port in the future. I'm not really sure which features you consider to be 'gold plating' for these machines.
We could start with the two examples the original post offered as nice features. A lighted keyboard and bluetooth, I think it reasonable for such things to be optional. I'm sure we could make a longer list but I think the point has been made.
Last time I went and customised a laptop to have everything my macbook pro like a lit keyboard and bluetooth (yes Dell considered that an extra) it was reach the same price.
This type of argument has been bogus for *many* years, ie "but Macs have SCSI drives" of decades past. Its not the features present its the features actually needed/used. Macs have often been "gold plated" to a degree, including features only a small number of high end users needed/wanted. It is honest to say this inflates the price for more ordinary users. Last time I took a close look, a few years ago, the MacBook looked like to be a better deal than the MacBook Pro due to the "gold plating". The ordinary MacBook would have made a better comparison against Dells.
Do you want a list of Dell models that my employer has concluded have design flaws or do you just want to fling mud at Apple? (here's a hint: Every manufacturer has issues with their machines, including Apple).
Yes every company has the occasional lemon but they deserve to have mud flung at the lemon. It's part of the incentive system to get it right.
Part of the justification of higher prices for Macs is that they are of higher quality than Dells. So your argument is not convincing. Furthermore what percentage of Dell's laptop sales does your list represent? Are they high end models? Compare that to what percentage of Apple laptop sales the MacBook Pro represents and where the MacBook Pro stands with respect to Apple's high end offerings.
In short, IF the reports of problems are bogus then flame on. But IF the reports of problems are accurate why excuse them?
As a California resident there is a genuine necessity to be able to handle a week or so on your own. It can be mostly handled by not letting your inventory of normal items get to zero. Depending on your family size have an extra case or two of bottled water, 3L per person per day. If you need one for reserve then buy two. When you consume one through normal activities buy a replacement. This way you always have 1 to 2 available. Also keep 1-2L in your car in case you end up having to walk home. You can also do something similar with soda and ice tea purchases, have a little extra. These comfort-drinks can offer a little morale boost when you are waiting a few days for the utilities to be restored.
Similar story for soups and other canned food (and of course a manually operated can opener), snack/energy bars, etc. Buy some more cans/bars when you get halfway through your normal inventory. Similar story for paper plates, bowls and towels. Similar story for a bottle of hand sanitizer (use instead of soap to conserve water if necessary). Also keep are few snack/energy bars in the car with the water.
Similar story for the charcoal briquettes for your tailgating and backyard BBQs. When the power is going to be out for a few days you don't start eating your canned soups and baked beans, you start barbecuing any meat you have in the freezer.
Similar story for trash bags (they may need to become your toilet bowl liners when water is out), have an extra box of them plus an extra package of toilet paper and a second bottle of hand sanitizer (one for food plus one for toilet - don't share).
Your home should already have a first aid kit, fire extinguisher, flashlight and a wrench to turn off the gas line to your house. I suppose to get all survival kit'ish you should get a battery/crank radio that gets AM/FM/NOAA weather band. And of course repeat the previously established pattern for batteries, buy replacements before you run out. Have a flashlight that uses the same batteries as your remote controls.
I think that largely covers it. Personally I'd be a little more comfortable since I occasionally do overnight backpacking trips so I have that gear as well. When I buy dehydrated food for such trips I tend to buy a dozen packages at a time since there is a price discount for doing so. A dozen packages will last about two years but the packages last five. Obviously these can also be used in a disaster. I get your general point to a degree, you do grossly overstate it though. I've smiled as the person in front of me, who will never do anything beyond car camping if that, is buying dehydrated food packets and coast guard approved water packets for their earthquake kit. However I would never share my thoughts with the person. If having some specialized stuff from the camping store makes them more comfortable than having day-to-day items from the grocery store that's fine. Feeling prepared is good and they are doing far better than the folks who give it no thought at all.
Where are our floating cities, we've been promised floating cities and flying cars. I want my god damned flying car!
Research performed by Larry Niven suggests that we need at least two unrelated forms of superconducting material to have minimal redundancy in the power distribution subsystems, preferably four unrelated forms for quad redundancy.
And Mac, much to the delight of the four people who want to play games under OS X.
Last I heard you are about 5 orders of magnitude off with respect to Mac users playing World of Warcraft. :-)
So pointing out that a legal issue is GPL specific and does not affect open source is general is ideological?
No. However, supporting BSD licences over GPL because the latter are 'viral' is an ideological choice. Choosing a BSD license because one believes it to be more 'free' is an ideological choice. My real point here is that the BSD license is at least as 'ideological' as the GPL, and according to your logic, that 'its adoption will be impeded to some degree', just like the GPL.
Actually choosing BSD is practical, completely unencumbered. Saying one is ideological because one rejects an ideology or its restrictions is as logical as saying one is religious because one rejects a religion or its practices.
For example while Google chose GPL based code Apple, Sun, etc chose BSD based code.
How did the BSD-style licenses help Apple and Oracle develop open-source projects?
Apple development or contributions: Darwin, Mach, FreeBSD, Bonjour, WebKit, HFS, ...