This is true in the US, as well. In fact, many contracts of all kinds include terms which defy state law. Those terms are not legally enforcable, but most people don't know that, and/or don't know what the law actually is, so it's common practice anyway.
When I applied for schools (in 1994), I didn't know there was anything except for CS, so I just wrote that down on all the applications. I eventually went to UC Berkeley, and here's the situation there (it's probably not the same as elsewhere, but whatever):
Computer Science is part of the Letters and Science college, which hands out Bachelor of Arts degrees. This is the same college you would have if you majored in English, or Math, or Physics. This ends up meaning that you have very little support from the school, you basically have to figure everything out yourself. Has a heavy math requirement, plus a broad GE-type requirement. This is the program I graduated with.
EECS (Electrical Engineering & Computer Science) is part of the Engineering college, which hands out Bachelor of Science degrees. These are accredited engineering degrees, versus the CS degrees, which are not. Since you are part of the much smaller Engineering college, you get a professor as a personal advisor, all your administration work goes through a different office that doesn't deal with nearly as much volume. You have more flexibility with your requirements, except you MUST take 3 semesters of Physics (part of the Engineering requirement). The Physics 7-series is known for being very hard. All the CS courses are actually the same as the other CS degree, it's just a different system.
People who failed to get into either of those majors (you had to maintain 3.0 or higher GPA, probably 3.5 or somesuch now) would usually go into Cognitive Science (CS + psych + philosophy focused on thinking) or Applied Math, both of which allowed you to take some of the CS courses (only authorized declared majors could get into upper division CS courses).
I don't know of any CIS or MIS programs at ALL at Berkeley, though perhaps in the business school. Most everyone in my classes that I met fell into one of the 4 majors above. The only real engineering degree is EECS, but I haven't found that anyone that seemed to understand or care about the distinction.
As someone who interviews people on occasion, while the interview is, of course, most important, I think I would be less impressed with a CIS or MIS degree than a CS-type degree. Admittedly, I have only a vauge inkling of what the other two even are. I would have to say there's more prestige with a CS degree at most places.
1. Blood and Tome (Wizards guidebook) for the wizard in the gaming group.
2. Song and Silence (Rogue/Bard guidebook) for the rogue in our group.
3. Soul Reaver 2 for PS2 for the Psionicist in the group, who already has the damn Psionicists handbook.
Family gifts:
4. Two talkabout radios for my dad who just bought 10 acres in the sierra nevadas.
5. Scarlet Pimpernel and I, CLAVDIVS DVD boxed sets for my mom.
Wheee!
I got:
Lots of candy. (Some irish truffles and some australian apricots)
a French Press
a milk frother thing
a coffee assortment
a tea ball with a ceramic snowflake
a nice leather jacket
I don't understand the concept of patenting DNA. You can patent processes and inventions... Isn't DNA more of a discovery? If someone finds evidence of some new sub-atomic particle, can they patent it? They can patent the process they used to find it. In any case, seems like there's several million years of evidence of prior art.
I can see a company not releasing their findings on the genome mappings and/or charging fees for access to that information. If they develop a drug or process from this information, then they could patent that...
You don't go banning stuff because it's in bad taste... even terrible taste. They need moderation on the radio, so people can choose to listen to songs with bad taste if they want. I, for one, always read Slashdot with my threshhold at -1, but that's my choice.
On the other hand, I guess it's not a) the government banning anything or b) stores banning anything (though walmart already puts up quite a filter). As a radio station, they are choosing not to play certain content, so they aren't really banning anything, they are just choosing not to play those songs. As long as people who want to access the content can readily and legally do so, I wouldn't call it banned. It sucks, I don't agree with it, but it's their perogative, I guess.
Satisfaction may not ALWAYS be part of the deal in an employee/employer relationship. But it should be. This is that short-term thinking getting in the way. Sure, you say, there are a ton of people out there with qualifications looking for a job. That's how employers might think in these times. But how hard is it to sift through the chaff? Have you ever interviewed anyone? You can ask someone technical questions, you can try to get a feel for who they are and how they work, you can check their references, but sometimes you still end up with someone who can't do the work, or doesn't do it well. Now there is just more to sift through. How long does it take from the hiring point before a zero- or negative-resource gets fired or layed off? It can be months, or even years. Or never, in larger companies. That's expensive... IN THE LONG-TERM. Not to mention the cost in time and money to get someone else up to speed with the specifics of a product, even if they can do the job.
Not to say that you should leave. If the company is stable, you should probably wait out the economic "dip," as even finding a new job, and then leaving, is a risk these days. They may not be making good, forward-thinking decisions, but they can make any decision they like, which will likely be to let you go your own way. It's a noble desire, to want to improve the system at your company. While you might benefit from it, your company should realize that you want to make things better for them, as well. And, gee, who would be so stupid as to turn away someone who cares about you? Ok, lots of people. But it's pretty lame of them. Don't lose your idealism.
The whole point is that initial time/effort investment gets you MORE in the long-term. The Dot-Com Revolution (or whatever you call that fiasco) taught everyone to think short-term. The whole PROBLEM is that short-term minded Development Leads, Product Managers, CEOs, and VCs don't believe it. It's hard to believe, until you really see it. And you won't really see it until you do it.
And, just because the world works in a particular way doesn't mean that it can't and won't change. This is a problem that education can fix, just like Racism and Sexism. Do you think those are doomed, as well? Naysayers just make the people that are willing to try things want to give up.
I thought Danny Glover's acting performance in the Lethal Weapons was atrocious, and certainly outshined by Jackie Chan (who plays the equivocal straight-man role).
What I like about RH2 over LW is that Chan is a badass cop, and Tucker has the attitude, and together they manage to solve the crime. They both bring value to the table. It seemed in LW that Gibson was always doing the Maverick cop crazy-but-it-works routine and Glover just got dragged along and whined about it.
And Zhang Ziyi looked very nice in this movie... I think I like the modern Triad look better than the traditional Chinese look. At least on her.
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis was an excellent game. It really felt like a Indiana Jones movie! I hope they make this happen, I've been wishing for it for a long time.
Isn't this what UCS-4 is for? I can't imagine there are more than a billion characters. Of course, most of the Unicode software that deals with wide characters won't work with UCS-4. But any decent UTF-8 based program should support up to 6 bytes per character.
But I guess internally most programs use 16-bit characters, because it's easier to deal with, and just convert into more compact forms like UTF-8 when they want to save or transfer it.
Funny, I use ESC as my meta key all the time in EMACS, and I have an ALT key...
Re:Rotating egg on Shiny Thing
on
Voyager Eulogy
·
· Score: 1
I'm pretty sure that the whole point of evolutionary theory is based around external influence, not internal influence. When evolutionary pressure is exerted on a trait (i.e. people who have/don't have a trait DIE and the others don't) then those traits are passed on and the others die out with the creatures that had them. The only thing scripted in the DNA is whether a given creature has the trait or not.
Shouldn't science fiction writers have some founding in science? A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Rotating egg on Shiny Thing
on
Voyager Eulogy
·
· Score: 1
Well, when you use the Infinite Improbability Drive, occupying every point in the universe simultaneously often does strange things like converting missiles into a bowl of petunias and a large sperm whale. So I could imagine it turning you into a giant lizard, too.
I live in St. Louis in the US. Just about every gas station here sells diesel and its usually cheaper than the regular stuff.
I live in the San Fransisco Bay Area, and I *rarely* see a gas station that offers diesel. If I'm driving to L.A., then all the gas stations along the freeway have them, obviously, but in town - almost never. Of course, there's a gas station on every corner, so even if the percentage that offer diesel is low, the chances of finding one aren't too bad.
"Origin was doing pretty well (deadline wise and product wise, not necessarily money wise)"
Origin has always had quality products with whatever they have done, but I wouldn't say they were always on time. I remember Both Strike Commander and Ulitma VII were SOOO late. I was young and impatient, and it killed me that they were so late. It was actually painful for me to wait so long after they had claimed it would come out.
I have to say their technology was never out of date, though. Their games always ran slow on my computer, and barely decent at the top-of-the-line at realease time. Did you have to walk across Brittania in U7 on a 386SX-20?
At UC Berkeley Dept. of CS, it was standard practice for our projects to be run through similar software. Most programming projects, though, are done in teams. When you get two team members who don't know each other, usually the work gets split up, each team member goes off to finish their part, and then they join up at the end to test it or something (as opposed to the more eXtreme approach i used with my friends). Well, a friend of mine actually didn't cheat at all, but his partner actually copied a significant deal of code from a previous semester's assignment by someone else. He had no real way of knowing, but when the project was found to contain copied code, he was accused. Now, being found guilty of cheating at school seems to me to be about the same as having a prison record. He really had no way to prove he was innocent without his fraudulent team member basically saying so. He managed to have his record kept clean, but I don't remember the details of how, whether his partner admitted the truth or not.
I had another project my freshman year... we were way behind, and it was due the next day. It was 2 am, we were at the lab trying to write a lisp interpreter in scheme. We had it half done. One of my partners has strep throat. One was nowhere to be found, and one was there with me. The guy who had vanished "TALK"ed my partner and said that he had a friends completed project and we should use it. We didn't know they ran it through programs like this, so my present partner wanted to go along with his idea. I said "fine", went home, got some coffee, and finished the project myself by 6am. I even turned it in with their names on it. I'm not really sure why. And that was just because I hate cheating, not because I thought I'd get caught (though we would have).
Slashdot Mirror
This is true in the US, as well. In fact, many contracts of all kinds include terms which defy state law. Those terms are not legally enforcable, but most people don't know that, and/or don't know what the law actually is, so it's common practice anyway.
-If
Oooh, ooh, who's the princess?
-DG
When I applied for schools (in 1994), I didn't know there was anything except for CS, so I just wrote that down on all the applications. I eventually went to UC Berkeley, and here's the situation there (it's probably not the same as elsewhere, but whatever):
Computer Science is part of the Letters and Science college, which hands out Bachelor of Arts degrees. This is the same college you would have if you majored in English, or Math, or Physics. This ends up meaning that you have very little support from the school, you basically have to figure everything out yourself. Has a heavy math requirement, plus a broad GE-type requirement. This is the program I graduated with.
EECS (Electrical Engineering & Computer Science) is part of the Engineering college, which hands out Bachelor of Science degrees. These are accredited engineering degrees, versus the CS degrees, which are not. Since you are part of the much smaller Engineering college, you get a professor as a personal advisor, all your administration work goes through a different office that doesn't deal with nearly as much volume. You have more flexibility with your requirements, except you MUST take 3 semesters of Physics (part of the Engineering requirement). The Physics 7-series is known for being very hard. All the CS courses are actually the same as the other CS degree, it's just a different system.
People who failed to get into either of those majors (you had to maintain 3.0 or higher GPA, probably 3.5 or somesuch now) would usually go into Cognitive Science (CS + psych + philosophy focused on thinking) or Applied Math, both of which allowed you to take some of the CS courses (only authorized declared majors could get into upper division CS courses).
I don't know of any CIS or MIS programs at ALL at Berkeley, though perhaps in the business school. Most everyone in my classes that I met fell into one of the 4 majors above. The only real engineering degree is EECS, but I haven't found that anyone that seemed to understand or care about the distinction.
As someone who interviews people on occasion, while the interview is, of course, most important, I think I would be less impressed with a CIS or MIS degree than a CS-type degree. Admittedly, I have only a vauge inkling of what the other two even are. I would have to say there's more prestige with a CS degree at most places.
-If
I have to say that Lindows is a dumb-sounding name, anyway. It sucks to be forced to change it, but something catchier would work better.
Here are some suggestions:
- Windux
- LinCE (Compatible Edition)
- PowerPointOS
- Bill Gates' OS
- Microsoft Windows XP
There are plenty of names to choose from, so I would just pick one and move on.
-If
This reminds me of the beverage dispenser that produced a liquid that was almost, but not entirely, unlike tea.
-If
Nerd Gifts:
1. Blood and Tome (Wizards guidebook) for the wizard in the gaming group.
2. Song and Silence (Rogue/Bard guidebook) for the rogue in our group.
3. Soul Reaver 2 for PS2 for the Psionicist in the group, who already has the damn Psionicists handbook.
Family gifts:
4. Two talkabout radios for my dad who just bought 10 acres in the sierra nevadas.
5. Scarlet Pimpernel and I, CLAVDIVS DVD boxed sets for my mom.
Wheee!
I got:
Lots of candy. (Some irish truffles and some australian apricots)
a French Press
a milk frother thing
a coffee assortment
a tea ball with a ceramic snowflake
a nice leather jacket
and
a head cold.
-If.
I don't understand the concept of patenting DNA. You can patent processes and inventions... Isn't DNA more of a discovery? If someone finds evidence of some new sub-atomic particle, can they patent it? They can patent the process they used to find it. In any case, seems like there's several million years of evidence of prior art.
I can see a company not releasing their findings on the genome mappings and/or charging fees for access to that information. If they develop a drug or process from this information, then they could patent that...
U3 had badass music on the c-64. Espeically the combat music! Yay SID!
You don't go banning stuff because it's in bad taste... even terrible taste. They need moderation on the radio, so people can choose to listen to songs with bad taste if they want. I, for one, always read Slashdot with my threshhold at -1, but that's my choice.
On the other hand, I guess it's not a) the government banning anything or b) stores banning anything (though walmart already puts up quite a filter). As a radio station, they are choosing not to play certain content, so they aren't really banning anything, they are just choosing not to play those songs. As long as people who want to access the content can readily and legally do so, I wouldn't call it banned. It sucks, I don't agree with it, but it's their perogative, I guess.
-DG
The hijackers sacrificed their lives for their cause. I'm sure they had no moral qualms sacrificing the lives of their countrymen, as well.
Satisfaction may not ALWAYS be part of the deal in an employee/employer relationship. But it should be. This is that short-term thinking getting in the way. Sure, you say, there are a ton of people out there with qualifications looking for a job. That's how employers might think in these times. But how hard is it to sift through the chaff? Have you ever interviewed anyone? You can ask someone technical questions, you can try to get a feel for who they are and how they work, you can check their references, but sometimes you still end up with someone who can't do the work, or doesn't do it well. Now there is just more to sift through. How long does it take from the hiring point before a zero- or negative-resource gets fired or layed off? It can be months, or even years. Or never, in larger companies. That's expensive... IN THE LONG-TERM. Not to mention the cost in time and money to get someone else up to speed with the specifics of a product, even if they can do the job.
Not to say that you should leave. If the company is stable, you should probably wait out the economic "dip," as even finding a new job, and then leaving, is a risk these days. They may not be making good, forward-thinking decisions, but they can make any decision they like, which will likely be to let you go your own way. It's a noble desire, to want to improve the system at your company. While you might benefit from it, your company should realize that you want to make things better for them, as well. And, gee, who would be so stupid as to turn away someone who cares about you? Ok, lots of people. But it's pretty lame of them. Don't lose your idealism.
The whole point is that initial time/effort investment gets you MORE in the long-term. The Dot-Com Revolution (or whatever you call that fiasco) taught everyone to think short-term. The whole PROBLEM is that short-term minded Development Leads, Product Managers, CEOs, and VCs don't believe it. It's hard to believe, until you really see it. And you won't really see it until you do it.
And, just because the world works in a particular way doesn't mean that it can't and won't change. This is a problem that education can fix, just like Racism and Sexism. Do you think those are doomed, as well? Naysayers just make the people that are willing to try things want to give up.
My guess is that he has zero access to these numbers.
Hell, yes! I'd take Alexander the Great over Napolean any day. I'd take Napolean over Hitler any day.
I thought Danny Glover's acting performance in the Lethal Weapons was atrocious, and certainly outshined by Jackie Chan (who plays the equivocal straight-man role).
What I like about RH2 over LW is that Chan is a badass cop, and Tucker has the attitude, and together they manage to solve the crime. They both bring value to the table. It seemed in LW that Gibson was always doing the Maverick cop crazy-but-it-works routine and Glover just got dragged along and whined about it.
And Zhang Ziyi looked very nice in this movie... I think I like the modern Triad look better than the traditional Chinese look. At least on her.
You never see anyone who doesn't have skills act this way and stay employed for very long.
Unless they are related to the CEO...
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis was an excellent game. It really felt like a Indiana Jones movie! I hope they make this happen, I've been wishing for it for a long time.
What 'Karma-Whoring' means?
cheers,
Isn't this what UCS-4 is for? I can't imagine there are more than a billion characters. Of course, most of the Unicode software that deals with wide characters won't work with UCS-4. But any decent UTF-8 based program should support up to 6 bytes per character.
But I guess internally most programs use 16-bit characters, because it's easier to deal with, and just convert into more compact forms like UTF-8 when they want to save or transfer it.
Funny, I use ESC as my meta key all the time in EMACS, and I have an ALT key...
I'm pretty sure that the whole point of evolutionary theory is based around external influence, not internal influence. When evolutionary pressure is exerted on a trait (i.e. people who have/don't have a trait DIE and the others don't) then those traits are passed on and the others die out with the creatures that had them. The only thing scripted in the DNA is whether a given creature has the trait or not.
Shouldn't science fiction writers have some founding in science? A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Well, when you use the Infinite Improbability Drive, occupying every point in the universe simultaneously often does strange things like converting missiles into a bowl of petunias and a large sperm whale. So I could imagine it turning you into a giant lizard, too.
I live in St. Louis in the US. Just about every gas station here sells diesel and its usually cheaper than the regular stuff.
I live in the San Fransisco Bay Area, and I *rarely* see a gas station that offers diesel. If I'm driving to L.A., then all the gas stations along the freeway have them, obviously, but in town - almost never. Of course, there's a gas station on every corner, so even if the percentage that offer diesel is low, the chances of finding one aren't too bad.
"Origin was doing pretty well (deadline wise and product wise, not necessarily money wise)"
Origin has always had quality products with whatever they have done, but I wouldn't say they were always on time. I remember Both Strike Commander and Ulitma VII were SOOO late. I was young and impatient, and it killed me that they were so late. It was actually painful for me to wait so long after they had claimed it would come out.
I have to say their technology was never out of date, though. Their games always ran slow on my computer, and barely decent at the top-of-the-line at realease time. Did you have to walk across Brittania in U7 on a 386SX-20?
At UC Berkeley Dept. of CS, it was standard practice for our projects to be run through similar software. Most programming projects, though, are done in teams. When you get two team members who don't know each other, usually the work gets split up, each team member goes off to finish their part, and then they join up at the end to test it or something (as opposed to the more eXtreme approach i used with my friends). Well, a friend of mine actually didn't cheat at all, but his partner actually copied a significant deal of code from a previous semester's assignment by someone else. He had no real way of knowing, but when the project was found to contain copied code, he was accused. Now, being found guilty of cheating at school seems to me to be about the same as having a prison record. He really had no way to prove he was innocent without his fraudulent team member basically saying so. He managed to have his record kept clean, but I don't remember the details of how, whether his partner admitted the truth or not.
I had another project my freshman year... we were way behind, and it was due the next day. It was 2 am, we were at the lab trying to write a lisp interpreter in scheme. We had it half done. One of my partners has strep throat. One was nowhere to be found, and one was there with me. The guy who had vanished "TALK"ed my partner and said that he had a friends completed project and we should use it. We didn't know they ran it through programs like this, so my present partner wanted to go along with his idea. I said "fine", went home, got some coffee, and finished the project myself by 6am. I even turned it in with their names on it. I'm not really sure why. And that was just because I hate cheating, not because I thought I'd get caught (though we would have).