Interesting choice of countries. I've been brainwashed by CNN.
Having worked in similar locations I can tell you sysadmins are valued on pretty much the same criteria. I happily stand corrected. Thanks.
Interesting. AC made this post twenty-seven minutes prior to yours. Marvelous coincidence? I realize that slashdot users overseas get irked over this site's (North) American slant, but it carries political correctness to absurdity if the contest/publicity stunt were made international. The criteria by which sysadmins in say, China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, etc., might be the opposite of what westerners value. Sysadmins in this hemisphere largely facilitate connectivity for the user, while those in the nations mentioned might be valued for their ability to plug holes to keep users from accessing information damaging to the power structure. BTW, some of the finest posts I've ever read on Slashdot are from overseas. Ideas should be valued above geography, but this is such a trivial thing that it doesn't seem worth getting exercised about.
I'll grant you that these days my Linux troubles are a shadow of what they were when I started using Linux over 10 years ago but there are still enough small issues to make it a close second to OS X. So, you like OS X better than Linux... Why doesn't your well-labeled list above reflect that? Mildly curious.
I see it that way, too. But the (American, at least) culture is focused on Winners and Losers to the extent that such rich meditations as yours are easy to miss. Slashdot clearly (witness the comment list) reflects this attitude, but it is nice to see more light and less heat on occasion. Thanks.
Think of the ISS and the Space Shuttle Orbiter as one entity, in that one exists solely to justify the other. When the Shuttles stop running, there's not much for suppliers to sell. If looked at as "throwing good money after bad" perhaps humanity doesn't need this expensive trinket sailing by. I'd be surprised if the contribution to basic science has increased compared to the enormous sums spent in support of keeping humans, (frail sacks of molecules that we are) in space. Maybe we'd advance our understanding by projecting our sensors and probes, designed with problem-solving algorithms and flexible reprogramming instead of shipping meat?
Many dictionaries list it as an alternative past tense. Can't argue with that, but there's more to the story. Dictionaries can be prescriptive or descriptive. From Wiki, a paragraph on the matter: "Prescription and description are often seen as opposites, in the sense that one declares how language should be while the other declares how language is. But they can also be complementary, and usually exist in dynamic tension. Most commentators on language show elements of both prescription and description in their thinking, and popular debate on language issues frequently revolves around the question of how to balance these." (Italics mine) So, which type of dictionary one employs puts such arguments in the let's-agree-to-disagree category, imho.
>>Susceptibility to superstitious concepts has more to do with gullibility than it does intelligence, and unfortunately, the two aren't strongly related.
Just curious. Do "superstitious concepts" mean religion in general, or Creationism (or ID) in particular? Interesting metaphor you've posited for the mind...
Thank you for bringing this up. Upon reflection following my original post, I began ruminating on the very difference of which you speak. By no means am I implying that governmental power should slide further into paternalism; in fact we ought to back the train up the track, so to speak, as far as citizens' liberties (at least in the U.S., where the administration has toiled tirelessly to negate those freedoms in the name of fighting "terror"). Parental controls are one thing. The "gub" should be our servant, not our proctor, as you suggest.
This solution reminds me of a Panopticon, mentioned in a recent Slashdot article about the Great Firewall of China. Kinda interesting that what seems draconian in one context seems simple and effective in another...
However, when financial gain isn't involved, as in peer-to-peer file sharing, [...] Isn't that the crux of **AA's original objection to file sharing? That downloaders=freeloaders were cutting into their potential financial gain since "why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free"? I think they'll twist/spin the copyright angle until judges slap them down over and over.
>> whether it is Win XP, Ubuntu, or OSX across 3 different machines...
So far, I've been unable (too lazy, stupid, lethargic) to use my laptop/Ubuntu wireless capability. I've got a long CAT5 cable which works fine, but I knock over upright items when I move around. Could you or anyone describe the procedure? I like the security of ethernet, but I'd like to take the machine outside or upstairs sometimes and stay connected.
I don't discount the power or effect of this trope (1b.). I aspire to reach the discerning reader and hope to elevate discussions such that the merit of an argument is the criterion by which it should be judged. I acknowledge your point that (too) many people have lost the power of critical thinking. I thus pointed out such an example. There is another in the comment preceding yours in this thread. It just seems to me that a steady rise in meaningless intensity will ensure we are stuck on the treadmill of hype, and the search for new superlatives or imperatives does not help advance the discourse. Short-form need only be concise, its persuasiveness preferably appealing to the intellect, not the subconscious. I hope you aren't right, and afraid you might be...
(just noticed the reference to Mozilla in my Merriam-Webster link - if it breaks in your browser, sorry)
pose a danger to peer reviewed scientific research, free markets, and possibly the future of western civilization. This is a breathtakingly bold projection, muted somewhat (weaseled?) by the word "possibly". Nope, haven't RTFA, but most "Chicken Little" pronouncements seem to fizzle sooner than later. I have even less faith in the power of form letters, which Richard Stallman suggests above. Maybe we should just send nuts?
To an extent, you are correct. But I got the impression from the Spamnation link (#4) that this has been going on for days. Heck, the Update on that site was dated Sept. 6. We only have n number of users. The Russians (read TFA) have lots and lots (technical term) of botnets and are assumed to be taking revenge on their tormentors. I think this trumps the slashdot effect, but that's just my opinion.
Are you aware of the ironic recapitulation of the topic you've just made? I'm curious as to your definition of "the rest of us" and how You got to be spokesperson? GP may be talking over your head because you're busy biting him on the ankles with your little slur... Enjoy your myths, I know I'm fond of some, although I compartmentalize them as aesthetic but useful fictions. Swear to Gaia...
If you are logged in, type or copy/paste, or click this link in your browser: http://slashdot.org/metamod.pl You will either Meta Moderate or be informed that you are not eligible. HTH.
Well, You've got a six-digit UID, but apparently an averge IQ. I just compared your post history to GP (full disclosure: I am a fan of his), and invite anyone else to do the same. Also, if your biggest complaint is about dumbing everything down for the lumpenproletariat, why would you expect to have credibility on Slashdot? That's Cognitive Dissonance for you!
If this story is hard to understand (was for me), then a comment following TFA might be useful, if you don't/didn't read that far:
5. FPGA - field programmable gate arrays are sort of like reconfigurable circuitry - they can be programmed to perform complex computations in one giant "step", rather than as a sequence of instructions (how a general purpose cpu like the pentium operates).
This makes them fairly pointless for general computing, but when you need to crunch a bunch of numbers in the same way over and over, they can REALLY outperform a general cpu. Usually these are used to manipulate audio / video data streams in real time (the original purpose for the FPGAs used in this project) - but recently people have started using them to brute-force try to crack an encryption scheme. Where a general purpose cpu might take upwards of 40 clock cycles to check one possible answer, each of the FPGAs in this system can check at least one answer PER clock cycle.
This guy pulled a bunch of FPGA systems out of some (defective?) HDTV video processing systems - reverse engineered exactly how everything was wired together, reprogrammed the FPGAs to do SHA-1 hash cracking rather than HDTV video processing, and added some usb control circuitry so the system could take commands from / return results to a pc.
One could use this same board setup to do any sort of massively parallel data processing, but right now the system isn't wired up to really feed large amounts of data into / out of the system in real time. He can get away with that as hash cracking results are fairly small and infrequent, so the limited means he has for getting "answers" out of the system isn't too much of a problem.
Hey Cowie, you're pretty short on facts yourself. Not only does the editor spell his nick "kdawson" (No Caps, stinkfinger), I challenge the notion that he doesn't have a better grasp on reality than you. The fair-minded reader can see what s/he thinks about it.
I don't defend kdawson automatically, but this was overboard, imo. May I be modded to hell if I'm just kissing up...
But what about "conspiracy in restraint of trade" being engaged by the owners of the dark fiber who happens to sit on the board at the telcos? It might resemble deBeers controlling the amount of diamond allowed to be sold in order to keep margins high... Just a thought.
Well, I was just quoting the original source that inspired the song by Pete Seeger and made famous by the Byrds. Here is the relevant section of the Wiki entry:
"Lyrics and title
The lyrics are taken almost verbatim from the King James version of the Bible (Ecclesiastes 3, verses 1-8). The Biblical text posits there being a time and place for all things: laughter and sorrow, healing and killing, war and peace, and so on. The lines are open to myriad interpretations, but as a song they are commonly performed as a plea for world peace, with stress on the closing line: "a time for peace, I swear it's not too late," the latter phrase being the only part of the lyric written by Seeger himself." (Emphasis mine)
I remember when this was #1 on AM radio for a looong time. Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now... 8)
Slashdot Mirror
Interesting. AC made this post twenty-seven minutes prior to yours. Marvelous coincidence? I realize that slashdot users overseas get irked over this site's (North) American slant, but it carries political correctness to absurdity if the contest/publicity stunt were made international. The criteria by which sysadmins in say, China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, etc., might be the opposite of what westerners value. Sysadmins in this hemisphere largely facilitate connectivity for the user, while those in the nations mentioned might be valued for their ability to plug holes to keep users from accessing information damaging to the power structure.
BTW, some of the finest posts I've ever read on Slashdot are from overseas. Ideas should be valued above geography, but this is such a trivial thing that it doesn't seem worth getting exercised about.
>So, we can call it a win for both.
I see it that way, too. But the (American, at least) culture is focused on Winners and Losers to the extent that such rich meditations as yours are easy to miss. Slashdot clearly (witness the comment list) reflects this attitude, but it is nice to see more light and less heat on occasion. Thanks.
Think of the ISS and the Space Shuttle Orbiter as one entity, in that one exists solely to justify the other. When the Shuttles stop running, there's not much for suppliers to sell. If looked at as "throwing good money after bad" perhaps humanity doesn't need this expensive trinket sailing by. I'd be surprised if the contribution to basic science has increased compared to the enormous sums spent in support of keeping humans, (frail sacks of molecules that we are) in space. Maybe we'd advance our understanding by projecting our sensors and probes, designed with problem-solving algorithms and flexible reprogramming instead of shipping meat?
That would be my hope, too, but the gummint always seems to be a step or seven behind current threats. We're probably already toast...
"Prescription and description are often seen as opposites, in the sense that one declares how language should be while the other declares how language is. But they can also be complementary, and usually exist in dynamic tension. Most commentators on language show elements of both prescription and description in their thinking, and popular debate on language issues frequently revolves around the question of how to balance these." (Italics mine)
So, which type of dictionary one employs puts such arguments in the let's-agree-to-disagree category, imho.
>>Susceptibility to superstitious concepts has more to do with gullibility than it does intelligence, and unfortunately, the two aren't strongly related.
Just curious. Do "superstitious concepts" mean religion in general, or Creationism (or ID) in particular?
Interesting metaphor you've posited for the mind...
Thank you for bringing this up. Upon reflection following my original post, I began ruminating on the very difference of which you speak. By no means am I implying that governmental power should slide further into paternalism; in fact we ought to back the train up the track, so to speak, as far as citizens' liberties (at least in the U.S., where the administration has toiled tirelessly to negate those freedoms in the name of fighting "terror"). Parental controls are one thing. The "gub" should be our servant, not our proctor, as you suggest.
This solution reminds me of a Panopticon, mentioned in a recent Slashdot article about the Great Firewall of China. Kinda interesting that what seems draconian in one context seems simple and effective in another...
>> whether it is Win XP, Ubuntu, or OSX across 3 different machines...
So far, I've been unable (too lazy, stupid, lethargic) to use my laptop/Ubuntu wireless capability. I've got a long CAT5 cable which works fine, but I knock over upright items when I move around. Could you or anyone describe the procedure? I like the security of ethernet, but I'd like to take the machine outside or upstairs sometimes and stay connected.
I don't know, but these folks seem determined to spread it nonetheless.
I don't discount the power or effect of this trope (1b.). I aspire to reach the discerning reader and hope to elevate discussions such that the merit of an argument is the criterion by which it should be judged. I acknowledge your point that (too) many people have lost the power of critical thinking. I thus pointed out such an example. There is another in the comment preceding yours in this thread. It just seems to me that a steady rise in meaningless intensity will ensure we are stuck on the treadmill of hype, and the search for new superlatives or imperatives does not help advance the discourse. Short-form need only be concise, its persuasiveness preferably appealing to the intellect, not the subconscious. I hope you aren't right, and afraid you might be...
(just noticed the reference to Mozilla in my Merriam-Webster link - if it breaks in your browser, sorry)
To an extent, you are correct. But I got the impression from the Spamnation link (#4) that this has been going on for days. Heck, the Update on that site was dated Sept. 6. We only have n number of users. The Russians (read TFA) have lots and lots (technical term) of botnets and are assumed to be taking revenge on their tormentors. I think this trumps the slashdot effect, but that's just my opinion.
From the photons' POV it takes no time at all. (ducks)
When I was windows-bound, this was my favorite emailer. Can't get burnt with text-only.
Are you aware of the ironic recapitulation of the topic you've just made? I'm curious as to your definition of "the rest of us" and how You got to be spokesperson? GP may be talking over your head because you're busy biting him on the ankles with your little slur... Enjoy your myths, I know I'm fond of some, although I compartmentalize them as aesthetic but useful fictions. Swear to Gaia...
If you are logged in, type or copy/paste, or click this link in your browser: http://slashdot.org/metamod.pl
You will either Meta Moderate or be informed that you are not eligible. HTH.
Well, You've got a six-digit UID, but apparently an averge IQ. I just compared your post history to GP (full disclosure: I am a fan of his), and invite anyone else to do the same. Also, if your biggest complaint is about dumbing everything down for the lumpenproletariat, why would you expect to have credibility on Slashdot? That's Cognitive Dissonance for you!
Spoink! (Tnx. to Scott Adams and Steven Pinker)
Now, get off my lawn, you consarned punks...
This makes them fairly pointless for general computing, but when you need to crunch a bunch of numbers in the same way over and over, they can REALLY outperform a general cpu. Usually these are used to manipulate audio / video data streams in real time (the original purpose for the FPGAs used in this project) - but recently people have started using them to brute-force try to crack an encryption scheme. Where a general purpose cpu might take upwards of 40 clock cycles to check one possible answer, each of the FPGAs in this system can check at least one answer PER clock cycle.
This guy pulled a bunch of FPGA systems out of some (defective?) HDTV video processing systems - reverse engineered exactly how everything was wired together, reprogrammed the FPGAs to do SHA-1 hash cracking rather than HDTV video processing, and added some usb control circuitry so the system could take commands from / return results to a pc.
One could use this same board setup to do any sort of massively parallel data processing, but right now the system isn't wired up to really feed large amounts of data into / out of the system in real time. He can get away with that as hash cracking results are fairly small and infrequent, so the limited means he has for getting "answers" out of the system isn't too much of a problem.
Posted at 4:39AM on Sep 1st 2007 by smilr HTH.
Hey Cowie, you're pretty short on facts yourself. Not only does the editor spell his nick "kdawson" (No Caps, stinkfinger), I challenge the notion that he doesn't have a better grasp on reality than you. The fair-minded reader can see what s/he thinks about it.
I don't defend kdawson automatically, but this was overboard, imo. May I be modded to hell if I'm just kissing up...
But what about "conspiracy in restraint of trade" being engaged by the owners of the dark fiber who happens to sit on the board at the telcos?
It might resemble deBeers controlling the amount of diamond allowed to be sold in order to keep margins high... Just a thought.
Well, I was just quoting the original source that inspired the song by Pete Seeger and made famous by the Byrds. Here is the relevant section of the Wiki entry:
"Lyrics and title
The lyrics are taken almost verbatim from the King James version of the Bible (Ecclesiastes 3, verses 1-8). The Biblical text posits there being a time and place for all things: laughter and sorrow, healing and killing, war and peace, and so on. The lines are open to myriad interpretations, but as a song they are commonly performed as a plea for world peace, with stress on the closing line: "a time for peace, I swear it's not too late," the latter phrase being the only part of the lyric written by Seeger himself."
(Emphasis mine)
I remember when this was #1 on AM radio for a looong time. Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now... 8)