I don't know if it can be genetically passed. After all, there was something that happened in utero so this might have a genetic impact. I'm no doctor, I couldn't say.
It's not nice because it hurts his parents and they might take my questions as intrusions in their lives. I know for a fact that this kid has problems, knowing the exact name of the condition (if it has one) won't make them happier, won't make the kid healthier and definitely won't make me smarter. So what's the point to ask? To me, the obvious is enough, I need not name it:)
Verbal aggression and physical aggression both have the same root and both have the same effects. Disregarding the effects of one leaves half of the problem unresolved.
I do agree there are worse things in life than bullying. But let's stick to the world seen from a teenager's perspective. They don't cope with an assholde boss. They will later, but not now. They also don't cope with aggressive drivers, not till they turn 16 (in US) or 18 or even 21 (in some countries). And here we don't talk about Facebook, we talk about dedicated school websites/areas, where the message target is your entire class/school, not a few friends you can block.
Now about that good-bye letter you mentioned. The Suicide rate because of such things amongst teens is surprisingly high. And whereas you can't help getting dumped sometimes, you can (or should be able to) do something against bullying and targeted verbal/physical aggression in schools. And by action I don't mean throw the offender in jail, but counsel the offender and at the same time silently remove the offending entry/post from the website. As for the seriousness of the offense and its implications, let me put an analogy together...
Let's say there's a corporate forum which all your co-workers access. And it's anonymous and unmoderated. Now I, covered by anonimity, go there and write "Shakrai has a small dick, finishes in 2 minutes and can't satisfy a woman ", you wouldn't like it. You could just go ahead and ignore my entry and even the forum altogether, but your co-workers won't. They will show each other this entry and some (most, from my experience) would assume it's true. And all of a sudden, you are going to be the lame hero of the company, the guy everyone makes fun of. People will cease to call you, you will feel isolated and so on; and when the poor soul who hasn't read my entry comes and sits next to you or talks to you, there's always going to be someone who will gladly (and viciously) point the uninformed guy to my entry. Gossip goes fast, gossip goes far. And before you know it, a large part of your life (that would be work environment) would shred to tiny pieces.
Now, you are entitled to sue my ass and get a large amount of money from my misdemeanor, but surprise!, you don't have anyone to sue, because Internet anonymity protects me, and the webmaster doesn't give a shit about your protests (forum outsourced to Vanuatu Islands, good luck reaching someone). OK, maybe you would find a solution, because as an adult you are resourceful, but what can you do as a 14-17 year old kid?
Finally, you say there are lots of help channels available. That's reactive thinking. You wait for the problem to happen and then attempt to fix it. How about being proactive for a change? Identify offenders, counsel THEM, remove the offending post. If cyber-bullies know that their entries are moderated and won't see the daylight if they are aggressive, they will cease doing it.
How about freedom of speech? Freedom of speech applies to identifiable people, to those who are ready to take the heat if they are proven as liars. Not to the so-called "anonymous cowards" (no pun intended) who hide behind the iron curtain of Internet to harm others, willingly or not. Therefore, if I could be identified in the above mentioned imaginary forum, then yes, that forum can be un-moderated and I would be held responsible for my actions.
Oh wait, that wasn't the PC thing to say. I'm sorry, should I report to the Museum of Tolerance or skip that step and go straight to Tolerance Camp?
It doesn't sound like natural selection to you if the poor kid who hangs himself in a closet is yours.
I know a couple who have a kid. Back when she was pregnanti woth this kid, she was involved in a car accident and the kid had some birth defects. Now I don't know exactly what happend or how the condition is called (it's not a nice thing to avidly ask them for details), but he can't walk properly, when talking he mumbles horribly (I don't understand a word he's saying, but his parents can; they learned the hard way) and will most likely never go out by himself, meet a girl and/or procreate. He can write but the letters look like crap and are very hard to decipher. He's 12 now.
Back when he was 8, his parents attempted to send him to a public school, and for about a week or two all was fine; but one day teachers found him tucked behind a garbage container; turns out some of his colleagues mocked him, prodded him, called him names and so on. Bullied him, in a word. And they finally dumped him behind that garbage container. He refused to eat or drink, his parents had to take him to the hospital, sedate him, feed him intravenously and pray he won't die. He eventually got better. By that I mean back to what is normal for him.
So what?, would you say. Natural Selection, he'd better be off dead. Okay, but he paints. He's a bloody ARTIST, my friend. He makes art like you or I can't, and he's good at it. I've seen him do it, it's amazing. Now he's no Picasso or anything and at some points his paintings are hard to understand (my guess is he sees the world very differently from us), but it's amazing nevertheless. His parents are not interested in showing his work, they're just glad this activity makes him feel better, but when I enter their house, the walls are literally covered in his drawings. So learn this, man: not all people who can't behave like us are bound to go silently in the night.
Now teens are living by their own standards. You're successful as a teen if you got the dough, the looks and the (sometimes chemically enhanced) sexual stamina. Whoever doesn't fit the pattern likely becomes a victim, no matter the size of his brain. When I was younger, I was respected during the IT classes/exams (because I could help all others) and at parties because I know a gazillion of jokes and I'm pretty good as an amateur stand-up comedian. That's it. I wasn't welcome to join the gang when they went to see movies or in clubs. I ain't good looking, don't have the dough and even if I'm okay in bed, I had to match first two prerequisites to be able to prove the third:) People tried to bully me, but my sheer irony managed to turn their rather limited attempts against me, so most gave up. Exceptions were the (in)famous sports class guys, who used their punches where their wits were powerless. Classic story, yeah I know. Yes I managed to be fine. However, I might have more empathy in me for those who get bullied.
...And let me tell you another real-life story:
When I was a kid, I had a classmate who was poor. I mean, dirt-poor. he only had 3 pairs of pants, and other kids noticed. One day, they threw some god damned substance on his pants (oily stuff, can't recall what it was) and the pants were ruined. He was so ashamed that later that evening his parents caught him attempting to commit suicide (he fucking hanged himself on the outside of the window). He managed to survive and later he earned a sponsored scholarship and became a doctor in the ER in a local hospital. He saved dozens of lifes. Hell, if you have a car crash near that town, he'd be the only one able to help you (small town, one hospital) and save your life. But hey, maybe you're right, maybe he oughta be dead...
I'll tell you:
Let's say you are a nerd. You get some verbal slaps from a few dorks, and learn to get along with it in the end. That's life, it can'te be all roses and clear sky for everyone. But while you can grudgingly accept to be called names by a few guys, you would absolutely hate to hear the same broadcasted on the school's radio. Furthermore, you would hate it more to see such aggressive texts written on a website which everyone visits and makes fun of you.
Remember American Pie and the shame of having an embarassing movie about you posted on a website? Now imagine yourself as the guy who gets the shaft.
For weaker people, this might lead to psychological problems and ultimately suicide. And there's your problem right there.
...and to widen the question, why are you switching?
There must be a reason to switch, and that's exactly what doesn't appear in the article. What does Debian lack? What makes you want to switch? Is it because of some features, or maybe you got bored? One can't give you an advice based on just "I want something else".
I guess you meant "if you dumb down programming then dumb people will program too". And that would be the truth. However, it won't necesarily mean they will be successful in programming properly. Rev4 just makes it easier for Average Joes to write simple web apps and that's pretty much it. Furthermore, I challenge your suggestion that all people who can't learn a programming language are dumb. This implies that all jobs except developer jobs are taken by dumb people. Kind of extreme if you ask me.
I wasn't able to properly learn any programming language except (yeah, laugh it up!) Visual Basic foa Applications, which I used to develop some pretty complex stuff, and if you think this lack of ONE ability makes me dumb, then I'm sorry I am too dumb for you. But I challenge you to write some fairly successful novels or cook some widely successful dishes, or why not, learn all Asian languages. Should I consider you dumb for not being able to?
Okay, let's get back to programming. Most people who can't program properly using currently available programming language are stopped by the fact that they can't wrap their minds against the sharp edges and pointy ends of a programming language's syntax, which is still too close to a machine's restrictions, which are basically a set of EXACT instructions. No room to flow nicely, no room to act naturally. Programming languages are like a waterfall flowing in right angles all the way. It is not natural and therefore doesn't act natural. That's exactly why, in order to simulate a waterfall, wheather or just protein folding, there's a very large amount of computational power required and the results are generally unimpressive. Now, having a different sort of approach would open this otherwise weld shut door to a larger percent of the population, and tries to narrow the logical gap between humanity and computers.
Indeed your approach shows exactly why we need an easier to understand and use programming languages. For too long programmers have been sitting on a pedestal and "mortals" watched them in awe. A lot of programmers actually deserve to be watched in awe, and Rev4 will just filter down those who don't. If you fear this, then maybe, I'd say maybe you should look in the mirror and ask yourself if your pedestal was made of stone or mud in the first place.
Finally, there's an example from my line of work. I am creating and sending out reports and statistics as a large part of my job. When our group started using Oracle Business Intelligence (Oracle Discoverer) for reporting purposes, buddiesused to say "dude, you should reconsider doing what you're ding, 'cause this will bring you to your knees and make you useless"". It didn't. When we switched to CRM On Demand (which contains a simply great reporting engine) they again were saying the same thing. It didn't bring me down either. Simply because I'm better at what I'm doing than an application and most of the times I can generate the relevant reports with a greater speed. If you're good, it won't affect you. If you're just gathering bits and pieces to make some sort of web app as part of your daily jo, then yer, fear Rev4. But if you're e.g. programming industrial robots, you'd most likely never encounter Rev4 in your work domain. Ever.
So... first they struggled to create touch Screens so they can eliminate buttons altogether, and now they struggle to implement buttons on touch screens? Wow, well thought out!
Although I agree that it would look cool and geeky, I do wonder what's wrong with buttons/keys featuring an OLED screen at the top. I know it wouldn't be such a versatile solution, but nevertheless it doesn't have to be implemented on a large scale.
Seems to me like it's, again, proof of concept rather that something useful in the long term.
Disclaimer: I am a smoker, so my option might be biased.
Back in the days, tobacco products manufacturers (the industry, that is) didn't mention that smoking is bad to your health. So they have been sued and lost. Now they have to warn you of that.
Now Apple is rejecting warranty because you are a smoker. They didn't mention that in their warranty, therefore a lawsuit would likely have them lose it as well.
The fact that deposits form inside a computer because of smoking is irrelevant. It may happen or it may not. I just checked my over 3 years laptop which I work on and smoke near, and guess what. It doesn't smell and it has no residue deposits inside of it (it's out of warranty anyway, so I removed the plastic cover and looked inside). It had some dust and that's it.
I've seen computers that were used in a cement factory; you wouldn't believe what was in them. But that's, according to warranty clauses, not the customer's fault; it's unfiltered airflow.
Smack some filters on the device, make them accessible and educate users to do a little cleaning every 3 months and everything would be fine.
Now related to actually working to repair a machine; if you don't use (or are not provided) gloves, then it's not customer's fault; it's your bloody employer's fault. I've seen cases that could potentially generate nasty cuts if you weren't careful (some of my scars stand as proof). There are small parts that can blow up in your face if you mishandle them (capacitors, old CRT Monitors). And so on. In the end, it's not a matter of "you're a smoker, so your warranty goes poof". It is a case of "you abused your machine by using it in environments which caused it to malfunction" - and not "because you smoke" but because the "harsh" environment caused this and that to stick to moving components (e.g. coolers) and cause the machine to cease functioning. Now that's a whole other thing.
You're wrong, nothing is heavier than that.
Jokes apart, the Internet doesn't have a weight attribute. When I see such articles, I remember that episode from "The IT Crowd":
"This is... the Internet!" (audience gasps) - it was just a box with a red LED blinking on it.
It's just people having no clue what the Internet is and trying to make it understandable by applying measurable attributes; or people trying to be funny. No atter the reason, they're unsuccessful.
Now all of you, please turn off your computers, iPhones and Blackberries, so that the Power Grid, GSM Array AND the Internet can lose some weight and live happily ever after... in the most amazing threesome we ever had the chance not to see.
It's 144 TB.
147456 GB of memory; that's 18342 times my machine's memory size.
To make the statement correct, they should have said "100,000 times as much as an average computer has". But then again, that's me being anal about nobody-cares-about kind of information:)
This whole thing proves that this world is big enough for everyone. Including total retards.
I just wonder how the hell did some of these people reach adulthood. A mistery that is deemed to remain unsolved.
One answer: Gaming.
OK, one more reason: 3D Work at home. I do that (as an amateur) and sometimes even my pretty fast machine takes hours at a time to render some scenes. I could as well send the file to RealityServer 3.0 and then render my scenes faster via a web browser, without having to wait hours and hours. That would be great for several reasons:
1. While I wait for my machine to render a scene, I do other things and more than often I ask myself what the hell was that thing that I awas trying to accomplish? With RealityServer, no more (long) interruptions.
2. Power consumption: a CPU at max thrust will eat more power and generate more heat. I'd rather not have it do that.
3. Higher efficiency. Hours of waiting equals lost productivity.
Useless technology? Maybe. But thjat's what they said about the train and the plane, back in the days. Time will tell. For now, new tech? Bring it on! The more, the merrier. Hey, at least we get to choose:)
Furthermore, complying to this "request" will wake up some other bonehead lawyer who will request Hitler to be removed as well, because he's dead.
History is history, so let the names be there and move on.
How would it be to have a history book saying "Emperor [name removed] lost to his enemies in the battle of Waterloo, which were emperor [name removed] and his allies, [name removed], [name removed] and of course, most importantly, [name removed]". Pffff...
So a Microsoft employee says something out the top of his head. In a normal discussion between me and you, this would be just an opinion, something along the lines of "I think that...". But change the speaker and all of a sudden it's along the lines of "BIG SECRET REVEALED!!!1111" kind of thing. Even worse, for most people it becomes one with the company's official PoV and this simple statement grows so much that the company must spit out a rebuttal via an official channel/spokesman.
We are living in a twisted, perverted world, where one can't express an opinion without being beheaded by both the press and the company he's working for. God help us all!:)
Well to be honest, I was expecting a GIANT LED display, like the ones used for outdoor advertising; something in the range of 15x10 feet or something. This one is huge in terms of big LEDs, nothing else.
If you are trying to go down to predict and model the individual, then yes, you are right. But work with large enough groups (like nations, for example) and you'd be amazed of the results.
A simple exercise: take last year's daily wake up time for an individual from China. It would most likely wildly vary in time, and you can't forecast when is he going to wake up tomorrow. You can guess that it might happen in the morning, based on a rough average, but can't be more precise than that. Now do the same for the entire Chinese People, and you'll most likely be able to forecast an average wake up time down to the very second. And be right.
Now you might ask yourself what good does that do and how does that apply to economy. Just think gas or cigarette taxes. They are being applied using the same principle. And having a better mathematical algorithm means only more money for whoever understands and applies the principle correctly.
You seem to run out of fingers very fast with this sort of approach. But again, maybe I am old and can't learn to use that many buttons. I have a mouse with 5 buttons, and I only use 4 of them; 18 buttons on a mouse with X functions each is just a proof of concept, nothing more. "We can do it!"-style.
Now don't throw stones at me, please, but I'm a Windows guy. I never check for Linux distros to see what's new, I'm contempt using my Win-based boxes. But 2 days ago I was talking to a friend about Linux and stuff and felt the urge to see what's changed. It's been close to two years since I last played with any Linux distro except a heavily modified RHEL release which my company provides to appease its Linux community.
To my shame, I could only remember Ubuntu right then so I went to their website and downloaded 9.10; fired my VirtualBox installation, mounted the ISO and went on to create a virtual machine.
At first boot, I chose to start the live CD, looked around and started a HDD installation. It did some stuff then suddenly rebooted and went into a weird loop: the GUI was appearing for a few seconds, then disappeared, letting some text show up behind it, then went on again, ad nauseam. I forcefully restarted the machine and went on to attempt another install after reducing the amount of CPUs shown in the VM from 2 to 1 (dual-core goes bye-bye). To my surprise, that worked and the installation went on flawlessly.
Now I must say I am heavily impressed by what Ubuntu has become. It's fast, easy to work with and most importantly, I didn't even have to look up where Terminal is. A shitload of apps were available at a click's distance, it never died on me and I didn't have to install any post-installation drivers. On the other hand, yes, it's a VM still, with "standard" emulated hardware, no fancy things and implementations whetsoever, so my experience might not be relevant but anyway, I gave it a go on one of my company's desktop stations (Dell Optiplex 745), where it (as well) installed flawlessly.
Oh, yes, Ubuntu's sound system seems a little bit uneasy on my VM (cracks and pops when OS starts up and plays that annoying "welcome" sound), but I ain't going to use it to play music:) so I could care less. In the end, it was (and is) a pleasant experience... with one NOTABLE exception: it doesn't recognize the emulated monitor. I don't know why, I'm not Linux savvy, I have no clue how to fix the issue, but in Display Options, the monitor appears as "Unknown" and it allows shitty resolutions (640*480, 800*600 and 13xx*768). That on a 24" Dell Monitor which supports a native 1920*1200 resolution. That's bad but not a show stopper.
You would be right in every way, especially about the political system, if you wouldn't have made an assumption. That assumption is that I am from US. And I am not. There are countries in this world where the political system is, well, as bad as it gets. And what's played on TV or shown on websites about it is even more nonsensical, because it's shallow, uninformative and plain dull. So I'll pass, thank you:)
Slashdot Mirror
I don't know if it can be genetically passed. After all, there was something that happened in utero so this might have a genetic impact. I'm no doctor, I couldn't say.
It's not nice because it hurts his parents and they might take my questions as intrusions in their lives. I know for a fact that this kid has problems, knowing the exact name of the condition (if it has one) won't make them happier, won't make the kid healthier and definitely won't make me smarter. So what's the point to ask? To me, the obvious is enough, I need not name it :)
Verbal aggression and physical aggression both have the same root and both have the same effects. Disregarding the effects of one leaves half of the problem unresolved.
I do agree there are worse things in life than bullying. But let's stick to the world seen from a teenager's perspective. They don't cope with an assholde boss. They will later, but not now. They also don't cope with aggressive drivers, not till they turn 16 (in US) or 18 or even 21 (in some countries). And here we don't talk about Facebook, we talk about dedicated school websites/areas, where the message target is your entire class/school, not a few friends you can block.
Now about that good-bye letter you mentioned. The Suicide rate because of such things amongst teens is surprisingly high. And whereas you can't help getting dumped sometimes, you can (or should be able to) do something against bullying and targeted verbal/physical aggression in schools. And by action I don't mean throw the offender in jail, but counsel the offender and at the same time silently remove the offending entry/post from the website. As for the seriousness of the offense and its implications, let me put an analogy together...
Let's say there's a corporate forum which all your co-workers access. And it's anonymous and unmoderated. Now I, covered by anonimity, go there and write "Shakrai has a small dick, finishes in 2 minutes and can't satisfy a woman ", you wouldn't like it. You could just go ahead and ignore my entry and even the forum altogether, but your co-workers won't. They will show each other this entry and some (most, from my experience) would assume it's true. And all of a sudden, you are going to be the lame hero of the company, the guy everyone makes fun of. People will cease to call you, you will feel isolated and so on; and when the poor soul who hasn't read my entry comes and sits next to you or talks to you, there's always going to be someone who will gladly (and viciously) point the uninformed guy to my entry. Gossip goes fast, gossip goes far. And before you know it, a large part of your life (that would be work environment) would shred to tiny pieces.
Now, you are entitled to sue my ass and get a large amount of money from my misdemeanor, but surprise!, you don't have anyone to sue, because Internet anonymity protects me, and the webmaster doesn't give a shit about your protests (forum outsourced to Vanuatu Islands, good luck reaching someone). OK, maybe you would find a solution, because as an adult you are resourceful, but what can you do as a 14-17 year old kid?
Finally, you say there are lots of help channels available. That's reactive thinking. You wait for the problem to happen and then attempt to fix it. How about being proactive for a change? Identify offenders, counsel THEM, remove the offending post. If cyber-bullies know that their entries are moderated and won't see the daylight if they are aggressive, they will cease doing it.
How about freedom of speech? Freedom of speech applies to identifiable people, to those who are ready to take the heat if they are proven as liars. Not to the so-called "anonymous cowards" (no pun intended) who hide behind the iron curtain of Internet to harm others, willingly or not. Therefore, if I could be identified in the above mentioned imaginary forum, then yes, that forum can be un-moderated and I would be held responsible for my actions.
Sounds like natural selection to me.
Oh wait, that wasn't the PC thing to say. I'm sorry, should I report to the Museum of Tolerance or skip that step and go straight to Tolerance Camp?
It doesn't sound like natural selection to you if the poor kid who hangs himself in a closet is yours.
:) People tried to bully me, but my sheer irony managed to turn their rather limited attempts against me, so most gave up. Exceptions were the (in)famous sports class guys, who used their punches where their wits were powerless. Classic story, yeah I know. Yes I managed to be fine. However, I might have more empathy in me for those who get bullied.
...And let me tell you another real-life story:
I know a couple who have a kid. Back when she was pregnanti woth this kid, she was involved in a car accident and the kid had some birth defects. Now I don't know exactly what happend or how the condition is called (it's not a nice thing to avidly ask them for details), but he can't walk properly, when talking he mumbles horribly (I don't understand a word he's saying, but his parents can; they learned the hard way) and will most likely never go out by himself, meet a girl and/or procreate. He can write but the letters look like crap and are very hard to decipher. He's 12 now.
Back when he was 8, his parents attempted to send him to a public school, and for about a week or two all was fine; but one day teachers found him tucked behind a garbage container; turns out some of his colleagues mocked him, prodded him, called him names and so on. Bullied him, in a word. And they finally dumped him behind that garbage container. He refused to eat or drink, his parents had to take him to the hospital, sedate him, feed him intravenously and pray he won't die. He eventually got better. By that I mean back to what is normal for him.
So what?, would you say. Natural Selection, he'd better be off dead. Okay, but he paints. He's a bloody ARTIST, my friend. He makes art like you or I can't, and he's good at it. I've seen him do it, it's amazing. Now he's no Picasso or anything and at some points his paintings are hard to understand (my guess is he sees the world very differently from us), but it's amazing nevertheless. His parents are not interested in showing his work, they're just glad this activity makes him feel better, but when I enter their house, the walls are literally covered in his drawings. So learn this, man: not all people who can't behave like us are bound to go silently in the night.
Now teens are living by their own standards. You're successful as a teen if you got the dough, the looks and the (sometimes chemically enhanced) sexual stamina. Whoever doesn't fit the pattern likely becomes a victim, no matter the size of his brain. When I was younger, I was respected during the IT classes/exams (because I could help all others) and at parties because I know a gazillion of jokes and I'm pretty good as an amateur stand-up comedian. That's it. I wasn't welcome to join the gang when they went to see movies or in clubs. I ain't good looking, don't have the dough and even if I'm okay in bed, I had to match first two prerequisites to be able to prove the third
When I was a kid, I had a classmate who was poor. I mean, dirt-poor. he only had 3 pairs of pants, and other kids noticed. One day, they threw some god damned substance on his pants (oily stuff, can't recall what it was) and the pants were ruined. He was so ashamed that later that evening his parents caught him attempting to commit suicide (he fucking hanged himself on the outside of the window). He managed to survive and later he earned a sponsored scholarship and became a doctor in the ER in a local hospital. He saved dozens of lifes. Hell, if you have a car crash near that town, he'd be the only one able to help you (small town, one hospital) and save your life. But hey, maybe you're right, maybe he oughta be dead...
You know, it's not always about the "rig
I'll tell you:
Let's say you are a nerd. You get some verbal slaps from a few dorks, and learn to get along with it in the end. That's life, it can'te be all roses and clear sky for everyone. But while you can grudgingly accept to be called names by a few guys, you would absolutely hate to hear the same broadcasted on the school's radio. Furthermore, you would hate it more to see such aggressive texts written on a website which everyone visits and makes fun of you.
Remember American Pie and the shame of having an embarassing movie about you posted on a website? Now imagine yourself as the guy who gets the shaft.
For weaker people, this might lead to psychological problems and ultimately suicide. And there's your problem right there.
...and to widen the question, why are you switching?
There must be a reason to switch, and that's exactly what doesn't appear in the article. What does Debian lack? What makes you want to switch? Is it because of some features, or maybe you got bored? One can't give you an advice based on just "I want something else".
I guess you meant "if you dumb down programming then dumb people will program too". And that would be the truth. However, it won't necesarily mean they will be successful in programming properly. Rev4 just makes it easier for Average Joes to write simple web apps and that's pretty much it. Furthermore, I challenge your suggestion that all people who can't learn a programming language are dumb. This implies that all jobs except developer jobs are taken by dumb people. Kind of extreme if you ask me.
I wasn't able to properly learn any programming language except (yeah, laugh it up!) Visual Basic foa Applications, which I used to develop some pretty complex stuff, and if you think this lack of ONE ability makes me dumb, then I'm sorry I am too dumb for you. But I challenge you to write some fairly successful novels or cook some widely successful dishes, or why not, learn all Asian languages. Should I consider you dumb for not being able to?
Okay, let's get back to programming. Most people who can't program properly using currently available programming language are stopped by the fact that they can't wrap their minds against the sharp edges and pointy ends of a programming language's syntax, which is still too close to a machine's restrictions, which are basically a set of EXACT instructions. No room to flow nicely, no room to act naturally. Programming languages are like a waterfall flowing in right angles all the way. It is not natural and therefore doesn't act natural. That's exactly why, in order to simulate a waterfall, wheather or just protein folding, there's a very large amount of computational power required and the results are generally unimpressive. Now, having a different sort of approach would open this otherwise weld shut door to a larger percent of the population, and tries to narrow the logical gap between humanity and computers.
Indeed your approach shows exactly why we need an easier to understand and use programming languages. For too long programmers have been sitting on a pedestal and "mortals" watched them in awe. A lot of programmers actually deserve to be watched in awe, and Rev4 will just filter down those who don't. If you fear this, then maybe, I'd say maybe you should look in the mirror and ask yourself if your pedestal was made of stone or mud in the first place.
Finally, there's an example from my line of work. I am creating and sending out reports and statistics as a large part of my job. When our group started using Oracle Business Intelligence (Oracle Discoverer) for reporting purposes, buddiesused to say "dude, you should reconsider doing what you're ding, 'cause this will bring you to your knees and make you useless"". It didn't. When we switched to CRM On Demand (which contains a simply great reporting engine) they again were saying the same thing. It didn't bring me down either. Simply because I'm better at what I'm doing than an application and most of the times I can generate the relevant reports with a greater speed. If you're good, it won't affect you. If you're just gathering bits and pieces to make some sort of web app as part of your daily jo, then yer, fear Rev4. But if you're e.g. programming industrial robots, you'd most likely never encounter Rev4 in your work domain. Ever.
Newest flat screens: now bumpy!
So... first they struggled to create touch Screens so they can eliminate buttons altogether, and now they struggle to implement buttons on touch screens? Wow, well thought out!
Although I agree that it would look cool and geeky, I do wonder what's wrong with buttons/keys featuring an OLED screen at the top. I know it wouldn't be such a versatile solution, but nevertheless it doesn't have to be implemented on a large scale.
Seems to me like it's, again, proof of concept rather that something useful in the long term.
Disclaimer: I am a smoker, so my option might be biased.
Back in the days, tobacco products manufacturers (the industry, that is) didn't mention that smoking is bad to your health. So they have been sued and lost. Now they have to warn you of that.
Now Apple is rejecting warranty because you are a smoker. They didn't mention that in their warranty, therefore a lawsuit would likely have them lose it as well.
The fact that deposits form inside a computer because of smoking is irrelevant. It may happen or it may not. I just checked my over 3 years laptop which I work on and smoke near, and guess what. It doesn't smell and it has no residue deposits inside of it (it's out of warranty anyway, so I removed the plastic cover and looked inside). It had some dust and that's it.
I've seen computers that were used in a cement factory; you wouldn't believe what was in them. But that's, according to warranty clauses, not the customer's fault; it's unfiltered airflow.
Smack some filters on the device, make them accessible and educate users to do a little cleaning every 3 months and everything would be fine.
Now related to actually working to repair a machine; if you don't use (or are not provided) gloves, then it's not customer's fault; it's your bloody employer's fault. I've seen cases that could potentially generate nasty cuts if you weren't careful (some of my scars stand as proof). There are small parts that can blow up in your face if you mishandle them (capacitors, old CRT Monitors). And so on. In the end, it's not a matter of "you're a smoker, so your warranty goes poof". It is a case of "you abused your machine by using it in environments which caused it to malfunction" - and not "because you smoke" but because the "harsh" environment caused this and that to stick to moving components (e.g. coolers) and cause the machine to cease functioning. Now that's a whole other thing.
The solution: iAndroid FTW!
You're wrong, nothing is heavier than that.
Jokes apart, the Internet doesn't have a weight attribute. When I see such articles, I remember that episode from "The IT Crowd":
"This is... the Internet!" (audience gasps) - it was just a box with a red LED blinking on it.
It's just people having no clue what the Internet is and trying to make it understandable by applying measurable attributes; or people trying to be funny. No atter the reason, they're unsuccessful.
Now all of you, please turn off your computers, iPhones and Blackberries, so that the Power Grid, GSM Array AND the Internet can lose some weight and live happily ever after... in the most amazing threesome we ever had the chance not to see.
It's 144 TB. :)
147456 GB of memory; that's 18342 times my machine's memory size.
To make the statement correct, they should have said "100,000 times as much as an average computer has". But then again, that's me being anal about nobody-cares-about kind of information
This whole thing proves that this world is big enough for everyone. Including total retards.
I just wonder how the hell did some of these people reach adulthood. A mistery that is deemed to remain unsolved.
One answer: Gaming. :)
OK, one more reason: 3D Work at home. I do that (as an amateur) and sometimes even my pretty fast machine takes hours at a time to render some scenes. I could as well send the file to RealityServer 3.0 and then render my scenes faster via a web browser, without having to wait hours and hours. That would be great for several reasons:
1. While I wait for my machine to render a scene, I do other things and more than often I ask myself what the hell was that thing that I awas trying to accomplish? With RealityServer, no more (long) interruptions.
2. Power consumption: a CPU at max thrust will eat more power and generate more heat. I'd rather not have it do that.
3. Higher efficiency. Hours of waiting equals lost productivity.
Useless technology? Maybe. But thjat's what they said about the train and the plane, back in the days. Time will tell. For now, new tech? Bring it on! The more, the merrier. Hey, at least we get to choose
Furthermore, complying to this "request" will wake up some other bonehead lawyer who will request Hitler to be removed as well, because he's dead.
History is history, so let the names be there and move on.
How would it be to have a history book saying "Emperor [name removed] lost to his enemies in the battle of Waterloo, which were emperor [name removed] and his allies, [name removed], [name removed] and of course, most importantly, [name removed]". Pffff...
So a Microsoft employee says something out the top of his head. In a normal discussion between me and you, this would be just an opinion, something along the lines of "I think that...". But change the speaker and all of a sudden it's along the lines of "BIG SECRET REVEALED!!!1111" kind of thing. Even worse, for most people it becomes one with the company's official PoV and this simple statement grows so much that the company must spit out a rebuttal via an official channel/spokesman. :)
We are living in a twisted, perverted world, where one can't express an opinion without being beheaded by both the press and the company he's working for. God help us all!
Well to be honest, I was expecting a GIANT LED display, like the ones used for outdoor advertising; something in the range of 15x10 feet or something. This one is huge in terms of big LEDs, nothing else.
If you are trying to go down to predict and model the individual, then yes, you are right. But work with large enough groups (like nations, for example) and you'd be amazed of the results.
A simple exercise: take last year's daily wake up time for an individual from China. It would most likely wildly vary in time, and you can't forecast when is he going to wake up tomorrow. You can guess that it might happen in the morning, based on a rough average, but can't be more precise than that. Now do the same for the entire Chinese People, and you'll most likely be able to forecast an average wake up time down to the very second. And be right.
Now you might ask yourself what good does that do and how does that apply to economy. Just think gas or cigarette taxes. They are being applied using the same principle. And having a better mathematical algorithm means only more money for whoever understands and applies the principle correctly.
You seem to run out of fingers very fast with this sort of approach. But again, maybe I am old and can't learn to use that many buttons. I have a mouse with 5 buttons, and I only use 4 of them; 18 buttons on a mouse with X functions each is just a proof of concept, nothing more. "We can do it!"-style.
Wait, I don't get it. Are there any other ways to have sex?
Now don't throw stones at me, please, but I'm a Windows guy. I never check for Linux distros to see what's new, I'm contempt using my Win-based boxes. But 2 days ago I was talking to a friend about Linux and stuff and felt the urge to see what's changed. It's been close to two years since I last played with any Linux distro except a heavily modified RHEL release which my company provides to appease its Linux community.
:) so I could care less. In the end, it was (and is) a pleasant experience... with one NOTABLE exception: it doesn't recognize the emulated monitor. I don't know why, I'm not Linux savvy, I have no clue how to fix the issue, but in Display Options, the monitor appears as "Unknown" and it allows shitty resolutions (640*480, 800*600 and 13xx*768). That on a 24" Dell Monitor which supports a native 1920*1200 resolution. That's bad but not a show stopper.
To my shame, I could only remember Ubuntu right then so I went to their website and downloaded 9.10; fired my VirtualBox installation, mounted the ISO and went on to create a virtual machine.
At first boot, I chose to start the live CD, looked around and started a HDD installation. It did some stuff then suddenly rebooted and went into a weird loop: the GUI was appearing for a few seconds, then disappeared, letting some text show up behind it, then went on again, ad nauseam. I forcefully restarted the machine and went on to attempt another install after reducing the amount of CPUs shown in the VM from 2 to 1 (dual-core goes bye-bye). To my surprise, that worked and the installation went on flawlessly.
Now I must say I am heavily impressed by what Ubuntu has become. It's fast, easy to work with and most importantly, I didn't even have to look up where Terminal is. A shitload of apps were available at a click's distance, it never died on me and I didn't have to install any post-installation drivers. On the other hand, yes, it's a VM still, with "standard" emulated hardware, no fancy things and implementations whetsoever, so my experience might not be relevant but anyway, I gave it a go on one of my company's desktop stations (Dell Optiplex 745), where it (as well) installed flawlessly.
Oh, yes, Ubuntu's sound system seems a little bit uneasy on my VM (cracks and pops when OS starts up and plays that annoying "welcome" sound), but I ain't going to use it to play music
You would be right in every way, especially about the political system, if you wouldn't have made an assumption. That assumption is that I am from US. And I am not. There are countries in this world where the political system is, well, as bad as it gets. And what's played on TV or shown on websites about it is even more nonsensical, because it's shallow, uninformative and plain dull. So I'll pass, thank you :)
So at our base we feel equally rewarded learning about Britney spears' baby as we do about our political system.
...Which are both nonsensical, stupid and unrewarding things to learn about and retain. Does that mean there's no escape from idiocy?
You know, it's not nice to take a picture of God with his pants unzipped... Those scientists should be ashamed of themselves!