In strict fairness I have to agree with your Microsoft comment; however, I come down on the side of not chasing the money but chasing, instead, the love of programming and the heady pleasure of making something really complex and significant work.
In more than 16 years of doing MS programming and chasing the latest thing to keep ahead, I look back and wonder how many projects might still be in use if they were in Linux/Unix. Instead, the products died with their native OS. Further, once on the MS money train, the only alternative is to chase the newest thing to keep in place or move slightly ahead. In addition, I have seen many other proprietary toolsets come and go. In fact, some of the toolsets were simply created, it would seem, to capture customers who would need programmers for those toolsets in order to maintain the code. Then, finally, when the product is stable, it is time to migrate it to the new version at even greater cost. Lock-in is great, and only now do businesses recognize the risks it brings.
As for machine code, I agree that not too many need to master it. I have done my share of assembler in lots of environments and believe strongly in the importance of wrapping one's head around what is really happening. If you notice, buffer overflows are the most exploited weakness of modern applications. Once you debug a buffer overflow in assembler code, you remember full well how important it is to avoid them. On the other hand, if somebody really understands what is happening in the machine and OS then C and C++ are very efficient ways to program. And, Java, which keeps the executing machine relatively constant, is maybe the grail of programming. Even then, understanding what the virtual machine is doing with that Java statement is important in making efficient code.
I also agree he is somewhat removed from the majority of developers. But, the majority of developers are probably focused on the other aspects of development. That topic is best handled by this excerpt from "The Zen of Programming"
----- There was once a programmer who was attached to the court of the warlord of Wu. The warlord asked the programmer: "Which is easier to design: an accounting package or an operating system?"
"An operating system," replied the programmer. The warlord uttered an exclamation of disbelief. "Surely an accounting package is trivial next to the complexity of an operating system," he said. "Not so," said the programmer. "When designing an accounting package, the programmer operates as a mediator between people having different ideas: how it must operate, how its reports must appear, and how it must conform to tax laws. By contrast, an operating system is not limited by outward appearances. When designing an operating system, the programmer seeks the simplest harmony between machine and ideas. That is why an operating system is easier to design." The warlord of Wu nodded and smiled. "That is all good and well," he said, "but which is easier to debug?"
The programmer made no reply. -----
So, there you have it. The majority of developers create applications that require focus on the externals and present their own difficulties and challenges. Those challenges are not so much technical as people and business. The two challenges meet, though when the accounting package is killed by a proprietary product migration, and has to be redone (if there is money to redo it).
In truth, I find it hard to counsel new programmers because the world is changing so quickly. Having been burned repeatedly with proprietary lock-in and migrations, businesses now buy their applications from major vendors and change their processes and practicies to comply with the constraints of the software. I personally think that the resulting uniformity in methods will eventually stagnate the companies who do this. But, when you consider that corporations can only see a quarterly horizon, maybe that is the best that can be expected.
I wouldn't change a thing in what he said, and that is saying something!
I put it right up there with The Tao of Programming as a worthwhile resource for new programmers.
Actually, installing Mandriva 2007 on two Compaq laptops I had to use a small fan to keep the PC cool enough to avoid auto-shutdown while installing. After configuring the ACPI everything was fine and no troubles since. This is a real risk if the distro install code doesn't support the ACPI config in the laptop. A word to the wise, when you do your distro on a laptop, watch the temp and take action.
As an aside, I simply got a 2.5" drive and used an empty drive to do the linux install. That way I can on RARE occasions swap back to Windoze to do some 3D CAD work or Topo Maps. Of course, when I go back to Windows I need to wait half an hour or more for all the antivirus and patches to load before the box is useful.
"Everybody" gets tax software, so while they have you, they discount AV software too. So, just get in sync with the low cost and buy new every year. Renewals? Ha!
Maybe if you live in the tropics you would find the atmosphere saturated with water. OTOH the dew point is not always the same as the air temperature elsewhere. Now... if you get more water in the atmosphere it both raises the minimum night temperature. It raises it for two reasons; one is that it takes 1000 BTU per pound of water to condense it from the air and that is a lot to cool with radiation. So, the dew point at night declines only slowly. Second, water vapor is a greenhouse gas so the more there is the warmer the days and nights are. Combined, it makes things really toasty and muggy all over and melts ice caps.
End of science lecture
Re:Easier way to colonize the universe
on
Interstellar Ark
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· Score: 1
I would contend that the same problem exists if we send multigenerational ships. the onboard intelligence could certainly teach them what we knew, which is the best they would get from human teachers. Remeber, the proposed ark has been going for 700 years to get to a destination. That is 25 or 30 generations? How much insanity would an isolated population of humans travelling in a void accumulate? Isolated societies on this planet become pretty strange in a less than a few generations unless they are static agrarian groups. I would worry more about the intermediate generations going downhill than the problem of raising humans in some sort of controlled environment until they become capable of handling life themselves.
Easier way to colonize the universe
on
Interstellar Ark
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· Score: 3, Interesting
Travel over a period of 700 years with 1000 or so people introduces a massive risk in that we have no way to assure that the culture of such a small population in isolation could survive. If they did survive, how much has society changed in the past 700 years? With only one ship, all our eggs are in one basket, so to speak. Instead, it makes more sense to send small ships laden with thousands of freeze-dried gametes, thaw them out, and nurture the embryos to maturity.
The ship would leave with the sperm and eggs of many carefully selected individuals suitably freeze dried. The small ship would require much less energy and the cold of interstellar space would keep the embryos nicely preserved. Upon locating a suitable planet, the onboard intelligence would thaw and combine the gametes and voila - people. Managed by the computer and residing on the planet, the population would grow and by adolesence start to multiply. The accumulated knowlege of humanity would accompany them and they would use it as a means to get themselves started.
In fact, since the cargo is light, a mother ship could release one of 100 individual 1000 embryo capsules while passing apparently suitable worlds and continue on to others. That way, the survival of at least a few groups would be more likely.
Of course, the people already on the planet might not like the goings-on but that would be a problem in any case. The humans might populate their zoos, become slaves, become worshiped, or maybe we don't drop people on planets with really intelligent life. Humans seem to like to be at the top of their local pyramid. It is up to our sci-fi writers to explore and filter the possibilities and guide the implementaiton.
If each colony carries the information to construct and launch a ship, the universe would be ours rather quickly, even if only 10% of each generation of colonies survived.
One other advantage to this plan. The people would know whence they came, how they got there, and what their destiny was. Mystics and Philosophers would not be required in that gene pool. Of course, they might wonder where WE came from, but that is another problem.
You would be amazed how well Windows 3.1 runs with office applications and old printers like a LaserJet Series II. With a Pentium 166 it runs like greased lightning and with Celerons / AMD chips it is even faster. Memory requirements are so small that it runs on anything but can only use 32 meg. When they stopped support for 3.1 they issued a bunch of patches to Office, the Jet Engine, and other stuff for Y2K and with those it is quite useful. No USB but not needed for a light and fast machine. With modern hardware, Access is quite amazing with small 1 GB databases. Networking is a pain but I run it standalone as a desktop system. With a winsock driver it even does dialup with Gopher:-)
One of these days I will set it up with a flash disk (compact flash in a 2.5" drive adapter) so it has no moving parts. 1GB is an amazing amount of storage for Windows 3.1.
I currently keep a W2K box too with 32 bit applications. I only allow it on the LAN and not on the Internet and it does very well. I agree that it is worth keeping, probably considerably better than XP for a true legacy OS. I am not sure that there will be any major patches needed for W2K if you keep it off the web. Mostly it just runs along happily and will do so until lack of device support makes it unusable.
1. Dev completes their changes and makes a release including operational details as needed. 2. QA/Testing roll the package to their staging environment and complete their testing. Pass goto 3 fail goto 1 3. Configuration Management (usually part of QA) releases the package with installation instructions 4. IT follows the instructions and rolls the application to the live environment 5. QA tests the operation in live and reports the status for a go/no-go on the changes
DBAs should package their changes in the form of repeatable scripts that are used to move the code and data to Staging, and Live. That reduces variability. Most DBAs already know the impact of their actions so they can perform the moves as requested by QA.
Now, before you ready the tar and feathers, it is possible to plan orderly releases that follow that process and it produces near zero failures in production. QA's job is to be the interface between the development activity and the real world. They have the discipline and skills to follow processes and keep bad things from happening. But QA has to have the power to call the shots.
If you do this...
* Developers win because they no longer hold the bag for consequences of bad changes. * IT wins because they know precisely what is going on and they are empowered to fix or restore stuff because they know exactly how to install the code without breaking something. * Project managers who carefully orchestrate the whole process earn their keep. * Micromanagers and others who like to call for quick hit changes to cover up for disorder and disarray somehow find their habits have no place in the organization.
Customers will be much happier and willing to accept slower and more orderly propagation of changes when they realize that they get better quality and uptime. Most of the pressure on development comes from emergency recovery from avoidable errors rather than actual work to be completed. One could argue that if the time from a request to acceptable code is measured, the prcess saves time overall.
Just a switch on the floor of the passenger side and a beeper operable by said switch. Place spouse in passenger seat and drive somewhat faster than s/he would like. Voila!
In high school my junior year ('65) I built a system that displayed electromagnetic radiation from lightning strokes on a CRT. I had little money so built it from old TV and surplus parts. Three foot loop antennas oriented N-S and E-W picked up the signals and displayed them on a scope tube. The whole thing was vacuum tubes, I think around 8 or so. That was pretty cool but not all I wanted. The next year, I contacted IBM, who helped me with schematics of flip flops and other logic implemented with transistors (wow!) and I made a recorder that would write the signals on paper charts so I could correlate them with the next day's newspaper reports of distant storms. The recorders were constructed of old speakers with the cones removed but the voice coils still in place, recording pens on long arms that magnified the motion of the voice coil, and a coffee can driven by a clock radio movement that moved a sheet of paper under the pens every 12 hours. I ran it a whole year and tracked storms as far away as Lousiana from my house in Minnesota by the lightning they produced. It was pretty neat. I also tracked some tornadoes that I recognized by the almost continuous lightning they produced. It was lots of fun and I won some awards at the science fair.
It also got me a college scholarship to get into a physics program, which I wouldn't have gotten any other way. So, now you know how I came to be spending my Saturday afternoon typing into Slashdot.
Maybe we should just accept the impacts of global warming instead of trying to cover them up too early. It has taken several years for the policymakers to quit their denial phase and at least acknowlege a problem. If a quick hit can slow the warming for a while then everybody will be encouraged to continue profligate carbon consumption for another few years or a decade. Every delay we induce in the current impact will make the subsequent situation worse. Instead, let's start adapting now so we don't have as much disruption later. Ya know, maybe if we have to change our lives to adjust we will ask how we can actually reduce the problem. What a concept!
I will believe this when I hear that the oil companies have built enough new refinery capacity to process all this oil for the next 14 years. Let them put their money where their mouth is. If the oil companies actually believed that peak oil were not the case, they would be building capacity so they could sell all that they could pump. Instead, we hear about limited refinery capacity. Believe me, a refinery can make lots of money if there is lots of crude feeding it.
I hope they reveal all the facts behind their assertions in a traceable form since available capacity in oil fields is always held pretty close by the companies that own them. It sounds to me like propaganda since the US finally has reacted to the price shocks that precede peak oil and if we give up SUVs etc. it could really rain on the oil company parade. There is a lot of money to be made by the current glut/shortage mentality. Let the glut make people insensitive to the cost of their actions and then collect lots of money with a shortage from the inflexible deamand that results.
Also, read another view which challenges some of their assumptions.
The subject line comes from a mutual fund prospectus. It is required because people tend to believe that the past somehow helps predict the future. Much of the time, people who believe that are not disappointed. Looking back frequently does tell people what the future will be like. So much, that they are willing to invest in stocks that perform and quite a few of the people make money.
Now, about global warming. It is warmer now than it has been for a long time. Is anthromorphic CO2 causing it? Well, we have lots of good evidence that they are correlated. Ice cores, plantary studies, and lots of other measurements of the past indicate that. BUT... It is JUST A CORRELATION.
Just like cigarette smoking and lung cancer. A correlation. How can you really be sure that people who are genetically predisposed to get lung cancer are not also genetically predisposed to smoke? See? Accounts nicely for the data and requires no action on anybody's part to resolve the problem.
Just like the mutual fund disclaimer - ya gotta decide what you believe in order to take action. Let me put it this way, I stopped smoking.
The world faces a number of problems like global warming that require for their solution that mankind get its sh*t together. Some look at it as global control, one world government, and mostly somebody in their pocket stealing their money. They fear that more than the consequences of inaction. Meanwhile the problems fester, people die, and precious time is lost.
On the other hand, many of the same people are willing to surrender control of their lives in the name of security because they perceive that nobody is going to reach in their pocket to fight terrorism. Extremism to fight phantoms is OK because it doesn't cost them anything.
So - I drive a car that gets 35+ MPG and produces less CO2 than most. I keep my house temperature cool and dress warmly. I will be moving north as far as possible to minimize the personal consequences of human and political behavior which I cannot meaningfully change. My house will be insulated to minimize energy consumption for both heating ane eventually cooling. I guess you now know what I believe about global warming.
Bottom line is... you have to look at the facts presented, weigh those facts, and look for what you believe. Sadly, none of the problems humanity faces are simple and clear-cut. Instead, they are multivariate, complex, and downright hard. Abandoning science in favor of political expediency is a great way to avoid the problems until our children and grandchildren have to solve them. At least it won't cost us anything in action, money, or personal freedom.
Take some time with them. Patience is the key. Walk through their email with them. Show them the Paypal phishing scams from Eastern Europe, China, Russia, and Europe. Explain about the Russian Mafia paying for every infected PC. Show Mom how the Viagra stuff gets to her (and your daughter's) PC. Explain that bad people use automation to take over their PCs and if they don't take measures THEY will be sending those nasties all over the world. If you have turned on the firewall show them how many attacks they are getting. Trace one or two back for them and show them where they come from - like a neighbor's machine on the same cable subnet - or a cable system across the country. MAKE IT REAL for them.
Explain that a PC that is turned off is the only truly safe PC. If they want the convenience of going up to their PC and taking a quick look they need to log out and log in. Explain that when they log out it is much harder for those attacks you showed them to get through.
One of my clientelle, a retired kindergarten teacher was finally taught the necessary respect and caution when she asked me how to get rid of the penis enlargement spam. I traced a few for her, showed her how stuff like that happened, and showed her that everytime I had to clean up her machine it was likely because HER machine was sending the stuff. It has been nine months, now, and her machine is clean. She dutifully runs her Norton, Adaware, and Spybot. She avoids clicking emailed links. The most recent one was the Paypal scam. She smelled a rat, sent me a copy of the spam, and I showed her where the link really went, and how to see where it went. Now she is an active participant in protecting herself.
It is really hard at first to take the time and use up all that patience especially without coming off as condescending. Remember, none of this really makes sense at a gut level; evil seldom does. I have three similar cases among my friends, and all are now cautious and safe.
When I was young (like the range of 1958-62, when I was 9-13 years old) I saw what appeared to be an aurora display except that the display was entirely colored specks, like colored stars. I don't believe that aurora is capable of that, but I have always wondered if it were somehow a result of a high altitude, maybe exoatmospheric, nuclear blast that caused it. It was quite impressive and clearly visible. I have sought explanations for it on the web, but to no avail.
"blood-colored showers that fell sporadically across Louis's home state of Kerala in the summer of 2001"
but it never seems to reach a conclusion. Precisely why the sample has not been distributed to a variety of scientists continues to amaze me. I would think it would not take too long for a group of scientists to qualify or reject his hypothesis.
Panspermia is not a bad hypothesis but lack of rigor in evaluating it does little for its credibility.
Actually, how about sending the one time pad in the open and the real secret is where the encrypted message is? Steganography using a one-time pad comes to mind.
Devious, Huh!
Wait - BRB - the CIA is knocking on my door!!! Oh, NO!
I came across a used Compaq Evo and successfully installed Mandriva LE 2006 on it as my primary laptop. I agree with your assessment of linux for desktop use and would have it no other way. Check what wireless card you plan to use - be sure it is supported in your distro. Quite a few sites have good wireless on linux information so just be aware and check.
I use it primarily for Internet and documents (open office) and use wireless hotspots most anywhere without worry of all the nasty windoze exploits. In short, I love it.
Now for the bad news...
I have tried linux on a wide variety of laptops without success. Unless you KNOW the built-in wireless will work, avoid built-ins and get a card that works. Sound is annoyingly unsupported in some laptops, and forget about using the modem. My Evo does have a lucent winmodem with Linux support but I am not inclined to deal with the driver because I have a better solution anyway.
Instead, if you need a modem, I would recommend that you get a modem-router such as this one because you get a hardware firewall and a general modem usable with lots of systems.
So, my advice is to be very selective when you choose the laptop for linux, know what you are getting into, and if you get it right, you are in Nirvana.
I, for one will use dial-up. Video has no particular value to me but quick response and download time does.
I remember in the late '90s when the Internet was just getting going for real, bottlenecks were common and it was hard to saturate a dial-up line because sites were so slow. Prioritized video will return us to those wonderful days of yesteryear.
Maybe the market forces will work as people abandon their high speed last mile because why pay for speed you can't use?
I am actually close to starting on this house after several years of getting land, preparations, designing, and planning. The objective is to provide a comfortable house for the next 40-50 years at the lowest reasonable cost. This design differs considerably from most home design in which building code minimums or cost justifications based on current energy costs are used. Here are some of the assumptions that led to this design:
1. Due to far northern US location and global warming, one to two week power outages due to winter ice/snow and summer storms require preparation. 2. Energy costs will continue to rise to truly unreasonable levels during the design life of the house. 3. Media and entertainment costs will likely increase considerably as that portion of the economy grows and DRM takes over. 4. Location is too far away from civilization to assume that cable/DSL will be available - and that satellite internet will remain costly. 5. House exterior maintenance is a costly nuisance so long life products (metal roof, vinyl siding, clad windows) are justified.
1100 Square Feet with extensive glass on the southern exposure for heat/light EPA rated wood stove to release the stored solar energy stored in dead wood on my 5 acres. Propane backup for when I am unable to tend the stove. Super Insulation (6" foam) so I don't need to spend my whole life splitting wood.
12 volt DC lighting (mostly daylight color temperature fluorescent to maintain winter mental health) for economy while on grid and quiet battery (250 AH) operation when the power is down. Fans to run on inverters or 12VDC. Computers to run on inverter from 12 volts for uninterruptible power. Small engine / alternator for charging during outages. Line operated charger while on grid. Modest 120 VAC generator for large loads as intermittently required when power is down. Propane for cooking fuel.
12-volt DC powered stereo with in-wall speakers, large mp3 music library on flash, TV/DVD amd maybe satellite
56K modem with caching proxy for inexpensive internet connectivity (fiber is 800 feet away if I need and can justify cost for it)
Screened porch on the north side (cool), deck on the south (warm) to exploit the seasons --Far north location in forest to avoid excessive heat in the summer (expected to be more important with global warming)
Metal roof for low maintenance and possible freedom from satellite surveillance (the whole house has a tinfoil hat:-)
Greenhouse to provide a spaghetti garden (tomatoes, onions, peppers, salad greens) in the short growing season
Items still in consideration -
Buried copper tubing heat exchanger under the basement floor for use as a cold sink for air conditioning and refrigeration efficiency. Also could use for water cooled CPUs but hard to justify for that use alone. Also could be used as a warm sink for a heat pump.
Wood Chip/pellet/wood burner as a heat source for greenhouse.
The hair, while surprising, is not if you consider that it could just be a sensory organ. Note how evolution deprecated the critter's eyes since the hairs would probably be more effective in the 7500 foot depth where it lives. Once in a while it is nice to see that there are still things to be discovered.
If you have to get that working on more than a small population of PCs remember that most PCs now lack serial I/O and you will need to use a Serial/USB converter to get serial input. Those converters look like COM ports but generally land as COM5 and above.
For language, VB is the way to go; VB6 is easy if you have it, VB.NET 2005 is classy but probably a learning curve. Not sure whether VB.Net 2005 has a serial component; probably not... and writing your own is next to impossible when the hardware is virtualized via USB. If you have VB6 I would go with it.
Just my.02 worth... and may the force be with you.
Old programmers never die, they just lose their memory OLD PROGRAMMERS never die, they just byte it OLD PROGRAMMERS never die, they just decompile OLD PROGRAMMERS never die, they just get bugged with life OLD PROGRAMMERS never die, they just go to bits... Old programmers never die, they just branch to a new address. - Old programming wizards never die, they just recurse. Old PROGRAMMERS never die, they just can'tC as well.
Slashdot Mirror
In strict fairness I have to agree with your Microsoft comment; however, I come down on the side of not chasing the money but chasing, instead, the love of programming and the heady pleasure of making something really complex and significant work.
In more than 16 years of doing MS programming and chasing the latest thing to keep ahead, I look back and wonder how many projects might still be in use if they were in Linux/Unix. Instead, the products died with their native OS. Further, once on the MS money train, the only alternative is to chase the newest thing to keep in place or move slightly ahead. In addition, I have seen many other proprietary toolsets come and go. In fact, some of the toolsets were simply created, it would seem, to capture customers who would need programmers for those toolsets in order to maintain the code. Then, finally, when the product is stable, it is time to migrate it to the new version at even greater cost. Lock-in is great, and only now do businesses recognize the risks it brings.
As for machine code, I agree that not too many need to master it. I have done my share of assembler in lots of environments and believe strongly in the importance of wrapping one's head around what is really happening. If you notice, buffer overflows are the most exploited weakness of modern applications. Once you debug a buffer overflow in assembler code, you remember full well how important it is to avoid them. On the other hand, if somebody really understands what is happening in the machine and OS then C and C++ are very efficient ways to program. And, Java, which keeps the executing machine relatively constant, is maybe the grail of programming. Even then, understanding what the virtual machine is doing with that Java statement is important in making efficient code.
I also agree he is somewhat removed from the majority of developers. But, the majority of developers are probably focused on the other aspects of development. That topic is best handled by this excerpt from "The Zen of Programming"
-----
There was once a programmer who was attached to the court of the warlord of Wu. The warlord asked the programmer: "Which is easier to design: an accounting package or an operating system?"
"An operating system," replied the programmer.
The warlord uttered an exclamation of disbelief.
"Surely an accounting package is trivial next to the complexity of an operating system," he said.
"Not so," said the programmer. "When designing an accounting package, the programmer operates as a mediator between people having different ideas: how it must operate, how its reports must appear, and how it must conform to tax laws. By contrast, an operating system is not limited by outward appearances. When designing an operating system, the programmer seeks the simplest harmony between machine and ideas. That is why an operating system is easier to design."
The warlord of Wu nodded and smiled. "That is all good and well," he said, "but which is easier to debug?"
The programmer made no reply.
-----
So, there you have it. The majority of developers create applications that require focus on the externals and present their own difficulties and challenges. Those challenges are not so much technical as people and business. The two challenges meet, though when the accounting package is killed by a proprietary product migration, and has to be redone (if there is money to redo it).
In truth, I find it hard to counsel new programmers because the world is changing so quickly. Having been burned repeatedly with proprietary lock-in and migrations, businesses now buy their applications from major vendors and change their processes and practicies to comply with the constraints of the software. I personally think that the resulting uniformity in methods will eventually stagnate the companies who do this. But, when you consider that corporations can only see a quarterly horizon, maybe that is the best that can be expected.
I wouldn't change a thing in what he said, and that is saying something! I put it right up there with The Tao of Programming as a worthwhile resource for new programmers.
Actually, installing Mandriva 2007 on two Compaq laptops I had to use a small fan to keep the PC cool enough to avoid auto-shutdown while installing. After configuring the ACPI everything was fine and no troubles since. This is a real risk if the distro install code doesn't support the ACPI config in the laptop. A word to the wise, when you do your distro on a laptop, watch the temp and take action.
As an aside, I simply got a 2.5" drive and used an empty drive to do the linux install. That way I can on RARE occasions swap back to Windoze to do some 3D CAD work or Topo Maps. Of course, when I go back to Windows I need to wait half an hour or more for all the antivirus and patches to load before the box is useful.
"Everybody" gets tax software, so while they have you, they discount AV software too. So, just get in sync with the low cost and buy new every year. Renewals? Ha!
Maybe if you live in the tropics you would find the atmosphere saturated with water. OTOH the dew point is not always the same as the air temperature elsewhere. Now ... if you get more water in the atmosphere it both raises the minimum night temperature. It raises it for two reasons; one is that it takes 1000 BTU per pound of water to condense it from the air and that is a lot to cool with radiation. So, the dew point at night declines only slowly. Second, water vapor is a greenhouse gas so the more there is the warmer the days and nights are. Combined, it makes things really toasty and muggy all over and melts ice caps.
End of science lecture
I would contend that the same problem exists if we send multigenerational ships. the onboard intelligence could certainly teach them what we knew, which is the best they would get from human teachers. Remeber, the proposed ark has been going for 700 years to get to a destination. That is 25 or 30 generations? How much insanity would an isolated population of humans travelling in a void accumulate? Isolated societies on this planet become pretty strange in a less than a few generations unless they are static agrarian groups. I would worry more about the intermediate generations going downhill than the problem of raising humans in some sort of controlled environment until they become capable of handling life themselves.
Travel over a period of 700 years with 1000 or so people introduces a massive risk in that we have no way to assure that the culture of such a small population in isolation could survive. If they did survive, how much has society changed in the past 700 years? With only one ship, all our eggs are in one basket, so to speak. Instead, it makes more sense to send small ships laden with thousands of freeze-dried gametes, thaw them out, and nurture the embryos to maturity.
The ship would leave with the sperm and eggs of many carefully selected individuals suitably freeze dried. The small ship would require much less energy and the cold of interstellar space would keep the embryos nicely preserved. Upon locating a suitable planet, the onboard intelligence would thaw and combine the gametes and voila - people. Managed by the computer and residing on the planet, the population would grow and by adolesence start to multiply. The accumulated knowlege of humanity would accompany them and they would use it as a means to get themselves started.
In fact, since the cargo is light, a mother ship could release one of 100 individual 1000 embryo capsules while passing apparently suitable worlds and continue on to others. That way, the survival of at least a few groups would be more likely.
Of course, the people already on the planet might not like the goings-on but that would be a problem in any case. The humans might populate their zoos, become slaves, become worshiped, or maybe we don't drop people on planets with really intelligent life. Humans seem to like to be at the top of their local pyramid. It is up to our sci-fi writers to explore and filter the possibilities and guide the implementaiton.
If each colony carries the information to construct and launch a ship, the universe would be ours rather quickly, even if only 10% of each generation of colonies survived.
One other advantage to this plan. The people would know whence they came, how they got there, and what their destiny was. Mystics and Philosophers would not be required in that gene pool. Of course, they might wonder where WE came from, but that is another problem.
PC World commented on the issue in 2005
Also Bruce Schneier wrote about it back then.
I guess it takes a while for the US government and Microsoft, et al to take action on the news.
You would be amazed how well Windows 3.1 runs with office applications and old printers like a LaserJet Series II. With a Pentium 166 it runs like greased lightning and with Celerons / AMD chips it is even faster. Memory requirements are so small that it runs on anything but can only use 32 meg. When they stopped support for 3.1 they issued a bunch of patches to Office, the Jet Engine, and other stuff for Y2K and with those it is quite useful. No USB but not needed for a light and fast machine. With modern hardware, Access is quite amazing with small 1 GB databases. Networking is a pain but I run it standalone as a desktop system. With a winsock driver it even does dialup with Gopher :-)
One of these days I will set it up with a flash disk (compact flash in a 2.5" drive adapter) so it has no moving parts. 1GB is an amazing amount of storage for Windows 3.1.
I currently keep a W2K box too with 32 bit applications. I only allow it on the LAN and not on the Internet and it does very well. I agree that it is worth keeping, probably considerably better than XP for a true legacy OS. I am not sure that there will be any major patches needed for W2K if you keep it off the web. Mostly it just runs along happily and will do so until lack of device support makes it unusable.
So, how should one deploy changes?
...
1. Dev completes their changes and makes a release including operational details as needed.
2. QA/Testing roll the package to their staging environment and complete their testing. Pass goto 3 fail goto 1
3. Configuration Management (usually part of QA) releases the package with installation instructions
4. IT follows the instructions and rolls the application to the live environment
5. QA tests the operation in live and reports the status for a go/no-go on the changes
DBAs should package their changes in the form of repeatable scripts that are used to move the code and data to Staging, and Live. That reduces variability. Most DBAs already know the impact of their actions so they can perform the moves as requested by QA.
Now, before you ready the tar and feathers, it is possible to plan orderly releases that follow that process and it produces near zero failures in production. QA's job is to be the interface between the development activity and the real world. They have the discipline and skills to follow processes and keep bad things from happening. But QA has to have the power to call the shots.
If you do this
* Developers win because they no longer hold the bag for consequences of bad changes.
* IT wins because they know precisely what is going on and they are empowered to fix or restore stuff because they know exactly how to install the code without breaking something.
* Project managers who carefully orchestrate the whole process earn their keep.
* Micromanagers and others who like to call for quick hit changes to cover up for disorder and disarray somehow find their habits have no place in the organization.
Customers will be much happier and willing to accept slower and more orderly propagation of changes when they realize that they get better quality and uptime. Most of the pressure on development comes from emergency recovery from avoidable errors rather than actual work to be completed. One could argue that if the time from a request to acceptable code is measured, the prcess saves time overall.
Just a switch on the floor of the passenger side and a beeper operable by said switch. Place spouse in passenger seat and drive somewhat faster than s/he would like. Voila!
In high school my junior year ('65) I built a system that displayed electromagnetic radiation from lightning strokes on a CRT. I had little money so built it from old TV and surplus parts. Three foot loop antennas oriented N-S and E-W picked up the signals and displayed them on a scope tube. The whole thing was vacuum tubes, I think around 8 or so. That was pretty cool but not all I wanted. The next year, I contacted IBM, who helped me with schematics of flip flops and other logic implemented with transistors (wow!) and I made a recorder that would write the signals on paper charts so I could correlate them with the next day's newspaper reports of distant storms. The recorders were constructed of old speakers with the cones removed but the voice coils still in place, recording pens on long arms that magnified the motion of the voice coil, and a coffee can driven by a clock radio movement that moved a sheet of paper under the pens every 12 hours. I ran it a whole year and tracked storms as far away as Lousiana from my house in Minnesota by the lightning they produced. It was pretty neat. I also tracked some tornadoes that I recognized by the almost continuous lightning they produced. It was lots of fun and I won some awards at the science fair.
It also got me a college scholarship to get into a physics program, which I wouldn't have gotten any other way. So, now you know how I came to be spending my Saturday afternoon typing into Slashdot.
Maybe we should just accept the impacts of global warming instead of trying to cover them up too early. It has taken several years for the policymakers to quit their denial phase and at least acknowlege a problem. If a quick hit can slow the warming for a while then everybody will be encouraged to continue profligate carbon consumption for another few years or a decade. Every delay we induce in the current impact will make the subsequent situation worse. Instead, let's start adapting now so we don't have as much disruption later. Ya know, maybe if we have to change our lives to adjust we will ask how we can actually reduce the problem. What a concept!
I will believe this when I hear that the oil companies have built enough new refinery capacity to process all this oil for the next 14 years. Let them put their money where their mouth is. If the oil companies actually believed that peak oil were not the case, they would be building capacity so they could sell all that they could pump. Instead, we hear about limited refinery capacity. Believe me, a refinery can make lots of money if there is lots of crude feeding it. I hope they reveal all the facts behind their assertions in a traceable form since available capacity in oil fields is always held pretty close by the companies that own them. It sounds to me like propaganda since the US finally has reacted to the price shocks that precede peak oil and if we give up SUVs etc. it could really rain on the oil company parade. There is a lot of money to be made by the current glut/shortage mentality. Let the glut make people insensitive to the cost of their actions and then collect lots of money with a shortage from the inflexible deamand that results. Also, read another view which challenges some of their assumptions.
The subject line comes from a mutual fund prospectus. It is required because people tend to believe that the past somehow helps predict the future. Much of the time, people who believe that are not disappointed. Looking back frequently does tell people what the future will be like. So much, that they are willing to invest in stocks that perform and quite a few of the people make money.
... It is JUST A CORRELATION.
... you have to look at the facts presented, weigh those facts, and look for what you believe. Sadly, none of the problems humanity faces are simple and clear-cut. Instead, they are multivariate, complex, and downright hard. Abandoning science in favor of political expediency is a great way to avoid the problems until our children and grandchildren have to solve them. At least it won't cost us anything in action, money, or personal freedom.
Now, about global warming. It is warmer now than it has been for a long time. Is anthromorphic CO2 causing it? Well, we have lots of good evidence that they are correlated. Ice cores, plantary studies, and lots of other measurements of the past indicate that. BUT
Just like cigarette smoking and lung cancer. A correlation. How can you really be sure that people who are genetically predisposed to get lung cancer are not also genetically predisposed to smoke? See? Accounts nicely for the data and requires no action on anybody's part to resolve the problem.
Just like the mutual fund disclaimer - ya gotta decide what you believe in order to take action. Let me put it this way, I stopped smoking.
The world faces a number of problems like global warming that require for their solution that mankind get its sh*t together. Some look at it as global control, one world government, and mostly somebody in their pocket stealing their money. They fear that more than the consequences of inaction. Meanwhile the problems fester, people die, and precious time is lost.
On the other hand, many of the same people are willing to surrender control of their lives in the name of security because they perceive that nobody is going to reach in their pocket to fight terrorism. Extremism to fight phantoms is OK because it doesn't cost them anything.
So - I drive a car that gets 35+ MPG and produces less CO2 than most. I keep my house temperature cool and dress warmly. I will be moving north as far as possible to minimize the personal consequences of human and political behavior which I cannot meaningfully change. My house will be insulated to minimize energy consumption for both heating ane eventually cooling. I guess you now know what I believe about global warming.
Bottom line is
Take some time with them. Patience is the key. Walk through their email with them. Show them the Paypal phishing scams from Eastern Europe, China, Russia, and Europe. Explain about the Russian Mafia paying for every infected PC. Show Mom how the Viagra stuff gets to her (and your daughter's) PC. Explain that bad people use automation to take over their PCs and if they don't take measures THEY will be sending those nasties all over the world. If you have turned on the firewall show them how many attacks they are getting. Trace one or two back for them and show them where they come from - like a neighbor's machine on the same cable subnet - or a cable system across the country. MAKE IT REAL for them.
Explain that a PC that is turned off is the only truly safe PC. If they want the convenience of going up to their PC and taking a quick look they need to log out and log in. Explain that when they log out it is much harder for those attacks you showed them to get through.
One of my clientelle, a retired kindergarten teacher was finally taught the necessary respect and caution when she asked me how to get rid of the penis enlargement spam. I traced a few for her, showed her how stuff like that happened, and showed her that everytime I had to clean up her machine it was likely because HER machine was sending the stuff. It has been nine months, now, and her machine is clean. She dutifully runs her Norton, Adaware, and Spybot. She avoids clicking emailed links. The most recent one was the Paypal scam. She smelled a rat, sent me a copy of the spam, and I showed her where the link really went, and how to see where it went. Now she is an active participant in protecting herself.
It is really hard at first to take the time and use up all that patience especially without coming off as condescending. Remember, none of this really makes sense at a gut level; evil seldom does. I have three similar cases among my friends, and all are now cautious and safe.
When I was young (like the range of 1958-62, when I was 9-13 years old) I saw what appeared to be an aurora display except that the display was entirely colored specks, like colored stars. I don't believe that aurora is capable of that, but I have always wondered if it were somehow a result of a high altitude, maybe exoatmospheric, nuclear blast that caused it. It was quite impressive and clearly visible. I have sought explanations for it on the web, but to no avail.
This story has been surfacing periodically since
"blood-colored showers that fell sporadically across Louis's home state of Kerala in the summer of 2001"
but it never seems to reach a conclusion. Precisely why the sample has not been distributed to a variety of scientists continues to amaze me. I would think it would not take too long for a group of scientists to qualify or reject his hypothesis.
Panspermia is not a bad hypothesis but lack of rigor in evaluating it does little for its credibility.
Actually, how about sending the one time pad in the open and the real secret is where the encrypted message is? Steganography using a one-time pad comes to mind.
Devious, Huh!
Wait - BRB - the CIA is knocking on my door!!! Oh, NO!
I came across a used Compaq Evo and successfully installed Mandriva LE 2006 on it as my primary laptop. I agree with your assessment of linux for desktop use and would have it no other way. Check what wireless card you plan to use - be sure it is supported in your distro. Quite a few sites have good wireless on linux information so just be aware and check.
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I use it primarily for Internet and documents (open office) and use wireless hotspots most anywhere without worry of all the nasty windoze exploits. In short, I love it.
Now for the bad news
I have tried linux on a wide variety of laptops without success. Unless you KNOW the built-in wireless will work, avoid built-ins and get a card that works. Sound is annoyingly unsupported in some laptops, and forget about using the modem. My Evo does have a lucent winmodem with Linux support but I am not inclined to deal with the driver because I have a better solution anyway.
Instead, if you need a modem, I would recommend that you get a modem-router such as this one
because you get a hardware firewall and a general modem usable with lots of systems.
So, my advice is to be very selective when you choose the laptop for linux, know what you are getting into, and if you get it right, you are in Nirvana.
I, for one will use dial-up. Video has no particular value to me but quick response and download time does.
I remember in the late '90s when the Internet was just getting going for real, bottlenecks were common and it was hard to saturate a dial-up line because sites were so slow. Prioritized video will return us to those wonderful days of yesteryear.
Maybe the market forces will work as people abandon their high speed last mile because why pay for speed you can't use?
I am actually close to starting on this house after several years of getting land, preparations, designing, and planning. The objective is to provide a comfortable house for the next 40-50 years at the lowest reasonable cost. This design differs considerably from most home design in which building code minimums or cost justifications based on current energy costs are used. Here are some of the assumptions that led to this design:
:-)
1. Due to far northern US location and global warming, one to two week power outages due to winter ice/snow and summer storms require preparation.
2. Energy costs will continue to rise to truly unreasonable levels during the design life of the house.
3. Media and entertainment costs will likely increase considerably as that portion of the economy grows and DRM takes over.
4. Location is too far away from civilization to assume that cable/DSL will be available - and that satellite internet will remain costly.
5. House exterior maintenance is a costly nuisance so long life products (metal roof, vinyl siding, clad windows) are justified.
1100 Square Feet with extensive glass on the southern exposure for heat/light
EPA rated wood stove to release the stored solar energy stored in dead wood on my 5 acres. Propane backup for when I am unable to tend the stove. Super Insulation (6" foam) so I don't need to spend my whole life splitting wood.
2 bedrooms, 1 computer room, LR, Kitchen, Utility Room, basement
12 volt DC lighting (mostly daylight color temperature fluorescent to maintain winter mental health) for economy while on grid and quiet battery (250 AH) operation when the power is down. Fans to run on inverters or 12VDC. Computers to run on inverter from 12 volts for uninterruptible power. Small engine / alternator for charging during outages. Line operated charger while on grid. Modest 120 VAC generator for large loads as intermittently required when power is down. Propane for cooking fuel.
12-volt DC powered stereo with in-wall speakers, large mp3 music library on flash, TV/DVD amd maybe satellite
56K modem with caching proxy for inexpensive internet connectivity (fiber is 800 feet away if I need and can justify cost for it)
Screened porch on the north side (cool), deck on the south (warm) to exploit the seasons --Far north location in forest to avoid excessive heat in the summer (expected to be more important with global warming)
Metal roof for low maintenance and possible freedom from satellite surveillance (the whole house has a tinfoil hat
Greenhouse to provide a spaghetti garden (tomatoes, onions, peppers, salad greens) in the short growing season
Items still in consideration -
Buried copper tubing heat exchanger under the basement floor for use as a cold sink for air conditioning and refrigeration efficiency. Also could use for water cooled CPUs but hard to justify for that use alone. Also could be used as a warm sink for a heat pump.
Wood Chip/pellet/wood burner as a heat source for greenhouse.
The hair, while surprising, is not if you consider that it could just be a sensory organ. Note how evolution deprecated the critter's eyes since the hairs would probably be more effective in the 7500 foot depth where it lives. Once in a while it is nice to see that there are still things to be discovered.
If you have to get that working on more than a small population of PCs remember that most PCs now lack serial I/O and you will need to use a Serial/USB converter to get serial input. Those converters look like COM ports but generally land as COM5 and above.
.NET 2005 is classy but probably a learning curve. Not sure whether VB .Net 2005 has a serial component; probably not ... and writing your own is next to impossible when the hardware is virtualized via USB. If you have VB6 I would go with it.
.02 worth ... and may the force be with you.
For language, VB is the way to go; VB6 is easy if you have it, VB
Just my
From Google:
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Old programmers never die, they just lose their memory
OLD PROGRAMMERS never die, they just byte it
OLD PROGRAMMERS never die, they just decompile
OLD PROGRAMMERS never die, they just get bugged with life
OLD PROGRAMMERS never die, they just go to bits
Old programmers never die, they just branch to a new address. -
Old programming wizards never die, they just recurse.
Old PROGRAMMERS never die, they just can'tC as well.