I just deleted all of Propaganda because I needed some disk space. I knew I'd be able to download it when I wanted it again. Anyone know of a mirror site?
I think another problem is the long, long passages in the book explaining the Sumerian folklore. It was interesting but a real drag on the plot (while being essential for it). It's hard for me to see how that would either translate to film, or how a film could leave out that information.
I am lucky enough to live five miles from the meatspace MOBA, which is located in the basement of the Dedham Community Theater, just outside the restrooms. The art is a hoot, but the commentary that goes with it is what really makes it all special. If you find yourself in the Boston area, I strongly encourage you to pay a visit to the MOBA.
Thanks, but I RTF website. I did not RTF todo list, as someone else has pointed out. I understand the speed vs. transactions tradeoff and agree that sometimes an application requires one more than the other. If you would RMF posting, you would see I was simply pointing out that, IMHO and in many other people's HO, transactions are an essential part of any SQL server, let alone the best SQL server.
The main target is to make the best SQL server there is.
But MySQL has no transactions. Many folks wouldn't even classify MySQL as a database system. Now I know he said "SQL server", not "database system", but the two are almost synonymous.
I wish the interviewer had followed up on this point. I like the speed of MySQL, but I can't take it too seriously due to the lack of transactions.
So Christmas island is not a real country that belongs to a different non real country. I guess that would make it a meta-country.
I don't think so. Webster's New Collegiate sez: "... used with the name of a discipline to designate a new but related discipline designed to deal critically with the original one".
I remember poring over vols. 1 and 3 in college and grad school. Sometimes, I could grok the analysis but not the algorithm. I spent many hours untangling Knuth's unique style of presenting algorithms to come up with structured code that I could really understand. These are probably the densest books I've ever read. You can spend hours trying to work through a problem and understanding the five lines of solution in the back of the book.
Those are the only books from that time of my life (over twenty years ago) that I still find a need to consult every so often.
I wonder who brought up that dumb argument of Hoyle's -- McFadden or the journalist? The article (and perhaps McFadden) ignores the fact that evolution is guided by natural selection. Complex things like skeletons and brains do not require highly unprobable events in which gazillions of elementary particles glom together at the same instant in just the right way. There is a long sequence of incremental improvements, and the best improvements increase the odds of survival and the odds of the improvement being passed on. Other than the point about cells sometimes appearing to choose advantageous mutations, the article doesn't say why this quantum explanation is needed, or why it explains things better than natural selection. (E.g. another possible explanation of the cells choosing advantageous mutations is that they've evolved to do so.)
I disagree with your comments about VCs. The commonly quoted statistics are that of VC-backed companies, 20% tank, 40% survive but aren't stellar (with or without an IPO or acquisition), and 20% make up for the rest. I don't know that this is true, but it is consistent with my observations. My criterion for success is lower than a VC's, but being in a VC-backed company is definitely no guarantee of an outcome that will allow you to retire, buy a house, buy a car, or even buy a cup of coffee.
I do agree, however, with your last paragraph wholeheartedly.
The options will have value if your company goes public or is acquired by a public company. One of these things will happen if your company has a useful product and sufficient buzz. A useful product is not enough by itself; if it isn't known it won't matter. Competitors with better marketing will be better known and will get the bucks first.
So what you need to do is answer some questions the best you can:
Is the product going to be useful to someone? A product that is interesting to you as an engineer might be of no interest to a potential customer (or web surfer).
How is the company going to make money? Read the business plan. Does it make sense to you?
When do the first suits show up? You do, unfortunately, need some of them for your company to succeed. There are exceptions, but this is rare. Personally, I have found it difficult to interview sales and marketing guys and figure out if they're any good. In hindsight, however, the bad ones broadcast warning signs. (E.g. a sales VP who came out early in the life of the company and said he had no idea who he would be selling to. But he said it in that confident and smooth sales VP way and yes, he snowed me.)
You should definitely talk to as many people as you can within the company to decide whether you think they're going to succeed. DO NOT interview with just the techies. Insist on meeting the suits and reading the business plan.
Other things to watch out for:
Don't focus on the number of shares: it's the percentage of the company you own that will determine what you make on options. If your company is sold for $100,000,000 and you own 0.1% you get $100,000. It doesn't matter if you had 5 shares or 500,000 shares.
Try to figure out if an IPO or an acquisition is most likely (And don't just listen to what the CEO says.) In case of an acquisition you can get burned badly by liquidation preferences. You have to keep an eye on this as the rounds of funding come in -- it gets renegotiated each time. I let my CEO know that I'd hit the road if we ever got burdensome liquidation preferences. This made a huge difference in the cash I took away from my last company, since we were acquired at a price where the preferences almost mattered. (Liquidation preferences are goodies that go to VCs if the company is acquired for less than a certain price. First they get back their original investment; then they get their fractional share of the remainder. Employees get shagged rotten.)
Another thing to watch out for in case of acquisition: What is the acceleration schedule? If you joined this company today and they were acquired tomorrow, you would have vested in zero shares. Your options will still be worth something, but the payoff is still in the future. Sometimes there is acceleration by a certain number of months (18 is typical) which means your vesting schedule accelerates that much. In the scenario just described, with 18 month acceleration, you would immediately be able to cash in on 18 months worth of your options.
The same thing is happening in the real world. A couple of years ago, there were occasional news reports of apartment buildings in SF or Manhattan offering high speed access and attracting the young and wired in droves.
More recently I've met a number of people in their 30s who use the usual criteria for selecting a town to live in, (I'm in the Route 128 area), such as quality of schools, distance to work; but they are now adding availability of cable modem or DSL to that list.
I was in the Mediaone cable beta program three years ago, and I can't imagine going back to dialup. It really changes the way you do things, more because of the instant availability than the speed. My family (including my 6-year old daughter) turns to the net as a first resource for finding telephone numbers, movie listings, restaurant reviews and menus, etc.
Cable also enables telecommuting. The availability of cable along with the techie shortage encourages companies to be very tolerant of telecommuting. Of the numerous job offers I'm considering now, two are local and permit telecommuting 2-3 days/week. Another is out of state; I couldn't even consider working for them without cable.
If I had to move, cable modem availability would definitely be a prime consideration.
I thought the Oracle scene was one of the best in a preposterous movie.
This is as good a point as any to urge everyone to read "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind", by Julian Jaynes. This book talks explains what oracles really were (along with nearly everything else about human nature you've ever wondered about). Slow motion fight scenes you can get from The Six Million Dollar Man. Movies with great chase scenes and computer graphics are a dime a dozen. Reading this book is a mind-altering experience. (See the reviews at Amazon.)
Do yourself a favor and click the link to readers' discussion of the story (http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/talking_poin t/newsid_590000/590416.stm). Compared to the/. response there are more folks sympathetic to the proposal. What's really enjoyable however is the wit that is often lacking here. Two examples:
This is just awful; why doesn't Tony Blair just fit us with computer chips and be done with? Wendy, UK
I think that this is a bad idea: not because of personal liberty, but because it will remove the only job that the UK police can actually do! They are hopeless at catching murderers or burglars: what will they do when they don't have the "soft option" of motorists to pick on? Ian Lowe, Scotland, UK
This name change will generate hordes of clueless users that will come back to vendors asking "It says its Windows powered - How can I install Microsoft Office 97 on it?"
Oh, but you can. Well, sort of. For example the WinCE PowerPoint allowed you to edit the title of your presentation!
As far as I know, the only way to get sj.exe is as part of Symantec's VisualCafe. My normal installation procedure is to install VisualCafe, and then delete all the gunk except for sj and the dlls it needs.
I know there aren't a lot of Java fans in the/. readership, but I nominate sj.exe, Symantec's Java compiler. Sun's compiler, javac, is unbearably slow. sj is and always has been incredibly fast, and it was available from the very earliest days of Java (1.01 or 1.02). I think it bears some responsibility for Java's success.
What exactly is a web- or internet-enabled version of an office suite (either Star Office or Microsoft Office)? Does it mean a Java-like approach where pieces of the application are downloaded as needed? Or is it just installation of the standard software over the internet, maybe with a Netscape-like "smart update"?
If someone is going use unsecured PCs on cable modems to spawn these attacks, the cable providers are going to react quickly if the DOS victims put pressure on them. I've been a mediaone subscriber for three years. LANs set up using old versions of WinGate were not secure, out of the box. (Newer releases are supposed to be better in this regard.) Apparently a PC could be used by spammers to send floods of email that appeared to come from the mediaone customers. This resulted in draconian measures, such as all mediaone addresses being K-lined by the victims. Mediaone, which unofficially tolerated modem sharing, sent notice that service would be discontinued to customers who don't have security set up properly.
I would think that in a distributed DOS attack, as described in this article, it would be easy to identify the large cable modem providers (for example), and it should then be fairly easy to get the provider to get its customers in line.
Corel's chances for long-term success depend on their attention span. Maybe their attempt, three years ago, to do office applications in Java would have failed anyway, but they didn't give it a serious try. Let's hope they're more serious about Linux.
It isn't just us. How many times have you seen a realistic depiction of a lawyer? Do you see lawyers in movies making dramatic closing statements, threatening uncooperative witnesses and either chasing or being chased, or do you see the drudge work? What about doctors? How many times do you see them on the big screen dealing with yet another case of diaper rash or kidney stones? Face it, the truth about what we do (or any other job involving sitting in front of a computer, or most other jobs for that matter) is deeply, profoundly boring to just about everyone.
That said, I can't stand it when they show those 72-point fonts indicating that Sandra Bullock has broken into whatever, and it really bothers me when they show computers exploding instead of dumping core. Hey, at least they aren't showing spinning tape drives any longer.
Slashdot Mirror
I just deleted all of Propaganda because I needed some disk space. I knew I'd be able to download it when I wanted it again. Anyone know of a mirror site?
I think another problem is the long, long passages in the book explaining the Sumerian folklore. It was interesting but a real drag on the plot (while being essential for it). It's hard for me to see how that would either translate to film, or how a film could leave out that information.
I am lucky enough to live five miles from the meatspace MOBA, which is located in the basement of the Dedham Community Theater, just outside the restrooms. The art is a hoot, but the commentary that goes with it is what really makes it all special. If you find yourself in the Boston area, I strongly encourage you to pay a visit to the MOBA.
Thanks, but I RTF website. I did not RTF todo list, as someone else has pointed out. I understand the speed vs. transactions tradeoff and agree that sometimes an application requires one more than the other. If you would RMF posting, you would see I was simply pointing out that, IMHO and in many other people's HO, transactions are an essential part of any SQL server, let alone the best SQL server.
But MySQL has no transactions. Many folks wouldn't even classify MySQL as a database system. Now I know he said "SQL server", not "database system", but the two are almost synonymous.
I wish the interviewer had followed up on this point. I like the speed of MySQL, but I can't take it too seriously due to the lack of transactions.
You don't want that space between the last * and =.
I don't think so. Webster's New Collegiate sez: "... used with the name of a discipline to designate a new but related discipline designed to deal critically with the original one".
#14 is a big disappointment.
Those are the only books from that time of my life (over twenty years ago) that I still find a need to consult every so often.
I wonder who brought up that dumb argument of Hoyle's -- McFadden or the journalist? The article (and perhaps McFadden) ignores the fact that evolution is guided by natural selection. Complex things like skeletons and brains do not require highly unprobable events in which gazillions of elementary particles glom together at the same instant in just the right way. There is a long sequence of incremental improvements, and the best improvements increase the odds of survival and the odds of the improvement being passed on. Other than the point about cells sometimes appearing to choose advantageous mutations, the article doesn't say why this quantum explanation is needed, or why it explains things better than natural selection. (E.g. another possible explanation of the cells choosing advantageous mutations is that they've evolved to do so.)
- Fund a trip to the Moon out of pocket. (He who pays gets a window seat).
- Invite six twenty-somethings of diverse lifestyles, races, and sexual orientations to join the crew.
- Film and web-cam everything.
- Earn even more gazillions marketing this thing.
- Use the profits to fund "Out of the Real World II" -- the trip to Mars.
billg are you listening? This would do wonders for your PR.I do agree, however, with your last paragraph wholeheartedly.
So what you need to do is answer some questions the best you can:
- Is the product going to be useful to someone? A product that is interesting to you as an engineer might be of no interest to a potential customer (or web surfer).
- How is the company going to make money? Read the business plan. Does it make sense to you?
- When do the first suits show up? You do, unfortunately, need some of them for your company to succeed. There are exceptions, but this is rare. Personally, I have found it difficult to interview sales and marketing guys and figure out if they're any good. In hindsight, however, the bad ones broadcast warning signs. (E.g. a sales VP who came out early in the life of the company and said he had no idea who he would be selling to. But he said it in that confident and smooth sales VP way and yes, he snowed me.)
You should definitely talk to as many people as you can within the company to decide whether you think they're going to succeed. DO NOT interview with just the techies. Insist on meeting the suits and reading the business plan.Other things to watch out for:
More recently I've met a number of people in their 30s who use the usual criteria for selecting a town to live in, (I'm in the Route 128 area), such as quality of schools, distance to work; but they are now adding availability of cable modem or DSL to that list.
I was in the Mediaone cable beta program three years ago, and I can't imagine going back to dialup. It really changes the way you do things, more because of the instant availability than the speed. My family (including my 6-year old daughter) turns to the net as a first resource for finding telephone numbers, movie listings, restaurant reviews and menus, etc.
Cable also enables telecommuting. The availability of cable along with the techie shortage encourages companies to be very tolerant of telecommuting. Of the numerous job offers I'm considering now, two are local and permit telecommuting 2-3 days/week. Another is out of state; I couldn't even consider working for them without cable.
If I had to move, cable modem availability would definitely be a prime consideration.
This is as good a point as any to urge everyone to read "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind", by Julian Jaynes. This book talks explains what oracles really were (along with nearly everything else about human nature you've ever wondered about). Slow motion fight scenes you can get from The Six Million Dollar Man. Movies with great chase scenes and computer graphics are a dime a dozen. Reading this book is a mind-altering experience. (See the reviews at Amazon.)
This is just awful; why doesn't Tony Blair just fit us with computer chips and be done with?
Wendy, UK
I think that this is a bad idea: not because of personal liberty, but because it will remove the only job that the UK police can actually do! They are hopeless at catching murderers or burglars: what will they do when they don't have the "soft option" of motorists to pick on?
Ian Lowe, Scotland, UK
Oh, but you can. Well, sort of. For example the WinCE PowerPoint allowed you to edit the title of your presentation!
As far as I know, the only way to get sj.exe is as part of Symantec's VisualCafe. My normal installation procedure is to install VisualCafe, and then delete all the gunk except for sj and the dlls it needs.
Silly me: Java itself certainly qualifies.
I also second the nomination of Gnu emacs.
What exactly is a web- or internet-enabled version of an office suite (either Star Office or Microsoft Office)? Does it mean a Java-like approach where pieces of the application are downloaded as needed? Or is it just installation of the standard software over the internet, maybe with a Netscape-like "smart update"?
I would think that in a distributed DOS attack, as described in this article, it would be easy to identify the large cable modem providers (for example), and it should then be fairly easy to get the provider to get its customers in line.
Corel's chances for long-term success depend on their attention span. Maybe their attempt, three years ago, to do office applications in Java would have failed anyway, but they didn't give it a serious try. Let's hope they're more serious about Linux.
It's a joke.
That said, I can't stand it when they show those 72-point fonts indicating that Sandra Bullock has broken into whatever, and it really bothers me when they show computers exploding instead of dumping core. Hey, at least they aren't showing spinning tape drives any longer.