what better way to show American superiority than to fabricate a lie saying we were the first to reach the moon?
Mm-hmm. And if we didn't go, what better way for the Russians (who were watching the whole thing closely) to embarass the US than to demonstrate that it was all a fake?
Everybody makes exactly the arguments you're making, and the fact is, they're all wrong, they simply are.
Prove it.:) Anyway, I've been to the website, and I'm still not convinced.
And although being "in the zone" is fun, virtually all code written while "in the zone" sucks.
My best code is written while I'm in the 'zone' state. If that's good or bad is another topic.
than to code something quickly while high on caffeine, sugar, and lack of sleep,
Ahh, maybe that's the difference. My 'zone' does not rely on any of that, and doesn't last more than, say, 6 hours, because I usually don't stay at work longer than eight, and I have to have time to eat and read Slashdot.:)
Over the long term, two developers working in a pair will be at least as productive as they would be working alone
I doubt it, at least around here. For one thing, the developers here have wildly differing styles. I'm not saying we couldn't pair up for an hour to solve a problem. We can and we have, but pairing up all day, every day would be exceedingly painful and probably lead to a fistfight and a couple resignations.:)
We thought that, too. But you don't need everyone to understand every part of the project. What you do need is for more than one person to understand each part of the project.
I'm talking about really huge project, ie, tens of millions of dollars of funding, being built by a small number of people. "Well, you're understaffed!", I hear you cry. Well, yes, but that's life. The guy across from me wrote a major part of the code. I have neither the time, nor do I know enough math to understand what he's done. If I sat there and watched him code, the only contribution I could make is, "you forgot a semicolon there." Meanwhile, the stuff I'm expected to do isn't getting done.
No offense, but I hate trying to debug really tight code written by someone else who was deep in the zone.
Ah, but you haven't seen MY zone code.;) Seriously, my zone code isn't any different from my code written any other time [whether that's a good thing or not]; I just get more done.
If your pairing partner was with you when you started the train of thought, they wouldn't be interrupting you.
Yes, they will be. You don't understand. I get into this mode where it's like nothing exists but the code on the screen [or the paper], and I'm imagining the data flow in my head. I can't even get INTO that state with someone there, let alone if they are trying to talk to me.
Yes, but will you ask for it when you need it, or only several hours later when you've given up on figuring it out on your own?
If I figure it out on my own, I am more likely to remember it. If I get someone else to show me, I'll probably forget. YMMV.
By pairing with the newbies, you can mentor and monitor them Change pairs several time a day, insist that all code is written in pairs, and before long, you'll have a team of clueful people. Total team productivity will quickly rise.
Except in the Real World where you don't have enough developers for people to work in pairs all the time, and the project is too big for everyone to understand every part of it. Also, when I'm deep in "the zone", I don't want to be bothered by someone leaning over my shoulder. And when I'm following a very careful train of thought while trying to debug a once-in-a-while seg fault, I definitely don't want to be interrupted. If I want help, I'll go ask for it.
I was hoping, but didn't realistically expect that ~130 people would turn up, but the people that did were great to talk to.
Pfft, amateurs. This year's annual Discworld MUDmeet in London (well, Feltham) had well over 100 people. You people just need to get organized.:) I almost felt bad for the staff at the Feltham Wetherspoon's, but then I thought about how much money they made that weekend.
Starting with every ten floors is one of the best choices. Anything between every 8 floors and every 13 floors all require 19 drops.
It's fairly easy to show 10 is "optimal". The number of drops required is (100 / F) + (F - 1). Take the derivative, set equal to 0 and solve for F. But I've spent enough time on this already.:)
Egg Dropping 18. Drop from the 10th, 20th, 30th, etc. After it breaks, go back 9 floors and start dropping every floor. You use 18 drops if it can drop from the 98th or 99th floors.
I am not a huge anime fan. In fact, I think most of it is crap (Sturgeon's Law?), but having said that, I really like Cowboy Bebop. Why? Well...
The characters are distinct and have real personalities. Each one has a sad past that you gradually learn about through the series. By the end, I actually felt bad for Faye.
The premise is a little different as the series isn't about 1) mecha, 2) big-eyed teenage girls or 3) tentacle pr0n.
There are only 26 episodes, so it doesn't go on forever like some series I could mention *cough*DBZ*cough*.
While there is an underlying plot to the series, each episode is more-or-less self-contained; so if you miss an episode, you're not completely lost.
I don't speak Japanese and I don't really want to watch subtitles, so it's fortunate that the English dubbing really is quite good.
The music is very good. 'Waltz for Zizi', for example, is a very pretty song.
It is very artistic. The very first scene in the first episode and the very last scene of the last episode (to take two at random:)) are well done. There are some episodes as a whole that were very well done. 'Pierrot Le Fou' comes to mind. And finally...
It had Ein.:)
I could go on, but these are the biggest reasons I can think of right now.
For example, a meteorologist (weather person) quietly reported some flying disks about a month or two before the "big wave" hit.
There is also controversy about whether Kenneth Arnold's report (the first "big" story) triggered similar reports on the same day, or if they were independent. The timing is too close to accuratetly tell.
Arnold never reported flying disks. He said they were sort of boomerang-shaped, kind of like the stealth bomber. What he said was that they seemed to skip through the air like a disk skipping across water, and everyone got confused.
As chance would have it, I happen to know several people who have 'supernatural' abilities
Uh huh.
have been so sufficiently tormented and stunted for being different while growing up by ignorant and/or cruel people around them, that they instinctively cringe away from such mean-spirited (and most likely fixed) public challenges like Randi's; they would probably shrivel up and die if forced to stand on a stage facing a million eyes determined to see only what they want to see,
You don't have to stand on a stage. You don't have to face a million eyes. All they have to do is face Randi, one-on-one, in controlled circumstances, and bend one single spoon with their mind. Or divine the contents of the sealed envelope. Or predict the order of the cards. Or...
No. Only in the controlled experiment settings you choose to look at.
Mo. In all the properly controlled experiments. Randi is a magician. He knows how to fool people. He sets up the test so that the subject cannot cheat. Don't you find it a little bit suspicious that no one can ever make their 'powers' work under those circumstances?
Evolution is one theory that explains it, creation is another.
Except that "creation" isn't a theory. To be a theory, it has to make testable predictions, and it has to be falsifiable. Creationism fails on both counts.
Creation arguments are very well founded in evidence.
Only if you read creationist websites.
Let's look at one evolutionary assumption: prediction: Language began as simple grunts
Biological evolution has nothing to do with language.
Using these mutation rates, all women on the earth have a common ancestor around 6000 years ago. Shocked?
Wrong. The mitochondrial "Eve" lived somewhere around 200,000 years ago, according to archaeology.org. Shocked?
Ooh, here's a good evolutionary assumption: prediction: since the moon is millions of years old, there should be a thick layer of dust on it (after all, there is no wind or erosion for the dust to settle).
Biological evolution has nothing to do with the age of the moon. But anyway, the old chestnut about depth of moon dust has been debunked quite thoroughly.
Now (are you listening carefully? I'm about to destroy a common evolutionists misunderstanding of evolution in action) the one that had all white fur genes would have a much better chance of surviving in a snowy environment.
Wrong. Learn something about dominant and recessive traits. (Are you listening carefully?)
Just so you know, I've barely touched on the surface of overwhelming evidence for creation and overwhelming evidence for the complete irrational nature of evolution
However, you've proven beyond a shadow of a doubt one of two things: 1) that you get all your information from creationist tracts, and outdated ones at that or 2) you are a troll.
Sometimes it doesn't matter if you advertise your position. Active detective ranges are so much longer than passive detection ranges that sometimes it's possible to just ping like hell and hold the threat at standoff range until you are ready to kill them.
Almost every man in my entire extended family has served in the military, in just about every military action since WW1 (except the Persian Gulf -- I was too young by about 3 years). That flag is a symbol of what we've fought for since 1776. When you burn it you spit in our faces and stomp on our graves.
I think you need to ask those men in your family exactly WHAT they were fighting for. What they should have been fighting for is our freedom of expression, and that expression includes burning the flag if you see fit.
When you burn our flag, you revile the very "freedom" that you profess to value so highly.
Nope, just the opposite in fact; you are *exercising* that freedom.
Slashdot Mirror
I once snuck a tennis ball inside and tried to throw it to my buddy on the far side of the cylinder, but it didn't travel in a straight line.
:)
Yes it did. The problem was that YOU weren't traveling in a straight line.
what better way to show American superiority than to fabricate a lie saying we were the first to reach the moon?
Mm-hmm. And if we didn't go, what better way for the Russians (who were watching the whole thing closely) to embarass the US than to demonstrate that it was all a fake?
you can make up your own mind by checking out some of the sites listed below.
Here's another.
Everybody makes exactly the arguments you're making, and the fact is, they're all wrong, they simply are.
:) Anyway, I've been to the website, and I'm still not convinced.
:)
Prove it.
And although being "in the zone" is fun, virtually all code written while "in the zone" sucks.
My best code is written while I'm in the 'zone' state. If that's good or bad is another topic.
than to code something quickly while high on caffeine, sugar, and lack of sleep,
Ahh, maybe that's the difference. My 'zone' does not rely on any of that, and doesn't last more than, say, 6 hours, because I usually don't stay at work longer than eight, and I have to have time to eat and read Slashdot.
Over the long term, two developers working in a pair will be at least as productive as they would be working alone
:)
;) Seriously, my zone code isn't any different from my code written any other time [whether that's a good thing or not]; I just get more done.
I doubt it, at least around here. For one thing, the developers here have wildly differing styles. I'm not saying we couldn't pair up for an hour to solve a problem. We can and we have, but pairing up all day, every day would be exceedingly painful and probably lead to a fistfight and a couple resignations.
We thought that, too. But you don't need everyone to understand every part of the project. What you do need is for more than one person to understand each part of the project.
I'm talking about really huge project, ie, tens of millions of dollars of funding, being built by a small number of people. "Well, you're understaffed!", I hear you cry. Well, yes, but that's life. The guy across from me wrote a major part of the code. I have neither the time, nor do I know enough math to understand what he's done. If I sat there and watched him code, the only contribution I could make is, "you forgot a semicolon there." Meanwhile, the stuff I'm expected to do isn't getting done.
No offense, but I hate trying to debug really tight code written by someone else who was deep in the zone.
Ah, but you haven't seen MY zone code.
If your pairing partner was with you when you started the train of thought, they wouldn't be interrupting you.
Yes, they will be. You don't understand. I get into this mode where it's like nothing exists but the code on the screen [or the paper], and I'm imagining the data flow in my head. I can't even get INTO that state with someone there, let alone if they are trying to talk to me.
Yes, but will you ask for it when you need it, or only several hours later when you've given up on figuring it out on your own?
If I figure it out on my own, I am more likely to remember it. If I get someone else to show me, I'll probably forget. YMMV.
By pairing with the newbies, you can mentor and monitor them Change pairs several time a day, insist that all code is written in pairs, and before long, you'll have a team of clueful people. Total team productivity will quickly rise.
:)
Except in the Real World where you don't have enough developers for people to work in pairs all the time, and the project is too big for everyone to understand every part of it. Also, when I'm deep in "the zone", I don't want to be bothered by someone leaning over my shoulder. And when I'm following a very careful train of thought while trying to debug a once-in-a-while seg fault, I definitely don't want to be interrupted. If I want help, I'll go ask for it.
In other words, no thanks.
I was hoping, but didn't realistically expect that ~130 people would turn up, but the people that did were great to talk to.
:) I almost felt bad for the staff at the Feltham Wetherspoon's, but then I thought about how much money they made that weekend.
Pfft, amateurs. This year's annual Discworld MUDmeet in London (well, Feltham) had well over 100 people. You people just need to get organized.
Ah, I didn't quite get it.
:)
:)
But you're answer is still wrong.
You would need 19 drops.
Worst case is: 10th floor, 20th, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th, 70th, 80th, 90th, 100th (break #1), 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99 (break #2).
Starting with every ten floors is one of the best choices. Anything between every 8 floors and every 13 floors all require 19 drops.
It's fairly easy to show 10 is "optimal". The number of drops required is (100 / F) + (F - 1). Take the derivative, set equal to 0 and solve for F. But I've spent enough time on this already.
Egg Dropping
18. Drop from the 10th, 20th, 30th, etc. After it breaks, go back 9 floors and start dropping every floor. You use 18 drops if it can drop from the 98th or 99th floors.
Or you could just do a binary search.
ARe we going to get pictures Pluto and Neptune back?
Um, Voyager 2 passed Neptune in 1989 and took some nice pictures.
None of them are headed anywhere near Pluto.
See you space cowboy... (that's what it always says after each episode!)
:) Once it said "Easy Come, Easy Go".
Not always.
I am not a huge anime fan. In fact, I think most of it is crap (Sturgeon's Law?), but having said that, I really like Cowboy Bebop. Why? Well...
- The characters are distinct and have real personalities. Each one has a sad past that you gradually learn about through the series. By the end, I actually felt bad for Faye.
- The premise is a little different as the series isn't about 1) mecha, 2) big-eyed teenage girls or 3) tentacle pr0n.
- There are only 26 episodes, so it doesn't go on forever like some series I could mention *cough*DBZ*cough*.
- While there is an underlying plot to the series, each episode is more-or-less self-contained; so if you miss an episode, you're not completely lost.
- I don't speak Japanese and I don't really want to watch subtitles, so it's fortunate that the English dubbing really is quite good.
- The music is very good. 'Waltz for Zizi', for example, is a very pretty song.
- It is very artistic. The very first scene in the first episode and the very last scene of the last episode (to take two at random
:)) are well done. There are some episodes as a whole that were very well done. 'Pierrot Le Fou' comes to mind. And finally... - It had Ein.
:)
I could go on, but these are the biggest reasons I can think of right now.For example, a meteorologist (weather person) quietly reported some flying disks about a month or two before the "big wave" hit.
There is also controversy about whether Kenneth Arnold's report (the first "big" story) triggered similar reports on the same day, or if they were independent. The timing is too close to accuratetly tell.
Arnold never reported flying disks. He said they were sort of boomerang-shaped, kind of like the stealth bomber. What he said was that they seemed to skip through the air like a disk skipping across water, and everyone got confused.
As chance would have it, I happen to know several people who have 'supernatural' abilities
Uh huh.
have been so sufficiently tormented and stunted for being different while growing up by ignorant and/or cruel people around them, that they instinctively cringe away from such mean-spirited (and most likely fixed) public challenges like Randi's; they would probably shrivel up and die if forced to stand on a stage facing a million eyes determined to see only what they want to see,
You don't have to stand on a stage. You don't have to face a million eyes. All they have to do is face Randi, one-on-one, in controlled circumstances, and bend one single spoon with their mind. Or divine the contents of the sealed envelope. Or predict the order of the cards. Or...
No. Only in the controlled experiment settings you choose to look at.
Mo. In all the properly controlled experiments. Randi is a magician. He knows how to fool people. He sets up the test so that the subject cannot cheat. Don't you find it a little bit suspicious that no one can ever make their 'powers' work under those circumstances?
*I would much prefer a cohesive social policy that analyzed the cost of pollution etc etc, but you yankees love your Free Market(TM) */me rolls eyes*
I also love my V8 engine. VROOOOM!
If you drive 12,000 miles a year, at 20 miles/gallon, that's 600 gallons of oil or about 14.5 barrels
:-b
20 mpg isn't very good. Hell, a Corvette Z06 with 405 hp gets 28 mpg on the highway.
Evolution is one theory that explains it, creation is another.
Except that "creation" isn't a theory. To be a theory, it has to make testable predictions, and it has to be falsifiable. Creationism fails on both counts.
Creation arguments are very well founded in evidence.
Only if you read creationist websites.
Let's look at one evolutionary assumption:
prediction: Language began as simple grunts
Biological evolution has nothing to do with language.
Using these mutation rates, all women on the earth have a common ancestor around 6000 years ago. Shocked?
Wrong. The mitochondrial "Eve" lived somewhere around 200,000 years ago, according to archaeology.org. Shocked?
Ooh, here's a good evolutionary assumption:
prediction: since the moon is millions of years old, there should be a thick layer of dust on it (after all, there is no wind or erosion for the dust to settle).
Biological evolution has nothing to do with the age of the moon. But anyway, the old chestnut about depth of moon dust has been debunked quite thoroughly.
Now (are you listening carefully? I'm about to destroy a common evolutionists misunderstanding of evolution in action) the one that had all white fur genes would have a much better chance of surviving in a snowy environment.
Wrong. Learn something about dominant and recessive traits. (Are you listening carefully?)
Just so you know, I've barely touched on the surface of overwhelming evidence for creation and overwhelming evidence for the complete irrational nature of evolution
However, you've proven beyond a shadow of a doubt one of two things: 1) that you get all your information from creationist tracts, and outdated ones at that or 2) you are a troll.
Active sonar is only used in emergency situations
:)
Not entirely true.
Sometimes it doesn't matter if you advertise your position. Active detective ranges are so much longer than passive detection ranges that sometimes it's possible to just ping like hell and hold the threat at standoff range until you are ready to kill them.
For example, I spent about an hour this morning trying to get Real Player 8 to work under Slackware.
:)
In my experience, getting Real Player to work under any OS is a PITA.
Commodore 64 joysticks can do diagonal, but it doesn't seem to confuse the Atari's too much.
:)
Um. The Atari joysticks could do diagonal, it's just that the diagonal control was always the first thing to go, so most of the time it was broken.
If there is no God, there is no Moral Authority.
If that's true, then why aren't there rampaging mobs of atheists raping and pillaging their way across the country?
No reason to denounce the Holocaust.
Wrong. Any sane person thinks the Holocaust was an immeasurable atrocity. Which was caused by a devout believer in God, I might add.
No reason to denounce the Crusades.
If there is a God, then why should we denounce the Crusades, since they were done in His name?
I recommend a a little time in American History class.
I recommend a little time in the real world.
Almost every man in my entire extended family has served in the military, in just about every military action since WW1 (except the Persian Gulf -- I was too young by about 3 years). That flag is a symbol of what we've fought for since 1776. When you burn it you spit in our faces and stomp on our graves.
I think you need to ask those men in your family exactly WHAT they were fighting for. What they should have been fighting for is our freedom of expression, and that expression includes burning the flag if you see fit.
When you burn our flag, you revile the very "freedom" that you profess to value so highly.
Nope, just the opposite in fact; you are *exercising* that freedom.
Enough is enough. I am so tired of the "politically correct" bullshit that I could throw up.
So enforcing the Constitution is now "politically correct bullshit"? So much for America then.
The fact is this nation is a nation under God.
This is a nation. Whether it's under God is a matter of opinion, which the government should not be interfering with.