the people (who, reasonably, don't want to give up their freedoms without sufficient cause)
I'm not so sure about that, either. To many - maybe most - people, guarantees of civil liberty are a nuisance because they apply to everybody and serve only get in the way of persecuting unpopular people and groups. Conservatives in general are xenophobic as hell, and will gladly sacrifice their own liberty not only for "safety", but also simply to enable the oppression of people who look/speak/think/live differently than themselves. The Nazis had the Jews and the Republicans have gays, all to the same political purpose. They don't see that undermining the liberty of others diminishes their own, because they're confident that their conformity and sycophancy will protect them from ever being targeted by authority. The need to punish and persecute those who don't conform trumps any abstract love of liberty for most voters, as the Repubs understand so very well.
In science they have some of the most heavily funded university research programs that exist. Much of this isn't very visible, but maybe it's because they do real science rather than the publicity seeking Studies Of Blinding Obviousness (SOBO(TM)) which is what sadly passes for much of US funded research.
No knock on the Germans - they have a proud history of contribution to science and technology - but this is one of the silliest things I've heard in the past hour, and I've been reading Slashdot the whole time.
Note that he uses the word "crusade". That's exactly how Christian fundamentalists in the US -- including those inside and close to the Bush administration -- see the Iraq adventure. I'd give at least even odds that given a second term, Bush will do an encore on Iran and/or Syria as well.
It also puts the industry in a peculiar position if copy-protected CDs aren't selling as well as unprotected ones (are they?). Not only is there the revenue loss, but it undermines the RIAA argument that its members' sales are being hurt by rampant piracy. At the very least, it proves that reducing consumer options through crippled CDs hurts revenue even more.
Most people who make money like to build big gigantic houses.
People think that consumption on ever larger scales is going to make them feel happy and fulfilled, and when it doesn't, the solution is always more consumption. We're trained this way from birth, and our economy is based on it.
I remember reading an article in the Wall Street Journal several years ago about people who hit it big (or semi-big) during the dotcom bubble and immediately bought or built big, palatial houses with everything but the moat. It turned out that many of these people never felt comfortable in their new spreads. They were too big, too expensive (in time as well as money) to furnish and maintain, and left the inhabitants feeling isolated and like they were rattling around inside an overly large box.
This argument really only applies if you're determined to be dependent on external entities for maintenance and support over the long haul. The main point with Open Source is that the source is, umm... open. Hence the market for M&S is similarly open (and competitive), and you are free to decide whether to handle it internally or externally as you see fit. No forced upgrades or other common forms of extortion that arise from monopolistic control of code. Whether a big, stable company "backs" it may not be as material as you think, and to the extent that such a company comes to control the software, it could even be a liability in some cases.
That assumes that the proprietary stuff will do what you want.
Of course, much of the marketing effort behind the proprietary stuff is to convince you that what you want - or should want - is what they happen to have. At least with OSS you're free to modify it to your own needs and are not dependent on a single entity for maintenance and support...
Back in the mid-90s we were using PVM (on Solaris boxes) in sequence (DNA/protein) similarity search applications, among other things. It scaled very nicely, provided the target sequence database was distributed across the network also. Very easy to implement and not too difficult to administer, either.
Apparently there's a fire at the hosting company... Slashdot to the rescue!
Maybe it's time for the Powers That Be at Slashdot to consider mirroring some of the sites that they feature. It's gotten so that I don't even try to get through for the first 8 hours or so...
I don't believe that insurance companies are motivated to lower rates, but, rather, will use this technology to demonstrate what they would view as proof to raise rates on a large scale yet case-by-case basis.
Precisely. There will be a general rate increase, but then some drivers will be given "discounts" back to what they were paying previously, or just a little more.
I had an interesting experience with AAA. They suddenly raised my rate by 40%, and when I inquired about it my agent said that I was no longer getting a "discount" for having an excellent credit rating (which all of the companies now take into account). That was my first clue that my otherwise excellent credit rating was blemished by a reporting error. The error was quickly resolved and my rating restored, but AAA refused to adjust my insurance premium accordingly, saying that they only grab credit reports once a year.
Needless to say, I switched companies and saved a bundle on my auto insurance...
Ahh... But isn't this a "deceptively simple" problem that turns out to be much more complex on detailed analysis? By the same token, when a solution is unnecessarily complex, it's usually because of a failure to appreciate the underlying simplicity of the problem.
But these are mostly word games. If I say anything more I may have to slap myself...
Build some time into your schedule to talk to professors during their office hours, and make a habit of it.
One of my bigger regrets is that I didn't do more of this in college. At the time I thought I was smarter than them and could get all I needed from the books. It might be closer to the truth to say that I was shy, intimidated, and had problems with authority. Whatever the reasons, I missed out on a lot of opportunities that way.
don't hesitate to take advantage of any of the uni's health facilities, either.
That's worth repeating. Most universities have better health/athletic facilities than you'll ever have access to in the "real world". They're much more accessible, too; generally free and a short walk or bus ride away. And whatever your gender may be, they're good places to meet persons of the opposite (or same, if that's your persuasion) one...
In my limited experience, marketing books are usually not very useful.
Ditto for most business books I come across. They're usually written at about the 8th-grade level and chock full of pat anecdotes. But I think that the problem often is that the authors & publishers are trying to stretch a 2-page concept into book length, and so you end up with a product that's 99% filler.
FUD...pure and simple. Why don't you learn a little about Word?
You're at a disadvantage here, Gigantic1... Most of the OOo partisans here have already had a bellyfull of MSWord, and usually for a lot longer than than they've been using OOo. The reverse is hardly ever true.
Basically IMHO OOo is a substitute for Office in much the same way as a bullet to the head is a cure for headache.
Yet you continue to use it, and for editing Excel files, no less! Does your employer (or clients) require that you use OOo, but that all documents be maintained in MS Office formats?
I use OOo pretty frequently, and except for a few initial (and easily resolved) hassles with fonts I've had a pretty good experience with it. I see posts like this, so alien to my own experience, and I wonder whether they're real or if they came from somebody's sheet of "talking points"...
People enter the military for many reasons, as you say, but I suspect that the ideologically-driven ones are in the minority. For example, the military recruits very heavily in inner cities and other "depressed" environments simply because military service is a more attractive career option in areas where there are few others. On the other hand, the military lifestyle is likely to have a greater appeal to those who seek conformity and regimentation, something that is arguably more a "conservative" than a "liberal" trait. Still others may be motivated out of a sense of altruism, secure in the belief that their service will at least benefit their country and perhaps the world at large. We trust our government to employ the service and the lives so offered in a manner that respects the spirit in which it is given.
But regardless of the reasons that one signs up, it's pretty much a given that you're going to adjust your attitudes once you're there. It's a principle of psychology that we seek to minimize "cognitive dissonance", or the internal conflict between what we believe and what we do. More often than not, when we've chosen a course of action to which we feel committed, "what we do" inevitably triumphs and "what we believe" adjusts accordingly. That's a big reason why the military really doesn't want a draft; conscripts do not make a conscious choice to be there and thus are less likely to make the necessary adjustments in beliefs and attitudes, which are important for military discipline. Their conflict is between "what I believe" and "what I'm forced to do", which is a different animal entirely.
Slashdot Mirror
At first glance I thought I saw "guano" in there...
I'm not so sure about that, either. To many - maybe most - people, guarantees of civil liberty are a nuisance because they apply to everybody and serve only get in the way of persecuting unpopular people and groups. Conservatives in general are xenophobic as hell, and will gladly sacrifice their own liberty not only for "safety", but also simply to enable the oppression of people who look/speak/think/live differently than themselves. The Nazis had the Jews and the Republicans have gays, all to the same political purpose. They don't see that undermining the liberty of others diminishes their own, because they're confident that their conformity and sycophancy will protect them from ever being targeted by authority. The need to punish and persecute those who don't conform trumps any abstract love of liberty for most voters, as the Repubs understand so very well.
At least their control of God probably boosts your cat's chances of getting into Heaven...
No knock on the Germans - they have a proud history of contribution to science and technology - but this is one of the silliest things I've heard in the past hour, and I've been reading Slashdot the whole time.
Note that he uses the word "crusade". That's exactly how Christian fundamentalists in the US -- including those inside and close to the Bush administration -- see the Iraq adventure. I'd give at least even odds that given a second term, Bush will do an encore on Iran and/or Syria as well.
It also puts the industry in a peculiar position if copy-protected CDs aren't selling as well as unprotected ones (are they?). Not only is there the revenue loss, but it undermines the RIAA argument that its members' sales are being hurt by rampant piracy. At the very least, it proves that reducing consumer options through crippled CDs hurts revenue even more.
At the very least, we can be confident that no one is covering it up...
People think that consumption on ever larger scales is going to make them feel happy and fulfilled, and when it doesn't, the solution is always more consumption. We're trained this way from birth, and our economy is based on it.
I remember reading an article in the Wall Street Journal several years ago about people who hit it big (or semi-big) during the dotcom bubble and immediately bought or built big, palatial houses with everything but the moat. It turned out that many of these people never felt comfortable in their new spreads. They were too big, too expensive (in time as well as money) to furnish and maintain, and left the inhabitants feeling isolated and like they were rattling around inside an overly large box.
Knowing what your real needs are: priceless.
This argument really only applies if you're determined to be dependent on external entities for maintenance and support over the long haul. The main point with Open Source is that the source is, umm... open. Hence the market for M&S is similarly open (and competitive), and you are free to decide whether to handle it internally or externally as you see fit. No forced upgrades or other common forms of extortion that arise from monopolistic control of code. Whether a big, stable company "backs" it may not be as material as you think, and to the extent that such a company comes to control the software, it could even be a liability in some cases.
Of course, much of the marketing effort behind the proprietary stuff is to convince you that what you want - or should want - is what they happen to have. At least with OSS you're free to modify it to your own needs and are not dependent on a single entity for maintenance and support...
Back in the mid-90s we were using PVM (on Solaris boxes) in sequence (DNA/protein) similarity search applications, among other things. It scaled very nicely, provided the target sequence database was distributed across the network also. Very easy to implement and not too difficult to administer, either.
Maybe it's time for the Powers That Be at Slashdot to consider mirroring some of the sites that they feature. It's gotten so that I don't even try to get through for the first 8 hours or so...
Precisely. There will be a general rate increase, but then some drivers will be given "discounts" back to what they were paying previously, or just a little more.
I had an interesting experience with AAA. They suddenly raised my rate by 40%, and when I inquired about it my agent said that I was no longer getting a "discount" for having an excellent credit rating (which all of the companies now take into account). That was my first clue that my otherwise excellent credit rating was blemished by a reporting error. The error was quickly resolved and my rating restored, but AAA refused to adjust my insurance premium accordingly, saying that they only grab credit reports once a year.
Needless to say, I switched companies and saved a bundle on my auto insurance...
Those are words to live by in any context.
But these are mostly word games. If I say anything more I may have to slap myself...
One of my bigger regrets is that I didn't do more of this in college. At the time I thought I was smarter than them and could get all I needed from the books. It might be closer to the truth to say that I was shy, intimidated, and had problems with authority. Whatever the reasons, I missed out on a lot of opportunities that way.
That's worth repeating. Most universities have better health/athletic facilities than you'll ever have access to in the "real world". They're much more accessible, too; generally free and a short walk or bus ride away. And whatever your gender may be, they're good places to meet persons of the opposite (or same, if that's your persuasion) one...
And always remember: Your stuff owns you as much as you own it.
They're meaningless. The complexity of the solution is the complexity of the problem.
I'm not even sure you made that up!
Ditto for most business books I come across. They're usually written at about the 8th-grade level and chock full of pat anecdotes. But I think that the problem often is that the authors & publishers are trying to stretch a 2-page concept into book length, and so you end up with a product that's 99% filler.
You're at a disadvantage here, Gigantic1... Most of the OOo partisans here have already had a bellyfull of MSWord, and usually for a lot longer than than they've been using OOo. The reverse is hardly ever true.
Good point. Amidst all of the legal wrangling, I wonder why proposals like that haven't gotten more play?
Yet you continue to use it, and for editing Excel files, no less! Does your employer (or clients) require that you use OOo, but that all documents be maintained in MS Office formats?
I use OOo pretty frequently, and except for a few initial (and easily resolved) hassles with fonts I've had a pretty good experience with it. I see posts like this, so alien to my own experience, and I wonder whether they're real or if they came from somebody's sheet of "talking points"...
But regardless of the reasons that one signs up, it's pretty much a given that you're going to adjust your attitudes once you're there. It's a principle of psychology that we seek to minimize "cognitive dissonance", or the internal conflict between what we believe and what we do. More often than not, when we've chosen a course of action to which we feel committed, "what we do" inevitably triumphs and "what we believe" adjusts accordingly. That's a big reason why the military really doesn't want a draft; conscripts do not make a conscious choice to be there and thus are less likely to make the necessary adjustments in beliefs and attitudes, which are important for military discipline. Their conflict is between "what I believe" and "what I'm forced to do", which is a different animal entirely.