I could be remembering this wrong, but didn't some old bbses let you type in a code for the files you wanted so you could batch z-modem them when you were done choosing? And didn't some of these charge a subscription fee (or at least a ratio:^P)?
I don't know. They're wearing me down, bit by bit. This sort of thing leaves me dazed. Too many more like this and I'm just going to jack out.
I've been looking for a good link with that stat for a long time. Many quote the stat as "10 times better than the worst programmer, but I think the point is valid either way. One site (it may have even been a.mil!) said the gap was as high as 22-1 and that the worst programmers in an organization could actually be expected to have negative productivity (and I think we all know one of them).
Another bit I came across in my search was that despite this productivity gap, the best programmer is only paid 1.2x what the worst programmer gets. This means that there is a huge opportunity to go out and buy great talent, but organizations refuse to do it. Instead, they try too woo the best with ergonomic chairs, free soda and ping-pong tables. This ABC (Anything But Comp) style of management seems to be growing more and more prevelant in the workplace. It may be (a) taught in business school (b) a result of tax codes or (c) an assumption by management that working people value symbolism as much as they do. I really don't know which one.
Whatever the reason, it is deeply strange to see that corporate culture has so embraced the "No Piecework!" cry of Industrial Revolution labor movements.
Yes, to the first two, but the third is most important. Goatse trolls get modded down to where I can't see them (except that Iranian thing below), but no number of mod points can make a bland post Interesting, Insightful, etc. I just don't see the people who make these comments regularly paying money to make themselves heard. Why bother? Start a newsgroup or something.
I strongly suspect that those who stuck with the site after going to a pay model would be the riders. People who come because they feel it's important "to stay up on the issues". People who read Time magazine. Information consumers consume information, they don't produce it -- "'+5 Interesting' to the first quote from the NY Times Circuits Section".
No troll. The idea of some "minimum number" is I guess what I was wondering about. I didn't mean a single transistor. Only that 100 or 1000 of them -- or whatever the number -- is really all that appears to be needed for useful application. While I'm sure research is needed on how to assemble even two of these things on a chip, it just seemed to me that the performance characteristics of the invention meant that manufacture could be simplified more than the parent post implied.
As I mentioned, though, I'm not entirely sure if these things actually are the fabled 0-time quantum chips or if they're just really small, or what they are. Sorry to be unclear.
Okay, this may sound like a troll, but it's honest ignorance.
Isn't one of the huge advantages of quantum computing supposed to be to zero or near zero switching time? And if that's the case, couldn't you just take a couple of these things and architect around "as if parallel" rather than today's "as if serial"?
IANACD, and my knowledge of chip design could probably fit on one of these quantum transistors, but my understanding is that the high transistor count of today's processors goes to supporting parallelism rather than preserving state. Insofar as that is true, a chip cycling a million times faster could use one-millionth of the transistors to achieve the same performance -- you'd wind up with the same number of logical operations per second. Manufacturing problem...if not solved, enormously simplified.
BTW, I'd love it if someone could post some "intermediate level" links on quantum chips. Between the gee whiz popular press and page-length equations, there has to be some good stuff.
My whole life I've scoffed at those simpletons who can't tell the difference between science and science fiction. Now I'm one of them.
Too true! Unfortunately, the amount of interest generated (even negative) is a sign of their success rather than failure.
It's amazing how many people seem to think that generating customer goodwill is more important than generating sales. Take this absurd quote from the end of the article:
"The majority of people don't respond to direct-mail pieces and telemarketing," Cheng [interactive news editor at Adweek] said. "All this with the pop-up windows will eventually go away."
Huh?
Did "direct mail pieces and telemarketing" "eventually go away"?
Yep, but this one is worse. At least episode 1 could give us a new cast, but Ford isn't getting any younger. I'm picturing a fat old mess of an Indiana Jones, done up in a tuxedo in some Las Vegas dressing room... Gimme a stage, where this bull can rage...
I have big fears this will turn out badly.
Anyway, here are my top 10 picks for the title of the new movie:
10. Indiana Jones and the Quest for Fiber
9. Indiana Jones and Siegfried and Roy
8. Indiana Jones Has Fallen and He Can't Get Up
7. Indiana Jones and the Planet of the Apes
6. Indiana Jones and the Tomb of Indiana Jones
5. Indiana Jones and the Fat Paycheck
4. Indiana Jones and the Stone of Kidneys
3. Indiana Jones and the Kids Today, Oy! They Call That Music? What.
When I first tried linux, I was disappointed by the feeble, crufty gui. Some nice bits, but windows resizing on you, etc. and I lost interest.
Later I tried again on a headless PIII laptop over ssh and was forced to use the command line. After a few days of getting used to it, I couldn't understand how I'd ever lived without it. I thought all the cli guys were just blowing smoke - some kind of geek machismo. But no. Everything is right there. One by one, my headless server is replacing the tasks of my usual Windows box. Not because it's free, not because it's more stable, not because it's not Windows... but because the command line makes it better.
So thanks from me, too, SJ. Can I bill you at $0.37 per mouse mile?
Near as I can remember, during WW 2 the US made what they called "Liberty" ships for transport duty. The hulls were made out of cement because metal was in short supply.
There's one such ship, the SS Selma (made for WW I) sitting in the harbor in Galveston Bay. At the bottom. Not being a big believer in concrete ships, I was always slightly amused by this. Apparently, though, it made it home after cracking when running aground and was deliberately scuttled in the harbor.
Just what it says in the review above: you try to guess what they're willing to pay and build a package around this. Then lighten that up and call it the low end. Then pile more features on the original and call it the high end.
It's not rocket science, and I'm sure most people could come up with such a strategy on their own, but I'm never offered services in this way (not custom services, anyhow) and I wish that I was.
Perhaps more importantly, it allows you to price:
a) Aggressively,
b) Defensively, and
c) Honestly
All at the same time.
I loved this quote from Thomas Jefferson (from the article) on the notion of "Intellectual Property". I think it really captures the essence of the "free information" side of the debate - why many people find the comparisons of Naptster and ab* to "theft" and "piracy" puzzling:
"Its peculiar character, too, is that no one possesses the less, because every other possesses the whole of it. He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me."
Wheel that one out the next time someone tries to tell you that IP laws have to be toughened because nobody could have conceived of cost-free information sharing before the digital age.
Yeah, MSNBC is all over the map. First that story yesterday on the Fate of Slashdot, now this. From Troll to Karma Whore in one day. I guess the mod system really does work.
I leafed through this book in the bookstore and came away with a negative impression. The cover alone makes it a definite "on-line only" purchase. The writing seemed to be of that mix of "salesman-consultant-motivational speaker" that makes your skin crawl.
I must admit, in retrospect, that much of my opinion my have hinged on my negative reaction to the cover. I recall that I did spend quite a bit of time leafing though it, for reasons other than to laugh at it. And I recently just pulled that "high-middle-low" trick, and now I remember where I got it.
In sum, if the title interests you, leaf through this in some secluded corner of the bookstore where no one can see you and check it out. It is not as bereft of usefulness as it appears.
Help me out here. I remember a robot that wore a talking medallion. I thought that the robot was mute and the medallion did the talking. It sounded like Porky Pig on 'ludes.
Was one of these "Twiki"? Could both of them talk? Is there a handy mnemonic? This keeps coming up and I keep forgetting it.
IBM makes PowerPCs. Linux runs on PowerPCs. Does IBM's commitment to Linux imply that they will take the logical step and we will finally see a commodity (non-Apple) PPC motherboard?
This project always seems to generate so much enthusiasm when presented here or in other forums that its continued non-existence is shocking. Particularly since the PPC's superior electrical characteristics have made it all the more intriguing in the current energy climate.
Hold on a sec -- this is not flamebait, it's true! (just phrased a little aggressively).
From the article - DVDs cost between £13-£20 in the UK, while US consumers pay just $15-$25 (£11-£18). Let's compare the low-low, high-high, with VAT.
£11 + 17.5% VAT = £12.925 (exactly at the UK low-end given).
£18 + 17.5% VAT = £21.15 (UK price is less than the VAT-adjusted US price).
UK prices are always quoted VAT-included, since that is how they are presented to cusomters. US prices are never quoted with sales tax included, since that varies from state to state and even town to town.
I'm not saying I put it past companies to be evil price manipulators, but I also don't put it past regulators to be either:
A) Dumb enough not to know there's a simple explanation or
B) Smart enough not to care
They _did_ or they _do_ continue to? Since all the web sites switched to png (hehe) I haven't heard much about that story. I remember hearing that Atari used to to the same thing, claiming they had a patent for bitmapped graphics.
Actually, I'm kind of amused by this story. The best tools for making and playing mp3s are all freeware, and I've never been to keen on these "fence" outfits that make money off people who trade in stolen goods. People, I think, will manage to trade stolen music in any format just fine without the help of moneyed interests. Let them have their cut of Napster. Then they can take on The 3l33t MP3z Crue and see where that gets them. "Aww go pass another law, ya bum...". So let Big Money slug it out amongst themselves. Technologies like mp3 make them less and less relevant every day. I guess that's hanging them with the rope they weave.
These kinds of color printers are sold below cost. Once you've bought it, you're stuck buying supplies from the vendor at incredibly inflated prices. My bubblejet cost $75 and I couldn't get a b/w only for that price. A packet of black ink costs $30. Go figure. I'll bet people who print color might as well re-buy the printer every time they fill up.
The series has pretty much sucked since the movie (which itself wasn't too bad other than being an overlong episode with a big effects budget).
That's just it. If you recall, the best XFs used to be all about teasing. Things in the shadows, evidence disappearing, etc. The Mulder/Scully tension mirrored this and enhanced it. After the movie, the plot lines became pornographic (d00d! They _showed_ it!) and lost their subtlety. Worse, when they started explaining things, the writers were never came up with back stories as good as the ones the fans had been imagining. Once this new mindset ("All Secrets Will Be Revealed!") had set in, everything they tried to do to make it better just made it worse, and it spiralled downward into the nadir of this season. I wish they'd just kill it, or do one more movie rather than dragging it out over another season. They only seem to come up with 90 minutes of usable material per season anyway.
Slashdot Mirror
I could be remembering this wrong, but didn't some old bbses let you type in a code for the files you wanted so you could batch z-modem them when you were done choosing? And didn't some of these charge a subscription fee (or at least a ratio :^P)?
I don't know. They're wearing me down, bit by bit. This sort of thing leaves me dazed. Too many more like this and I'm just going to jack out.
Well, they have it backwards then.
At least making secret videotaping illegal would put those popup-loving bastards at X10.com out of business...
Thank you!
I've been looking for a good link with that stat for a long time. Many quote the stat as "10 times better than the worst programmer, but I think the point is valid either way. One site (it may have even been a .mil!) said the gap was as high as 22-1 and that the worst programmers in an organization could actually be expected to have negative productivity (and I think we all know one of them).
Another bit I came across in my search was that despite this productivity gap, the best programmer is only paid 1.2x what the worst programmer gets. This means that there is a huge opportunity to go out and buy great talent, but organizations refuse to do it. Instead, they try too woo the best with ergonomic chairs, free soda and ping-pong tables. This ABC (Anything But Comp) style of management seems to be growing more and more prevelant in the workplace. It may be (a) taught in business school (b) a result of tax codes or (c) an assumption by management that working people value symbolism as much as they do. I really don't know which one.
Whatever the reason, it is deeply strange to see that corporate culture has so embraced the "No Piecework!" cry of Industrial Revolution labor movements.
The emerging exception appears to be global warming, which Americans are suddenly very worried about.
Possibly, but I bet most of those worries go something like this:
Gosh it's hot. Maybe I should wear shorts today. But then what if it cools down later on? Hmm...
I couldn't disagree more.
Yes, to the first two, but the third is most important. Goatse trolls get modded down to where I can't see them (except that Iranian thing below), but no number of mod points can make a bland post Interesting, Insightful, etc. I just don't see the people who make these comments regularly paying money to make themselves heard. Why bother? Start a newsgroup or something.
I strongly suspect that those who stuck with the site after going to a pay model would be the riders. People who come because they feel it's important "to stay up on the issues". People who read Time magazine. Information consumers consume information, they don't produce it -- "'+5 Interesting' to the first quote from the NY Times Circuits Section".
No troll. The idea of some "minimum number" is I guess what I was wondering about. I didn't mean a single transistor. Only that 100 or 1000 of them -- or whatever the number -- is really all that appears to be needed for useful application. While I'm sure research is needed on how to assemble even two of these things on a chip, it just seemed to me that the performance characteristics of the invention meant that manufacture could be simplified more than the parent post implied.
As I mentioned, though, I'm not entirely sure if these things actually are the fabled 0-time quantum chips or if they're just really small, or what they are. Sorry to be unclear.
Okay, this may sound like a troll, but it's honest ignorance.
Isn't one of the huge advantages of quantum computing supposed to be to zero or near zero switching time? And if that's the case, couldn't you just take a couple of these things and architect around "as if parallel" rather than today's "as if serial"?
IANACD, and my knowledge of chip design could probably fit on one of these quantum transistors, but my understanding is that the high transistor count of today's processors goes to supporting parallelism rather than preserving state. Insofar as that is true, a chip cycling a million times faster could use one-millionth of the transistors to achieve the same performance -- you'd wind up with the same number of logical operations per second. Manufacturing problem...if not solved, enormously simplified.
BTW, I'd love it if someone could post some "intermediate level" links on quantum chips. Between the gee whiz popular press and page-length equations, there has to be some good stuff.
My whole life I've scoffed at those simpletons who can't tell the difference between science and science fiction. Now I'm one of them.
Too true! Unfortunately, the amount of interest generated (even negative) is a sign of their success rather than failure.
It's amazing how many people seem to think that generating customer goodwill is more important than generating sales. Take this absurd quote from the end of the article:
"The majority of people don't respond to direct-mail pieces and telemarketing," Cheng [interactive news editor at Adweek] said. "All this with the pop-up windows will eventually go away."
Huh?
Did "direct mail pieces and telemarketing" "eventually go away"?
Neither will these. More to come indeed.
Yep, but this one is worse. At least episode 1 could give us a new cast, but Ford isn't getting any younger. I'm picturing a fat old mess of an Indiana Jones, done up in a tuxedo in some Las Vegas dressing room... Gimme a stage, where this bull can rage...
I have big fears this will turn out badly.
Anyway, here are my top 10 picks for the title of the new movie:
10. Indiana Jones and the Quest for Fiber
9. Indiana Jones and Siegfried and Roy
8. Indiana Jones Has Fallen and He Can't Get Up
7. Indiana Jones and the Planet of the Apes
6. Indiana Jones and the Tomb of Indiana Jones
5. Indiana Jones and the Fat Paycheck
4. Indiana Jones and the Stone of Kidneys
3. Indiana Jones and the Kids Today, Oy! They Call That Music? What.
2. Indiana Jones and the Lost Erection
1. Grumpy Old Indiana Jones
Good luck pulling this one off.
My kingdom for mod points for those comments.
When I first tried linux, I was disappointed by the feeble, crufty gui. Some nice bits, but windows resizing on you, etc. and I lost interest.
Later I tried again on a headless PIII laptop over ssh and was forced to use the command line. After a few days of getting used to it, I couldn't understand how I'd ever lived without it. I thought all the cli guys were just blowing smoke - some kind of geek machismo. But no. Everything is right there. One by one, my headless server is replacing the tasks of my usual Windows box. Not because it's free, not because it's more stable, not because it's not Windows... but because the command line makes it better.
So thanks from me, too, SJ. Can I bill you at $0.37 per mouse mile?
Near as I can remember, during WW 2 the US made what they called "Liberty" ships for transport duty. The hulls were made out of cement because metal was in short supply.
There's one such ship, the SS Selma (made for WW I) sitting in the harbor in Galveston Bay. At the bottom. Not being a big believer in concrete ships, I was always slightly amused by this. Apparently, though, it made it home after cracking when running aground and was deliberately scuttled in the harbor.
Just what it says in the review above: you try to guess what they're willing to pay and build a package around this. Then lighten that up and call it the low end. Then pile more features on the original and call it the high end.
It's not rocket science, and I'm sure most people could come up with such a strategy on their own, but I'm never offered services in this way (not custom services, anyhow) and I wish that I was.
Perhaps more importantly, it allows you to price:
a) Aggressively,
b) Defensively, and
c) Honestly
All at the same time.
I loved this quote from Thomas Jefferson (from the article) on the notion of "Intellectual Property". I think it really captures the essence of the "free information" side of the debate - why many people find the comparisons of Naptster and ab* to "theft" and "piracy" puzzling:
"Its peculiar character, too, is that no one possesses the less, because every other possesses the whole of it. He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me."
Wheel that one out the next time someone tries to tell you that IP laws have to be toughened because nobody could have conceived of cost-free information sharing before the digital age.
Yeah, MSNBC is all over the map. First that story yesterday on the Fate of Slashdot, now this. From Troll to Karma Whore in one day. I guess the mod system really does work.
I leafed through this book in the bookstore and came away with a negative impression. The cover alone makes it a definite "on-line only" purchase. The writing seemed to be of that mix of "salesman-consultant-motivational speaker" that makes your skin crawl.
I must admit, in retrospect, that much of my opinion my have hinged on my negative reaction to the cover. I recall that I did spend quite a bit of time leafing though it, for reasons other than to laugh at it. And I recently just pulled that "high-middle-low" trick, and now I remember where I got it.
In sum, if the title interests you, leaf through this in some secluded corner of the bookstore where no one can see you and check it out. It is not as bereft of usefulness as it appears.
How shallow. Looks aren't everything, you know.
Vending machines are like people. It's what's inside that counts.
Help me out here. I remember a robot that wore a talking medallion. I thought that the robot was mute and the medallion did the talking. It sounded like Porky Pig on 'ludes.
Was one of these "Twiki"? Could both of them talk? Is there a handy mnemonic? This keeps coming up and I keep forgetting it.
IBM makes PowerPCs. Linux runs on PowerPCs. Does IBM's commitment to Linux imply that they will take the logical step and we will finally see a commodity (non-Apple) PPC motherboard?
This project always seems to generate so much enthusiasm when presented here or in other forums that its continued non-existence is shocking. Particularly since the PPC's superior electrical characteristics have made it all the more intriguing in the current energy climate.
Hold on a sec -- this is not flamebait, it's true! (just phrased a little aggressively).
From the article -
DVDs cost between £13-£20 in the UK, while US consumers pay just $15-$25 (£11-£18). Let's compare the low-low, high-high, with VAT.
£11 + 17.5% VAT = £12.925 (exactly at the UK low-end given).
£18 + 17.5% VAT = £21.15 (UK price is less than the VAT-adjusted US price).
UK prices are always quoted VAT-included, since that is how they are presented to cusomters. US prices are never quoted with sales tax included, since that varies from state to state and even town to town.
I'm not saying I put it past companies to be evil price manipulators, but I also don't put it past regulators to be either:
A) Dumb enough not to know there's a simple explanation or
B) Smart enough not to care
They _did_ or they _do_ continue to? Since all the web sites switched to png (hehe) I haven't heard much about that story. I remember hearing that Atari used to to the same thing, claiming they had a patent for bitmapped graphics.
Actually, I'm kind of amused by this story. The best tools for making and playing mp3s are all freeware, and I've never been to keen on these "fence" outfits that make money off people who trade in stolen goods. People, I think, will manage to trade stolen music in any format just fine without the help of moneyed interests. Let them have their cut of Napster. Then they can take on The 3l33t MP3z Crue and see where that gets them. "Aww go pass another law, ya bum...". So let Big Money slug it out amongst themselves. Technologies like mp3 make them less and less relevant every day. I guess that's hanging them with the rope they weave.
These kinds of color printers are sold below cost. Once you've bought it, you're stuck buying supplies from the vendor at incredibly inflated prices. My bubblejet cost $75 and I couldn't get a b/w only for that price. A packet of black ink costs $30. Go figure. I'll bet people who print color might as well re-buy the printer every time they fill up.
Yeah! Then only the really cool stuff would get popular. Like "All Your Base are Belong to Us".
Despite that gaping hole in the plan, I still agree with you.
The series has pretty much sucked since the movie (which itself wasn't too bad other than being an overlong episode with a big effects budget).
That's just it. If you recall, the best XFs used to be all about teasing. Things in the shadows, evidence disappearing, etc. The Mulder/Scully tension mirrored this and enhanced it. After the movie, the plot lines became pornographic (d00d! They _showed_ it!) and lost their subtlety. Worse, when they started explaining things, the writers were never came up with back stories as good as the ones the fans had been imagining. Once this new mindset ("All Secrets Will Be Revealed!") had set in, everything they tried to do to make it better just made it worse, and it spiralled downward into the nadir of this season. I wish they'd just kill it, or do one more movie rather than dragging it out over another season. They only seem to come up with 90 minutes of usable material per season anyway.
It's not likely any intelligent extraterrestrial lifeform would stamp a crater with a kilometer-wide message
Unless it says:
WE APOLOGISE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE
Here's another good pleistocene man link too. There's a lot more info as you browse through the site.