I also won't mention the fact that Deliverance wasn't written by a bunch of homosexual Hollywood screenwriters, but rather by the venerable James Dickey. Oops, I just did.
Except that they actually are in control of things. They're more like the effect the telephone sanitizers had after reaching Earth . . . six times nine, anyone?
What part of "the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed" do you not understand
Nice incomplete, biased edit of the second amendment . . . what part of "A well-regulated Militia" do you not understand? As recognized by the Supreme Court, the second amendment has nothing to do with hunting, target shooting, or personal protection.
The US prefers to emphasize that a healthy lifestyle can also be an enjoyable lifestyle.
More specifically, the administration prefers the position that a healthy lifestyle needn't exclude the delicious products of the Coca-Cola(R) Company and McDonald's(R) Corporation.
It's way older than that . . . the NES Power Pad showed up in the 80s. It may have encouraged a bit of exercise at first, but kids quickly discovered that if you pushed the pads with your fingers instead of your feet, you could easily make the character run at instant-heart-attack speeds.
Most of the problems like your examples are at least as I/O-bound as they are CPU-bound. Analyzing "terabytes of purchasing data" will NOT work using a distributed solution with commodity hardware. Likewise "computing payroll for 20,000 employees" (although at that scale, a modern desktop-class computer could handle it quite nicely). I can't make an informed comment on the seismic data example, so I'll assume it's valid.
There are relatively few problems with low I/O requirements and high CPU requirements, which is where distributed computing shows its worth. This is a very, very tiny niche. The vast majority of businesses will never have a necessity for something like this . . . I wonder where HP and the like expect this market to materialize from.
At the detailed level, there are some amazingly hard problems to solve. Like, for example, how does software get split into parts that can be separated with minimal communications overhead, or how do you decide when a task would run more efficiently spread across a bunch of CPU's, or how do you keep running smoothly when a network outage causes 10% of your CPU's to drop off of the grid....
Or the hardest problem of all: how often does an organization need CPU power beyond that of a typical modern desktop machine? It seems that in most cases, the bandwidth and infrastructure required to ship "hard" CPU problems off to a more powerful computer is cost-prohibitive; with today's CPUs, it generally would be more efficient just to do the work locally.
SETI, Folding@Home, etc. are important exceptions, but seemingly rare types of problems (especially in the business arena where these companies are attempting to sell their stuff). This is an elegant solution for a problem that hardly exists.
Do the toaster and hot tub banter about the intricacies of heating water vs. heating bread? Do they make the inkjet feel left out because it has DRM cooties? Do they make "binary-system" jokes behind the garage door opener's back?
And what, precisely, has the DoHS done that was worth the millions spent in restructuring? How have they changed anything, besides occasionally shifting the useless "terror alert" from Ernie to Bert and back again?
When did the business model "I created a patent just so I could sue you" a socially acceptable business practice?
The words "socially acceptable business practice" no longer have any meaning in the United States. The general thinking is that if it makes money, it must be OK, and ethics be damned. It doesn't help that our current political leadership shares this view.
Are you saying we should supress both the progress of science and the freedom of information in order to protect these local economies? In addition to the clear and measurable cost in human life?
Seems a little short-sighted, and, well, greedy . . .
I was quite suprised to receive, just today, the following response from my congresscritter on the issue. It looks to be an actual personal response:
Thank you for your recent e-mail supporting H.R. 2239. I greatly appreciate hearing from you on this issue.
As you know, H.R. 2239, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003, would require voting systems to produce a permanent paper record of all votes to be verified by the voter and preserved at the polling place. Currently, H.R. 2239 is under consideration by the Committee on House Administration of which I am not a member. Please be assured that I will keep your thoughts foremost in my mind should this legislation come before the full House for a vote.
Again, thank you for contacting me. I hope you will continue to let me know about matters of importance to you.
Sincerely,
Tom Davis
Member of Congress
So they DO read 'em . . . at least Congressman Davis does.
Slashdot Mirror
They have that for computers now?
Cruft mongers . . . that's a beautiful term.
I also won't mention the fact that Deliverance wasn't written by a bunch of homosexual Hollywood screenwriters, but rather by the venerable James Dickey. Oops, I just did.
Fact: 76% of people who use the word "fag" are closeted homosexuals. When "fag" is used more than once in the same sentence, it goes up to 93%.
This is also why people vote Republican.
Or they could just keep the barcodes too . . .
That, and Zaphod was never too quick on the uptake.
That, and it's been a while, so the details are hazy.
Except that they actually are in control of things. They're more like the effect the telephone sanitizers had after reaching Earth . . . six times nine, anyone?
You do have a right to your guns under state law, but it's not constitutionally guaranteed.
Nice incomplete, biased edit of the second amendment . . . what part of "A well-regulated Militia" do you not understand? As recognized by the Supreme Court, the second amendment has nothing to do with hunting, target shooting, or personal protection.
More specifically, the administration prefers the position that a healthy lifestyle needn't exclude the delicious products of the Coca-Cola(R) Company and McDonald's(R) Corporation.
It's way older than that . . . the NES Power Pad showed up in the 80s. It may have encouraged a bit of exercise at first, but kids quickly discovered that if you pushed the pads with your fingers instead of your feet, you could easily make the character run at instant-heart-attack speeds.
There are relatively few problems with low I/O requirements and high CPU requirements, which is where distributed computing shows its worth. This is a very, very tiny niche. The vast majority of businesses will never have a necessity for something like this . . . I wonder where HP and the like expect this market to materialize from.
And it's harder to rape and pillage rocks, sand, and polar dry ice caps. Doable, but harder.
Or the hardest problem of all: how often does an organization need CPU power beyond that of a typical modern desktop machine? It seems that in most cases, the bandwidth and infrastructure required to ship "hard" CPU problems off to a more powerful computer is cost-prohibitive; with today's CPUs, it generally would be more efficient just to do the work locally.
SETI, Folding@Home, etc. are important exceptions, but seemingly rare types of problems (especially in the business arena where these companies are attempting to sell their stuff). This is an elegant solution for a problem that hardly exists.
Do the toaster and hot tub banter about the intricacies of heating water vs. heating bread? Do they make the inkjet feel left out because it has DRM cooties? Do they make "binary-system" jokes behind the garage door opener's back?
And what, precisely, has the DoHS done that was worth the millions spent in restructuring? How have they changed anything, besides occasionally shifting the useless "terror alert" from Ernie to Bert and back again?
The words "socially acceptable business practice" no longer have any meaning in the United States. The general thinking is that if it makes money, it must be OK, and ethics be damned. It doesn't help that our current political leadership shares this view.
Oh, we could go on all day.
Touche.
Iraq has weapons of mass destruction
Then cancel your insurance.
Interesting usage of the word "harm" . . .
Seems a little short-sighted, and, well, greedy . . .
Thank you for your recent e-mail supporting H.R. 2239. I greatly appreciate hearing from you on this issue.
As you know, H.R. 2239, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2003, would require voting systems to produce a permanent paper record of all votes to be verified by the voter and preserved at the polling place. Currently, H.R. 2239 is under consideration by the Committee on House Administration of which I am not a member. Please be assured that I will keep your thoughts foremost in my mind should this legislation come before the full House for a vote.
Again, thank you for contacting me. I hope you will continue to let me know about matters of importance to you.
Sincerely,
Tom Davis
Member of Congress
So they DO read 'em . . . at least Congressman Davis does.