That seems like it'd depend on the movie and the kind of technology it posits. For instance, if we're talking about a sci-fi movie with FTL-capable ships, a slower-than-light weapon would be mostly useless; it'd be like trying to use a sword or other non-thrown weapon against someone in a car: you'd only be able to get a good hit on them if they're stuck in traffic.
I thought some sci-fi got around that by saying those beams weren't lasers at all, but instead were plasma or perhaps something altogether different. According to Star Trek canon, for instance, their beams are "phasers" which are actually FTL; in a battle between FTL-capable ships, lasers would be pretty useless after all since the ships could easily outrun the lasers.
Wow, I'm not sure what to say, except that I don't believe someone that unique would survive at all in the work world. I'd probably try to keep encouraging him to pursue his artistic talents.
He never said that. He suggested SQLite as an alternative to Berkeley DB.
He only suggested PostgreSQL if you have DB needs greater than what SQLite can offer, but that doesn't cover BDB; basically, he's saying that you can cover most of your database needs with one of those two databases: SQLite on the low end, and PostgreSQL on the high end.
He's not comparing to socialism and communism, if anything he's comparing to subsistence farming and the lack of any real government (except the occasional warlord) the way it was thousands of years ago.
We've already found that communism (aka authoritarian socialism) doesn't work, we've found that feudalism doesn't work too well either (except maybe for people who manage to live far away from any nobility and can do their own thing), and now we're discovering that capitalism isn't sustainable either. What's next?
Yeah, there are a lot of assholes. But there's probably nearly an equal number of great or kind people.
Depends on the location. In Phoenix, Arizona, most people are assholes, so if the OP lives there, I can understand why he'd never want to leave the house. I recommend moving north; I've found that people really are much friendlier the farther north you go.
It sounds as if you have hobbies and interests you'd like to share, perhaps even contributing to those communities. You only meet people if you go to places where folks with similar interests hang out. I don't expect you'd find them in the grocery or post office.
I wonder if the OP lives in some shitty town that doesn't have any places to meet such people. If you're like him and you live in some shitty town of 30k in the middle of nowhere, just sitting at your computer all the time would make a lot of sense.
What's interesting is that if you were an attractive Indian or Chinese guy, living in India or China (respectively), a woman would be even more interested in you after learning you were an engineer.
Americans have been strongly trained to view engineering as a profession for men who can't get women, and a profession with very little prestige.
For instance, in many places in Europe, it's perfectly legal to walk around in public buck-naked. Not that many people do, but it's perfectly legal, and sometimes people do for weird porn films or whatever. Plus, they have nude beaches where people walk around naked and it's no big deal. If you try that in the US, you'll be arrested for "indecent exposure" (in most places), and if any minors see you, you'll be charged as a sex offender and put on a sex offender registry for the rest of your life, unable to live within a half-mile or so of any school.
Outside the US, walking around naked in public is "absolutely bizarre", so the parent is right.
Conversely, in many parts of the US, it's perfectly legal to walk around with a gun on your hip. However, if you try that in most industrialized places outside the US, that'll get you arrested (if not shot) and thrown in the "wacky shack". Walking around with a gun in "absolutely bizarre" outside the US, but not so much inside.
Whatever happened to kicking your kids out at 18 so they can go forth on their own in life?
Well, back in the days when that happened (and it still does today, it's just not the near-universal norm like it used to be), if the kid was someone who couldn't make it on his own, he simply starved to death and died. Someone who's autistic definitely qualifies as someone who can't make it on their own.
What kind of parent wants that on their conscience?
Contrary to the other people's advice of "kick him out", if he's really been professionally diagnosed with Autism (even a mild form), that's a mental illness, so it seems to me it's a bit much to expect him to move out, live on his own, get a good job (jobs that pay enough to live on your own are hard to find these days for normal people, let alone Autistic people), or worse, find a girlfriend. Unfortunately, he can probably forget about that last one; there simply aren't a lot of women out there into (mildly) autistic men with no ambition or initiative. If you can get him to hold down a McJob to bring a little spending money in, that'd probably be a blessing.
How were his grades in school? Any interest in computers or programming?
Absolutely wrong. There's been cases of someone maliciously stopping short ("brake checking"), causing a wreck, and going to prison for attempted murder.
It's frequently not possible to leave enough space to stop when someone cuts into your lane and immediately slams on the brakes, in an attempt to make you rear-end them.
I know it's a little extra work, but why not just buy a USB thumb drive for $10 and put a copy of all your music on there? Then you don't need to worry about your vehicle's USB port not working with your phone. It's better than messing with a line-in port.
my wife should be able to look up a destination on her phone, and send it to the car's navigation system
No, it shouldn't: there shouldn't be any navigation built into the car at all, because it's inevitably going to be a piece of shit. As the other responder notes, what happens when the car's nav system doesn't recognize the address, because the piece of shit is too old? We don't have that problem with Google Maps (or Bing Maps, to be fair), but the proprietary nav systems are always way behind. Even worse, you have to pay for updates... WTF?? And on many of them, you have to buy the updates on (get this) DVD discs! And load them into a special player in the car! WTF is this, 2001? And read the reviews: most of these built-in systems look like Garmin/TomTom systems circa 2005.
Why on earth would you use such a shitty obsolete system when any phone you get now has a state-of-the art navigation system built it, that is constantly updated, for FREE?
The idea of an in-dash nav system is on par with the idea of an in-dash cellular phone: so ridiculously obsolete it isn't even funny.
Now, if the automakers were smart, they'd just install Android on these in-dash systems and run the latest Google Maps/Navigation software, with an option for the other non-free navigation apps. But the fact that they're still trying to hawk obsolete systems while everyone has something far more capable and advanced in their pocket just shows they never learned anything from the 1990s when mobile phones made OEM car phones obsolete before they even started selling them.
Maybe in a plane you can do that, but you can't do that in a helicopter. Helicopters don't glide; you have to constantly adjust the controls to keep them stable. It's far more involved than driving a car.
There is no reason why car makers cannot include such buttons physically and still allow them to work with pretty much every modern consumer computing device and the software on it.
Wrong, there is a reason: it costs more to make nice physical buttons than to just slap a shitty touchscreen in there, so many automakers are opting for the fancy-looking, inexpensive, but ergonomically-horrible touchscreens.
Except that he's not really liberal at all: he was a Republican from 2001-2007 (he's since switched to Independent). I know "Democrat" isn't synonymous with "liberal", but still, in America, anyone who claims to be a liberal is usually also a Democrat, and would never, ever, ever be part of the Republican party.
As for your coworkers moving towards libertarianism, which kind? It seems to me there's a few different flavors of it out there at the moment, and I suspect many people may be "moving" that way as a backlash against the actions of the Democrats (since many people still seem to think that's synonymous with "liberal") in the last few years. What some people seem to call "libertarianism" really seems to be more like "social libertarianism"; just look at Gary Johnson who ran for the Libertarian party in the past election: he was totally libertarian on social issues (gay marriage, drugs, etc.), but on economic issues he was really more like a traditional Democrat (which makes some sense since New Mexico has been Democrat-leaning for quite a while, has voted blue in the past several elections, and he was the governor of that state for a while): he was in favor of strong environmental protections, for instance, something no "true" big-L (Ayn-Rand-loving) Libertarian would favor. Since being a Democrat these days seems to mean being a slightly watered-down right-winger (pro-oil-wars, pro-war-on-drugs, anti-marijuana-legalization, pro-big-banks, pro-big-corporations, but pro-choice and sorta-pro-gay-marriage-maybe), I suspect many "liberals" are moving to "libertarianism" as a reaction to this.
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That seems like it'd depend on the movie and the kind of technology it posits. For instance, if we're talking about a sci-fi movie with FTL-capable ships, a slower-than-light weapon would be mostly useless; it'd be like trying to use a sword or other non-thrown weapon against someone in a car: you'd only be able to get a good hit on them if they're stuck in traffic.
I thought some sci-fi got around that by saying those beams weren't lasers at all, but instead were plasma or perhaps something altogether different. According to Star Trek canon, for instance, their beams are "phasers" which are actually FTL; in a battle between FTL-capable ships, lasers would be pretty useless after all since the ships could easily outrun the lasers.
Wow, I'm not sure what to say, except that I don't believe someone that unique would survive at all in the work world. I'd probably try to keep encouraging him to pursue his artistic talents.
He never said that. He suggested SQLite as an alternative to Berkeley DB.
He only suggested PostgreSQL if you have DB needs greater than what SQLite can offer, but that doesn't cover BDB; basically, he's saying that you can cover most of your database needs with one of those two databases: SQLite on the low end, and PostgreSQL on the high end.
He's not comparing to socialism and communism, if anything he's comparing to subsistence farming and the lack of any real government (except the occasional warlord) the way it was thousands of years ago.
We've already found that communism (aka authoritarian socialism) doesn't work, we've found that feudalism doesn't work too well either (except maybe for people who manage to live far away from any nobility and can do their own thing), and now we're discovering that capitalism isn't sustainable either. What's next?
Yeah, there are a lot of assholes. But there's probably nearly an equal number of great or kind people.
Depends on the location. In Phoenix, Arizona, most people are assholes, so if the OP lives there, I can understand why he'd never want to leave the house. I recommend moving north; I've found that people really are much friendlier the farther north you go.
It sounds as if you have hobbies and interests you'd like to share, perhaps even contributing to those communities. You only meet people if you go to places where folks with similar interests hang out. I don't expect you'd find them in the grocery or post office.
I wonder if the OP lives in some shitty town that doesn't have any places to meet such people. If you're like him and you live in some shitty town of 30k in the middle of nowhere, just sitting at your computer all the time would make a lot of sense.
What's interesting is that if you were an attractive Indian or Chinese guy, living in India or China (respectively), a woman would be even more interested in you after learning you were an engineer.
Americans have been strongly trained to view engineering as a profession for men who can't get women, and a profession with very little prestige.
No, it goes both ways.
For instance, in many places in Europe, it's perfectly legal to walk around in public buck-naked. Not that many people do, but it's perfectly legal, and sometimes people do for weird porn films or whatever. Plus, they have nude beaches where people walk around naked and it's no big deal. If you try that in the US, you'll be arrested for "indecent exposure" (in most places), and if any minors see you, you'll be charged as a sex offender and put on a sex offender registry for the rest of your life, unable to live within a half-mile or so of any school.
Outside the US, walking around naked in public is "absolutely bizarre", so the parent is right.
Conversely, in many parts of the US, it's perfectly legal to walk around with a gun on your hip. However, if you try that in most industrialized places outside the US, that'll get you arrested (if not shot) and thrown in the "wacky shack". Walking around with a gun in "absolutely bizarre" outside the US, but not so much inside.
Whatever happened to kicking your kids out at 18 so they can go forth on their own in life?
Well, back in the days when that happened (and it still does today, it's just not the near-universal norm like it used to be), if the kid was someone who couldn't make it on his own, he simply starved to death and died. Someone who's autistic definitely qualifies as someone who can't make it on their own.
What kind of parent wants that on their conscience?
Contrary to the other people's advice of "kick him out", if he's really been professionally diagnosed with Autism (even a mild form), that's a mental illness, so it seems to me it's a bit much to expect him to move out, live on his own, get a good job (jobs that pay enough to live on your own are hard to find these days for normal people, let alone Autistic people), or worse, find a girlfriend. Unfortunately, he can probably forget about that last one; there simply aren't a lot of women out there into (mildly) autistic men with no ambition or initiative. If you can get him to hold down a McJob to bring a little spending money in, that'd probably be a blessing.
How were his grades in school? Any interest in computers or programming?
Fellow engineer here. I agree; you don't need to speak or write English very well to get a relatively high-paying engineering or programming job.
It's not, he's just a troll. Look at his username.
I thought the phrase was "X considered harmful", famously used by Dijkstra in his paper advising against the use of "goto".
Sure, but bypassing a geo lock isn't wrong in the least.
Or you can use Tide laundry detergent.
http://bastiat.mises.org/2012/03/tide-as-money/
Absolutely wrong. There's been cases of someone maliciously stopping short ("brake checking"), causing a wreck, and going to prison for attempted murder.
It's frequently not possible to leave enough space to stop when someone cuts into your lane and immediately slams on the brakes, in an attempt to make you rear-end them.
I know it's a little extra work, but why not just buy a USB thumb drive for $10 and put a copy of all your music on there? Then you don't need to worry about your vehicle's USB port not working with your phone. It's better than messing with a line-in port.
my wife should be able to look up a destination on her phone, and send it to the car's navigation system
No, it shouldn't: there shouldn't be any navigation built into the car at all, because it's inevitably going to be a piece of shit. As the other responder notes, what happens when the car's nav system doesn't recognize the address, because the piece of shit is too old? We don't have that problem with Google Maps (or Bing Maps, to be fair), but the proprietary nav systems are always way behind. Even worse, you have to pay for updates... WTF?? And on many of them, you have to buy the updates on (get this) DVD discs! And load them into a special player in the car! WTF is this, 2001? And read the reviews: most of these built-in systems look like Garmin/TomTom systems circa 2005.
Why on earth would you use such a shitty obsolete system when any phone you get now has a state-of-the art navigation system built it, that is constantly updated, for FREE?
The idea of an in-dash nav system is on par with the idea of an in-dash cellular phone: so ridiculously obsolete it isn't even funny.
Now, if the automakers were smart, they'd just install Android on these in-dash systems and run the latest Google Maps/Navigation software, with an option for the other non-free navigation apps. But the fact that they're still trying to hawk obsolete systems while everyone has something far more capable and advanced in their pocket just shows they never learned anything from the 1990s when mobile phones made OEM car phones obsolete before they even started selling them.
Maybe in a plane you can do that, but you can't do that in a helicopter. Helicopters don't glide; you have to constantly adjust the controls to keep them stable. It's far more involved than driving a car.
What kind of car was this? It's important to name makes and models, so that readers can avoid these shitty brands.
There is no reason why car makers cannot include such buttons physically and still allow them to work with pretty much every modern consumer computing device and the software on it.
Wrong, there is a reason: it costs more to make nice physical buttons than to just slap a shitty touchscreen in there, so many automakers are opting for the fancy-looking, inexpensive, but ergonomically-horrible touchscreens.
Except that he's not really liberal at all: he was a Republican from 2001-2007 (he's since switched to Independent). I know "Democrat" isn't synonymous with "liberal", but still, in America, anyone who claims to be a liberal is usually also a Democrat, and would never, ever, ever be part of the Republican party.
As for your coworkers moving towards libertarianism, which kind? It seems to me there's a few different flavors of it out there at the moment, and I suspect many people may be "moving" that way as a backlash against the actions of the Democrats (since many people still seem to think that's synonymous with "liberal") in the last few years. What some people seem to call "libertarianism" really seems to be more like "social libertarianism"; just look at Gary Johnson who ran for the Libertarian party in the past election: he was totally libertarian on social issues (gay marriage, drugs, etc.), but on economic issues he was really more like a traditional Democrat (which makes some sense since New Mexico has been Democrat-leaning for quite a while, has voted blue in the past several elections, and he was the governor of that state for a while): he was in favor of strong environmental protections, for instance, something no "true" big-L (Ayn-Rand-loving) Libertarian would favor. Since being a Democrat these days seems to mean being a slightly watered-down right-winger (pro-oil-wars, pro-war-on-drugs, anti-marijuana-legalization, pro-big-banks, pro-big-corporations, but pro-choice and sorta-pro-gay-marriage-maybe), I suspect many "liberals" are moving to "libertarianism" as a reaction to this.
So everyone that hires Merry Maids is liable to get in trouble for not withholding taxes? You're a complete moron.
Slashdot has decided that Ballmer is the physical incarnation of all that is evil and malicious in the computing world.
Don't be ridiculous. Ballmer is far too incompetent and too much of a buffoon to have such a reputation.
Exactly. This is great news!
Now we just need to get Baller to personally take over the Windows Phone division.