When I read this book, I found it a chore to finish. Its not so much that the ideas aren't interesting, if a bit simplistic and dated, but more that he has a habit of beating the reader over the head with his philosophy. The book seems to fall peril to the same problem as a lot iof other utopian/dystopian books, like something by Orwell or Le Guin - the philosophy is more important than the plot and characters, or the realism, or much of anything at else. And this book is a lot longer than many such novels. Heinlein said he couldn't write this as a short story. I think he should have tried.
Animal Farm is more of an attack on totalitarianism then anything else. It does closely parrallel what happens in the USSR, but it is more an indictment of things like secret police, and what happens if you become to blind and idealistic. Communism as it existed in the USSR wasnt really communal at all.
Even this doesnt work perfectly however. If:
(1) if everyone votes candidate a over candidate b, then canidate a is ranked above candidate b.
(2) if candidate a wins over candidate b, then moving votes from a to b means a still wins
(3) if some switches their preferences from say abc to acb, the results for candidate a will not be affected
Then the system must be a dictatorship (i.e. only one persons votes count). Arrow proved this in the mid-50's if I remeber correctly.
- Richard
I personally prefer the kind of voting they do in France. Every candidate who wants to can run on the first ballot, and the highest two vote getters are the only people allowed on the second vote. Although thereit is still mathematically possible for a candidate who is not the most popular to win, it is extremely unlikely. The main drwaback is you have to convince people to get up and vote twice.
What better way to creat bad publicity for MS and MSNBC than by making it look like they doctored their own poll?
Just by voting for windows repeatedly, some linux fan could easily generate all kinds of bad press like this. And with Linux Today certainly watching at this point, its bound to rally MS hatred.
I wish I'd though of such a devious political maneuver myself.
Most people care about convenience, performance and price. Becuse these vehicules aren't up to par with regular cars on those standrds, I think it may be a ways off. As much as I dislike government regulation, I think it will always be needed when protecting the environment.
I apologize that a lot of this post is just me talking out my ass.
I would imagine this extends to the rest of Western Europe as well, because despite the language differences, the cultures and economies were quite similar. The fact that their economies are doing quite as well will also make them a little less wasteful and linux is an excellent way to do that.
I bet for one, most of the governments over there use Linux because they would rather not give money to some American company. Atleast with linux they can argue there are Germans who have had a hand in making it and they aren't spending money.
It's also interest that a full 7% of the domains refused to respond. I'm not an expert here, does anybody know why that would be so high?
I think this may be a more econimical solution than fiber. but i doubt it will ever be as reliable.
firstly, this is useless long distanc unless you still have a lot of these R2-D2s because of geographic problems, plus the general curvature of the earth (alright the cuvature of the earth is pretty big)
secondly, I tend to doubt this will work in very thick fog. I've seen fog that limits vision to 10 meters.
thirdly, these devices have to be atleast somewhat outdoors, and that makes them a lot more easily damaged than underground cables.
I think they will be a useful, much cheaper resource for a lot of people, but I don't think they will be as reliable as underground. It depends on what you need.
Don't get me wrong, Java is a very nice language, but I don't see why it is good for handhelds unless you have a special need to run something already in Java.
When I first saw this article I thought it was about quantnum computers. Instead its about regular computers that work on a molecular level. The article further said computers, not memory, which added to the confusion.
If you where going to buy soap, which is more important to your decision:
-who it is recommended by
-results of scientific testing of effectiveness
The problem is a Myth page that is so loaded with language that is too technical for most of the people it is trying to reach out to - the people who don't want to spend time to become educated consumers.
I think that when the aesthetics of the office get in the way of working that is just over the line. The coffee shop example also puts conveniences in the way of working. In both cases it seems to me that other concerns have taken precedence over the ability to work successfully.
I don't see how clutter on one person's desk would stop anyone else from working and if it helped that person then i don't see the motivation.
If you want to make the office aesthetic in addition to functional though, I'm all for that.
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When I read this book, I found it a chore to finish. Its not so much that the ideas aren't interesting, if a bit simplistic and dated, but more that he has a habit of beating the reader over the head with his philosophy. The book seems to fall peril to the same problem as a lot iof other utopian/dystopian books, like something by Orwell or Le Guin - the philosophy is more important than the plot and characters, or the realism, or much of anything at else. And this book is a lot longer than many such novels. Heinlein said he couldn't write this as a short story. I think he should have tried.
My apologies for the rambling nature of this post
Animal Farm is more of an attack on totalitarianism then anything else. It does closely parrallel what happens in the USSR, but it is more an indictment of things like secret police, and what happens if you become to blind and idealistic. Communism as it existed in the USSR wasnt really communal at all.
Even this doesnt work perfectly however. If: (1) if everyone votes candidate a over candidate b, then canidate a is ranked above candidate b. (2) if candidate a wins over candidate b, then moving votes from a to b means a still wins (3) if some switches their preferences from say abc to acb, the results for candidate a will not be affected Then the system must be a dictatorship (i.e. only one persons votes count). Arrow proved this in the mid-50's if I remeber correctly. - Richard
I personally prefer the kind of voting they do in France. Every candidate who wants to can run on the first ballot, and the highest two vote getters are the only people allowed on the second vote. Although thereit is still mathematically possible for a candidate who is not the most popular to win, it is extremely unlikely. The main drwaback is you have to convince people to get up and vote twice.
This sounds like a case ofGodwin's Law
What better way to creat bad publicity for MS and MSNBC than by making it look like they doctored their own poll?
Just by voting for windows repeatedly, some linux fan could easily generate all kinds of bad press like this. And with Linux Today certainly watching at this point, its bound to rally MS hatred.
I wish I'd though of such a devious political maneuver myself.
Most people care about convenience, performance and price. Becuse these vehicules aren't up to par with regular cars on those standrds, I think it may be a ways off. As much as I dislike government regulation, I think it will always be needed when protecting the environment.
I apologize that a lot of this post is just me talking out my ass.
Well there is a net.flame, but it has do do with flames as in fire, not flames as in arguing.
I would imagine this extends to the rest of Western Europe as well, because despite the language differences, the cultures and economies were quite similar. The fact that their economies are doing quite as well will also make them a little less wasteful and linux is an excellent way to do that.
I bet for one, most of the governments over there use Linux because they would rather not give money to some American company. Atleast with linux they can argue there are Germans who have had a hand in making it and they aren't spending money.
It's also interest that a full 7% of the domains refused to respond. I'm not an expert here, does anybody know why that would be so high?
I think this may be a more econimical solution than fiber. but i doubt it will ever be as reliable.
firstly, this is useless long distanc unless you still have a lot of these R2-D2s because of geographic problems, plus the general curvature of the earth (alright the cuvature of the earth is pretty big)
secondly, I tend to doubt this will work in very thick fog. I've seen fog that limits vision to 10 meters.
thirdly, these devices have to be atleast somewhat outdoors, and that makes them a lot more easily damaged than underground cables.
I think they will be a useful, much cheaper resource for a lot of people, but I don't think they will be as reliable as underground. It depends on what you need.
Don't get me wrong, Java is a very nice language, but I don't see why it is good for handhelds unless you have a special need to run something already in Java.
I would just as soon have a complied language.
When I first saw this article I thought it was about quantnum computers. Instead its about regular computers that work on a molecular level. The article further said computers, not memory, which added to the confusion.
Was anyone else confused by this?
If you where going to buy soap, which is more important to your decision:
-who it is recommended by
-results of scientific testing of effectiveness
The problem is a Myth page that is so loaded with language that is too technical for most of the people it is trying to reach out to - the people who don't want to spend time to become educated consumers.
I think that when the aesthetics of the office get in the way of working that is just over the line. The coffee shop example also puts conveniences in the way of working. In both cases it seems to me that other concerns have taken precedence over the ability to work successfully.
I don't see how clutter on one person's desk would stop anyone else from working and if it helped that person then i don't see the motivation.
If you want to make the office aesthetic in addition to functional though, I'm all for that.