I'm sorry for being cranky. (And just for the record, none of the ACs in this thread are me. I think I've adequately demonstrated my willingness to attach my name to an obnoxious post!)
Water going down drains in different directions is a fallacy, for which there is no observational evidence that requires explanation.
The first part of this statement is, of course, true. I disagree somewhat with the second part. While I have never taken the time to observe the rotational direction of a significant (or even insignificant) number of drains, the fact is that the water does rotate. This requires explanation. There is, in fact, a rotational effect. Just because the effect is set in motion when the tub or sink is filled, instead of by Coriolis force, doesn't mean the effect is less real.
Ah, I was not aware that "nova" is a word all by itself. Sherlock clumsily translates it as "it novates", which apparently means "it replaces with something new". Sounds like a word without a direct English translation.
It's hard to compare the Kashmir problem to anything in the United States because we aren't involved in any border disputes with our neighbors. The closest thing that I can come up with would be to say that Texas still belongs to Mexico. Even that is a stretch, because the Mexico-Texas border isn't disputed. Kashmir is a very real political disagreement that doesn't even have a border -- it has a cease-fire line! People have died over Kashmir, and I'm not talking about someone's ancestor five generations ago, I'm talking about earlier this year. I think it's undeniably insensitive for anyone to ignore that. Doesn't anyone at Microsoft read the news?
I was going to rag on you for using "disenfranchised" when you don't know what it means, but since I've been beaten to it, I'll try to be helpful and show you the definition from WordNet:
disenfranchised, adj : deprived of the rights of citizenship especially the right to vote [syn: disfranchised, voteless] [ant: enfranchised]
Read it again. I did not make a judgment on Real's behavior all by itself. My point was that they aren't consistent in their condemnation of this behavior.
Furthermore, Apple has been fighting Microsoft for much longer than "Linux" has (whoever that is; I thought Linux was just a kernel).
I haven't thought about this particular situation much, so my opinion is a bit half-baked at the moment. I am neither opposed to nor in favor of another digital music store for my iPod. It wouldn't harm me if it existed, and I probably wouldn't use it. Apple's selection, pricing structure, and technology are suitable for my tastes.
I strongly dislike Real's stance as a victim. Where was Real when Apple, and most everyone else, was getting stomped into the ground by Microsoft's anticompetitive behavior? Oh, that's right, they were writing Windows software while delaying the release of their Mac clients.
At first thought, I wondered why Apple and Real couldn't come to a mutually beneficial agreement whereby Apple would add support to the iPod for Real codecs. But then I realized that this would only serve to steal thunder from the iTunes Music Store, which, as we all know, is simply a way to sell iPods. Opening up the iPod to a competitor's music store is in direct opposition to Apple's strategy: get people to use the iTunes Music Store in order to sell iPods. Likewise, Real writing software primarily for Windows is part of their strategy, and it strikes me as hypocritical for them to publicly chastise Apple for what is essentially the same behavior.
My initial feeling is also that, in principle, it is wrong to close the iPod in this way. Being a particularly pragmatic thinker, I rejected this idea because: (1) the iPod supports enough formats that I can always find a way to get music onto it, and (2) Real doesn't have a God-given right to make their service compatible with the iPod.
Ultimately I just don't care about Real, because although I've heard that they've brought an end to their obnoxious behavior, this whiny episode indicates otherwise to me.
In some respects, computers have long surpassed the power of a human brain. Solve the following for values of n from 0 to 100:
(2^n + 15) / 4
This takes an immeasurably small amount of time for my computer to do. I'll bet it takes you a bit longer.
I've read The Age of Spiritual Machines, and I think Ray Kurzweil is full of crap. He has certainly produced impressive things in the past, but his ideas about the mind take reductionism to a ridiculous extreme. He should stick to building hardware and leave philosophy to people who actually know something about it.
For starters, I wasn't calling *you* self-absorbed. But I think you've done a pretty good job of painting yourself that way by basking in the glow of your (probably exaggerated) power. Why don't you try finding honor in your responsibility instead of dreaming up ways to cause trouble for your hostages?
I'm often struck by the humility and charm of the stereotypical sysadmin:
it is often this person who really keeps the wheels of your company turning
Never mind the people who, you know, actually create products. I know that sysadmins support those people, but c'mon guys... that statement makes the profession sound a bit self-absorbed.
Who cares what went on behind the curtain? The purpose of a security team is to prevent these kinds of things from happening. A bomb went off. Someone died. A lot of people were injured. Unless "behind the scenes" is some magical dimension where these things never happened, security at the Georgia games was not sufficient to stop a bomb from going off.
Actually, they do listen, but they weigh user complaints against the resources required to address them. For example, when Mac OS X was first being developed, graphics professionals the world over moaned about the colored buttons. They said the colors would get in the way of their work. Did Apple decide not to listen? No, they added an option for gray controls. Here are a few more things Apple has fixed after listening to its users' complaints:
Toned down the pinstripes
Added labels back to the Finder
Made it easier to find a specific pane in System Preferences
Restored the apple menu
Improved performance of iPhoto
Those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Apple, for one, is listening. You just have to send your complaints to them instead of writing them out on a blog. (That's not meant to imply that this is what you, in particular, are doing.) You might be ignored. Your complaint might be stupid. Or The Steve might simply decide that his mind is made up. But for the most part, Apple listens to its customers when they are reasonable.
Anyone who has ever played a Bungie game will immediately recognize the black box text on ilovebees. The text itself is new but the style is not. Bungie has been writing things from insane computers since day one. Marathon, anyone?
Doesn't look like it. Nor do they account for, as someone else pointed out, turning. Even more importantly, at no point during the simulation does a dog run out into the street, a hubcap fall off, or a tire blow out. At the end of their report, the authors mention that humans probably aren't capable of driving within the tolerances required by their system, but they never consider distress/emergency situations.
But, in spite of its limitations, this is an impressive technique and I'm sure that someone will be able to build on it.
This is the single most annoying behavior of one of my coworkers. He uses the Milton voice ALL THE TIME. Not just when he's quoting Milton (which he does with maddening frequency), but when he's pretending to be a victim of the accounting department, shifting blame for his poor technical skills, or just plain making shit up. If I hear the words "I was told" one more time I'm going to install Oracle 10g in his ass.
Slashdot Mirror
I was with you until you did this.
Water going down drains in different directions is a fallacy, for which there is no observational evidence that requires explanation.
The first part of this statement is, of course, true. I disagree somewhat with the second part. While I have never taken the time to observe the rotational direction of a significant (or even insignificant) number of drains, the fact is that the water does rotate. This requires explanation. There is, in fact, a rotational effect. Just because the effect is set in motion when the tub or sink is filled, instead of by Coriolis force, doesn't mean the effect is less real.
Ah, I was not aware that "nova" is a word all by itself. Sherlock clumsily translates it as "it novates", which apparently means "it replaces with something new". Sounds like a word without a direct English translation.
(And yes, I know it's a myth.)
This post was copied from the previous article.
Just what I needed, a way to run crappy Windows apps on OS X!
The one we're talking about, smartass. Water going down drains.
Another good one is the "creat" system call for making new files. Seriously, WTF?
It's hard to compare the Kashmir problem to anything in the United States because we aren't involved in any border disputes with our neighbors. The closest thing that I can come up with would be to say that Texas still belongs to Mexico. Even that is a stretch, because the Mexico-Texas border isn't disputed. Kashmir is a very real political disagreement that doesn't even have a border -- it has a cease-fire line! People have died over Kashmir, and I'm not talking about someone's ancestor five generations ago, I'm talking about earlier this year. I think it's undeniably insensitive for anyone to ignore that. Doesn't anyone at Microsoft read the news?
disenfranchised, adj : deprived of the rights of citizenship especially the right to vote [syn: disfranchised, voteless] [ant: enfranchised]
Furthermore, Apple has been fighting Microsoft for much longer than "Linux" has (whoever that is; I thought Linux was just a kernel).
I believe it's once a day.
I strongly dislike Real's stance as a victim. Where was Real when Apple, and most everyone else, was getting stomped into the ground by Microsoft's anticompetitive behavior? Oh, that's right, they were writing Windows software while delaying the release of their Mac clients.
At first thought, I wondered why Apple and Real couldn't come to a mutually beneficial agreement whereby Apple would add support to the iPod for Real codecs. But then I realized that this would only serve to steal thunder from the iTunes Music Store, which, as we all know, is simply a way to sell iPods. Opening up the iPod to a competitor's music store is in direct opposition to Apple's strategy: get people to use the iTunes Music Store in order to sell iPods. Likewise, Real writing software primarily for Windows is part of their strategy, and it strikes me as hypocritical for them to publicly chastise Apple for what is essentially the same behavior.
My initial feeling is also that, in principle, it is wrong to close the iPod in this way. Being a particularly pragmatic thinker, I rejected this idea because: (1) the iPod supports enough formats that I can always find a way to get music onto it, and (2) Real doesn't have a God-given right to make their service compatible with the iPod.
Ultimately I just don't care about Real, because although I've heard that they've brought an end to their obnoxious behavior, this whiny episode indicates otherwise to me.
And it has nothing to do with computation.
(2^n + 15) / 4
This takes an immeasurably small amount of time for my computer to do. I'll bet it takes you a bit longer.
I've read The Age of Spiritual Machines, and I think Ray Kurzweil is full of crap. He has certainly produced impressive things in the past, but his ideas about the mind take reductionism to a ridiculous extreme. He should stick to building hardware and leave philosophy to people who actually know something about it.
Coincidentally, 70% of my voicemail messages are Sophos salespeople. Andrew, if you're reading this: for the love of God, STOP CALLING ME!!!
For starters, I wasn't calling *you* self-absorbed. But I think you've done a pretty good job of painting yourself that way by basking in the glow of your (probably exaggerated) power. Why don't you try finding honor in your responsibility instead of dreaming up ways to cause trouble for your hostages?
it is often this person who really keeps the wheels of your company turning
Never mind the people who, you know, actually create products. I know that sysadmins support those people, but c'mon guys... that statement makes the profession sound a bit self-absorbed.
Who cares what went on behind the curtain? The purpose of a security team is to prevent these kinds of things from happening. A bomb went off. Someone died. A lot of people were injured. Unless "behind the scenes" is some magical dimension where these things never happened, security at the Georgia games was not sufficient to stop a bomb from going off.
Well good, I'm glad that worked.
Definitely. I lived in Scottsdale for about two years and it's simply fantastic during most of the year.
Those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Apple, for one, is listening. You just have to send your complaints to them instead of writing them out on a blog. (That's not meant to imply that this is what you, in particular, are doing.) You might be ignored. Your complaint might be stupid. Or The Steve might simply decide that his mind is made up. But for the most part, Apple listens to its customers when they are reasonable.
Anyone who has ever played a Bungie game will immediately recognize the black box text on ilovebees. The text itself is new but the style is not. Bungie has been writing things from insane computers since day one. Marathon, anyone?
But, in spite of its limitations, this is an impressive technique and I'm sure that someone will be able to build on it.
This is the single most annoying behavior of one of my coworkers. He uses the Milton voice ALL THE TIME. Not just when he's quoting Milton (which he does with maddening frequency), but when he's pretending to be a victim of the accounting department, shifting blame for his poor technical skills, or just plain making shit up. If I hear the words "I was told" one more time I'm going to install Oracle 10g in his ass.