I completely understand where you are coming from. You are bitter for a reason.
I will elaborate some. Japanese tries to avoid ambiguity through detail. English avoids ambiguity through building abstractions. Yes, they both do both. It is just that they are more oriented towards different directions. You are correct in that this is cultural, and is ubiquitous to the extent that it need not be mentioned. They are givens. But you trip when one tries to learn the other, much like a fish thrown out of the water.
There is a new English school that teaches English using these principles. You might find this interesting.
Exactly. 95 truly conquered the *world*. The OS of mass destruction.
Really, no one needs to feel sorry for Bill or Steve. They are on top of the world, and they have nothing to be defensive about.
They'll do their job and promote their latest mediocre products. But who cares, we'll end up with Vista anyway when we buy the latest Sony or Dell, and sure enough a couple hundred dollars flies from our pocket to theirs. Don't you think they know that?
Year after year, all of their innovations *flop*. Yet Office and Windows keep raking in billions, and they just don't know what to do with the money anymore. Give Bill credit for giving back.
They can be made exclusive if you need them be. That was my point. Yes, they can mix, and they mix very well, hence all this confusion about facts. A scientist cannot be influenced by politics. If they are, what they are doing is not science.
I whole heartedly disagree with your claim that facts are politically influenced, if by facts, you mean scientifically testable (to use your word) facts. If you mean common consensus, then yes. But "fact", no. That word should be reserved for politically immune truths, or else I need to update my vocabulary with a word for it.
Facts are not "decisions".
What I meant by "what Al Gore said" was not referring to the "facts" he stated, but to the "act" of debating what someone said. Facts are never about who said them or how they got out. Debating over facts should always be about the evidence, and never the messenger.
If I were to "decide" that 1 + 1 = 3, then I would not be able to build skyscrapers. That is why "imaginary facts" used in politics can only tear things down. Our history is filled with illustrious examples of such politically motivated imaginary facts.
Just as a side note, it was interesting to hear all those Tivo jokes about the American Idol finale. Apparently the show was running late, and when they announced the winner, it bit into the next hour and Tivo missed it... Some were saying they did it on purpose to discourage Tivo users.
Once you have the talk show hosts joking about Tivo on TV though, we know it is here to stay. Even the industry depends on it.
I am not saying they are exclusive. But here is why I said it.
If we are debating facts, we should be able to avoid politics.
If we are debating science, then it is all about politics.
Most of your arguments are regarding the debate over global warming. This is politics. The debate over whether or not CO2 can cause the atmosphere to warm by decreasing the amount of heat that is able to escape, is science. Whether more CO2 is emitted with increasing temperatures, is science. Whether what Al Gore said was true or false, is politics.
Science is used to build skyscrapers. Politics is used to tear them down.
Science is about rationalizing real phenomena and making things work. Politics is about rationalizing imaginary phenomena so that we can pretend that something works.
But, you are correct in that, to a non-scientist, all this noise sounds the same. And, that is precisely why we are f*cked.
To summarize the great post above, price is only one dimension. Performance is another, and SSDs totally blow away any HDD competitors. HDDs have been around a very long time, and already use caching and other sophisticated trickery to break barriers. SSDs are practically faster than HDDs out of the gate, so just imagine how blazing fast they would be by the time they catch up in price?
In fact, I doubt they will ever catch up in price, because HDDs will ALWAYS have to be cheaper to sell. There is no equating them.
The above is true, and rise in temperatures caused from CO2 are ALSO true.
That is why once you start increasing CO2 levels, it gets warmer FASTER because it triggers even more CO2 to be created, and all of it causes more warming.
Get with the program people. This is science not politics.
SQLite also has a great database client available as an add-on for FireFox and/or Thunderbird. So if you want a GUI for your db, there is your cross-platform, GPL (or better) client program.
If companies are not paying because they cannot afford to, and not because they do not want to, that would make it not a shortage, but a shrinkage! Demand is there, but everyone's broke.
Getting offers is kind of like being on a spam list... You can be totally submerged in one company and be invisible, even if you are a great talent. So maybe he should try looking for a new job?! But who knows, we don't know his situation. Maybe he loves where's he's at:)
The engineers that rose, and brought up the economy with them were mechanical and electrical engineers. This was pre-PC and pre-IT, and back then, they were at the bleeding cutting edge.
However, once computers and software got involved all the "clues" to innovation were lost. More over, everything became predominantly "foreign". Intel, Microsoft, Adobe, Apple... All the protocals, languages, libraries, and even the Open Source concept are all foreign. Basically, foreign software and technologies have conquered the market, and unlike with cars (when they were huge gas guzzlers), these software products are actually quite good. The Japanese don't have that "smaller, cheaper, more reliable" answer to software.
For whatever its worth, that makes Ruby a true *gem*.
Has anyone using Tivo ever been able to go back to regular TV? If they took a look at the viewing habits of Tivo-ed users, they would be forced to remove the flag if Tivo had enforced it.
Ever since I got Tivo, I *never* watch programs in real-time. If I can't record it, I am not watching it.
And to go even further, it is this conversion tracking that pushes budget increases through the chanels of a business bureaucracy.
Did it work? a. Well, our sales last month were pretty good. *vs* b. We spent 1000 dollars and those ads led to 1300 in sales.
If b, well, why not spend 10000 then? This cycle continues! And that is how google is raking it in. Everything else google does is for fun and laughs (business-wise).
Comp sci has been an achilles heel in Japanese education.
Not even at the college level will you find decent computer courses that can mass produce decent programmers. Japanese is naturally a less abstraction oriented language, and in school, they get attached to the details and technicalities, making the courses boring, difficult, and alienating, not to mention unproductive. What they really need to teach is how to abstract those details away and how to be constructive. This is done creatively, not logically.
Then there is the whole video game situation. These programmers don't mix with other industries, so it acts like a huge black hole for programming talent by not sharing their talent pool with the software industry.
Overpriced and incompetent, software houses in Japan have wrecked havok on Japanese businesses since day one, and now pretty much everyone is just scared to try anything.
it's not about the shortage of engineers, it's about the shortage of cheap engineers. Could it be that engineers are not cheap because of the shortage?
I think we totally agree that XP is not for OLPC. I probably just don't give OLPC as much credit as you do.
There is a huge difference between fixing something and replacing a part. If a kid fixes a broken motherboard, then I would be impressed. And how often do you have a spare motherboard "in the field"?
The only reason it does not happen in the 'developed world' is that our products are deliberately designed to prevent this; one-way screws, hidden catches, draconian warranties ("opening voids warranty, no user servicable parts inside"). Some products sure, but plenty of products are designed to be self-repairable. Computers, cars, house appliances are often *very* repairable. More so if you consider swapping parts repair.
This is why a for-profit product (hardware (like the NDS) or software (like XP-lite)) are the WRONG CHOICE for OLPC; they are designed to generate a revenue stream rather than maximise user benefit. The point about NDS is not that Nintendo should sell these kids an NDS variant. It is that Nintendo can create the NDS to be *better* and *cheaper* and *for profit*. If that is the case, then why can't OLPC create something *as good as* an NDS, but even cheaper since they are supposedly *not* for profit?
Slashdot Mirror
I completely understand where you are coming from. You are bitter for a reason.
I will elaborate some. Japanese tries to avoid ambiguity through detail. English avoids ambiguity through building abstractions. Yes, they both do both. It is just that they are more oriented towards different directions. You are correct in that this is cultural, and is ubiquitous to the extent that it need not be mentioned. They are givens. But you trip when one tries to learn the other, much like a fish thrown out of the water.
There is a new English school that teaches English using these principles. You might find this interesting.
Exactly. 95 truly conquered the *world*. The OS of mass destruction.
Really, no one needs to feel sorry for Bill or Steve. They are on top of the world, and they have nothing to be defensive about.
They'll do their job and promote their latest mediocre products. But who cares, we'll end up with Vista anyway when we buy the latest Sony or Dell, and sure enough a couple hundred dollars flies from our pocket to theirs. Don't you think they know that?
Year after year, all of their innovations *flop*. Yet Office and Windows keep raking in billions, and they just don't know what to do with the money anymore. Give Bill credit for giving back.
They can be made exclusive if you need them be. That was my point. Yes, they can mix, and they mix very well, hence all this confusion about facts. A scientist cannot be influenced by politics. If they are, what they are doing is not science.
I whole heartedly disagree with your claim that facts are politically influenced, if by facts, you mean scientifically testable (to use your word) facts. If you mean common consensus, then yes. But "fact", no. That word should be reserved for politically immune truths, or else I need to update my vocabulary with a word for it.
Facts are not "decisions".
What I meant by "what Al Gore said" was not referring to the "facts" he stated, but to the "act" of debating what someone said. Facts are never about who said them or how they got out. Debating over facts should always be about the evidence, and never the messenger.
If I were to "decide" that 1 + 1 = 3, then I would not be able to build skyscrapers. That is why "imaginary facts" used in politics can only tear things down. Our history is filled with illustrious examples of such politically motivated imaginary facts.
Just as a side note, it was interesting to hear all those Tivo jokes about the American Idol finale. Apparently the show was running late, and when they announced the winner, it bit into the next hour and Tivo missed it... Some were saying they did it on purpose to discourage Tivo users.
Once you have the talk show hosts joking about Tivo on TV though, we know it is here to stay. Even the industry depends on it.
I am not saying they are exclusive. But here is why I said it.
If we are debating facts, we should be able to avoid politics.
If we are debating science, then it is all about politics.
Most of your arguments are regarding the debate over global warming. This is politics. The debate over whether or not CO2 can cause the atmosphere to warm by decreasing the amount of heat that is able to escape, is science. Whether more CO2 is emitted with increasing temperatures, is science. Whether what Al Gore said was true or false, is politics.
Science is used to build skyscrapers. Politics is used to tear them down.
Science is about rationalizing real phenomena and making things work. Politics is about rationalizing imaginary phenomena so that we can pretend that something works.
But, you are correct in that, to a non-scientist, all this noise sounds the same. And, that is precisely why we are f*cked.
To summarize the great post above, price is only one dimension. Performance is another, and SSDs totally blow away any HDD competitors. HDDs have been around a very long time, and already use caching and other sophisticated trickery to break barriers. SSDs are practically faster than HDDs out of the gate, so just imagine how blazing fast they would be by the time they catch up in price?
In fact, I doubt they will ever catch up in price, because HDDs will ALWAYS have to be cheaper to sell. There is no equating them.
Once you've experienced a 120Mb/sec read+write SSD, there is no turning back. You'd get a drive for 100 dollars even if it were only 64GB.
Now, what happened after regular "dancing"? Even hop scotch.
I would expect similar results.
This is global warming myths 101.
The above is true, and rise in temperatures caused from CO2 are ALSO true.
That is why once you start increasing CO2 levels, it gets warmer FASTER because it triggers even more CO2 to be created, and all of it causes more warming.
Get with the program people. This is science not politics.
5. Got lucky.
SQLite also has a great database client available as an add-on for FireFox and/or Thunderbird. So if you want a GUI for your db, there is your cross-platform, GPL (or better) client program.
And by golly, nuclear reactors are so cheap!
1. batteries
2. deserts
They are just another PC company going for the cheapest parts.
What is TRULY disturbing is how Apple got you to believe this. If that is not a crime, I do not know what is.
you still get little terds asking you to prove it.
That said, this article is also a piece of sh*t.
If companies are not paying because they cannot afford to, and not because they do not want to, that would make it not a shortage, but a shrinkage! Demand is there, but everyone's broke.
The industry has Erectile Disfunction.
Getting offers is kind of like being on a spam list... You can be totally submerged in one company and be invisible, even if you are a great talent. So maybe he should try looking for a new job?! But who knows, we don't know his situation. Maybe he loves where's he's at :)
I completely agree with this Anonymous Coward.
The engineers that rose, and brought up the economy with them were mechanical and electrical engineers. This was pre-PC and pre-IT, and back then, they were at the bleeding cutting edge.
However, once computers and software got involved all the "clues" to innovation were lost. More over, everything became predominantly "foreign". Intel, Microsoft, Adobe, Apple... All the protocals, languages, libraries, and even the Open Source concept are all foreign. Basically, foreign software and technologies have conquered the market, and unlike with cars (when they were huge gas guzzlers), these software products are actually quite good. The Japanese don't have that "smaller, cheaper, more reliable" answer to software.
For whatever its worth, that makes Ruby a true *gem*.
Has anyone using Tivo ever been able to go back to regular TV? If they took a look at the viewing habits of Tivo-ed users, they would be forced to remove the flag if Tivo had enforced it.
Ever since I got Tivo, I *never* watch programs in real-time. If I can't record it, I am not watching it.
And to go even further, it is this conversion tracking that pushes budget increases through the chanels of a business bureaucracy.
Did it work?
a. Well, our sales last month were pretty good.
*vs*
b. We spent 1000 dollars and those ads led to 1300 in sales.
If b, well, why not spend 10000 then? This cycle continues! And that is how google is raking it in. Everything else google does is for fun and laughs (business-wise).
If an ad is clicked in the forest, does it still make a sound?
"click!"
Could it be that since pay hasn't increased, and there *is* a shortage, by definition, you will find a better employer?
Comp sci has been an achilles heel in Japanese education.
Not even at the college level will you find decent computer courses that can mass produce decent programmers. Japanese is naturally a less abstraction oriented language, and in school, they get attached to the details and technicalities, making the courses boring, difficult, and alienating, not to mention unproductive. What they really need to teach is how to abstract those details away and how to be constructive. This is done creatively, not logically.
Then there is the whole video game situation. These programmers don't mix with other industries, so it acts like a huge black hole for programming talent by not sharing their talent pool with the software industry.
Overpriced and incompetent, software houses in Japan have wrecked havok on Japanese businesses since day one, and now pretty much everyone is just scared to try anything.
There is a huge difference between fixing something and replacing a part. If a kid fixes a broken motherboard, then I would be impressed. And how often do you have a spare motherboard "in the field"? The only reason it does not happen in the 'developed world' is that our products are deliberately designed to prevent this; one-way screws, hidden catches, draconian warranties ("opening voids warranty, no user servicable parts inside"). Some products sure, but plenty of products are designed to be self-repairable. Computers, cars, house appliances are often *very* repairable. More so if you consider swapping parts repair. This is why a for-profit product (hardware (like the NDS) or software (like XP-lite)) are the WRONG CHOICE for OLPC; they are designed to generate a revenue stream rather than maximise user benefit. The point about NDS is not that Nintendo should sell these kids an NDS variant. It is that Nintendo can create the NDS to be *better* and *cheaper* and *for profit*. If that is the case, then why can't OLPC create something *as good as* an NDS, but even cheaper since they are supposedly *not* for profit?