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User: jholyhead

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Comments · 122

  1. Re:What about schools? on Univ. of Minnesota Compiles Database of Peer-Reviewed, Open-Access Textbooks · · Score: 1

    Doesn't justify the outrageous cost of some schoolbooks. I don't care if Johannes Gutenberg himself did the book layout, $50 - 100 per book is not a reasonable price for a high school textbook, especially when the publishers push out unnecessary updates every other year.

  2. Re:But funding is dependent on journal publication on Jimmy Wales Backs UK Government Bid To Free Academic Data · · Score: 2

    So the government wants you to publish your stuff in open journals, but they wont fund your research unless you publish in closed journals.

    Did I mention how much I love the government?

  3. Re:Seems partly justified on Judge Grudgingly Awards $3.6 Million In DRM Circumvention Case · · Score: 2

    You're kidding, right? There is absolutely no reason to believe that the money people donated to UMaple would have otherwise been spent with MapleStory. MapleStory probably made money as a result of UMaple existing as it drew people into the community. When the judge making the finding is incredulous at the awards he is being forced to hand down, you know things have gotten out of hand.

  4. They're not drug dealers, they're job creators on Feds Shut Down Tor-Using Narcotics Store · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just another example of the job killing regulations enacted by the Obama administration. When will the federal government get out of the way of small business owners and job creators?

  5. Re:And the patents are... on Facebook Countersues Yahoo Over 10 Patents · · Score: 2

    Facebook only owned 56 parents at the end of 2011 - that's why they were such a tempting target for Yahoo - no real prospect of a big countersuit. They must have shit a brick when they heard Facebook had purchased 750 patents from IBM out of the blue.

  6. Lariam? Really? on Army Reviews Controversial Drug After Afghan Massacre · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Having known someone who suffered from Lariam induced psychosis some years ago, I find it shocking beyond belief that they would give this stuff to men with guns.

    Whether Bales was suffering from such psychosis at the time should be considered secondary - the US military was giving its soldiers a drug that can lead to violent psychotic episodes. The person who made that decision needs to be escorted to the cell adjoining Bales'.

  7. Re:"coercing developers" on New Programming Languages Come From Designers · · Score: 3, Funny

    You've never been to a Rails convention have you?

  8. Re:All I want is one GOOD programming language. on New Programming Languages Come From Designers · · Score: 1

    Programming languages are tools. You pick the best one for the job, but no language is every going to be ideal for every possible application. It would be like a builder saying 'all I want is one good screwdriver'

    No one ever designed a language intending for their to be flaws or omissions.

  9. The virtue of solving your own problems on New Programming Languages Come From Designers · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When someone designs a programming language to solve a problem that they have, they are designing a programming language that will likely solve the problems of a lot of other people (unless you have particularly esoteric problems).

    Matz has said that he built Ruby because he wanted a scripting language more powerful than Perl but more object oriented than Python. He solved his own need and that coincided with the needs of other people, making it a popular language.

    Design-by-committee languages tend to feel like they've taken a blind guess at what problems need to be solved without consulting the people experiencing those problems.

  10. Re:Adapt or Die on Cloud To Create 14 Million Jobs? Not So Much · · Score: 1

    The rate of change is fast by evolution standards, but it is still years between a shift becoming inevitable and it completing. The cloud has been on the way for the best part of a decade. It has been called different things along the way, but the basic concepts have stayed the same and technology has been catching up, making it easier to implement, cheaper to maintain and more reliable to run. If the cloud has surprised you, it is because you weren't paying attention.

  11. Re:The cloud on Cloud To Create 14 Million Jobs? Not So Much · · Score: 1

    Microsoft have been pumping resources into Azure recently, both in terms of money and in terms of their best people. They're all-in at this point.

  12. Re:Not likely... on Cloud To Create 14 Million Jobs? Not So Much · · Score: 2

    Today your boss doesn't see the sense of it, but he will one day - either that or he'll get fired when your business is no longer competitive in the marketplace.

    There are no safe jobs. Only complacent workers.

  13. Adapt or Die on Cloud To Create 14 Million Jobs? Not So Much · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If the industry shifts and you no longer need as many IT staff, so be it. Throughout history, advances in technology have wiped out entire professions - when was the last time you met a fletcher, tanner or a pencil and paper draughtsman? This would be no different. Technology progress inevitably makes some people's professions redundant, but they also open new doors. It is for those at risk of obsolescence to spot the trend and make the transition to one of those shiny new doors before their existing one slams shut in their face.

    I say bring it on.

  14. Occam's razor isn't something you shave with on Did the Titanic Sink Due To an Optical Illusion? · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What's more likely?

    Lookouts weren't paying attention or a rare optical effect making the iceberg invisible.

  15. Re:Something similar in the UK on Open Ministry Crowdsources Laws In Finland · · Score: 1

    If you get 100,000 signatures they only have to consider offering a debate, which means less than nothing in the Commons.

  16. Re:Since when is JavaScript an unorthodox choice? on Khan Academy Chooses JavaScript As Intro Language · · Score: 1

    I'm not saying it is a 'bad' language (whatever one of those is), but it is not the best choice, or the second best choice, or the third best choice, in my opinion. As for my second statement, it might have been more accurate to say 'if you can't be bothered to work out how to install Python, you probably lack the motivation to learn how to code'.

  17. Since when is JavaScript an unorthodox choice? on Khan Academy Chooses JavaScript As Intro Language · · Score: 1, Troll

    Everywhere I've looked for the last year, people have been using JavaScript to teach programming. Codecademy anyone?

    I personally think it's a horrible choice. If you don't know enough about computers to install Python, you probably don't know enough about computers to learn how to code.

  18. Don't be a dick, dick on Ask Slashdot: Best Practices For Leaving an IT Admin Position? · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If the guy who replaces you needs a hand, give him a god damned hand!

    If you've failed to adequately document your role in the time you've been there, you're the one who is lazy and incompetent - it is in your best interests to convince your replacement not to point this out to your old boss, who might point it out to your new boss.

  19. Publish or Perish on Academics Not Productive Enough? Sack 'em · · Score: 0

    Less than 4 papers in 3 years? I'd sack them too.

  20. Re:I have a 'creative' on Dealing With an Overly-Restrictive Intellectual Property Policy? · · Score: 1

    unless one of them is also a lawyer, that's a strategy leading straight to bankruptcy.

  21. Re:what happens to open source work? under laws on Dealing With an Overly-Restrictive Intellectual Property Policy? · · Score: 1

    The company inherits IP that you generate. If they chose to fight it, they could demand the code is returned to them as it wasn't yours to donate to the OS project in the first place.

  22. Re:Do you have kids? on Dealing With an Overly-Restrictive Intellectual Property Policy? · · Score: 1

    That's fine if you have a kid who is also a partner in a corporate law firm.

    You think your employers wont chance their hand with a judge if you build something profitable? Could you afford to contest a suit if they did file?

  23. Re:I am worried about this myself. on Dealing With an Overly-Restrictive Intellectual Property Policy? · · Score: 2

    Why the hell didn't you deal with this before signing it?

    Desperation is an excuse for signing if even if they wouldn't budge, but it isn't an excuse for not even trying to budge them in the first place. They offered you a contract - you were in the position of strength at that moment and you bottled it. Now you are under contract and are in a position of weakness relying on your employer's goodwill. Not a place you want to be.

    Talk to your boss first thing tomorrow. The longer you leave it, the harder it will be to change it.

  24. Re:Remember kids on Journalist Arrested For Tweet Deported to Saudi Arabia · · Score: 0, Troll

    True. In the US, they prefer to execute on the basis of skin colour. /trolling

  25. Let them cheat! on Ask Slashdot: How To Allow Test Takers Internet Access, But Minimize Cheating? · · Score: 1

    As you say, when they get into the workplace, if they need to know something, they're going to Google it. By limiting the resources they can use when answering exam questions, you are increasing the distance between education and the workplace - who does that help?

    So set them realistic problems and let your students solve them by hook or by crook, just they way they'll solve them when they're on a payroll.

    At least that way, the students who do well on the test will be the ones who will do well in industry, as opposed to the current situation, where we have engineers who can do CFD by hand, but can't tell the difference between Aluminium and Steel.