I know it's verboten to point out any downside to this sort of thing, in this age of "Everything should be free and open!" But I just wanted to point out, before the flood of "This is great!" and "All academics should do this!" posts that are inevitably to follow, that those commercial publishers and traditional academic journals employ a lot of people who still need to feed their families. Converting to free and open source everything, whatever you opinion of it, does have casualties.
And how much will the resulting product cost, compared to current energy sources? I'm pretty sure that "It's as good as petrol!" isn't going to be much of a selling point if it costs $100/gallon to make.
Yeah and we will surely get there if we never try.
God, I *hate* it when people use that line of thinking as a justification for stupid fucking ideas. You can apply that thoughtless "We'll never know if we don't try!" mentality to almost anything, no matter how brain-dead stupid.
You: "I want to build a urine-powered spacecraft out of parrot feathers and fly it to Mars!" Me: "That's fucking stupid on so many levels. No way should we fund that." You: "We'll never know for sure if we don't try!"
Anyone who thinks you can model a complex biological brain on a binary computer is just demonstrating how ignorant they are. You're not just talking a difference of degree there, but a fundamental difference of KIND.
Is it the Church of Scientology--whose batshit-crazy cult bullshit, strongarm tactics, litigious bullying, etc. are quite well-known by now? Is it these poor souls, who have fallen so far out of favor in recent years that they're losing members even in their traditional gullible himbo/bimbo bastion of Hollywood?
Or is it the Atlantic, who gave up any pretense of integrity long ago, and whore themselves out like a $5 hooker to any advertiser still dumb enough to think that anyone under the age of ancient still reads The Atlantic? Is it these poor souls, who still bother to publish a magazine that hasn't been relevant since The Great War?
I think a better analogy might be two dying dogs, lying down together in a last feeble attempt to fend off the cold.
In the U.S., a lot of jobs are posted with unrealistic qualifications (the "20 years of Java development experience" type shit) so the company can run to the Dept. of Labor and Congress and cry that they need more H1-B visas (i.e., slave labor) because they just "can't find qualified candidates." A lot of jobs are also only posted as a technicality (they already know who they're going to hire, but have to post the job because of law or policy).
So, yeah, I would go as far as to say that they vast majority of advertised jobs are just a cruel mirage.
I think it's safe to assume that the founding fathers weren't talking about nukes when they said "arms," especially considering that they didn't even include "artillery" in the clause.
Were there any good ideas/products this year? I followed CES pretty closely, and I didn't really hear of a single product that excited me. The whole thing this year seemed to be a combination of bad ideas and "more of the same, but with higher resolution." A lot of the big players don't even show up anymore.
There was a similar "language" (actually more an IDE) that I worked with a few years ago with my nephew, called Alice. It was a lot of fun, taught a lot of fundamental OOP concepts, and was surprisingly powerful (yet simple to use). My nephew had all kinds of animation going in a pretty short time, and even did a couple of games in it. Sure beat hand-coding BASIC on a Commodore 64.
It was aimed at about the middle-school level, I would say. But it could also be used at the high-school level too, for a basic "Intro. to Programming" class--something that I wish were offered more often at the primary and secondary level in the U.S. Even non-programmers could benefit from knowing a LITTLE about programming, instead of just treating software like some kind of magic.
in any city or county 'where a public fiber optic telecom network is available.'
Any how many of these houses will meet that rather essential qualification?
Hell, I could install a fiber network in my house and run it out to the curb. But that isn't going to make any difference if there is nothing to connect it to, now is it?
I know a lot of people disagree, but I loved the finale. It's grown on me more since it aired too. There is something about that conclusion that still really sticks in my mind and still pops up in my head sometimes when I read about advancements in A.I.--the idea that humanity is all but doomed to create the A.I. that will lead to its destruction, but that there is also somehow infinite hope that they won't make the same mistake THIS TIME.
I find it both a disturbing and comforting conclusion at the same time (don't think I can say that about the finale of any other series). It's hopeless in the sense that we're probably going to do it all again, but comforting to know that SOME DAY we're going to get it right (maybe even this time).
The rest of you would be working yourself to death too if you were making $7.25/hr., had no job security or benefits, couldn't afford a hospital stay, and were afraid you would get laid off if you took a vacation. No 3-hour lunches or month-long vacations here. We WORK for a living! Even the relatively affluent can get fired or laid off at the drop of a hat in the USA.
But don't worry. You'll learn what it's like soon enough. Greece has already started. No more free rides, fellow Athenians!
Slashdot Mirror
Yep, and in the end, they let them build it--along with the 2,000 other mosques in the U.S. (up 74% since 2000, incidentally).
Number of churches and synagogues in Saudi Arabia: 0 (up 0% since forever).
That must be why there are so many churches in Saudi Arabia, or why non-Muslims are so welcome in Mecca--because they're so tolerant.
Yeah, feel free to reapply in a few centuries.
Actually, don't.
I know it's verboten to point out any downside to this sort of thing, in this age of "Everything should be free and open!" But I just wanted to point out, before the flood of "This is great!" and "All academics should do this!" posts that are inevitably to follow, that those commercial publishers and traditional academic journals employ a lot of people who still need to feed their families. Converting to free and open source everything, whatever you opinion of it, does have casualties.
It would seem that the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security are C# fans.
It will run Atari 2600 emulation at full speed.
And how much will the resulting product cost, compared to current energy sources? I'm pretty sure that "It's as good as petrol!" isn't going to be much of a selling point if it costs $100/gallon to make.
Yeah and we will surely get there if we never try.
God, I *hate* it when people use that line of thinking as a justification for stupid fucking ideas. You can apply that thoughtless "We'll never know if we don't try!" mentality to almost anything, no matter how brain-dead stupid.
You: "I want to build a urine-powered spacecraft out of parrot feathers and fly it to Mars!"
Me: "That's fucking stupid on so many levels. No way should we fund that."
You: "We'll never know for sure if we don't try!"
Anyone who thinks you can model a complex biological brain on a binary computer is just demonstrating how ignorant they are. You're not just talking a difference of degree there, but a fundamental difference of KIND.
Perpetual kittens.
Normally, I'm against screwing around too much with nature. But goddamn that would be worth it!
Would you be thrilled if a handful of those recent titles was the ONLY content you had?
The only question here is "Which one is the dog?"
Is it the Church of Scientology--whose batshit-crazy cult bullshit, strongarm tactics, litigious bullying, etc. are quite well-known by now? Is it these poor souls, who have fallen so far out of favor in recent years that they're losing members even in their traditional gullible himbo/bimbo bastion of Hollywood?
Or is it the Atlantic, who gave up any pretense of integrity long ago, and whore themselves out like a $5 hooker to any advertiser still dumb enough to think that anyone under the age of ancient still reads The Atlantic? Is it these poor souls, who still bother to publish a magazine that hasn't been relevant since The Great War?
I think a better analogy might be two dying dogs, lying down together in a last feeble attempt to fend off the cold.
In the U.S., a lot of jobs are posted with unrealistic qualifications (the "20 years of Java development experience" type shit) so the company can run to the Dept. of Labor and Congress and cry that they need more H1-B visas (i.e., slave labor) because they just "can't find qualified candidates." A lot of jobs are also only posted as a technicality (they already know who they're going to hire, but have to post the job because of law or policy).
So, yeah, I would go as far as to say that they vast majority of advertised jobs are just a cruel mirage.
where is this magical land you speak of?
Follow the sound of thunder.
Well, I've pretty much stopped looking.
Try China or India.
I think it's safe to assume that the founding fathers weren't talking about nukes when they said "arms," especially considering that they didn't even include "artillery" in the clause.
Please, it's all I've still got left to believe in at this point!!!
He's totally going to be first tomorrow, so GET OFF HIS BACK, MOM!
Were there any good ideas/products this year? I followed CES pretty closely, and I didn't really hear of a single product that excited me. The whole thing this year seemed to be a combination of bad ideas and "more of the same, but with higher resolution." A lot of the big players don't even show up anymore.
There was a similar "language" (actually more an IDE) that I worked with a few years ago with my nephew, called Alice. It was a lot of fun, taught a lot of fundamental OOP concepts, and was surprisingly powerful (yet simple to use). My nephew had all kinds of animation going in a pretty short time, and even did a couple of games in it. Sure beat hand-coding BASIC on a Commodore 64.
It was aimed at about the middle-school level, I would say. But it could also be used at the high-school level too, for a basic "Intro. to Programming" class--something that I wish were offered more often at the primary and secondary level in the U.S. Even non-programmers could benefit from knowing a LITTLE about programming, instead of just treating software like some kind of magic.
in any city or county 'where a public fiber optic telecom network is available.'
Any how many of these houses will meet that rather essential qualification?
Hell, I could install a fiber network in my house and run it out to the curb. But that isn't going to make any difference if there is nothing to connect it to, now is it?
I know a lot of people disagree, but I loved the finale. It's grown on me more since it aired too. There is something about that conclusion that still really sticks in my mind and still pops up in my head sometimes when I read about advancements in A.I.--the idea that humanity is all but doomed to create the A.I. that will lead to its destruction, but that there is also somehow infinite hope that they won't make the same mistake THIS TIME.
I find it both a disturbing and comforting conclusion at the same time (don't think I can say that about the finale of any other series). It's hopeless in the sense that we're probably going to do it all again, but comforting to know that SOME DAY we're going to get it right (maybe even this time).
I do not see this relationship ending amicably.
For fucks sake, read the fucking comment:
Even the relatively affluent can get fired or laid off at the drop of a hat in the USA.
The rest of you would be working yourself to death too if you were making $7.25/hr., had no job security or benefits, couldn't afford a hospital stay, and were afraid you would get laid off if you took a vacation. No 3-hour lunches or month-long vacations here. We WORK for a living! Even the relatively affluent can get fired or laid off at the drop of a hat in the USA.
But don't worry. You'll learn what it's like soon enough. Greece has already started. No more free rides, fellow Athenians!