There's a fine balance to be walked here, but frankly lots of companies haven't walked even near that line for years.
They've honed a culture of making it impossible to fix anything, when the truth is that minimal changes would make it easy to fix most common problems for - not all, but many people and their friends.
The sudden appearance of a ton of small iPhone and related repair shops prove there's market for this.
I predict a lot of naysayers are going to turn up in this thread, and yes, it's a balance. But there's lots of low-hanging fruit out there.
Unfortunately, I don't think most companies will pick it themselves unless repairability gets into the competitive focus. There are signs it might, though. When people talk about sustainability and a circular economy, it doesn't take long to figure out that the longer the cycle lasts, the less resources needs to be put into it.
For instance, a company like Apple may not be able to ignore this if the hipster crowd figures out another company can make greener products.
I counted launches this year and got 7. Apparently, each launch is priced at 65 million USD or more. 7 x 65 = 455. We're now in June, so if they got 7 more launches out, that's around the 1 billion you estimate the burn rate to.
Now, I don't know if you include materials in the burn rate, but if they manufacture the rockets in-house, I would guess salaries would be the dominant factor.
What he was fined for doing was using the term "engineer" to describe himself while doing it.
No, it is much more sinister, the board wouldn't tolerate that he was using methods used by engineers.
You don't believe that, did you? I didn't.
But there was a thread about this on a Danish engineering forum some time ago, and someone dug up this:
"By reviewing, critiquing, and altering an engineered ITE formula, and submitting the critique and calculations for his modified version of the ITE formula to members of the public for consideration and modification of Beaverton, Oregon 's and worldwide traffic signals, which signals are public equipment, processes and works, Jarlstrom applied special knowledge of the mathematical, physical and engineering sciences to such creative work as investigation, evaluation, and design in connection with public equipment, processes, and works. Jarlstrom thereby engaged in the practice of engineering under ORS 672.005(1)(b).
By doing so through the use of algorithms for the operation of traffic control systems, and through the use of the science of analysis, review, and application of traffic data systems to advise members of the public on the treatment of the functional characteristics of traffic signal timing, Jarlstrom engaged, specifically, in traffic engineering under OAR 820-040-0030(1)(b) and (2)(a).
By engaging the practice of engineering (specifically, traffic engineering) without registration, Jarlstrom violated ORS 672.020(1), 672.045(1) and OAR 820-010-0730(3)(c)"
his entire business is dependent upon strict environment and pollution controls.
Actually, that's not true. Tesla cars have gotten subsidies but those are going to run out soonish. People are buying them despite their price tag because they like 'em. They're producing as many as they possibly can.
I think the SolarCity part is probably receiving subsidies one way or another (net metering is once such subsidy). But costs are dwindling so those are probably going away too, eventually.
One of the goals of UBI is to make welfare cheaper - less administrative overhead, less hospitalization. So it may not be apples-to-apples when you're comparing before with after.
Another goal is to enable low-paid workes to get a job which increases the tax base.
Say Joe Schmuck can't find a job in the current economy, nobody's going to pay him the $20 USD/hour it takes for him to survive. Now the government steps in and pays him this, and suddently he might accept $10 USD/hour to earn enough money to go on vacation etc, something he can't afford on UBI.
Additionally, if you give a well-paid individual $30k extra, you can tax that individual $30k extra per year, no problem. Then that person won't get $30k extra, but we aren't discussing UBI because well-paid individuals are in trouble, we're discussing it because it looks like the increasing technological innovations may create a permanent problem for a large group of people. In other words, the status quo may eventually be rioting in the streets.
But yes, it seems unlikely things can be balanced without increased taxes, at least if we're talking about UBI that can actually support people and supplant other wellfare programmes.
I for one enjoyed reading the replies. Although many of them didn't directly answer the questions asked, Goodenough comes across as a true battery nerd. Exactly the sort of person we need more of in this world. We'll see if the tech can be mass-produced cheap enough to compete with lithium-ion in the coming years.
Although some people were disgruntled and some with good reason, there never was a mass exodus of developers. The GNOME project has always been somewhat fragmented with people coming and leaving. In recent years, they've done a lot of stuff to attract more developers, with some success, I think, at least looking from the outside.
You can say that, but the Red Hat "bubble" is really big - they're pouring tons of resources into upstream projects, so calling GNOME irrelevant is shortsighted.
Also some of the people of the full-Apple mindset has had less time/influence the last couple of years, and some of the warts have been removed.
There's a huge difference between boring through dirt and clay, and blasting your way through rock. The latter material holds itself, so basically you just need to blast away and remove material, and you're done. With the former, there's a much more complicated process of putting in concrete reinforcements and dealing with underground water and whatnot.
Here in Denmark, Intel closed a division they bought some years ago because clearly the employees wouldn't mind moving to another country (they were to be relocated to somewhere in Germany I believe) and despite having almost completed a new lab facility.
Only to find out that they didn't have anyone else who could develop the products they had already sold. So they ended up cancelling the closure AFTER having announced it to the public.
These kind of decisions aren't rational. They happen because someone takes a look at a spreadsheet and thinks to him/herself - gosh, that looks complicated! Let's cross out half of the lines, then it's much simpler! It's a gross failure of an organization when stupid decisions from the top aren't blocked - well in this case it was, but a little late. They proved they weren't a reliable employer and did lose a bunch of people.
The title is cheesy, but it really is an interesting book, once you get into it. Semler's philosophy is that of questioning things and if no good answers are provided, experiment with changing it.
For instance, he describes how he wanted to let people themselves choose the executive which ended up with him being replaced.:)
Or another experiment where he thought it was silly that the company should dictate the working hours in their factory. He then had to fight the union who thought he was tricking them, until they the finally agreed to a carefully controlled experiment - in the end the workers just held a short meeting the day before and decided among themselves what do to.
Of course, some kind of coordination structure is still needed. But there's a difference between CEO-is-coordinator to CEO-is-tyrant-who-can-fire-you-on-the-spot-if-he-doesn't-like-your-dress.
People will self-organize, and self-organization is powerful because it lets those with the dirty fingers make adjustments that are obvious to them.
Not an expert, but as far as I understand, the problem with the molten-salt reactors is in the name: you have really hot, radioactive molten salt you need to deal with, and that's just a hard problem in many aspects.
Many of the presentations seem to come from people interested in the physics, and for that kind of people, it's just a set of engineering problems.
But the thing is that you don't just need to solve them, you also need to do that in a manner that is competitive with traditional nuclear plants and renewables like solar and wind. And renewables are getting cheaper every year.
So it's a really, really tough problem. Don't trust the hype.
Red Hat is big and getting bigger. Where are you heading at the moment? Would Red Hat ever try to move into the the more consumer-focused places where Ubuntu has ventured, or is that just not profitable enough?
Nobody in Germany in the 20s would have ever guessed that the 30s would see them in a Nazi dictatorship.
Not an expert in German history, but it's my understanding that the democratic traditions in Germany were still young in the Weimar Republic, so while they might not have expected to the Nazis to take over, I think this statement is perhaps somewhat speculative? Do you have some sources you can quote? Young democracies seem fragile.
It's clear that Obama is not fond of Edward Snowden and would never pardon him. But admitting that to a bunch of German Snowden fans is probably not wise. So he just tells them a little lie that seems legit enough for people not used to the American legal system, adding some hints that the case is not black and white.
... here you have an open source booster (Red Hat's CEO Jim Whitehurst) pitching proprietary software as a good thing unto itself.
I think he's just commenting on the fact that while people are still deploying and using proprietary software, they're increasingly going to do it on open-source infrastructure.
So while he's not pitching proprietary software as a bad thing, I think it's quite a stretch to claim the opposite, from this story.
Slashdot Mirror
There's a fine balance to be walked here, but frankly lots of companies haven't walked even near that line for years.
They've honed a culture of making it impossible to fix anything, when the truth is that minimal changes would make it easy to fix most common problems for - not all, but many people and their friends.
The sudden appearance of a ton of small iPhone and related repair shops prove there's market for this.
I predict a lot of naysayers are going to turn up in this thread, and yes, it's a balance. But there's lots of low-hanging fruit out there.
Unfortunately, I don't think most companies will pick it themselves unless repairability gets into the competitive focus. There are signs it might, though. When people talk about sustainability and a circular economy, it doesn't take long to figure out that the longer the cycle lasts, the less resources needs to be put into it.
For instance, a company like Apple may not be able to ignore this if the hipster crowd figures out another company can make greener products.
I counted launches this year and got 7. Apparently, each launch is priced at 65 million USD or more. 7 x 65 = 455. We're now in June, so if they got 7 more launches out, that's around the 1 billion you estimate the burn rate to.
Now, I don't know if you include materials in the burn rate, but if they manufacture the rockets in-house, I would guess salaries would be the dominant factor.
What he was fined for doing was using the term "engineer" to describe himself while doing it.
No, it is much more sinister, the board wouldn't tolerate that he was using methods used by engineers.
You don't believe that, did you? I didn't.
But there was a thread about this on a Danish engineering forum some time ago, and someone dug up this:
"By reviewing, critiquing, and altering an engineered ITE formula, and submitting the critique and calculations for his modified version of the ITE formula to members of the public for consideration and modification of Beaverton, Oregon 's and worldwide traffic signals, which signals are public equipment, processes and works, Jarlstrom applied special knowledge of the mathematical, physical and engineering sciences to such creative work as investigation, evaluation, and design in connection with public equipment, processes, and works. Jarlstrom thereby engaged in the practice of engineering under ORS 672.005(1)(b).
By doing so through the use of algorithms for the operation of traffic control systems, and through the use of the science of analysis, review, and application of traffic data systems to advise members of the public on the treatment of the functional characteristics of traffic signal timing, Jarlstrom engaged, specifically, in traffic engineering under OAR 820-040-0030(1)(b) and (2)(a).
By engaging the practice of engineering (specifically, traffic engineering) without registration, Jarlstrom violated ORS 672.020(1), 672.045(1) and OAR 820-010-0730(3)(c)"
From the correspondance: https://motherboard.vice.com/e...
his entire business is dependent upon strict environment and pollution controls.
Actually, that's not true. Tesla cars have gotten subsidies but those are going to run out soonish. People are buying them despite their price tag because they like 'em. They're producing as many as they possibly can.
I think the SolarCity part is probably receiving subsidies one way or another (net metering is once such subsidy). But costs are dwindling so those are probably going away too, eventually.
I'm not an expert, but some observations:
One of the goals of UBI is to make welfare cheaper - less administrative overhead, less hospitalization. So it may not be apples-to-apples when you're comparing before with after.
Another goal is to enable low-paid workes to get a job which increases the tax base.
Say Joe Schmuck can't find a job in the current economy, nobody's going to pay him the $20 USD/hour it takes for him to survive. Now the government steps in and pays him this, and suddently he might accept $10 USD/hour to earn enough money to go on vacation etc, something he can't afford on UBI.
Additionally, if you give a well-paid individual $30k extra, you can tax that individual $30k extra per year, no problem. Then that person won't get $30k extra, but we aren't discussing UBI because well-paid individuals are in trouble, we're discussing it because it looks like the increasing technological innovations may create a permanent problem for a large group of people. In other words, the status quo may eventually be rioting in the streets.
But yes, it seems unlikely things can be balanced without increased taxes, at least if we're talking about UBI that can actually support people and supplant other wellfare programmes.
Why do you put baby diapers in landfills instead of burning them for energy?
I for one enjoyed reading the replies. Although many of them didn't directly answer the questions asked, Goodenough comes across as a true battery nerd. Exactly the sort of person we need more of in this world. We'll see if the tech can be mass-produced cheap enough to compete with lithium-ion in the coming years.
Although some people were disgruntled and some with good reason, there never was a mass exodus of developers. The GNOME project has always been somewhat fragmented with people coming and leaving. In recent years, they've done a lot of stuff to attract more developers, with some success, I think, at least looking from the outside.
You can say that, but the Red Hat "bubble" is really big - they're pouring tons of resources into upstream projects, so calling GNOME irrelevant is shortsighted.
Also some of the people of the full-Apple mindset has had less time/influence the last couple of years, and some of the warts have been removed.
Debian, which is number 2 on that list, has had GNOME as default for a very long time.
But yeah, DistroWatch is probably not representative.
For instance, GNOME is specifically intended to cater to non-tinkerers. People visiting DistroWatch are probably mostly tinkerers.
There's a huge difference between boring through dirt and clay, and blasting your way through rock. The latter material holds itself, so basically you just need to blast away and remove material, and you're done. With the former, there's a much more complicated process of putting in concrete reinforcements and dealing with underground water and whatnot.
Here in Denmark, Intel closed a division they bought some years ago because clearly the employees wouldn't mind moving to another country (they were to be relocated to somewhere in Germany I believe) and despite having almost completed a new lab facility.
Only to find out that they didn't have anyone else who could develop the products they had already sold. So they ended up cancelling the closure AFTER having announced it to the public.
Here's the announcement of closure:
http://cphpost.dk/news/busines...
These kind of decisions aren't rational. They happen because someone takes a look at a spreadsheet and thinks to him/herself - gosh, that looks complicated! Let's cross out half of the lines, then it's much simpler! It's a gross failure of an organization when stupid decisions from the top aren't blocked - well in this case it was, but a little late. They proved they weren't a reliable employer and did lose a bunch of people.
Oops, sorry, my bad. I see that the problem is not getting the water out of the ground, it's distributing it.
You don't need to elevate it. You just need a buffer tank and an extra pump. For the tank, you could buy one of those designed for children.
If this turns into a long term problem, I'm sure similar solutions will turn up - diesel is far too expensive in the long run.
Look up Semco and Ricardo Semler:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Semco has > 3000 people.
If you are curious, try reading this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Seven-D...
The title is cheesy, but it really is an interesting book, once you get into it. Semler's philosophy is that of questioning things and if no good answers are provided, experiment with changing it.
For instance, he describes how he wanted to let people themselves choose the executive which ended up with him being replaced. :)
Or another experiment where he thought it was silly that the company should dictate the working hours in their factory. He then had to fight the union who thought he was tricking them, until they the finally agreed to a carefully controlled experiment - in the end the workers just held a short meeting the day before and decided among themselves what do to.
Of course, some kind of coordination structure is still needed. But there's a difference between CEO-is-coordinator to CEO-is-tyrant-who-can-fire-you-on-the-spot-if-he-doesn't-like-your-dress.
People will self-organize, and self-organization is powerful because it lets those with the dirty fingers make adjustments that are obvious to them.
Try reading this book: https://www.amazon.com/Seven-D...
Semco is > 3000 people.
Hopefully at some point soon this type of "journalism" dies down.
Is it now we bring out the pitchforks?
And so the fight continues. With more jews killed.
Among other things for which you obviously know nothing.
Perhaps he works as a patent examiner?
True, but only because wind and solar now ARE cheaper than coal (*), if you compare new generation, i.e. building a new plant.
* Of course, this depends on your location.
Not an expert, but as far as I understand, the problem with the molten-salt reactors is in the name: you have really hot, radioactive molten salt you need to deal with, and that's just a hard problem in many aspects.
Many of the presentations seem to come from people interested in the physics, and for that kind of people, it's just a set of engineering problems.
But the thing is that you don't just need to solve them, you also need to do that in a manner that is competitive with traditional nuclear plants and renewables like solar and wind. And renewables are getting cheaper every year.
So it's a really, really tough problem. Don't trust the hype.
Red Hat is big and getting bigger. Where are you heading at the moment? Would Red Hat ever try to move into the the more consumer-focused places where Ubuntu has ventured, or is that just not profitable enough?
Nobody in Germany in the 20s would have ever guessed that the 30s would see them in a Nazi dictatorship.
Not an expert in German history, but it's my understanding that the democratic traditions in Germany were still young in the Weimar Republic, so while they might not have expected to the Nazis to take over, I think this statement is perhaps somewhat speculative? Do you have some sources you can quote? Young democracies seem fragile.
Perhaps this is just diplomacy in action.
It's clear that Obama is not fond of Edward Snowden and would never pardon him. But admitting that to a bunch of German Snowden fans is probably not wise. So he just tells them a little lie that seems legit enough for people not used to the American legal system, adding some hints that the case is not black and white.
... here you have an open source booster (Red Hat's CEO Jim Whitehurst) pitching proprietary software as a good thing unto itself.
I think he's just commenting on the fact that while people are still deploying and using proprietary software, they're increasingly going to do it on open-source infrastructure.
So while he's not pitching proprietary software as a bad thing, I think it's quite a stretch to claim the opposite, from this story.