Sexism will continue to exist until the differences no longer matter. As an increasingly standoffish society, a sad fact is that the battle against racism and sexism is (wrongly) met with racism and sexism. We can't overcome it until we move past it.
That's the crux of my argument. True diversity is about differences in thought, culture, and opinion. It is *not* about a hereditary inclination to skin pigmentation, eye shape, or baby-making equipment.
One of the problems with society today is that there is a cultural imperative to look equal, even if that equality is totally superficial. Many so-called "diversity" initiatives judge an organization, at least in part, on how well it represents a cross-section of the population. It doesn't matter if every single one of them were raised on the same city block in Podunk, Arkansas, as long as there are a variety of skin tones and a roughly equal number of each species propagation device.
I see this study as another of these wrong-headed assertions that because there aren't equal numbers, something must be wrong.
Men and women are different. If you look at geek-dom, which populates most of the pool of self-taught software engineers, you will find many have been interested in the concepts for years.
Although efforts like this are well-intentioned, I have to question whether the result will pan out. Proposals like this may turn up individuals with the talent to program, but they probably lack the interest level. Most self-taught software engs have a genuine interest in the art and science of the craft. These folks have an interest in continued training.
So, the question isn't whether programs like this would be useful. The question is how do you find the type of woman who could use an opportunity like this as a launching pad into a life-long learning exercise?
If you didn't know better, you'd swear it was an actual news article. It is actually a cleverly crafted press release.
For one thing, they are comparing an aging mainframe running aging software to a new grid running new software. The capabilities of the mainframe system are cast as representative of the mainframe against a backdrop of IBM declaring 2006 "The Year of the Mainframe".
For another thing, they can't get past their anti-mainframe (possibly anti-IBM) bias. Honestly, if they have the mainframe sitting in a back room somewhere doing little, they're wasting capacity. It might not be as fast, but it could contribute several Linux partitions to the grid.
I just ran some searches and it's not doing it any more.
However, I did notice it doing that every time I accessed Yahoo using Firefox. I waited until I saw their actual advertisement version, clicked the "Ad Feedback" button, and told them what I thought about being asked to switch browsers.
I think it's a good thing to show the ad to IE 6- users on Windows, but it doesn't make sense anywhere else.
Yee-ha, the Write Once Run Anywhere debacle all over again.
At least Java's got certainty with regards to the IP. Mono's good to go until Microsoft decides that it's being too helpful to Linux in undermining Windows.
If it comes to pass that there is an "unpaid media" tax on anything capable of playing digital media, the RIAA and MPAA and member companies should all have their butts hauled into court under the RICO act.
If Microsoft could have or wanted to crack the GPL, they would have done so already. A company with tens of billions of dollars in the bank can afford enough lawyers to find a loophole. Either they don't want to crack it, or they don't think they can.
1) That's why IBM contributed a bunch of code to Harmony.
2) IBM rewrote the IBM JDK for Java 5.0 from the ground up to be completely free of Sun IP. They did this so that they could get a compatible implementation across all of their server platforms.
The thing is that we're not talking about Java "the Platform" here. We're talking Java the "Reference Implementations". Basically, anything derived from Sun Java will need to be GPL, which will keep the GPL crowd happy. It fills a niche that currently has no viable contenders.
When you look at the other Java implementations, you have the Apache-licensed Harmony, and commercial implementations from IBM and BEA.
Java can only be helped by this because it removes one of the major objections Linux backers have against using Java.
While there are a lot of people who don't care about playing DVDs on their PCs, I'm sure people who bought Media Center PCs for this purpose are going to be peeved.
Wal-Mart should be as angry about this as the studios putting movies up for download on iTunes in the first place -- it puts the retailers at a competitive disadvantage.
You have to decide what's most important to you: reach or principle.
On the one hand, many of the free discussion forums are flooded with people who spout hateful gibberish about politicians they don't like or blind lovefest for politicians they do. To keep these people out, you might want to consider charging membership fees. People seem to pop off a lot less when it costs them money to do so.
On the other hand, charging a membership fee may create a problem with reach. Some people may be the sort to engage in insightful political discourse, but aren't willing to spend money on the privilege.
You could implement a reputation/rating system like/. has, but then you run the risk of people moderating people down based on petty squabbles (as has been seen occasionally on/.).
The dairy industry: Happy cows come from California, but so do a significant portion of cow farts, which have been shown to contribute a significant amount of methane to the atmosphere.
The heating and cooling industry: all that waste heat from AC and furnace gets radiated into the environment, contributing to warmer temperatures.
The taxpayer industry: all those nasty humans breathe out CO2. They are responsible for a significant portion of Carbon Dioxide emissions.
It seems kind of ironic that RFK Jr is talking about voting irregularities, considering that his uncle got into office under the same cloud of suspicion (precincts in Illinois and Texas where there were more votes for the candidate than there were registered voters).
I should have indicated that my comment was tongue-in-cheek.
There have been numerous stories over the past 12 months or so about how the government is compiling data from publicly available databases (much like Amazon claims to have invented).
If the developer is only "referring to" Dynix code, that is not verbatim copying. Their claim would only be relevent if their interpretation of the contract is true (and it doesn't seem to be a reasonable interpretation).
They claim that IBM can't use "methods and concepts" because that's as bad as verbatim copying in their eyes.
but the analogy isn't as bad as it may seem and anyone who's called a network connection a "pipe" has no room to talk.
He didn't say he was opposed to net neutrality on principle. He said he was opposed to regulation until there was a sufficient case of abuse to demonstrate the need for regulation.
I disagree. I think this is one of those cases where the government should be proactive, but I can understand not wanting to regulate something until we know how it's going to be abused (so that can be written into the legislation).
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I wasn't trying to suggest that it was.
Sexism will continue to exist until the differences no longer matter. As an increasingly standoffish society, a sad fact is that the battle against racism and sexism is (wrongly) met with racism and sexism. We can't overcome it until we move past it.
That's the crux of my argument. True diversity is about differences in thought, culture, and opinion. It is *not* about a hereditary inclination to skin pigmentation, eye shape, or baby-making equipment.
One of the problems with society today is that there is a cultural imperative to look equal, even if that equality is totally superficial. Many so-called "diversity" initiatives judge an organization, at least in part, on how well it represents a cross-section of the population. It doesn't matter if every single one of them were raised on the same city block in Podunk, Arkansas, as long as there are a variety of skin tones and a roughly equal number of each species propagation device.
I see this study as another of these wrong-headed assertions that because there aren't equal numbers, something must be wrong.
Men and women are different. If you look at geek-dom, which populates most of the pool of self-taught software engineers, you will find many have been interested in the concepts for years.
Although efforts like this are well-intentioned, I have to question whether the result will pan out. Proposals like this may turn up individuals with the talent to program, but they probably lack the interest level. Most self-taught software engs have a genuine interest in the art and science of the craft. These folks have an interest in continued training.
So, the question isn't whether programs like this would be useful. The question is how do you find the type of woman who could use an opportunity like this as a launching pad into a life-long learning exercise?
If you didn't know better, you'd swear it was an actual news article. It is actually a cleverly crafted press release.
For one thing, they are comparing an aging mainframe running aging software to a new grid running new software. The capabilities of the mainframe system are cast as representative of the mainframe against a backdrop of IBM declaring 2006 "The Year of the Mainframe".
For another thing, they can't get past their anti-mainframe (possibly anti-IBM) bias. Honestly, if they have the mainframe sitting in a back room somewhere doing little, they're wasting capacity. It might not be as fast, but it could contribute several Linux partitions to the grid.
...and for users that will pay their Linux license fee.
I just ran some searches and it's not doing it any more.
However, I did notice it doing that every time I accessed Yahoo using Firefox. I waited until I saw their actual advertisement version, clicked the "Ad Feedback" button, and told them what I thought about being asked to switch browsers.
I think it's a good thing to show the ad to IE 6- users on Windows, but it doesn't make sense anywhere else.
Because 75% of the stuff you read on the internet is as phony as this statistic that I made up.
The free press is great, but the problem with a totally free press is that people can spread lies with virtual impunity.
Yee-ha, the Write Once Run Anywhere debacle all over again.
At least Java's got certainty with regards to the IP. Mono's good to go until Microsoft decides that it's being too helpful to Linux in undermining Windows.
If it comes to pass that there is an "unpaid media" tax on anything capable of playing digital media, the RIAA and MPAA and member companies should all have their butts hauled into court under the RICO act.
If Microsoft could have or wanted to crack the GPL, they would have done so already. A company with tens of billions of dollars in the bank can afford enough lawyers to find a loophole. Either they don't want to crack it, or they don't think they can.
Umm, yeah....
1) That's why IBM contributed a bunch of code to Harmony.
2) IBM rewrote the IBM JDK for Java 5.0 from the ground up to be completely free of Sun IP. They did this so that they could get a compatible implementation across all of their server platforms.
The thing is that we're not talking about Java "the Platform" here. We're talking Java the "Reference Implementations". Basically, anything derived from Sun Java will need to be GPL, which will keep the GPL crowd happy. It fills a niche that currently has no viable contenders.
When you look at the other Java implementations, you have the Apache-licensed Harmony, and commercial implementations from IBM and BEA.
Java can only be helped by this because it removes one of the major objections Linux backers have against using Java.
I wonder if Google is looking to diversify their server-side platform support beyond Linux?
While there are a lot of people who don't care about playing DVDs on their PCs, I'm sure people who bought Media Center PCs for this purpose are going to be peeved.
Wal-Mart should be as angry about this as the studios putting movies up for download on iTunes in the first place -- it puts the retailers at a competitive disadvantage.
You have to decide what's most important to you: reach or principle.
/. has, but then you run the risk of people moderating people down based on petty squabbles (as has been seen occasionally on /.).
On the one hand, many of the free discussion forums are flooded with people who spout hateful gibberish about politicians they don't like or blind lovefest for politicians they do. To keep these people out, you might want to consider charging membership fees. People seem to pop off a lot less when it costs them money to do so.
On the other hand, charging a membership fee may create a problem with reach. Some people may be the sort to engage in insightful political discourse, but aren't willing to spend money on the privilege.
You could implement a reputation/rating system like
The dairy industry: Happy cows come from California, but so do a significant portion of cow farts, which have been shown to contribute a significant amount of methane to the atmosphere.
The heating and cooling industry: all that waste heat from AC and furnace gets radiated into the environment, contributing to warmer temperatures.
The taxpayer industry: all those nasty humans breathe out CO2. They are responsible for a significant portion of Carbon Dioxide emissions.
It seems kind of ironic that RFK Jr is talking about voting irregularities, considering that his uncle got into office under the same cloud of suspicion (precincts in Illinois and Texas where there were more votes for the candidate than there were registered voters).
and build BrowserShield on top of it.
I should have indicated that my comment was tongue-in-cheek.
There have been numerous stories over the past 12 months or so about how the government is compiling data from publicly available databases (much like Amazon claims to have invented).
Amazon is claiming to have invented something the NSA has been doing for YEARS, on an even larger scope (i.e., non-public databases, too).
I gave up on both of them and use NewEgg
I don't know if it's an illusion or not, but 2.0a1 feels faster than 1.5.0.5.
If the developer is only "referring to" Dynix code, that is not verbatim copying. Their claim would only be relevent if their interpretation of the contract is true (and it doesn't seem to be a reasonable interpretation).
They claim that IBM can't use "methods and concepts" because that's as bad as verbatim copying in their eyes.
but the analogy isn't as bad as it may seem and anyone who's called a network connection a "pipe" has no room to talk.
He didn't say he was opposed to net neutrality on principle. He said he was opposed to regulation until there was a sufficient case of abuse to demonstrate the need for regulation.
I disagree. I think this is one of those cases where the government should be proactive, but I can understand not wanting to regulate something until we know how it's going to be abused (so that can be written into the legislation).