I think it's a fascinating thought experiment to try to understand the reason for the decline in the United States. Is it a nationwide form of apathy? We have done mostly everything that is humanly possible, and discovered that nothing is different in the end.
Welcome to the Q Continuum?
Maybe "Serenity" is more apt. 99% of the population just laid down and died of apathy, and the last 1% turned into psychopathic cannibals.
How is having a room full of mainframes even similar to having datacenters full of cheap machines all being shared by different companies around the world, all communicating over thousands of miles to millions of customers?
Well, one mainframe can run many VMs. Is that what you're asking? Would you rather spend all of your time swapping failed drives and PCI boards? You'd rather maintain a rack of pizza boxes, instead of one big box?
No, I don't have a stiffie for mainframes. The biggest I've ever worked with was minis. However, I'm not a fool.
The thought of being able to run hundreds of virtual machines for pennies each an hour was unthinkable 10 years ago.
I've worked with ops that ran thousands of real boxes maintained by one or two people.
"Cloud" is stupid, just considering backing up existing data. It may be cheap/inexpensive, so attractive to pointy haired bosses, but it's still foolish. If your data is valuable, that's the worst way you should be treating it.
If everyone is so focused on productive tasks, what is being produced and for who? In the 19th century, the average work week for a laborer was 100 hours, and with 19th century mentalities and coal power (and lots of social change) the work week gradually went down to 50 hours by the start of the 20th century.
Can you explain why we weren't able, with 20th century technology and oil energy, to reduce that further? Should everyone now sit in front of a computer and "produce content"? Evolution hasn't caught up with that yet, I'm fairly confident I'd be happier doing something else. With all our resources and so many "productive" people, well, where is it?
On my last big gig with a "vicious multi-national",...
It took them twelve years to finally bite the bullet and drag someone like me in to fix a critical problem, something their people had been working around (and were afraid to touch for fear of breaking it) for more than a decade, and which was producing corrupt data all that time.
Sucks to be human and have to rely on other humans. Sometimes, we are barely more advanced than mud guppies. THAT's the human condition!
In fairness, pumping gas *is* moderately more pleasant than shoveling horse manure.
No it's not. Pumping gas involves cars, fumes, customers, gas pumps, managers, bad hours, scraping windshields, and weather (possibly even snow shovelling). Scooping manure is considerably simpler. Some people even prefer the aroma of manure to that of petroleum distillates (count me in there).
You do not "shoot to warn". You keep your firearm holstered unless you need it to defend your life or another's from actual or threatened harm, and if you draw it, shoot to stop the threat...
There's a difference between battlefield ethics and what's expected around civilians. Cops are civilians, not warriors. They're trying to save lives, at best, and protect us from each other.
I would not want to harm a cop. "Soldiers deserve soldiers." Cops are not soldiers.
You forgot video footage taken from one of the dives down to it. For some reason they opened the doors which had been closed after the collision with the iceberg to allow the crew to go from the stern of the ship forward with something in an attempt to save the ship.
Crap. I think what I'll take away from this is there's a market out there for a "Titanic For Dummies", and historians have been resting on their laurels. For cryin' out loud, pull it together!:-(
Why do you respect them for putting on a uniform? That's pretty strange. You respect someone for wearing a certain style of clothing?
The uniform is an idea; a symbol. Cops are the modern version of the local sheriff; there to protect all of us from hoodlums. I realize it's fashionable these days to think of cops as mere automatons, doing the bidding of "The Man", but I've never thought of them that way. Cops I've had dealings with have always been good people doing their best to help. I didn't grow up in Watts, though. Even the tactical squad here is polite and considerate.
Cops didn't write the stupid laws they enforce. I suspect they think some of them are even stupider than we think they are, but the law's the law. Changing that is via politicians, not cops. Blaming any of that on cops is the height of stupidity.
They are supposed to close when an emergency arises, not before it happens.
Why wait for an emergency to happen? Convenience? When lives are potentially at stake?
I'm not an, "Oh god, oh god save us DHS!" safety freak, but I do believe that automated systems should default to safest/most benign function. I take "Do no harm" much more seriously than any doctor I've known.
If you can't do good, do nothing. If you can't do nothing, at least get out of the way. Thx.
It was designed to remain afloat with "n" compartments flooded. The gash opened up "n+1" compartments.
Hmm. Well, if they'd had those doors closed, rescuers may have been able to show up in time to save all souls. It'd probably have sunk a lot slower. Still, bad captain, monumental user error, they should have known better, *it was a British ship* after all and the Brits believed the oceans were their "biatches."
Arrogance kills innocents (so what else is new?), film at eleven.
Slashdot Mirror
I think it's a fascinating thought experiment to try to understand the reason for the decline in the United States. Is it a nationwide form of apathy? We have done mostly everything that is humanly possible, and discovered that nothing is different in the end.
Welcome to the Q Continuum?
Maybe "Serenity" is more apt. 99% of the population just laid down and died of apathy, and the last 1% turned into psychopathic cannibals.
The Shuttles made the Hubble Space Telescope possible.
No, they didn't.
Yes, they did. Without them, there'd have been no way to fix its astigmatism. It was sent up flawed.
Is finding proof of the Higgs Boson really the "most difference" that the Tevatron will have made during its long life?
No, it found the Top quark too, and that was really straining its capabilities, which is why the LHC was built (after the abandonment of the SSC).
Oh yeah. It's amazing how much stuff they find when their funding is up for review. Surely that is just a coincidence....
"So, wtf do we do now that funding's been cut and the thing's being mothballed or cannibalized?"
"Uh, how's about we analyze the data it collected?"
"Brillant [sic]! Smoley hokes, would you look at that? A freakin' Higgs boson!?!"
How is having a room full of mainframes even similar to having datacenters full of cheap machines all being shared by different companies around the world, all communicating over thousands of miles to millions of customers?
Well, one mainframe can run many VMs. Is that what you're asking? Would you rather spend all of your time swapping failed drives and PCI boards? You'd rather maintain a rack of pizza boxes, instead of one big box?
No, I don't have a stiffie for mainframes. The biggest I've ever worked with was minis. However, I'm not a fool.
The thought of being able to run hundreds of virtual machines for pennies each an hour was unthinkable 10 years ago.
I've worked with ops that ran thousands of real boxes maintained by one or two people.
"Cloud" is stupid, just considering backing up existing data. It may be cheap/inexpensive, so attractive to pointy haired bosses, but it's still foolish. If your data is valuable, that's the worst way you should be treating it.
How exactly is Apple a bubble? Showing off your bias a bit much?
You're speaking volumes, but I don't think it's saying what you think it is. "Showing off your bias a bit much?" That's damned near funny, hipster.
It does tend to stain your clothes, though.
The girl that cares that my jeans are stained is not a girl that I care about. Take 'em off and the problem's solved.
While the world sleeps, Canadians shovel snow. :-| 0530h.
If everyone is so focused on productive tasks, what is being produced and for who? In the 19th century, the average work week for a laborer was 100 hours, and with 19th century mentalities and coal power (and lots of social change) the work week gradually went down to 50 hours by the start of the 20th century.
Can you explain why we weren't able, with 20th century technology and oil energy, to reduce that further? Should everyone now sit in front of a computer and "produce content"? Evolution hasn't caught up with that yet, I'm fairly confident I'd be happier doing something else. With all our resources and so many "productive" people, well, where is it?
On my last big gig with a "vicious multi-national", ...
It took them twelve years to finally bite the bullet and drag someone like me in to fix a critical problem, something their people had been working around (and were afraid to touch for fear of breaking it) for more than a decade, and which was producing corrupt data all that time.
Sucks to be human and have to rely on other humans. Sometimes, we are barely more advanced than mud guppies. THAT's the human condition!
And I for one hate it.
When your job becomes extinct, learn some new skills. Stop trying to keep the jobs alive.
Yeah. Let me know when that plan blows up in your face, and I'll fix it for you, at four times the cost of doing it inhouse.
Hell, make it six. You're saving boatloads by not paying for salaried workers.
Hmm, make it eight. Schmuck!
Except the "cloud" is not new technology. It's just a fancy marketing word for outsourcing.
No, that's just the latest implementation. Go back further. Think glass walled rooms, mainframes, priests in white lab coats, ...
I can't imagine how anything could be worse than my IT department.
How about the non-existence of your IT dept? How do you feel about flipping burgers?
In fairness, pumping gas *is* moderately more pleasant than shoveling horse manure.
No it's not. Pumping gas involves cars, fumes, customers, gas pumps, managers, bad hours, scraping windshields, and weather (possibly even snow shovelling). Scooping manure is considerably simpler. Some people even prefer the aroma of manure to that of petroleum distillates (count me in there).
On the other hand, fresh cow pies are disgusting.
Because those jobs will be concentrated in fewer service provider centers, requiring fewer people to manage them.
Isn't that what progress is supposed to be about: accomplishing the same tasks with less labor?
I view your assumption that the cloud would be progress with amusement. I'm making popcorn.
If you were ordered to remove these civilians, what would you do? Walk up to them and drag them away?
Yup, after cable-tieing their hands and feet (while suitably attired in a face shield, helmet, and gloves).
What would you do? Lob a grenade in and drag the bodies away afterwards?
You do not "shoot to warn". You keep your firearm holstered unless you need it to defend your life or another's from actual or threatened harm, and if you draw it, shoot to stop the threat ...
There's a difference between battlefield ethics and what's expected around civilians. Cops are civilians, not warriors. They're trying to save lives, at best, and protect us from each other.
I would not want to harm a cop. "Soldiers deserve soldiers." Cops are not soldiers.
You forgot video footage taken from one of the dives down to it. For some reason they opened the doors which had been closed after the collision with the iceberg to allow the crew to go from the stern of the ship forward with something in an attempt to save the ship.
Crap. I think what I'll take away from this is there's a market out there for a "Titanic For Dummies", and historians have been resting on their laurels. For cryin' out loud, pull it together! :-(
You have forgotten the submarine having to suddenly dive, leaving crewmen desperately banging on the [conning] tower hatch ...
I can't believe I forgot to mention /bin/ping. :-O
You have forgotten the submarine having to suddenly dive, leaving crewmen desperately banging on the [conning] tower hatch ...
... and perspiration drizzling down the 1st officer's face. And the captain is nonchalantly reading a book, but holding it upside down.
And the splash as depth charges enter on the surface, and the sound of the hedgehogs firing.
And the creak of the hull as it's being crushed, and the pipes bursting letting water pour in. And the glass on guages shattering.
And the pretty blonde chick squealing in horror (she's a biologist or something, and everyone hates that there's even a woman on board).
And just as the boat returns from a successful mission, the !@#$ing typhoons show up laying waste to everything. Oh, you got that one (Das Boot).
The watertight doors on the Titanic weren't open when it went down.
You guys are really straining my faith in historians today. When I was growing up, everybody *knew* those doors were left open.
Damnit. Damnit. Damnit. :-P
Why do you respect them for putting on a uniform? That's pretty strange. You respect someone for wearing a certain style of clothing?
The uniform is an idea; a symbol. Cops are the modern version of the local sheriff; there to protect all of us from hoodlums. I realize it's fashionable these days to think of cops as mere automatons, doing the bidding of "The Man", but I've never thought of them that way. Cops I've had dealings with have always been good people doing their best to help. I didn't grow up in Watts, though. Even the tactical squad here is polite and considerate.
Cops didn't write the stupid laws they enforce. I suspect they think some of them are even stupider than we think they are, but the law's the law. Changing that is via politicians, not cops. Blaming any of that on cops is the height of stupidity.
Occam's world must've been very, very boring.
... but he slept very soundly.
They are supposed to close when an emergency arises, not before it happens.
Why wait for an emergency to happen? Convenience? When lives are potentially at stake?
I'm not an, "Oh god, oh god save us DHS!" safety freak, but I do believe that automated systems should default to safest/most benign function. I take "Do no harm" much more seriously than any doctor I've known.
If you can't do good, do nothing. If you can't do nothing, at least get out of the way. Thx.
I'm not sure that that would've mattered either, as the "water-tight" compartments weren't sealed at the top ...
That might have mattered to the Edmund Fizgerald, but I don't think the Titanic was experiencing high seas when it ran into that iceberg.
Interestingly, they're still not sealed at the top, which i suspect contributed to the sinking of the costa concordia recently.
What? That was a cruise ship that ran aground due to an arrogant captain ignoring the charts (and radar!) trying to impress his friends.
It was designed to remain afloat with "n" compartments flooded. The gash opened up "n+1" compartments.
Hmm. Well, if they'd had those doors closed, rescuers may have been able to show up in time to save all souls. It'd probably have sunk a lot slower. Still, bad captain, monumental user error, they should have known better, *it was a British ship* after all and the Brits believed the oceans were their "biatches."
Arrogance kills innocents (so what else is new?), film at eleven.