I suppose people might think the 'evil bit' should be applied to the US as well. But seeing as how most of what people to be perceive as malice is actually incompetence, I think the 'incompetence bit' would probably be a better option. It should definitely be applied to all packets coming from the Bush White House.
XML is like violence: If it doesn't solve your problem, you aren't using enough of it. (Seen on Slashdot.)
XML has its uses, primarily as a neutral data-exhcnage method between systems. Things like XSTL are also very powerful. So I can for instance, take your OpenOffice document and generate a DocBook file.
I talked to a JavaScript god a week or so ago about how they're doing RPC. He said (IIRC) that they use XML if they're going to do XSLT transformations and then put the result on-screen. Otherwise, they use JSON. I believe he said that JSON has lower limits on size/performance, due to the fact that lots of JavaScript objects have to be created.
My opinion is that you're smoking crack. The Web Developer extension is written by a single person. What makes you think that it's unfair that he has had some experience? It doesn't appear that he's getting paid for his work (except the PayPal donation button on his site). He's an amateur too. Maybe we should restrict the Olympics to first-time athletes, to make it "fair".
They could use the SAT method of scoring. For a question with 4 possible answers, you get 1 point for a correct answer, and lose 1/3 point for an incorrect answer.
I think you may have missed his point. And, well, perhaps he didn't state it well. I think by "algorithms" he meant the whole system of decrypting the information, including the keys. There's probably a good chance that the key or enough information to figure out the key is encoded somewhere on the hard drive. I think he may also be assuming a simplistic steganographic method, that doesn't require a key per se.
I thought "numerosity" was a made-up word, too. But I checked Google, and it turns out to have an actually legal meaning. (I suppose that means that the legal profession made it up; but at least SCO's lawyers did not.)
Well, if corporations can't vote, then it's clear that they don't have equal rights to People. Hence, we (the government, which [supposedly] represents the People) can draw the line wherever we want.
I think I might know what the problem is for SBC. They're currently charging less than their costs for DSL. For instance, I got in on their $15/month deal. They're offering this deal in order to kill their competition; specifically, those ISPs that are using SBC's last mile lines to the home. (And with the government's help, SBC can now increase what they charge these ISPs too.) This is actually illegal "dumping". The problem is that while they're busy dumping, they're losing money. So they need to temporarily offset this loss.
I think you may have discovered the key target market. This will allow Open Source and other Linux-ish applications to support MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Oracle out of the box. This will give the users the ability to choose (perhaps the pay version of) Oracle for their implementation.
I actually find that young people have different language skills, but not necessarily better or worse. For example, the speed at which the modern youth culture introduces new words into the lexicon is staggering to me. It's hard for me to keep up, and I'm only in my mid-30s. Think of recent words like "bling", "down-low" or "metrosexual". While you may think these words are stupid, they do bring new connotations that no existing words really had.
Young people also employ a form of short-hand when using IM and the like, only some of which I am familiar. On the other hand, I think there's been a reduction in formal written language skills over the past few decades. And as another poster pointed out, they are probably less organized in their thoughts as a result (or perhaps as a cause).
As far as total knowledge and intelligence of today's youth as compared to any other time period, that's probably difficult to guage. I suspect that living in a modern technological society requires more knowledge, just to keep up with everything. But as pointed out in Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel", hunter-gatherers know an awful lot about the natural environment they live in -- including almost all uses (food, medicial, tool) for all the plants and other things they encounter. In some ways, it seems that perhaps an average person's knowledge (at a given age) is constant; it's just *what* they know that changes over the generations.
The only thing I'm pretty certain of is that the schools have been failing to teach our children critical thinking skills as well as they should. And relative to other countries, our education system is falling behind. Especially when we start putting politics and religion ahead of science.
Yes. You need a CS degree. That's all there is to it. You don't need any skills or experience or anything. In fact, knowing anything about music would be bad. Duh!
The Wizard of Oz to the Scarecrow: I can't give you a brain, but I can give you a diploma.
Re:The true test of Open Source
on
OpenOffice Bloated?
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
A few years back, there were some articles showing that Linux was significantly slower than Windows on 4-CPU systems. At first, there was some questioning of the results from the Open Source community. Once the results had been verified, the Linux kernel developers set about to remedy the situation. They were quite successful, and Linux has beaten Windows in every such test since.
Wow, excellent observation. I was just considering that it saved a lot of battery over the SecurID. But the time restriction for each token is sort of an extra factor in the authentication. (Although it's a pain in the ass when the SecurID tokens get out of sync.)
I won't argue with the fact that Apache and Linux are competitive with (and in many ways better than) expensive proprietary programs. But in many ways, they are GIFTS to the community. And you shouldn't expect people to give you gifts. Even the hard-core Free Software folks don't necessarily believe software should be no-cost; just that people be free to modify it and share it. (The no-cost falls out of the sharing bit.)
Secure Computing has what appears to be a very strong competitor to RSA's SecurID. Their SafeWord product is similar to SecurID, but appears to have some advantages. For one, it only generates tokens when you request it to. I believe it's cheaper too. It supports Active Directory. I've not used it, but their demo was impressive. And Secure Computing is a fairly good security company.
Here's a thought. Anyone asking for free (as in beer) software should explain WHY they think they are entitled to software at no cost. For example: they've contributed significantly to the community, they're running a non-profit for underpriveleged youth, or Mommy hasn't given them their allowance this week.
As other posters pointed out, you can't realistically expect a $0 program to be equivalent to a $1000 program. You have to be willing to give something up. Sometimes if you've contributed to the community, or are working for a non-profit, people will see that you are giving something, and help you out. Other times, they'll see that you're just being a selfish jerk. It would help us out a lot if you could provide us with some more details to help us make that determination.
Heck, I'd be happy if the lawmakers just read the laws that they are passing. The PATRIOT Act was about 1000 pages, and the draft was not complete until the night before it was passed. There's no way ANY of them could have read it all. Unfortunately, the Constitution doesn't say the lawmakers have to actually KNOW what they're passing. It was just assumed that they would. It's a sad day when that assumption no longer holds true.
I'd be interested in hearing more about this "Read the Laws" movement. I'm of the opinion that we should be working to reduce the number of laws, not increase them. I think if you show people some of the stupid and complicated laws on the books, they could easily be convinced.
Slashdot Mirror
You know what they say... See a broad, to get that booty yak 'em. Leg 'er down 'n smack 'em yak 'em. Cold got to be. You know? Shiiiiit.
I suppose people might think the 'evil bit' should be applied to the US as well. But seeing as how most of what people to be perceive as malice is actually incompetence, I think the 'incompetence bit' would probably be a better option. It should definitely be applied to all packets coming from the Bush White House.
Well, the US pretty much already controls the 'evil bit'. Remember when we applied it to Iraq, Iran, and North Korea?
XML is like violence: If it doesn't solve your problem, you aren't using enough of it. (Seen on Slashdot.)
XML has its uses, primarily as a neutral data-exhcnage method between systems. Things like XSTL are also very powerful. So I can for instance, take your OpenOffice document and generate a DocBook file.
I talked to a JavaScript god a week or so ago about how they're doing RPC. He said (IIRC) that they use XML if they're going to do XSLT transformations and then put the result on-screen. Otherwise, they use JSON. I believe he said that JSON has lower limits on size/performance, due to the fact that lots of JavaScript objects have to be created.
Yes, I am aware of that. But amateur does not in any way equate to first-time.
My opinion is that you're smoking crack. The Web Developer extension is written by a single person. What makes you think that it's unfair that he has had some experience? It doesn't appear that he's getting paid for his work (except the PayPal donation button on his site). He's an amateur too. Maybe we should restrict the Olympics to first-time athletes, to make it "fair".
They could use the SAT method of scoring. For a question with 4 possible answers, you get 1 point for a correct answer, and lose 1/3 point for an incorrect answer.
I think you may have missed his point. And, well, perhaps he didn't state it well. I think by "algorithms" he meant the whole system of decrypting the information, including the keys. There's probably a good chance that the key or enough information to figure out the key is encoded somewhere on the hard drive. I think he may also be assuming a simplistic steganographic method, that doesn't require a key per se.
Great. A post suggesting using torture as a legitimate method of data extraction gets a Funny rating.
I was thinking that now is a VERY good time to stop using the name "Pandemic".
I thought "numerosity" was a made-up word, too. But I checked Google, and it turns out to have an actually legal meaning. (I suppose that means that the legal profession made it up; but at least SCO's lawyers did not.)
They not only get a percentage of the award (if SCO wins), but they also get a big pay-off if SCO gets bought out.
Well, if corporations can't vote, then it's clear that they don't have equal rights to People. Hence, we (the government, which [supposedly] represents the People) can draw the line wherever we want.
I think I might know what the problem is for SBC. They're currently charging less than their costs for DSL. For instance, I got in on their $15/month deal. They're offering this deal in order to kill their competition; specifically, those ISPs that are using SBC's last mile lines to the home. (And with the government's help, SBC can now increase what they charge these ISPs too.) This is actually illegal "dumping". The problem is that while they're busy dumping, they're losing money. So they need to temporarily offset this loss.
I think you may have discovered the key target market. This will allow Open Source and other Linux-ish applications to support MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Oracle out of the box. This will give the users the ability to choose (perhaps the pay version of) Oracle for their implementation.
You'll note that copying a copycat doesn't work nearly as well as copying the original.
I actually find that young people have different language skills, but not necessarily better or worse. For example, the speed at which the modern youth culture introduces new words into the lexicon is staggering to me. It's hard for me to keep up, and I'm only in my mid-30s. Think of recent words like "bling", "down-low" or "metrosexual". While you may think these words are stupid, they do bring new connotations that no existing words really had.
Young people also employ a form of short-hand when using IM and the like, only some of which I am familiar. On the other hand, I think there's been a reduction in formal written language skills over the past few decades. And as another poster pointed out, they are probably less organized in their thoughts as a result (or perhaps as a cause).
As far as total knowledge and intelligence of today's youth as compared to any other time period, that's probably difficult to guage. I suspect that living in a modern technological society requires more knowledge, just to keep up with everything. But as pointed out in Jared Diamond's "Guns, Germs, and Steel", hunter-gatherers know an awful lot about the natural environment they live in -- including almost all uses (food, medicial, tool) for all the plants and other things they encounter. In some ways, it seems that perhaps an average person's knowledge (at a given age) is constant; it's just *what* they know that changes over the generations.
The only thing I'm pretty certain of is that the schools have been failing to teach our children critical thinking skills as well as they should. And relative to other countries, our education system is falling behind. Especially when we start putting politics and religion ahead of science.
Yes, your obsoletely write! Spill chokers salve aviary thing!
Yes. You need a CS degree. That's all there is to it. You don't need any skills or experience or anything. In fact, knowing anything about music would be bad. Duh!
The Wizard of Oz to the Scarecrow: I can't give you a brain, but I can give you a diploma.
A few years back, there were some articles showing that Linux was significantly slower than Windows on 4-CPU systems. At first, there was some questioning of the results from the Open Source community. Once the results had been verified, the Linux kernel developers set about to remedy the situation. They were quite successful, and Linux has beaten Windows in every such test since.
Wow, excellent observation. I was just considering that it saved a lot of battery over the SecurID. But the time restriction for each token is sort of an extra factor in the authentication. (Although it's a pain in the ass when the SecurID tokens get out of sync.)
I won't argue with the fact that Apache and Linux are competitive with (and in many ways better than) expensive proprietary programs. But in many ways, they are GIFTS to the community. And you shouldn't expect people to give you gifts. Even the hard-core Free Software folks don't necessarily believe software should be no-cost; just that people be free to modify it and share it. (The no-cost falls out of the sharing bit.)
Secure Computing has what appears to be a very strong competitor to RSA's SecurID. Their SafeWord product is similar to SecurID, but appears to have some advantages. For one, it only generates tokens when you request it to. I believe it's cheaper too. It supports Active Directory. I've not used it, but their demo was impressive. And Secure Computing is a fairly good security company.
Here's a thought. Anyone asking for free (as in beer) software should explain WHY they think they are entitled to software at no cost. For example: they've contributed significantly to the community, they're running a non-profit for underpriveleged youth, or Mommy hasn't given them their allowance this week.
As other posters pointed out, you can't realistically expect a $0 program to be equivalent to a $1000 program. You have to be willing to give something up. Sometimes if you've contributed to the community, or are working for a non-profit, people will see that you are giving something, and help you out. Other times, they'll see that you're just being a selfish jerk. It would help us out a lot if you could provide us with some more details to help us make that determination.
Heck, I'd be happy if the lawmakers just read the laws that they are passing. The PATRIOT Act was about 1000 pages, and the draft was not complete until the night before it was passed. There's no way ANY of them could have read it all. Unfortunately, the Constitution doesn't say the lawmakers have to actually KNOW what they're passing. It was just assumed that they would. It's a sad day when that assumption no longer holds true.
I'd be interested in hearing more about this "Read the Laws" movement. I'm of the opinion that we should be working to reduce the number of laws, not increase them. I think if you show people some of the stupid and complicated laws on the books, they could easily be convinced.