From the amazon review: "Before you mail another check to Save the Children or join the Peace Corps, read this book. Michael Maren shows that the international aid industry is a big business more concerned with winning its next big government contract than helping needy people."
The quality of "official" documentation in the PHP manual is laughable. Almost all the useful tips that I have found when looking for answers have been in the user-contributed comments. To say the official docs are "sparse" is being kind. Why give a detailed explanation of the method and its parameters with examples when a short, vague sentence will suffice?
In general, it seems to me that the quality of documentation for open-source software like PHP is pathetic, compared to best practices. I don't know why this is, but it is true. Maybe open-source developers lack an understanding how important documentation is, or maybe they just cannot write clear, helpful explanations and examples, or cannot get out of super-geek mode enough to understand the needs of the average developer who is just looking a quick, useful explanation?
I am an application developer with 40 years experience and have written a ton of docs for software that I wrote. I'm sure not perfect but my docs are a lot more detailed and comprehensive than most of what I see coming out these days. (I know, old geezer complaint, "you damn kids - get off my lawn"!!) Comments welcome (ideally non-snarky and useful ones please)! Flamers just shut up.
My CS101 class used MIX (Knuth's artificial assembly language), SNOBOL and LISP. Warped me forever! This was far ago in the way-back machine (1968). All programs were written on punch cards. You submitted a program and got the results back the next day. One mistake and you waited another 24 hours for the next test results. But, it did make me VERY good at reviewing my code before testing it.
Square is a great new low-cost option for ANYONE to accept credit cards, if you have a smart phone.
No minimums, no monthly fees, just sign up, link to your bank account, get their card reader which plugs into the microphone jack of your smart phone, and take credit cards. Swipe fee is 2.75 percent, phone/internet rate is 3.25 percent. Very good option. I just signed up.
His initial idiot defense attorney failed to present evidence from an insurance company investigator that showed the brakes WERE applied. Also his car had ABS brakes so there would NOT be any skid marks due to how they work. A total shaft job on this poor guy by the local prosecutor who deserves a spot in hell for it.
Then you have the state patrol officer in CA who was unable to stop his Toyota despite all his efforts. As captured by a 911 call during the event.
Also there is a college engineering professor in IL (?) I think, who demo'ed a way that the electronic control board could fail WITHOUT notifying the black box.
Finally, the govt report relies totally on the black box data, but if that was bypassed then all their conclusions are worthless.
Also if this is just due to driver error, why it is only happening mainly on Toyotas? Answer me that!!
there are 2 agencies named, so the [sic] is correct. e.g. How has DHS and TSA addressed..." is the same as "How has they addressed...", both are wrong. S/b "How HAVE..."
For what it is worth, I just got my Hero on Thursday and I love it. I've been on Qwest wireless in Minnesota for years with a very old phone. They are ending their wireless service Oct 31st and forcing everyone to move to Verizon (for whom they are now a reseller/partner), or jump ship to another carrier. I stalled as long as I could to see if Verizon would come out with a phone I liked, since their coverage and service is excellent locally. But they didn't, and when the HTC Hero was released by Sprint on Oct 11th, I ordered one. Thought about the iPhone but I hate AT&T and also don't really like the "our way or the highway" mentality of Apple, much prefer an open platform. Also AT&T seems to be struggling to handle the network traffic and has a lousy service rating locally. I depend on my phone for business use (work from home), so network reliability is critical to me.
From my experience so far, it is not laggy at all, not instantaneous but very acceptable speed when launching apps and running them. There is an "app killer" app that you can download that shows which apps are running and lets you end them. Avoid CPU hogging programs (twitter is one).
The screen shuts off in 30 seconds by default, but there is a setting for that and you can even set it to stay on all the time if you don't care about battery life. The UI works fine and is quite intuitive, I got used to it fast. The keyboard is pretty good considering the small space (works better in landscape mode), and the word completion/correction is excellent. The camera is high res and easy to use, with auto-focus. No flash though. This phone comes with a lot of features, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, SprintTV, email, web browser, and thousands of free apps on the Android marketplace.
For more evaluations and critiques, look up "HTC Hero" in YouTube, there are a number of good videos that show it off. The CNet one is good, also MobilityToday.
My mother-in-law (88 years old) has pancreatic cancer, first diagnosed in January 2008. The Mayo Clinic (in Rochester Minnesota) would not operate because they determined that the cancer had already begun to spread outside the pancreas.
After some research we found the CyberKnife Center in Saint Paul Minnesota and she was treated in early April. The treatment was effective in killing the original tumor and had neglible side effects other than some fatigue and very mild nausea, easily treated with medication.
She was totally pain and symptom free for over six months following the treatment, which gave her a considerable extension of her life with excellent quality of life, compared to the alternatives. Unfortunately the cancer did continue to spread and is now showing up in other parts of her body, and she has only 3-6 months to live. But she (and we her family) are very happy that we did the CyberKnife treatments because of the extra good months that we have had with her.
So, I would recommend this medical technology highly from our experience. While expensive, it is effective, the treatments are not hard on the patient, and the side effects are minimal compared to any other cancer treatment modalities.
Here's one that drives me nuts to no end: in_array($needle, $haystack); [php.net] vs strstr($haystack, $needle); [php.net]
Here's another that makes x-platform DB stuff a serious pain: mysql_query($query, $db_connection); [php.net] compared to pg_query($db_connection, $query); [php.net]
You could just write some 1-line wrapper functions for these poorly designed ones that have the parameters in a consistent order. Name them with a 'my_" prefix and you will remember them easily. And stick them in the ever-popular generic functions library include file that everybody uses.
Just a thought...
The article is written by a "guest author" who is part of a consulting group that works for the Canadian Electricity Association. Gee I wonder which side of this they are on? Non-biased research, give me a break! He is obviously cherry-picking his arguments and "experts". This article is not worth the electrons it is printed on, IMHO.
(I'm not familiar with U.S. sports teams, but I don't know of any that's named after the state it's based in.)
Arizona Cardinals
Carolina Panthers
Minnesota Vikings
New England Patriots (region of several states)
New York Giants (could be the state or the city)
New York Jets (ditto)
Tennessee Titans
I have also read thousands of SF books and these
are some of my favorites. Try reading one book by each author and you will be happy for months. Not all are new, but all are good to great (IMHO).
==A==
Kevin J. Anderson, Poul Anderson, Patricia Anthony, Isaac Asimov, Robert Asprin
==B==
Kage Baker, Iain M. Banks, John Barnes, William Barton, Greg Bear, Gregory Benford,
Ben Bova, David Brin, John Brunner, Lois McMaster Bujold, Chris Bunch
__C__
Orson Scott Card, Jeffrey A. Carver, Jack L. Chalker, C. J. Cherryh, Arthur C. Clarke
__D__
John Dalmas, Philip K. Dick, Gordon R. Dickson, William C. Dietz, Stephen R. Donaldson,
David Drake
__EFG__
George Alec Effinger, David Feintuch, Alan Dean Foster, Robert Frezza, William Gibson
__H__
Peter F. Hamilton, Robert A. Heinlein, Frank Herbert, James P. Hogan
__KL__
Nancy Kress, Henry Kuttner, Keith Laumer, Fritz Leiber, Ursala K. LeGuin, Paul Levinson
__MN__
Ian MacDonald, Ken MacLeod, Susan R. Matthews, Julian May, Anne McCaffrey, Jack McDevitt,
L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Elizabeth Moon, Larry Niven
__PR__
H. Beam Piper, Frederik Pohl, Terry Pratchett, Mike Resnick, Kim Stanley Robinson
__S__
Fred Saberhagen, Robert J. Sawyer, James H. Schmitz, Charles Sheffield, Robert Silverberg,
Dan Simmons, Norman Spinrad, Allan Steele, S. M. Stirling
__TV__
Sheri S. Tepper, George Turner, Harry Turtledove, John Varley, S. I. Viehl, Vernor Vinge
__WZ__
David Weber, James White, Connie Willis, David Wingrove, Timothy Zahn, Sarah Zettel
Project Echelon has been around a long time, since
1971, although its capacity has been greatly
expanded in recent years. There were a number of
exposes about this back in 1998-1999 timeframe.
For a good overview see the FAQ and other stuff
at Echelon
Watch.
There is plenty of good recent SF. I read tons
of SF and recently compiled a list of authors
for a friend who wanted reading recommendations.
I like hard SF best, including space operas and
military SF, but also like GOOD fantasy. Here is
the list (alphabetical). If you can't find any
books you like from these writers, you don't
like SF, IMHO.
Kevin J. Anderson
Poul Anderson
Patricia Anthony
Isaac Asimov
Robert Asprin
Kage Baker
Iain M. Banks
John Barnes
William Barton
Greg Bear
Gregory Benford
Ben Bova
David Brin
John Brunner
Lois McMaster Bujold
Chris Bunch
Orson Scott Card
Jeffrey A. Carver
Jack L. Chalker
C. J. Cherryh
Arthur C. Clarke
John Dalmas
Philip K. Dick
Gordon R. Dickson
William C. Dietz
Stephen R. Donaldson
David Drake
George Alec Effinger
David Feintuch
Alan Dean Foster
Robert Frezza
William Gibson
Peter F. Hamilton
Robert A. Heinlein
Frank Herbert
James P. Hogan
Nancy Kress
Henry Kuttner
Keith Laumer
Fritz Leiber
Ursala K. LeGuin
Paul Levinson
Ian MacDonald
Ken MacLeod
Susan R. Matthews
Julian May
Anne McCaffrey
Jack McDevitt
L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
Elizabeth Moon
Larry Niven
H. Beam Piper
Frederik Pohl
Terry Pratchett
Mike Resnick
Kim Stanley Robinson
Fred Saberhagen
Robert J. Sawyer
James H. Schmitz
Charles Sheffield
Robert Silverberg
Dan Simmons
Norman Spinrad
Allan Steele
S. M. Stirling
Sheri S. Tepper
George Turner
Harry Turtledove
John Varley
S. I. Viehl
Vernor Vinge
David Weber
James White
Connie Willis
David Wingrove
Timothy Zahn
Sarah Zettel
There is a similar bill that is close to passing
as a state law in Minnesota, according to this
article in the Saint Paul Pioneer Press. (Saint Paul - the "other Minneapolis"). Seems it has AOL and the other large content providers somewhat upset. Tough rocks, say I.
Slashdot Mirror
I suggest reading this book before making any donations:
The Road to Hell: The Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aid and International Charity (Michael Maren)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0684828006/ref=oh_o00_s01_i00_details
From the amazon review: "Before you mail another check to Save the Children or join the Peace Corps, read this book. Michael Maren shows that the international aid industry is a big business more concerned with winning its next big government contract than helping needy people."
The quality of "official" documentation in the PHP manual is laughable. Almost all the useful tips that I have found when looking for answers have been in the user-contributed comments. To say the official docs are "sparse" is being kind. Why give a detailed explanation of the method and its parameters with examples when a short, vague sentence will suffice?
In general, it seems to me that the quality of documentation for open-source software like PHP is pathetic, compared to best practices. I don't know why this is, but it is true. Maybe open-source developers lack an understanding how important documentation is, or maybe they just cannot write clear, helpful explanations and examples, or cannot get out of super-geek mode enough to understand the needs of the average developer who is just looking a quick, useful explanation?
I am an application developer with 40 years experience and have written a ton of docs for software that I wrote. I'm sure not perfect but my docs are a lot more detailed and comprehensive than most of what I see coming out these days. (I know, old geezer complaint, "you damn kids - get off my lawn"!!) Comments welcome (ideally non-snarky and useful ones please)! Flamers just shut up.
My CS101 class used MIX (Knuth's artificial assembly language), SNOBOL and LISP.
Warped me forever!
This was far ago in the way-back machine (1968).
All programs were written on punch cards.
You submitted a program and got the results back the next day.
One mistake and you waited another 24 hours for the next test results.
But, it did make me VERY good at reviewing my code before testing it.
DAK is back, I bought some noise-cancelling earbuds from them recently and they work great. He is still writing interesting product promos.
https://www.dak.com/index.cfm
Square is a great new low-cost option for ANYONE to accept credit cards, if you have a smart phone.
No minimums, no monthly fees, just sign up, link to your bank account, get their card reader which plugs into the microphone jack of your smart phone, and take credit cards. Swipe fee is 2.75 percent, phone/internet rate is 3.25 percent. Very good option. I just signed up.
cult: a small, unpopular religion
religion: a large, popular cult
His initial idiot defense attorney failed to present evidence from an insurance company investigator that showed the brakes WERE applied. Also his car had ABS brakes so there would NOT be any skid marks due to how they work. A total shaft job on this poor guy by the local prosecutor who deserves a spot in hell for it.
Then you have the state patrol officer in CA who was unable to stop his Toyota despite all his efforts. As captured by a 911 call during the event.
Also there is a college engineering professor in IL (?) I think, who demo'ed a way that the electronic control board could fail WITHOUT notifying the black box.
Finally, the govt report relies totally on the black box data, but if that was bypassed then all their conclusions are worthless.
Also if this is just due to driver error, why it is only happening mainly on Toyotas? Answer me that!!
there are 2 agencies named, so the [sic] is correct. ..." is the same as "How has they addressed ...", both are wrong. S/b "How HAVE ..."
e.g. How has DHS and TSA addressed
- the grammar nazi
For what it is worth, I just got my Hero on Thursday and I love it. I've been on Qwest wireless in Minnesota for years with a very old phone. They are ending their wireless service Oct 31st and forcing everyone to move to Verizon (for whom they are now a reseller/partner), or jump ship to another carrier. I stalled as long as I could to see if Verizon would come out with a phone I liked, since their coverage and service is excellent locally. But they didn't, and when the HTC Hero was released by Sprint on Oct 11th, I ordered one. Thought about the iPhone but I hate AT&T and also don't really like the "our way or the highway" mentality of Apple, much prefer an open platform. Also AT&T seems to be struggling to handle the network traffic and has a lousy service rating locally. I depend on my phone for business use (work from home), so network reliability is critical to me.
From my experience so far, it is not laggy at all, not instantaneous but very acceptable speed when launching apps and running them. There is an "app killer" app that you can download that shows which apps are running and lets you end them. Avoid CPU hogging programs (twitter is one).
The screen shuts off in 30 seconds by default, but there is a setting for that and you can even set it to stay on all the time if you don't care about battery life. The UI works fine and is quite intuitive, I got used to it fast. The keyboard is pretty good considering the small space (works better in landscape mode), and the word completion/correction is excellent. The camera is high res and easy to use, with auto-focus. No flash though. This phone comes with a lot of features, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, SprintTV, email, web browser, and thousands of free apps on the Android marketplace.
For more evaluations and critiques, look up "HTC Hero" in YouTube, there are a number of good videos that show it off. The CNet one is good, also MobilityToday.
Philip K Dick foresaw this about 50 years ago in his SF novels, they're worth a re-reading.
After some research we found the CyberKnife Center in Saint Paul Minnesota and she was treated in early April. The treatment was effective in killing the original tumor and had neglible side effects other than some fatigue and very mild nausea, easily treated with medication.
She was totally pain and symptom free for over six months following the treatment, which gave her a considerable extension of her life with excellent quality of life, compared to the alternatives. Unfortunately the cancer did continue to spread and is now showing up in other parts of her body, and she has only 3-6 months to live. But she (and we her family) are very happy that we did the CyberKnife treatments because of the extra good months that we have had with her.
So, I would recommend this medical technology highly from our experience. While expensive, it is effective, the treatments are not hard on the patient, and the side effects are minimal compared to any other cancer treatment modalities.
Here's another that makes x-platform DB stuff a serious pain: mysql_query($query, $db_connection); [php.net] compared to pg_query($db_connection, $query); [php.net]
You could just write some 1-line wrapper functions for these poorly designed ones that have the parameters in a consistent order. Name them with a 'my_" prefix and you will remember them easily. And stick them in the ever-popular generic functions library include file that everybody uses. Just a thought...
no, you're not an "asshole", you're an analogy to the particles called "bosons", you're a "bozo". His post was great, your reply was asinine.
The article is written by a "guest author" who is part of a consulting group that works for the Canadian Electricity Association. Gee I wonder which side of this they are on? Non-biased research, give me a break! He is obviously cherry-picking his arguments and "experts". This article is not worth the electrons it is printed on, IMHO.
Use "fewer" when you can count the things being compared and "less" when you can't. Try it, it sounds right too.
"I have fewer mod points than you."
"His bike uses less gas than your SUV."
etc.
Good luck with your dog, hope he will be ok. Most dogs are better company than most people.
Donald Norman's book The Design of Everyday Things
Jakob Nielsen's articles and newsletters on web design and usability testing:
Useit.com
Both are pretty good.
Arizona Cardinals
Carolina Panthers
Minnesota Vikings
New England Patriots (region of several states)
New York Giants (could be the state or the city)
New York Jets (ditto)
Tennessee Titans
==A==
Kevin J. Anderson, Poul Anderson, Patricia Anthony, Isaac Asimov, Robert Asprin
==B==
Kage Baker, Iain M. Banks, John Barnes, William Barton, Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, Ben Bova, David Brin, John Brunner, Lois McMaster Bujold, Chris Bunch
__C__
Orson Scott Card, Jeffrey A. Carver, Jack L. Chalker, C. J. Cherryh, Arthur C. Clarke
__D__
John Dalmas, Philip K. Dick, Gordon R. Dickson, William C. Dietz, Stephen R. Donaldson, David Drake
__EFG__
George Alec Effinger, David Feintuch, Alan Dean Foster, Robert Frezza, William Gibson
__H__
Peter F. Hamilton, Robert A. Heinlein, Frank Herbert, James P. Hogan
__KL__
Nancy Kress, Henry Kuttner, Keith Laumer, Fritz Leiber, Ursala K. LeGuin, Paul Levinson
__MN__
Ian MacDonald, Ken MacLeod, Susan R. Matthews, Julian May, Anne McCaffrey, Jack McDevitt, L.E. Modesitt, Jr., Elizabeth Moon, Larry Niven
__PR__
H. Beam Piper, Frederik Pohl, Terry Pratchett, Mike Resnick, Kim Stanley Robinson
__S__
Fred Saberhagen, Robert J. Sawyer, James H. Schmitz, Charles Sheffield, Robert Silverberg, Dan Simmons, Norman Spinrad, Allan Steele, S. M. Stirling
__TV__
Sheri S. Tepper, George Turner, Harry Turtledove, John Varley, S. I. Viehl, Vernor Vinge
__WZ__
David Weber, James White, Connie Willis, David Wingrove, Timothy Zahn, Sarah Zettel
Project Echelon has been around a long time, since 1971, although its capacity has been greatly expanded in recent years. There were a number of exposes about this back in 1998-1999 timeframe. For a good overview see the FAQ and other stuff at Echelon Watch.
There is plenty of good recent SF. I read tons of SF and recently compiled a list of authors for a friend who wanted reading recommendations. I like hard SF best, including space operas and military SF, but also like GOOD fantasy. Here is the list (alphabetical). If you can't find any books you like from these writers, you don't like SF, IMHO. Kevin J. Anderson Poul Anderson Patricia Anthony Isaac Asimov Robert Asprin Kage Baker Iain M. Banks John Barnes William Barton Greg Bear Gregory Benford Ben Bova David Brin John Brunner Lois McMaster Bujold Chris Bunch Orson Scott Card Jeffrey A. Carver Jack L. Chalker C. J. Cherryh Arthur C. Clarke John Dalmas Philip K. Dick Gordon R. Dickson William C. Dietz Stephen R. Donaldson David Drake George Alec Effinger David Feintuch Alan Dean Foster Robert Frezza William Gibson Peter F. Hamilton Robert A. Heinlein Frank Herbert James P. Hogan Nancy Kress Henry Kuttner Keith Laumer Fritz Leiber Ursala K. LeGuin Paul Levinson Ian MacDonald Ken MacLeod Susan R. Matthews Julian May Anne McCaffrey Jack McDevitt L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Elizabeth Moon Larry Niven H. Beam Piper Frederik Pohl Terry Pratchett Mike Resnick Kim Stanley Robinson Fred Saberhagen Robert J. Sawyer James H. Schmitz Charles Sheffield Robert Silverberg Dan Simmons Norman Spinrad Allan Steele S. M. Stirling Sheri S. Tepper George Turner Harry Turtledove John Varley S. I. Viehl Vernor Vinge David Weber James White Connie Willis David Wingrove Timothy Zahn Sarah Zettel
There is a similar bill that is close to passing as a state law in Minnesota, according to this article in the Saint Paul Pioneer Press. (Saint Paul - the "other Minneapolis"). Seems it has AOL and the other large content providers somewhat upset. Tough rocks, say I.
Try using free ad-blocking software such as webwasher. I have been using it since June 1999 and so far it has blocked over 116,000 ad images.