If you want a good education, go to a place with a bit of history, 100 years or more, because you can trust that it knows how to maintain its quality.
Poly is in fact over 100 years old. AIUI, it's not a bad place to go for graduate study. They recently built a big new facility in Brooklyn together with a bunch of New York companies. They make most of their money from research; a lot of Star Wars work was done there. It's just the undergraduate study that leaves something to be desired.
Class of '91 here, also attended the now-closed Farmingdale campus. Professors (well, not all of 'em) who hate having students, WWII-era lab equipment, "library" the size of my living room, dorms made from Civil Defense shelter plans. Then again, parking was always plentiful, and climbing the Poly Ball (the vacuum chamber for the defunct hypersonic wind tunnel) was always fun. I was in the CS program - one of IIRC less than a dozen students in my year in the program. (The school is, or was, very heavily focused on EE.) Tuition started at $9500 a year when I started in '87, and was $14K by '91, and has climbed steadily from there.
I'll say this, though - love it or hate it, I don't know anyone who managed to graduate (of course, many people don't) who doesn't have a good job now. IMO Poly is kind of a "crucible" that culls the chaff pretty quickly.
sports car buyers are a completely different breed of person, willing to put up with a lot of problems that your average soccer mom SUV driver will not
Perhaps, but the Cayenne is hardly your average soccer mom SUV - able to tackle the Rubicon, 0-60 in 5ish seconds, and over 70 large. On the other hand, its sister vehicle the VW Touareg is looking like a slam-dunk for the "normal" SUV market...
Why? Both of them "just work", and provide a combination of performance and reliability that many others can't, all GPL-vs-proprietary religious fanaticism notwithstanding.
The only German car I've ever owned was a VW Rabbit, and I paid more in repairs for the car than I did for the car!
Um, American car companies aren't the only ones who've improved their quality since the '80s. (And as much as the Big Three have improved, they've still got some catching up to do.) Besides which, if your Rabbit was an '80s model, there's a good chance it was built in the United States, not in Germany.
And the morons are *still* using that idiotic seat-tilt knob instead of a lever like everyone else has figured out decades ago. Ugh.
That "idiotic" knob gives much finer control over seatback position than the stupid lever does, and allows the seat to be released forward in 2-door cars without messing up the seatback position. And why does it seem that only German manufacturers (and Saturn) have figured out how to provide manual seat height adjustment?
Maybe he was brought up in a culture where a life is worth something.
Well, then, maybe that culture should have taught him not to steal what doesn't belong to him, and not to use the threat of deadly force to coerce other people. In the meantime, however, until such a culture exists, I'm all for the use of firearms for personal defense.
Sheetrock has had a far greater impact on the world
On the world? On North America maybe. I just got back from two weeks in Austria, and I didn't see a whole lot of Sheetrock there - they seem to use plaster, masonry, and concrete more widely than we do; I'd imagine the trend is similar across Europe.
Not bloody likely. HD Video is likely to require about 15 GB/hour to store. 1 TB of data does NOT give you 'hundreds of hours', more like 65 hours....using current video codecs, that is. But what about when we're using MPEG-20 or something?
Jeez, what kind of machine was this? Using MSVC6, no custom optimizations, on an Athlon 2000+, the C version runs in 1.906 seconds, for the 40th number. The 44th number takes 13.093 seconds. I'll have to get a JDK implementation set up so I can test the Java equivalent...
Now if they only produced better screens we could get some work done. The only working thing you can consider "computing" and "cellular" is the Treo.
Calling the Treo "cellular" may be pushing it a bit. At least in the NYC metro area, the T-Mobile cell service sucks. Basically, it's a Palm with a keyboard (no small improvement, there!) that once in a while also works as a cell phone.
The same silly argument that no one is forcing a customer to take a bum deal had been used to defend loan sharks, dangerously unsafe cars, and sweatshops. In all cases, it's untrue.
No, only in one of those cases - the unsafe car. It's not reasonable to assume that a layman will be an expert on automotive engineering, so if the manufacturer claims the car is safe, the customer is relying on the manufacturer not to lie. If they are lying (i.e. the car is not safe), then it's fraud and certainly would be unethical. As for the loan shark and the sweatshop - well, you said it yourself; no one's forcing anyone to do anything.
Even though two parties enter into a contract of their own "free will," the terms of the contract can still be unethical.
Only if force or fraud is involved, which I don't see in this case (the software job). (And what's with the quotes? Don't you believe in "free will"?)
Having said that, it is pretty low down dirty and slimy to have a company PAY YOU to write a program, PAY YOU to maintain a program, PAY YOU to give them a copy of the program, then you turn around and claim that they are bound by a license. If they commissioned the work to be done, you shouldn't be trying to shove a license up their butts.
...
And if the consultant is reading this post: You are over stepping your ethical rights. They paid for it, they should control it.
I don't see where there's an ethical issue here at all. This is between the contractor and the customer, to negotiate as they see fit. Maybe the customer wants ownership of the code, and is willing to pay for it. Or maybe they don't care about that, and can negotiate a lower price in exchange - the contractor makes less money off the current sale, but can make more money off the software later on. Why make it an "ethical issue"? Having choices is a good thing, innit?
a fraction of the cost of the east coast subways (which I paid for with my tax money)
Huh? Do you have any idea how old the NYC subway is? How did "your" tax money pay for it?
(BTW, I'm not a big proponent of mass transit myself , but I've gotta say that the NYC subway system is a triumphal example of how effective it can be. Where else can you ride almost 50 miles for a buck and a half?)
Slashdot Mirror
Just north of Amityville, actually.
If you want a good education, go to a place with a bit of history, 100 years or more, because you can trust that it knows how to maintain its quality.
Poly is in fact over 100 years old. AIUI, it's not a bad place to go for graduate study. They recently built a big new facility in Brooklyn together with a bunch of New York companies. They make most of their money from research; a lot of Star Wars work was done there. It's just the undergraduate study that leaves something to be desired.
Class of '91 here, also attended the now-closed Farmingdale campus. Professors (well, not all of 'em) who hate having students, WWII-era lab equipment, "library" the size of my living room, dorms made from Civil Defense shelter plans. Then again, parking was always plentiful, and climbing the Poly Ball (the vacuum chamber for the defunct hypersonic wind tunnel) was always fun. I was in the CS program - one of IIRC less than a dozen students in my year in the program. (The school is, or was, very heavily focused on EE.) Tuition started at $9500 a year when I started in '87, and was $14K by '91, and has climbed steadily from there.
I'll say this, though - love it or hate it, I don't know anyone who managed to graduate (of course, many people don't) who doesn't have a good job now. IMO Poly is kind of a "crucible" that culls the chaff pretty quickly.
sports car buyers are a completely different breed of person, willing to put up with a lot of problems that your average soccer mom SUV driver will not
Perhaps, but the Cayenne is hardly your average soccer mom SUV - able to tackle the Rubicon, 0-60 in 5ish seconds, and over 70 large. On the other hand, its sister vehicle the VW Touareg is looking like a slam-dunk for the "normal" SUV market...
Why? Both of them "just work", and provide a combination of performance and reliability that many others can't, all GPL-vs-proprietary religious fanaticism notwithstanding.
So, in Germany you can't buy 3rd-party parts for your car?
They must be OEM approved by the manufacturer.
The only German car I've ever owned was a VW Rabbit, and I paid more in repairs for the car than I did for the car!
Um, American car companies aren't the only ones who've improved their quality since the '80s. (And as much as the Big Three have improved, they've still got some catching up to do.) Besides which, if your Rabbit was an '80s model, there's a good chance it was built in the United States, not in Germany.
And the morons are *still* using that idiotic seat-tilt knob instead of a lever like everyone else has figured out decades ago. Ugh.
That "idiotic" knob gives much finer control over seatback position than the stupid lever does, and allows the seat to be released forward in 2-door cars without messing up the seatback position. And why does it seem that only German manufacturers (and Saturn) have figured out how to provide manual seat height adjustment?
...stars photograph YOU!
Maybe he was brought up in a culture where a life is worth something.
Well, then, maybe that culture should have taught him not to steal what doesn't belong to him, and not to use the threat of deadly force to coerce other people. In the meantime, however, until such a culture exists, I'm all for the use of firearms for personal defense.
Um... if he draws a gun on you, what makes you think he won't shoot you with it? I mean, that's what guns are for, right?
Since when is "Microsoft Outlook shipped with most Windows computers"?
Seems to me that if Outlook was shipped, Microsoft wouldn't have gone to all the trouble to work Outlook Express into the OS as they have.
Don't most PCs ship with Office as well as Windows? Outlook is included in Office...
In Soviet Russia... LINUX boots YOU!
Any other ideas?
BETTER SEATS! My butt is still hurting from my last transoceanic flight...
Sheetrock has had a far greater impact on the world
On the world? On North America maybe. I just got back from two weeks in Austria, and I didn't see a whole lot of Sheetrock there - they seem to use plaster, masonry, and concrete more widely than we do; I'd imagine the trend is similar across Europe.
"At the sound of the bell, the current time will be..."
Not bloody likely. HD Video is likely to require about 15 GB/hour to store. 1 TB of data does NOT give you 'hundreds of hours', more like 65 hours. ...using current video codecs, that is. But what about when we're using MPEG-20 or something?
Interestingly it only seems to happen in theatres
Hmm. Not movie theaters, I hope...
Jeez, what kind of machine was this? Using MSVC6, no custom optimizations, on an Athlon 2000+, the C version runs in 1.906 seconds, for the 40th number. The 44th number takes 13.093 seconds. I'll have to get a JDK implementation set up so I can test the Java equivalent...
Now if they only produced better screens we could get some work done. The only working thing you can consider "computing" and "cellular" is the Treo.
Calling the Treo "cellular" may be pushing it a bit. At least in the NYC metro area, the T-Mobile cell service sucks. Basically, it's a Palm with a keyboard (no small improvement, there!) that once in a while also works as a cell phone.
The same silly argument that no one is forcing a customer to take a bum deal had been used to defend loan sharks, dangerously unsafe cars, and sweatshops. In all cases, it's untrue.
No, only in one of those cases - the unsafe car. It's not reasonable to assume that a layman will be an expert on automotive engineering, so if the manufacturer claims the car is safe, the customer is relying on the manufacturer not to lie. If they are lying (i.e. the car is not safe), then it's fraud and certainly would be unethical. As for the loan shark and the sweatshop - well, you said it yourself; no one's forcing anyone to do anything.
Even though two parties enter into a contract of their own "free will," the terms of the contract can still be unethical.
Only if force or fraud is involved, which I don't see in this case (the software job). (And what's with the quotes? Don't you believe in "free will"?)
Having said that, it is pretty low down dirty and slimy to have a company PAY YOU to write a program, PAY YOU to maintain a program, PAY YOU to give them a copy of the program, then you turn around and claim that they are bound by a license. If they commissioned the work to be done, you shouldn't be trying to shove a license up their butts.
...
And if the consultant is reading this post: You are over stepping your ethical rights. They paid for it, they should control it.
I don't see where there's an ethical issue here at all. This is between the contractor and the customer, to negotiate as they see fit. Maybe the customer wants ownership of the code, and is willing to pay for it. Or maybe they don't care about that, and can negotiate a lower price in exchange - the contractor makes less money off the current sale, but can make more money off the software later on. Why make it an "ethical issue"? Having choices is a good thing, innit?
...you're really RMS, aren't you? C'mon, you can tell us.
The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch, to be exact.
Hmm. Made me think of Ubik , actually.
I hope you didn't turn your Sea People into an advanced civilization, using the same "techniques" Eric Cartman did...
a fraction of the cost of the east coast subways (which I paid for with my tax money)
Huh? Do you have any idea how old the NYC subway is? How did "your" tax money pay for it?
(BTW, I'm not a big proponent of mass transit myself , but I've gotta say that the NYC subway system is a triumphal example of how effective it can be. Where else can you ride almost 50 miles for a buck and a half?)