Look, they do some sort of Hidden Markov Model estimations to find the most likely chord progression to fit the vocals.
Hidden Markov models are an extremely powerful statistical modeling technique that has many uses across many domains. Why, in God's name, did they need to apply it to music, rather than something else? More importantly, why did they think that something as God-awful as this needed to see the light of day?
Actually, I think that the folks at MS Research (being smarter than the rest of the folks at MS) are trying to subtly sabotage the company. In this case, it's a masterful use of Microsoft's need to look cool (compared to its southern fruit-vendor rival), taking advantage of its current management's definite uncoolness, while releasing something so bad that the company looks stupid. To be fair, the MS Research guys might not be doing this consciously - it may be an unconscious reaction to their self-loathing for working for the Beast of Redmond.
Anyhow, next up, an automatically disintegrating hardware device that plays into management's need for planned obsolescence and their contempt for their customers... Oh wait, that was the 30 GB Zune... Or maybe that's just a test run!
I'm currently porting from fortran to C++ an app that's been developed over the past ~30 years. The standard for the program's correct behavior is: whatever the program does.
So why are you porting it? If it works properly, I'm sure there are Fortran compilers for whatever you want to run it on.
Whole departments/groups are fired, competent people, incompetent people and everybody in between, all together. Badly managed teams will be thrown out, even if some (most) of the non-management people are competent.
This is absolutely true, especially at larger companies. Basically, companies will want to get out of lines of business, sell off products, etc., rather than engage in an across the board cut. This helps them sustain their advantage in areas that are strong or strategic for them, while getting rid of costs associated with more speculative endeavors (or those that they are actually losing at). Unfortunately, this means that everyone associated with those groups go - good, bad, or mediocre (OK, there may be some offers to try to keep a few truly stellar people - which usually don't work - maybe 5 out of 100). However, the point still stands - anyone who tries to say that layoffs are all about "dead wood" has that in their head.
the usual talking points and familiar executive branch excesses are history.
Some of those excesses were actually war crimes and some of us are not going to stop talking about them until (at least) investigations are held. Unless you think (a) that waterboarding is not torture (and if so, tell me what's changed since WWII to convince you otherwise) or (b) that the Executive Branch can order people to torture with impunity.
Yes, I know, you're probably one of those centrists who want to live in the "fluffy bunny let's all get along" world of post-partisan politics (or perhaps an authoritarian conservative who wants to brush all of this stuff under the carpet). But if it means letting war criminals off the hook, I'm not buying it. The best thing America has is the ability of its citizens to make a stink about truly stinky stuff - even stinky stuff that is in the past to make sure it doesn't happen again. So don't you ever tell us not to bitch and moan about the truly heinous. I will support our President when he does good things, and I will complain when he does bad things (or not enough good things).
It's because the American people themselves are broken and ineffective, more concerned about getting theirs than looking to a higher goal.
Oddly enough, I don't see this. Most Americans are almost completely disinterested in government, wanting to spend their time with American Idol, most not even using their ability to vote to change the same. And, oddly enough, even though they are disengaged, they do often display generosity of spirit and tolerance for their fellow countrymen (although not for their next door neighbors who, truth be told, are really jerks) and want what is best for them.
As far as I can tell, the majority of the folk hanging around Washington, DC trying to "get theirs" are not the common people, but corporatists whose lobbyists request that Congress do this or that for the good of "the people", most of whom did not ask for this good, or who would not necessarily agree that it was good.
In any case, denigrating the disengaged people in this country is not a good first step toward getting them either educated about the realities of government or engaged in its process, something which will be necessary to change the present system, unless you think that revolution would be a good thing.
Ah, so it's a way to sell more machines to run more infrastructure software (also sold) which companies think will increase their scalability, which they don't really need because most of them are never going to have the amount of business that would force them to scale, where simple client-server software would suffice while they're going down the tubes.
Wasn't something like some judges getting it in there?
Uh, judges don't "get it in there". Judges interpret the law. California's constitution at the time said that the state should provide equal rights under the law. Gay advocates argued that not allowing same-sex couples to marry was discriminatory. It was a logical legal conclusion. And this conclusion was overturned when the people chose to put discrimination against gay people into the constitution.
Why do you think that judges are "getting it in there" when they are just making legal decisions? You may disagree with the consequences of the decision, but in that case, you should be unhappy with the stupid people who wrote the original law, not the unfortunate judges who have to try to make sense of it. Why do you dislike the idea of judges doing their job?
Visitation rights: before I was married to my wife I was not only granted visitation I was her medical proxy! Marriage is not required for that
Yes, only a legal document that needs to be drawn up, if you happen to be of the same sex. Separate and unequal. And, if you don't have that piece of paper, there is not a judge in the land that will side with you if his/her family goes to court to have their choice codified.
Inheritance: Do you need to be married to write a will?
The point is, if you're "married", you don't need to.
Do you think making same-sex couples jump through unnecessary hoops to gain the "same" rights as opposite-sex couples is a good thing? Or are you just using a wall of "it's possible to erect a complicated legal framework that approximates marriage" to hide your bigotry?
So, exactly how many places are there that recognize "marriages" between two people of the same sex?
Right now, I think that there are a few European countries, Canada, and the States of Massachusetts and New Jersey. Several other states have lawsuits on the way.
What I don't understand is how this comes up at all. I'm straight, too, but I don't discuss my sex life with coworkers.
Many of my co-workers have pictures of their families/long-term partners in their cubes/offices. Put one of those in your office if you're gay and you're automatically outed. Same with bringing something to company affairs (holiday celebrations, etc.). You probably would have no problem talking about your "hot date" with someone when in a corporate male-only group (and hopefully only with your close peers - you are right that the rest of us aren't interested). The bottom line is that most of us who have lives outside of the office are able to talk about them. As a straight person, I can see where someone's sexual orientation can leak out into the environment when just talking about everyday life. And even I, as a straight person can see that gay people just don't have that freedom without the chance of facing discrimination.
And, as for your "separate but equal" suggestion about civil unions, that's never seemed to work out so well in the past. Somehow, although we usually get the separate part right, the equal part always seems to elude us.
1) Leave incredibly profitable private sector job to Become VP, knowing there would be a 9/11 leading to the concern over WMD and that Saddam would not comply with UN resolutions or IAEA inspections, that we would thus invade Iraq, and that Haliburton would become the military's main civilian infrastructure contractor. 2) Invade Iraq
No, all you have to do is to know that the previous three administrations had been involved in military operations (and that, given your prodding, this one was likely to be, too), have a desire to expand those operations so as they would need contractors, and have enough political clout to make sure your former employer can receive large numbers of no-bid or sole-source contracts. Oh yeah, and set yourself up to profit from them while maintaining the appearance of propriety. It is, as they say, "how the game is played". No clairvoyance necessary.
Um, I think one of the perhaps very good reasons they don't use Linux is because the teachers are clueless as to how to use it.
Um, I think that the teachers are pretty clueless as to how to use Windows, too. I'd almost go as far as saying they're pretty clueless on how to run any hardware more advanced than hamster cages, but they generally can get students to do that for them.
Not to denigrate teachers - they are fine at what they're actually trained to do (i.e., teach), but most of them are the "typical computer user" (read clueless).
But Tuesday's keynote illustrated how difficult it will be for any of those guys to replace Jobs.
Actually, what Tuesday's keynote showed was how difficult it is to have a keynote with no major new products to announce. Apple has not brought out anything really interesting since the iPhone (and some would say since the iPod). The Air was a flop, the iTouch a simple upgrade to the iPod/downgrade to the iPhone. They need to get their R&D guys moving. Maybe Steve can come down and hit them with a stick (it's a Zen thing to do) to enlighten them.
Yes! Would it kill the online science magazines to post a link to the actual research web site or a technical report? Geez, I'm getting tired of having to search through multiple websites starting with the researcher and/or department name to find the actual research because the Google search is swamped by the press release that's being flogged. All of this could be avoided if the damn press release would contain a link to the research page and the science mags would include this link.
Yup. These guys never die. I have a "Classic". A bit less expensive than the "Advantage", but the same comfort. My only complaint is the "Esc" key placement (it's in the row of chicklet keys up top that they use for function keys) which is idiotic (especially if you are a vi user). However, key re-mapping is relatively easy, too.
A pension is ALWAYS a gamble on the part of the pensioner.
No. A pension is supposed to be a legal obligation on the company to fund the pension in an actuarily sound manner so as not to be a gamble - that's why they're so expensive. In fact, this is so much true that the government insures pensions. You might look up PBGC and the laws that define it and that deal with management of defined-benefit retirement plans. And, you better pray that the automakers pull through - if not, you and the rest of us taxpayers are on the hook for those pensions(via the PBGC).
How can it possibly be in the economic interest of the US to allow a corporation to lay off/fire workers and then not allow them to accept a job in their own field?
Well, RIM is Canadian, isn't it? Maybe we're just trying to make sure them furriners don't steal our American progress!
The day before you leave on your next vacation, set it up so that it loops the message "I love you!" and then set up the.wav file of Barney the dinosaur singing his "I love you, you love me" theme song. Remove the socket covers from your cube wall and attach the electrical leads that power the device directly to the power lines, covering them with two-inch thick conduit. Then epoxy encapsulate that power connection really well (if the connection happens to be through a wall wart, be sure to conduit and encapsulate those connections as well). Disable any power switch the device might have and leave. When you get back from your vacation, your co-workers will have all either quit or committed suicide and your path to the next level up the corporate chain will be cleared. Repeat as necessary until you are CEO. Take golden parachute and leave. You win!
Automobiles are so important in American society that every K-12 student should be taught automobile design!
At least, this seems to be the argument of some around here. However, just as it is the operation of the automobile that's important to understand, it's the operation of the computer system that's important to understand. And if one must learn the mechanics of transmission design... er, software design to operate a computing device, maybe the issue is in the operational interface of the device.
Besides, it's not as if mathematics classes skimp on algorithmic knowledge. I can name three algorithms that are taught pre-algebra off the top of my head - multiplication of multi-digit numbers, long division, and conversion of fractions into decimals. I'm sure there are others...
Slashdot Mirror
Look, they do some sort of Hidden Markov Model estimations to find the most likely chord progression to fit the vocals.
Hidden Markov models are an extremely powerful statistical modeling technique that has many uses across many domains. Why, in God's name, did they need to apply it to music, rather than something else? More importantly, why did they think that something as God-awful as this needed to see the light of day?
Actually, I think that the folks at MS Research (being smarter than the rest of the folks at MS) are trying to subtly sabotage the company. In this case, it's a masterful use of Microsoft's need to look cool (compared to its southern fruit-vendor rival), taking advantage of its current management's definite uncoolness, while releasing something so bad that the company looks stupid. To be fair, the MS Research guys might not be doing this consciously - it may be an unconscious reaction to their self-loathing for working for the Beast of Redmond.
Anyhow, next up, an automatically disintegrating hardware device that plays into management's need for planned obsolescence and their contempt for their customers... Oh wait, that was the 30 GB Zune... Or maybe that's just a test run!
Oh well, always big doings at MS Research!
I would love to see apple come out with another commercial of that caliber.
I know! You could get Steve Jobs to appear in a series of commercials with Carrot Top!
I'm currently porting from fortran to C++ an app that's been developed over the past ~30 years. The standard for the program's correct behavior is: whatever the program does.
So why are you porting it? If it works properly, I'm sure there are Fortran compilers for whatever you want to run it on.
but is it better?
It's Microsoft, isn't it? What more do you need to know?
Whole departments/groups are fired, competent people, incompetent people and everybody in between, all together. Badly managed teams will be thrown out, even if some (most) of the non-management people are competent.
This is absolutely true, especially at larger companies. Basically, companies will want to get out of lines of business, sell off products, etc., rather than engage in an across the board cut. This helps them sustain their advantage in areas that are strong or strategic for them, while getting rid of costs associated with more speculative endeavors (or those that they are actually losing at). Unfortunately, this means that everyone associated with those groups go - good, bad, or mediocre (OK, there may be some offers to try to keep a few truly stellar people - which usually don't work - maybe 5 out of 100). However, the point still stands - anyone who tries to say that layoffs are all about "dead wood" has that in their head.
the usual talking points and familiar executive branch excesses are history.
Some of those excesses were actually war crimes and some of us are not going to stop talking about them until (at least) investigations are held. Unless you think (a) that waterboarding is not torture (and if so, tell me what's changed since WWII to convince you otherwise) or (b) that the Executive Branch can order people to torture with impunity.
Yes, I know, you're probably one of those centrists who want to live in the "fluffy bunny let's all get along" world of post-partisan politics (or perhaps an authoritarian conservative who wants to brush all of this stuff under the carpet). But if it means letting war criminals off the hook, I'm not buying it. The best thing America has is the ability of its citizens to make a stink about truly stinky stuff - even stinky stuff that is in the past to make sure it doesn't happen again. So don't you ever tell us not to bitch and moan about the truly heinous. I will support our President when he does good things, and I will complain when he does bad things (or not enough good things).
It's because the American people themselves are broken and ineffective, more concerned about getting theirs than looking to a higher goal.
Oddly enough, I don't see this. Most Americans are almost completely disinterested in government, wanting to spend their time with American Idol, most not even using their ability to vote to change the same. And, oddly enough, even though they are disengaged, they do often display generosity of spirit and tolerance for their fellow countrymen (although not for their next door neighbors who, truth be told, are really jerks) and want what is best for them.
As far as I can tell, the majority of the folk hanging around Washington, DC trying to "get theirs" are not the common people, but corporatists whose lobbyists request that Congress do this or that for the good of "the people", most of whom did not ask for this good, or who would not necessarily agree that it was good.
In any case, denigrating the disengaged people in this country is not a good first step toward getting them either educated about the realities of government or engaged in its process, something which will be necessary to change the present system, unless you think that revolution would be a good thing.
And he's Irish and Indonesian too.
Of course he's Irish! Look at his name: O'Bama!
Ah, so it's a way to sell more machines to run more infrastructure software (also sold) which companies think will increase their scalability, which they don't really need because most of them are never going to have the amount of business that would force them to scale, where simple client-server software would suffice while they're going down the tubes.
Wasn't something like some judges getting it in there?
Uh, judges don't "get it in there". Judges interpret the law. California's constitution at the time said that the state should provide equal rights under the law. Gay advocates argued that not allowing same-sex couples to marry was discriminatory. It was a logical legal conclusion. And this conclusion was overturned when the people chose to put discrimination against gay people into the constitution.
Why do you think that judges are "getting it in there" when they are just making legal decisions? You may disagree with the consequences of the decision, but in that case, you should be unhappy with the stupid people who wrote the original law, not the unfortunate judges who have to try to make sense of it. Why do you dislike the idea of judges doing their job?
Visitation rights: before I was married to my wife I was not only granted visitation I was her medical proxy! Marriage is not required for that
Yes, only a legal document that needs to be drawn up, if you happen to be of the same sex. Separate and unequal. And, if you don't have that piece of paper, there is not a judge in the land that will side with you if his/her family goes to court to have their choice codified.
Inheritance: Do you need to be married to write a will?
The point is, if you're "married", you don't need to.
Do you think making same-sex couples jump through unnecessary hoops to gain the "same" rights as opposite-sex couples is a good thing? Or are you just using a wall of "it's possible to erect a complicated legal framework that approximates marriage" to hide your bigotry?
So, exactly how many places are there that recognize "marriages" between two people of the same sex?
Right now, I think that there are a few European countries, Canada, and the States of Massachusetts and New Jersey. Several other states have lawsuits on the way.
What I don't understand is how this comes up at all. I'm straight, too, but I don't discuss my sex life with coworkers.
Many of my co-workers have pictures of their families/long-term partners in their cubes/offices. Put one of those in your office if you're gay and you're automatically outed. Same with bringing something to company affairs (holiday celebrations, etc.). You probably would have no problem talking about your "hot date" with someone when in a corporate male-only group (and hopefully only with your close peers - you are right that the rest of us aren't interested). The bottom line is that most of us who have lives outside of the office are able to talk about them. As a straight person, I can see where someone's sexual orientation can leak out into the environment when just talking about everyday life. And even I, as a straight person can see that gay people just don't have that freedom without the chance of facing discrimination.
And, as for your "separate but equal" suggestion about civil unions, that's never seemed to work out so well in the past. Somehow, although we usually get the separate part right, the equal part always seems to elude us.
Skepticism in your government, yes. Cynicism that you can have any impact, no.
1) Leave incredibly profitable private sector job to Become VP, knowing there would be a 9/11 leading to the concern over WMD and that Saddam would not comply with UN resolutions or IAEA inspections, that we would thus invade Iraq, and that Haliburton would become the military's main civilian infrastructure contractor.
2) Invade Iraq
No, all you have to do is to know that the previous three administrations had been involved in military operations (and that, given your prodding, this one was likely to be, too), have a desire to expand those operations so as they would need contractors, and have enough political clout to make sure your former employer can receive large numbers of no-bid or sole-source contracts. Oh yeah, and set yourself up to profit from them while maintaining the appearance of propriety. It is, as they say, "how the game is played". No clairvoyance necessary.
And when we're done tackling this and the Israel-Palestine issue, we'll move on to emacs-vi.
Um, I think one of the perhaps very good reasons they don't use Linux is because the teachers are clueless as to how to use it.
Um, I think that the teachers are pretty clueless as to how to use Windows, too. I'd almost go as far as saying they're pretty clueless on how to run any hardware more advanced than hamster cages, but they generally can get students to do that for them.
Not to denigrate teachers - they are fine at what they're actually trained to do (i.e., teach), but most of them are the "typical computer user" (read clueless).
But Tuesday's keynote illustrated how difficult it will be for any of those guys to replace Jobs.
Actually, what Tuesday's keynote showed was how difficult it is to have a keynote with no major new products to announce. Apple has not brought out anything really interesting since the iPhone (and some would say since the iPod). The Air was a flop, the iTouch a simple upgrade to the iPod/downgrade to the iPhone. They need to get their R&D guys moving. Maybe Steve can come down and hit them with a stick (it's a Zen thing to do) to enlighten them.
OK, that's it! I'll only accept chartreuse and lavender certificates from now on. Maybe ivory, too.
Yes! Would it kill the online science magazines to post a link to the actual research web site or a technical report? Geez, I'm getting tired of having to search through multiple websites starting with the researcher and/or department name to find the actual research because the Google search is swamped by the press release that's being flogged. All of this could be avoided if the damn press release would contain a link to the research page and the science mags would include this link.
Yup. These guys never die. I have a "Classic". A bit less expensive than the "Advantage", but the same comfort. My only complaint is the "Esc" key placement (it's in the row of chicklet keys up top that they use for function keys) which is idiotic (especially if you are a vi user). However, key re-mapping is relatively easy, too.
A pension is ALWAYS a gamble on the part of the pensioner.
No. A pension is supposed to be a legal obligation on the company to fund the pension in an actuarily sound manner so as not to be a gamble - that's why they're so expensive. In fact, this is so much true that the government insures pensions. You might look up PBGC and the laws that define it and that deal with management of defined-benefit retirement plans. And, you better pray that the automakers pull through - if not, you and the rest of us taxpayers are on the hook for those pensions(via the PBGC).
How can it possibly be in the economic interest of the US to allow a corporation to lay off/fire workers and then not allow them to accept a job in their own field?
Well, RIM is Canadian, isn't it? Maybe we're just trying to make sure them furriners don't steal our American progress!
OK! Useful. Here's what you do...
The day before you leave on your next vacation, set it up so that it loops the message "I love you!" and then set up the .wav file of Barney the dinosaur singing his "I love you, you love me" theme song. Remove the socket covers from your cube wall and attach the electrical leads that power the device directly to the power lines, covering them with two-inch thick conduit. Then epoxy encapsulate that power connection really well (if the connection happens to be through a wall wart, be sure to conduit and encapsulate those connections as well). Disable any power switch the device might have and leave. When you get back from your vacation, your co-workers will have all either quit or committed suicide and your path to the next level up the corporate chain will be cleared. Repeat as necessary until you are CEO. Take golden parachute and leave. You win!
Automobiles are so important in American society that every K-12 student should be taught automobile design!
At least, this seems to be the argument of some around here. However, just as it is the operation of the automobile that's important to understand, it's the operation of the computer system that's important to understand. And if one must learn the mechanics of transmission design... er, software design to operate a computing device, maybe the issue is in the operational interface of the device.
Besides, it's not as if mathematics classes skimp on algorithmic knowledge. I can name three algorithms that are taught pre-algebra off the top of my head - multiplication of multi-digit numbers, long division, and conversion of fractions into decimals. I'm sure there are others...