Well thank you very much for your unasked for opinion, Mr. Anonymous Coward. We posters hear at Slashdot appreciate your constructive and well thought criticisms. Frankly, many of us were unaware that there were people that just didn't give a damn about what we said. Now we know.
In the future, if you could please inform us early which subject we have no business expressing an opinion on (in your opinion), try to be the first poster. That will save a lot of your time in not having to read our clueless drivel (which I know you're compelled to do since, after all, our thoughts need to be kept in line and you're just the self-appointed AC for the job).
One can turn the analogy on its head and ask why we explain the actions of humans behaviorally? The brain operates on computational principles, though the mechanisms are quite different. Sure, the human gets the answers quite wrong occasionally, but that's either bugs in the programming, bugs in the hardware, or bugs introduced by external factors (like alcohol). I had multiplication tables drilled into me since grade 2, yet I still have trouble remembering what 8x7 equals (bug in the hardware).
The reason we look at humans behaviorally is because their computational mechanisms are so complex as to be unfathomable. The same can be said of modern operating systems and networks. True, we have the ability to look at the code of a computer program and not the human brain, but no one had the time or intellectual capacity to totally grok 10-20 million lines of code.
So many times the reasonable fall back is to characterize a complex program's behavior and guess at the underlying problem and just work around it. Most of us are not in the business of white box testing open source software or constructin reproducable test cases-- we have to get something up and running in time for it to be of value to somebody somewhere. It's not laziness or the incapacity of fuzzy thinking, it's expediency.
> "I've personally been very disappointed in Obama's nominations thus far,..."
Yet David Brooks, one of the token conservative columnists at NYT, begrudgingly admires Obama's nominations:
And yet as much as I want to resent these overeducated Achievatrons (not to mention the incursion of a French-style government dominated by highly trained Enarchs), I find myself tremendously impressed by the Obama transition.
Actually, I was thinking of something even more confounding: superficial "fixes" that cover up an underlying problem, such that the the core problem can never be corrected because to do so will break the patch (and the patch of the patch). I see that sort of thing occurring where I work. (I'd run screaming, but they keep throwing benefits and bonuses at me. I sometimes wonder if I still have a soul.)
Does anyone else see the resemblence between DNA and crufted up old legacy software? Concepts about how heredity works get turned on their head once the mechanisms are examined in detail. I expect next it will be discovered that there are bugs in the DNA transcoding that are fixed by patches which in turn have patches.
I have never, ever trusted TSA enough to put a laptop in my checked baggage when on a business trip.
In some cities, TSA has gotten so rude. Just went through Denver and organization was a mess, helpful signage was sparse to none, and yet somehow they expected passengers to go through security like little inerring automatons. At one point, I had to try to juggle two bins carring my laptop and briefcase (along with a jacket) so that the TSA worker there could replace the stack of bins underneath with a fresh stack of bins. As the passenger next to me said, "Was that really necessary?" Well, who cares? Inconveniencing the flying public is at the heart of their job.
As bad as Denver was, Philly is the worst. The contempt for passengers is thick in the air. I half expect cattle prods to make their appearance there within the next two years.
Note that there is no easy way to tell if the material on Wikileaks is genuine or a hoax.
But it sure provides powerful blackmail opportunity for someone who holds the well-documented other end of the email exchange. It has been noted that Sarah does have a predilection for hiring former high school classmates. What do they have on her?
Gone but fondly remembered are Netly News, Nando Times, SatireWire, and (last and least) the Worst of the Web. Fucked Company seems pretty fucked of late, as well.
Short-term cost benefits are exactly what's driving the industry. Long-term failures are never attributed to the instigator of offshoring. In fact, the long-term failures necessite further cost reductions, and further layoffs.
Sooner than they think, the third-world wannabes will become has-beens themselves. Africa is still a vast, unexplored region of cheap labor. In large corporations, head count per dollar is what's visible, and cost-cutting will win out over touchy-feely (and fungible) quality and schedule considerations for a long time to come yet.
You think someone else is paying for all of this, don't you? Sorry, but it is you (and the rest of us).
Yes, it's called a social covenant. I accept it as a price for living in a society. If you want to live without any social obligations, then live as a hermit. Those of us who willingly accept our social responsibilities will continue to care for each other as we would expect others to care for us (you excepted).
If you feel that you can live selfishly, without any obligation or regard to your community or the world at large, and care only of yourself and perhaps few of your family and friends, then I feel sorry for you. You are not part of humanity, because you are not humane.
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Well thank you very much for your unasked for opinion, Mr. Anonymous Coward. We posters hear at Slashdot appreciate your constructive and well thought criticisms. Frankly, many of us were unaware that there were people that just didn't give a damn about what we said. Now we know.
In the future, if you could please inform us early which subject we have no business expressing an opinion on (in your opinion), try to be the first poster. That will save a lot of your time in not having to read our clueless drivel (which I know you're compelled to do since, after all, our thoughts need to be kept in line and you're just the self-appointed AC for the job).
http://www.oldsoftware.com/old_parts.html
I don't know how one can run a business selling junk like this, but all those old CD's wind up at the bottom of the food chain.
Of course, you may need to broaden the term 'failure' to include 'shipped, but failed to sell'.
One can turn the analogy on its head and ask why we explain the actions of humans behaviorally? The brain operates on computational principles, though the mechanisms are quite different. Sure, the human gets the answers quite wrong occasionally, but that's either bugs in the programming, bugs in the hardware, or bugs introduced by external factors (like alcohol). I had multiplication tables drilled into me since grade 2, yet I still have trouble remembering what 8x7 equals (bug in the hardware).
The reason we look at humans behaviorally is because their computational mechanisms are so complex as to be unfathomable. The same can be said of modern operating systems and networks. True, we have the ability to look at the code of a computer program and not the human brain, but no one had the time or intellectual capacity to totally grok 10-20 million lines of code.
So many times the reasonable fall back is to characterize a complex program's behavior and guess at the underlying problem and just work around it. Most of us are not in the business of white box testing open source software or constructin reproducable test cases-- we have to get something up and running in time for it to be of value to somebody somewhere. It's not laziness or the incapacity of fuzzy thinking, it's expediency.
Okay, I admit that your post is much funnier than my original. Feel better now?
Please, moderators: let's give this man the attention he deserves!
Oh settle down...
Slashdot wouldn't be Slashdot without the drive-by puns.
My karma is excellent, btw. Is there some super-excellent karma I should be going for?
The internet, being a series of tubes, naturally adapts itself to the PVC, rather than MVC, model.
What if it's the unthinkable: They like doing domestic chores and tagging along on their girlfriend's shopping trips?!!
Send the most useless third of the population first...
Yes, do unto other planets what the Golgafrinchams did unto ours.
> "I've personally been very disappointed in Obama's nominations thus far,..."
Yet David Brooks, one of the token conservative columnists at NYT, begrudgingly admires Obama's nominations:
And yet as much as I want to resent these overeducated Achievatrons (not to mention the incursion of a French-style government dominated by highly trained Enarchs), I find myself tremendously impressed by the Obama transition.
Time's up.
Actually, I was thinking of something even more confounding: superficial "fixes" that cover up an underlying problem, such that the the core problem can never be corrected because to do so will break the patch (and the patch of the patch). I see that sort of thing occurring where I work. (I'd run screaming, but they keep throwing benefits and bonuses at me. I sometimes wonder if I still have a soul.)
Does anyone else see the resemblence between DNA and crufted up old legacy software? Concepts about how heredity works get turned on their head once the mechanisms are examined in detail. I expect next it will be discovered that there are bugs in the DNA transcoding that are fixed by patches which in turn have patches.
Original quote:
Francois Guisot (1787-1874): "Not to be a republican at twenty is proof of want of heart; to be one at thirty is proof of want of head."
Churchill said something similar, but he was probably paraphrasing Guisot.
I voted for Papoon.
You're trying to finesse the point after the fact. The OP did not restrict his statement to the "permanent" waiving of rights.
What are you smoking? A Miranda warning spells out your rights, then asks if you wish to waive them. How much more expicit does it need to get?
I have never, ever trusted TSA enough to put a laptop in my checked baggage when on a business trip.
In some cities, TSA has gotten so rude. Just went through Denver and organization was a mess, helpful signage was sparse to none, and yet somehow they expected passengers to go through security like little inerring automatons. At one point, I had to try to juggle two bins carring my laptop and briefcase (along with a jacket) so that the TSA worker there could replace the stack of bins underneath with a fresh stack of bins. As the passenger next to me said, "Was that really necessary?" Well, who cares? Inconveniencing the flying public is at the heart of their job.
As bad as Denver was, Philly is the worst. The contempt for passengers is thick in the air. I half expect cattle prods to make their appearance there within the next two years.
By that logic, Linus Pauling should've been stripped of his TWO Nobels after all that hooey about vitamin C preventing colds.
I think qualification for a post should win out over cronyism.
And who didn't do things in HS that one would rather forget? You still think Sarah is a nice girl? Hmmm....
Note that there is no easy way to tell if the material on Wikileaks is genuine or a hoax.
But it sure provides powerful blackmail opportunity for someone who holds the well-documented other end of the email exchange. It has been noted that Sarah does have a predilection for hiring former high school classmates. What do they have on her?
Okay, who else first read this as "Canadian Researchers Stay Hard..."?
Which means Galopagos Tortoises are nearer my God to thee.
Gone but fondly remembered are Netly News, Nando Times, SatireWire, and (last and least) the Worst of the Web. Fucked Company seems pretty fucked of late, as well.
Short-term cost benefits are exactly what's driving the industry. Long-term failures are never attributed to the instigator of offshoring. In fact, the long-term failures necessite further cost reductions, and further layoffs.
Sooner than they think, the third-world wannabes will become has-beens themselves. Africa is still a vast, unexplored region of cheap labor. In large corporations, head count per dollar is what's visible, and cost-cutting will win out over touchy-feely (and fungible) quality and schedule considerations for a long time to come yet.
You think someone else is paying for all of this, don't you? Sorry, but it is you (and the rest of us).
Yes, it's called a social covenant. I accept it as a price for living in a society. If you want to live without any social obligations, then live as a hermit. Those of us who willingly accept our social responsibilities will continue to care for each other as we would expect others to care for us (you excepted).
If you feel that you can live selfishly, without any obligation or regard to your community or the world at large, and care only of yourself and perhaps few of your family and friends, then I feel sorry for you. You are not part of humanity, because you are not humane.