I have a B.S. in physics but for the last 4 years I've made my living coding. Research-oriented coding would be an interesting change. I happen to have my resume up at sourceforge and I live in Baltimore, MD.
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every commercial on television has a.com on in it
! Well, now is your chance to capitalize on this .
WE will help YOU process your orders within seconds
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Yeah, theres nothing quite like the rush of knowing you've just permnently removed all of your potential contributions to the gene pool all in the name of extra-credit. =)
How very myopic of you. That is the lamest, "I just finished reading Middle Management for People With Only a Brain Stem (TM)", blather of an excuse. Think! You've just lost a valuable resource in Techie-Manager #1, Do you (a) take it out on Techie #2 and ultimately lose the next best thing (think quarterly growth, or should I say loss, here), or (b) encourage #2 to help find and bring up to speed someone that can be a managerial complement to #2's technical skills and thereby fill the missing position without creating another hole? Somewhat academic don't you think?
okay fine. it wasnt meant for unicode you say (though, i thought it was *shrug*) but you are really just talking around my point, that being that using the stl you CAN have a unicode string. either appropriate the wchar_t string type (which would adequately suffice) or create a new one.
And thirdly we know what the least significant information is (all those little terms) and we can just chop it out for a lossy algorithm.
on point to what i was saying (i was being terse, however =). i believe for fast image reconstitution "all those little terms" are indeed chopped off (in common applications) and we have still a very good representation of the original "image". granted, i am stating my thoughts which are based on educated guesses. hell, i took diff eq and partial diff eq as well as quantum physics in college, because, well, i am a physicist (or i was until i got into being a software developer). so, grain of salt and all that... which should go without saying here *chuckle*.
wavelet compression is lossy. however, the more passes (which maps to higher fft approximation accuracy) the better your "image" will be. but since this tech relies on an approximation at every stage this is a bad compression format to consider for normal files (executables, source code, etc.). it is great, however, for files that are processed by our senses, e.g. sound and video, because our senses are easily fooled. this isn't the compression, however, that'd you'd want to squeeze the entire human genome onto your hard drive with because i doubt any of the "missing" or "wrong" bits are insignificant.
this is the next logical step from what jpeg 2000 does (which is wavelet based). the only real difference is one more spatial dimension in the fourier transforms--jpeg 2k obviously uses 2 dimensions. great applicaton of a simple mathematical idea. researchers have been using this for years (digital spatial recognition/navigation anyone?) but up until the recent past it has been prohibitively expensive to crunch the numbers for this in anywhere near realtime, but as our commodity hardware becomes more and more powerful, more and more of these great mathematical premises can be applied. bravo!
I dunno about ya' dudes, but ah' fo' one am glad t'see dis doodad gone. Who wants's "JIBE" rap anyway? Do ya' real dink seein' "slap ma' fro" all de time be funny? Do ya' dink dat real sucka's uh African descent rap dat way? I'm glad ah' wuzn't raised on 70's blaxploitashun films.
And whut about "redneck"? Soudern-Americans gots it baaaad enough, whut wid de Yankess harassin' dem about da damn flag dey flew in de War uh No'dern Aggression. 'S coo', bro. ah' duzn't dink makin' fun uh de way dat dey say "y'all" be very propuh'.
And lastly, de Swedish chef. Can we real tolerate da damn amount uh anti-Scandinavian bigotsry which we is bombarded wid daily in de media? Linus himself wuz uh Swedish 'estracshun, and it be no secret dat his Big Daddy wuz some chef. Granted, he had some tendency t'drow chickens around wildly and make noises dat kin't quite be described as speech, but dat's no reason t'rub salt in old wounds.
Shame on ya' Slashdot, fo' suppo'tin' dis monstrosity. Slap mah fro!
... and in redneck:
ah dunno about yo' guys, but ah fo' one is glad t'see this hyar thin' gone. Who be hankerin' "jive" speak ennyway? Do yo' pow'ful reckon seein' "slap ma' fro" all th' time is funny? Do yo' reckon thet real varmints of African dexcent talk thet way? ah's glad ah warn't raised on 70's blaxploitashun films.
An' whut about "redneck"? Southern-South Car'linans haf it bad inough, whut wif th' Yankess hareessin' them about th' flag they flew in th' War of No'thern Aggresshun. ah doesn't reckon makin' fun of th' way thet they say "y'all" is mighty right.
An' lastly, th' Swedish chef. Kin we pow'ful tolerate th' amount of anti-Scan'inavian trimenjusotry which we is bombarded wif daily in th' media? Linus hisse'f was of Swedish extryckshun, an' it is no secret thet his Pappy was a chef. Granted, he had a tendency t'throw possums aroun' wildly an' make noises thet kin't quite be dexcribed as speech, but thass no reason t'rub salt in old woun's.
Shame on yo' Slashdot, fo' suppo'tin' this hyar monstrosity.
... and in "swedish chef":
I doonnu ebuoot yuoo gooys, boot I fur oone-a em gled tu see-a thees theeng gune-a. Vhu vunts "jeefe-a" speek unyvey? Du yuoo reelly theenk seeeeng "slep me' fru" ell zee teeme-a is foonny? Du yuoo theenk thet reel peuple-a ooff Effreecun descent telk thet vey? I'm gled I vesn't reeesed oon 70's blexplueeteshun feelms. Um gesh dee bork, bork!
Und vhet ebuoot "redneck"? Suoozeern-Emereecuns hefe-a it bed inuoogh, vhet veet zee Yunkess heresseeng zeem ebuoot zee fleg zeey floo in zee Ver ooff Nurzeern Eggresseeun. Bork bork bork! I dun't theenk mekeeng foon ooff zee vey thet zeey sey "y'ell" is fery pruper. Hurty flurty schnipp schnipp!
Und lestly, zee Svedeesh cheff. Cun ve-a reelly tulerete-a zee emuoont ooff untee-Scundeenefiun beegutry vheech ve-a ere-a bumberded veet deeely in zee medeea? Leenoos heemselff ves ooff Svedeesh ixtrecshun, und it is nu secret thet hees fezeer ves a cheff. Grunted, he-a hed a tendency tu throo cheeckens eruoond veeldly und meke-a nueeses thet cun't qooeete-a be-a descreebed es speech, boot thet's nu reesun tu roob selt in oold vuoonds. Um gesh dee bork, bork!
This rocks! Lets tack it onto the list of other holywars:
Palestine vs. Israel
PC vs. Mac
UNIX (and all work-a-likes) vs. Anything-out-of-Redmond-WA
Linux vs. BSD
Linux vs. Windows
Linus vs. Bill Gates
KDE vs. GNOME
Oracle vs. Sybase
Perl vs. VB
Perl vs. Python
Perl vs. Readable code
ESR vs. RMS
MySQL vs. A-real-RDBMS
Sorry, MySQL, for the pot-shot but I was so wrapped up in the spirit of the event! =)
BTW, to the very un-enlightened person that made a derogatory comment towards triggers and referential integrity: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH You know not of what you speak.
I do alot of middleware work (you know, interfacing to data stores) and it is people like you that get their grubby hands on table/database definitions that make my life a living hell.
Oh, and even though I do prefer PostgreSQL I'm not below mentioning that it does not natively support referential integrity! At least, not in the lastest non-beta version (I am eagerly awaiting a stable release of PGSQL 7.0) Sure, you can (and I do) get referential integrity via the PGSQL trigger and loadable modules facilities but it would be SOOO nice to not have my foreign key constraints ignored outright! (Instead I have to create special triggers. = )
Couldn't have said it better myself! My wife and I are both pacifists (although she DOES have a biting problem...) but I love to play Q3A until the wee hours. Add in the fact that my wife isn't particularly impressed with the concept and playing style of quake and I get this great quote,
"I just can't see how a pacifist can enjoy a game like quake."
And I told her, after having a good laugh, that if I do have any violent tendencies (I don't, the worst I get is "frothing-at-the-mouth-angry" and feel compelled to hit inanimate objects), this is the perfect outlet to rid myself of them. There is something to be said for pumping three rails in-a-row into some chump with armor and 200 health and then sprinting to the next frag through the ensuing pretty, red mist. =)
So, you struck a nerve. Like I said, sorry to get so nasty... it seems I did misunderstand in part.
However, I think the scientific process/method is more than a simple reductionist method. We (scientists) don't follow anything by rote where it doesn't apply and we do strive to expand methodologies and ways of learning about our universe--always. This means not rejecting new ways of thinking simply because these new ways are new. What it does mean is taking every new thing with a grain of salt (read healthy skepticism) until either it proves itself on it's own merits or falls by the wayside with other chaff (I'll not get into what I consider chaff, my previous post came too damn near it:P).
To address your concept of "traditional reductionist science" I think you may be neglecting the fact that the "traditional" scientific method WILL without a doubt become more complete as the years drudge on by because it is what it is--it will consume and make it's own of any concept/way-of-thinking that proves itself useful to the further understanding of the fascinating realm know as Our Universe. I don't, therefore, see it as limiting but rather as limitless as it will grown to encompass all that we can explain and all that we wish to explain--which I see the Scientific Method doing on a daily basis. (Well, when I can manage to sift out ALL the mindless crap thrown at me in any given day.)
Quick note: I am a devout atheist. Re-read the subject line and giggle, I did. (Hell, I find this line amusing too!) Another note: I have a B.S. in physics, but code for a living.
Do you believe in the "power" of crystals too? Did yours come from Atlantis, blessed by some mystic that converses with spirits there? Do you sympathize with the X-files character Fox Mulder, because your sister, too, was abducted by aliens? Or did the little buggers go so far as to prod/examine YOUR genitalia? Alright, sorry to be so nasty but this paragraph: The point is, physics is nothing but a mathematical abstraction for generalized behavior. And that this fact alone bases many of the assumptions of science on shaky ground. It is becoming more and more evident that there are additional levels of interaction at work in all aspects of matter, from the subatomic to the biochemical. The fields of complexity, chaos, self organization all relate to this abstract 'other' quality in this universe of ours, and have a striking symmetry with the Tao and eastern philosophy. utterly REEKS of "new age" mystical drivel, as does much of your post. Yes, you DO make a very good point with the Mandelbrot example: forest for the trees, got it! (Had it, actually, but thanks for the well-presented reminder.) But you then go on to point out perceived fundemental flaws in physics, such as this "nothing but a mathematical abstraction" bullshit argument you drag out to neatly present some fluffy mystical thinking. Sure, many things in physics are mathematical abstractions but they are more precise than they were in the recent past and they will be more precise (if not completely revised) before you die. Guess what? This means that science, with physics at the vanguard is ALWAYS revising/refurbishing/theorizing ideas, explanations, and mathematics that attempt to explain to varying degrees of completeness the multitudinal plethora of natural phenomenah that nature puts in our path (Thumbing her nose at us all the way too, that bitch). There is much that is explained rather well, within the limits of the HUP (*smack* the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle -- yes I KNOW i can't spell worth a damn). An example you say? Well, lets takes something small, piddling... hmm, something like CHEMISTRY! Or how about something else just as insignificant... THERMODYNAMICS! There are many different ways to describe/explain many different phenomenah and physics is about exploring each and every scientifically valid way imagined. This is all part and parcel of the SCIENTIFIC PROCESS.
Okay, now I'm gonna post this near-rant and then cry as moderator after moderator fails to understand what I'm trying to say and ends up moderating me down *sigh*
Think about this whole thing from the perspective of someone (i.e., a typical moo-cow day trader) who knows linux is a "new" and "hot" thing to make money off of. So the RedHat IPO, the VAlinux IPO, the Cobalt IPO, ad nauseum roll out and our cud-chewing day trader buys a few shares of each and makes a few bucks. Now, Caldera says its gonna IPO after all the initial hype and hoopla and the day trader falls into a pattern of thinking that is roughly the same as the YALD (Yet Another Linux Distro) moaning we've been hearing lately and we do hear every time a new linux distro rears it's head. I dub this YALIPO (Yet Another Linux Initial Public Offering). So, our day trader, YALIPO in head and cud in mouth, realizes that all thy hype is just that--HYPE. And since our day trader is typical, that means there are many others in the herd that feel the same way. This leads the the inevitable negative reviews that downplay the IPO-latecomer(s) and thoroughly over-hype the IPO-pioneer(s). Its human nature really, "OK, things are going great...when's it all gonna come crashing down on me?" It's unfortunate that this has to happen to Caldera, or any other linux company for that matter, but we all knew it had to happen sometime, now didn't we? Because, well, everything was going great with linux-related IPO's but then...
This graphic that you can't see when going directly to the article but is currently visible on www.zdnet.com/zdnn (at least, as of 3:55 pm eastern).
What, you mean YOU DIDN'T KNOW that JavaScript was synonymous with Linux, OSS, AND WinCE?! *boggle* Ahh, what will those marketing geniuses think of next? I can't wait!
I found this ironic too, then I went and re-read the article's header/title: MS may try to boost WinCE, Linux-style But as you say, the article then falls over itself (as any net reporter without sufficiently flame retardant attire should) to say that MS has no intention of open sourcing CE. *chuckle*
On a side note...I noticed the article on ZDnet earlier today but after reading its title blurb I deemed it a waste of my time to read. But, of course, once it shows up on/. I follow the rest of the moo-cows and read the friggin thing! *belch* Scuze me, cud going into stomach #2.
Slashdot Mirror
I have a B.S. in physics but for the last 4 years I've made my living coding. Research-oriented coding would be an interesting change. I happen to have my resume up at sourceforge and I live in Baltimore, MD.
Wow, job trawling on slashdot, I feel so dirty.
--
Dear Friend , This letter was specially selected to be sent to you ! We will comply with all removal requests ! This mail is being sent in compliance with Senate bill 1621 ; Title 6 ; Section 304 ! This is NOT unsolicited bulk mail ! Why work for somebody else when you can become rich in 10 days ! Have you ever noticed people are much more likely to BUY with a credit card than cash and more people than ever are surfing the web ! Well, now is your chance to capitalize on this ! WE will help YOU use credit cards on your website & deliver goods right to the customer's doorstep ! The best thing about our system is that it is absolutely risk free for you . But don't believe us . Ms Simpson who resides in Washington tried us and says "I was skeptical but it worked for me" . We assure you that we operate within all applicable laws ! Don't delay - order today ! Sign up a friend and you get half off . Thank-you for your serious consideration of our offer . Dear E-Commerce professional ; Your email address has been submitted to us indicating your interest in our briefing ! If you no longer wish to receive our publications simply reply with a Subject: of "REMOVE" and you will immediately be removed from our database ! This mail is being sent in compliance with Senate bill 1618 ; Title 7 , Section 306 ! This is not multi-level marketing . Why work for somebody else when you can become rich within 79 days ! Have you ever noticed more people than ever are surfing the web plus nearly every commercial on television has a .com on in it
! Well, now is your chance to capitalize on this .
WE will help YOU process your orders within seconds
and turn your business into an E-BUSINESS ! You are
guaranteed to succeed because we take all the risk
! But don't believe us . Ms Ames who resides in Georgia
tried us and says "Now I'm rich many more things are
possible" . We assure you that we operate within all
applicable laws ! We beseech you - act now ! Sign up
a friend and you'll get a discount of 20% ! Cheers
.
can anyone say "steganography plugin" ?
--
Yeah, theres nothing quite like the rush of knowing you've just permnently removed all of your potential contributions to the gene pool all in the name of extra-credit. =)
--
he's not talking about the fragin java compiler but the runtime and that is most definately written in C/C++.
--
How very myopic of you.
That is the lamest, "I just finished reading Middle Management for People With Only a Brain Stem (TM)", blather of an excuse. Think! You've just lost a valuable resource in Techie-Manager #1, Do you (a) take it out on Techie #2 and ultimately lose the next best thing (think quarterly growth, or should I say loss, here), or (b) encourage #2 to help find and bring up to speed someone that can be a managerial complement to #2's technical skills and thereby fill the missing position without creating another hole? Somewhat academic don't you think?
--
OS X has the first functional man pages I've seen in my life (that is, they aren't written in geek speak for coders).
uhem
cat <your post> | sed "s/functional/bloated/g"
there, sounds about right
--
Yes, my little feelings. You know, the fleeting, near-meaningless feelings we all have at times. Somewhat akin to AC posts :P
--
2000-10-03 17:36:28 Schneier on "Third Wave" of Network Attacks (articles,news) (rejected)
I plagarize this heavily when I say, "You bastards."
--
*cough*didnt-read-the-article*cough*made-what-i-th ought-was-an-intelligent-educated-guess* cough*so*cough*sue-me*cough*
=)
--
uhmm...
*cough*buffer-overrun*cough*
--
okay fine. it wasnt meant for unicode you say (though, i thought it was *shrug*) but you are really just talking around my point, that being that using the stl you CAN have a unicode string. either appropriate the wchar_t string type (which would adequately suffice) or create a new one.
--
b) QString uses UniCode, std::string doesn't.
<br><br>
lame, ever hear of std::wstring ?
--
And thirdly we know what the least significant information is (all those little terms) and we can just chop it out for a lossy algorithm.
... which should go without saying here *chuckle*.
on point to what i was saying (i was being terse, however =). i believe for fast image reconstitution "all those little terms" are indeed chopped off (in common applications) and we have still a very good representation of the original "image". granted, i am stating my thoughts which are based on educated guesses. hell, i took diff eq and partial diff eq as well as quantum physics in college, because, well, i am a physicist (or i was until i got into being a software developer). so, grain of salt and all that
--
wavelet compression is lossy. however, the more passes (which maps to higher fft approximation accuracy) the better your "image" will be. but since this tech relies on an approximation at every stage this is a bad compression format to consider for normal files (executables, source code, etc.). it is great, however, for files that are processed by our senses, e.g. sound and video, because our senses are easily fooled. this isn't the compression, however, that'd you'd want to squeeze the entire human genome onto your hard drive with because i doubt any of the "missing" or "wrong" bits are insignificant.
--
this is the next logical step from what jpeg 2000 does (which is wavelet based). the only real difference is one more spatial dimension in the fourier transforms--jpeg 2k obviously uses 2 dimensions. great applicaton of a simple mathematical idea. researchers have been using this for years (digital spatial recognition/navigation anyone?) but up until the recent past it has been prohibitively expensive to crunch the numbers for this in anywhere near realtime, but as our commodity hardware becomes more and more powerful, more and more of these great mathematical premises can be applied. bravo!
--
Now i gotta install portsentry on my goddamn answering machine. *pfffffffffffffffffft*
--
The previous in jive:
... and in redneck:
... and in "swedish chef":
I dunno about ya' dudes, but ah' fo' one am glad t'see dis doodad gone. Who wants's "JIBE" rap anyway? Do ya' real dink seein' "slap ma' fro" all de time be funny? Do ya' dink dat real sucka's uh African descent rap dat way? I'm glad ah' wuzn't raised on 70's blaxploitashun films.
And whut about "redneck"? Soudern-Americans gots it baaaad enough, whut wid de Yankess harassin' dem about da damn flag dey flew in de War uh No'dern Aggression. 'S coo', bro. ah' duzn't dink makin' fun uh de way dat dey say "y'all" be very propuh'.
And lastly, de Swedish chef. Can we real tolerate da damn amount uh anti-Scandinavian bigotsry which we is bombarded wid daily in de media? Linus himself wuz uh Swedish 'estracshun, and it be no secret dat his Big Daddy wuz some chef. Granted, he had some tendency t'drow chickens around wildly and make noises dat kin't quite be described as speech, but dat's no reason t'rub salt in old wounds.
Shame on ya' Slashdot, fo' suppo'tin' dis monstrosity. Slap mah fro!
ah dunno about yo' guys, but ah fo' one is glad t'see this hyar thin' gone. Who be hankerin' "jive" speak ennyway? Do yo' pow'ful reckon seein' "slap ma' fro" all th' time is funny? Do yo' reckon thet real varmints of African dexcent talk thet way? ah's glad ah warn't raised on 70's blaxploitashun films.
An' whut about "redneck"? Southern-South Car'linans haf it bad inough, whut wif th' Yankess hareessin' them about th' flag they flew in th' War of No'thern Aggresshun. ah doesn't reckon makin' fun of th' way thet they say "y'all" is mighty right.
An' lastly, th' Swedish chef. Kin we pow'ful tolerate th' amount of anti-Scan'inavian trimenjusotry which we is bombarded wif daily in th' media? Linus hisse'f was of Swedish extryckshun, an' it is no secret thet his Pappy was a chef. Granted, he had a tendency t'throw possums aroun' wildly an' make noises thet kin't quite be dexcribed as speech, but thass no reason t'rub salt in old woun's.
Shame on yo' Slashdot, fo' suppo'tin' this hyar monstrosity.
I doonnu ebuoot yuoo gooys, boot I fur oone-a em gled tu see-a thees theeng gune-a. Vhu vunts "jeefe-a" speek unyvey? Du yuoo reelly theenk seeeeng "slep me' fru" ell zee teeme-a is foonny? Du yuoo theenk thet reel peuple-a ooff Effreecun descent telk thet vey? I'm gled I vesn't reeesed oon 70's blexplueeteshun feelms. Um gesh dee bork, bork!
Und vhet ebuoot "redneck"? Suoozeern-Emereecuns hefe-a it bed inuoogh, vhet veet zee Yunkess heresseeng zeem ebuoot zee fleg zeey floo in zee Ver ooff Nurzeern Eggresseeun. Bork bork bork! I dun't theenk mekeeng foon ooff zee vey thet zeey sey "y'ell" is fery pruper. Hurty flurty schnipp schnipp!
Und lestly, zee Svedeesh cheff. Cun ve-a reelly tulerete-a zee emuoont ooff untee-Scundeenefiun beegutry vheech ve-a ere-a bumberded veet deeely in zee medeea? Leenoos heemselff ves ooff Svedeesh ixtrecshun, und it is nu secret thet hees fezeer ves a cheff. Grunted, he-a hed a tendency tu throo cheeckens eruoond veeldly und meke-a nueeses thet cun't qooeete-a be-a descreebed es speech, boot thet's nu reesun tu roob selt in oold vuoonds. Um gesh dee bork, bork!
Sheme-a oon yuoo Sleshdut, fur sooppurteeng thees munstruseety. Bork bork bork!
This straight to you from the "it's-funny-laugh" dept.
I realize, or at least sincerely hope, that your post was satirical but in making your point you neglected include an important link on the dialectizer site concerning discrimination/racism.
--
Sorry, MySQL, for the pot-shot but I was so wrapped up in the spirit of the event! =)
BTW, to the very un-enlightened person that made a derogatory comment towards triggers and referential integrity:
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
You know not of what you speak.
I do alot of middleware work (you know, interfacing to data stores) and it is people like you that get their grubby hands on table/database definitions that make my life a living hell.
Oh, and even though I do prefer PostgreSQL I'm not below mentioning that it does not natively support referential integrity! At least, not in the lastest non-beta version (I am eagerly awaiting a stable release of PGSQL 7.0) Sure, you can (and I do) get referential integrity via the PGSQL trigger and loadable modules facilities but it would be SOOO nice to not have my foreign key constraints ignored outright! (Instead I have to create special triggers. = )
--
Couldn't have said it better myself! ...) but I love to play Q3A until the wee hours. Add in the fact that my wife isn't particularly impressed with the concept and playing style of quake and I get this great quote,
My wife and I are both pacifists (although she DOES have a biting problem
"I just can't see how a pacifist can enjoy a game like quake."
And I told her, after having a good laugh, that if I do have any violent tendencies (I don't, the worst I get is "frothing-at-the-mouth-angry" and feel compelled to hit inanimate objects), this is the perfect outlet to rid myself of them. There is something to be said for pumping three rails in-a-row into some chump with armor and 200 health and then sprinting to the next frag through the ensuing pretty, red mist. =)
--
- .grits
- .troll
- .wtf
- .kharma
And some I'd like to see instead of=)
--
So, you struck a nerve. Like I said, sorry to get so nasty ... it seems I did misunderstand in part.
:P).
However, I think the scientific process/method is more than a simple reductionist method. We (scientists) don't follow anything by rote where it doesn't apply and we do strive to expand methodologies and ways of learning about our universe--always. This means not rejecting new ways of thinking simply because these new ways are new. What it does mean is taking every new thing with a grain of salt (read healthy skepticism) until either it proves itself on it's own merits or falls by the wayside with other chaff (I'll not get into what I consider chaff, my previous post came too damn near it
To address your concept of "traditional reductionist science" I think you may be neglecting the fact that the "traditional" scientific method WILL without a doubt become more complete as the years drudge on by because it is what it is--it will consume and make it's own of any concept/way-of-thinking that proves itself useful to the further understanding of the fascinating realm know as Our Universe. I don't, therefore, see it as limiting but rather as limitless as it will grown to encompass all that we can explain and all that we wish to explain--which I see the Scientific Method doing on a daily basis. (Well, when I can manage to sift out ALL the mindless crap thrown at me in any given day.)
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Quick note: I am a devout atheist. Re-read the subject line and giggle, I did. (Hell, I find this line amusing too!)
... hmm, something like CHEMISTRY! Or how about something else just as insignificant ... THERMODYNAMICS! There are many different ways to describe/explain many different phenomenah and physics is about exploring each and every scientifically valid way imagined. This is all part and parcel of the SCIENTIFIC PROCESS.
Another note: I have a B.S. in physics, but code for a living.
Do you believe in the "power" of crystals too? Did yours come from Atlantis, blessed by some mystic that converses with spirits there? Do you sympathize with the X-files character Fox Mulder, because your sister, too, was abducted by aliens? Or did the little buggers go so far as to prod/examine YOUR genitalia? Alright, sorry to be so nasty but this paragraph:
The point is, physics is nothing but a mathematical abstraction for generalized behavior. And that this fact alone bases many of the assumptions of science on shaky ground. It is becoming more and more evident that there are additional levels of interaction at work in all aspects of matter, from the subatomic to the biochemical. The fields of complexity, chaos, self organization all relate to this abstract 'other' quality in this universe of ours, and have a striking symmetry with the Tao and eastern philosophy.
utterly REEKS of "new age" mystical drivel, as does much of your post. Yes, you DO make a very good point with the Mandelbrot example: forest for the trees, got it! (Had it, actually, but thanks for the well-presented reminder.) But you then go on to point out perceived fundemental flaws in physics, such as this "nothing but a mathematical abstraction" bullshit argument you drag out to neatly present some fluffy mystical thinking. Sure, many things in physics are mathematical abstractions but they are more precise than they were in the recent past and they will be more precise (if not completely revised) before you die. Guess what? This means that science, with physics at the vanguard is ALWAYS revising/refurbishing/theorizing ideas, explanations, and mathematics that attempt to explain to varying degrees of completeness the multitudinal plethora of natural phenomenah that nature puts in our path (Thumbing her nose at us all the way too, that bitch). There is much that is explained rather well, within the limits of the HUP (*smack* the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle -- yes I KNOW i can't spell worth a damn). An example you say? Well, lets takes something small, piddling
For some enlightenment I suggest to everyone here read, and re-read The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan.
Okay, now I'm gonna post this near-rant and then cry as moderator after moderator fails to understand what I'm trying to say and ends up moderating me down *sigh*
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Think about this whole thing from the perspective of someone (i.e., a typical moo-cow day trader) who knows linux is a "new" and "hot" thing to make money off of. So the RedHat IPO, the VAlinux IPO, the Cobalt IPO, ad nauseum roll out and our cud-chewing day trader buys a few shares of each and makes a few bucks. Now, Caldera says its gonna IPO after all the initial hype and hoopla and the day trader falls into a pattern of thinking that is roughly the same as the YALD (Yet Another Linux Distro) moaning we've been hearing lately and we do hear every time a new linux distro rears it's head. I dub this YALIPO (Yet Another Linux Initial Public Offering). So, our day trader, YALIPO in head and cud in mouth, realizes that all thy hype is just that-- HYPE . And since our day trader is typical, that means there are many others in the herd that feel the same way. This leads the the inevitable negative reviews that downplay the IPO-latecomer(s) and thoroughly over-hype the IPO-pioneer(s). Its human nature really, "OK, things are going great...when's it all gonna come crashing down on me?" It's unfortunate that this has to happen to Caldera, or any other linux company for that matter, but we all knew it had to happen sometime, now didn't we? Because, well, everything was going great with linux-related IPO's but then...
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This graphic that you can't see when going directly to the article but is currently visible on www.zdnet.com/zdnn (at least, as of 3:55 pm eastern).
What, you mean YOU DIDN'T KNOW that JavaScript was synonymous with Linux, OSS, AND WinCE?! *boggle*
Ahh, what will those marketing geniuses think of next? I can't wait!
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I found this ironic too, then I went and re-read the article's header/title:
/. I follow the rest of the moo-cows and read the friggin thing! *belch* Scuze me, cud going into stomach #2.
MS may try to boost WinCE, Linux-style
But as you say, the article then falls over itself (as any net reporter without sufficiently flame retardant attire should) to say that MS has no intention of open sourcing CE. *chuckle*
On a side note...I noticed the article on ZDnet earlier today but after reading its title blurb I deemed it a waste of my time to read. But, of course, once it shows up on
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