Uh... why? Why is it that there should be a "victory" in the end? Yes, in a story there should be some sort of conclusion, but why does it always have to be a victory against all odds?
Have you seen (or read the original) On the Beach? Not the greatest TV miniseries ever, but with its ending (the few remaining members of the human race sailing off to die in a submarine under the sea), it still stands out of the crowd. A typical happy ending that you can see coming hours before would have left you just feeling bored.
Re:Spectrum emu. - one of the best games for Linux
on
25 Best Linux Games
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· Score: 2, Insightful
Spectrum emulation is one of the best gaming environments I've seen on Linux
Don't dismiss C64 emulation either. I still love playing M.U.L.E. and Archon.
Re:Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win
on
25 Best Linux Games
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· Score: 1, Funny
You mean you don't like minesweeper or solitaire????
I sucked in minesweeper, because I never figured it out. I still don't know how to predict if I am about to uncover a mine or a safe square, so I might just as well click around randomly.
Solitaire is just boring.
Linux games vs. shareware stuff for Win
on
25 Best Linux Games
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· Score: 5, Insightful
Why should we expect Linux games to be any better than the millions of shareware games made for Windows? I mean, I've never found freely available Windows game that would be fun.
You're going to have to work with other people. The better you work with them, the better you work, the better everyone works. (Hugs not required.)
I couldn't agree more.
I can't think of many jobs - at least for college/university educated people - that do not require soft skills like ability to work with your coworkers and communication (meetings, presentations, acting as a tour guide for VIPs, etc.).
I used to hate having to deal with other people any any way. In fact, that was one of the reasons why I decided to embark on a research scientists (Physics) career. As a scientist I wouldn't have to deal with people, give talks, socialize or - most imporant of all - end up in any kind of a manager/boss line of work. I would just sit, think and write papers. That's what I thought and boy how wrong I was.
Most science, and experimental physics in particular, is done in groups. There's no way around it. You can't run a lab alone so you need to have people around you. Even as a postdoc you have to be able to hire good PhD candidates and supervise them. You have to be able to interview them, understand what makes each of them tick at workplace and how to manage them to get the best out of them.
Then, unless your lab is established and extremely well funded, staffed and equipped, you often need collaboration from other groups. Making contacts with other scientists and establishing mutually beneficial collaboration requires publicity (talks!), diplomacy (socializing!) and patience.
A person who cannot work with other people simply does not fit into this environment. No matter how brilliant scientist he is, without the social skills he is very likely to turn out as nothing.
I still get slightly nervous when I have to a give a talk. I still don't like meetings. However, I have grown fond of managing people, because, as difficult as it sometimes can be, it's a wonderful feeling to see your highly motivated and skilled people working with you in harmony. The older I get the more I appreciate social skills over raw intelligence or mathematical/logical ability. If it all comes in one package, jolly good. However, if I had to choose between a budding physics genius with a highly abrasive personality and a slightly well performing person with good social skills, I'd choose the latter. No question about it.
when a piece of ice melts in a glass of water, the level doesn't go up;
If you float fresh water ice in fresh water the level won't change when the ice melts. However, try using fresh water ice and sea water. This time the water level does indeed rise.
similarity between Bose-Einstein condensation and economic monopoly
Please stop drawing analogues between socioeconomical politics and physics.
Wasn't it enough that darwinism was used to promote fascism and ultraliberal capitalism and Einstein's relativity was used to promote moral relativism. All out of context, of course, but still bought by the people and - even worse - the politicians.
Ok. Sounds good, but what will happen when your ~200 Linux/OpenOffice people will have to communicate with the outside world (clients?) who use MS Office exclusively?
I've run into OpenOfficeMS Office export and import problems even with plain Word letters, so I can't imagine a complex spreadsheet with macros will work very well.
Access to data will obviously have to be given on a need to know basis. As it is already with the dead-tree records, employers and insurance companies don't have any business accessing your medical records and need your permission to access it. Doctors don't care about your schooling history and so on.
Remember: all this information is already in databases. And some of it gets leaked out accidentally once in a while as well as most probably gets accessed illegally too. However, the important point is: the sky has not fallen down.
Having the same data in digital databases will not change this. It will make the access only more convenient for those who have the right to it and it will also make easier to restrict access to it.
Take for example a national ID based on this card, it would have enough memory to store your medical information, financial information, school information, etc...
I already have my national ID card with me at all times (euro driver's license in a wallet) and yes, a cop has the right to request that I identify myself with it. If I refuse and they have a probable cause they can drag me to the station for identification. So what? Complaining about a national ID is just a lot of hot air about how the sky is falling.
I sure would like to have all my medical, financial and school information in my pocket at all times too. You could go to any doctor and get a prescription without having to carry your dead-tree medical history file to prove that you do have this and that chronic problem. In fact, to solve this problem they are already planning a national health database to which every doctor has an access. IMHO, this is only a good thing. Having your school information and financial with you should help with job interviews (they can download your certified school and job history on site) and banking (credit ratings on the card).
No. The real question is: Has it come to this now that posters don't anymore read the article or posts they are replying to?
Did you see that first line of text in my post? The one in bold? Obviously not. Well, it is a quote from the article. See? The president of the USA was actually mentioned in the article. And why the word "president" was in apostrophes? Well, that's left as an exercise for you. Think of it as a chance to give the family braincell a workout.
Goddammit. I am European and vehemently oppose the current American policies like the new pro-active/pre-emptive/whatever foreign policy, the war on drugs and the war on terrorism, but even I am getting tired of the low-brow anti-Americanism that seems to be rampant these days. This flamebait of an article is a perfect example of the kind of hysterical and irrational "political awareness" of a mob that has been whipped up into a feeding frenzy by our politicos only to improve their status.
Yeah. We disagree with the USA on many fronts, but we have a lot more in common. GWB's election might not have been the most glorious day in the history of the democracy but nevertheless the man was elected fairly according to the laws and accepted customs of the land. He might not be the smartest or the most diplomatic president the USA ever has had, but he is still the president of a sovereign and friendly country and we should respect at least the office if not the man.
If you want to change things, chanting anti-American slogans is not a good way to do it. Whipping up the anti-American sentiment is just counterproductive, populistic and naive.
YOU DID NOT LEARN "WINDOWS" OVER NIGHT. Do what you orginally did.
And pray tell us again why we should waste time learning a new OS?
Give us real reasons. Something concrete we could use to justify our use of time to our employers - not just some RMS inspired hot air about the ethics of using free software.
But if Turkey joins then the fanatics will be right next to our border too.
Uhhuh? And why have Syria and Iraq not attacked the Turkey so far then?
Furthemore, with Turkey on the eastern border the potential for a cultural clash won't be that large as it would be between a radicalized Turkey and some eastern European Christian country.
there is no religious fanatism like islamic fanatism
Yes, and does the Turkey's Islamic party and its supporters look and act like fanatics? No.
Having a large, friendly Islamic nation enjoying the economic and political strength of the union on our eastern border certainly beats having a large sulking, economically and politically isolated and unstable Islamic nation there.
Isolation and economic instability feeds radicalism which, at present, is not a problem in Turkey. Given a chance, we will start seeing rabid hordes of religious fanatics there as well and this time the fanatics will be right next to our border.
Do you really think that the media wouldn't be ALL OVER an instance where the government has taken a legitimate citizen?
Not really.
WASHINGTON - The legal controversy fomented by the indefinite detention of two American citizens in military prisons is being very closely watched - and loudly debated - as their cases go through the judicial appeals process.
And watch how all the feedback will be ignored when it's time to go on with the introduction. As a member of EU, UK is legally obliged to implement the EuroDMCA Directive.
The only realistic way to avoid the introduction of this legislation is that some sufficiently powerful member country (UK, maybe) will challenge it successfully in front of the European Union Court.
It will happen. The fact that so few countries have ratified the Directive so far does not mean that it has somehow become null and void.
The EU Court has decided since 1970 that a Directive has a direct effect for all EU countries even after the deadline has passed. The member countries are legally obliged to implement it in their national legislation.
As far as I know, a member state can still tell EU to get stuffed and refuse to implement the Directive into the national legislation. Then, however, any other member state may sue the offending state into the EU Court which, in most likelyhood, will impose sanctions on the state that has failed to implement the Directive.
Any opposition is pretty much irrelevant once the directive has been approved. The delays you talk about are largely due to national level bureaucratic inertia and not to any real opposition.
What's really sad is that in the usual EU style the public has hardly been informed about this legislation not to mention its consequences. Furthermore, in comparison with the grassroot level opposition in the U.S.A., European privacy and fair use lobbiyists have been particularly ineffective in spreading the word and fighting the legislation.
DMCA-like abomination the EC has been mulling over for a few years now for good.
Mulling?
It has already passed all the legislative stages in the EU and is now in force. All that matters now is that the member states will incorporate it into their national legislation -- something which they are obliged to do under EU law.
Slashdot Mirror
Uh... why? Why is it that there should be a "victory" in the end? Yes, in a story there should be some sort of conclusion, but why does it always have to be a victory against all odds?
Have you seen (or read the original) On the Beach? Not the greatest TV miniseries ever, but with its ending (the few remaining members of the human race sailing off to die in a submarine under the sea), it still stands out of the crowd. A typical happy ending that you can see coming hours before would have left you just feeling bored.
Don't dismiss C64 emulation either. I still love playing M.U.L.E. and Archon.
I sucked in minesweeper, because I never figured it out. I still don't know how to predict if I am about to uncover a mine or a safe square, so I might just as well click around randomly.
Solitaire is just boring.
Why should we expect Linux games to be any better than the millions of shareware games made for Windows? I mean, I've never found freely available Windows game that would be fun.
I couldn't agree more.
I can't think of many jobs - at least for college/university educated people - that do not require soft skills like ability to work with your coworkers and communication (meetings, presentations, acting as a tour guide for VIPs, etc.).
I used to hate having to deal with other people any any way. In fact, that was one of the reasons why I decided to embark on a research scientists (Physics) career. As a scientist I wouldn't have to deal with people, give talks, socialize or - most imporant of all - end up in any kind of a manager/boss line of work. I would just sit, think and write papers. That's what I thought and boy how wrong I was.
Most science, and experimental physics in particular, is done in groups. There's no way around it. You can't run a lab alone so you need to have people around you. Even as a postdoc you have to be able to hire good PhD candidates and supervise them. You have to be able to interview them, understand what makes each of them tick at workplace and how to manage them to get the best out of them.
Then, unless your lab is established and extremely well funded, staffed and equipped, you often need collaboration from other groups. Making contacts with other scientists and establishing mutually beneficial collaboration requires publicity (talks!), diplomacy (socializing!) and patience.
A person who cannot work with other people simply does not fit into this environment. No matter how brilliant scientist he is, without the social skills he is very likely to turn out as nothing.
I still get slightly nervous when I have to a give a talk. I still don't like meetings. However, I have grown fond of managing people, because, as difficult as it sometimes can be, it's a wonderful feeling to see your highly motivated and skilled people working with you in harmony. The older I get the more I appreciate social skills over raw intelligence or mathematical/logical ability. If it all comes in one package, jolly good. However, if I had to choose between a budding physics genius with a highly abrasive personality and a slightly well performing person with good social skills, I'd choose the latter. No question about it.
Oh, yes we do.
If you float fresh water ice in fresh water the level won't change when the ice melts. However, try using fresh water ice and sea water. This time the water level does indeed rise.
Please stop drawing analogues between socioeconomical politics and physics.
Wasn't it enough that darwinism was used to promote fascism and ultraliberal capitalism and Einstein's relativity was used to promote moral relativism. All out of context, of course, but still bought by the people and - even worse - the politicians.
I've run into OpenOfficeMS Office export and import problems even with plain Word letters, so I can't imagine a complex spreadsheet with macros will work very well.
I thought that idea died already in the early 90s...
Access to data will obviously have to be given on a need to know basis. As it is already with the dead-tree records, employers and insurance companies don't have any business accessing your medical records and need your permission to access it. Doctors don't care about your schooling history and so on.
Remember: all this information is already in databases. And some of it gets leaked out accidentally once in a while as well as most probably gets accessed illegally too. However, the important point is: the sky has not fallen down.
Having the same data in digital databases will not change this. It will make the access only more convenient for those who have the right to it and it will also make easier to restrict access to it.
I already have my national ID card with me at all times (euro driver's license in a wallet) and yes, a cop has the right to request that I identify myself with it. If I refuse and they have a probable cause they can drag me to the station for identification. So what? Complaining about a national ID is just a lot of hot air about how the sky is falling.
I sure would like to have all my medical, financial and school information in my pocket at all times too. You could go to any doctor and get a prescription without having to carry your dead-tree medical history file to prove that you do have this and that chronic problem. In fact, to solve this problem they are already planning a national health database to which every doctor has an access. IMHO, this is only a good thing. Having your school information and financial with you should help with job interviews (they can download your certified school and job history on site) and banking (credit ratings on the card).
Did you see that first line of text in my post? The one in bold? Obviously not. Well, it is a quote from the article. See? The president of the USA was actually mentioned in the article. And why the word "president" was in apostrophes? Well, that's left as an exercise for you. Think of it as a chance to give the family braincell a workout.
Goddammit. I am European and vehemently oppose the current American policies like the new pro-active/pre-emptive/whatever foreign policy, the war on drugs and the war on terrorism, but even I am getting tired of the low-brow anti-Americanism that seems to be rampant these days. This flamebait of an article is a perfect example of the kind of hysterical and irrational "political awareness" of a mob that has been whipped up into a feeding frenzy by our politicos only to improve their status.
Yeah. We disagree with the USA on many fronts, but we have a lot more in common. GWB's election might not have been the most glorious day in the history of the democracy but nevertheless the man was elected fairly according to the laws and accepted customs of the land. He might not be the smartest or the most diplomatic president the USA ever has had, but he is still the president of a sovereign and friendly country and we should respect at least the office if not the man.
If you want to change things, chanting anti-American slogans is not a good way to do it. Whipping up the anti-American sentiment is just counterproductive, populistic and naive.
Corp is mother, Corp is father, and in that way, you are just children who have gone astray.
And pray tell us again why we should waste time learning a new OS?
Give us real reasons. Something concrete we could use to justify our use of time to our employers - not just some RMS inspired hot air about the ethics of using free software.
You mean like this?
It's already happening.
Uhhuh? And why have Syria and Iraq not attacked the Turkey so far then?
Furthemore, with Turkey on the eastern border the potential for a cultural clash won't be that large as it would be between a radicalized Turkey and some eastern European Christian country.
Yes, and does the Turkey's Islamic party and its supporters look and act like fanatics? No.
Having a large, friendly Islamic nation enjoying the economic and political strength of the union on our eastern border certainly beats having a large sulking, economically and politically isolated and unstable Islamic nation there.
Isolation and economic instability feeds radicalism which, at present, is not a problem in Turkey. Given a chance, we will start seeing rabid hordes of religious fanatics there as well and this time the fanatics will be right next to our border.
Not really.
Really? And I thought the EU I am a citizen of was supposed to something more than just a whiteboys' all Christian club...
What the hell does Islam have got to do with the EU membership anyway?
The only realistic way to avoid the introduction of this legislation is that some sufficiently powerful member country (UK, maybe) will challenge it successfully in front of the European Union Court.
The EU Court has decided since 1970 that a Directive has a direct effect for all EU countries even after the deadline has passed. The member countries are legally obliged to implement it in their national legislation.
As far as I know, a member state can still tell EU to get stuffed and refuse to implement the Directive into the national legislation. Then, however, any other member state may sue the offending state into the EU Court which, in most likelyhood, will impose sanctions on the state that has failed to implement the Directive.
What's really sad is that in the usual EU style the public has hardly been informed about this legislation not to mention its consequences. Furthermore, in comparison with the grassroot level opposition in the U.S.A., European privacy and fair use lobbiyists have been particularly ineffective in spreading the word and fighting the legislation.
Mulling?
It has already passed all the legislative stages in the EU and is now in force. All that matters now is that the member states will incorporate it into their national legislation -- something which they are obliged to do under EU law.