Look up in the sky. Observe the giant glowing thing pouring lots of energy down on you. Note that a portion of this energy lands on farmers' fields.
Read the article. Note how they shift their assumptions when talking about hydrogen vs. their assumptions when talking about biodeisel. Now do you see why their argument is deceptive?
...until they broke the 2nd law of thermodynamics.
Last paragraph: Now let us consider biodiesel. Based on a report by the US DOE and USDA entitled "Life Cycle Inventory of Biodiesel and Petroleum Diesel for Use in an Urban Bus"5, biodiesel produced from soy has an energy balance of 3.2:1. That means that for each unit of energy put into growing the soybeans and turning the soy oil into biodiesel, we get back 3.2 units of energy in the form of biodiesel. That works out to an energy efficiency of 320%. The reason for the energy efficiency being greater than 100% is that the growing soybeans turn energy from the sun into chemical energy (oil).
M'kay. So you get more energy out than you put in. Right.
A few paragraphs before they had just argued that cars run from hydrogen produced by electrolysis had an efficiency of 0.36:1, which made sense given their assumptions. Then they tried to use the 3.2:1 figure for biodiesel...
Funny, when a business maximizes it's return by exploiting the situation it's called smart. When a union does the same thing it's called blackmail. Why is that? Are union members supposed to be saints? Can't they be as ruthless as the management?
He just failed to report a transaction on time. But Slashdot will, of course, breathlessly report it as "BILL GATES FINED $800,000 OVER STOCK PURCHASES!!" like a National Enquirer.
No, a National Enquirer headline would be "BILL GATES EATS BABIES WHILE ALIENS WATCH!!!!!!!!!!!"
I have been involved in Dallas schools and I know people who send their kids there.
Great. Both of my parents were teachers in the Dallas schools, my father for twenty years. Criticise all you want, but until you actually do anything about it you're just blowing hot air. What was your "involvment"? What have you done besides complain?
They have a very large dropout rate and 1/3 to 1/2 of their graduates that goto college have to take remedial classes to learn what they should have been taugh in school.
Again, do you have some statistics? How about comparing the performance of Dallas schools to other cities with similar populations and socioeconomic conditions?
Nor did it include the students who go to private schools and charter schools, not to mention that the Dallas district is mostly low income and the higher income schools are mostly in other districts. (i.e. the suburbs, Highland Park, and University Park) If you're going to include factors that effect the numbers, why not include them all, instead of just those that support your argument?
The closest thing in that article to a statistic was this:
This school year, 22 percent of Dallas eighth-graders are 15 to 17 years old - the ages at which most of their peers are in ninth through 11th grades.
Seems a little high, but I'd like to see how this correlates with the IQ distribution of the student population.
Anyway, the situation is more complex than even the statistics show. The student population is necessarily biased towards the low performers, in many schools, for many reasons, none of which can be melted down into a single sentence snappy soundbite. Making snide comments about teachers, who are actually trying to do something positive, helps nothing but your ego.
A large portion of the 'graduates' in the Dallas school system can not read or write at the 3rd grade level.
I'm a graduate of the Dallas school system and I can read and write just fine. I'd like you to define "large portion" and provide statistics to back up your claim.
Couldn't your time be better spent on, I don't know, precise and accurate statements?
You never, ever use a well-established principle to determine what will happen under conditions which have never been tested??? What the fuck?
*Sigh*
No, when it comes to the judgement of whether some guy in Japan has a contraption that performs in a certain way, no I don't use any principles to judge the truth of falsity of his claims. It simply A) does not matter to me whether his claims are valid or not and, B) I don't have to feel like I understand the physical workings of the entire universe and assert that understanding to everyone.
When you get into a new car, do you start pushing buttons randomly because it could work like all other cars do, but hey, who knows?
Matters my mood, and if it's got some kewl buttons to press.
When you read a page of text, do you use deductive reasoning to figure out what the language means because it could be in English, but how can you be sure?
Only when I read what you write.
If you were designing and building an airplane, would you do extensive tests on each component to insure that F=ma held true for that particular object?
I might do quality checks on the components, yes. But in that case the physical properties of the components would be of great interest and concern to me.
But, really, you're arguing against a point I didn't make.
How about centuries of reality in the form of futile attempts to get around the first law of thermodynamics
How about centuries of belief in an incorrect model of the heavens until Copernicus came along?
I'll bet you would have been one of the skeptics who thought Copernicus was a blathering idiot, right?
I am open minded in the way that I do not judge unless I actually perform a physical test and see the results with my own eyes. If I cannot perform such a test, there is no need to judge.
This is the exact same argument every peddler of perpetual motion machines uses to claim that his invention is not a perpetual motion machine
And this is exactly the argument every kneejerk skeptic makes before actually looking at the machine in question. Try judging based on reality once in a while and not just on your own preconceptions.
Good point. Would you agree that Java finally has that following?
Yes, absolutely. Java would be much less vulnerable to highjacking now. Opensourcing Java now would be less risky. Back in the beginning, though, that was not the case.
The reason the Gnu dialect of the C language had such staying power is because it had an extensive user base before it entered the business world. Java did not. Having a large dedicated user base protects a language from highjacking.
Even if the syntax is identical, you never know if your program is going to work on Blackdown or Classpath just because it works on Sun's JVM.
Every time a story comes up on slashdot about java I see this FUD. Provide a code example or you're just blowing smoke out of your ass.
And using Classpath as an example of a good implementation is a straw man. Classpath is not ready for prime time. Provide a code example of a program that works on Sun's VM but does not work on Blackdown's.
If a programmer uses an object from say java.rmi.server on Sun's platform
Then don't use that object. Do what you want to do in a different way. I know you can probably bring up some isolated examples of when you must use a
Also on sun's JVM it doesn't say com.sun, it is all just "java.whatever", "javax.whatever", etc... when you import a package.
Those are implementations of an API. If you want another implementation, use it. There are even alternate implementations of the java.util package out there. If you don't want to be locked into a vendor specific implementation, then use another or write your own.
This black box sounds just like that little gizmo the Borg take from their dead drones...
Actually, this was used even earlier in the star trek universe. In the first trek movie notice that each officer had a little box at around waist level on their uniform. (see here) It was never mentioned in the movie, but the "writer's bible" said it was a bio monitoring device.
They cannot comprehend how the Mac JDK runs faster than a Windows JDK.
That's a good thing, because it doesn't. I've tested the MAC JDK (latest one in OSX 10.3 on a dual 2.0 GHz G5) and just about every PC JDK (windows and linux) kick it's ass thouroughly. That's raw speed, mind you.
If you don't believe me, believe the scimark benchmark. (See the highest OSX entry at #20.)
Slashdot Mirror
Look up in the sky. Observe the giant glowing thing pouring lots of energy down on you. Note that a portion of this energy lands on farmers' fields.
Read the article. Note how they shift their assumptions when talking about hydrogen vs. their assumptions when talking about biodeisel. Now do you see why their argument is deceptive?
...until they broke the 2nd law of thermodynamics.
Last paragraph:
Now let us consider biodiesel. Based on a report by the US DOE and USDA entitled "Life Cycle Inventory of Biodiesel and Petroleum Diesel for Use in an Urban Bus"5, biodiesel produced from soy has an energy balance of 3.2:1. That means that for each unit of energy put into growing the soybeans and turning the soy oil into biodiesel, we get back 3.2 units of energy in the form of biodiesel. That works out to an energy efficiency of 320%. The reason for the energy efficiency being greater than 100% is that the growing soybeans turn energy from the sun into chemical energy (oil).
M'kay. So you get more energy out than you put in. Right.
A few paragraphs before they had just argued that cars run from hydrogen produced by electrolysis had an efficiency of 0.36:1, which made sense given their assumptions. Then they tried to use the 3.2:1 figure for biodiesel...
Are these rhetorician or scientists?
I classify myself as a militant agnostic
:)
So do I. I've never heard anyone else who describes themselves that way. Thanks for making my day.
The union is blackmailing the company...
Funny, when a business maximizes it's return by exploiting the situation it's called smart. When a union does the same thing it's called blackmail. Why is that? Are union members supposed to be saints? Can't they be as ruthless as the management?
It is pretty stupid, but in a twisted way makes sense from a marketing standpoint.
Words to live by...
He just failed to report a transaction on time. But Slashdot will, of course, breathlessly report it as "BILL GATES FINED $800,000 OVER STOCK PURCHASES!!" like a National Enquirer.
No, a National Enquirer headline would be "BILL GATES EATS BABIES WHILE ALIENS WATCH!!!!!!!!!!!"
(Plus, .Net does some things that Java will never do, like multiple language support in the VM.)
100% wrong: JYthon
How do you think we should fix it?
Volunteer. Teach. Mentor.
I have been involved in Dallas schools and I know people who send their kids there.
Great. Both of my parents were teachers in the Dallas schools, my father for twenty years. Criticise all you want, but until you actually do anything about it you're just blowing hot air. What was your "involvment"? What have you done besides complain?
They have a very large dropout rate and 1/3 to 1/2 of their graduates that goto college have to take remedial classes to learn what they should have been taugh in school.
Again, do you have some statistics? How about comparing the performance of Dallas schools to other cities with similar populations and socioeconomic conditions?
the above number do not include the drop out rate
Nor did it include the students who go to private schools and charter schools, not to mention that the Dallas district is mostly low income and the higher income schools are mostly in other districts. (i.e. the suburbs, Highland Park, and University Park) If you're going to include factors that effect the numbers, why not include them all, instead of just those that support your argument?
The closest thing in that article to a statistic was this:
This school year, 22 percent of Dallas eighth-graders are 15 to 17 years old - the ages at which most of their peers are in ninth through 11th grades.
Seems a little high, but I'd like to see how this correlates with the IQ distribution of the student population.
Anyway, the situation is more complex than even the statistics show. The student population is necessarily biased towards the low performers, in many schools, for many reasons, none of which can be melted down into a single sentence snappy soundbite. Making snide comments about teachers, who are actually trying to do something positive, helps nothing but your ego.
A large portion of the 'graduates' in the Dallas school system can not read or write at the 3rd grade level.
I'm a graduate of the Dallas school system and I can read and write just fine. I'd like you to define "large portion" and provide statistics to back up your claim.
Couldn't your time be better spent on, I don't know, precise and accurate statements?
Oh yes, it's definetly the linux communities responsiblity to write drivers for sound cards from companies that won't even give specifications.
You know, I'll bet that was deliberate. If he gave the computer brand and model there would probably be a driver out within a week.
You never, ever use a well-established principle to determine what will happen under conditions which have never been tested??? What the fuck?
*Sigh*
No, when it comes to the judgement of whether some guy in Japan has a contraption that performs in a certain way, no I don't use any principles to judge the truth of falsity of his claims. It simply A) does not matter to me whether his claims are valid or not and, B) I don't have to feel like I understand the physical workings of the entire universe and assert that understanding to everyone.
When you get into a new car, do you start pushing buttons randomly because it could work like all other cars do, but hey, who knows?
Matters my mood, and if it's got some kewl buttons to press.
When you read a page of text, do you use deductive reasoning to figure out what the language means because it could be in English, but how can you be sure?
Only when I read what you write.
If you were designing and building an airplane, would you do extensive tests on each component to insure that F=ma held true for that particular object?
I might do quality checks on the components, yes. But in that case the physical properties of the components would be of great interest and concern to me.
But, really, you're arguing against a point I didn't make.
How about centuries of reality in the form of futile attempts to get around the first law of thermodynamics
How about centuries of belief in an incorrect model of the heavens until Copernicus came along?
I'll bet you would have been one of the skeptics who thought Copernicus was a blathering idiot, right?
I am open minded in the way that I do not judge unless I actually perform a physical test and see the results with my own eyes. If I cannot perform such a test, there is no need to judge.
This is the exact same argument every peddler of perpetual motion machines uses to claim that his invention is not a perpetual motion machine
And this is exactly the argument every kneejerk skeptic makes before actually looking at the machine in question. Try judging based on reality once in a while and not just on your own preconceptions.
If I was inequipped to teach my son about how to walk, and he tried to do it himself, should I cut him off at the knees?
Nope.
But if you were inequipped to teach your son how to commit murder, and he tried to do it himself, you should.
OSX
Good point. Would you agree that Java finally has that following?
Yes, absolutely. Java would be much less vulnerable to highjacking now. Opensourcing Java now would be less risky. Back in the beginning, though, that was not the case.
Ahem, Blackdown IS Sun's JVM, plus a little spit-and-polish.
:)
Dammit, you ruined my rhetorical trap!
The reason the Gnu dialect of the C language had such staying power is because it had an extensive user base before it entered the business world. Java did not. Having a large dedicated user base protects a language from highjacking.
Even if the syntax is identical, you never know if your program is going to work on Blackdown or Classpath just because it works on Sun's JVM.
Every time a story comes up on slashdot about java I see this FUD. Provide a code example or you're just blowing smoke out of your ass.
And using Classpath as an example of a good implementation is a straw man. Classpath is not ready for prime time. Provide a code example of a program that works on Sun's VM but does not work on Blackdown's.
If a programmer uses an object from say java.rmi.server on Sun's platform
Then don't use that object. Do what you want to do in a different way. I know you can probably bring up some isolated examples of when you must use a
Also on sun's JVM it doesn't say com.sun, it is all just "java.whatever", "javax.whatever", etc... when you import a package.
Those are implementations of an API. If you want another implementation, use it. There are even alternate implementations of the java.util package out there. If you don't want to be locked into a vendor specific implementation, then use another or write your own.
This black box sounds just like that little gizmo the Borg take from their dead drones...
Actually, this was used even earlier in the star trek universe. In the first trek movie notice that each officer had a little box at around waist level on their uniform. (see here) It was never mentioned in the movie, but the "writer's bible" said it was a bio monitoring device.
They cannot comprehend how the Mac JDK runs faster than a Windows JDK.
That's a good thing, because it doesn't. I've tested the MAC JDK (latest one in OSX 10.3 on a dual 2.0 GHz G5) and just about every PC JDK (windows and linux) kick it's ass thouroughly. That's raw speed, mind you.
If you don't believe me, believe the scimark benchmark. (See the highest OSX entry at #20.)