One of the most frightening experiences I've ever had was when I was invulnerable (22 years old, driving a FWD Honda from Montreal to Toronto in a blizzard - this was before ABS and traction control).
Because I was superman at that time, I was passing 18-wheelers with abandon, trusting my mad skillz of at-limit road adhesion even though my only guide was the faint lights of the semi in front of me.
The truck guys must have called ahead, because at one point I found myself blocked-in and slowed-down. Naturally, this pissed me off, but it probably also saved me from finding me and my car in a ditch or a morgue. At the time I was upset but I later realized that what I was doing was insane - didn't matter, I was 22 and invulnerable.
People that may have to drive on snow or ice have to treat it as if they were walking on snow or ice: you can't start moving very fast, you can't stop moving very fast and any intended change of direction is going to take 10 times longer to accomplish, so you have to think well ahead of what you want to do.
Also, if you drive a front-wheel drive vehicule uphill you might be screwed due to weight transfer.
Trying to replace skill/talent with software is no big surprise in the world of engineering. A talented engineer becomes much more capable if s/he uses creative software if s/he uses software created by a more knowledgeable engineer or group of engineers.
But all knowledge floats all boats, so this phenomenon can lead to incompetents thinking they now have mad skillz. Or worse, manager-types thinking they can dictate design to engineers.
For example, I don't care if the latest web page design concept (AJAX, maybe?) fails, I DO care if the bridge I'm travelling on falls down.
Maybe small digitals might be better operated in video mode (if they have that capability). I guess that resolution would only be 640x480, but if it actually captures the desired event, well...
I carry a Digital Elph, and while it's a nice little machine, it takes seemingly forever to focus. Thanks for the idea, I'l just go straight to video from now on!
I was surprised to see a Canon Rebel with lens (non-digital, and I'm not a camera expert) going for about $200 when I was buying a $300 digital compact this past December.
I almost bought it for my son but then figured that it would be a backwards step, technology-wise, for him.
What he is missing is the near-instant shutter response, manual zoom and focus and maybe motor drive. What he gains is movie-taking ability, immediate review of shots taken, compact camera size and ease of image transfer. For me, I miss the shutter response time and manual zoom/focus features that are not available in even $1000 "prosumer" digitals.
Bill and Windows restructured the working world within about 20 years and got a significant percentage of the population using computers. How that happenned is irrellevant because we now have to deal with it.
Stop whining and start coming up with solutions.
We're all living through it and we can't see the forest for the trees. In 200 years they'll be looking back and see a post cold war world troubled with the concept of money, status and want, rather than need.
The only logical conclusion to maximum efficiency via software and automation is the elimination of expensive workers.
Mod me down if you want.
Societies have always needed ways to keep the general population busy, lest idle hands have their way.
Since we are rapidly building a world where less and less people are needed to provide the basics (and even the frivolous) what do we do with all the extra, unneeded people?
Do we create mindless, meaningless tasks to keep people busy?
Two 930Bs here, no dead pixels yet. I like it less than my old 19" Mitsubishi CRTs but I had little choice.
I really like the extra space of two monitors, but to be honest, I'm not sure if it's worth it at home. I like being able to peripherally see what's going on to the left and not have to tab screens though.
When I've done process plant design checking, one giant monitor would be better. Even better than that would be a monster projection of the models for the flythroughs and on-demand detail closeups, but that typically only gets used when impressing clients.
America recently tends to throw huge amounts of people and money at problems and sort out the results later. There usually is nothing refined or subtle about it.
They learned that in WW2 when they sent Shermans ("Tommycookers") against Panzers. Interviews with surviving Panther and Tiger crew members and commanders indicate that they couldn't beleive that a country as rich and powerful as America would field such bad tanks. ("You got 3? We'll make 20!")
I guess the American military has the last say now.
Do you mean "valued"? Given the recent amount of zombie films I'd say that they are widely available and somewhat squishy for the initial bite. After that you kind of get used to the texture and the flinging of arms and stuff.
We should only consider to be "taboo" those practices that are taboo across all cultures everywhere.
Eating one's own I think would be generally regarded as a "bad" thing. That doesn't stop some in the animal kingdom from doing so.
Homosexuality also would seem to go against nature (yes, some species do it...so?) because if it became predominant the species would not survive in the long run.
Game release PR and hype usually work best on the teen crowd (surprise!) who are always looking for something new even if it's really just something old repackaged. It's all about what the latest "cool" thing is according to their peers. Identifiying "cool" kids and trendsetters is an industry in itself. This is somewhat scary.
Computer simulation of hypersonic flows is not ready for prime-time, "it's time to bend metal now" engineering.
Aw, crap, please tell me that Jesse James' way skillz bending the pipes will save us all. He makes cars go faster, is a tough SOB and is a multi-millionaire, right?
The size of the air molecules are the same in the airtunnel as in the atmosphere
I was about to post a similar comment, but I'm reading late (Sunday) and you pegged it good.
Any science fiction movie fan can point out the obvious flaws when film makers try to represent water (in submarine movies, as an example) because of the dynamics of full-sized molecules hitting 1/4 scale models.
Using CG to simulate the appearance of fluids to trick a viewer is not the same thing as true understanding of fluid behaviour.
The SUV craze is actually the same phenomenon as the crowded theater phenomenon (where someone stands up to get a better view, so soon everyone is standing to see at all, and no one sees any better than when they were sitting).
Exactly. I agree a lot with this post but good driver's ed is needed.
Just learning how to drive a vehicule at or near the limits doesn't necessarily teach defensive driving.
Rob, we all saw that coming a few days ago. But/now/ it's important to *you*. If you'd just stop with the babymaking attempts, playing with your new Legos and ignoring dupes you could start working on the reply for the 1,000,000 Slashdot account.
people who're willing to spend $80,000 on a crap piece of software which could be done by one of our dozen in-house coders (we're a software development shop) in a weekend. Or by me for maybe $2500 worth of time.
Corporations do not necessarily want the best, they want something that works. Think about it: if your company depended on the best of everything at all times, the whole machine would break down if Bob called-in sick one day. I'm referencing close-coupling, Normal Accidents, if you care to look that up.
So corporations start out with excellence in mind, but end up getting reduced to what the market will bear. "He who fucks up the least, wins" because it becomes a commodity.
To many business owners/shareholders, IT is still a black art, but using Windows is at least one way to nail down costs. From the IT crowd's (most of whom are just button-pushers with geek knowledge) perspective, it's easy to blame bad stuff on the software, network, user, internet, etc..
It's a win/win game for many IT people. Consider: system goes down, CEO is enraged that s/he cannot read/send email. Quick solution: Fix CEO's problem.
Now compound this with our inevitable tendency to view things in an anthropocentric as well as cronocentric manner and yikes!
Stop confusing everyone with your sciency, sophistimicated and TV-unfriendly words. Some of us are making a good living selling fear and we likes it that way!
Slashdot Mirror
The new Sonata is one nice (and nice-looking) machine. It looks a bit like an older Acura.
BIG difference from the original Hyundais.
One of the most frightening experiences I've ever had was when I was invulnerable (22 years old, driving a FWD Honda from Montreal to Toronto in a blizzard - this was before ABS and traction control).
Because I was superman at that time, I was passing 18-wheelers with abandon, trusting my mad skillz of at-limit road adhesion even though my only guide was the faint lights of the semi in front of me.
The truck guys must have called ahead, because at one point I found myself blocked-in and slowed-down. Naturally, this pissed me off, but it probably also saved me from finding me and my car in a ditch or a morgue. At the time I was upset but I later realized that what I was doing was insane - didn't matter, I was 22 and invulnerable.
People that may have to drive on snow or ice have to treat it as if they were walking on snow or ice: you can't start moving very fast, you can't stop moving very fast and any intended change of direction is going to take 10 times longer to accomplish, so you have to think well ahead of what you want to do.
Also, if you drive a front-wheel drive vehicule uphill you might be screwed due to weight transfer.
Trying to replace skill/talent with software is no big surprise in the world of engineering. A talented engineer becomes much more capable if s/he uses creative software if s/he uses software created by a more knowledgeable engineer or group of engineers.
But all knowledge floats all boats, so this phenomenon can lead to incompetents thinking they now have mad skillz. Or worse, manager-types thinking they can dictate design to engineers.
For example, I don't care if the latest web page design concept (AJAX, maybe?) fails, I DO care if the bridge I'm travelling on falls down.
Yeah, agreed.
Maybe small digitals might be better operated in video mode (if they have that capability). I guess that resolution would only be 640x480, but if it actually captures the desired event, well...
I carry a Digital Elph, and while it's a nice little machine, it takes seemingly forever to focus. Thanks for the idea, I'l just go straight to video from now on!
I was surprised to see a Canon Rebel with lens (non-digital, and I'm not a camera expert) going for about $200 when I was buying a $300 digital compact this past December.
I almost bought it for my son but then figured that it would be a backwards step, technology-wise, for him.
What he is missing is the near-instant shutter response, manual zoom and focus and maybe motor drive. What he gains is movie-taking ability, immediate review of shots taken, compact camera size and ease of image transfer. For me, I miss the shutter response time and manual zoom/focus features that are not available in even $1000 "prosumer" digitals.
Personal computers were well on their way to widespread use before Bill & Co.
Yet another who like ones and zeros and fails to see the end goal.
What you, as a computer/software professional (I assume) fail to recognize is that real engineering was doing quite well before computers came along.
It is a typing reflex imprinted in the small minds of Microsoft droids with nothing substancial to say.
Well now, I guess we have to be comparing "skillz" and experience, no?
I'll discuss this further if you can demonstrate any knowledge beyond what you have ever typed into your keyboard. Otherwise I'm just wasting my time.
Thanks for the reply.
STFU. You are going against the grain.
You make the same mistake that many others make.
Bill and Windows restructured the working world within about 20 years and got a significant percentage of the population using computers. How that happenned is irrellevant because we now have to deal with it.
Stop whining and start coming up with solutions.
We're all living through it and we can't see the forest for the trees. In 200 years they'll be looking back and see a post cold war world troubled with the concept of money, status and want, rather than need.
The only logical conclusion to maximum efficiency via software and automation is the elimination of expensive workers.
Mod me down if you want.
Societies have always needed ways to keep the general population busy, lest idle hands have their way.
Since we are rapidly building a world where less and less people are needed to provide the basics (and even the frivolous) what do we do with all the extra, unneeded people?
Do we create mindless, meaningless tasks to keep people busy?
I can't help but think that an intern did some tweening with a newfound graphics program.
Two 930Bs here, no dead pixels yet. I like it less than my old 19" Mitsubishi CRTs but I had little choice.
I really like the extra space of two monitors, but to be honest, I'm not sure if it's worth it at home. I like being able to peripherally see what's going on to the left and not have to tab screens though.
When I've done process plant design checking, one giant monitor would be better. Even better than that would be a monster projection of the models for the flythroughs and on-demand detail closeups, but that typically only gets used when impressing clients.
What flavour of AutoCAD are you using? Any add-on programs?
As an old-skool draftsman, I want a 34"x48" active table. Until that happens, I'll be working in tiny little 21" monitor windows and zooming around.
Yes, this causes a perspective change, and it is manageable, but we seem to be working more and more towards compartmentalization for workers.
That's good for the interchangeability of tasks, but in the long run we will end up with the fat end of the bell curve only.
America recently tends to throw huge amounts of people and money at problems and sort out the results later. There usually is nothing refined or subtle about it.
They learned that in WW2 when they sent Shermans ("Tommycookers") against Panzers. Interviews with surviving Panther and Tiger crew members and commanders indicate that they couldn't beleive that a country as rich and powerful as America would field such bad tanks. ("You got 3? We'll make 20!")
I guess the American military has the last say now.
Brains are a delicacy in many cultures
Do you mean "valued"? Given the recent amount of zombie films I'd say that they are widely available and somewhat squishy for the initial bite. After that you kind of get used to the texture and the flinging of arms and stuff.
Woo-hoo! Research time!
We should only consider to be "taboo" those practices that are taboo across all cultures everywhere.
Eating one's own I think would be generally regarded as a "bad" thing. That doesn't stop some in the animal kingdom from doing so.
Homosexuality also would seem to go against nature (yes, some species do it...so?) because if it became predominant the species would not survive in the long run.
Game release PR and hype usually work best on the teen crowd (surprise!) who are always looking for something new even if it's really just something old repackaged. It's all about what the latest "cool" thing is according to their peers. Identifiying "cool" kids and trendsetters is an industry in itself. This is somewhat scary.
The marketers know who to go after.
Computer simulation of hypersonic flows is not ready for prime-time, "it's time to bend metal now" engineering.
Aw, crap, please tell me that Jesse James' way skillz bending the pipes will save us all. He makes cars go faster, is a tough SOB and is a multi-millionaire, right?
I could make some really good engineering-related jokes here, but I won't.
www.pipingdesign.com
The size of the air molecules are the same in the airtunnel as in the atmosphere
I was about to post a similar comment, but I'm reading late (Sunday) and you pegged it good.
Any science fiction movie fan can point out the obvious flaws when film makers try to represent water (in submarine movies, as an example) because of the dynamics of full-sized molecules hitting 1/4 scale models.
Using CG to simulate the appearance of fluids to trick a viewer is not the same thing as true understanding of fluid behaviour.
PS Air is a fluid.
The SUV craze is actually the same phenomenon as the crowded theater phenomenon (where someone stands up to get a better view, so soon everyone is standing to see at all, and no one sees any better than when they were sitting).
Exactly. I agree a lot with this post but good driver's ed is needed.
Just learning how to drive a vehicule at or near the limits doesn't necessarily teach defensive driving.
I apologize for thinking.
Rob, we all saw that coming a few days ago. But
people who're willing to spend $80,000 on a crap piece of software which could be done by one of our dozen in-house coders (we're a software development shop) in a weekend. Or by me for maybe $2500 worth of time.
Corporations do not necessarily want the best, they want something that works. Think about it: if your company depended on the best of everything at all times, the whole machine would break down if Bob called-in sick one day. I'm referencing close-coupling, Normal Accidents, if you care to look that up.
So corporations start out with excellence in mind, but end up getting reduced to what the market will bear. "He who fucks up the least, wins" because it becomes a commodity.
To many business owners/shareholders, IT is still a black art, but using Windows is at least one way to nail down costs. From the IT crowd's (most of whom are just button-pushers with geek knowledge) perspective, it's easy to blame bad stuff on the software, network, user, internet, etc..
It's a win/win game for many IT people. Consider: system goes down, CEO is enraged that s/he cannot read/send email. Quick solution: Fix CEO's problem.
Face it: individual consumers are finicky, difficult people to work with
Multiply that by 10 if you sell them a device that is user-customizeable/fuckupable.
Now compound this with our inevitable tendency to view things in an anthropocentric as well as cronocentric manner and yikes!
Stop confusing everyone with your sciency, sophistimicated and TV-unfriendly words. Some of us are making a good living selling fear and we likes it that way!