Simplifying the tax code could result in hundreds of thousands of coke-bottle glasses-wearing bean-counters wandering around North America looking for work.
Finding none, they would eventually gang together and attack the rest of us threatening paper cuts and possible thrown pen damage.
Go out and convince MS to stop packaging it with their os
That reminds me...why don't we see Redmond-based slashdotter activists dressed-up as bugs, viruses and wearing unlocked door-type costumes protesting near the MS headquarters? Surely that would make the TV news.
...the people, facilities, and processes involved in engineering them are dead, retired, or demolished.
I often wonder how many competent engineers/designers/draftsmen retired prematurely due to the near-universal adoption of CAD.
CAD can be a great thing, but it very often forces the user to conform to the limitations of (current software version of) the tool and can introduce peripheral complications to any given engineering task.
Those who "won" after the CAD revoltion were those who were comfortable with transferring ideas into a machine instead of onto paper. As the older, less technology-adaptive gang got largely pushed out as being "old skool", a lot of experience and mentorship was lost.
Don't you think that 3 "big" (say, 19"+) screens would be a bit much for most practical purposes though? I'm thinking field-of-view and getting a sore neck.
I suppose sitting farther away helps in this regard, but then you might find yourself needing larger text, which kind of defeats the purpose.
We were driving through Brossard Sunday looking for Pont Victoria (most people in the Montreal area end up looking for this stealth bridge at one time or another) and passed one of those digital readout advertising signs that was flashing time and temp. It said -11 degrees C.
As an expression of how much I enjoyed this, I give you a quote from my favorite human, Steve Martin: "Do you ever wonder where all the farts go?... They go into the atmospere and form the Fart Zone. It's just above the ozone layer. This is why we MUST PROTECT THE OZONE LAYER."
The foregoing was stolen from some website, may I ma ma moo moo to the banana patch now?
You of course realize that a university education is as much about socialization (future business contacts, allies, loyalties) as it is about education, right? It's gotten worse over the past 20 or so years as it's become "normal" to attend university and assume a rightful position/entitlement as a highly-paid professional regardless of skill or ability.
If you're outside of that crowd you'll likely find it difficult to break in because that type of social group tends to close ranks when their pre-assumed reality is threatened.
On the other hand, there are lots of brilliant and insightful people with meaningful degrees who are not morons.
I can't help but think that this is a troll for people to astroturf Matrox's triple head cards. As a Montrealer I like Matrox but they dropped the 3D ball a few years ago.
"I don't know" is the most important answer in science
The problems happen when everyone is saying that and the default state of ignorance and apathy takes over.
Pillory me if you want, but reliance on software/computers actually encourages this type of attitude.
Examples:
- it won't print properly, so I'll wait until someone from IT fixes it. Result=nothing done, work delayed.
- the database doesn't allow this non-foreseen input, so I'll email the helpdesk. Result=nothing done, work delayed.
If you total-up all these delays and reliance on automation, it's no wonder that people often feel like cogs in a machine that they cannot control.
Yes, science is by nature self-correcting, but when the errors are endemically embedded in the existing systems it can take a lot of time and convict a lot of Gallileos before it gets around to it.
But now, "information" ("memes", if you like) is spread at near light speed around the world while truth is still in REM state, nevermind getting its bots on.
I've noticed this also (maybe once or twice while clicking a link over the past few years). What possible reason could Showtime have to restrict access to US-based net users? Is it some kind of national security or WMD thing?
The current system of profiting off one lucky creation for 3 generations is insane and does no foster creation, innovation or invention.
In fact, I think it does the exact opposite; it fosters inward-thinking, greed, "something-for-nothing" mindsets and threats of legal action.
But, those who create are vastly outnumbered by those who "consume", so there's always leechers that find a way to make a buck by becoming powerful, unscrupulous middlemen.
...the reason we programmers say this is that most of the time we work with and for people that dont have the ability to actually understand the problem.
Sure, but I've seen the same thing happen in reverse in technical fields/engineering; the programmers often don't understand how things were efficiently done before computers, so they build something that works well for them. As we all know, bosses tend to be impressed by flash and fancy, so projects get approved regardless of how they impact the end users. I'm not talking about clueless users here, I'm talking about engineering-types that know, love and use computers that have half-assed software imposed upon them from above.
If I put you (or me) in a room with a high-powered exhaust fan, would the transient air be enough to keep a human alive? I still can't figure out why dogs love to stick their heads out of moving cars.
I figure they must have some magical dog ability or something. You'd never see a cat doing that, as cats are risk-averse.
What are you, some kind of loser? A 21" TV for a whole family is just...well, UnAmerican, as it lacks that, je ne sais quoi, excessiveness that is to be expected.
You probably also don't own a SUV. Bad, bad American.
Look at just about *any* large software company that sells to businesses. Their goal is to get you locked-in to a software package, and then milk as much money as they possibly can from you. The real money to be made is in hidden costs.
Yup, that's pretty much it.
When the complicated software is found lacking, the purchaser is expected to pay for further "development", "training" or "customer support", which is really debugging something that should have been useful in the first place. But, hey, just hang on, our next release will solve all those "issues".
But that part (useful) is not part of the initial deal, so everyone goes along with the "this is a project in development" party line until it becomes obvious that 2 secretaries, a competent manager and someonew who *really* knows MS Excel can solve the real-world, on-the-ground problem in about 2 weeks.
The relative cost of HW to SW is shrinking to the point where the MS tax is beginning to equal the price of HW
Up here, XP Pro costs $300, which is much more than any single component I recently itemized for a nice, non-wish list gaming machine I'm going to be purchasing for my son. For 3 hundred bucks I can get a 256MB Radeon X800. XP Pro should cost about $100.
Slashdot Mirror
This is a bad idea.
Simplifying the tax code could result in hundreds of thousands of coke-bottle glasses-wearing bean-counters wandering around North America looking for work.
Finding none, they would eventually gang together and attack the rest of us threatening paper cuts and possible thrown pen damage.
But if you have an oldish domain that Google sees as being consistent in its content over time, the age of the domain is probably a big factor.
Perhaps for new, as-yet "unproven" domains it's a good idea to register for more than one year.
I think "obfuscation" is the word you're looking for, not "FUD".
I thought this story was going to be something interesting about the traditional meaning of reverse engineering, but it wasn't.
However, the link above is quite detailed and discusses the ability to digitize real-world objects into CAD.
Go out and convince MS to stop packaging it with their os
That reminds me...why don't we see Redmond-based slashdotter activists dressed-up as bugs, viruses and wearing unlocked door-type costumes protesting near the MS headquarters? Surely that would make the TV news.
Well, OK, maybe not. But it sure would be funny.
I often wonder how many competent engineers/designers/draftsmen retired prematurely due to the near-universal adoption of CAD.
CAD can be a great thing, but it very often forces the user to conform to the limitations of (current software version of) the tool and can introduce peripheral complications to any given engineering task.
Those who "won" after the CAD revoltion were those who were comfortable with transferring ideas into a machine instead of onto paper. As the older, less technology-adaptive gang got largely pushed out as being "old skool", a lot of experience and mentorship was lost.
Don't you think that 3 "big" (say, 19"+) screens would be a bit much for most practical purposes though? I'm thinking field-of-view and getting a sore neck.
I suppose sitting farther away helps in this regard, but then you might find yourself needing larger text, which kind of defeats the purpose.
We were driving through Brossard Sunday looking for Pont Victoria (most people in the Montreal area end up looking for this stealth bridge at one time or another) and passed one of those digital readout advertising signs that was flashing time and temp. It said -11 degrees C.
As an expression of how much I enjoyed this, I give you a quote from my favorite human, Steve Martin: "Do you ever wonder where all the farts go?... They go into the atmospere and form the Fart Zone. It's just above the ozone layer. This is why we MUST PROTECT THE OZONE LAYER."
The foregoing was stolen from some website, may I ma ma moo moo to the banana patch now?
You of course realize that a university education is as much about socialization (future business contacts, allies, loyalties) as it is about education, right? It's gotten worse over the past 20 or so years as it's become "normal" to attend university and assume a rightful position/entitlement as a highly-paid professional regardless of skill or ability.
If you're outside of that crowd you'll likely find it difficult to break in because that type of social group tends to close ranks when their pre-assumed reality is threatened.
On the other hand, there are lots of brilliant and insightful people with meaningful degrees who are not morons.
Yay!
I can't help but think that this is a troll for people to astroturf Matrox's triple head cards. As a Montrealer I like Matrox but they dropped the 3D ball a few years ago.
"I don't know" is the most important answer in science
The problems happen when everyone is saying that and the default state of ignorance and apathy takes over.
Pillory me if you want, but reliance on software/computers actually encourages this type of attitude.
Examples:
- it won't print properly, so I'll wait until someone from IT fixes it. Result=nothing done, work delayed.
- the database doesn't allow this non-foreseen input, so I'll email the helpdesk. Result=nothing done, work delayed.
If you total-up all these delays and reliance on automation, it's no wonder that people often feel like cogs in a machine that they cannot control.
Yes, science is by nature self-correcting, but when the errors are endemically embedded in the existing systems it can take a lot of time and convict a lot of Gallileos before it gets around to it.
But now, "information" ("memes", if you like) is spread at near light speed around the world while truth is still in REM state, nevermind getting its bots on.
No thanks, can't be bothered.
PS My Windows XP Pro OS is legal.
I've noticed this also (maybe once or twice while clicking a link over the past few years). What possible reason could Showtime have to restrict access to US-based net users? Is it some kind of national security or WMD thing?
Oh crap, I forgot it was no pants Friday again.
The current system of profiting off one lucky creation for 3 generations is insane and does no foster creation, innovation or invention.
In fact, I think it does the exact opposite; it fosters inward-thinking, greed, "something-for-nothing" mindsets and threats of legal action.
But, those who create are vastly outnumbered by those who "consume", so there's always leechers that find a way to make a buck by becoming powerful, unscrupulous middlemen.
Sure, but I've seen the same thing happen in reverse in technical fields/engineering; the programmers often don't understand how things were efficiently done before computers, so they build something that works well for them. As we all know, bosses tend to be impressed by flash and fancy, so projects get approved regardless of how they impact the end users. I'm not talking about clueless users here, I'm talking about engineering-types that know, love and use computers that have half-assed software imposed upon them from above.
How rich was his parachute?
Good question.
If I put you (or me) in a room with a high-powered exhaust fan, would the transient air be enough to keep a human alive? I still can't figure out why dogs love to stick their heads out of moving cars.
I figure they must have some magical dog ability or something. You'd never see a cat doing that, as cats are risk-averse.
What are you, some kind of loser? A 21" TV for a whole family is just...well, UnAmerican, as it lacks that, je ne sais quoi, excessiveness that is to be expected.
You probably also don't own a SUV. Bad, bad American.
Does this design cool the computer super-efficiently or eliminate the user due to oxygen deprivation?
Look at just about *any* large software company that sells to businesses. Their goal is to get you locked-in to a software package, and then milk as much money as they possibly can from you. The real money to be made is in hidden costs.
Yup, that's pretty much it.
When the complicated software is found lacking, the purchaser is expected to pay for further "development", "training" or "customer support", which is really debugging something that should have been useful in the first place. But, hey, just hang on, our next release will solve all those "issues".
But that part (useful) is not part of the initial deal, so everyone goes along with the "this is a project in development" party line until it becomes obvious that 2 secretaries, a competent manager and someonew who *really* knows MS Excel can solve the real-world, on-the-ground problem in about 2 weeks.
The relative cost of HW to SW is shrinking to the point where the MS tax is beginning to equal the price of HW
Up here, XP Pro costs $300, which is much more than any single component I recently itemized for a nice, non-wish list gaming machine I'm going to be purchasing for my son. For 3 hundred bucks I can get a 256MB Radeon X800. XP Pro should cost about $100.