Tell me something...why do you think that the Coast Gaurd provides a free differential beacon?
Er - they don't - I'm in Australia. The diferential service is pretty limited. Lots of coast, not many people.
People got to places before GPS. Even before sextants. And compasses. And charts. But they died a lot doing it.
I like GPS - its universal availablity and accuracy is a boon to all. Better accuracy would be good.
I obviously fit into the group you don't believe in, the ones who would like better accuracy and don't currently have access to it. But I'd have thought that was me and all the other non-wealthy offshore sailors in the world. Why should accuracy be restricted to the rich, as you appear to suggest, when a system available to all can offer it?
I reckon something else is going on here. Could it be you can't stand the idea of those dashed Europeans (especially France) having a more accurate system than the good old USA?
I ride a bike because I like it. An engine would take away the charm. Smelly, noisy - and I'd need to go to the gym more. I reckon Westerners (especial USA-ites) need more exercise, not less.
Would it be faster? - no, I don't think so. I maintain 35+kph on the flat, significantly less going up hills, somewhat more down.
That said, gadgets similar to this are popular in Holland - where the road system is already adapted to bicycles (they decided to do this after the first fuel crisis in, when, 1976?).
I'll stick to my simple, silent, healthy bike, thanks. (But given a choice, I'd love to see folk on these rather than sprawling their fat bodies in their gas-guzzling SUVs - yuk).
This is a great idea... and seriously, there's a lot of folk with colour blindness. I know of a chap who has to get his non-colour blind wife to check he's wearing a sensible colour mix before he leaves the house.
Actually, given the dress sense of the average geek a lot of help is required. It sounds a match made in heaven.
Just one problem. Who is going to program the dress sense? - if it's the geeks who want it in the first place we are all in big trouble.
I just want matched socks... and here's my chance! So now we could make a little machine that searches through the washing basket (the clean stuff, guys, except on really bad days) and picks out just my stuff - and matches socks (I assume socks would have matching tags - surely). Oh joy!!!
Simple Simon met a pieman, Going to the fair; Says Simple Simon to the pieman, "Let me taste your ware."
Says the pieman to Simple Simon, "Show me first your penny," Says Simple Simon to the pieman, "Indeed, I have not any."
In this period, pieman sold pies for a penny. Well, sort of - in fact, what they did was ask to see your penny. Then they'd toss you for it. If they won, they got the penny (and you got no pie), if you won, you got the pie and the penny.
This sounds pretty much the same technique to me - except the price of the penny is half a penny. You always get the pie, but the pieman may or may not be paid.
It always tickles me that people compare software building with car building.
In a car factory, there are hundreds of people bolting stuff together, welding, pressing steel, etc. People think this is like programming. It's not - it's more like compiling, linking. I have tools for that.
But way over there in the corner, in a little room, there's this guy. He sits about thinking, coming up with new ways to build cars. Faster, better, higher quality. Now THAT'S equivalent to programming. But no-one ever talks about him....
(Have a look at "The Programmers Stone" for some sensible thoughts)
Sidewalks (ok, I can speak USA) are for walking. As a bicycle rider I sometimes ride there if the road is untenable. People wander about a lot. They even dart from left to right in a random fashion.
This is their right, if you ask me. And I go to great lengths to make sure I avoid them - they have the rights, not me.
A Segway occupies much the same area as a bicycle (it's a bit shorter) but I do not believe it would be as good at avoiding people (it can't lean, though it turns very well).
I agree with San Francisco. Keep the sidewalks free for pedestrians - SF is one of the few cities where people actually still walk - let's not threaten their sanctuary!
True, true.
Recently I built an integration system to talk to a wide variety of other systems, from screens craping 370 to XML messages with NT and unix. It was fun.
Guess which systems were easiest to integrate with? Basically the older the system, the easier.
The actual order was
the easiest had a database I could read,
then the XML message systems,
then the screen scrapers,
then the hardest of all was the most recent, the NT Windows based system.
So much for increasing ease of use and integration!
I've been working with computers for 30 years. assembler, Fortran, Pascal.. Java.. it all goes around. Each new generation tends to dismiss the leasson of its predecessors. It's quite funny after a while.
But we still come back to the basics. Make libraries (whatever they may be called - classes, even patterns). Use them. Design the system decently but not too much. Test the suckers. Try to get the end users to listen to you and stop changing everything all the time.
Try Australia! Nice place, fairly cheap, speak English, understand Yank-ish, highly educated, great to visit.
What do you mean you might not go back to the US?
Slashdot Mirror
Er - they don't - I'm in Australia. The diferential service is pretty limited. Lots of coast, not many people.
People got to places before GPS. Even before sextants. And compasses. And charts. But they died a lot doing it.
I like GPS - its universal availablity and accuracy is a boon to all. Better accuracy would be good.
I obviously fit into the group you don't believe in, the ones who would like better accuracy and don't currently have access to it. But I'd have thought that was me and all the other non-wealthy offshore sailors in the world. Why should accuracy be restricted to the rich, as you appear to suggest, when a system available to all can offer it?
I reckon something else is going on here. Could it be you can't stand the idea of those dashed Europeans (especially France) having a more accurate system than the good old USA?
You've never been sailing, have you? In the fog ... Try it some time - you might suddenly get to appreciate the advantages of accuracy.
Or you could try flying - in poor viz.
But I agree, you just don't get it.
I ride a bike because I like it. An engine would take away the charm. Smelly, noisy - and I'd need to go to the gym more. I reckon Westerners (especial USA-ites) need more exercise, not less.
Would it be faster? - no, I don't think so. I maintain 35+kph on the flat, significantly less going up hills, somewhat more down.
That said, gadgets similar to this are popular in Holland - where the road system is already adapted to bicycles (they decided to do this after the first fuel crisis in, when, 1976?).
I'll stick to my simple, silent, healthy bike, thanks. (But given a choice, I'd love to see folk on these rather than sprawling their fat bodies in their gas-guzzling SUVs - yuk).
Actually, given the dress sense of the average geek a lot of help is required. It sounds a match made in heaven.
Just one problem. Who is going to program the dress sense? - if it's the geeks who want it in the first place we are all in big trouble.
I just want matched socks ... and here's my chance! So now we could make a little machine that searches through the washing basket (the clean stuff, guys, except on really bad days) and picks out just my stuff - and matches socks (I assume socks would have matching tags - surely). Oh joy!!!
That is 8 years ago. 8 years ago Microsoft was positively pleasant compared with current behaviour.
So who cares what Bill said (or maybe didn't say) back then?
Simple Simon met a pieman,
Going to the fair;
Says Simple Simon to the pieman,
"Let me taste your ware."
Says the pieman to Simple Simon,
"Show me first your penny,"
Says Simple Simon to the pieman,
"Indeed, I have not any."
In this period, pieman sold pies for a penny. Well, sort of - in fact, what they did was ask to see your penny. Then they'd toss you for it. If they won, they got the penny (and you got no pie), if you won, you got the pie and the penny.
This sounds pretty much the same technique to me - except the price of the penny is half a penny. You always get the pie, but the pieman may or may not be paid.
But way over there in the corner, in a little room, there's this guy. He sits about thinking, coming up with new ways to build cars. Faster, better, higher quality. Now THAT'S equivalent to programming. But no-one ever talks about him ....
(Have a look at "The Programmers Stone" for some sensible thoughts)
Sidewalks (ok, I can speak USA) are for walking. As a bicycle rider I sometimes ride there if the road is untenable. People wander about a lot. They even dart from left to right in a random fashion. This is their right, if you ask me. And I go to great lengths to make sure I avoid them - they have the rights, not me. A Segway occupies much the same area as a bicycle (it's a bit shorter) but I do not believe it would be as good at avoiding people (it can't lean, though it turns very well). I agree with San Francisco. Keep the sidewalks free for pedestrians - SF is one of the few cities where people actually still walk - let's not threaten their sanctuary!
True, true. Recently I built an integration system to talk to a wide variety of other systems, from screens craping 370 to XML messages with NT and unix. It was fun. Guess which systems were easiest to integrate with? Basically the older the system, the easier. The actual order was the easiest had a database I could read, then the XML message systems, then the screen scrapers, then the hardest of all was the most recent, the NT Windows based system. So much for increasing ease of use and integration!
I've been working with computers for 30 years. assembler, Fortran, Pascal .. Java .. it all goes around. Each new generation tends to dismiss the leasson of its predecessors. It's quite funny after a while.
But we still come back to the basics. Make libraries (whatever they may be called - classes, even patterns). Use them. Design the system decently but not too much. Test the suckers. Try to get the end users to listen to you and stop changing everything all the time.
Try Australia! Nice place, fairly cheap, speak English, understand Yank-ish, highly educated, great to visit. What do you mean you might not go back to the US?