From programming to operating systems, it seems like books are divided into the sections of "for complete newbies" or "for cs majors and/or gurus." Intermediate or "slightly beyond newbie" books seem to be few in number, or at least most books aren't marketed as such.
Perhaps because the "intermediate" or "slightly beyond newbie" group is metastable, either you pick it up enough with the first book to where you can understand the guru books enough to continue learning or you stay as what in Esperanto we call an "eterna lernanto": A newbie who cannot pass the newbie stage.
I guess the guy's point, and I agree, is that selling software (or consulting services) is VERY different from selling cars. I've worked for consulting companies that hired car salesmen and lobbyistst to sell programming consulting services. Management's attitude was *consistently* that you don't need to understand java in order to sell it. Guess how much these guys were selling? Guess how long it took for the first layoffs to be required?
No, you don't have to be an expert, or even a programmer for that matter, and a good salesman can indeed sell anything, but a good salesman KNOWS his product enough that he can sell it.
Though I partly agree with you that there's no concrete evidence of torture (yet), that is the whole point of due process, the ability to prevent torture. Do you have evidence that torture is NOT being used by our government? Sure, the burden of proof lies with those saying something exists (it's harder to prove something doesn't) but more transparency would certainly help boost your argument.
The things that tend to make me believe that torture is being used by OUR government is the capture of terrorists around the world and the refusal to bring them to OUR country to be judged, look at one of the recent big guys they got in Pakistan, he sang in a hurry, does that sound like something a militant fanatic would easily do *without* torture?
I say we take terrorists and judge them in our country. Show them we are superior!
Yeah, I know, OT. but.
There's nothing wrong with our government spending money on defense, you are right in that it is one of the only things they should be doing. But the great majority of our military budget is NOT used for national defense, it is used for wars which don't concern us, ocupation after wars, etc.
Bring the boys back home!
Please take a moment to vote for that bug in Bugzilla. ie, Moz has no confirmation on CTRL-Q for 'close browser', and it's right next to CTRL-W for 'close tab'. The bug's here: http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=52821
Not on my keyboard, on mine it's worse Ctrl-W is right next to ctrl-v (paste) and very close to Ctrl-z (undo).
Mr. Niven,
I'm a big fan, not so much of the writing (which is great, don't get me wrong), but more so of the width and breadth of your ideas (Ringworld, Integral Trees, etc.).
I loved the beowolf books, are there more planned?
In general, what books (or series, or collaborations) are you currently working on?
The anti-government, anti-regulation libertarian rethoric has captured the popular mind? That's news! Why are we (sorry, I mean *you*, since *I* vote Libertarian) still voting in the same big government republicans and democrats year after damn year? why is our government bigger and more intrusive than ever? Why is a greater amount of our money being taken in taxes while governments get into bigger and bigger deficits?
Libertarians are PRO government, but support limited government. If you can make a convincing case that Spammers are indeed violating someone's rights, and if there's nothing technical that can be done about it, then it is the Governments PROPER role to come in. On this: a) It is debatable that spammers are violating someone's rights, since they are playing by the [technical] rules of the systems they use. b) Technical and social solutions seem to me to be much more likely to solve the problem (and cheaper to boot). Do you want YAGA (Yet Another Government Agency) with it's bloat, overspent budgets, bureaucracy, etc. in your life? Are you willing to have to request an email licence from government and wait 3 weeks while your application (in triplicate) gets processed before you can send an email to your friends (even if it is to let them know that Bill Gates will give 5 cents for every email he receives).
</end rant>
Hey, that makes me wonder if there is any other language whose plurals are formed with a final -i or -ii?
Esperanto makes plurals by adding 'j' as a suffix (and it is roughly pronounced as a soft 'y' of eth English 'yes').
Slight difference, the fast food joint doesn't have a gun against my head and is ready to pull the trigger if I don't buy their foods. Try not paying taxes, see what happens to you: they take you to jail, try resisting that, at the end of the argument there's a gun at your head.
Taxation w/o representation indeed! Have you thought of all the non-citizen LEGAL residents that pay their taxes year after year and have absolutely NO say in how they're spent?
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this
The higher the number of pepole using computers around the world the bigger our market as engineers. 1 Billion people increasing their technical capabilities is an OPPORTUNITY, we can make it a problem by sitting back and stopping where we are and allowing other countries to improve. Short term we may hurt, but long term:
Salaries in India and salaries here will tend to globalize
Many more people around the world will need the services of capable engineers
Eventually, and governments permitting, the world economy will be better off than that of the U.S. at its peak (IOW profit!)
But if you want to do the typical modern american thing and bitch, go ahead, I'm willing to compete and take your seat.
The only people who should fear competition are the incompetent
Anectdotal, I know, but my experience mirrors yours very closely. Long live Dvorak keyboards!
Now my biggest complaint of pain has to do with the stupid mouse wheel, which is VERY useful, but also a very unatural movement aoueidhtns!!!!!!
I also speak Esperanto, vote Libertarian and use Linux.
Because if we spent every to make everything totally accessible to everyone with every conceivable disability, without taking into account other issues (cost, who the users are, etc) our whole civilization would colapse in a morass of sysiphean work which would never be finished.
As to why spend money on the 1% of really smart kids... Simple, because they have the most potential to make our civilization better, producing things that make ALL of our lives better and more productive.
Slashdot Mirror
From programming to operating systems, it seems like books are divided into the sections of "for complete newbies" or "for cs majors and/or gurus." Intermediate or "slightly beyond newbie" books seem to be few in number, or at least most books aren't marketed as such.
Perhaps because the "intermediate" or "slightly beyond newbie" group is metastable, either you pick it up enough with the first book to where you can understand the guru books enough to continue learning or you stay as what in Esperanto we call an "eterna lernanto": A newbie who cannot pass the newbie stage.
I guess the guy's point, and I agree, is that selling software (or consulting services) is VERY different from selling cars. I've worked for consulting companies that hired car salesmen and lobbyistst to sell programming consulting services. Management's attitude was *consistently* that you don't need to understand java in order to sell it.
Guess how much these guys were selling?
Guess how long it took for the first layoffs to be required?
No, you don't have to be an expert, or even a programmer for that matter, and a good salesman can indeed sell anything, but a good salesman KNOWS his product enough that he can sell it.
Though I partly agree with you that there's no concrete evidence of torture (yet), that is the whole point of due process, the ability to prevent torture. Do you have evidence that torture is NOT being used by our government? Sure, the burden of proof lies with those saying something exists (it's harder to prove something doesn't) but more transparency would certainly help boost your argument.
The things that tend to make me believe that torture is being used by OUR government is the capture of terrorists around the world and the refusal to bring them to OUR country to be judged, look at one of the recent big guys they got in Pakistan, he sang in a hurry, does that sound like something a militant fanatic would easily do *without* torture?
I say we take terrorists and judge them in our country. Show them we are superior!
Kaj kial ne Esperanto?
Actually, many of them were trained by the U.S.
Yeah, I know, OT. but.
There's nothing wrong with our government spending money on defense, you are right in that it is one of the only things they should be doing. But the great majority of our military budget is NOT used for national defense, it is used for wars which don't concern us, ocupation after wars, etc.
Bring the boys back home!
Please take a moment to vote for that bug in Bugzilla. ie, Moz has no confirmation on CTRL-Q for 'close browser', and it's right next to CTRL-W for 'close tab'. The bug's here: http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=52821
Not on my keyboard, on mine it's worse Ctrl-W is right next to ctrl-v (paste) and very close to Ctrl-z (undo).
I'll certainly vote for it.
P.S. Guess my keyboard
Mr. Niven,
I'm a big fan, not so much of the writing (which is great, don't get me wrong), but more so of the width and breadth of your ideas (Ringworld, Integral Trees, etc.).
I loved the beowolf books, are there more planned?
In general, what books (or series, or collaborations) are you currently working on?
Slightly OT..., but it gets on topic later on.
The anti-government, anti-regulation libertarian rethoric has captured the popular mind? That's news! Why are we (sorry, I mean *you*, since *I* vote Libertarian) still voting in the same big government republicans and democrats year after damn year? why is our government bigger and more intrusive than ever? Why is a greater amount of our money being taken in taxes while governments get into bigger and bigger deficits?
Libertarians are PRO government, but support limited government. If you can make a convincing case that Spammers are indeed violating someone's rights, and if there's nothing technical that can be done about it, then it is the Governments PROPER role to come in. On this: a) It is debatable that spammers are violating someone's rights, since they are playing by the [technical] rules of the systems they use. b) Technical and social solutions seem to me to be much more likely to solve the problem (and cheaper to boot). Do you want YAGA (Yet Another Government Agency) with it's bloat, overspent budgets, bureaucracy, etc. in your life? Are you willing to have to request an email licence from government and wait 3 weeks while your application (in triplicate) gets processed before you can send an email to your friends (even if it is to let them know that Bill Gates will give 5 cents for every email he receives).
</end rant>
Any religious argument:
You cannot checkmate a man who refuses to play chess.
You forgot all those permit "fees" for construction, businesses, etc.
Hey, that makes me wonder if there is any other language whose plurals are formed with a final -i or -ii?
Esperanto makes plurals by adding 'j' as a suffix (and it is roughly pronounced as a soft 'y' of eth English 'yes').
Cxu ne?
No, only burger flippers and lawyers. Doctors won't be able to afford their practice because of malpractice insurance costs.
Some of my favorites:
Omphaloskepsis
Deipnosophist
Antidisestablishmentarism
Nictitate
P.S. I'm writing these from memory, my spelling could be wrong.
I would never put in my body something genetically engineered, think of the damage it could cause me.
Heck, it may give me cancer for all I know.
Slight difference, the fast food joint doesn't have a gun against my head and is ready to pull the trigger if I don't buy their foods. Try not paying taxes, see what happens to you: they take you to jail, try resisting that, at the end of the argument there's a gun at your head.
Taxation w/o representation indeed! Have you thought of all the non-citizen LEGAL residents that pay their taxes year after year and have absolutely NO say in how they're spent?
Klasika! Mirindega! Ho, ve!
Thanks for your comment Elmo.
The higher the number of pepole using computers around the world the bigger our market as engineers. 1 Billion people increasing their technical capabilities is an OPPORTUNITY, we can make it a problem by sitting back and stopping where we are and allowing other countries to improve. Short term we may hurt, but long term:
- Salaries in India and salaries here will tend to globalize
- Many more people around the world will need the services of capable engineers
- Eventually, and governments permitting, the world economy will be better off than that of the U.S. at its peak (IOW profit!)
But if you want to do the typical modern american thing and bitch, go ahead, I'm willing to compete and take your seat.The only people who should fear competition are the incompetent
Anectdotal, I know, but my experience mirrors yours very closely. Long live Dvorak keyboards!
Now my biggest complaint of pain has to do with the stupid mouse wheel, which is VERY useful, but also a very unatural movement
aoueidhtns!!!!!!
I also speak Esperanto, vote Libertarian and use Linux.
Because if we spent every to make everything totally accessible to everyone with every conceivable disability, without taking into account other issues (cost, who the users are, etc) our whole civilization would colapse in a morass of sysiphean work which would never be finished.
As to why spend money on the 1% of really smart kids... Simple, because they have the most potential to make our civilization better, producing things that make ALL of our lives better and more productive.
Rleibman: A member of the 1%
Which is why we should not go to IP6, it would make us incompatible with aliens and thus leave us totally unprotected.
Did you see the movie? You call that speaking Esperanto?
--------------
Kontraux la stulteco la dioj mem batalas vane.
Cxu vi sekvis vian lernadon de la internacia post "Incubus"?
Kontraux la stulteco la dioj mem batalas vane.