A quote from the England's last hangman who executed more people than any other executioner in English history....
"I have come to the conclusion that executions solve nothing, and are only an antiquated relic of a primitive desire for revenge which takes the easy way and hands over the responsibility for revenge to other people...The trouble with the death penalty has always been that nobody wanted it for everybody, but everybody differed about who should get off."
Sure I want people who commit what I think are particularly vile crimes dead but I don't think I have the right to kill, let alone someone else taking revenge on my behalf. Justice is having the perpetrator make amends either to their victim, their family or society, somethings just can't be undone so the best you get is useful work..
Huh? - You must have missed the death of western manufacturing in the 80's-90's.
Robotic factories, robotic warehouses and Chinese peasants ARE doing all the work! The rest of us are sitting around in office blocks posting to slashdot.
If France was encoraging it's citezens to spit on people you may have a point, however it's not so you don't. What you do have is a troll that blames an entire nation for the actions of a random individual.
"Of course, the problem is that you can't get a foreign patent (because while the initial filing date is recognized by them, the fact it was published potentially nullifies any foreign patent."
"Solar panels on every building in America? How do you propose to pay for it?"
That's for the Americans to work out. Meanwhile Germany is pumping ~1GW of EXCESS power from rooftop solar panels back on to their grid. They estimate they have cut their CO2 emmissions by ~100 million tons. This change has increased the average German power bill by about one euro/month.
Continental scale infrastructure is a long term thing for humans, you can't notice it changing until you have lived the several decades it takes to see the change. Nobody is talking about covering every US roof with solar panels before next xmas, even with huge subsidies it would still take decades.
So what is wrong with upgrading/extending the grid as the need from rooftop PV arises? - I'm sure the current grid has seen quite a bit of upgrading since 1958 and I would be surprised if any power plants from the 50's are still operating today, IIRC most plants have a planned lifetime of 30-40yrs.
Possibly a thank-you due from me. I got a phone call from VISA today saying they were issuing me with a new card because of a Bank of Scotland security breach in the UK. I'm an Aussie and was last in the UK ~2yrs ago.
As a personal example I remeber that Dorthoy's red slippers from the wizard of Oz were stolen a couple of years ago. The reason it sticks in my head is because I was driving along with the wife when I saw a young woman wearing red sparkly shoes. I pointed and said "I thought Dorothy went back to Kansas?" (I live in Australia, often refered to as Oz). As soon as the words left my mouth the story about the shoe theft came on the radio. It was so close the wife was unsure wether I was talking about the radio or the woman.
No argument from me, if someone is determined enough to aquire and use a nuke there not much you can do. I just think the example you chose was odd. I'm an Aussie, 6 million people is equivalent to Australia's total workforce! To think that many people travel to and from a tiny island each day is a mind-boggling bit of trivia to me. Another bit of trivia is that demonstrates the human scale of NYC is that the NYC police outnumber our military (probably better armed too!).
I don't doubt there are environmental extremists but I do doubt they have any real power.
Speaking of cynical, the last time I heard of a windfarm cancelled because of 'birds' was a couple of years ago here in Australia. The project had passed enviromental planning but the right wing government's federal (anti-)environment minister overrode the states approval process and unilaterally cancelled it, he tried to blame it on parrots and imply that it was scuttled by 'environmentalists' when in reality it was his party's election promise to the local NIMBY's.
As for population, it will take care of itself. Considering the way we are trashing the place in our quest to eat our way though ~10^9 tons of food each year, it won't won't be pretty.
"The GW movement is starting to sound an awful lot like Humpty Dumpty in Alice in Wonderland. [snip] "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."
I don't care what Humpty Dumpty said, you are still displaying gross ignorance by equating the terms 'climate' and 'weather'.
"Deliverables" means nothing more than the developer hitting the milestones/delivering the artifacts that he set for himself.
Deliverables are hierarchical, the largest I've been responsible for is around the $2M mark in the 90's. A good project manager works in a similar manner except they take deliverables from a bunch of other developers, testers, etc, (the gooduns are as you described them), they 'build' the larger system on time and on budget, this in turn may be part of another even larger system. Of course all the developers then have to deliver on their promises, if anyone parks their arse on the 'critical path' then a chain reaction works it's way through the testers, documenters, trainers, who all sit around and read slashdot.
"If I'm being paid $50/hr to tap a keyboard, shouldn't I be held accountable for results?"
If by 'results' you mean 'doing what you said you could/would do', then yes, but nobody should be held accountable for promises they did not make. A decent project manager will no only enforce that rule but will also obey it if there is any finger pointing to be done after it all ends in tears.
As for TFA: 'Legacy' can mean different things to different organisations, but usually it means it needs to be maintained. Systems built with scripts such as internal web sites and reporting systems are often 'in stitu' and are often not developed in the traditional manner, they are too dynamic and have little or no formal funding. They are perfect candidates for the holy grail of 'self documentation'.
I don't know much about pearl but it strikes me as untidy. I use python as a cross platform scripting language and python doc could be the 'holy grail' for these types of projects if deveolopers had the time/inclination to use it, but even then you may still have trouble with SOE's, etc depending on how sane those things are in the organisation. With these types of projects more often than not a PM has the worst case senario: The project starts with a deadline, a budget, and people with NFI of what they just signed up for.
Large organisations are full of these types of projects that churn out all sorts of internal reports that people have long since stopped using.
If you think I "hate america" you are mistaken, I don't "hate" any country, the idea is nonsense when you think about it. But what if I thought the US was twice as good as any other nation? - Does that mean I should stop critizing it (and others in the west) for hypocricy where I see fit? (this BTW is exactly what 'patrotic' Chinese are often accused of doing). Oh and IMHO Hicks' military appointed lawyer did a great job in difficult circumstances.
I'm an Aussie, and my own government was complicit in the Hicks Affair. And yeah for each Hicks there are a thousand Chinese disidents in similar circumstances, that's not the point - we supposedly live under the "rule of (democratic) law", if not then cut the pillow talk while I'm being butt fucked.
Georgia is a US pawn impeding Russian access to the black sea, the pawn moved first either: A) via command of the US, B) they were tricked into it by Russia, C) Because the Georgian president is a suicidal meglomaniac, D) All of the above.
"It's just a fancy catalyst in this implementation."
Hmmm, they invented a novel polymer membrane that mimics "a key process in psynth", wasn't it a novel kind of membrane that made fuel cells possible? IANA Industrial Chemist, their contact details are all over the article.
"That's good"
That's the point! It helps 'self-educated' geeks tell the difference between science, psudeo-science, and hype outside their sphere of expertise (or lack therof), OTOH there maybe no hope for those like the troll who replied above. 'Tommorow' there will be a slashdot story about bigfoot's carcass (or a dupe even?). The less discerning amoung us will be pursuaded by your eloquence to tar everything from bigfoot to the moon landings with the same brush, thus the same crap you rant against will continue to flow.
They are not claiming a breakthrough in energy production, they claim to have made a breakthrough in artificial photosynthisis, no small feat IMHO. Also the CSIRO are not in the habit of making unsubstantiated claims and their evidence has been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
It's pretty obvious you are looking for a different breakthrough and it's a certainty you won't find it if you are unwilling to entertain NEW knowledge that MAY be relevant.
"How about we let them work out the bugs before posting to slashdot?"
What bugs? Did they NOT mimic photosynthisis? - Did you find a methodology error in their paper? Do you know of published contra-evidence?
"Seems a lot of the stories get posted to get into "the media" without having the required science/adverse analysis/hostile counterpoint process done."
The science has been published in a respected peer-reviewed journal and comes from two leading scientific institutions down here in Oz. Did you have some other 'process' in mind?
Well if it is true then it falls under the heading of "only in America". I suspect the kids problem was probably not the signature so much as giving false information to a financial institution (ie: fraud).
In the rest of the western world if you sign a legal document and someone signs as a witness to that signature, then it's your signature no matter what it looks like.
Yes I am joking about signing legal documents, no I'm not joking about signing a courier's clipboard as Hitler.
"I think you are taking this sort of thing far too casually."
Good grief, I will explain it again and I will try shouting this time - IT WAS A JOKE!
"I promise that not only will there be legal consequence to such a stupid act, but your credibility for anything else you will say will be shot to hell."
I have been on this planet for 50yrs and have never been arrested for initializing anything with a scrawl, law enforcement is not THAT moronic where I live.
"I, unfortunately, know of a kid who signed the name "Mickey Mouse" to a credit card application and did 10 years in prison because of it, under the charge of "credit card fraud"."
Judges and CC companies don't have a sense of humour and your 18yo friend is an idiot, but 10yrs prison for that is monumental insanity that simply doesn't exist here. Matter of fact I find it so outrageous don't think it exists in the US either, I think you are lying.
Slashdot Mirror
Justice or revenge?
A quote from the England's last hangman who executed more people than any other executioner in English history....
"I have come to the conclusion that executions solve nothing, and are only an antiquated relic of a primitive desire for revenge which takes the easy way and hands over the responsibility for revenge to other people...The trouble with the death penalty has always been that nobody wanted it for everybody, but everybody differed about who should get off."
Sure I want people who commit what I think are particularly vile crimes dead but I don't think I have the right to kill, let alone someone else taking revenge on my behalf. Justice is having the perpetrator make amends either to their victim, their family or society, somethings just can't be undone so the best you get is useful work..
Huh? - You must have missed the death of western manufacturing in the 80's-90's.
Robotic factories, robotic warehouses and Chinese peasants ARE doing all the work! The rest of us are sitting around in office blocks posting to slashdot.
If France was encoraging it's citezens to spit on people you may have a point, however it's not so you don't. What you do have is a troll that blames an entire nation for the actions of a random individual.
"Of course, the problem is that you can't get a foreign patent (because while the initial filing date is recognized by them, the fact it was published potentially nullifies any foreign patent."
How can you nullify something that doesn't exist.
"Solar panels on every building in America? How do you propose to pay for it?"
That's for the Americans to work out. Meanwhile Germany is pumping ~1GW of EXCESS power from rooftop solar panels back on to their grid. They estimate they have cut their CO2 emmissions by ~100 million tons. This change has increased the average German power bill by about one euro/month.
Continental scale infrastructure is a long term thing for humans, you can't notice it changing until you have lived the several decades it takes to see the change. Nobody is talking about covering every US roof with solar panels before next xmas, even with huge subsidies it would still take decades.
So what is wrong with upgrading/extending the grid as the need from rooftop PV arises? - I'm sure the current grid has seen quite a bit of upgrading since 1958 and I would be surprised if any power plants from the 50's are still operating today, IIRC most plants have a planned lifetime of 30-40yrs.
Pfft, I say nuke 'em and let the FSM sort it out.
Possibly a thank-you due from me. I got a phone call from VISA today saying they were issuing me with a new card because of a Bank of Scotland security breach in the UK. I'm an Aussie and was last in the UK ~2yrs ago.
Thanks for putting a name to it.
As a personal example I remeber that Dorthoy's red slippers from the wizard of Oz were stolen a couple of years ago. The reason it sticks in my head is because I was driving along with the wife when I saw a young woman wearing red sparkly shoes. I pointed and said "I thought Dorothy went back to Kansas?" (I live in Australia, often refered to as Oz). As soon as the words left my mouth the story about the shoe theft came on the radio. It was so close the wife was unsure wether I was talking about the radio or the woman.
+5 Funny.
No argument from me, if someone is determined enough to aquire and use a nuke there not much you can do. I just think the example you chose was odd. I'm an Aussie, 6 million people is equivalent to Australia's total workforce! To think that many people travel to and from a tiny island each day is a mind-boggling bit of trivia to me. Another bit of trivia is that demonstrates the human scale of NYC is that the NYC police outnumber our military (probably better armed too!).
"In fact evacuating the whole thing would be akin to evacuating say the island of manhattan."
Six million workers evacuate Manhattan island every day, except weekends and public holidays.
"Thermite, however, does not make an explosion sound."
Nor does it have anything to do with sulphur, it's made from Aluminium & Iron Oxide.
My advice is to change your conspracy theory to a jet full of sulphuric acid and continue ranting.
I don't doubt there are environmental extremists but I do doubt they have any real power.
Speaking of cynical, the last time I heard of a windfarm cancelled because of 'birds' was a couple of years ago here in Australia. The project had passed enviromental planning but the right wing government's federal (anti-)environment minister overrode the states approval process and unilaterally cancelled it, he tried to blame it on parrots and imply that it was scuttled by 'environmentalists' when in reality it was his party's election promise to the local NIMBY's.
As for population, it will take care of itself. Considering the way we are trashing the place in our quest to eat our way though ~10^9 tons of food each year, it won't won't be pretty.
"The GW movement is starting to sound an awful lot like Humpty Dumpty in Alice in Wonderland. [snip] "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."
I don't care what Humpty Dumpty said, you are still displaying gross ignorance by equating the terms 'climate' and 'weather'.
He are but was raised in Oz.
"How does this tripe pass the test to be posted on slashdot"
Slashdot have a test?
"Deliverables" means nothing more than the developer hitting the milestones/delivering the artifacts that he set for himself.
Deliverables are hierarchical, the largest I've been responsible for is around the $2M mark in the 90's. A good project manager works in a similar manner except they take deliverables from a bunch of other developers, testers, etc, (the gooduns are as you described them), they 'build' the larger system on time and on budget, this in turn may be part of another even larger system. Of course all the developers then have to deliver on their promises, if anyone parks their arse on the 'critical path' then a chain reaction works it's way through the testers, documenters, trainers, who all sit around and read slashdot.
"If I'm being paid $50/hr to tap a keyboard, shouldn't I be held accountable for results?"
If by 'results' you mean 'doing what you said you could/would do', then yes, but nobody should be held accountable for promises they did not make. A decent project manager will no only enforce that rule but will also obey it if there is any finger pointing to be done after it all ends in tears.
As for TFA: 'Legacy' can mean different things to different organisations, but usually it means it needs to be maintained. Systems built with scripts such as internal web sites and reporting systems are often 'in stitu' and are often not developed in the traditional manner, they are too dynamic and have little or no formal funding. They are perfect candidates for the holy grail of 'self documentation'.
I don't know much about pearl but it strikes me as untidy. I use python as a cross platform scripting language and python doc could be the 'holy grail' for these types of projects if deveolopers had the time/inclination to use it, but even then you may still have trouble with SOE's, etc depending on how sane those things are in the organisation. With these types of projects more often than not a PM has the worst case senario: The project starts with a deadline, a budget, and people with NFI of what they just signed up for.
Large organisations are full of these types of projects that churn out all sorts of internal reports that people have long since stopped using.
If you think I "hate america" you are mistaken, I don't "hate" any country, the idea is nonsense when you think about it. But what if I thought the US was twice as good as any other nation? - Does that mean I should stop critizing it (and others in the west) for hypocricy where I see fit? (this BTW is exactly what 'patrotic' Chinese are often accused of doing). Oh and IMHO Hicks' military appointed lawyer did a great job in difficult circumstances.
I'm an Aussie, and my own government was complicit in the Hicks Affair. And yeah for each Hicks there are a thousand Chinese disidents in similar circumstances, that's not the point - we supposedly live under the "rule of (democratic) law", if not then cut the pillow talk while I'm being butt fucked.
Georgia is a US pawn impeding Russian access to the black sea, the pawn moved first either: A) via command of the US, B) they were tricked into it by Russia, C) Because the Georgian president is a suicidal meglomaniac, D) All of the above.
Surely a couple of those horesmen ARE windows sysadmins. /ducks
....put a gold star on the GP's geek card!
"It's just a fancy catalyst in this implementation."
Hmmm, they invented a novel polymer membrane that mimics "a key process in psynth", wasn't it a novel kind of membrane that made fuel cells possible? IANA Industrial Chemist, their contact details are all over the article.
"That's good"
That's the point! It helps 'self-educated' geeks tell the difference between science, psudeo-science, and hype outside their sphere of expertise (or lack therof), OTOH there maybe no hope for those like the troll who replied above. 'Tommorow' there will be a slashdot story about bigfoot's carcass (or a dupe even?). The less discerning amoung us will be pursuaded by your eloquence to tar everything from bigfoot to the moon landings with the same brush, thus the same crap you rant against will continue to flow.
They are not claiming a breakthrough in energy production, they claim to have made a breakthrough in artificial photosynthisis, no small feat IMHO. Also the CSIRO are not in the habit of making unsubstantiated claims and their evidence has been published in a peer-reviewed journal.
It's pretty obvious you are looking for a different breakthrough and it's a certainty you won't find it if you are unwilling to entertain NEW knowledge that MAY be relevant.
"How about we let them work out the bugs before posting to slashdot?"
What bugs? Did they NOT mimic photosynthisis? - Did you find a methodology error in their paper? Do you know of published contra-evidence?
"Seems a lot of the stories get posted to get into "the media" without having the required science/adverse analysis/hostile counterpoint process done."
The science has been published in a respected peer-reviewed journal and comes from two leading scientific institutions down here in Oz. Did you have some other 'process' in mind?
Well if it is true then it falls under the heading of "only in America". I suspect the kids problem was probably not the signature so much as giving false information to a financial institution (ie: fraud).
In the rest of the western world if you sign a legal document and someone signs as a witness to that signature, then it's your signature no matter what it looks like.
Yes I am joking about signing legal documents, no I'm not joking about signing a courier's clipboard as Hitler.
"I think you are taking this sort of thing far too casually."
Good grief, I will explain it again and I will try shouting this time - IT WAS A JOKE!
"I promise that not only will there be legal consequence to such a stupid act, but your credibility for anything else you will say will be shot to hell."
I have been on this planet for 50yrs and have never been arrested for initializing anything with a scrawl, law enforcement is not THAT moronic where I live.
"I, unfortunately, know of a kid who signed the name "Mickey Mouse" to a credit card application and did 10 years in prison because of it, under the charge of "credit card fraud"."
Judges and CC companies don't have a sense of humour and your 18yo friend is an idiot, but 10yrs prison for that is monumental insanity that simply doesn't exist here. Matter of fact I find it so outrageous don't think it exists in the US either, I think you are lying.