As I once learned in grad school, "Criticizing another's work is easy. Coming up with a better solution is much harder."
Johnson responds to your and other's replies by suggesting that google is biased, and that's its fundamental problem. Well, does he have any suggestions as to how someone can eliminate bias? No! If you're being asked to order search results, there is an unavoidable bias.
No search engine that ranks pages can be unbiased! Give me a break!
FWIW, here's his lame response:
Folks, obviously *obviously* you can refine searches on Google to get better results than the ones I suggested, and obviously Google can't read minds. The point is that when Google quite understandably fails to read your mind, it doesn't direct you randomly to the wrong URLs -- it directs you to certain types of URLs more often than others. It has BIAS, in other words. And when millions of people are using the engine every day, many of whom aren't inclined to refine their searches, that bias shouldn't be underestimated. Here's perhaps a better example than the Apple one. My blog alternates between being the number 1 and number 2 result when you search on the word "steven." So Google is guessing on average that more people searching for Steven are looking for me than for Spielberg, Seagal, Soderbergh, etc. I'd like to flatter myself and think this is true, but alas I think it's pretty unlikely. What google is reflecting there is the bias of the blogging community, which benefits me, of course, but it certainly doesn't reflect the general interests of the overall population, or even the general web surfing population. No search engine is perfect, but each search engine is imperfect in specific ways. If we're going to rely on search engines increasingly to make sense of the world, we should 1) come up with more refined search techniques that get us around these imperfections, and 2) be aware of the imperfections themselves, and their biases. This essay was trying to wrestle with the latter -- but it by no means denies the importance of the former...
How hard is it, really, to set up intelligent filters for e-mail. Surely someone in the USA knows how to harness the power of computers to sift through thousands of emails to filter out spam and sort messages by topic.
I'd really like to see the website use some crafty programming to show statistics on which issues people are interested in and the for/against/other percentages.
Come on, it isn't impossible to set up intelligent filters for sorting emails. Set up filters that keep track of common words in messages. Show word frequency statistics to White House staff. Staff rates keywords, emails get sorted, web forms get generated that allow people to easily select the issues they're interested in and whether they're for, against, or somewhere in between.
I'm impressed with Howard Dean's web savviness. I'll vote for him partly because he promises to use web-related means to get back in touch with common people instead of big corporate contributors.
And now someone, who has mastered sticking his foot in his mouth, can go crawl back into his highly American-centered hole.
Bjarne Stroustrup's native language is not English.
There once was a time when anyone wanting to get rich quick could join the Bureau of Indian Affairs or start a railroad. I guess those times are gone and stepping on toes is becoming the order of the day.
I'm trying to remain positive and think that this is part of an evolution toward revolution. Maybe someday we as a society can shame these people away.
Really? Your link isn't working for me, so I can't figure out who you're getting your information from.
As a former beer brewer, my experience is that skunky beer taste can happen to beer over a period of days or weeks in a closed container. As you say, brown bottles help cut down on the likelihood. But it can't happen over a period of minutes in an open container, whether in the sun or not.
Anyone else have trouble with the parent's link besides me?
It never ceases to amaze me how nit-picky geek guys are about women.
There's an easy explanation. Geeks hide their fear of relationships behind their "high standards". Set your standards high enough and you'll never have to cope with the difficulties of relationships again.
I've spent months as a child of medical volunteers in Ethiopia and Haiti and wanted to give other geeks a little insight into what it's like to be in these kinds of places. Geeks might feel especially anxious about a massive change of scenery. I want to argue that in some ways, geeks are the best cultural ambassadors we have and have a great deal to gain from trying. Read on.
I consider myself a pretty typical geek: studious my whole life, had few friends, greatly appreciate my alone time when I can get it, lack of social sophistication, lack of desire to become socially sophisticated.
I was 18 in my last trip to Haiti, so you might keep in mind that my sense of self was still quite green. At first, there was a sense of complete shock at how different people's lives are from those I knew growing up in the U.S. It was like going to another planet. This was both exciting and overwhelming for the first few days. As a geek, I think I was less prepared than others for the powerful effect another cultural mindset can have. My shields were not at 100%, let's say.
As an example, at first it was very hard for me to be the target of panhandling from children: children without shoes asking you for your shoes, your watch, your shirt, any change you can spare. I came to eventually see myself as an actor acting out the part of an elite individual saying "no" to almost all of them, but it took a while to overcome the resentment I felt for being put into this position whether I liked it or not. I eventually learned to make it a kind of game where I would try to divert the flow of events by making them laugh at something unexpected I did, or I would ask them if I could join in on their soccer game with a tennis ball, and then it would turn into great fun. I could go on about how incredibly good-natured some of these super-skinny kids with ragged clothes were. The ones who couldn't be bothered to talk about something besides handouts were likely to leave after a few minutes of my attempts at diversion. Those that stuck around were more likely to follow me back to the house where we were staying to get some small food item or toy. Even simple things like yarn were considered very cool at times.
There was a two week period where I felt a sense of depression because it seemed completely arbitrary that I got to sit in an air-conditioned room in a house, eating and drinking good food whenever I wanted, while countless numbers of people just as deserving as me were going hungry and yet somehow managed to get up every and make the best of it. It probably didn't help that we were there to help at a hospital, where I got to see very sick people struggling to live. The worst were the small children in the burn ward who were often there because illness is sometimes treated with superstitious practices of throwing children into fires, perhaps to exorcise demons.
OK, I think I described my depression pretty well in that last paragraph, but I don't want to overpower my comments with negativity. So I'll move onto what was so great about what I did and why I think every person in the U.S., especially geeks, should try going to a developing country, preferable before they get too old and set in their ways.
It was an experience that has absolutely changed my life. Perhaps it was because I was a geek, but I found myself particularly affected by my exposure to different cultures. This is both good and bad: if you learn how to let it affect you positively, it's good. If you get overwhelmed and depressed from it, it's bad at least in the short term. But in either case, you're living a new experience and life seems fresh and vibrant, like you're a child learning everything for the first time again. Geeks are, I believe, especially "good" at empathy, which is the essential ingredient to building bridges across cultures. Ideally, geeks also need something like a mentor so that their idealism and empathy aren't used against them. So teaming up with other geeks with more experience is probably a really good idea.
Sadly, I've seen a lot of "The Matrix is nothing but a cool action movie". Well, what could be closer to the movie's distinction between those in the Matrix, asleep, looking for easy creature comfort, and those awake, trying to ask hard questions about what reality really is? Those looking deeper are at least trying to break free; they should be admired.
Unfortunately, the movie does an injustice by suggesting that getting out of the Matrix is as easy as taking a pill. The truth is that people in modern societies are too overworked and concerned about avoiding future pain to put in the effort to get out of their own Matrix.
My two cents:
* Stop watching any commercial TV or radio. * Vote your conscience. * Use some of your free time to create a positive reflection of yourself in the physical world.
On the last point, start small. Write words, draw pictures, make something with your hands. Of course, if you're a programmer, write some code. It will increase your sense of individual power, that you can make a difference. You really can reach out and do something amazing.
Then you will truly have broken free of the Matrix.
Many of the negative comments on the article seem to originate from the belief that competition is a normal part of life, and nerds are just the unfortunate losers who didn't try hard enough to outsmart those around them. I call this the conservative viewpoint.
The competing view, taken by the article I believe, is that schools should work harder to guarantee a safe environment for kids. I call this the liberal viewpoint.
I hope others find this categorization interesting because it points out how the issues in high school are reflected in many parts of adult life, too.
Why the US govt doesn't own/release more software
on
Corporate KDE
·
· Score: 1
As someone who writes scientific software for the U.S. government, I've noticed something interesting: the U.S. government is getting out of the software writing business.
Increasingly, the U.S. government asks government contractors to write the software they need, and these contractors want very badly to keep their own software proprietary.
Why? Certain branches of the U.S. government (e.g., Dept. of Defense) are pushing hard to themselves simply as managers of government contracts. Technical work is contracted out to private industry. Private industry agrees to participate only if they can keep their own software proprietary. Otherwise, all of their work could get turned over to a competitor if they eventually lose the contract to the competitor.
It's a sad situation on several levels. First, competition between contractors encourages bad software: write obfuscated code to keep your contract, and don't let it get out into the world to improve it. Also, the government needs technically savvy employees to evaluate the software that is written for them, and yet writing software is not part of their job description.
Slashdot Mirror
Look up "omnivorous" and you'll realize your post makes no sense.
As I once learned in grad school, "Criticizing another's work is easy. Coming up with a better solution is much harder."
Johnson responds to your and other's replies by suggesting that google is biased, and that's its fundamental problem. Well, does he have any suggestions as to how someone can eliminate bias? No! If you're being asked to order search results, there is an unavoidable bias.
No search engine that ranks pages can be unbiased! Give me a break!
FWIW, here's his lame response:
Is it really asking a lot to have a system that can intelligently sift through e-mails? I don't think it's an impossible or expensive task.
The internet may have made spam easier, but it's also made it equally easy to filter spam and compile statistics.
How about a system that shows just how smart the web programmers in the USA can be? The current system certainly doesn't.
How hard is it, really, to set up intelligent filters for e-mail. Surely someone in the USA knows how to harness the power of computers to sift through thousands of emails to filter out spam and sort messages by topic.
I'd really like to see the website use some crafty programming to show statistics on which issues people are interested in and the for/against/other percentages.
Come on, it isn't impossible to set up intelligent filters for sorting emails. Set up filters that keep track of common words in messages. Show word frequency statistics to White House staff. Staff rates keywords, emails get sorted, web forms get generated that allow people to easily select the issues they're interested in and whether they're for, against, or somewhere in between.
I'm impressed with Howard Dean's web savviness. I'll vote for him partly because he promises to use web-related means to get back in touch with common people instead of big corporate contributors.
And now someone, who has mastered sticking his foot in his mouth, can go crawl back into his highly American-centered hole. Bjarne Stroustrup's native language is not English.
There once was a time when anyone wanting to get rich quick could join the Bureau of Indian Affairs or start a railroad. I guess those times are gone and stepping on toes is becoming the order of the day.
I'm trying to remain positive and think that this is part of an evolution toward revolution. Maybe someday we as a society can shame these people away.
Really? Your link isn't working for me, so I can't figure out who you're getting your information from.
As a former beer brewer, my experience is that skunky beer taste can happen to beer over a period of days or weeks in a closed container. As you say, brown bottles help cut down on the likelihood. But it can't happen over a period of minutes in an open container, whether in the sun or not.
Anyone else have trouble with the parent's link besides me?
It never ceases to amaze me how nit-picky geek guys are about women.
There's an easy explanation. Geeks hide their fear of relationships behind their "high standards". Set your standards high enough and you'll never have to cope with the difficulties of relationships again.
Of course I'm talking from experience.
Suppose some of us believe SCO is lying. What's involved in "shorting" their stock? What happens if a mass number of people do this to a company?
I've spent months as a child of medical volunteers in Ethiopia and Haiti and wanted to give other geeks a little insight into what it's like to be in these kinds of places. Geeks might feel especially anxious about a massive change of scenery. I want to argue that in some ways, geeks are the best cultural ambassadors we have and have a great deal to gain from trying. Read on.
I consider myself a pretty typical geek: studious my whole life, had few friends, greatly appreciate my alone time when I can get it, lack of social sophistication, lack of desire to become socially sophisticated.
I was 18 in my last trip to Haiti, so you might keep in mind that my sense of self was still quite green. At first, there was a sense of complete shock at how different people's lives are from those I knew growing up in the U.S. It was like going to another planet. This was both exciting and overwhelming for the first few days. As a geek, I think I was less prepared than others for the powerful effect another cultural mindset can have. My shields were not at 100%, let's say.
As an example, at first it was very hard for me to be the target of panhandling from children: children without shoes asking you for your shoes, your watch, your shirt, any change you can spare. I came to eventually see myself as an actor acting out the part of an elite individual saying "no" to almost all of them, but it took a while to overcome the resentment I felt for being put into this position whether I liked it or not. I eventually learned to make it a kind of game where I would try to divert the flow of events by making them laugh at something unexpected I did, or I would ask them if I could join in on their soccer game with a tennis ball, and then it would turn into great fun. I could go on about how incredibly good-natured some of these super-skinny kids with ragged clothes were. The ones who couldn't be bothered to talk about something besides handouts were likely to leave after a few minutes of my attempts at diversion. Those that stuck around were more likely to follow me back to the house where we were staying to get some small food item or toy. Even simple things like yarn were considered very cool at times.
There was a two week period where I felt a sense of depression because it seemed completely arbitrary that I got to sit in an air-conditioned room in a house, eating and drinking good food whenever I wanted, while countless numbers of people just as deserving as me were going hungry and yet somehow managed to get up every and make the best of it. It probably didn't help that we were there to help at a hospital, where I got to see very sick people struggling to live. The worst were the small children in the burn ward who were often there because illness is sometimes treated with superstitious practices of throwing children into fires, perhaps to exorcise demons.
OK, I think I described my depression pretty well in that last paragraph, but I don't want to overpower my comments with negativity. So I'll move onto what was so great about what I did and why I think every person in the U.S., especially geeks, should try going to a developing country, preferable before they get too old and set in their ways.
It was an experience that has absolutely changed my life. Perhaps it was because I was a geek, but I found myself particularly affected by my exposure to different cultures. This is both good and bad: if you learn how to let it affect you positively, it's good. If you get overwhelmed and depressed from it, it's bad at least in the short term. But in either case, you're living a new experience and life seems fresh and vibrant, like you're a child learning everything for the first time again. Geeks are, I believe, especially "good" at empathy, which is the essential ingredient to building bridges across cultures. Ideally, geeks also need something like a mentor so that their idealism and empathy aren't used against them. So teaming up with other geeks with more experience is probably a really good idea.
Sadly, I've seen a lot of "The Matrix is nothing but a cool action movie". Well, what could be closer to the movie's distinction between those in the Matrix, asleep, looking for easy creature comfort, and those awake, trying to ask hard questions about what reality really is? Those looking deeper are at least trying to break free; they should be admired.
Unfortunately, the movie does an injustice by suggesting that getting out of the Matrix is as easy as taking a pill. The truth is that people in modern societies are too overworked and concerned about avoiding future pain to put in the effort to get out of their own Matrix.
My two cents:
* Stop watching any commercial TV or radio.
* Vote your conscience.
* Use some of your free time to create a positive reflection of yourself in the physical world.
On the last point, start small. Write words, draw pictures, make something with your hands. Of course, if you're a programmer, write some code. It will increase your sense of individual power, that you can make a difference. You really can reach out and do something amazing.
Then you will truly have broken free of the Matrix.
Many of the negative comments on the article seem to originate from the belief that competition is a normal part of life, and nerds are just the unfortunate losers who didn't try hard enough to outsmart those around them. I call this the conservative viewpoint.
The competing view, taken by the article I believe, is that schools should work harder to guarantee a safe environment for kids. I call this the liberal viewpoint.
I hope others find this categorization interesting because it points out how the issues in high school are reflected in many parts of adult life, too.
As someone who writes scientific software for the U.S. government, I've noticed something interesting: the U.S. government is getting out of the software writing business.
Increasingly, the U.S. government asks government contractors to write the software they need, and these contractors want very badly to keep their own software proprietary.
Why? Certain branches of the U.S. government (e.g., Dept. of Defense) are pushing hard to themselves simply as managers of government contracts. Technical work is contracted out to private industry. Private industry agrees to participate only if they can keep their own software proprietary. Otherwise, all of their work could get turned over to a competitor if they eventually lose the contract to the competitor.
It's a sad situation on several levels. First, competition between contractors encourages bad software: write obfuscated code to keep your contract, and don't let it get out into the world to improve it. Also, the government needs technically savvy employees to evaluate the software that is written for them, and yet writing software is not part of their job description.