I wouldn't list Cryptonomicon as classic literature, but it definitely has been one of the most enjoyable books I've ever read.
But everyone's tastes are different. I've tried reading Neuromancer twice and gave up less than half-way through. I just got to the point where I couldn't stand reading it, but many others I've talked to say it's one of their favorite all-time books. Go figure...
I usually ignore the "Ask Slashdot"'s, but this one really resonated with me...
25 years ago as a college freshman, I went in with a thirst for knowledge and above average ability in math/sciences. I had also been involved in competetive athletics since 7th grade. My college freshman experience was that there was more chest-thumping and overt general nastiness in my physics and calculus classes than I had ever experienced in athletics. Trying to get help in the computer science lab first required getting talked down to by the lab's equivilent of Comic Book Guy.
It was a HUGE turnoff. I ended up changing my major to a non-tech field which was a mistake. It turned out OK for me though - I graduated, got a job, found that I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped, went back to graduate school in a technical field and had a great experience (no chest-thumping this time, people seemed to have grown up), and got into a career that I really enjoy.
Yes there are jerks everywhere, but I found "nerd arrogance" to be particularly annoying. I think that as you get through the weeding-out classes you'll have a better experience.
I was recently called to report for jury duty on a patent litigation trial at a US District Court. The patent involved "computer code" as the judge put it. Weeks before arriving, I filled out a questionnaire which included questions about my occupation, which I stated as Software Engineer.
As we went through jury selection, it quickly became clear that the attorneys wanted to state their case in their own way without anyone on the jury attempting to re-explain or translate for the others. Out of the first 14 jurors interviewed, only 1 person had had ANY experience with "computer code" (30 years ago in the Navy, and he mentioned COBOL). One side or the other threw that guy off the jury. We didn't get past Juror #15 before they had agreed on the jury pool. I was juror #28!
I can't believe that Samsung allowed this guy anywhere near the final jury. Well, unless there were 10 other patent trolls in the pool that they needed to get rid of before him.
I spent my teenage years during the 1980's - this is how the math curriculum was administered in an affluent suburb of Seattle at the time (when Jr. High was prevalent. Grades 7-9):
Jr. High: 7th Grade - Everyone took "7th Grade Math". There weren't different levels of "7th Grade Math", everyone took the same class. We spent all of the class and homework doing endless problems of long division and multiplication. It sucked.
8th Grade - Everyone took "Pre-Algebra". This was our first exposure in school to solving for X
9th Grade - Everyone took "Algebra 1". We had a math book from the 1960's that was awful.
High School: 10th Grade - Everyone took "Geometry". Fun class - I liked it.
11th Grade - Only students interested in a math-related career continued taking math at this point. It was "Algebra 2" and included Trigonometry.
12th Grade - Only students REALLY interested in math-related careers took math their last year of high school. This was called "Math Analysis" and was essentially Pre-Calc.
There actually was a Calculus class at our high school, but there were only about 5 students who could take it, and they were a very select few who had been allowed to skip the 7th Grade math experience to take the "more advanced" Pre-Algebra class. There was only 1 such kid in my 7th Grade class that got to do this.
So now fast forward to today in a rural state famous for potatoes. When my oldest son was in 5th grade, ALL the 5th graders were allowed to take a math test, that if they passed, would give them the opportunity to take "Pre Algebra" as 6th graders (rather than my sad experience of having to wait till 8th grade). My son passed and is now taking "Algebra 1" as a 7th grader. If he stays on track, he'll be in Calculus in 11th grade, and university-level Calculus in 12th grade. Although this is probably about average to lower average for Europe/Asia, it's considered a fairly rigorous schedule for the United States.
While I want to bemoan our country's struggles with math and science education, I also have to acknowledge how far things have progressed in the last 25 years. Whether or not today's students take advantage of the opportunities they have now, at least they HAVE some decent opportunities!
Indeed, it is worth noting that Apple's Israeli distributor, iDigital, is run by Chemi Peres, the hyper-entrepreneurial son of Israeli President Shimon Peres.
Clearly, iDigital wants its lucrative cut of every iPad brought into the country - which it will undoubtedly receive when a modified European version of the iPad is approved for import over the next two or three months.
But in the meantime, iDigital can't make money off the slow trickle of iPads entering the country via private citizens, tourists and international businessmen.
And if iDigital can't get its cut, well, then, no iPad for you!
At the bottom of the article is the following update that might put things in a more realistic perspective:
---- Update - 1/18/10 - 10:25PM EST:
This just came in from our contacts at Asus here in the US. It looks like things are a bit premature at this point (of course) but it does appear that Asus will be making a major play in this arena in the near future.
"As for the status of the unit, we do have plans to bring a series of innovative products into this market sector. All details about the product(s) are still to be finalized with the goals of outstanding responsiveness and battery life being of prime importance for us to ensure a great end user experience. The mass production schedule is still under discussion as is pricing, availability, and channel selections. However, based on our history with mobile products, the digital reader series will be cost competitive with other solutions while offering a wealth of features.
ASUS believes that content and applications are the keys to success in the market sector. Once we have a concrete software and application plan, we will disclose additional information to you."
In Torvalds' book, "Just for Fun", he laughs in the reader's face derisively as they look at the printed words plaintively.
Somewhere, there's got to be a "Deep Thought" by Jack Handy about Linus T.
"Contrary to what most people say, the most dangerous animal in the world is not the lion or the tiger or even the elephant. It's a shark riding on an elephant's back, just trampling and eating everything they see." ~ Jack Handy
Well first, you'll need to "leverage" something. Actually, a lot of things (sometimes everything). Then, "where the rubber meets the road" is what you should aim for. You might have to be more than just "efficient". You'll need to be "pro-active". And then, "at the end of the day" you go play a round of golf with Billingsley and Schlopperman and find yourself heading a "task force". Wait... that's where you are now? Forget it, you're hosed.
I tried ...
on
Podcasting
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Honest, I really tried to join the Podcast-superhighway. But what I discovered is that all the podcasts that are highly rated and have even received numerous kudos in woodfiber-casts like NY Times are just too boring. Invariably, it is some individual going on for 20 minutes about how popular their podcast is, and then they whine about how unfair life is and what's wrong with the world. Just listen to a few - you'll see what I mean. It's been a trial to find even 4 podcasts that I find worth listening to. And really - it's just an mp3 file. Now it's time for me to "time-shift". Gotta go!
Disclaimer - I didn't RTFA. But why would it be considered a threat to Linux? And if it were a threat - who cares? I don't get the premise of the thread.
Linux runs fine on PPC and didn't seem to threaten OS X - I don't see why the reverse would be any different. And anyway, people are going to run that which best suits their needs and tastes, and I would guess that there are more Linux desktop users now than Apple users. Maybe this is a bad analogy, but it's like saying that Apples may threaten Oranges now that states other than Washington produce them. We can eat one, the other, or both depending on our tastes.
Google - 2 PhD students at Stanford Linux - 1 grad student at Helsinki University GNU - bunch O' long hairs at MIT
You were saying something about the author being on crack? Those are 3 examples off the top of my head that have not only influenced but re-defined the software industry. I'm sure there are probably at least a couple more out there...
I live in a city with a large HP center and I can assure you that all my HP friends AND their spouses are nothing less than elated at this news. You have a right to be bitter. She single-handedly destroyed the reputation of a once enviable company. Hopefully HP will go back to it's tradition of hiring leadership from within (and hopefully people with engineering backgrounds) to restore some of it's historical good will.
The most important thing you can do is to engage a management methodology that leverages existing business practices to empower individual productivity.
Or you can flog your underlings regularly. Yeah - you heard me!
He really comes across as duplicitous when he says over and over how he is "fighting for freedom" and then says the following:
JA: What about the programmers...
Richard Stallman: What about them? The programmers writing non-free software? They are doing something antisocial. They should get some other job.
JA: Such as?
Richard Stallman: There are thousands of different jobs people can have in society without developing non-free software. You can even be a programmer. Most paid programmers are developing custom software--only a small fraction are developing non-free software. The small fraction of proprietary software jobs are not hard to avoid.
So if one freely decides to write a program and not divulge the code, then that person is antisocial? Hey - I don't accuse Colonel Sanders of being antisocial just because he keeps his 11 secret herbs and spices a "secret". And I don't accuse Bill Gates of being antisocial because he refuses to divulge the code to Microsoft Bob. He may be a numbnut, but whom am I to accuse someone of being "antisocial".
This word "freedom"... I do not think it means what you think it means.
"One of the most frustrating things about Windows is how it steals time from us," says Andrews, who has followed the company for years. Andrews hasn't upgraded his PC from Windows 98 or Office 2000. "I'd just as soon have a stable operating system--my time is more important."
What the??? No one, I mean NO ONE would stick with Winblows 98 for it's stability. They must have a different standard for that in Seattle.
It's sort of like when Time magazine made Newt Gingrich their "Man of the Year". It certainly wasn't highlighting him as a great guy. It was more of a "here's a guy who's used his power and influence to screw things up for everyone!"
Slashdot Mirror
I wouldn't list Cryptonomicon as classic literature, but it definitely has been one of the most enjoyable books I've ever read.
But everyone's tastes are different. I've tried reading Neuromancer twice and gave up less than half-way through. I just got to the point where I couldn't stand reading it, but many others I've talked to say it's one of their favorite all-time books. Go figure ...
That would be SO fun! Wizards, dark magic, 12-sided dice, and even LARPing ... uh ... what was the class about again?
I usually ignore the "Ask Slashdot"'s, but this one really resonated with me...
25 years ago as a college freshman, I went in with a thirst for knowledge and above average ability in math/sciences. I had also been involved in competetive athletics since 7th grade. My college freshman experience was that there was more chest-thumping and overt general nastiness in my physics and calculus classes than I had ever experienced in athletics. Trying to get help in the computer science lab first required getting talked down to by the lab's equivilent of Comic Book Guy.
It was a HUGE turnoff. I ended up changing my major to a non-tech field which was a mistake. It turned out OK for me though - I graduated, got a job, found that I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped, went back to graduate school in a technical field and had a great experience (no chest-thumping this time, people seemed to have grown up), and got into a career that I really enjoy.
Yes there are jerks everywhere, but I found "nerd arrogance" to be particularly annoying. I think that as you get through the weeding-out classes you'll have a better experience.
Looks like Gnome 3.6 Desktop Environment:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/GNOMEbuntu-Will-Be-Released-on-October-18th-289041.shtml
I was recently called to report for jury duty on a patent litigation trial at a US District Court. The patent involved "computer code" as the judge put it. Weeks before arriving, I filled out a questionnaire which included questions about my occupation, which I stated as Software Engineer.
As we went through jury selection, it quickly became clear that the attorneys wanted to state their case in their own way without anyone on the jury attempting to re-explain or translate for the others. Out of the first 14 jurors interviewed, only 1 person had had ANY experience with "computer code" (30 years ago in the Navy, and he mentioned COBOL). One side or the other threw that guy off the jury. We didn't get past Juror #15 before they had agreed on the jury pool. I was juror #28!
I can't believe that Samsung allowed this guy anywhere near the final jury. Well, unless there were 10 other patent trolls in the pool that they needed to get rid of before him.
I spent my teenage years during the 1980's - this is how the math curriculum was administered in an affluent suburb of Seattle at the time (when Jr. High was prevalent. Grades 7-9):
Jr. High:
7th Grade - Everyone took "7th Grade Math". There weren't different levels of "7th Grade Math", everyone took the same class. We spent all of the class and homework doing endless problems of long division and multiplication. It sucked.
8th Grade - Everyone took "Pre-Algebra". This was our first exposure in school to solving for X
9th Grade - Everyone took "Algebra 1". We had a math book from the 1960's that was awful.
High School:
10th Grade - Everyone took "Geometry". Fun class - I liked it.
11th Grade - Only students interested in a math-related career continued taking math at this point. It was "Algebra 2" and included Trigonometry.
12th Grade - Only students REALLY interested in math-related careers took math their last year of high school. This was called "Math Analysis" and was essentially Pre-Calc.
There actually was a Calculus class at our high school, but there were only about 5 students who could take it, and they were a very select few who had been allowed to skip the 7th Grade math experience to take the "more advanced" Pre-Algebra class. There was only 1 such kid in my 7th Grade class that got to do this.
So now fast forward to today in a rural state famous for potatoes. When my oldest son was in 5th grade, ALL the 5th graders were allowed to take a math test, that if they passed, would give them the opportunity to take "Pre Algebra" as 6th graders (rather than my sad experience of having to wait till 8th grade). My son passed and is now taking "Algebra 1" as a 7th grader. If he stays on track, he'll be in Calculus in 11th grade, and university-level Calculus in 12th grade. Although this is probably about average to lower average for Europe/Asia, it's considered a fairly rigorous schedule for the United States.
While I want to bemoan our country's struggles with math and science education, I also have to acknowledge how far things have progressed in the last 25 years. Whether or not today's students take advantage of the opportunities they have now, at least they HAVE some decent opportunities!
TGDaily has an interesting take on it related to Shimon Peres' son who is the Apple distributor:
http://www.tgdaily.com/mobility-features/49387-why-israel-banned-the-ipad
Indeed, it is worth noting that Apple's Israeli distributor, iDigital, is run by Chemi Peres, the hyper-entrepreneurial son of Israeli President Shimon Peres.
Clearly, iDigital wants its lucrative cut of every iPad brought into the country - which it will undoubtedly receive when a modified European version of the iPad is approved for import over the next two or three months.
But in the meantime, iDigital can't make money off the slow trickle of iPads entering the country via private citizens, tourists and international businessmen.
And if iDigital can't get its cut, well, then, no iPad for you!
At the bottom of the article is the following update that might put things in a more realistic perspective:
----
Update - 1/18/10 - 10:25PM EST:
This just came in from our contacts at Asus here in the US. It looks like things are a bit premature at this point (of course) but it does appear that Asus will be making a major play in this arena in the near future.
"As for the status of the unit, we do have plans to bring a series of innovative products into this market sector. All details about the product(s) are still to be finalized with the goals of outstanding responsiveness and battery life being of prime importance for us to ensure a great end user experience. The mass production schedule is still under discussion as is pricing, availability, and channel selections. However, based on our history with mobile products, the digital reader series will be cost competitive with other solutions while offering a wealth of features.
ASUS believes that content and applications are the keys to success in the market sector. Once we have a concrete software and application plan, we will disclose additional information to you."
----
Yes - Idaho is a filth-encrusted hole of pestilence and misery. You don't want to move here.
(We have to say that to keep all the Californians out.)
... and it's "the most extreme"! But how does one gauge "extreme"? Is there such a thing as an "extrem-O-meter"?
In Torvalds' book, "Just for Fun", he laughs in the reader's face derisively as they look at the printed words plaintively.
Somewhere, there's got to be a "Deep Thought" by Jack Handy about Linus T.
"Contrary to what most people say, the most dangerous animal in the world is not the lion or the tiger or even the elephant. It's a shark riding on an elephant's back, just trampling and eating everything they see." ~ Jack Handy
Well first, you'll need to "leverage" something. Actually, a lot of things (sometimes everything). Then, "where the rubber meets the road" is what you should aim for. You might have to be more than just "efficient". You'll need to be "pro-active". And then, "at the end of the day" you go play a round of golf with Billingsley and Schlopperman and find yourself heading a "task force". Wait ... that's where you are now? Forget it, you're hosed.
TheInquirer has an article quoting the Time-Warner chief as saying that AOL is not for sale:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=26387 [theinquirer.net]
Honest, I really tried to join the Podcast-superhighway. But what I discovered is that all the podcasts that are highly rated and have even received numerous kudos in woodfiber-casts like NY Times are just too boring. Invariably, it is some individual going on for 20 minutes about how popular their podcast is, and then they whine about how unfair life is and what's wrong with the world. Just listen to a few - you'll see what I mean. It's been a trial to find even 4 podcasts that I find worth listening to. And really - it's just an mp3 file. Now it's time for me to "time-shift". Gotta go!
Humpback ... people?
Disclaimer - I didn't RTFA. But why would it be considered a threat to Linux? And if it were a threat - who cares? I don't get the premise of the thread.
Linux runs fine on PPC and didn't seem to threaten OS X - I don't see why the reverse would be any different. And anyway, people are going to run that which best suits their needs and tastes, and I would guess that there are more Linux desktop users now than Apple users. Maybe this is a bad analogy, but it's like saying that Apples may threaten Oranges now that states other than Washington produce them. We can eat one, the other, or both depending on our tastes.
Google - 2 PhD students at Stanford
...
Linux - 1 grad student at Helsinki University
GNU - bunch O' long hairs at MIT
You were saying something about the author being on crack? Those are 3 examples off the top of my head that have not only influenced but re-defined the software industry. I'm sure there are probably at least a couple more out there
Looks like myrealbox.com just became myrealslowbox.com. Thanks /.!
I live in a city with a large HP center and I can assure you that all my HP friends AND their spouses are nothing less than elated at this news. You have a right to be bitter. She single-handedly destroyed the reputation of a once enviable company. Hopefully HP will go back to it's tradition of hiring leadership from within (and hopefully people with engineering backgrounds) to restore some of it's historical good will.
The most important thing you can do is to engage a management methodology that leverages existing business practices to empower individual productivity.
Or you can flog your underlings regularly. Yeah - you heard me!
He really comes across as duplicitous when he says over and over how he is "fighting for freedom" and then says the following:
... I do not think it means what you think it means.
JA: What about the programmers...
Richard Stallman: What about them? The programmers writing non-free software? They are doing something antisocial. They should get some other job.
JA: Such as?
Richard Stallman: There are thousands of different jobs people can have in society without developing non-free software. You can even be a programmer. Most paid programmers are developing custom software--only a small fraction are developing non-free software. The small fraction of proprietary software jobs are not hard to avoid.
So if one freely decides to write a program and not divulge the code, then that person is antisocial? Hey - I don't accuse Colonel Sanders of being antisocial just because he keeps his 11 secret herbs and spices a "secret". And I don't accuse Bill Gates of being antisocial because he refuses to divulge the code to Microsoft Bob. He may be a numbnut, but whom am I to accuse someone of being "antisocial".
This word "freedom"
The 3 most enjoyable books I've read in the last five years are:
1. Masters of Doom - the story of John Carmack & John Romero's creation of the game Doom. From their teenage years to their ultimate breakup (sniff).
2. Just For Fun by Linus Torvalds - Just a very interesting autobiography about a normal guy who creates a software revolution.
3. The Code Book - gives a history of cryptography with a lot of great info about modern public-key cryptography. Really fun book.
"One of the most frustrating things about Windows is how it steals time from us," says Andrews, who has followed the company for years. Andrews hasn't upgraded his PC from Windows 98 or Office 2000. "I'd just as soon have a stable operating system--my time is more important."
What the??? No one, I mean NO ONE would stick with Winblows 98 for it's stability. They must have a different standard for that in Seattle.
Got Roku? True 'dat!
It don't work - it's total crap
Sucks? Just blame Linux.
It's sort of like when Time magazine made Newt Gingrich their "Man of the Year". It certainly wasn't highlighting him as a great guy. It was more of a "here's a guy who's used his power and influence to screw things up for everyone!"