There's already rules about what you can and can't say about your employer, why should the web be any different?
My contract with the Navy was not renewed because I made a blog entry on a website that was in no way attached to the military or government (attached below in case you actually care about it). The Navy's point is that if I had said this in a public place, it is OK. However, terrorists can read web pages, so any dissent falls under the Patriot Act.
The blog entry:
I am a bit worried about the project I'm now working on. The project head is supposed to be a Software Engineer. In the few weeks that I've worked with him, I have found that he is completely unable to program in any of the required languages, he knows very little about installing software on a computer, and his knowledge of database administration is limited to what the paperclip guy in MS Access can tell him to do. Further investigation has dug up that he was a telephone support person for a software company, but I don't know how he lost his job. After that, he worked in retail sales at a national men's clothing store. Then, he woke up one day and decided he was a Senior Software Engineer. He flubbed an application to a government contractor, got hired, and is now in charge of this project. Now, if I could just place my finger on what is worrying me about this project...
No. I am equating Kanji with a fancy or formal substitution for common Japanese. I don't know of a single Kanji character that does not have a multi-character substitution in Japanese. Kanji just says it in one character and, to many Japanese, is preferred for signage. If you want to be as literal as possible, every Kanji character I've seen is directly borrowed from the Chinese, but does not necessarily retain the Chinese meaning.
I know this is not what you mean, but how about making it normal and allowed for mailservers to refuse to transport spam? For instance, a mail from some spammer hits my server and has to be delivered to you. I know it is a spam, so why do I *have* to forward it? Everyone says you have to forward emails becuase it isn't your authority to decide what is and is not spam. That is where this relates - what is your authority to decide relaying is all spam?
In my opinion, it is my server and my choice. If I don't want to forward any emails with the name "David Hasselhof" in them, I should be allowed to do so.
What you are suggesting is already done for video games. I know that all of the Square Enix games take a good year or two to make it to the US. In that time, there are plenty of translation docs on the web. Sure, it isn't like on-screen subtitiles, but it also makes it easier to learn Japanese. You can try to watch it without your translation print-out and then see if you got the translations correct.
Also - a side note for those who don't know Japanese: Kanji is not "Japanese Characters". Kanji is "Chinese Characters used by the Japanese as a sort of fancy text". I learned Chinese first, so I am picky about the difference.
What always amazes me is when I ask a geek how they got into computers and they DON'T tell me it was because of music.
I didn't get into computers because of music, but I did research with two people who did. In that research, I met many people who went from music to math to computers in a very natural way. One of the papers we wrote may be of interest to you. It is about using computers to define Zipf-Mandlebrot sets in popular music - here.
Probably because there are so many systems out there that generate hl7 messages but don't actually follow the protocol correctly.
I agree with you there, but that isn't a problem with HL7. It is similar to another project I worked on - website readers for the blind. The website reader could handle HTML if it was properly coded. However, most people do not follow the HTML standards correctly. Actually, most HTML WYSIWYG programs produce invalid HTML when pages get a little complicated.
I don't assume that a new protocol will suddenly make people follow the rules. As for HL7, the #1 rule is that everything is optional. It is that way by design. With HL7 version 3, the optional stuff isn't such a bother, but it is still there and needs to be. For instance, trying to import Social Security Numbers from a Chinese medical database will not work regardless of the protocol, so it has to be optional.
Anyone who has worked on IT in the health field knows about HL7. It is a free protocol for sharing any and all medical information. As of version 3, it has become XML compliant to allow programmers to use XML parsing tools to read/write data. I don't understand why there is such a need to make a new protocol for sharing health data when one already exists and is in use with most EMR systems.
But constructing a mental image from a series of beeps? Seems very hard to do, at least for fairly complex images like maps.
Converting images to sound beeps is similar to a product that has been available for decades - viewing images with a group of pins (like those old dot matrix printers). They were popular because blind people could 'feel' the images. Some could even read regaular books and magazines with them. The problem is that fingers eventually lose their sense of touch if overused. So, it was a temporary solution.
I wonder if the same will happen here. Will blind viewers eventually lose their sense of hearing to the specific tones of the program?
I didn't realize that on/. the phrase "lacking in proof" is read as "backed by no proof whatsoever". I thought that it meant there was some proof, but not enough to treat the hypothesis as a fact.
Also, you shouldn't link to an article that makes a different point than your post. You state, "75% accepted that global warming was caused by human activities," but the article is about greenhouse gas emissions and makes little mention of human activities. That is specifically why, in my original post, I brought up the EPA study on greenhouse gas emissions from cows. Humans do not have a monopoly on greenhouse gas emissions.
Understanding that the article makes the point that 75% accept that a buildup of greenhouse gasses are the cuase of global warming, it is clear why none assert otherwise - it has been proven that there has been a buildup of greenhouse gasses. It would be stupid to argue otherwise. Again, we circle back to the question: What can I do to stop global warming? Is the Earth heating up because I eat too much Mexican food and fart too much?
For those who are currently computer programmers/engineers, would you say you really enjoy your job, or does it get extremely old and tedious after awhile?
It depends completely on the project and workplace. I worked for the Navy (Spawar in Charleston). My "programming" job was to look over code written by people who couldn't program and then tell my superiors that everything was on time and on schedule until they were able to sink a few million dollars into the project and walk away with nice kickbacks. I hated it.
I am now working for a project to improve health care by finding ways for doctors to share what is working and what isn't. I had to figure out how to import patient data from multiple database systems (some were even archaic pen and paper facilities). I then had to build interfaces for non-programmers (the doctors) to run reports on treatment and results. I enjoyed it because it had purpose and I was allowed to do my job without micromanagement.
So, humans are doing nothing. What should they be doing? I mentioned cow emissions in my post because of a study by the EPA that measured more greenhouse gasses from cows than automobiles in the rural areas of Wyoming (I am pretty sure it was Wyoming and not Montana). So, we should all eat more hamburgers to kill the cows off faster? Let me buy my McDonald's stock first.
You are mixing two uses of the catch-phrase "Global Warming". One use of the phrase is to claim that the world is getting warmer. Well, it is. There is plenty of proof. However, there is another more liberal use of the phrase to claim that humans are at fault for the world getting warmer. That is lacking in proof. Sure, fossil fuels warm the earth, but by how much? How is that compared to cow emissions? How much is just the normal cycle of the Earth from hot to cold to hot again? In the face of this lack of proof, some claim that if humans aren't part of the solution, they are part of the problem. This is a classic non-sequitur argument for fools that can easily be twisted into: if you aren't part of the problem, you are part of the solution. I know you said to just look at the pretty charts in the National Geographic article, but I accidentally read it too.
Another answer is near the end of the article - a proposed six month delay between release of research findings and addition to the public database. That gives the mags a good 6 months to get stuff to print before everyone can view it for free.
You also have to take into account the fact that a lot of people still like reading magazines instead of reading computer monitors. How else could newspapers stay in business when most of the news comes off the public news feeds that are available for free off the internet?
We have no need for the Electorial college any more.
Assume we go with a strict popular vote. The primary function of a politician is to be reelected. There are more people in Los Angeles than in the entire state of Colorado. So, the politician can so something like make Los Angeles tax-free, then double up the taxes on Colorado to make up for it. He will be assured the majority of votes between Los Angeles and Colorado. Actually, he'll get even more because people will flock into Los Angeles and out of Colorado in that case.
That is one scenario between one city and one state. Play that out on the five largest cities and the rest of the nation. It quickly becomes obvious that the interest of the largest cities outweighs that of the rest of the nation. You end up with overpopulated spoiled cities that absorb all the money from the rural workers. The last time we had that situation, the rural south seceded from the big-city north.
A better solution would be to force the tobacco companies to sell Nicotine free cigarettes.
That's one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is to completely deregulate cigarettes. Allow the makers to put more and more addictive toxins in them. If they can get them as addictive as crack, you'd have a sure money-maker, even if they kill off the users at a much faster rate. It all depends on the relative value of human life and money.
The fear is ridiculous because nuclear plants have an excellent track records
We have the Savannah River Site near here - a popular nuclear site and dumping ground. They have a great track record. Of course, they are the assigned agency in charge of monitoring the site. There's no federal oversight - just the SRS looking over its own shoulder and patting itself on the back. So, it may well have an excellent track record, but by what standards?
A high-school buddy had a 1972 Electra 225. It had a loose cable going to the speedometer. The most noticable effect was that the speedometer would bounce around as the cable slipped and caught. Another effect: Uncontrollable acceleration when the speed control was on. Apparently, the speed control would sense the cable slip and then accelerate to make up for it.
That's well before these demonic throttle by wire machines and the problem already existed.
I would rather extract the domain, look up the IP, and check the IP.
I wanted that a long time ago. At the time, I couldn't find a program written by anyone else, so I wrote my own. It works well for me and anyone who wants the script is free to use it. It is at my homepage.
I was too late. By the time I figured it out and added a file lock to what appeared to be a completely unrelated library, FC2 was released and it was fixed (probably better than how I did it).
We are using Fedora, Postgres, and PHP for what I consider a rather large-scale application. It is a storage and query system for research on a few million patients. We could have gone with Oracle and Java (...shiver...), or even MSSQL and a Windows server, but why waste money? The only real headache I've had is figuring out that Apache2 is threaded and Postgres/PHP sits on top of some low-level linux code that is not. I could use Apache instead of Apache2 to fix the problem, but I fixed the non-threaded code instead.
That is mostly correct. Decision makers do get deaf to words they hear too much. But, tech marketing is also a numbers (or versions) game. For instance, is Company A's Superpro 1700 better than Company B's Megapro 1600? The people making decisions don't know what the numbers mean. That marketing hype is in all areas of hardware from the computers to video cards and monitors (my 19" LCD has a screen that is actually 17" - but the casing is 19"). It is also in software - just look at IE and Netscape's version jockying in the past.
I am refusing to purcahse any of the DVDs until the XTreme Collection with 30 disks is released. When the first LotR DVD came out, a friend of mine was waiting for the store to open so she could buy it. Inside was an advertisement for the soon-to-be-released extended DVD. I decided right then that I can rent (or borrow) the movies if I really need to see them, but I'm not buying a thing until the final release - after all the actors, directors, writers, and producers die so they can't put out another set with even more material. Of course, they'll probably put out a 50th anniversary edition with some old stagehand talking about what it was like fetching coffee for Sean Astin.
It is a common misunderstanding that the SETI project is decoding radio signals and trying to listen to some sort of alien language. What SETI is actually doing is looking for radio signals that are not from Earth. They are rather easy to find because as the Earth spins, it will create a very predictable increase and decrease in the frequency of radio waves that are not from Earth (simple doppler effect). Waves produced from the Earth have a near constant frequency because both the sender and receiver and spinning around the Earth at the same time.
An interesting signal is one that is from off-planet. It gets more interesting if the direction of origin is some other galaxy. It gets even more interesting if there is no scientific reason for any object in that galaxy to produce the signal. Finally, with all that checked, someone might try to see if the radio waves are transmitting an actual message - or we can beam our favorite Simpsons episodes right back to source to prove our own intelligence.
Another possibility is that the low turnover rate indicates seniority positions that survived the crash.
My experience from before, during, and after the IT bubble is the exact opposite. Most of the older tech guys I knew before the bubble took ridiculously high offers from 1997-2000. Then, they all got fired when the tech market collapsed. Now, they are still asking for those salaries. For the numbers: I live in South Carolina - notorious for low pay. A web designer here makes $20k-$40k. A programmer makes $30k-$60k. We get older web designers asking for $80k+ and programmers asking $120k+. The younger guys are asking for salaries that are in the range people are willing to pay and then filling up the jobs.
Of course, this is all regional. It is very possible that the older guys in your area aren't dumb enough to think they can still make the salaries of the late 90's.
I normally make it a rule to never, ever, reply to an Anonymous Coward, but this just makes the reason for that rule so obvious...
The following is a quote from my post: Others will quickly point out that there are programs that compile Java to native executables. That is true, but I said I wanted a lean and mean native executable. Because of Sun's licensing, it is not legal to make a native executable that only contains the parts of the Java that are needed to get the program running. You must include EVERYTHING in the native executable - meaning it is required by law to bloated and slow.
Then, the Anonymous Coward responds with: Hey, just in case you haven't noticed they have native compilers for Java. Ooooooh, for more than 3 or 4 years.
Getting out a fresh post-it... 'Never Ever Reply To An Anonymous Coward'
Slashdot Mirror
There's already rules about what you can and can't say about your employer, why should the web be any different?
My contract with the Navy was not renewed because I made a blog entry on a website that was in no way attached to the military or government (attached below in case you actually care about it). The Navy's point is that if I had said this in a public place, it is OK. However, terrorists can read web pages, so any dissent falls under the Patriot Act.
The blog entry:
I am a bit worried about the project I'm now working on. The project head is supposed to be a Software Engineer. In the few weeks that I've worked with him, I have found that he is completely unable to program in any of the required languages, he knows very little about installing software on a computer, and his knowledge of database administration is limited to what the paperclip guy in MS Access can tell him to do. Further investigation has dug up that he was a telephone support person for a software company, but I don't know how he lost his job. After that, he worked in retail sales at a national men's clothing store. Then, he woke up one day and decided he was a Senior Software Engineer. He flubbed an application to a government contractor, got hired, and is now in charge of this project. Now, if I could just place my finger on what is worrying me about this project...
No. I am equating Kanji with a fancy or formal substitution for common Japanese. I don't know of a single Kanji character that does not have a multi-character substitution in Japanese. Kanji just says it in one character and, to many Japanese, is preferred for signage. If you want to be as literal as possible, every Kanji character I've seen is directly borrowed from the Chinese, but does not necessarily retain the Chinese meaning.
completely disallow any form of relaying.
I know this is not what you mean, but how about making it normal and allowed for mailservers to refuse to transport spam? For instance, a mail from some spammer hits my server and has to be delivered to you. I know it is a spam, so why do I *have* to forward it? Everyone says you have to forward emails becuase it isn't your authority to decide what is and is not spam. That is where this relates - what is your authority to decide relaying is all spam?
In my opinion, it is my server and my choice. If I don't want to forward any emails with the name "David Hasselhof" in them, I should be allowed to do so.
What you are suggesting is already done for video games. I know that all of the Square Enix games take a good year or two to make it to the US. In that time, there are plenty of translation docs on the web. Sure, it isn't like on-screen subtitiles, but it also makes it easier to learn Japanese. You can try to watch it without your translation print-out and then see if you got the translations correct.
Also - a side note for those who don't know Japanese: Kanji is not "Japanese Characters". Kanji is "Chinese Characters used by the Japanese as a sort of fancy text". I learned Chinese first, so I am picky about the difference.
What always amazes me is when I ask a geek how they got into computers and they DON'T tell me it was because of music.
I didn't get into computers because of music, but I did research with two people who did. In that research, I met many people who went from music to math to computers in a very natural way. One of the papers we wrote may be of interest to you. It is about using computers to define Zipf-Mandlebrot sets in popular music - here.
Probably because there are so many systems out there that generate hl7 messages but don't actually follow the protocol correctly.
I agree with you there, but that isn't a problem with HL7. It is similar to another project I worked on - website readers for the blind. The website reader could handle HTML if it was properly coded. However, most people do not follow the HTML standards correctly. Actually, most HTML WYSIWYG programs produce invalid HTML when pages get a little complicated.
I don't assume that a new protocol will suddenly make people follow the rules. As for HL7, the #1 rule is that everything is optional. It is that way by design. With HL7 version 3, the optional stuff isn't such a bother, but it is still there and needs to be. For instance, trying to import Social Security Numbers from a Chinese medical database will not work regardless of the protocol, so it has to be optional.
Anyone who has worked on IT in the health field knows about HL7. It is a free protocol for sharing any and all medical information. As of version 3, it has become XML compliant to allow programmers to use XML parsing tools to read/write data. I don't understand why there is such a need to make a new protocol for sharing health data when one already exists and is in use with most EMR systems.
But constructing a mental image from a series of beeps? Seems very hard to do, at least for fairly complex images like maps.
Converting images to sound beeps is similar to a product that has been available for decades - viewing images with a group of pins (like those old dot matrix printers). They were popular because blind people could 'feel' the images. Some could even read regaular books and magazines with them. The problem is that fingers eventually lose their sense of touch if overused. So, it was a temporary solution.
I wonder if the same will happen here. Will blind viewers eventually lose their sense of hearing to the specific tones of the program?
I didn't realize that on /. the phrase "lacking in proof" is read as "backed by no proof whatsoever". I thought that it meant there was some proof, but not enough to treat the hypothesis as a fact.
Also, you shouldn't link to an article that makes a different point than your post. You state, "75% accepted that global warming was caused by human activities," but the article is about greenhouse gas emissions and makes little mention of human activities. That is specifically why, in my original post, I brought up the EPA study on greenhouse gas emissions from cows. Humans do not have a monopoly on greenhouse gas emissions.
Understanding that the article makes the point that 75% accept that a buildup of greenhouse gasses are the cuase of global warming, it is clear why none assert otherwise - it has been proven that there has been a buildup of greenhouse gasses. It would be stupid to argue otherwise. Again, we circle back to the question: What can I do to stop global warming? Is the Earth heating up because I eat too much Mexican food and fart too much?
For those who are currently computer programmers/engineers, would you say you really enjoy your job, or does it get extremely old and tedious after awhile?
It depends completely on the project and workplace. I worked for the Navy (Spawar in Charleston). My "programming" job was to look over code written by people who couldn't program and then tell my superiors that everything was on time and on schedule until they were able to sink a few million dollars into the project and walk away with nice kickbacks. I hated it.
I am now working for a project to improve health care by finding ways for doctors to share what is working and what isn't. I had to figure out how to import patient data from multiple database systems (some were even archaic pen and paper facilities). I then had to build interfaces for non-programmers (the doctors) to run reports on treatment and results. I enjoyed it because it had purpose and I was allowed to do my job without micromanagement.
So, humans are doing nothing. What should they be doing? I mentioned cow emissions in my post because of a study by the EPA that measured more greenhouse gasses from cows than automobiles in the rural areas of Wyoming (I am pretty sure it was Wyoming and not Montana). So, we should all eat more hamburgers to kill the cows off faster? Let me buy my McDonald's stock first.
You are mixing two uses of the catch-phrase "Global Warming".
One use of the phrase is to claim that the world is getting warmer. Well, it is. There is plenty of proof.
However, there is another more liberal use of the phrase to claim that humans are at fault for the world getting warmer. That is lacking in proof. Sure, fossil fuels warm the earth, but by how much? How is that compared to cow emissions? How much is just the normal cycle of the Earth from hot to cold to hot again?
In the face of this lack of proof, some claim that if humans aren't part of the solution, they are part of the problem. This is a classic non-sequitur argument for fools that can easily be twisted into: if you aren't part of the problem, you are part of the solution.
I know you said to just look at the pretty charts in the National Geographic article, but I accidentally read it too.
Another answer is near the end of the article - a proposed six month delay between release of research findings and addition to the public database. That gives the mags a good 6 months to get stuff to print before everyone can view it for free.
You also have to take into account the fact that a lot of people still like reading magazines instead of reading computer monitors. How else could newspapers stay in business when most of the news comes off the public news feeds that are available for free off the internet?
We have no need for the Electorial college any more.
Assume we go with a strict popular vote. The primary function of a politician is to be reelected. There are more people in Los Angeles than in the entire state of Colorado. So, the politician can so something like make Los Angeles tax-free, then double up the taxes on Colorado to make up for it. He will be assured the majority of votes between Los Angeles and Colorado. Actually, he'll get even more because people will flock into Los Angeles and out of Colorado in that case.
That is one scenario between one city and one state. Play that out on the five largest cities and the rest of the nation. It quickly becomes obvious that the interest of the largest cities outweighs that of the rest of the nation. You end up with overpopulated spoiled cities that absorb all the money from the rural workers. The last time we had that situation, the rural south seceded from the big-city north.
A better solution would be to force the tobacco companies to sell Nicotine free cigarettes.
That's one way to look at it. Another way to look at it is to completely deregulate cigarettes. Allow the makers to put more and more addictive toxins in them. If they can get them as addictive as crack, you'd have a sure money-maker, even if they kill off the users at a much faster rate. It all depends on the relative value of human life and money.
The fear is ridiculous because nuclear plants have an excellent track records
We have the Savannah River Site near here - a popular nuclear site and dumping ground. They have a great track record. Of course, they are the assigned agency in charge of monitoring the site. There's no federal oversight - just the SRS looking over its own shoulder and patting itself on the back. So, it may well have an excellent track record, but by what standards?
Loosely related to the topic...
A high-school buddy had a 1972 Electra 225. It had a loose cable going to the speedometer. The most noticable effect was that the speedometer would bounce around as the cable slipped and caught. Another effect: Uncontrollable acceleration when the speed control was on. Apparently, the speed control would sense the cable slip and then accelerate to make up for it.
That's well before these demonic throttle by wire machines and the problem already existed.
I would rather extract the domain, look up the IP, and check the IP.
I wanted that a long time ago. At the time, I couldn't find a program written by anyone else, so I wrote my own. It works well for me and anyone who wants the script is free to use it. It is at my homepage.
I was too late. By the time I figured it out and added a file lock to what appeared to be a completely unrelated library, FC2 was released and it was fixed (probably better than how I did it).
We are using Fedora, Postgres, and PHP for what I consider a rather large-scale application. It is a storage and query system for research on a few million patients. We could have gone with Oracle and Java (...shiver...), or even MSSQL and a Windows server, but why waste money? The only real headache I've had is figuring out that Apache2 is threaded and Postgres/PHP sits on top of some low-level linux code that is not. I could use Apache instead of Apache2 to fix the problem, but I fixed the non-threaded code instead.
It's jargon and buzzwords and nothing more.
That is mostly correct. Decision makers do get deaf to words they hear too much. But, tech marketing is also a numbers (or versions) game. For instance, is Company A's Superpro 1700 better than Company B's Megapro 1600? The people making decisions don't know what the numbers mean. That marketing hype is in all areas of hardware from the computers to video cards and monitors (my 19" LCD has a screen that is actually 17" - but the casing is 19"). It is also in software - just look at IE and Netscape's version jockying in the past.
I am refusing to purcahse any of the DVDs until the XTreme Collection with 30 disks is released. When the first LotR DVD came out, a friend of mine was waiting for the store to open so she could buy it. Inside was an advertisement for the soon-to-be-released extended DVD. I decided right then that I can rent (or borrow) the movies if I really need to see them, but I'm not buying a thing until the final release - after all the actors, directors, writers, and producers die so they can't put out another set with even more material. Of course, they'll probably put out a 50th anniversary edition with some old stagehand talking about what it was like fetching coffee for Sean Astin.
how do we even know what to start looking for?
It is a common misunderstanding that the SETI project is decoding radio signals and trying to listen to some sort of alien language. What SETI is actually doing is looking for radio signals that are not from Earth. They are rather easy to find because as the Earth spins, it will create a very predictable increase and decrease in the frequency of radio waves that are not from Earth (simple doppler effect). Waves produced from the Earth have a near constant frequency because both the sender and receiver and spinning around the Earth at the same time.
An interesting signal is one that is from off-planet. It gets more interesting if the direction of origin is some other galaxy. It gets even more interesting if there is no scientific reason for any object in that galaxy to produce the signal. Finally, with all that checked, someone might try to see if the radio waves are transmitting an actual message - or we can beam our favorite Simpsons episodes right back to source to prove our own intelligence.
Another possibility is that the low turnover rate indicates seniority positions that survived the crash.
My experience from before, during, and after the IT bubble is the exact opposite. Most of the older tech guys I knew before the bubble took ridiculously high offers from 1997-2000. Then, they all got fired when the tech market collapsed. Now, they are still asking for those salaries. For the numbers: I live in South Carolina - notorious for low pay. A web designer here makes $20k-$40k. A programmer makes $30k-$60k. We get older web designers asking for $80k+ and programmers asking $120k+. The younger guys are asking for salaries that are in the range people are willing to pay and then filling up the jobs.
Of course, this is all regional. It is very possible that the older guys in your area aren't dumb enough to think they can still make the salaries of the late 90's.
I normally make it a rule to never, ever, reply to an Anonymous Coward, but this just makes the reason for that rule so obvious...
The following is a quote from my post:
Others will quickly point out that there are programs that compile Java to native executables. That is true, but I said I wanted a lean and mean native executable. Because of Sun's licensing, it is not legal to make a native executable that only contains the parts of the Java that are needed to get the program running. You must include EVERYTHING in the native executable - meaning it is required by law to bloated and slow.
Then, the Anonymous Coward responds with:
Hey, just in case you haven't noticed they have native compilers for Java. Ooooooh, for more than 3 or 4 years.
Getting out a fresh post-it... 'Never Ever Reply To An Anonymous Coward'