Kids, sometimes groups of kids, dart out from behind parked cars all the time. In areas I think that might be a problem, I slow way down and watch for them as any cautious driver would, but it's still only by luck and the grace of God that I've had only near misses and not actually hit one. It is going to happen sometimes with autonomous vehicles, just as it does now. But hopefully it will happen less, because an autonomous vehicle's reaction time and knowledge of its environment (specifically, what options it has to avoid causing serious injury or loss of life) ought to be superior to a human driver's. Not to mention that it may be able to sense people without actually having to see them (e.g., some kind of radar, infrared, monitoring their cellphone signal, etc.) so it may be able to know they are in or approaching the vehicle's path long before a human driver possibly could.
During much of the winter, all cars in the snowy parts of the U.S. are exactly the same color as the road and all other objects in sight. The color of road salt, which, in order to be effective at typical winter temperatures, must be applied very liberally, and which, hence, gets everywhere. This causes problems even for human drivers. It is the rare winter in which I don't encounter a near-miss, typically of someone who was illegally walking in the road facing away from traffic. (In my state, you are allowed to walk in the road if sidewalk conditions so require, but only *facing* traffic, never facing away.)
as soon as people lost the art of writing they are not really 'people' anymore to me
That's IMO an excessively high bar, not to mention a bit elitist. Nonetheless, I think you are on to something.
Historically, most people were illiterate. The invention of the printing press 500-odd years ago threatened this, thereby threatening, and indeed deposing, many of the power structures of yesteryear.
Today, however, the ruling elites have found the perfect way to erode the power of literacy: they've invented, via public "education," a way to teach people to understand the words, but not the historical and cultural context that would give them meaning. So, today, people think they are literate, but still have no idea of the literature, art, law, or knowledge in general beyond their own, as you aptly describe, non-culture. They confuse the crap they see in the media or the classroom or the workplace with objective reality. And those who point out that it might not be, are viewed as being insane.
I'll be done with this nonsense pretty soon. My children however will still have to deal with it. My wife and I try our best to teach them ourselves, and not just to feed them with disconnected facts, but to encourage their natural love for learning. They are aware that their dad is a cantankerous old curmudgeon who keeps telling them to git off his lawn. But that is what I thought about my own late father as well, and, as I approached my late 20s, I came to realize he was right, about a great deal of things (not everything but a lot more than I'd previously thought). His encouragement to think and to question have probably done more for me than all of the memorized facts of my schooling days combined. I hope my own children will be similarly motivated to think and learn for themselves and not just accept prepackaged "facts" and "culture" as if they were anything other than the willful and dangerous deceptions that they in fact are.
Disagree. We've had "fake news" forever, but only recently had the means to fight it. But the arsenal available to the enemies of learning and of freedom has increased as well. Books no longer need to be burned; rather, the state can simply "dumb down" the publik edjukashun so that kids grow up being able read, just barely, but not understand, having no understanding of the historical context in which the great works of literature were written.
The challenge then would be getting it to O'ahu where most of it is needed. That's at least 300km total. Presuming you could run cable on land or underground on Moloka'i and Maui, you'd still need at least 60km of cable to get from Maui to the Big Island. Maybe more. I have no idea what that would cost. I'm guessing more than a little. We're not talking about a data signal, but actual power, and lots of it.
Since most of the population and industry are on O'ahu, with the other islands being largely rural and agricultural, it seems to be a good test case. If it works, then see if it can scale down to the smaller islands where the benefits would presumably be lower and the challenges greater.
It's fairly sunny too. I think that as the U.S. goes, O'ahu makes a really good test case for the viability and sustainability of solar power. Lots of sun, alternatives are inherently expensive, population is fairly centralized (most is in Honolulu), and power needs are modest compared to more heavily industrialized regions of the U.S. Now, I believe that experiment is going to require several decades. But I do hope it succeeds. The supply of fossil fuels is (probably) limited, and burning them results in environmental damage. I'd rather save them for places where better alternatives don't exist yet.
There has been for at least 30 years.
https://www.mib.com/request_yo...
Serious illnesses will show up on that record, and, while this is not supposed to be legal, bigger companies will be MUCH less likely to hire you if you have or recently have had one.
Offshore devs can do very good work given very clear and specific directions, requirements, specs, test plans, and so forth.
But: (a) Most organizations can't produce those. (b) Most organizations that can do those things already develop software very cost-effectively in-house. (c) Most organizations that can't, will not succeed at offshoring, because, no matter how good they might be, offshore people will not have the business or domain knowledge (and will not stay around long enough to develop it) to build anything more or better than what your specs and requirements have instructed them to.
Software development done right is not labor-intensive; it is knowledge-intensive, and by that I mean mainly problem domain knowledge, not solution domain. The only time I've ever seen offshoring done in a cost-effective manner is when there is an onshore coordinator, typically from the culture in which the work is to be done, who can both build the domain knowledge, and also facilitate communications between the client and the offshore team.
But these guys are very, very expensive. They add tremendous value. And what you have to pay for a good onshore coordinator, would pay for at least one, probably more than one, well-above-average programmer. So, for a project big enough to require multiple onshore devs, offshoring is almost never, in my experience, a good solution.
You are probably referring to Wickard v. Filburn. That was one of the most insanely idiotic court decisions ever. It effectively ended any constitutional restrictions on the federal government's economic power, thereby opening it up for sale to the highest bidder.
I love Linux. I use it for everything anytime I have the choice. I use it even when it would be easier to use something else. I would vehemently deny that it is a "niche" product in the server world, or in the mobile space, or in the embedded space. But in the context you are referring to, as a gaming desktop OS, or as a desktop OS in general, I have to agree with you. It is a niche product. I understand why not everyone wants to support it in that particular niche. I would. But not everyone will. And that's OK. If there is enough demand, someone will supply Linux support for any nonproprietary product or interface or protocol. And if a vendor wishes to keep any or all of those things closed, then, again, if there is enough of a demand, someone will decide to compete with them and offer it. I'm not worried so long as the biggest players aren't able to game the political system in such a way as to outlaw the competition.
Believe it or not, it has occurred to me. But the most likely outcome would not be death, but a serious beat-down, likely resulting in at least temporary inability to work, and making me even more of a burden to those around me. Now, even that might be better than having to see shrinks, based on about 2 decades of experience being forced to do so. But I think my family deserve better than would likely result from either.
Many metro areas in the Midwest feature a similar standard of living but with a MUCH better ratio of salary to cost of living. (Examples: Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, arguably Chicago) They do suffer higher than average levels of poverty, crime, and corruption, but these are of limited relevance to ordinary people, who typically live in safe but affordable suburbs and have no reason to go to the more dangerous parts of town.
One of my great fears also. It's not that I don't value the lives or the happiness of the disabled in the more general case. i consider every life valuable until proven otherwise. But mine already has. I'm already a burden to everyone in spite of being of mostly sound body and mind. I don't *ever* want to become even more of a burden than I already am. I don't yet have a DNR or any similar paperwork but I need to get going on getting all that. I don't want to live at all, and I *certainly* don't want to live at the expense of others.
What deters me is that my life insurance policies may not pay out if my death is ruled a suicide. My family long ago realized I have no value except for whatever money I can bring home, and encouraged me to load up on life insurance policies back when I could get them. But most of these policies have the standard "no suicide" clause. At some point, my family may decide that being rid of me is worth more than the life insurance would bring in, especially since, as I get older, the premiums become increasingly more expensive, while inflation makes the payout worth less and less in real terms over time. But for now they are willing to put up with me so long as I stay away, bring home a paycheck, but otherwise leave them alone. So no matter how much I look forward to death, I can't be the one to make it happen. At least not yet. But maybe we all get lucky at some point and I get cancer or a heart attack or run over by the proverbial bus. Can't be my fault. But one can always hope.
Maybe in Manhattan. Not the outer boroughs. There is no excess capacity, so any unusual delay due to construction or accidents, the loss of even a single lane on a highway or major artery, can cause gridlock miles away. And even on Manhattan, there are constant wrecks on the GWB, in the tunnels, the FDR, and other freeways/parkways. A problem on the outbound roads like the LIRR or NJ Turnpike or any other, even many miles from Manhattan, can gridlock Manhattan also. I've seen all of the above, on weekends (since that's about the only time I'm ever in or near the city). A good driver really needs to know this stuff, in real time, even in Manhattan.
Any place and time with nontrivial traffic, the most direct reasonable route, and the fastest reasonable route, tend to differ. I tend to know both (without GPS) for anyplace within about 25 miles of me. If I were a cabbie (or Uber driver) I'd let my fare know and let him or her choose.
That just makes an already crappy day crappier.:( But you are right. Systemd has the potential to break Linux in such a way as to force us to come up with something better, and I don't mean a better systemd; I mean a better OS than what systemd will have forced it to become. I don't think that outcome is inevitable, but I do think it an unavoidable consequence of the direction Red Hat and most of the other major distro vendors are following, unless they change that direction, which would be painful now, but will only become more painful over time the longer they wait.
Keep in mind that Australia gets a lot more sun than do most parts of the U.S., especially here in Cleveland (cloud cover 83% of all days, reducing solar output to 10-25% of normal), so the cost/benefit equation is very different as yet. But I do hope that as technology improves, solar power does end up being competitive throughout at least the sunnier parts of the U.S. and even Canada.
Slashdot Mirror
Kids, sometimes groups of kids, dart out from behind parked cars all the time. In areas I think that might be a problem, I slow way down and watch for them as any cautious driver would, but it's still only by luck and the grace of God that I've had only near misses and not actually hit one. It is going to happen sometimes with autonomous vehicles, just as it does now. But hopefully it will happen less, because an autonomous vehicle's reaction time and knowledge of its environment (specifically, what options it has to avoid causing serious injury or loss of life) ought to be superior to a human driver's. Not to mention that it may be able to sense people without actually having to see them (e.g., some kind of radar, infrared, monitoring their cellphone signal, etc.) so it may be able to know they are in or approaching the vehicle's path long before a human driver possibly could.
During much of the winter, all cars in the snowy parts of the U.S. are exactly the same color as the road and all other objects in sight. The color of road salt, which, in order to be effective at typical winter temperatures, must be applied very liberally, and which, hence, gets everywhere. This causes problems even for human drivers. It is the rare winter in which I don't encounter a near-miss, typically of someone who was illegally walking in the road facing away from traffic. (In my state, you are allowed to walk in the road if sidewalk conditions so require, but only *facing* traffic, never facing away.)
as soon as people lost the art of writing they are not really 'people' anymore to me
That's IMO an excessively high bar, not to mention a bit elitist. Nonetheless, I think you are on to something.
Historically, most people were illiterate. The invention of the printing press 500-odd years ago threatened this, thereby threatening, and indeed deposing, many of the power structures of yesteryear.
Today, however, the ruling elites have found the perfect way to erode the power of literacy: they've invented, via public "education," a way to teach people to understand the words, but not the historical and cultural context that would give them meaning. So, today, people think they are literate, but still have no idea of the literature, art, law, or knowledge in general beyond their own, as you aptly describe, non-culture. They confuse the crap they see in the media or the classroom or the workplace with objective reality. And those who point out that it might not be, are viewed as being insane.
I'll be done with this nonsense pretty soon. My children however will still have to deal with it. My wife and I try our best to teach them ourselves, and not just to feed them with disconnected facts, but to encourage their natural love for learning. They are aware that their dad is a cantankerous old curmudgeon who keeps telling them to git off his lawn. But that is what I thought about my own late father as well, and, as I approached my late 20s, I came to realize he was right, about a great deal of things (not everything but a lot more than I'd previously thought). His encouragement to think and to question have probably done more for me than all of the memorized facts of my schooling days combined. I hope my own children will be similarly motivated to think and learn for themselves and not just accept prepackaged "facts" and "culture" as if they were anything other than the willful and dangerous deceptions that they in fact are.
You have to be an even worse student of Scripture than usual, in order to equate "the love of money" with "money."
Disagree. We've had "fake news" forever, but only recently had the means to fight it. But the arsenal available to the enemies of learning and of freedom has increased as well. Books no longer need to be burned; rather, the state can simply "dumb down" the publik edjukashun so that kids grow up being able read, just barely, but not understand, having no understanding of the historical context in which the great works of literature were written.
The challenge then would be getting it to O'ahu where most of it is needed. That's at least 300km total. Presuming you could run cable on land or underground on Moloka'i and Maui, you'd still need at least 60km of cable to get from Maui to the Big Island. Maybe more. I have no idea what that would cost. I'm guessing more than a little. We're not talking about a data signal, but actual power, and lots of it.
Since most of the population and industry are on O'ahu, with the other islands being largely rural and agricultural, it seems to be a good test case. If it works, then see if it can scale down to the smaller islands where the benefits would presumably be lower and the challenges greater.
It's fairly sunny too. I think that as the U.S. goes, O'ahu makes a really good test case for the viability and sustainability of solar power. Lots of sun, alternatives are inherently expensive, population is fairly centralized (most is in Honolulu), and power needs are modest compared to more heavily industrialized regions of the U.S. Now, I believe that experiment is going to require several decades. But I do hope it succeeds. The supply of fossil fuels is (probably) limited, and burning them results in environmental damage. I'd rather save them for places where better alternatives don't exist yet.
I find little of what I want to watch on Netflix, but most of the movies (albeit not TV shows), on YouTube, for about what it used to cost to rent.
There has been for at least 30 years. https://www.mib.com/request_yo... Serious illnesses will show up on that record, and, while this is not supposed to be legal, bigger companies will be MUCH less likely to hire you if you have or recently have had one.
Exactly this. You get what you pay for.
Offshore devs can do very good work given very clear and specific directions, requirements, specs, test plans, and so forth.
But: (a) Most organizations can't produce those. (b) Most organizations that can do those things already develop software very cost-effectively in-house. (c) Most organizations that can't, will not succeed at offshoring, because, no matter how good they might be, offshore people will not have the business or domain knowledge (and will not stay around long enough to develop it) to build anything more or better than what your specs and requirements have instructed them to.
Software development done right is not labor-intensive; it is knowledge-intensive, and by that I mean mainly problem domain knowledge, not solution domain. The only time I've ever seen offshoring done in a cost-effective manner is when there is an onshore coordinator, typically from the culture in which the work is to be done, who can both build the domain knowledge, and also facilitate communications between the client and the offshore team.
But these guys are very, very expensive. They add tremendous value. And what you have to pay for a good onshore coordinator, would pay for at least one, probably more than one, well-above-average programmer. So, for a project big enough to require multiple onshore devs, offshoring is almost never, in my experience, a good solution.
You must be a LOT older than most of us.
You are probably referring to Wickard v. Filburn. That was one of the most insanely idiotic court decisions ever. It effectively ended any constitutional restrictions on the federal government's economic power, thereby opening it up for sale to the highest bidder.
I love Linux. I use it for everything anytime I have the choice. I use it even when it would be easier to use something else. I would vehemently deny that it is a "niche" product in the server world, or in the mobile space, or in the embedded space. But in the context you are referring to, as a gaming desktop OS, or as a desktop OS in general, I have to agree with you. It is a niche product. I understand why not everyone wants to support it in that particular niche. I would. But not everyone will. And that's OK. If there is enough demand, someone will supply Linux support for any nonproprietary product or interface or protocol. And if a vendor wishes to keep any or all of those things closed, then, again, if there is enough of a demand, someone will decide to compete with them and offer it. I'm not worried so long as the biggest players aren't able to game the political system in such a way as to outlaw the competition.
Sorry you feel that way. I wouldn't wish it on anyone except myself.
Believe it or not, it has occurred to me. But the most likely outcome would not be death, but a serious beat-down, likely resulting in at least temporary inability to work, and making me even more of a burden to those around me. Now, even that might be better than having to see shrinks, based on about 2 decades of experience being forced to do so. But I think my family deserve better than would likely result from either.
Many metro areas in the Midwest feature a similar standard of living but with a MUCH better ratio of salary to cost of living. (Examples: Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, arguably Chicago) They do suffer higher than average levels of poverty, crime, and corruption, but these are of limited relevance to ordinary people, who typically live in safe but affordable suburbs and have no reason to go to the more dangerous parts of town.
One of my great fears also. It's not that I don't value the lives or the happiness of the disabled in the more general case. i consider every life valuable until proven otherwise. But mine already has. I'm already a burden to everyone in spite of being of mostly sound body and mind. I don't *ever* want to become even more of a burden than I already am. I don't yet have a DNR or any similar paperwork but I need to get going on getting all that. I don't want to live at all, and I *certainly* don't want to live at the expense of others.
What deters me is that my life insurance policies may not pay out if my death is ruled a suicide. My family long ago realized I have no value except for whatever money I can bring home, and encouraged me to load up on life insurance policies back when I could get them. But most of these policies have the standard "no suicide" clause. At some point, my family may decide that being rid of me is worth more than the life insurance would bring in, especially since, as I get older, the premiums become increasingly more expensive, while inflation makes the payout worth less and less in real terms over time. But for now they are willing to put up with me so long as I stay away, bring home a paycheck, but otherwise leave them alone. So no matter how much I look forward to death, I can't be the one to make it happen. At least not yet. But maybe we all get lucky at some point and I get cancer or a heart attack or run over by the proverbial bus. Can't be my fault. But one can always hope.
I am sorry for your loss.
Maybe in Manhattan. Not the outer boroughs. There is no excess capacity, so any unusual delay due to construction or accidents, the loss of even a single lane on a highway or major artery, can cause gridlock miles away. And even on Manhattan, there are constant wrecks on the GWB, in the tunnels, the FDR, and other freeways/parkways. A problem on the outbound roads like the LIRR or NJ Turnpike or any other, even many miles from Manhattan, can gridlock Manhattan also. I've seen all of the above, on weekends (since that's about the only time I'm ever in or near the city). A good driver really needs to know this stuff, in real time, even in Manhattan.
Any place and time with nontrivial traffic, the most direct reasonable route, and the fastest reasonable route, tend to differ. I tend to know both (without GPS) for anyplace within about 25 miles of me. If I were a cabbie (or Uber driver) I'd let my fare know and let him or her choose.
when there is no substantial right wing in this country, just varying degrees of far-left and further-left????
That just makes an already crappy day crappier. :( But you are right. Systemd has the potential to break Linux in such a way as to force us to come up with something better, and I don't mean a better systemd; I mean a better OS than what systemd will have forced it to become. I don't think that outcome is inevitable, but I do think it an unavoidable consequence of the direction Red Hat and most of the other major distro vendors are following, unless they change that direction, which would be painful now, but will only become more painful over time the longer they wait.
Keep in mind that Australia gets a lot more sun than do most parts of the U.S., especially here in Cleveland (cloud cover 83% of all days, reducing solar output to 10-25% of normal), so the cost/benefit equation is very different as yet. But I do hope that as technology improves, solar power does end up being competitive throughout at least the sunnier parts of the U.S. and even Canada.