One wonders if Stephen Hawking doesn't suffer from depression. From a physical standpoint he has endured more than most of us can imagine. His physical limitations however might have played a large part in the development his soaring intellect. Now that old age is apon him and his scientific life is in decline one can only wonder what he is thinking about. I am sure he feels his mortality. If I were him I would be very proud of my contribution. Yet he seems to have an apocalypic view centered curiously around himself (megalomania). Is it because he feels his work in physics is undone? He hasn't 'saved humanity' through his scientific work as he'd hoped? Who knows. If the human race's end was so self-evident you would think a man as brilliant as that would tell us why.
was kind of suprised to see the recommendation for formal code reviews. In my experience those end up either as "hurt feelings" slugfests or, just as ineffectively, full of "you should put a space after this brace" comments. I feel that pair programming is more effective way of getting multiple eyes on the code, spreading knowledge around, training the new guys, and all that good stuff.
A good way to avoid pissing matches over brace indentation and other nits is to lay down a qualification checklist that must be clean before a review. It can be simple of extensive depending on your field. What slows the review process is a moving quality target that varies with reviewers. A checklist helps prevent that. Pair programming is a drastic waste of programmer time. What you typically get is an alpha who overwhelms and neutralizes the work of his partner.
Hopefully, the moderating system here will prove its worth.
If you mean the leftist junta who guard this site ceaselessly to staunch alternative points of view, you may be right. The first readers wisely modded it up. It may creep back up once the junta has moved on. But I am not discouraged about presenting a minority point of view. The author is not a credible journalist.
Let me put it like this: You should be wary of an unsubstantiated article by a newbie foreign journalist with no legitimate affiliation written in a political atmosphere where the liberals have an axe to grind.
A quick search on the author ANJAN SUNDARAM shows him to be a bit of a rabble rouser. His article is completely anecdotal and short on facts. Perfect for this forum. Seems reporting from the Congo is not as beneficial to his career as race baiting in the war on terror.
That policy is maintained by Cuban emigres now US citizens who were robbed by Castro.
Financing in every way Afghan fighters (who ended up being bad guys, surprise!)
We are hunting down Al Qaida and Taliban to the death with great success.
Helping KLA and bombing Yugoslavia after the war ended?
Serbia was openly massacring the Muslim minority - genocide in Europe. That hawk Bill Clinton initiated the bombing.
Murder at Ruby Ridge, mass murders at Waco?
When a policeman comes to your door do you shoot him? David Koresh had arrest warrants for child abuse.
Killing of several Russian agents in Iraq a week ago?
Don't be crazy. If the Sunni's worked for us there would be no insurgency.
Military bases in Asian -stan republics?
When Uzbekistan wanted us out, we got out. The central Asian republics fear Russia and China.
Expansion of NATO closer to the borders of Russia?
As Vice President Chaney said, Russia has nothing to fear from stable democracies on its borders.
Invasion of Iraq where Russia has interests?
Oil for food doesn't count.
When you start a long trip through a difficult terrain, is it wise to hit your companion in the teeth, for no reason, just when you started? Mind you, if you do that then if you break your leg one day the companion will gladly leave you in the dust, to die.
Comrade Wolf would be wiser to not keep company with such a one at all.
Stop making enemies, make friends instead, and you will be happier and live longer (as a person and as a country.) Nobody wants the USA blown up?
Nonetheless, Russia covorts with, arms, and otherwise props up those who seek to. Who should we blame, the puppet or the puppeteer?
Insults not withstanding, at least you are thoughtful and informed.
That's an amazing statement to really think about. Awe inspriring actually, though quite politically loaded.
It is. The comments are directed mostly at Russia and China. Consider the former ideological intransigence of our cold war enemies Russia and China, and how they now preen in their new found world stature built, not on the discredited ideas of Marx, but on their own warped immitations of American turbo capitalism. They will never admit that.
As a non-american, I'm just curious. What independence are you celebrating?
We celebrate independence from British monarchy rule. But more than that we celebrate the great, fortuitous political experiment that is the United States and the enduring wisdom of the founding fathers. Only in classical Greece do you see a comparable political and societal quantum leap. The world now dreams American dreams.
There were only two flights of Energiya, compared to 32 of Saturn V
The Saturn V flew 13 times including tests and Skylab. 2 were put on display.
If you really need to launch anything that heavy, it would be cheaper and smarter to pay for manufacturing of Energiya rather than for redesign and manufacturing of Saturn V, and you get more bang for the buck at the same time. Engines of that power that are time-tested and proven to be OK are invaluable.
Why would it be smart to outsource technology of such strategic importance, that the US already posseses, to an enemy? That is an absurd idea.
I disagree. The F1's have a pretty boring bright yellow flame. The start sequence isn't very dramatic. The only real interest is in the cool turbopump exhaust that is introduced at the midpoint of the bell nozzle and main engine exhaust. The dark cooler gas does add to the sensation of exhaust speed and power. But it is dreadfully inefficient. The RS-68/SRB combo is a beautiful orange/red color plume with several shock diamonds and no obscuring smoke. The start sequence is fantastic. Because the engines start fuel rich the entire rocket will be enveloped with flame. Check out the inferno surrounding the Delta IV at startup. Then multiply by 2.5. We already know how great the SRB's look. They will now be 20% bigger. The 9 million lb thrust of the whole stack will dwarf the Saturn V at 7.5.
Even given how outdated, expensive, failure-prone and downright dangerous the Space Shuttle is, they're still pretty goddamn sweet looking when they lift off.
Agreed. The video footage during ascent is amazing.
The planned Ares V should continue the tradition of spectacular launches. It will use 2 shuttle-derived 5 segment solid rocket boosters and 5 (!) RS-68 H2/O2 engines that burn even more colorfully than the shuttle SSMEs. Should be a great show at night.
Due to Iraq and George Bush , most people in Western Europe have a little distain for the American Government. In fact, where I live, people often break in to an American accent when they do something stupid. I imagine this is because everyone sees Channel 4 news where we see the "Answers from Genesis museum" and thinks: "Only the stupid could indulge such nonsense."
Mr. Bush thanks the British people for their support in the war on terror in Iraq. When we want to sound adsurd and condescending we Americans naturally break into an English accent.
With that necessary rant taken well and truly aside, I want to thank American for doing what no-one else can afford to do: put real science equipment in to space. It's your taxes that pay for the Hubble Space Telescope. This is a project that has furthered science in a very unique way. It is project that Galileo would have dreamed of. It is a marvel, a temple,even, to science.....
We do such things for ourselves and for science. Certainly not for Europe.
As a British man, I love America and I hope the feeling is mutual. I raise this glass to the future of Science and hope you will raise your glass too! To Science!
To be honest we don't think much about the rest of the world. There is the US, everything else is target coordinates.
So you are in a group with a bunch of other idiots. Congratulations. Care to answer my question about how the articles amount to trying to overthrow the government, or are you just conceding?
I am on the side of what I think is right, and a true patriot who actually wants his country to do right. Not just some Fox news watching, slogan spouting moron. Got any more interesting Republican talking points you haven't thought about you want to post here??
I am not the only one. Try a Google search on "New York Times" and "treason". I am going to enjoy watching them twist in the wind. Whose side are you on?
What's going to stop freedom terrorism happening in our country? Bullshit, like this, is eating at the highly regarded morals *I* hold which are being left the fuck alone to do whatever the fuck I like w/o having to wonder "am I a terrorist?!"
You realy don't want to be left alone, you want immunity from causing someone else harm. There is a different. Be honest.
The "Republicans" are happy to erode our media's rights to disseminate important information being withheld and to chastise them using "their" news outlets while the rest of us sit here whining in near silence.
Democrats and their media shills (like the New York Times, LA Times, CNN) commit open acts of treason outing effective, classified anti-terror programs and expect immunity. Do you expect it to pass unnoticed? Not this time.
It is about time this capability was added to the shuttle. Makes if the return to flight test flights or some of the ISS construction missions could be flown unmanned.
I fully support the freely available clause. I am not looking to save a buck. I want the system to serve as many as possible. Indeed I think basic healthcare and dentistry should be included as well. To do otherwise is to waste human capital, the most unthinkable crime.
I don't know why anyone finds negative SETI results offensive. Nobody ever suggested the search would be easy. The occurrance of extraterrestrial civilizations is still mapped by the Drake Equation. Certain parameters (fc, fi, fL) are being adjusted down by the SETI effort. At the same time the success of planet hunting and planetary mission results are positively effecting others (fp, ne). A negative result, although less exciting, is still a result.
Very VERY BAD idea for #2 - having SOME form of freely available public education tends to benefit society as a whole. Unless, of course, it's horribly mismanaged and watered down due to extremely progressivist ideals about "safety" (i.e. it's better the child do NOTHING versus risking harm!) and PCness over truth.
Couldn't agree more. But the current public school system, particularly its funding structure, is amoral. I am embarrassed to be a party to it. The underclasses are condemned to languish in underfunded, crime ridden, failed schools. The affluent attend feel-good country clubs. Even potentially good students are discouraged and stunted by the political pablum slung at them by the liberal elite. Privatize schools. Introduce market forces for teachers, defang the unions, add vouchers for student mobility and positive changes will occur.
The exodus from the Church of Finland is just another example of the desire of citizens to opt out of certain government services that do not serve them. As an American I would like to opt out of Social Security, farm subsidies, K-12 public schools, and public television.
A common story occurance on slashdot for the submitter to highlight some deep deficiency in American business, technology, or way of life, which is then inevitably followed by non-American dick-swinging nationalism of why someone else does it better. This is a perfect example.
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One wonders if Stephen Hawking doesn't suffer from depression. From a physical standpoint he has endured more than most of us can imagine. His physical limitations however might have played a large part in the development his soaring intellect. Now that old age is apon him and his scientific life is in decline one can only wonder what he is thinking about. I am sure he feels his mortality. If I were him I would be very proud of my contribution. Yet he seems to have an apocalypic view centered curiously around himself (megalomania). Is it because he feels his work in physics is undone? He hasn't 'saved humanity' through his scientific work as he'd hoped? Who knows. If the human race's end was so self-evident you would think a man as brilliant as that would tell us why.
A good way to avoid pissing matches over brace indentation and other nits is to lay down a qualification checklist that must be clean before a review. It can be simple of extensive depending on your field. What slows the review process is a moving quality target that varies with reviewers. A checklist helps prevent that. Pair programming is a drastic waste of programmer time. What you typically get is an alpha who overwhelms and neutralizes the work of his partner.
Twerp.
If you mean the leftist junta who guard this site ceaselessly to staunch alternative points of view, you may be right. The first readers wisely modded it up. It may creep back up once the junta has moved on. But I am not discouraged about presenting a minority point of view. The author is not a credible journalist.
Let me put it like this: You should be wary of an unsubstantiated article by a newbie foreign journalist with no legitimate affiliation written in a political atmosphere where the liberals have an axe to grind.
A quick search on the author ANJAN SUNDARAM shows him to be a bit of a rabble rouser. His article is completely anecdotal and short on facts. Perfect for this forum. Seems reporting from the Congo is not as beneficial to his career as race baiting in the war on terror.
Aggression and embargo against Cuba?
That policy is maintained by Cuban emigres now US citizens who were robbed by Castro.
Financing in every way Afghan fighters (who ended up being bad guys, surprise!)
We are hunting down Al Qaida and Taliban to the death with great success.
Helping KLA and bombing Yugoslavia after the war ended?
Serbia was openly massacring the Muslim minority - genocide in Europe. That hawk Bill Clinton initiated the bombing.
Murder at Ruby Ridge, mass murders at Waco?
When a policeman comes to your door do you shoot him? David Koresh had arrest warrants for child abuse.
Killing of several Russian agents in Iraq a week ago?
Don't be crazy. If the Sunni's worked for us there would be no insurgency.
Military bases in Asian -stan republics?
When Uzbekistan wanted us out, we got out. The central Asian republics fear Russia and China.
Expansion of NATO closer to the borders of Russia?
As Vice President Chaney said, Russia has nothing to fear from stable democracies on its borders.
Invasion of Iraq where Russia has interests?
Oil for food doesn't count.
When you start a long trip through a difficult terrain, is it wise to hit your companion in the teeth, for no reason, just when you started? Mind you, if you do that then if you break your leg one day the companion will gladly leave you in the dust, to die.
Comrade Wolf would be wiser to not keep company with such a one at all.
Stop making enemies, make friends instead, and you will be happier and live longer (as a person and as a country.) Nobody wants the USA blown up?
Nonetheless, Russia covorts with, arms, and otherwise props up those who seek to. Who should we blame, the puppet or the puppeteer?
Insults not withstanding, at least you are thoughtful and informed.
These are foremost of the growing list of Russians transgressions against the US:
Russia is being very naughty indeed.
It is. The comments are directed mostly at Russia and China. Consider the former ideological intransigence of our cold war enemies Russia and China, and how they now preen in their new found world stature built, not on the discredited ideas of Marx, but on their own warped immitations of American turbo capitalism. They will never admit that.
We celebrate independence from British monarchy rule. But more than that we celebrate the great, fortuitous political experiment that is the United States and the enduring wisdom of the founding fathers. Only in classical Greece do you see a comparable political and societal quantum leap. The world now dreams American dreams.
The Saturn V flew 13 times including tests and Skylab. 2 were put on display.
Why would it be smart to outsource technology of such strategic importance, that the US already posseses, to an enemy? That is an absurd idea.
I disagree. The F1's have a pretty boring bright yellow flame. The start sequence isn't very dramatic. The only real interest is in the cool turbopump exhaust that is introduced at the midpoint of the bell nozzle and main engine exhaust. The dark cooler gas does add to the sensation of exhaust speed and power. But it is dreadfully inefficient. The RS-68/SRB combo is a beautiful orange/red color plume with several shock diamonds and no obscuring smoke. The start sequence is fantastic. Because the engines start fuel rich the entire rocket will be enveloped with flame. Check out the inferno surrounding the Delta IV at startup. Then multiply by 2.5. We already know how great the SRB's look. They will now be 20% bigger. The 9 million lb thrust of the whole stack will dwarf the Saturn V at 7.5.
Agreed. The video footage during ascent is amazing.
The planned Ares V should continue the tradition of spectacular launches. It will use 2 shuttle-derived 5 segment solid rocket boosters and 5 (!) RS-68 H2/O2 engines that burn even more colorfully than the shuttle SSMEs. Should be a great show at night.
Mr. Bush thanks the British people for their support in the war on terror in Iraq. When we want to sound adsurd and condescending we Americans naturally break into an English accent.
We do such things for ourselves and for science. Certainly not for Europe.
To be honest we don't think much about the rest of the world. There is the US, everything else is target coordinates.
pwnd!
I am not the only one. Try a Google search on "New York Times" and "treason". I am going to enjoy watching them twist in the wind. Whose side are you on?
You realy don't want to be left alone, you want immunity from causing someone else harm. There is a different. Be honest.
Democrats and their media shills (like the New York Times, LA Times, CNN) commit open acts of treason outing effective, classified anti-terror programs and expect immunity. Do you expect it to pass unnoticed? Not this time.
You mean 'jimp' :)
It is about time this capability was added to the shuttle. Makes if the return to flight test flights or some of the ISS construction missions could be flown unmanned.
Your lack of patriotism during wartime sickens me.
I fully support the freely available clause. I am not looking to save a buck. I want the system to serve as many as possible. Indeed I think basic healthcare and dentistry should be included as well. To do otherwise is to waste human capital, the most unthinkable crime.
I am embarrassed about the amoral->immoral typo.
I don't know why anyone finds negative SETI results offensive. Nobody ever suggested the search would be easy. The occurrance of extraterrestrial civilizations is still mapped by the Drake Equation. Certain parameters (fc, fi, fL) are being adjusted down by the SETI effort. At the same time the success of planet hunting and planetary mission results are positively effecting others (fp, ne). A negative result, although less exciting, is still a result.
Couldn't agree more. But the current public school system, particularly its funding structure, is amoral. I am embarrassed to be a party to it. The underclasses are condemned to languish in underfunded, crime ridden, failed schools. The affluent attend feel-good country clubs. Even potentially good students are discouraged and stunted by the political pablum slung at them by the liberal elite. Privatize schools. Introduce market forces for teachers, defang the unions, add vouchers for student mobility and positive changes will occur.
The exodus from the Church of Finland is just another example of the desire of citizens to opt out of certain government services that do not serve them. As an American I would like to opt out of Social Security, farm subsidies, K-12 public schools, and public television.
A common story occurance on slashdot for the submitter to highlight some deep deficiency in American business, technology, or way of life, which is then inevitably followed by non-American dick-swinging nationalism of why someone else does it better. This is a perfect example.