Question: The industry lobbyists say the alleged high-tech labor shortage is due to the failure of our K-12 educational system to develop math skills for engineering careers. Is that true?
The main answer to this question is that the vast majority of high-tech H-1Bs are programmers, not engineers, and programming does not use math.
footnote: An obvious exception is software for mathematical applications.
So, programmers don't use math? Feh. That pretty much sums up the usefulness of this report.
Apparently, "search for the word 'porn' on BearShare results in more than 25,000 entries, many of them video files."
So, um, can any of, um, you tell me where, um, I can find this, um, "BearShare"? Um, I am a, um, intern doing, um, serious research for the, um, federal government.
What do you use on Windows that you can't get on another platform? Honestly?
Games. Diablo II, Diablo II expansion. Starcraft/Brood Wars. Master of Orion II. XCOM. Unreal. Rainbow Six. NES/SNES emulators. Black and White. Icewind Dale. Homeworld.
Standard user interface and support. All Microsoft applications look and feel the same, drag-and-drop the same, and cut-and-paste the same. And this isn't even bothering about KDE vs Gnome.
Give me an OS that does that, and that's all I need. Until Linux can do that, I just keep it to the side partition.
I hereby propose the term "anne-tomlinson", or "tomlinson" to describe the act of departing a company in the most suspicious of circumstances, known only to a very privileged few. Used in the following example:
X: "What happened to Anne?"
Y: "I don't know; all I know is that she anne-tomlinnsoned from work."
Note that this verb should have the subject of the remark used as the subject of the verb, and the organization left as the indirect object. This should be adhered to regardless if the subject quit, was fired, laid off, died, disappeared, never existed, or there was a mutual decision for the subject to leave. In fact, the verb should mainly be used when the method of departure is unknown or never officially stated (or, even officially acknowledged).
Also note that this verb should NOT refer to a person leaving another person, as in "Fred's now-ex-wife had tomlinsonned from him." The number of people (one or more) that are the subject should be less than the number of people who the object represents.
Continuing on, this verb should NEVER be applied in a self referential matter, IE: "I anne-tomlinsonned from them". This implies that the subject either A) knows the reasons, and is just being a prick about not stating them, or B) the subject does not know the reasons due to massive thick-headedness.
Lastly, this term should only be used to convey the sense of inpenetrable mystery surrounding the departure. It would be oxy-moronic to state: "Ted tomlinsonned because he was bored and wanted to leave." If the mystery surrounding the departure is penetrable, use another phrase.
anne-tomlinson, v,: to leave or be removed from a group under extremely odd, and mysterious, circumstances; especially when the actual method of departure or initiating party of departure is unknown. More especially, when the actual departure is apparently covered up or left un-acknowledged. tenses: anne-tomlinson, anne-tomlinsons, anne-tomlinsonning, anne-tomlinsonned, had anne-tomlinsonned.
Okay, offhand, let's say that we are using the 60Hz standard for electric power lines as a carrier. Okay, that gives us a potential (as in theoretical) data rate of a big, whopping (drum roll) 30 symbols per second. With 120 Volts, we could get a lot of information in that big wavelength, about 240 bits per symbol (assume a 24 volt peak-to-peak wavelength (that is, +/- 10% on the 120V) and a variance of 0.1V per data symbol step). So, power lines would get a bit-rate of 7200bps, or 900 Bytes per second or 0.9KB/s. Stop the presses! This is great news!
Now, then, let's assume that we will not be the 60Hz bandwidth, that we will be using a second carrier. So, we have to build a high-pass filter capable of separating a signal of x volts from three phase power of 220V. Assuming x is neglible compared to 220, that is one expensive piece of heavy-duty and fine-tuned electronics, and one very high standard of noise reduction you have to bring the power lines up to for transmission. Assuming X ~ 220, congratulations, you have just solved high-voltage at high frequency transmission problems, and just doubled your phone bill.
Of course, we haven't even begun to worry about SNR on a power lines. If the power companies are having trouble keeping 220V @ 60Hz clean, then how the hell are they going to keep xV @ yMhz (assume 220 > x, and 20 > y > 1.0).
In a word, this sounds like a whole lot of marketing. Don't hold your breath.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer Smart Tags are something new and dangerous. They mean that the company that controls the Web browser is using that power to actually alter others' Web sites to its own advantage. Microsoft has a perfect right to sell services. But by using its dominant software to do so, it will be tilting the playing field and threatening editorial integrity.
</i></blockquote>
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You mean, it's monopoly power, don't you?
<br>
The video in question is available for free in streaming formats (Windows, Quick Time, and Real) at www.launch.com. The site is a "free registration required" site, but I can get the 300K Windows Media version on the @Home network flawlessly. It, it *still* kicks ass one of the all-time greatest videos ever.
I would think it would be a lot cheaper to breed a bunch of vermin to be used as cannon fodder than build big minesweeping equipment.
Funny you should mention that, because in WWII, the best way to clear a minefield was to drive a herd of domesticated animals through it (IE: cattle, pigs, sheep, etc). The farmer was never happy, but it was cheaper, faster, and generally more thorough than manual methods.
Free feel to ask JMS (creator of Babylon 5) all about that. The reason he pulled the plug on the Crusade series was because the distributor (TNT) kept trying to impose their will on what JMS (and, to the same degree) the fans wanted.
Also, talk to a lot of the glam/hair rock bands about the early 80s (before glam/hair was big), especially in terms of how their distributors wanted their music to be played. It's the same story: distributors trying to enforce their will on the artists.
Please, if "your really believe that the artist are" "in best position to decide which option will result in the best possible gratification?" then you are pretty fucking stupid and/or naive.
How hard would it be to use one of those metal suitcases and fit it out to have a real desktop motherboard, a couple AGP/PCI cards, a flat screen monitor in the lid (with hopefully enough room for air-circulation), a power supply, a couple drives, etc? I mean, you could have a couple holes in the side for external ports/power cord/etc, and to leave, just unplug and close, and go.
The strength here is that you have all of the functionality (not to mention upgradeability) of a real computer with all of the mobility of an old 80s luggable PC.
This just a thought that I have been kicking around.
Luxury. We decoded the characters on our C-64 visually and then squawked the ASCII values verbally into a tin-can with a piece of dental floss that, after 50 miles through the swirling snow (uphill! Both ways! In my father's pajamas!) connected to a *real* telephone switch board by two pieces of chicken wire held together by hope and a lump of dirt (and not a hell of lot of dirt, either! That was expensive back then!).
Try to transfer the first Ultima Game over the phone that way! We had to stop, twice, because our vocal chords were tearing!
Kids these days don't know how tough it was back then!
I mean, this is a nifty little device, but how do I carry my speakers? So I have the 17" monitor in my arms, and I hope my Addtronics mid-server case fits in the straps, but these AIWA speakers are huge! It's back to two trips even if I buy this.
D'oh! I thought the thorn/eth comment was based on the posters, to me, apparent lack of understanding on the joke made about threes. I didn't know it had to do with the Dragons comment. Thank you for the correction, and my profuse apologizes for my misunderstanding.
3 legs, but from what (little) I know, 3 legs is very hard to do realistically, because no-one has ever tried to solve the problem of walking on three appendages.
Gee, lucky that they didn't didn't get a write up in Salon or posted on/. or they might get a ton of *publicity*.
As well, the University I went to (University of Regina, in Canada) had a very strict and very enforced policy against Infiltration; one urban legend told to me by the security guards was that under the building known as the Language Institute, there is a huge open space that is well-lighted with a sand floor: an indoor beach. The legend continues that a sophomore, after finding it, took his girlfriend for a "picnic" there, and was eventually caught by the security guards "having dessert" ("wink, wink, nudge, nudge, you know what I mean?"). Both were promptly expelled.
That's a good idea, but there are a ton of dreamers (such as myself) that will continue to plod away and use SETI regardless of the feedback I receive. Bluntly, I use SETI completely in the background (no screensaver), and run it all the time. To me, it's more important the feeling knowing that I am a part of a larger whole, and working on something that I would really like to see happen within my life. Just the proof that intelligent life exists, just the little part that I play in the search, is meaningful to me. And besides, it's not like I am using those cycles for anything useful, now.
As the song goes:
"So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure
How amazingly unlikely is your birth
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space
Because there's bugger all down here on Earth"
--"The Galaxy Song", Monty Python's Flying Circus
Slashdot Mirror
No, only 14 percent of all people know that (Homer Simpson).
Games. Diablo II, Diablo II expansion. Starcraft/Brood Wars. Master of Orion II. XCOM. Unreal. Rainbow Six. NES/SNES emulators. Black and White. Icewind Dale. Homeworld.
Standard user interface and support. All Microsoft applications look and feel the same, drag-and-drop the same, and cut-and-paste the same. And this isn't even bothering about KDE vs Gnome.
Give me an OS that does that, and that's all I need. Until Linux can do that, I just keep it to the side partition.
LOL! That made my day!
I hereby propose the term "anne-tomlinson", or "tomlinson" to describe the act of departing a company in the most suspicious of circumstances, known only to a very privileged few. Used in the following example:
X: "What happened to Anne?"
Y: "I don't know; all I know is that she anne-tomlinnsoned from work."
Note that this verb should have the subject of the remark used as the subject of the verb, and the organization left as the indirect object. This should be adhered to regardless if the subject quit, was fired, laid off, died, disappeared, never existed, or there was a mutual decision for the subject to leave. In fact, the verb should mainly be used when the method of departure is unknown or never officially stated (or, even officially acknowledged).
Also note that this verb should NOT refer to a person leaving another person, as in "Fred's now-ex-wife had tomlinsonned from him." The number of people (one or more) that are the subject should be less than the number of people who the object represents.
Continuing on, this verb should NEVER be applied in a self referential matter, IE: "I anne-tomlinsonned from them". This implies that the subject either A) knows the reasons, and is just being a prick about not stating them, or B) the subject does not know the reasons due to massive thick-headedness.
Lastly, this term should only be used to convey the sense of inpenetrable mystery surrounding the departure. It would be oxy-moronic to state: "Ted tomlinsonned because he was bored and wanted to leave." If the mystery surrounding the departure is penetrable, use another phrase.
anne-tomlinson, v,: to leave or be removed from a group under extremely odd, and mysterious, circumstances; especially when the actual method of departure or initiating party of departure is unknown. More especially, when the actual departure is apparently covered up or left un-acknowledged.
tenses: anne-tomlinson, anne-tomlinsons, anne-tomlinsonning, anne-tomlinsonned, had anne-tomlinsonned.
and just doubled your phone bill.
Grrr, that should read "and just doubled your electric bill"
And, for the sarcasm-impared, that first paragraph should have ended with a sarcasm tag.
Okay, offhand, let's say that we are using the 60Hz standard for electric power lines as a carrier. Okay, that gives us a potential (as in theoretical) data rate of a big, whopping (drum roll) 30 symbols per second. With 120 Volts, we could get a lot of information in that big wavelength, about 240 bits per symbol (assume a 24 volt peak-to-peak wavelength (that is, +/- 10% on the 120V) and a variance of 0.1V per data symbol step). So, power lines would get a bit-rate of 7200bps, or 900 Bytes per second or 0.9KB/s. Stop the presses! This is great news!
Now, then, let's assume that we will not be the 60Hz bandwidth, that we will be using a second carrier. So, we have to build a high-pass filter capable of separating a signal of x volts from three phase power of 220V. Assuming x is neglible compared to 220, that is one expensive piece of heavy-duty and fine-tuned electronics, and one very high standard of noise reduction you have to bring the power lines up to for transmission. Assuming X ~ 220, congratulations, you have just solved high-voltage at high frequency transmission problems, and just doubled your phone bill.
Of course, we haven't even begun to worry about SNR on a power lines. If the power companies are having trouble keeping 220V @ 60Hz clean, then how the hell are they going to keep xV @ yMhz (assume 220 > x, and 20 > y > 1.0).
In a word, this sounds like a whole lot of marketing. Don't hold your breath.
The video in question is available for free in streaming formats (Windows, Quick Time, and Real) at www.launch.com. The site is a "free registration required" site, but I can get the 300K Windows Media version on the @Home network flawlessly. It, it *still* kicks ass one of the all-time greatest videos ever.
That would explain Slashdot's popularity there...
What about Hotmail?
Free feel to ask JMS (creator of Babylon 5) all about that. The reason he pulled the plug on the Crusade series was because the distributor (TNT) kept trying to impose their will on what JMS (and, to the same degree) the fans wanted.
Also, talk to a lot of the glam/hair rock bands about the early 80s (before glam/hair was big), especially in terms of how their distributors wanted their music to be played. It's the same story: distributors trying to enforce their will on the artists.
Please, if "your really believe that the artist are" "in best position to decide which option will result in the best possible gratification?" then you are pretty fucking stupid and/or naive.
How hard would it be to use one of those metal suitcases and fit it out to have a real desktop motherboard, a couple AGP/PCI cards, a flat screen monitor in the lid (with hopefully enough room for air-circulation), a power supply, a couple drives, etc? I mean, you could have a couple holes in the side for external ports/power cord/etc, and to leave, just unplug and close, and go.
The strength here is that you have all of the functionality (not to mention upgradeability) of a real computer with all of the mobility of an old 80s luggable PC.
This just a thought that I have been kicking around.
Luxury. We decoded the characters on our C-64 visually and then squawked the ASCII values verbally into a tin-can with a piece of dental floss that, after 50 miles through the swirling snow (uphill! Both ways! In my father's pajamas!) connected to a *real* telephone switch board by two pieces of chicken wire held together by hope and a lump of dirt (and not a hell of lot of dirt, either! That was expensive back then!).
Try to transfer the first Ultima Game over the phone that way! We had to stop, twice, because our vocal chords were tearing!
Kids these days don't know how tough it was back then!
I mean, this is a nifty little device, but how do I carry my speakers? So I have the 17" monitor in my arms, and I hope my Addtronics mid-server case fits in the straps, but these AIWA speakers are huge! It's back to two trips even if I buy this.
> (If you could I'd trademark E and sue everyone!)
Microsoft is already ahead of you.
> I guess you can also turn an old VGA monitor
> into a TV with these things. That's kind of
> handy too
Boy, do I *ever* need 14" colour TV with a lousy refresh rate.
</sarcasm>
The rest of it sounds like a pretty standard port; a lot of hardwork, mind you, but nothing truly *elegant*.
D'oh! I thought the thorn/eth comment was based on the posters, to me, apparent lack of understanding on the joke made about threes. I didn't know it had to do with the Dragons comment. Thank you for the correction, and my profuse apologizes for my misunderstanding.
3 legs, but from what (little) I know, 3 legs is very hard to do realistically, because no-one has ever tried to solve the problem of walking on three appendages.
> cuts down on the heating bill
Um, but that electricity bill in probably pretty ugly...
> Many infiltrators shy away from press coverage
/. or they might get a ton of *publicity*.
Gee, lucky that they didn't didn't get a write up in Salon or posted on
As well, the University I went to (University of Regina, in Canada) had a very strict and very enforced policy against Infiltration; one urban legend told to me by the security guards was that under the building known as the Language Institute, there is a huge open space that is well-lighted with a sand floor: an indoor beach. The legend continues that a sophomore, after finding it, took his girlfriend for a "picnic" there, and was eventually caught by the security guards "having dessert" ("wink, wink, nudge, nudge, you know what I mean?"). Both were promptly expelled.
That's a good idea, but there are a ton of dreamers (such as myself) that will continue to plod away and use SETI regardless of the feedback I receive. Bluntly, I use SETI completely in the background (no screensaver), and run it all the time. To me, it's more important the feeling knowing that I am a part of a larger whole, and working on something that I would really like to see happen within my life. Just the proof that intelligent life exists, just the little part that I play in the search, is meaningful to me. And besides, it's not like I am using those cycles for anything useful, now.
As the song goes:
"So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure
How amazingly unlikely is your birth
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space
Because there's bugger all down here on Earth"
--"The Galaxy Song", Monty Python's Flying Circus
As long as they don't bounce the signals off our own satellites, everything is okay.
As long as they don't bounce the signals off our own satellites, everything is okay.