I was going to leave it at your post, but some others have posted to "correct" your post, so I feel the need to be clear here.
I haven't used the term baud in conversation for years, and had forgotten that particular aspect of its usage. Dylan is correct that it could be interpreted as "rate (type baud)" but honestly, the incorrect meaning was in my mind when I typed it and I simply lucked out that by including quotes around the word "baud" allowed enough ambiguity that I could plausibly claim to have correctly used it.
The point is that clarifying terms is exactly the sort of thing that this discussion is about. Successful communication is hampered by ambiguity.
There has never been a point since the introduction of the 1024 "binary k" prefix that you didn't have to second-guess. RAM was different from disk, before that communications was already using SI kilo (or I should say, what would become SI kilo, since they predated the codification of SI).
The "binary" prefixes have always been problematic and don't help new people entering the field to understand anything, so they ought to go, or at least be segregated out so that there can be no confusion.
No, if the troops are used for more than 90 days, war must be declared by congress. They don't have to use the specific words, "we, the xxxth congress of the US, declare a war on blahbahstan." A "force authorization" is also a declaration of war, in the same way that "warranted search" does not mean that there needs to be a specific document with the title of "warrant." There are circumstances which warrant search.
It might be nice if we did require them to use those specific words, though.
No, he's talking about a philosophical matter that we will never, ever be able to know. It's a thought exercise that young children often engage in to entertain themselves, although ultimately, the answer is "mu"
Two people can agree on a color, and point to the same color by the same name, but is it internally also the same? Could someone see a world where red looks like what you see blue as? You'd call them by the same name, because you attached those names based on common experience, but does the internal "representation" have any reality?
You can't determine it experimentally any more than you can measure what someone "hears" when they read a book. And maybe even less likely than that.
He's trying to imagine what it would be like to see four colors instead of three, which is an exercise that is probably as difficult and meaningful as a monochrome-viewer to imagine two or three colors, or a flatlander to imagine a three-dimensional world. Ultimately, i'd guess "not only an extra color, but a whole extra bunch of combinations of colors with a more complex system of complementary colors." But I can only see the standard 3, so I can't really imagine it.
Of course you don't think you're being efficient. You can only see your small piece of the puzzle. Just because your'e not loafing and your co-workers appear to be doing the same doesn't mean that you're actually efficient about whatever it is your agency is supposed to be responsible for. And that doesn't even get into the possibility that you could be very efficiently accomplishing tasks that themselves are not actually beneficial to society.
Never underestimate the ability for a bureaucracy to appear busy, no matter how any resources it wastes. The reason people focus on government inefficiency more than corporate inefficiency (other than the obvious size difference) is that you can end your relationship with any corporation at will, whereas government has the ability to compel you under threat of life and limb, to continue to comply. You can't simply "do without" government services, the only way dissolve your involuntary obligation is emigration.
Of all the things the UK does, that doesn't even make the radar as "big brother" ish.
If you're a parent and you send your kid into someone else's care, you sure as hell want to be notified if that person or organization doesn't know where your kid is. And if you can't be reached, you definitely want secondary contacts to be contacted.
That's my point. You can take off and land, and the part in the middle is stupidly automateable, yet the copilot still hasn't been replaced with the dog yet.
The largest unreinforced concrete dome is about 140 ft wide and has stood for nearly two thousand years. Not nearly large enough for a football field, but not entirely hopeless, either.
In the ideal socialist utopia, you wouldn't be allowed to raise your own kids. Parenting is too important to be left to parents. They'd go to an indoctrination camp with a built-in park.
The example automator actions that come with every mac include one that causes the speech system to create an audio-file and import it into iTunes. With a very little bit of tweaking, you can make it go at any speed you like.
The disturbing thing about it is that some of their voices are an order of magnitude more audible than most of the libravox recordings over at Gutenberg.* But I guess you get what you pay for.
*don't even bother listening to shakespeare or any poetry, they've got some absolutely daft young ladies reading in the worst sing-songy style (it's a poem, so you have to read it like a nursery rhyme for a two year old, right? argh.) ever. I know, I know, they're volunteers. Trust me on this, if you want an audio book, pay for it. Voice acting isn't cheap for a reason.
Still, if you like real-people but find them too slow, mplayer on linux (see, you don't even need a stupid mac!) has some interesting options that I assume are descended from ffmpeg, which allow you to speed things up without changing the pitch. So a little research and you could be on your way with whatever options work for you.
It is possible, but it'll never happen, for the same reason it hasn't happened in the airline industry (where the route problem is actually much, much easier...)
People are panicky and stupid.
An automatic car system could reduce road deaths by 98%, but those remaining 2% will be errors in the software, so the whole thing would be derided as death-traps.
On the other hand, I'd buy an automated car on almost any other network than Government Motors. I wouldn't trust that company with a 39 1/2 foot pole, and I wouldn't be surprised if they're only now pushing it because their new partnership could actually get it mandated into place.
Buffett may like investing in utilities, but for the same reason, the rest of us shouldn't like creating them or buying stuff from them. For me, the next car I buy will be Ford or Foreign. There are no other choices remaining.
Those were code tags, and were needed because the code font looks more typewritery. <tt> tags, if slashdot allows, would probably have been more appropriate. Lazyness won out over perfect poetry.
Well, what's next? Health care is a product that may extend your span on the earth. Of course you want it, and you're probably willing to pay for it, too.
I can think of another product that's even more vital to extending your span on the earth than health care. And that is food. Without proper food care, you average life span would be measured in months not years.
Therefore, I propose that we nationalize food care (we've already started! Subsidies...) in the coming years and enslave the farmers in the same way that we're going to enslave the doctors. If we only nationalize food care, then our chocolate needs will be taken care of. Ever year the ration will be bigger than the last.
Indeed. Many people apparently have difficulty operating web browsers, even those designed to hide the complexity as well as possible.
On an unrelated note, I would like to add that although the layout is similar, a computer keyboard is not a typewriter. There is no need to manually insert carriage returns while typing.
Oh, it's far too late for em. I used to attend schools as far away as 13km (carpooled on that one). When I was only 2km away, I did walk home, at least, although car-pooling was a good way to get extra half-hour of sleep in the morning and not have to arrive sweaty from the 12kg of books that had to be transported.*
*frankly, I think that you improve options significantly by just issuing two sets of books to every student.
Yeah, the school bus really wastes time-out-of-your-life, especially if you're one of the first stops. It doesn't even really save that much on fuel, because of the way the routes are planned, the many stops and acceleration, and the sheer bulk of the thing. We really need a better option for places where walking doesn't work for whatever reason.
Slashdot Mirror
the df in OS X is BSD df
I was going to leave it at your post, but some others have posted to "correct" your post, so I feel the need to be clear here.
I haven't used the term baud in conversation for years, and had forgotten that particular aspect of its usage. Dylan is correct that it could be interpreted as "rate (type baud)" but honestly, the incorrect meaning was in my mind when I typed it and I simply lucked out that by including quotes around the word "baud" allowed enough ambiguity that I could plausibly claim to have correctly used it.
The point is that clarifying terms is exactly the sort of thing that this discussion is about. Successful communication is hampered by ambiguity.
Seems someone has never heard of "baud" rate. The symbol rate has always been base-10, but the symbols don't have to be bits.
There has never been a point since the introduction of the 1024 "binary k" prefix that you didn't have to second-guess. RAM was different from disk, before that communications was already using SI kilo (or I should say, what would become SI kilo, since they predated the codification of SI).
The "binary" prefixes have always been problematic and don't help new people entering the field to understand anything, so they ought to go, or at least be segregated out so that there can be no confusion.
No, if the troops are used for more than 90 days, war must be declared by congress. They don't have to use the specific words, "we, the xxxth congress of the US, declare a war on blahbahstan." A "force authorization" is also a declaration of war, in the same way that "warranted search" does not mean that there needs to be a specific document with the title of "warrant." There are circumstances which warrant search.
It might be nice if we did require them to use those specific words, though.
Yes, it could. But I'm not the one making the claim that my company is efficient on the basis that I'm not loafing.
No, he's talking about a philosophical matter that we will never, ever be able to know. It's a thought exercise that young children often engage in to entertain themselves, although ultimately, the answer is "mu"
Two people can agree on a color, and point to the same color by the same name, but is it internally also the same? Could someone see a world where red looks like what you see blue as? You'd call them by the same name, because you attached those names based on common experience, but does the internal "representation" have any reality?
You can't determine it experimentally any more than you can measure what someone "hears" when they read a book. And maybe even less likely than that.
He's trying to imagine what it would be like to see four colors instead of three, which is an exercise that is probably as difficult and meaningful as a monochrome-viewer to imagine two or three colors, or a flatlander to imagine a three-dimensional world. Ultimately, i'd guess "not only an extra color, but a whole extra bunch of combinations of colors with a more complex system of complementary colors." But I can only see the standard 3, so I can't really imagine it.
To blow smoke up your own ass like that.
Of course you don't think you're being efficient. You can only see your small piece of the puzzle. Just because your'e not loafing and your co-workers appear to be doing the same doesn't mean that you're actually efficient about whatever it is your agency is supposed to be responsible for. And that doesn't even get into the possibility that you could be very efficiently accomplishing tasks that themselves are not actually beneficial to society.
Never underestimate the ability for a bureaucracy to appear busy, no matter how any resources it wastes. The reason people focus on government inefficiency more than corporate inefficiency (other than the obvious size difference) is that you can end your relationship with any corporation at will, whereas government has the ability to compel you under threat of life and limb, to continue to comply. You can't simply "do without" government services, the only way dissolve your involuntary obligation is emigration.
Not enough roads, raise taxes on fuel, doubles to reduce cars on the roads
Cars aren't what wears down roads. Trucks are. Trucks carrying goods.
Of all the things the UK does, that doesn't even make the radar as "big brother" ish.
If you're a parent and you send your kid into someone else's care, you sure as hell want to be notified if that person or organization doesn't know where your kid is. And if you can't be reached, you definitely want secondary contacts to be contacted.
It is worse for the environment, costs more money per student
These ideas are "obvious," but I haven't seen anything that actually proves or shows or even calculates that this would or ought to be the case.
Remember the old saw about flies and honey?
I take it you haven't either...
That's my point. You can take off and land, and the part in the middle is stupidly automateable, yet the copilot still hasn't been replaced with the dog yet.
The largest unreinforced concrete dome is about 140 ft wide and has stood for nearly two thousand years. Not nearly large enough for a football field, but not entirely hopeless, either.
In the ideal socialist utopia, you wouldn't be allowed to raise your own kids. Parenting is too important to be left to parents. They'd go to an indoctrination camp with a built-in park.
The example automator actions that come with every mac include one that causes the speech system to create an audio-file and import it into iTunes. With a very little bit of tweaking, you can make it go at any speed you like.
The disturbing thing about it is that some of their voices are an order of magnitude more audible than most of the libravox recordings over at Gutenberg.* But I guess you get what you pay for.
*don't even bother listening to shakespeare or any poetry, they've got some absolutely daft young ladies reading in the worst sing-songy style (it's a poem, so you have to read it like a nursery rhyme for a two year old, right? argh.) ever. I know, I know, they're volunteers. Trust me on this, if you want an audio book, pay for it. Voice acting isn't cheap for a reason.
Still, if you like real-people but find them too slow, mplayer on linux (see, you don't even need a stupid mac!) has some interesting options that I assume are descended from ffmpeg, which allow you to speed things up without changing the pitch. So a little research and you could be on your way with whatever options work for you.
It is possible, but it'll never happen, for the same reason it hasn't happened in the airline industry (where the route problem is actually much, much easier...)
People are panicky and stupid.
An automatic car system could reduce road deaths by 98%, but those remaining 2% will be errors in the software, so the whole thing would be derided as death-traps.
On the other hand, I'd buy an automated car on almost any other network than Government Motors. I wouldn't trust that company with a 39 1/2 foot pole, and I wouldn't be surprised if they're only now pushing it because their new partnership could actually get it mandated into place.
Buffett may like investing in utilities, but for the same reason, the rest of us shouldn't like creating them or buying stuff from them. For me, the next car I buy will be Ford or Foreign. There are no other choices remaining.
Those were code tags, and were needed because the code font looks more typewritery. <tt> tags, if slashdot allows, would probably have been more appropriate. Lazyness won out over perfect poetry.
Why is this flamebait?
Well, what's next? Health care is a product that may extend your span on the earth. Of course you want it, and you're probably willing to pay for it, too.
I can think of another product that's even more vital to extending your span on the earth than health care. And that is food. Without proper food care, you average life span would be measured in months not years.
Therefore, I propose that we nationalize food care (we've already started! Subsidies...) in the coming years and enslave the farmers in the same way that we're going to enslave the doctors. If we only nationalize food care, then our chocolate needs will be taken care of. Ever year the ration will be bigger than the last.
Indeed. Many people apparently have difficulty operating web browsers, even those designed to hide the complexity as well as possible.
On an unrelated note, I would like to add that although the layout is similar, a computer keyboard is not a typewriter. There is no need to manually insert carriage returns while typing.
Oh, it's far too late for em. I used to attend schools as far away as 13km (carpooled on that one). When I was only 2km away, I did walk home, at least, although car-pooling was a good way to get extra half-hour of sleep in the morning and not have to arrive sweaty from the 12kg of books that had to be transported.*
*frankly, I think that you improve options significantly by just issuing two sets of books to every student.
Yeah, the school bus really wastes time-out-of-your-life, especially if you're one of the first stops. It doesn't even really save that much on fuel, because of the way the routes are planned, the many stops and acceleration, and the sheer bulk of the thing. We really need a better option for places where walking doesn't work for whatever reason.
That is one incredibly precise versioning scheme...
Words mean things. Change the word, change the meaning. In this case... the difference in meaning is substantial.