"To-date this fiscal year, revenue is up over $47 billion compared to last year.... Of course spending is up over $100 billion for the same period, but we do indeed have MORE to spend, even if it isn't enough to cover the increase in outlays."
Yeah but compared to the revenue lost in previous years, isn't that kind of like someone deep in bankruptcy finding a $100 bill on the ground and then going to spend $200 at the store because of their luck?:-)
"Well honestly, NASA is one of the most wasteful organizations I have ever seen."
In defense of NASA, however, it really IS rocket science. NASA is expensive, but the Russians really aren't doing much. They're doing it cheaper by not doing much at all. (Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the current Russian space program is a shadow of its former self, to the point where they fly billionaires onto the ISS for cab fare. The budget struggles at their central Asian launch facility are sadly legendary.)
"We just aren't getting the same type of benefits from NASA that we once did, it's stagnant and dull."
I can see where you're coming from, but isn't the current exploration of Mars pretty darn exciting? We haven't landed any naked apes on moons or other planets lately, but it could be strongly argued that robots are far better suited (and cheaper) for the task than humans anyway.
"I wish them luck but I'd rather keep my tax money and spend it on my kids college fund, sorry."
At least you're one of the people who actually understand and consider the trade-offs involved. I personally disagree - I'd rather see NASA funded - but it's always reassuring when people actually weigh the consequences and decide according to their priorities, rather than invoke some form of economic voodoo or political dogma.
Let's face it, the American people (on average, not your typical US Slashdot reader - I hope) just do NOT get the fact that you have to HAVE money to SPEND money. Apparently being suckled on credit cards has removed that concept from peoples' minds.
With Bush's multiple rounds of slashing taxes, that means we have LESS to spend. We've got record budget deficits and we have to cut spending correspondingly. Period.
So if you like deep tax cuts, quit whining about budget cuts. This is what the results are - the government HAS to spend less or we're simply pissing in our own well.
Whine all you want about "But they could just cut (Program-I-Don't-Care-About) instead!" The problem is that every other program has their own segment of the population screaming about the exact same thing.
Maybe some nation that understands the concept of debit/credit ledgers can get to Mars instead, and send us a postcard.
I think it's hilarious that this is being modded as a Troll. Maybe one of you moderators who marked it as such could explain? It's relevant, it's factual, it's a likely response from Redmond based on past history.
If you simply don't like the side of the fence I'm on (or anyone else's, regardless of topic) then I suggest you read the Moderator's Guidelines: Do not let your opinions factor in. Try to be impartial about this. Simply disagreeing with a comment is not a valid reason to mark it down.
"Personally, i like to ask the users what they want to see."
EXACTLY! Sometimes the users don't see the Big Picture and have old habits they want to keep around, but more often in my experience it's some boneheaded developer's choice to squander resources to "improve" an interface without ever actually investigating whether the users will get any improvement at all.
On my latest project (in-house application) I've actually had to go head-to-head with our senior developer (not a software engineer) over how the interface should look and work, me going to bat for the users.
The users of the new application want it to look and function in a manner that suits the way in which they need to operate day in/day out. Simple, straightforward. I prototyped it for them and they loved it.
Our senior developer then told me no, we're going to do it using MegaSuperKewl WizBang crap, something the users were fundamentally opposed to (it would actually tangibly interfere with the way they use the data in production).
I'm hardly junior myself - 11 years fulltime S.E. - and figured screw it, I'm not going to watch this abomination progress unchallenged. I arranged a meeting between the users, the senior developer and myself. The conversation was hilarious. I asked him to explain to the users how his design would improve their productivity. Let your imagination run wild and you'll come close. The users won in the end, but it was hard fought
But then the same week I had to argue, yes ARGUE, to store constants to be shared across applications in a common header file. The same fellow argued it would be much easier to hardcode it in each application separately. A heated 20-minute meeting later, I get to store the constants in a common header file.
I *WISH* I was making this stuff up. My life is a Dilbert strip.
I wonder how many of these little robo-critters they could deploy in a single landing? Sure seems like a swarm of the little buggers spreading out for not only redundancy but increased geographical coverage would be a big plus.
Looks like that base station each is tethered to would put a kink in that idea though.
And of course if the subterranean residents interpret the swarm as an invasion, Lucy's gonna have some 'splainin to do...
"We're taking the system down tonight for a some system updates. We expect to go down around 9 (eastern) and hope to be back up by midnight.".
If I had stock options for every time I'd tried that and ended up having to scurry in a panic through the weekend... Oh wait, I'd still be broke. Nevermind.
"But what struck me from the trailer is that you can tell when the robots go bad because they glow red. Well, shit. That takes out some subtlety, doesn't it? "Hey man, stay away from the glowing red robots!" Duh. They must be "set to evil".
Hence the critical importance of implementing the Evil Bit in ALL systems, not just Internet communications protocols. Come on people, join the movement! It's our last best hope for humanity!
"Its amazing how shallow their profit margins are, even with the common perception that "Apple is price-gouging" and whatnot."
I wonder if it's more a situation where Apple took a lot of one-time charges against a good fiscal period. Minimize taxes while simultaneously "expensing while the expensing's good".
Re: the common perception of "price gouging" (not yours of course), today yet again my Gateway wintel box crapped out. 4th time in 3.5 years. Hardware failure. The Dell next to it crapped out a few months earlier. 3rd time in 1.5 years. Meanwhile my 1999 PowerMac G4 and 1995 PowerMac 7600 have chugged along without a hitch to this day.
Those rock-bottom priced consumer PCs are no bargain at all. Good components cost $$$, and on average you get what you pay for.
And yes, I realize there are quality Intel/AMD boxes out there. They also cost a good bit more than your average Dell consumer bargain box.
Seems unfair for the parent to be modded Offtopic.
Plus he/she brings up a good point: For all the nitpicking that we all do about non-compliant websites, it seems reasonable that the premier website for nerdly matters should set the example and lead the way.
"if a pedo or other person wants the kid, they just have to drop or incapacitate the book bag chip.. thus making the tracking device useless."
Worse yet, the tags could actually aid in the abduction (assuming these things can be detected far enough away to be "useful" in the first place). Just stick the tag to a dog/taxi/etc. that's going to move around on its own and tie up the authorities, since they're trusting that the detected RFID is where the kid is.
And if they don't have that trust, then isn't this system merely a complex flawed replacement for simple class roll-calls?
Not a chance. Else Pac Man would have stood waiting in line for hours to get one dot, and all the bonus items would been deemed decadent Western evils. Unless you entered the secret "Member of the Politburo" code, in which case see below.
No, Pac Man was purely a consumerism capitalist, endlessly gobbling up things, the faster the better in order to gobble still MORE things, all while dodging the tax collectors to the best of his ability.
"Fish aren't wiped out by mercury in the water, it merely removes the weak. Uranium hardly causes widespread panic by causing green, glowing birds."
Wow. I didn't even know James Watt was on the Web, much less had a Slashdot account! In fact I thought he was dead. Hey... Even Hell has broadband before I do... argh!
"Trees cause more pollution than automobiles." - Ronald Reagan
"Microsoft users have shown time and time again is even when the patch does come out, it's often not applied on many machines."
A sobering testament to their broken model of supplying patches across the Win 95/98/2000/XP family of products, not to mention the fear of many users and institutions to install patches due to stability concerns.
All of which falls squarely on the shoulders of MS. Build trust, provide security and stability. How would the public rate MS on those three counts?
"Many of you could destroy probably cream me on a $99 Huffy. But the bike is a joy to ride."
Hey, you could afford it, you appreciate and enjoy it, and you realize it was a splurge. More power to ya! May it lure you into longer and more frequent rides.
And if you ever want to sell, please look me up.:-)
Likewise to you. Glad I wasn't the only one to step forward.
On to the Pyrenees! Tyler's got to have something big planned for Stage 13 - nobody sets up a nationwide charity broadcast of a stage without planning to rip things apart.:-)
"you would have to have gone down one of the longest steepest hills ever, or you've got one hell of a ring set."
FWIW, I've hit 57+mph (verified by my support vehicle - the navigator said I actually broke 60mph) and while it was my personal fastest, it's not something that raises eyebrows in racing circles. This was a stock off-the-shelf racing bike, down a steep mountainside on a good smooth highway.
Had it not been 2am I'd have even gone faster, but I was already taking a risk given the poor lighting involved. No pedalling, just a good tight tuck and racing tires at 120psi.
So 70 mph may not be entirely out of the ballpark.
"As a close follower of cycling, I have always doubted his cancer story and just assumed he made it up to cover his tracks and maybe make some publicity for one of his suppliers."
I now crown you Supreme Grand Poobah of the Tinfoil Hat Society. And that says a lot given what we read on Slashdot.
Dude, you're assuming the guy FAKED cancer? Because he recovered better/faster than you did? And you don't like it?
"I had similar surgery to Lance (had my left testicle removed)and there was no way I was getting back on a bike for over 9 months."
Well thank you for setting the limit of the human experience for us. Really, it's comforting to know you're the pinnacle of human endurance, pain tolerance and tissue healing.
I had similar surgery (hours of slicing and dicing, lots of fun recovering, I assure you) and was back on my bike in 7 WEEKS. And none of my riding friends were pointing at me and saying I must have faked it. I ride a lot, not huge amounts, but 100-125 miles/week typically. My body was used to it. And that's a mere pittance compared to any Tour rider's training schedule.
By your reasoning I must have faked my surgery. Or maybe there are people in this world who just deal with it. Hamilton rode most of the 2003 Tour with freakin' broken collarbone. He must've been faking it too.
"Instead he went from being a sprinter who was a middle of the road time trialist and basically poor climber into a virtuoso. I don't buy it for a minute."
I see. Or maybe it was because he:
Was already a damn good racer before.
Dropped a few dozen pounds during cancer treatment and kept it off (this greatly affects climbing efficiency - 10 lbs of extra mass is a LOT of weight to drag over several mountain passes each day)
Modified his training to use higher cadences (== less time above lactic threshold) to greatly improve his climbing efficiency.
The pain of cancer treatment recalibrated his sense of pain, suffering and misery.
Started actually scouting and RIDING key upcoming Tour stages during training.
Damn sad day when those who've never come close to attaining feel compelled to snipe at those who do.
Why don't they just release an XP interim security service pack? Surely they have enough already working in SP2 that they can get at least SOME of the fixes out the door sooner?
Cripes, even something that just defaults a user's firewall to "on" and obscure ports to "off" would be a head start.
Normally I'd say fine, the longer the better - lets me get Firefox into wider distribution;-) but the more insecure winboxen there are out there, the worse things get for the rest of us. A 60% solution now while waiting for the other 40% of SP2 would seem like a benefit to the end-user.
"Clear Channel can't censor anyone because they're NOT THE GOVERNMENT."
Of course ClearChannel can censor. They do it all the time for matters relating to FCC "decency", else why pay the fines?
The question is rather this: Since ClearChannel is using a PUBLIC resource (frequencies claimed by the gov't), to what extent can they legally censor views that are unfavorable to their corporate agenda?
That's a grey area that should be regularly questioned by all to keep it in line with reasonable access to the airwaves. A lazy electorate deserves the government they get.
Slashdot Mirror
"The problem I have with Bush is that he won't VETO anything! He spends just like the worst of the liberals he claims are bad."
I agree with you 100% there. Shameful from the party that claims to be for smaller government and fiscal responsibilty.
"Oh, our deficits are not record, especially when compared to the GDP."
We have record deficits alright. Even the White House and Congressional budget offices say so. $521 billion deficit in the 2004 budget alone.
CBS says so. MSNBC says so. CNN says so.
Just because it doesn't make the GDP Triple Crown doesn't remove the fact that we're bleeding cash like a gored hemophiliac matador.
"To-date this fiscal year, revenue is up over $47 billion compared to last year.
Yeah but compared to the revenue lost in previous years, isn't that kind of like someone deep in bankruptcy finding a $100 bill on the ground and then going to spend $200 at the store because of their luck? :-)
"Well honestly, NASA is one of the most wasteful organizations I have ever seen."
In defense of NASA, however, it really IS rocket science. NASA is expensive, but the Russians really aren't doing much. They're doing it cheaper by not doing much at all. (Please correct me if I'm wrong, but the current Russian space program is a shadow of its former self, to the point where they fly billionaires onto the ISS for cab fare. The budget struggles at their central Asian launch facility are sadly legendary.)
"We just aren't getting the same type of benefits from NASA that we once did, it's stagnant and dull."
I can see where you're coming from, but isn't the current exploration of Mars pretty darn exciting? We haven't landed any naked apes on moons or other planets lately, but it could be strongly argued that robots are far better suited (and cheaper) for the task than humans anyway.
"I wish them luck but I'd rather keep my tax money and spend it on my kids college fund, sorry."
At least you're one of the people who actually understand and consider the trade-offs involved. I personally disagree - I'd rather see NASA funded - but it's always reassuring when people actually weigh the consequences and decide according to their priorities, rather than invoke some form of economic voodoo or political dogma.
Let's face it, the American people (on average, not your typical US Slashdot reader - I hope) just do NOT get the fact that you have to HAVE money to SPEND money. Apparently being suckled on credit cards has removed that concept from peoples' minds.
With Bush's multiple rounds of slashing taxes, that means we have LESS to spend. We've got record budget deficits and we have to cut spending correspondingly. Period.
So if you like deep tax cuts, quit whining about budget cuts. This is what the results are - the government HAS to spend less or we're simply pissing in our own well.
Whine all you want about "But they could just cut (Program-I-Don't-Care-About) instead!" The problem is that every other program has their own segment of the population screaming about the exact same thing.
Maybe some nation that understands the concept of debit/credit ledgers can get to Mars instead, and send us a postcard.
Sad.
I think it's hilarious that this is being modded as a Troll. Maybe one of you moderators who marked it as such could explain? It's relevant, it's factual, it's a likely response from Redmond based on past history.
If you simply don't like the side of the fence I'm on (or anyone else's, regardless of topic) then I suggest you read the Moderator's Guidelines: Do not let your opinions factor in. Try to be impartial about this. Simply disagreeing with a comment is not a valid reason to mark it down.
"Microsoft needs to figure out how it can demonstrate better TCO to justify its higher prices."
By funding more objective "studies", no doubt?
"Personally, i like to ask the users what they want to see."
EXACTLY! Sometimes the users don't see the Big Picture and have old habits they want to keep around, but more often in my experience it's some boneheaded developer's choice to squander resources to "improve" an interface without ever actually investigating whether the users will get any improvement at all.
On my latest project (in-house application) I've actually had to go head-to-head with our senior developer (not a software engineer) over how the interface should look and work, me going to bat for the users.
The users of the new application want it to look and function in a manner that suits the way in which they need to operate day in/day out. Simple, straightforward. I prototyped it for them and they loved it.
Our senior developer then told me no, we're going to do it using MegaSuperKewl WizBang crap, something the users were fundamentally opposed to (it would actually tangibly interfere with the way they use the data in production).
I'm hardly junior myself - 11 years fulltime S.E. - and figured screw it, I'm not going to watch this abomination progress unchallenged. I arranged a meeting between the users, the senior developer and myself. The conversation was hilarious. I asked him to explain to the users how his design would improve their productivity. Let your imagination run wild and you'll come close. The users won in the end, but it was hard fought
But then the same week I had to argue, yes ARGUE, to store constants to be shared across applications in a common header file. The same fellow argued it would be much easier to hardcode it in each application separately. A heated 20-minute meeting later, I get to store the constants in a common header file.
I *WISH* I was making this stuff up. My life is a Dilbert strip.
I wonder how many of these little robo-critters they could deploy in a single landing? Sure seems like a swarm of the little buggers spreading out for not only redundancy but increased geographical coverage would be a big plus.
Looks like that base station each is tethered to would put a kink in that idea though.
And of course if the subterranean residents interpret the swarm as an invasion, Lucy's gonna have some 'splainin to do...
"We're taking the system down tonight for a some system updates. We expect to go down around 9 (eastern) and hope to be back up by midnight.".
If I had stock options for every time I'd tried that and ended up having to scurry in a panic through the weekend... Oh wait, I'd still be broke. Nevermind.
Best of luck guys!
"But what struck me from the trailer is that you can tell when the robots go bad because they glow red. Well, shit. That takes out some subtlety, doesn't it? "Hey man, stay away from the glowing red robots!" Duh. They must be "set to evil".
Hence the critical importance of implementing the Evil Bit in ALL systems, not just Internet communications protocols. Come on people, join the movement! It's our last best hope for humanity!
"Its amazing how shallow their profit margins are, even with the common perception that "Apple is price-gouging" and whatnot."
I wonder if it's more a situation where Apple took a lot of one-time charges against a good fiscal period. Minimize taxes while simultaneously "expensing while the expensing's good".
Re: the common perception of "price gouging" (not yours of course), today yet again my Gateway wintel box crapped out. 4th time in 3.5 years. Hardware failure. The Dell next to it crapped out a few months earlier. 3rd time in 1.5 years. Meanwhile my 1999 PowerMac G4 and 1995 PowerMac 7600 have chugged along without a hitch to this day.
Those rock-bottom priced consumer PCs are no bargain at all. Good components cost $$$, and on average you get what you pay for.
And yes, I realize there are quality Intel/AMD boxes out there. They also cost a good bit more than your average Dell consumer bargain box.
Seems unfair for the parent to be modded Offtopic.
Plus he/she brings up a good point: For all the nitpicking that we all do about non-compliant websites, it seems reasonable that the premier website for nerdly matters should set the example and lead the way.
Couldn't they just build a robotic sphere covered with dozens of feet?
Young engineers these days... always making everything so dang hard.
"if a pedo or other person wants the kid, they just have to drop or incapacitate the book bag chip
Worse yet, the tags could actually aid in the abduction (assuming these things can be detected far enough away to be "useful" in the first place). Just stick the tag to a dog/taxi/etc. that's going to move around on its own and tie up the authorities, since they're trusting that the detected RFID is where the kid is.
And if they don't have that trust, then isn't this system merely a complex flawed replacement for simple class roll-calls?
" So Pac Man was a communist?"
Not a chance. Else Pac Man would have stood waiting in line for hours to get one dot, and all the bonus items would been deemed decadent Western evils. Unless you entered the secret "Member of the Politburo" code, in which case see below.
No, Pac Man was purely a consumerism capitalist, endlessly gobbling up things, the faster the better in order to gobble still MORE things, all while dodging the tax collectors to the best of his ability.
"Fish aren't wiped out by mercury in the water, it merely removes the weak. Uranium hardly causes widespread panic by causing green, glowing birds."
Wow. I didn't even know James Watt was on the Web, much less had a Slashdot account! In fact I thought he was dead. Hey... Even Hell has broadband before I do... argh!
"Trees cause more pollution than automobiles." - Ronald Reagan
"Microsoft users have shown time and time again is even when the patch does come out, it's often not applied on many machines."
A sobering testament to their broken model of supplying patches across the Win 95/98/2000/XP family of products, not to mention the fear of many users and institutions to install patches due to stability concerns.
All of which falls squarely on the shoulders of MS. Build trust, provide security and stability. How would the public rate MS on those three counts?
"Many of you could destroy probably cream me on a $99 Huffy. But the bike is a joy to ride."
Hey, you could afford it, you appreciate and enjoy it, and you realize it was a splurge. More power to ya! May it lure you into longer and more frequent rides.
And if you ever want to sell, please look me up. :-)
"Q: What's the cheapest way to shave 500g off your bike weight?
A: Lose 500g."
Which for a lot of people can be done in one sitting via a bowl of bran cereal, a few prunes, and several strong cups of coffee. ;-)
Likewise to you. Glad I wasn't the only one to step forward.
On to the Pyrenees! Tyler's got to have something big planned for Stage 13 - nobody sets up a nationwide charity broadcast of a stage without planning to rip things apart. :-)
"you would have to have gone down one of the longest steepest hills ever, or you've got one hell of a ring set."
FWIW, I've hit 57+mph (verified by my support vehicle - the navigator said I actually broke 60mph) and while it was my personal fastest, it's not something that raises eyebrows in racing circles. This was a stock off-the-shelf racing bike, down a steep mountainside on a good smooth highway.
Had it not been 2am I'd have even gone faster, but I was already taking a risk given the poor lighting involved. No pedalling, just a good tight tuck and racing tires at 120psi.
So 70 mph may not be entirely out of the ballpark.
And yes, it was FREAKIN' FUN! *8-)
"As a close follower of cycling, I have always doubted his cancer story and just assumed he made it up to cover his tracks and maybe make some publicity for one of his suppliers."
I now crown you Supreme Grand Poobah of the Tinfoil Hat Society. And that says a lot given what we read on Slashdot.
Dude, you're assuming the guy FAKED cancer? Because he recovered better/faster than you did? And you don't like it?
"I had similar surgery to Lance (had my left testicle removed)and there was no way I was getting back on a bike for over 9 months."
Well thank you for setting the limit of the human experience for us. Really, it's comforting to know you're the pinnacle of human endurance, pain tolerance and tissue healing.
I had similar surgery (hours of slicing and dicing, lots of fun recovering, I assure you) and was back on my bike in 7 WEEKS. And none of my riding friends were pointing at me and saying I must have faked it. I ride a lot, not huge amounts, but 100-125 miles/week typically. My body was used to it. And that's a mere pittance compared to any Tour rider's training schedule.
By your reasoning I must have faked my surgery. Or maybe there are people in this world who just deal with it. Hamilton rode most of the 2003 Tour with freakin' broken collarbone. He must've been faking it too.
"Instead he went from being a sprinter who was a middle of the road time trialist and basically poor climber into a virtuoso. I don't buy it for a minute."
I see. Or maybe it was because he:
Was already a damn good racer before.
Dropped a few dozen pounds during cancer treatment and kept it off (this greatly affects climbing efficiency - 10 lbs of extra mass is a LOT of weight to drag over several mountain passes each day)
Modified his training to use higher cadences (== less time above lactic threshold) to greatly improve his climbing efficiency.
The pain of cancer treatment recalibrated his sense of pain, suffering and misery.
Started actually scouting and RIDING key upcoming Tour stages during training.
Damn sad day when those who've never come close to attaining feel compelled to snipe at those who do.
Why don't they just release an XP interim security service pack? Surely they have enough already working in SP2 that they can get at least SOME of the fixes out the door sooner?
Cripes, even something that just defaults a user's firewall to "on" and obscure ports to "off" would be a head start.
Normally I'd say fine, the longer the better - lets me get Firefox into wider distribution
"I'm going to go pick up my girlfriend."
"I'm going to go pick up my bitch."
Hate to say it, but the latter is becoming synonymous with the former in many urban areas.
So urban dog ownership is on the rise, eh?
"Clear Channel can't censor anyone because they're NOT THE GOVERNMENT."
Of course ClearChannel can censor. They do it all the time for matters relating to FCC "decency", else why pay the fines?
The question is rather this: Since ClearChannel is using a PUBLIC resource (frequencies claimed by the gov't), to what extent can they legally censor views that are unfavorable to their corporate agenda?
That's a grey area that should be regularly questioned by all to keep it in line with reasonable access to the airwaves. A lazy electorate deserves the government they get.