You cannot parallelize a serial task, any more than you can have 60 people dig one posthole in one second.
We do it all the time around here: 1 to operate the pile driver 2 holding up stop/slow signs 3 riding in the "follow me" vehicle 4 standing around supervising 5 cops writing tickets in the surrounding 8 mile work zone 10 administrators to approve the project 15 residents jumping out of bed at 6am thinking it'a a bomb going off 20 people sitting in their cars honking their horns for motivational support
Of course the whole procedure and traffic carnage can last for months or years, but the actual post being rammed in only takes a second.;-)
For an even better example, imagine that somebody makes an app that appears harmless but then at some later date or when remotely activated all the phones it has been installed on begin war dialing 911, clogging up emergency switchboards with calls saying "help, there's chocolate in my peanut butter!!" Something like this would certainly warrant an "oh shit, delete it NOW NOW NOW!!"
As one who has been involved in several protests, I can say that would actually make a pretty good front line shield for a group facing down riot cops. It's sturdy enough to fend off batons and tear gas cans (not so much the gas itself, but better to be sick and cry for a few hours than lose an eye or your life to a direct hit), not an undue burden for 4-5 people (more if you don't mind drilling holes into the hull to mount straps to it) to carry, and the bottom provides ample room to paint a catchy slogan on. The biggest problem I see off hand is banging your shins on the lower lip of the side as you're walking, but that can be mitigated by either cutting it down to provide striding room or slicing a few foam water toy noodles lengthwise and putting them on the rim as padding.
I probably just got myself put on some sort of watch list for this post... I swear I'm only a retired anarchist! Got a family and a job and all that now! heheh.
I was going to mod you down but I figured I would just point out that you posted this in response to a post which has neither the words football nor soccer in it. Yet somehow you still got an informative mod.
Nazi, neo-nazi, skinhead, whatever you care to call it,
Just for future reference, the term skinhead and accompanying style has been co-opted by so many groups of various political leanings as to be practically meaningless other than actually referring to having a shaved head.
For what it's worth, almost all the skinheads I've met have been members of groups such as the ARA (Anti-Rascist Action), AFA (Anti-Fascist Action), and SHARP (SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudice).
While we all tend to make a big deal about the difference between hacking and cracking, that doesn't necessarily mean that they are mutually exclusive activities.
Despite what we all like to think it is possible to be both a clever tinkerer and a morally absent jerk.
It's getting to the point where we should just have a field on the article submission form for relevant xkcd strips. Somebody always digs at least one up thats somehow related (even if that relationship is the equivalent of your uncles step-sons cousin three times removed).
- Build a high quality mass spectrometer (http://old.4hv.org/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=1268)
You really got my hopes up with that link, dreaming that a thorough walk through might be there, and then all I got was some guy on a forum saying "I can haz mass spectrometer?"
I'm undoing some moderation by posting this but this is probably the most relevant to my job post I'll ever see on slashdot.
I work in real estate so I'm familiar with the commission system we have in the U.S. (or at least in North Carolina, it may differ elsewhere).
The commission for a sale is set (normally at a percentage of the closing price but sometimes as a fixed amount) by the entity selling the property. This percentage or amount is posted on the listing for the property in the Multiple Listings Service. As a condition of posting a listing on the MLS Realtors agree to faithfully represent that the commission advertised is what the owner agreed to on the listing contract.
Some Realtors may encourage their clients to list with a higher commission percentage in an attempt to encourage other Realtors to show the property, but many clients reject the idea and could even see it as an attempt at being greedy (as the seller's agent can get the buyer's agent's commission as well if they find and represent a buyer in the transaction).
The system works fairly well as the buyers (who control how long they look and decide what to buy) have no control over the commission and it's amount has no bearing on them as they pay the same price for the house regardless of what percentage is going to the agents.
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State - this means that in order for a country to exist it needs an army to defend itself, yes?
I've always thought the emphasis in this phrase was intended to rest upon "well-regulated" and "free" in the sense that if the citizens are to retain their freedom, they should be able to bear arms such that if the militia ever goes beyond their deserved boundaries, such as the freedom of the citizenry was restricted by its actions, the citizens would be able to defend themselves from military tyranny.
The governments militia (Army, Police, FBI, DEA, ATF, etc.) would be much less likely to infringe upon citizens rights to make decisions for themselves, and more hesitant to kick somebodies front door in before dragging them off in chains for differences of moral or religious perspective (cultivating recreational substances, taboo sexual practices, believing in the supremacy of alternative economic systems) if there was a good chance those citizens had access to similar weaponry and defenses.
The disparity in force between the citizens and the government is so great nowadays that the government may place undue restrictions on non-violent and non-disruptive activities, even when the majority of the citizens disagree with said restriction, without much concern over armed resistance to the removal of previously enjoyed freedoms.
This isn't exactly relevant to your post but the idea just struck me while reading it so it's getting posted here.
I would love to see a tablet (and it wouldn't hurt laptops to have these either) with a couple of USB ports in slots that are receded about 2 inches into the case. That way you could use your wireless mouse/keyboard and cell network dongles without having them sticking way out where you can snap them off if you forget about them while sitting on the couch.
Growing cannabis is not hard. They call it Weed for a reason. I've seen people grow pot on accident just by being careless with where they toss their seeds.
You can put me down for a reduction in police budgets. If the cops in my town weren't busily writing tickets for improperly limited areas and conducting 7 month long undercover investigations to bust a dozen teenagers smoking pot in their back yards we wouldn't need so many of them. Even with all that useless busy work we still manage to have at least 4 cars (and I've seen as many as 8!) respond to somebody getting pulled over with a nickel bag in their pocket. I don't care if you found a bloody hatchet, rubber tubing and empty lime bags in the trunk, it doesn't take 12 cops in 8 cars to subdue a single 110lb. 17 year old girl!
Ok, this is out of hand. I'm not even going to rail against the RIAA on this one. I want the name of the PERSON who had the nads to actually type those words.
However, the people left have basically no chance of getting elected, and you'd waste your vote.
Geez, will everybody stop saying that already? How are you NOT throwing away your vote by voting for a scumbag? Vote for the person you believe will do the job best. We're never going to break the two party duopoly unless we stop throwing our hands up and saying "well what can we do?"
I hate to have to be the one to tell you this, but, "daily constitution" is a euphemism for a bowel movement. The GP wasn't talking about using the computers, he was talking about using the bathroom.
Slashdot Mirror
You cannot parallelize a serial task, any more than you can have 60 people dig one posthole in one second.
We do it all the time around here:
1 to operate the pile driver
2 holding up stop/slow signs
3 riding in the "follow me" vehicle
4 standing around supervising
5 cops writing tickets in the surrounding 8 mile work zone
10 administrators to approve the project
15 residents jumping out of bed at 6am thinking it'a a bomb going off
20 people sitting in their cars honking their horns for motivational support
Of course the whole procedure and traffic carnage can last for months or years, but the actual post being rammed in only takes a second. ;-)
Is it bad that these days I almost invariably know which xkcd has been linked to, chuckle, and go on, all without bothering to click the link?
Whether you did or didn't, people sure seem to believe it is true, considering the informative mod. ;-)
And of course by war dialing I meant call flooding. Not quite awake yet.
For an even better example, imagine that somebody makes an app that appears harmless but then at some later date or when remotely activated all the phones it has been installed on begin war dialing 911, clogging up emergency switchboards with calls saying "help, there's chocolate in my peanut butter!!" Something like this would certainly warrant an "oh shit, delete it NOW NOW NOW!!"
As one who has been involved in several protests, I can say that would actually make a pretty good front line shield for a group facing down riot cops. It's sturdy enough to fend off batons and tear gas cans (not so much the gas itself, but better to be sick and cry for a few hours than lose an eye or your life to a direct hit), not an undue burden for 4-5 people (more if you don't mind drilling holes into the hull to mount straps to it) to carry, and the bottom provides ample room to paint a catchy slogan on. The biggest problem I see off hand is banging your shins on the lower lip of the side as you're walking, but that can be mitigated by either cutting it down to provide striding room or slicing a few foam water toy noodles lengthwise and putting them on the rim as padding.
I probably just got myself put on some sort of watch list for this post... I swear I'm only a retired anarchist! Got a family and a job and all that now! heheh.
I was going to mod you down but I figured I would just point out that you posted this in response to a post which has neither the words football nor soccer in it. Yet somehow you still got an informative mod.
I don't think it helps him any that he looks like a bond villain.
Don't get me wrong I have great respect for wikileaks, but MAN, that guy is creepy looking.
however if the school district bought him a prostitute there would rightly be some outrage.
Mostly from the other male students who didn't get one.
PROGRESSIVE
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
Nazi, neo-nazi, skinhead, whatever you care to call it,
Just for future reference, the term skinhead and accompanying style has been co-opted by so many groups of various political leanings as to be practically meaningless other than actually referring to having a shaved head.
For what it's worth, almost all the skinheads I've met have been members of groups such as the ARA (Anti-Rascist Action), AFA (Anti-Fascist Action), and SHARP (SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudice).
While we all tend to make a big deal about the difference between hacking and cracking, that doesn't necessarily mean that they are mutually exclusive activities.
Despite what we all like to think it is possible to be both a clever tinkerer and a morally absent jerk.
It's getting to the point where we should just have a field on the article submission form for relevant xkcd strips. Somebody always digs at least one up thats somehow related (even if that relationship is the equivalent of your uncles step-sons cousin three times removed).
- Build a high quality mass spectrometer (http://old.4hv.org/index.php?board=4;action=display;threadid=1268)
You really got my hopes up with that link, dreaming that a thorough walk through might be there, and then all I got was some guy on a forum saying "I can haz mass spectrometer?"
Why, oh why?
Any countries let you flee from the USA yet?
I'm undoing some moderation by posting this but this is probably the most relevant to my job post I'll ever see on slashdot.
I work in real estate so I'm familiar with the commission system we have in the U.S. (or at least in North Carolina, it may differ elsewhere).
The commission for a sale is set (normally at a percentage of the closing price but sometimes as a fixed amount) by the entity selling the property. This percentage or amount is posted on the listing for the property in the Multiple Listings Service. As a condition of posting a listing on the MLS Realtors agree to faithfully represent that the commission advertised is what the owner agreed to on the listing contract.
Some Realtors may encourage their clients to list with a higher commission percentage in an attempt to encourage other Realtors to show the property, but many clients reject the idea and could even see it as an attempt at being greedy (as the seller's agent can get the buyer's agent's commission as well if they find and represent a buyer in the transaction).
The system works fairly well as the buyers (who control how long they look and decide what to buy) have no control over the commission and it's amount has no bearing on them as they pay the same price for the house regardless of what percentage is going to the agents.
A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State - this means that in order for a country to exist it needs an army to defend itself, yes?
I've always thought the emphasis in this phrase was intended to rest upon "well-regulated" and "free" in the sense that if the citizens are to retain their freedom, they should be able to bear arms such that if the militia ever goes beyond their deserved boundaries, such as the freedom of the citizenry was restricted by its actions, the citizens would be able to defend themselves from military tyranny.
The governments militia (Army, Police, FBI, DEA, ATF, etc.) would be much less likely to infringe upon citizens rights to make decisions for themselves, and more hesitant to kick somebodies front door in before dragging them off in chains for differences of moral or religious perspective (cultivating recreational substances, taboo sexual practices, believing in the supremacy of alternative economic systems) if there was a good chance those citizens had access to similar weaponry and defenses.
The disparity in force between the citizens and the government is so great nowadays that the government may place undue restrictions on non-violent and non-disruptive activities, even when the majority of the citizens disagree with said restriction, without much concern over armed resistance to the removal of previously enjoyed freedoms.
This isn't exactly relevant to your post but the idea just struck me while reading it so it's getting posted here.
I would love to see a tablet (and it wouldn't hurt laptops to have these either) with a couple of USB ports in slots that are receded about 2 inches into the case. That way you could use your wireless mouse/keyboard and cell network dongles without having them sticking way out where you can snap them off if you forget about them while sitting on the couch.
What Canonical should do, after this, is setup an opt-in app store, such that users can support developers if they want to.
Like this?
Growing cannabis is not hard. They call it Weed for a reason. I've seen people grow pot on accident just by being careless with where they toss their seeds.
You can put me down for a reduction in police budgets. If the cops in my town weren't busily writing tickets for improperly limited areas and conducting 7 month long undercover investigations to bust a dozen teenagers smoking pot in their back yards we wouldn't need so many of them. Even with all that useless busy work we still manage to have at least 4 cars (and I've seen as many as 8!) respond to somebody getting pulled over with a nickel bag in their pocket. I don't care if you found a bloody hatchet, rubber tubing and empty lime bags in the trunk, it doesn't take 12 cops in 8 cars to subdue a single 110lb. 17 year old girl!
Ok, this is out of hand. I'm not even going to rail against the RIAA on this one. I want the name of the PERSON who had the nads to actually type those words.
Our politicians keep on copying them and try to better them.
So, your politicians are copying our politicians ideas that copying is a bad thing?
Abandon all hope, all ye who have common sense...
However, the people left have basically no chance of getting elected, and you'd waste your vote.
Geez, will everybody stop saying that already? How are you NOT throwing away your vote by voting for a scumbag? Vote for the person you believe will do the job best. We're never going to break the two party duopoly unless we stop throwing our hands up and saying "well what can we do?"
VOTE FOR A THIRD PARTY.
I hate to have to be the one to tell you this, but, "daily constitution" is a euphemism for a bowel movement. The GP wasn't talking about using the computers, he was talking about using the bathroom.