It does. The problem is that when your system goes down because of an error as mentioned above in the title line of my post, your checkpoint itself may get corrupted, in the midst of being saved to the local file system. And you can't make checkpoints every minute, that is way too costly. Irony of it all is that said errors are routinely provoked by crappy $4 fan controllers.
You are right about Germany. Great job. I was, however, implicitly referring to Spain ( hardly any Aufarbeitung there ) and to Austria ( only a bit more than half of the work done ). And don't even get me started on Portugal, Greece, Serbia and Russia. That's all.
Yes, I do. A highly-trusted company like this Dutch one, recognized as an European market-leader in IT security would immediately employ him, I happen to know. So would my former employer here in Vienna, I am nearly certain. I understand your misgivings, and your point about "ethics of this profession" is partly made. Yet we have entered a new era where "ethics of a profession" are subordinate to "the interest of the general public".
Did you even remotely consider the possibility that Snowden may be in a situation somewhat ( or much ) similar to those who opposed the German fascist government in the '30s of the XXth century ? If and when your adversary or, let's use the right word here, your enemy is a superpower, your best option may be, as a matter of fact, to run. And then again, Sir: would YOU stand all alone in an American court and face the entire impetus of the state rolling over you ? Would you, Sir ?
By pure coincidence, I had some business with my bank's branch office, which happens to be on Vienna airport ( I once opened an account there while working on the airport's IT system, and stuck to that office ever since ). The lady in charge of my account told me what kind of pandemonium she had been an indirect witness to, this morning ( the airport is relatively small, news gets around quickly, and from the bank's office you can actually see part of the runway ). The Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese ambassadors rushing toward the airport, with the Spanish ambassador even requesting to search the Bolivian plane by himself; yes, you read that correctly: the Spanish ambassador wanted to search the plane with his own hands..
Some political commentator today vocally despised the attitude of Spain, Portugal, France and Italy, qualifying such an attitude as "crouching self-humiliatingly low while even running ahead of obeying the American bully once more". Well said. Nuff said.
...to live in Austria, where Mrs. Miki-Leitner, the Minister of Interior Affairs, said ( after the dust had settled somewhat, this afternoon ):
"This was a missed chance for Mr. Snowden. Austria has shown not to let itself be intimidated by the US. If Mr. Snowden had come here, he would have gotten a serious examination of his request for political asylum, as well as an investigation into recognizing him as a political refugee."
I would say: Edward, life in Vienna is more than bearable. Plenty of high-tech firms in case you ever need a job again ( which I doubt ), and the border to Switzerland is only a few train hours away, in case you need to run. Come over here, man !!!
in the middle of a long, long, lo000ng and costly number-crunching run, and that just because some management moron thought that we'd save some money by buying cheapo hardware. I fear that with deadly fear.
on the ground that he does not want to jeopardize the state-to-state relationship between Russia and the USA
I am not sure about that ground. The only fact we know for sure, at the moment, is that he has retracted. The ground is not known, and is being indicated by many sources to be the fact that Putin posed "no more disclosures" as a conditions. Which is not quite the same as what you state, only similar or an indication thereof.
The quality of comments on Slashdot is going up again, for the first time since years. This is a comment that could come straight from cult literature, or could - alternatively - go straight into history. I hope I may use and disperse this comment.
My father grew up during the '30s, amidst nation-states all on an ineluctable course for war. Information was scarce, could take weeks before reaching citizens, and was always colored. Until he recently died, such was his mindset: nation-states, triumphing nationalism, shifting alliances, scarce and coloured information. And I remember, when growing up during the last 2 decades of the Cold War, that I sometimes went to bed realizing that nuclear war might and could break out overnight. That, in that case, I would either never wake up again: our family's home was close to a piece of infrastructure important for routing supplies to armies fighting in the Northwest-European plains, or otherwise might wake up as a radiation victim. The Cold War: information was not as scarce. We had newspapers, radio, television - but information was incomplete. We later learned that information on much of what happened behind the Iron Curtain had simply been suppressed to us, ordinary citizens, and that the same was true for the citizens "on the other side".
The Cold War passed, and exactly 12 years of prosperity, along with unbridled & blooming innovation, followed. Until 9/11/2001. We have, since, been sliding into what seems more and more to become as much of a status quo as the Cold War was: the Information War.
Many are struggling to adapt to the new mindset required to cope with this new paradigm, as German Federal Chancellor Merkel illustrated by likening the US eavesdropping and bugging practices to "Cold War practice". The Information War is taking up speed: information is nearly free-flowing over the internet - and at the stake of conflict itself.
I can imagine, hence, the confusion and revulsion of Samuelson, who must have somehow - like most of us did - settled for a world in a state of seemingly permanent Cold War. War has never, or hardly ever, been about infrastructure, and such Samuelson's text is far off the mark. War has always been about either assets or power, and the asset now at stake is: information. It must be hard, for people of Samuelson's generation, to get that into their heads, although they better do - lest they lose fundamental understanding of what our world has become, and is becoming ever faster: an always-shifting patchwork of information sinks and sources.
Man, where are the mod points when you need them most. I would mod you up into the stratosphere for this funny, finely sarcastic and well-informed comment ( being, btw, a great admirer of ancient roman culture and engineering ). Of course, one could imagine writing something similar about weaving textile ( origins lost in time ), first successful domestication of animals ( idem ditto ), or printing books ( central and western europe, end of the middle ages ). Best comment of the year, sofar.
"using a combination of C++ and Python running atop Linux"... I just started to use Julia, a rather new programming language for technical computing, and I am truly, truly impressed. I got interested by the benchmarks these guys published, and may be reporting back here in a couple of days with first experiences from implementing a Lucas-Lehmer test for Mersenne primes. Is Julia something for CERN ? I mean, you don't get to swim in the pool full of bugs that C++ can quickly become...
Where are the mod points when you need them ? I had hardly noticed his post. The problem with it, for me, is not in its being judgmental per se: we are all led, some time or another, to emit judgments, even ( some rare times ) blanket judgments; the problem with his post is in sheer negativity, and ( hence ) not contributing anything to the discussion. I have more than once considered leaving slashdot because of the abundance of such posts; yet something of which you may well be a part keeps me back.
No Sir, I troll you not. High unemployment can and should never be used as an excuse to squeeze a few more dollars out of workers already facing hard times and insecurity. That is morally wrong, even if the law - wherever you may happen to live - does not sanction it.
Free checking is not available in most banks. Even when there is an allegedly "free" checking account it comes with a large minimum balance requirement.
Please educate yourself about the plight of the poor at the hands of check cashing services
Seen from Europe, the US banking system looks somewhat like the US infrastructure, that is: having missed quite some long-due overhauls.
Amen. BTW: here in the EU, such practice would not only be illegal ( it is illegal, under EU law, and therefore under the law of all member states, to NOT pay monthly wages directly into a bank account; also, it is illegal for either employer or payroller to deduce anything from a worker's wages ): people would revolt. The practice mentioned in TFA is sheer exploitation.
Were they for real taking a 80 plus year old boat into the Tasmin Sea in the dead of winter?... making such a voyage at this time with that boat appears most foolish.
Agreed. It struck me last night, still thinking about this, that the Nina, in a storm, would have been seriously impeded and even put at risk by her rigging, which opposes so much resistance to the wind. These enormous masts ! Losing a mast - I keep imagining this event as the one that finished her: the incredible mess, the wounded people, the instability in such murderous swell. BTW: you are right on about the EPIRB. Taking several people in the dead of winter into the Tasmanian sea on such a boat, without caring to bring an EPIRB is irresponsible.
Slashdot Mirror
It does. The problem is that when your system goes down because of an error as mentioned above in the title line of my post, your checkpoint itself may get corrupted, in the midst of being saved to the local file system. And you can't make checkpoints every minute, that is way too costly. Irony of it all is that said errors are routinely provoked by crappy $4 fan controllers.
to "breaking wind"
You are right about Germany. Great job. I was, however, implicitly referring to Spain ( hardly any Aufarbeitung there ) and to Austria ( only a bit more than half of the work done ). And don't even get me started on Portugal, Greece, Serbia and Russia. That's all.
It can take a long time, for any country, to come to terms with a brown or fascist past. You have my sympathies.
No, I kid you not, sir. Alas, I am not. This is what our world has become: not so much of a joke as a bad joke.
Yes, I do. A highly-trusted company like this Dutch one, recognized as an European market-leader in IT security would immediately employ him, I happen to know. So would my former employer here in Vienna, I am nearly certain. I understand your misgivings, and your point about "ethics of this profession" is partly made. Yet we have entered a new era where "ethics of a profession" are subordinate to "the interest of the general public".
Did you even remotely consider the possibility that Snowden may be in a situation somewhat ( or much ) similar to those who opposed the German fascist government in the '30s of the XXth century ? If and when your adversary or, let's use the right word here, your enemy is a superpower, your best option may be, as a matter of fact, to run. And then again, Sir: would YOU stand all alone in an American court and face the entire impetus of the state rolling over you ? Would you, Sir ?
By pure coincidence, I had some business with my bank's branch office, which happens to be on Vienna airport ( I once opened an account there while working on the airport's IT system, and stuck to that office ever since ). The lady in charge of my account told me what kind of pandemonium she had been an indirect witness to, this morning ( the airport is relatively small, news gets around quickly, and from the bank's office you can actually see part of the runway ). The Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese ambassadors rushing toward the airport, with the Spanish ambassador even requesting to search the Bolivian plane by himself; yes, you read that correctly: the Spanish ambassador wanted to search the plane with his own hands..
Some political commentator today vocally despised the attitude of Spain, Portugal, France and Italy, qualifying such an attitude as "crouching self-humiliatingly low while even running ahead of obeying the American bully once more". Well said. Nuff said.
...to live in Austria, where Mrs. Miki-Leitner, the Minister of Interior Affairs, said ( after the dust had settled somewhat, this afternoon ):
"This was a missed chance for Mr. Snowden. Austria has shown not to let itself be intimidated by the US. If Mr. Snowden had come here, he would have gotten a serious examination of his request for political asylum, as well as an investigation into recognizing him as a political refugee."
I would say: Edward, life in Vienna is more than bearable. Plenty of high-tech firms in case you ever need a job again ( which I doubt ), and the border to Switzerland is only a few train hours away, in case you need to run. Come over here, man !!!
in the middle of a long, long, lo000ng and costly number-crunching run, and that just because some management moron thought that we'd save some money by buying cheapo hardware. I fear that with deadly fear.
on the ground that he does not want to jeopardize the state-to-state relationship between Russia and the USA
I am not sure about that ground. The only fact we know for sure, at the moment, is that he has retracted. The ground is not known, and is being indicated by many sources to be the fact that Putin posed "no more disclosures" as a conditions. Which is not quite the same as what you state, only similar or an indication thereof.
The quality of comments on Slashdot is going up again, for the first time since years. This is a comment that could come straight from cult literature, or could - alternatively - go straight into history. I hope I may use and disperse this comment.
The Cold War passed, and exactly 12 years of prosperity, along with unbridled & blooming innovation, followed. Until 9/11/2001. We have, since, been sliding into what seems more and more to become as much of a status quo as the Cold War was: the Information War.
Many are struggling to adapt to the new mindset required to cope with this new paradigm, as German Federal Chancellor Merkel illustrated by likening the US eavesdropping and bugging practices to "Cold War practice". The Information War is taking up speed: information is nearly free-flowing over the internet - and at the stake of conflict itself.
I can imagine, hence, the confusion and revulsion of Samuelson, who must have somehow - like most of us did - settled for a world in a state of seemingly permanent Cold War. War has never, or hardly ever, been about infrastructure, and such Samuelson's text is far off the mark. War has always been about either assets or power, and the asset now at stake is: information. It must be hard, for people of Samuelson's generation, to get that into their heads, although they better do - lest they lose fundamental understanding of what our world has become, and is becoming ever faster: an always-shifting patchwork of information sinks and sources.
Man, where are the mod points when you need them most. I would mod you up into the stratosphere for this funny, finely sarcastic and well-informed comment ( being, btw, a great admirer of ancient roman culture and engineering ). Of course, one could imagine writing something similar about weaving textile ( origins lost in time ), first successful domestication of animals ( idem ditto ), or printing books ( central and western europe, end of the middle ages ). Best comment of the year, sofar.
"using a combination of C++ and Python running atop Linux"... I just started to use Julia, a rather new programming language for technical computing, and I am truly, truly impressed. I got interested by the benchmarks these guys published, and may be reporting back here in a couple of days with first experiences from implementing a Lucas-Lehmer test for Mersenne primes. Is Julia something for CERN ? I mean, you don't get to swim in the pool full of bugs that C++ can quickly become...
From TFA:
"It's a brilliant method," provided subsequent investigations confirm the researchers' interpretation of their data
I can, however, already hear the feet of the major pharmaceutical multinationals stampeding to get to Dublin....
Where are the mod points when you need them ? I had hardly noticed his post. The problem with it, for me, is not in its being judgmental per se: we are all led, some time or another, to emit judgments, even ( some rare times ) blanket judgments; the problem with his post is in sheer negativity, and ( hence ) not contributing anything to the discussion. I have more than once considered leaving slashdot because of the abundance of such posts; yet something of which you may well be a part keeps me back.
No Sir, I troll you not. High unemployment can and should never be used as an excuse to squeeze a few more dollars out of workers already facing hard times and insecurity. That is morally wrong, even if the law - wherever you may happen to live - does not sanction it.
Free checking is not available in most banks. Even when there is an allegedly "free" checking account it comes with a large minimum balance requirement.
Please educate yourself about the plight of the poor at the hands of check cashing services
Seen from Europe, the US banking system looks somewhat like the US infrastructure, that is: having missed quite some long-due overhauls.
Amen. BTW: here in the EU, such practice would not only be illegal ( it is illegal, under EU law, and therefore under the law of all member states, to NOT pay monthly wages directly into a bank account; also, it is illegal for either employer or payroller to deduce anything from a worker's wages ): people would revolt. The practice mentioned in TFA is sheer exploitation.
Not that much of an achievement. If that is all they can announce... Sounds to me like the German Army bulletins toward the end of 2nd World War.
Waw en-Namus, south-western Libya
A place I went, a "lost city" in the Sahara
Were they for real taking a 80 plus year old boat into the Tasmin Sea in the dead of winter? ... making such a voyage at this time with that boat appears most foolish.
Agreed. It struck me last night, still thinking about this, that the Nina, in a storm, would have been seriously impeded and even put at risk by her rigging, which opposes so much resistance to the wind. These enormous masts ! Losing a mast - I keep imagining this event as the one that finished her: the incredible mess, the wounded people, the instability in such murderous swell. BTW: you are right on about the EPIRB. Taking several people in the dead of winter into the Tasmanian sea on such a boat, without caring to bring an EPIRB is irresponsible.