I have the opposite problem to this "Tiller's Law": I read way more than I converse, so quite often pronounce words incorrectly! I was going to give examples but it's just too embarrassing. If I'm talking to someone I always know I've done this because their face freezes and then smile ever so slightly.
As a side-note to this off-topic post, interesting that you mention books written 50+ years ago as the most worthwhile. In my experience this is largely true and my mind floods with cynical reasons why this may be so.
Good point! It seems to me the whole penguin video thing is based on the fact it came out of DCI's offices, which doesn't conclusively mean it was a product of theirs.
Thing to remember is that employees of DCI probably live and breathe PR: putting a spin on things, being persuasive, getting your message heard, evoking a response from the public that meets your viewpoint. That's what they're good at, and quite likely it's etched each of their psyches to some extent.
It wouldn't be unusual for a DCI employee to have some personal campaigns going on in the background. Maybe they cooked the video up at home and posted it from work.
Just an alternative view - I accept it is unlikely!
I think SETI@Home would have been the biggest thing since sliced bread if they found a way to search for alien music online
That's one for The Onion:
Furious lawyers representing the Recording Industries Association of Neptune arrived on planet earth today to initiate litigation in response to the latest internet file-sharing phenomenon - Search for Extra-Terrestrial Music @ Home...
"12-years old or not", snarled Zgilrolivolgh, "this little pipsqueak is leeching off our deprived artists who can barely afford a breath of CO2 between releases".
OK so maybe I shouldn't write it but the idea's there.
Does this really work? Have any studies been done to provide evidence of this?
If so, I will drastically change the way I do a lot of things.
I know hypnosis has been used to regress a person back to the time when they lost their wedding ring 'somewhere', 10 years back. In the hypnotic trance they were in the basement of an old home, they hear a virtually sub-auditory jingle... Sure enough they go back there, and there under a pile of dust is said ring.
I think as far as science of the mind is concerned we are still in very early days.
I don't mind the fact that pop-up ads have started to worm their way through the firefox blocker recently.
If, like me, you play first-person shooter games, you'll probably have the hand-eye coordination to 'head-shot' the close button before the window has barely rendered.
So yes, I'm seeing more popups lately, but any advertising content in said windows has barely 'spawned' before it's sent back to oblivion!
Why this Slashdot thread has an abundance of posters openly admitting to regularly downloading copyright protected stuff, yet not being challenged by the 'copyright infringement is theft' brigade?
Not that I'm having a go at the parent poster, but it just seems strange that other threads, like the Lokitorrent one - have caused a number of people to arguably get on a high-horse and this one hasn't.
Ok, so the difference is that this is TV, whereas those other threads were movies and music.
Is it simply because we are less in touch with the artists, producers, set-designers-who-now-have-to-eat-from-rubbish-bin s etc. connected with TV, than with other media?
Hmmmm. (Oh no, I didn't want to start a big moral debate *ducks*)
In fact, when I was in Southampton a few years back I lived with a landlord who did in fact own several TVs. But he came home drunk one day, announced to me that he was 'giving up watching TV' and asked for my help throwing all 7 of his TVs out the window. I didn't object because it was quite funny. Especially the faces of passers-by the next morning gazing at the electrical graveyard in our front garden.
The particularly amusing thing was that the next day, he realised one of said TVs was part of a home security system he'd shelled out for only a few days before. Oops.
But the point I was trying to make is: no, not everybody enjoys TV, although I'll admit the great majority do.
Somebody delivering flyers for a local supermarket pushes said flyer through the letterbox. Dog comes running to the door, as dogs do, and bumps its nose trying to grab the leaflet as it comes through.
So guess what... the family are suing the supermarket!
Thing is, you might be like me and build your own PC and use a free OS to run on it.
Or, also like me, you may own (i.e. have purchased) a copy of XP Home Edition that no longer works because I've installed it too many times on old crashed hard drives. The CD is now a pretty ornament:(
Absolutely. To all those who say those in IT are not real geeks, and only coveted developers in software houses are... there's this thing called "reality".
Take me for example: after my IT job ends, in the evenings I work on my 3 programming projects that are on-the-go, as well as a part-time masters degree in software. And then of course endless/. surfing;)
People I know say "you should get a job as a developer"... what they don't realise is that it takes a great deal of passion and a bit of luck to be holding the right credentials, at the right time, with the right contacts - to land a developer job in this country.
Now believe me, I'm not complaining - this is Capitalism at its best. I will be a LOT better in this field once I get a position, given this competition. And it drives standards higher.
This is one of those industries that people tend to do because they love it, and would do it in their spare time anyway. I don't fancy the chances of those wanting simply to cash in, at least in the current marketplace with this competition.
So in summary, Linus is right but it also extends to commercial developer roles to an extent... this is a competitive industry because it is a passionate industry.
Even I, with my cheap LCD monitor and 73 year-old eyes, have trouble reading the Yahoo ones.
Even I, with my pretty decent monitor and 25 year-old eyes have trouble reading the Yahoo ones.
Only today I was reading about using captchas to evade comment spam on blogs. However, the article stated in emphasis - (I paraphrase) "as soon as you put one of these on your site though you have a serious accessibility problem."
Well, if you really want to work on Firefox but can't get a look in, there's always plugins. I know, it doesn't solve the issues here but it would be a start for a keen young developer who needs to build credibility.
Not sure if plugins are included in this apparently elitist policy - I can't RTFA because it's slashdotted naturally.
As I see it things have worked out the worse they could for Valve and its customers.
Valve put in a security scheme to prevent pirating, which inconveniences paying users... and it doesn't work anyway.
The thing with these anti-copying measures - if you know a bit of Assembler and have some patience they really aren't hard to crack. They only inconvenience paying customers (like myself).
So what's the answer to the pirating thing... - err, well I don't have all the answers, OK?
Did anyone notice that when the BBC asked whether MS is being anti-competitive, with the Department of Justice case, Bill answered in terms of the PC Industry?
Bill says the case was ironic, because 'The idea of low cost computing, letting people have a choice of the very best PC, making sure the prices are constantly coming down...'.
I thought it would be a great test of my increasing Java skills and maybe I'd learn more about transactions, stored procedures, etc.
Well, an hour later I'd got Cloudscape working, I'd unlocked the Magic Word and I was looking it up in the dictionary thinking "is it really a real word?"
If you can do SELECTs, it's quite a trivial 'challenge' I'm afraid.
I have to admit, when I looked at the site detailing these robots, I did look for a 'Order', or 'View your Shopping Cart' link...
Equipped with breaching tool, light anti-tank weapon launcher, 12-gauge shotgun and 40mm grenade launcher I must admit - for a moment I reflexively considered my available credit.
Slashdot Mirror
I have the opposite problem to this "Tiller's Law": I read way more than I converse, so quite often pronounce words incorrectly! I was going to give examples but it's just too embarrassing. If I'm talking to someone I always know I've done this because their face freezes and then smile ever so slightly.
As a side-note to this off-topic post, interesting that you mention books written 50+ years ago as the most worthwhile. In my experience this is largely true and my mind floods with cynical reasons why this may be so.
Good point! It seems to me the whole penguin video thing is based on the fact it came out of DCI's offices, which doesn't conclusively mean it was a product of theirs.
Thing to remember is that employees of DCI probably live and breathe PR: putting a spin on things, being persuasive, getting your message heard, evoking a response from the public that meets your viewpoint. That's what they're good at, and quite likely it's etched each of their psyches to some extent.
It wouldn't be unusual for a DCI employee to have some personal campaigns going on in the background. Maybe they cooked the video up at home and posted it from work.
Just an alternative view - I accept it is unlikely!
That's one for The Onion:
Furious lawyers representing the Recording Industries Association of Neptune arrived on planet earth today to initiate litigation in response to the latest internet file-sharing phenomenon - Search for Extra-Terrestrial Music @ Home ...
"12-years old or not", snarled Zgilrolivolgh, "this little pipsqueak is leeching off our deprived artists who can barely afford a breath of CO2 between releases".
OK so maybe I shouldn't write it but the idea's there.
Nick Bostrom thinks so:
Are you living in a computer simulation?
If so, I will drastically change the way I do a lot of things.
I know hypnosis has been used to regress a person back to the time when they lost their wedding ring 'somewhere', 10 years back. In the hypnotic trance they were in the basement of an old home, they hear a virtually sub-auditory jingle ... Sure enough they go back there, and there under a pile of dust is said ring.
I think as far as science of the mind is concerned we are still in very early days.
If, like me, you play first-person shooter games, you'll probably have the hand-eye coordination to 'head-shot' the close button before the window has barely rendered.
So yes, I'm seeing more popups lately, but any advertising content in said windows has barely 'spawned' before it's sent back to oblivion!
Why this Slashdot thread has an abundance of posters openly admitting to regularly downloading copyright protected stuff, yet not being challenged by the 'copyright infringement is theft' brigade?
Not that I'm having a go at the parent poster, but it just seems strange that other threads, like the Lokitorrent one - have caused a number of people to arguably get on a high-horse and this one hasn't.
Ok, so the difference is that this is TV, whereas those other threads were movies and music.
Is it simply because we are less in touch with the artists, producers, set-designers-who-now-have-to-eat-from-rubbish-bin s etc. connected with TV, than with other media?
Hmmmm. (Oh no, I didn't want to start a big moral debate *ducks*)
In fact, when I was in Southampton a few years back I lived with a landlord who did in fact own several TVs. But he came home drunk one day, announced to me that he was 'giving up watching TV' and asked for my help throwing all 7 of his TVs out the window. I didn't object because it was quite funny. Especially the faces of passers-by the next morning gazing at the electrical graveyard in our front garden.
The particularly amusing thing was that the next day, he realised one of said TVs was part of a home security system he'd shelled out for only a few days before. Oops.
But the point I was trying to make is: no, not everybody enjoys TV, although I'll admit the great majority do.
Well they know which popular internet news site to find who's been downloading THAT!
Slightly more lighthearted example but it's true:
Somebody delivering flyers for a local supermarket pushes said flyer through the letterbox. Dog comes running to the door, as dogs do, and bumps its nose trying to grab the leaflet as it comes through.
So guess what ... the family are suing the supermarket!
Now that's just STOOPID.
Or, also like me, you may own (i.e. have purchased) a copy of XP Home Edition that no longer works because I've installed it too many times on old crashed hard drives. The CD is now a pretty ornament :(
No, hold on ...
"learnt".
Oops ... before I get flamed, here's my reference to Google being in the dictionary ...
So how come it's in the dictionary then? Because the dictionary just reports on new words as they come into existence, rather than mandating them.
Fun, isn't it?
Take me for example: after my IT job ends, in the evenings I work on my 3 programming projects that are on-the-go, as well as a part-time masters degree in software. And then of course endless /. surfing ;)
People I know say "you should get a job as a developer" ... what they don't realise is that it takes a great deal of passion and a bit of luck to be holding the right credentials, at the right time, with the right contacts - to land a developer job in this country.
Now believe me, I'm not complaining - this is Capitalism at its best. I will be a LOT better in this field once I get a position, given this competition. And it drives standards higher.
This is one of those industries that people tend to do because they love it, and would do it in their spare time anyway. I don't fancy the chances of those wanting simply to cash in, at least in the current marketplace with this competition.
So in summary, Linus is right but it also extends to commercial developer roles to an extent ... this is a competitive industry because it is a passionate industry.
(Was going to submit this as AC, screw it ...)
Even I, with my pretty decent monitor and 25 year-old eyes have trouble reading the Yahoo ones.
Only today I was reading about using captchas to evade comment spam on blogs. However, the article stated in emphasis - (I paraphrase) "as soon as you put one of these on your site though you have a serious accessibility problem."
A bit like politicians consuming substances that are allegedly poisonous to demonstrate their confidence in it.
No, no, after YOU! ;)
IMHO, no technical solution to a problem is unhackable. It's like crime: you cannot stop it, you can only stem the flow.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for keeping ahead of the spammers but I think we need to take any magical solutions with a fistful of salt.
Not sure if plugins are included in this apparently elitist policy - I can't RTFA because it's slashdotted naturally.
Valve put in a security scheme to prevent pirating, which inconveniences paying users ... and it doesn't work anyway.
The thing with these anti-copying measures - if you know a bit of Assembler and have some patience they really aren't hard to crack. They only inconvenience paying customers (like myself).
So what's the answer to the pirating thing ... - err, well I don't have all the answers, OK?
Bill says the case was ironic, because 'The idea of low cost computing, letting people have a choice of the very best PC, making sure the prices are constantly coming down ...'.
Yeah, but what about Software?
I thought it would be a great test of my increasing Java skills and maybe I'd learn more about transactions, stored procedures, etc.
Well, an hour later I'd got Cloudscape working, I'd unlocked the Magic Word and I was looking it up in the dictionary thinking "is it really a real word?"
If you can do SELECTs, it's quite a trivial 'challenge' I'm afraid.
Equipped with breaching tool, light anti-tank weapon launcher, 12-gauge shotgun and 40mm grenade launcher I must admit - for a moment I reflexively considered my available credit.