Music can be a distraction from work? A silly notion, but pretend to be a PHB and it sort of makes sense. What scares me is that PHBs and congress-people think alike. Just wait: car radios will someday be banned because music can be a distraction from driving.
Personally, my favorite music for programming is Within Temptation. For debugging, I like Flyleaf. For writing documents, Shostakovich. While driving, I usually listen to Cradle of Filth.
That is one hypothesis. My point is that the science behind global warming theory is immature: mostly at the level of untested hypothesis. As a scientist, I don't want to ignore the danger or claim it isn't there, but I want to explore other hypotheses as well, especially when the temperatures for the past decade don't fit any of the global warming models. Specific to your point, the melting of the polar ice indeed is occurring, and it is absorbing some heat in the process. But not enough to account for the drop in temperatures we have been seeing. Also, it just doesn't make sense that ice is melting because of increased greenhouse gasses and the result is cooling. Back to my original point, that the ecosystem is far too complex for a single factor to have a huge impact.
It is interesting that they measured an increase in CO2 levels and conclude that temperatures will rise by 6C in a century. The correlation between CO2 levels and temperature, however, might want to be investigated yet again. The period 2000 - 2008, when the increase in CO2 levels took place, experienced a steady drop in global temperatures. That in itself suggests a negative correlation. Don't get me wrong; I don't believe that temperatures will tend to fall as CO2 rises, but instead they should definitely rise. I'm just suggesting that world climate is an incredibly complex system, and we can't accurately estimate future temperatures without understanding how all of the variables contribute to the system.
We have a problem, but not an emergency. Let's work to cut emissions and (more importantly IMHO) conserve our limited fossil fuel resources. But let's not panic about global warming. After all, the science is still fairly immature.
Wow that sounds like a great idea. Let me tweak it a bit. How about if Canonical releases every six months, but every other release is one they focus on making really solid? They can offer longer support for that version than the other, and people who are cautious would get adequate warning to only upgrade once a year.
But, wait... that's exactly what they are doing.;-)
The immediate parent post was modded flamebait, but the point is nevertheless valid. The grandparent post makes it sound like we shouldn't complain about bugs and issues because we're getting a handout. But a Linux distribution should be professional, it should be of the highest quality, regardless of the price tag. When it comes to Linux specifically and Open Source in general, Free as in beer does not mean cheap as in crappy.
Oh, I've done a fresh install on EeePC, with one hiccup. The netbook remix that I installed first didn't let me switch to the standard user interface, so I reinstalled with standard Ubuntu.
I did an upgrade of a desktop HP from 9.04 to KK, with no problems whatsoever. Is the kernel old and I didn't notice? Maybe. I didn't notice. As long as it does everything I ask of it, I couldn't care less what the kernel version is.
I see on the maps that some areas are thinning, near the coasts, and other areas are thickening. I wonder if that is the usual pattern, or if they are seeing something unusual. The article didn't mention that, as far as I could tell.
Also, imagine using this method to solve a problem for which you didn't already know the solution. What exactly are the characteristics of the "correct answer"? Unknown. In order to be useful, you must engineer a mapping of the possible solutions to genetics in a way where the solution is obvious without knowing what it will be beforehand. That sounds quite difficult. Maybe we could program some bacteria to find out how to do that.
You're still young, dude! When I was in my 30's I had the same decision, and found it to be a choice between doing something I did well (technical) and something I did kind of poorly (management). Easy decision. I have spent the next 20 years keeping up with various technologies. I have done well, but recently discovered the secret (for me) of effective management. I have discovered that, even though I can outperform ten normal individuals, I can manage a team of ten that does about three times what I could do by myself. That's pretty cool. I'm ready to let go of having to keep up with every new technology, and teach my team how I did it so well for so long. So, my advice is to do what you think you are best at. If that is the technical path, don't worry -- if you really are good at it, you'll certainly have management chances in the future. On the other hand: the management "ladder" rises faster.
In the 80's I worked on an large software project. We had a prototype that showed that the general design was solid, but a complete implementation would take too much memory and run too slow to meet the requirements. We the Software Engineers were nervous and wanted to redesign parts of the system. The manager, however, wasn't worried at all. He told us to go ahead with a full implementation of the original design, because the hardware would catch up. Of course, he was right. The final system worked beautifully, nestled in a corner of the RAM footprint, greatly exceeding the speed requirements. Never waste money optimizing software for hardware deficiencies that will go away. But DO optimize software for inefficiencies that aren't related to hardware! The fastest computer on the planet still takes forever to finish an infinite loop.
I see two classes of criticisms, both quite valid, but neither distracting from the beauty of the idea.
First, the Ford Think wasn't well-thought. 0-30 in 6.5 seconds, with an electric motor? Excuse me?!? Second, nobody can explain why the Stirling Engine was chosen for this prototype, when many more efficient choices seem to be available.
Nevertheless, the idea is solid. Let's have a hybrid that's basically an electric with fuel assist. Like the Aptera, but perhaps sacrificing a bit of efficiency for more conventional looks.
I did the same thing five years ago, at the height of noisy desktops. My bedroom computer is now in my closet, with the monitor/keyboard/speakers/mouse/etc on a desk on the other side of the wall.
The only problem is that my new computer is so quiet that the whole arrangement seems silly.
IANAL! Don't trust anything you ready on forums like this, but...
I believe non-compete clauses are completely non-enforceable in some locations like California. *IF* you verify that such clauses aren't enforceable in your area, point that out to them.
In either case, I wouldn't sign a non-complete under any conditions. You don't know how long that job will last, and you may have a good offer in the future from another company wanting to do the same thing to the same BSD-licensed project. Keep your options open.
Also, I don't see how the company can hope to get exclusive ownership of the work you have done in the past. That's just wrong-headed.
All of us who are paid to write software are faced with issues like this from time to time. Decide what cannot be negotiated, and let them know the limits. Then, negotiate for the best package you can get within those limits.
I wish you the best of luck, and I personally hope you find a way to finish your work on the open source project in a way that allows the community at large to benefit.
Seriously, though, it's a crazy scenario, and IANAL (I don't know what I'm talking about) but I believe he could, or more likely, the record label that owns copyright of his works could. But of course they wouldn't.
I'm not trying to say everyone else is wrong and I'm right, but I wanted the Slashdot millions to stop and think about this a bit.
A copyright owner can revoke outstanding licenses. The only way the GPL is non-revokable is if the original copyright owner has assigned the copyright to the FSF, as is recommended by FSF. If the original owner retains copyright, he can do as he pleases: He can revoke licenses on existing and distributed copies. He can modify the license after distribution. He can (gasp) refuse to distribute source code for GPLed software. Remember that the copyright owner owns the software and all rights to it. The license, even the GPL, doesn't ever take away rights of the copyright owner.
This sounds like a great thing, and I wonder if any imitation of it will ever see the shores of the U.S. Probably not any chance of that. I tried to find some specs, but the site is already slashdotted.
That exactly was the point I was making in saying I'd like to do that sometime. I wouldn't really do that, but the idea intrigues me. It's an immoral and evil thing to do: releasing software under GPL and not releasing the source. But it's obviously legal, since the copyright owner of the software doesn't need no stinking license. But that's off-topic isn't it? Here I am, being a troll and Off-Topic in the same set of posts, so I'll stop before my karma gets utterly trashed.
Somebody can write a program, release it under GPL, and not release the source. That's perfectly valid. The GPL, or any other license, doesn't apply to the copyright holder. I've always wanted to do that, just to get a rise out of the community.
Of course, if they included GPL software, making this a derivative work, disregard me.
As of RC3, the PS3 support doesn't include drivers for PS3-specific devices such as the Ethernet controller, and doesn't successfully boot. Things may have changed but I'm stucking with my hand-patched 2.6.17 with zd1211 support for usb wifi. I use the PS3 Linux quite a bit as a family-room computer. Sound is limited to 2-channel, but good quality. Video has no acceleration, but is still fast and looks good on our 720p TV. Unfortunately, the built-in WIFI doesn't work with Linux, and the Sony-provided kernel seems to lack any support for USB WIFI.
I have spent more time playing Koules than Doom or the various Quakes and other similar games. On consoles, Frequency, Amplitude, DDR, and Guitar Hero take my time, none of them 3D. Of course, they have a common thread, music and rhythm, which I find compelling. The games I tend to enjoy to are entertaining without having a visual WOW factor.
Electric bicycles are, IMHO, more ready for prime time than electric cars. I commute on an EGo (www.egovehicles.com) 17 miles each way.
Conversion kits for road bikes such as your 18-speed are easy to find online. Checking google, I see ZapWorld.com among others.
You won't go 30 miles an hour uphill, though. 15-18 MPH on the flat would be good for a conversion kit. Electric motors have high torque, so you'll not slow down much up hills. Before getting something fast, like your desired 30 MPH, check licensing laws in your area.
According to the article, this runs Linux in emulation mode, which is slow. CoLinux runs Linux as a Windows application, which is faster. CoLinux, however, lacks a graphics interface. I use it with X, but that doesn't work out of the box with existing live CDs.
Slashdot Mirror
Music can be a distraction from work?
A silly notion, but pretend to be a PHB and it sort of makes sense.
What scares me is that PHBs and congress-people think alike.
Just wait: car radios will someday be banned because music can be a distraction from driving.
Personally, my favorite music for programming is Within Temptation.
For debugging, I like Flyleaf.
For writing documents, Shostakovich.
While driving, I usually listen to Cradle of Filth.
That is one hypothesis.
My point is that the science behind global warming theory is immature: mostly at the level of untested hypothesis. As a scientist, I don't want to ignore the danger or claim it isn't there, but I want to explore other hypotheses as well, especially when the temperatures for the past decade don't fit any of the global warming models.
Specific to your point, the melting of the polar ice indeed is occurring, and it is absorbing some heat in the process. But not enough to account for the drop in temperatures we have been seeing. Also, it just doesn't make sense that ice is melting because of increased greenhouse gasses and the result is cooling. Back to my original point, that the ecosystem is far too complex for a single factor to have a huge impact.
It is interesting that they measured an increase in CO2 levels and conclude that temperatures will rise by 6C in a century. The correlation between CO2 levels and temperature, however, might want to be investigated yet again. The period 2000 - 2008, when the increase in CO2 levels took place, experienced a steady drop in global temperatures. That in itself suggests a negative correlation. Don't get me wrong; I don't believe that temperatures will tend to fall as CO2 rises, but instead they should definitely rise. I'm just suggesting that world climate is an incredibly complex system, and we can't accurately estimate future temperatures without understanding how all of the variables contribute to the system.
We have a problem, but not an emergency.
Let's work to cut emissions and (more importantly IMHO) conserve our limited fossil fuel resources.
But let's not panic about global warming.
After all, the science is still fairly immature.
Wow that sounds like a great idea. Let me tweak it a bit.
How about if Canonical releases every six months, but every other release is one they focus on making really solid? They can offer longer support for that version than the other, and people who are cautious would get adequate warning to only upgrade once a year.
But, wait ... that's exactly what they are doing. ;-)
The immediate parent post was modded flamebait, but the point is nevertheless valid.
The grandparent post makes it sound like we shouldn't complain about bugs and issues because we're getting a handout. But a Linux distribution should be professional, it should be of the highest quality, regardless of the price tag. When it comes to Linux specifically and Open Source in general, Free as in beer does not mean cheap as in crappy.
Oh, I've done a fresh install on EeePC, with one hiccup. The netbook remix that I installed first didn't let me switch to the standard user interface, so I reinstalled with standard Ubuntu.
I did an upgrade of a desktop HP from 9.04 to KK, with no problems whatsoever.
Is the kernel old and I didn't notice? Maybe. I didn't notice. As long as it does everything I ask of it, I couldn't care less what the kernel version is.
I see on the maps that some areas are thinning, near the coasts, and other areas are thickening.
I wonder if that is the usual pattern, or if they are seeing something unusual.
The article didn't mention that, as far as I could tell.
Nothing? It should display the received SMS message, after all. Even my lowly HTC Wizard does that much.
Also, imagine using this method to solve a problem for which you didn't already know the solution. What exactly are the characteristics of the "correct answer"? Unknown.
In order to be useful, you must engineer a mapping of the possible solutions to genetics in a way where the solution is obvious without knowing what it will be beforehand. That sounds quite difficult. Maybe we could program some bacteria to find out how to do that.
You're still young, dude!
When I was in my 30's I had the same decision, and found it to be a choice between doing something I did well (technical) and something I did kind of poorly (management). Easy decision. I have spent the next 20 years keeping up with various technologies. I have done well, but recently discovered the secret (for me) of effective management. I have discovered that, even though I can outperform ten normal individuals, I can manage a team of ten that does about three times what I could do by myself. That's pretty cool. I'm ready to let go of having to keep up with every new technology, and teach my team how I did it so well for so long.
So, my advice is to do what you think you are best at. If that is the technical path, don't worry -- if you really are good at it, you'll certainly have management chances in the future.
On the other hand: the management "ladder" rises faster.
Perhaps the winning entry is so obfuscated that they haven't been able to find it.
In the 80's I worked on an large software project. We had a prototype that showed that the general design was solid, but a complete implementation would take too much memory and run too slow to meet the requirements. We the Software Engineers were nervous and wanted to redesign parts of the system. The manager, however, wasn't worried at all. He told us to go ahead with a full implementation of the original design, because the hardware would catch up. Of course, he was right. The final system worked beautifully, nestled in a corner of the RAM footprint, greatly exceeding the speed requirements. Never waste money optimizing software for hardware deficiencies that will go away. But DO optimize software for inefficiencies that aren't related to hardware! The fastest computer on the planet still takes forever to finish an infinite loop.
I see two classes of criticisms, both quite valid, but neither distracting from the beauty of the idea.
First, the Ford Think wasn't well-thought. 0-30 in 6.5 seconds, with an electric motor? Excuse me?!?
Second, nobody can explain why the Stirling Engine was chosen for this prototype, when many more efficient choices seem to be available.
Nevertheless, the idea is solid. Let's have a hybrid that's basically an electric with fuel assist. Like the Aptera, but perhaps sacrificing a bit of efficiency for more conventional looks.
I did the same thing five years ago, at the height of noisy desktops. My bedroom computer is now in my closet, with the monitor/keyboard/speakers/mouse/etc on a desk on the other side of the wall.
The only problem is that my new computer is so quiet that the whole arrangement seems silly.
IANAL! Don't trust anything you ready on forums like this, but ...
I believe non-compete clauses are completely non-enforceable in some locations like California.
*IF* you verify that such clauses aren't enforceable in your area, point that out to them.
In either case, I wouldn't sign a non-complete under any conditions. You don't know how long that job will last, and you may have a good offer in the future from another company wanting to do the same thing to the same BSD-licensed project. Keep your options open.
Also, I don't see how the company can hope to get exclusive ownership of the work you have done in the past. That's just wrong-headed.
All of us who are paid to write software are faced with issues like this from time to time. Decide what cannot be negotiated, and let them know the limits. Then, negotiate for the best package you can get within those limits.
I wish you the best of luck, and I personally hope you find a way to finish your work on the open source project in a way that allows the community at large to benefit.
I always thought multitasking made me slow, but more able to see alternative solutions. Sometimes a solution for task A comes from task B.
That would be the moral thing to do. :-)
Seriously, though, it's a crazy scenario, and IANAL (I don't know what I'm talking about) but I believe he could, or more likely, the record label that owns copyright of his works could. But of course they wouldn't.
I'm not trying to say everyone else is wrong and I'm right, but I wanted the Slashdot millions to stop and think about this a bit.
A copyright owner can revoke outstanding licenses. The only way the GPL is non-revokable is if the original copyright owner has assigned the copyright to the FSF, as is recommended by FSF. If the original owner retains copyright, he can do as he pleases:
He can revoke licenses on existing and distributed copies.
He can modify the license after distribution.
He can (gasp) refuse to distribute source code for GPLed software.
Remember that the copyright owner owns the software and all rights to it. The license, even the GPL, doesn't ever take away rights of the copyright owner.
This sounds like a great thing, and I wonder if any imitation of it will ever see the shores of the U.S. Probably not any chance of that. I tried to find some specs, but the site is already slashdotted.
That exactly was the point I was making in saying I'd like to do that sometime.
I wouldn't really do that, but the idea intrigues me.
It's an immoral and evil thing to do: releasing software under GPL and not releasing the source.
But it's obviously legal, since the copyright owner of the software doesn't need no stinking license.
But that's off-topic isn't it?
Here I am, being a troll and Off-Topic in the same set of posts, so I'll stop before my karma gets utterly trashed.
Somebody can write a program, release it under GPL, and not release the source.
That's perfectly valid.
The GPL, or any other license, doesn't apply to the copyright holder.
I've always wanted to do that, just to get a rise out of the community.
Of course, if they included GPL software, making this a derivative work, disregard me.
The list of commands given make it sound more like a boot loader than a shell.
As of RC3, the PS3 support doesn't include drivers for PS3-specific devices such as the Ethernet controller, and doesn't successfully boot.
Things may have changed but I'm stucking with my hand-patched 2.6.17 with zd1211 support for usb wifi.
I use the PS3 Linux quite a bit as a family-room computer. Sound is limited to 2-channel, but good quality. Video has no acceleration, but is still fast and looks good on our 720p TV. Unfortunately, the built-in WIFI doesn't work with Linux, and the Sony-provided kernel seems to lack any support for USB WIFI.
I have spent more time playing Koules than Doom or the various Quakes and other similar games.
On consoles, Frequency, Amplitude, DDR, and Guitar Hero take my time, none of them 3D.
Of course, they have a common thread, music and rhythm, which I find compelling.
The games I tend to enjoy to are entertaining without having a visual WOW factor.
Electric bicycles are, IMHO, more ready for prime time than electric cars.
I commute on an EGo (www.egovehicles.com) 17 miles each way.
Conversion kits for road bikes such as your 18-speed are easy to find online.
Checking google, I see ZapWorld.com among others.
You won't go 30 miles an hour uphill, though.
15-18 MPH on the flat would be good for a conversion kit.
Electric motors have high torque, so you'll not slow down much up hills.
Before getting something fast, like your desired 30 MPH, check licensing laws in your area.
According to the article, this runs Linux in emulation mode, which is slow. CoLinux runs Linux as a Windows application, which is faster. CoLinux, however, lacks a graphics interface. I use it with X, but that doesn't work out of the box with existing live CDs.