And yet most Americans support some form of evolution as a valid explanation of how we got here. You claim that "Students are not taught how to think scientifically, but are mearly forced to learn tidbits of information" [sic]. True. Interesting, though. Most people cannot actually explain evolutionary theory. Yet they defend it just as vehemently as a religious nut defends that God works in mysterious ways and he created the earth in a literal day.
People need to question everything, religious beliefs as well as scientific precepts. Both have been proven wrong in many instances. Things evolve (cultures, ideas, movements, etc). This is clearly observable. This does not mean that all life is a product of evolution.
As you may have guessed, I do believe in the bible and creation. That does not mean that I do not accept scientific fact. That would be just as dumb as the Catholic church's persecution of individuals like Galileo. That would be just as dumb as blindly swallowing whatever my 10th grade biology teacher told me about Natural Selection.
Whatever you believe, you should at least understand it.
Yep. This pretty much sews it up. Any idiot can get on/. and spout out bogus numbers.
Are you a scientist? Have you actually studied evolution? (and high school biology doesn't count) Do you possess a higher degree in science? (sorry, sluggo, CS doesn't qualify you) Are you familiar with any of the mechanisims of natural selection?
If you answered no to one or more of these questions, then that post might not have been right for you. Thanks for taking our test! Johnny, show him what he would have won had he been in possession of an original thought!
Looks like you drank the same kool-aid as the idiots who believe, despite scientific evidence (not theories, evidence) to the contrary, that the earth is 6000 years old. BTW, belief in a creator and the bible does not necessitate that one believe stupid things that are clearly out of harmony with proven scientific facts.
Ok, ok. I just posted a dumb comment as a joke. I think this was the intention for the parent post here. Yet it is modded 5 insightful? Is someone smoking crack? You've gotta be kidding, right? Or is that part of the joke? If not,/. should not allow Mongoloid Club members to be moderators. Jeez!
Oh, I disagree. I got this eMail a few weeks back, and it, like, said that Mars would be as big as the moon in the sky. I'd say that's pretty reliable. You, Mr. Science, are not at all reliable with all of your facts measurements and stuff like that. Jeez! If congress says Mars will be big then it must be true! They like, know stuff.
I like OOo and recommend it to any of my friends who will listen. I got v2 and still like it a lot, even though it is still slower than Office (opening, saving, etc). Jeez, wonder if it has anything to do with java? Of course, I have been flamed previously for suggesting that java is slow, so I will say that java is the best ever. It's neato and way rad. And super and stuff like that. Right.
Anyhow, one interesting thing I noticed is that when I converted some docs to the OpenDocument formats, the file sizes are nearly twice as large. Not that document size really matters anymore (my cheap PC has an 80G HD, and yes, I left the door open for someone to reply to this and get some funny mod points with that last stmt and closed it with this stmt). It does make me wonder, though, if part of OOo's sloth is that it is rendering / creating XML documents rather than the old file format? If that's the case, I am sure in time it'll get better. Plus, if M$ were to ever adopt OpenDocument (riiiight) I'll bet they'd have the same problems.
If you find C a bit too hard when you are starting, learn Pascal. I like to think of it as "C-lite", if you will. I learned Pascal before C. When I took my first C course, I was having a very easy time compared with my classmates.
If, after learning Pascal, you still find C too hard even after making an earnest effort, then this is an indicator that maybe programming is not for you. You will always encounter difficult problems; you have to work through them if you wanna do this. Do not misread me! If you can write C but just don't like it, that's ok, just try another language. Maybe try something less difficult like coldfusion or VB. But if you truly just don't get it and not for a lack of effort, well...you know.
That takes care of the coding, technical aspects, etc. I have been a programmer (professionally, as in for a living!) for six years now, and I can tell you that while you obviously have to be able to code, there are lots of lessons that you are not taught in school. A good many of these topics are found in this fabulous essay which covers topics from debugging techniques to how to work with a team to (perhaps MOST importantly) how to fight schedule pressure. I do have to take exception to the bit that states that a programmer should work 60 hours a week (I typically do 40 and no more). But in general, I wish I had found this many years ago. I'd read it soon.
Like you said, depends on what you mean by "standard".
Look at web standards. They are useful because they encourage good coding practices and maintainability. Some people hate it when others throw around terms like "w3c standards" but having worked on projects that used standards and some that did not, I can tell you web standards are a good thing. In this case, they do not prevent innovation. Some may say "the w3c is just some organization with no real clout so why pay attention to their standards?" Ok, maybe, but some standard is better than no standard. Even if a standard isn't etched in stone by the finger of God, at least if it comes from a reputable source and is generally accepted it can be good.
Of course, using the same example of web development, a company could have a standard web development methodology (fusebox, nuke, etc). Not saying that methodologies are bad, but these can cause people to think a certain way and only that way. Then is when you are in danger of killing innovation. It sure is a fine line though.
Pfffttt! Eclipse is lame. I use jEdit. I have used Eclipse quite a bit, but it is just way too fat IMHO. jEdit can work for just about any language (including Ruby) and it is just a lot leaner. Try it! You'll like it!
don't read eMail for the first hour
on
Meet The Life Hackers
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
I read an interesting article on time management and one of the things it advised was NOT to read eMail for the first hour of your workday. That is the most productive time for many people so why kill it with reading eMail? Also, it sets a bad tone for your day. You start the day feeling rushed and that is a hard feeling to lose. I find this works pretty well. It's hard to avoid the temptation to read eMail first thing, but it does help.
Ah yes, my point exactly. Which could you live with? Maybe neither. Whichever one you choose, if not C) None Of The Above, you will certainly have to adapt to her. If you cannot adapt, then you are not compatible. But if you enter either relationship then you must be willing to adapt. You will not magically be "compatible" without work.
"Most people fall in love because they have shared values, but they stay in love because their personalities mesh"
Hmm. Sounds like a weenie in marketing came up with that. Wonder how long it is until he gets his own daytime TV show, or a website like that wiener with his Men are from Mercury and Women are from Uranus or whatever...
Someone once wisely said that compatibility is really about adaptability. People go into relationships expecting "compatibility". What people really need to do is learn how to adapt to other's personalities. Even if you have met someone with whom you are compatible you will have to constantly adjust your personality so that you can stay in tune with this person. People do change after all.
Also, if people do not have a sense of commitment things will fall apart once times get tough. Our society in general looks down on commitment as being old fashioned. Maybe that's why our divorce rate is 50%. Chemistry.com won't change that and I have to suspect will go the way of webvan.com.
Cuz the good ole US of A is the leading producer of DUCT TAPE! We'll just slap some good ole Duct Tape on that there inner net and it will all be good as new. Last year, uncle Slappy caught him a big ole catfish and it tore his net up. If Duct Tape fixed uncle Slappy's best fishin net, it kin fix that there inner net all dem younguns is talking bout these days.
Dang! Ma told me to git outside an fix 'at bug zapper! Gotta go!
You are what's wrong with slashdot and what's wrong with the world in general. Is "you're stupid" the best you can do? Really. No intelligent debate or anything.
The article was all about application speed, if only one specific factor relating to application speed. What's the point of discussing memory allocation speed if it doesn't contribute to overall application speed? Wouldn't that be a somewhat irrelevant thing to discuss if it were *just* about memory allocation speed? Yeah. Use your real ID, you tard.
I read the article and was amused that it focused on how much work (i.e. system processes) memory allocation required in C and Java. Maybe Java doesn't have to work as hard to allocate memory. Looking solely at memory allocation is not a true indicator. Maybe it is a problem with the people developing Java apps. Maybe development methodologies are at fault. In the end it doesn't matter. People hate slow apps and nobody cares why an app is slow. And Java apps are slower. That certainly has been my experience. And not just my experience, but that of most people, else the article would have never been written. How come every Java application I have ever used (even the fabulous jEdit) is considerably slower?
Don't even get me started on how you can always tell a Java app by it's clunky look and feel!
Having said all of that, I have been hearing a lot about Python these days. I wonder how long it will be until we start seeing Python apps where Java apps formerly were? It could happen!
I would be suspicious. I can't tell you how much AOL crapware I had to uninstall and/or purge from the registry when I bought a Dell (don't). The fact that AOL has Netscape now would just make me wonder...
Just give me IE. I guarantee the first two pages I'll visit are mozilla.org and opera.com. Then, no more IE. No crapware for me!
RIAA sea cucumber?
on
Google Ant
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· Score: 5, Funny
What about it? It is a bottom feeder that disembowls itself when threatened! Sounds about right!
If they have Stargate SG1 on there, and left off DS9, then yeah, something is outta whack. I wouldn't say DS9 was totally the best ever, but at least it did Next Generation proud.
Now, I gotta jump on SG1 with both feet:
every episode of Stargate SG-1/Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica (some of the most popular current sci-fi) is based on the entire series up until that point
Is THAT what's wrong with SG-1? I watched a few episodes of that show, and MAN did it suck! So I guess I had to be in from the beginning to like it? I doubt that would matter. I loved the movie, but Richard Dean Anderson should have quit acting after McGuyver. I know this doesn't add anything intelligent to the discussion, but it HAD to be said: At least IMHO, Stargate SG-1 is the cheesiest, hokiest, most poorly put together SCI-FI show ever. Yet there it is, number eight or six or whatever it got. What a stoopid list!
I found this interesting article on the aptly named Rosetta Project. It's nothing too new, but it shows that there are ways to preserve data. New tech isn't always the answer. Those Babylonians were on to something...
Google does have one thing going for it, a recognizable name and a product that is just better than anything M$ has ever come up with, and as a previous poster said, it's free!
What will kill Google in the end (and it's a matter of time, like you alluded to) is what is killing M$ now: brain drain. Google has the best and the brightest. It's only a matter of time until Google becomes a company with an unmanagable suite of applications to support, and then the only innovations we will see are things like a new module on that stoopid customizable portal page they made (cannot remember the uri). The real hackers will of course get bored supporting existing work and move on to the next big thing. It's just the nature of our industry. IMHO, Google will stave off this scenario by sticking to what they do best and staying away from CRAP like AOL.
I actually wonder if M$ is trying to bait Google into buying AOL. Anytime you get away from your core business (aka what you do well) then you are in trouble (musical instrument analogy: Yamaha makes good keyboards. Nobody wants their crappy guitars though). Imagine if M$ had stuck to doing OS...they might (and I say might) have a decent product. Google ought to learn from that and keep doing what they do well.
If I were Bill Gates, besides permanantly sealing off the gateway to hell I have in my basement, I would break with M$ start a new company. Let's face it, the guy did some nice stuff way back in the day. By that I don't necessarily mean DOS either...we can forget how novel the concept of a "software company" or a "personal computer" was 20 years ago and he played a large part in changing that (...donning my asbestos now).
It's amazing what you can accomplish unencumbered by Suits and PR types. Part of running a big company should be knowing when to kill it. If they don't kill it, it'll die a slow painful death from immobility. Kind of like corporate ALS, I guess.
--
Ok, gotta go. Mom sez no more slashdot and boy does she sound mad!
Slashdot Mirror
Can you cite any scientist that has observed one of the earliest cells? I guess we are at stalemate. A matter of faith any way you carve it.
And yet most Americans support some form of evolution as a valid explanation of how we got here. You claim that "Students are not taught how to think scientifically, but are mearly forced to learn tidbits of information" [sic]. True. Interesting, though. Most people cannot actually explain evolutionary theory. Yet they defend it just as vehemently as a religious nut defends that God works in mysterious ways and he created the earth in a literal day.
People need to question everything, religious beliefs as well as scientific precepts. Both have been proven wrong in many instances. Things evolve (cultures, ideas, movements, etc). This is clearly observable. This does not mean that all life is a product of evolution.
As you may have guessed, I do believe in the bible and creation. That does not mean that I do not accept scientific fact. That would be just as dumb as the Catholic church's persecution of individuals like Galileo. That would be just as dumb as blindly swallowing whatever my 10th grade biology teacher told me about Natural Selection.
Whatever you believe, you should at least understand it.
Yep. This pretty much sews it up. Any idiot can get on /. and spout out bogus numbers.
/. ID
Are you a scientist? Have you actually studied evolution? (and high school biology doesn't count) Do you possess a higher degree in science? (sorry, sluggo, CS doesn't qualify you) Are you familiar with any of the mechanisims of natural selection?
If you answered no to one or more of these questions, then that post might not have been right for you. Thanks for taking our test! Johnny, show him what he would have won had he been in possession of an original thought!
Looks like you drank the same kool-aid as the idiots who believe, despite scientific evidence (not theories, evidence) to the contrary, that the earth is 6000 years old. BTW, belief in a creator and the bible does not necessitate that one believe stupid things that are clearly out of harmony with proven scientific facts.
Not skeered to reply under my
Name them.
The cell. For one.
Ok, ok. I just posted a dumb comment as a joke. I think this was the intention for the parent post here. Yet it is modded 5 insightful? Is someone smoking crack? You've gotta be kidding, right? Or is that part of the joke? If not, /. should not allow Mongoloid Club members to be moderators. Jeez!
Yes, jokes. You know, "jokes", right?
Oh, I disagree. I got this eMail a few weeks back, and it, like, said that Mars would be as big as the moon in the sky. I'd say that's pretty reliable. You, Mr. Science, are not at all reliable with all of your facts measurements and stuff like that. Jeez! If congress says Mars will be big then it must be true! They like, know stuff.
I like OOo and recommend it to any of my friends who will listen. I got v2 and still like it a lot, even though it is still slower than Office (opening, saving, etc). Jeez, wonder if it has anything to do with java? Of course, I have been flamed previously for suggesting that java is slow, so I will say that java is the best ever. It's neato and way rad. And super and stuff like that. Right.
Anyhow, one interesting thing I noticed is that when I converted some docs to the OpenDocument formats, the file sizes are nearly twice as large. Not that document size really matters anymore (my cheap PC has an 80G HD, and yes, I left the door open for someone to reply to this and get some funny mod points with that last stmt and closed it with this stmt). It does make me wonder, though, if part of OOo's sloth is that it is rendering / creating XML documents rather than the old file format? If that's the case, I am sure in time it'll get better. Plus, if M$ were to ever adopt OpenDocument (riiiight) I'll bet they'd have the same problems.
I agree wholeheartedly regarding C.
If you find C a bit too hard when you are starting, learn Pascal. I like to think of it as "C-lite", if you will. I learned Pascal before C. When I took my first C course, I was having a very easy time compared with my classmates.
If, after learning Pascal, you still find C too hard even after making an earnest effort, then this is an indicator that maybe programming is not for you. You will always encounter difficult problems; you have to work through them if you wanna do this. Do not misread me! If you can write C but just don't like it, that's ok, just try another language. Maybe try something less difficult like coldfusion or VB. But if you truly just don't get it and not for a lack of effort, well...you know.
That takes care of the coding, technical aspects, etc. I have been a programmer (professionally, as in for a living!) for six years now, and I can tell you that while you obviously have to be able to code, there are lots of lessons that you are not taught in school. A good many of these topics are found in this fabulous essay which covers topics from debugging techniques to how to work with a team to (perhaps MOST importantly) how to fight schedule pressure. I do have to take exception to the bit that states that a programmer should work 60 hours a week (I typically do 40 and no more). But in general, I wish I had found this many years ago. I'd read it soon.
Most of all, make sure you enjoy it.
Like you said, depends on what you mean by "standard".
Look at web standards. They are useful because they encourage good coding practices and maintainability. Some people hate it when others throw around terms like "w3c standards" but having worked on projects that used standards and some that did not, I can tell you web standards are a good thing. In this case, they do not prevent innovation. Some may say "the w3c is just some organization with no real clout so why pay attention to their standards?" Ok, maybe, but some standard is better than no standard. Even if a standard isn't etched in stone by the finger of God, at least if it comes from a reputable source and is generally accepted it can be good.
Of course, using the same example of web development, a company could have a standard web development methodology (fusebox, nuke, etc). Not saying that methodologies are bad, but these can cause people to think a certain way and only that way. Then is when you are in danger of killing innovation. It sure is a fine line though.
Haha, now, that's what I am talking about! You sir, are a real hacker.
So, the Beastie Boys posting on /. Awesome! C'mon, for old time's sake...What's the time? Time to get ill! Say it! Say it!
Pfffttt! Eclipse is lame. I use jEdit. I have used Eclipse quite a bit, but it is just way too fat IMHO. jEdit can work for just about any language (including Ruby) and it is just a lot leaner. Try it! You'll like it!
I read an interesting article on time management and one of the things it advised was NOT to read eMail for the first hour of your workday. That is the most productive time for many people so why kill it with reading eMail? Also, it sets a bad tone for your day. You start the day feeling rushed and that is a hard feeling to lose. I find this works pretty well. It's hard to avoid the temptation to read eMail first thing, but it does help.
Ah yes, my point exactly. Which could you live with? Maybe neither. Whichever one you choose, if not C) None Of The Above, you will certainly have to adapt to her. If you cannot adapt, then you are not compatible. But if you enter either relationship then you must be willing to adapt. You will not magically be "compatible" without work.
"Most people fall in love because they have shared values, but they stay in love because their personalities mesh"
Hmm. Sounds like a weenie in marketing came up with that. Wonder how long it is until he gets his own daytime TV show, or a website like that wiener with his Men are from Mercury and Women are from Uranus or whatever...
Someone once wisely said that compatibility is really about adaptability. People go into relationships expecting "compatibility". What people really need to do is learn how to adapt to other's personalities. Even if you have met someone with whom you are compatible you will have to constantly adjust your personality so that you can stay in tune with this person. People do change after all.
Also, if people do not have a sense of commitment things will fall apart once times get tough. Our society in general looks down on commitment as being old fashioned. Maybe that's why our divorce rate is 50%. Chemistry.com won't change that and I have to suspect will go the way of webvan.com.
Cuz the good ole US of A is the leading producer of DUCT TAPE! We'll just slap some good ole Duct Tape on that there inner net and it will all be good as new. Last year, uncle Slappy caught him a big ole catfish and it tore his net up. If Duct Tape fixed uncle Slappy's best fishin net, it kin fix that there inner net all dem younguns is talking bout these days.
Dang! Ma told me to git outside an fix 'at bug zapper! Gotta go!
You are what's wrong with slashdot and what's wrong with the world in general. Is "you're stupid" the best you can do? Really. No intelligent debate or anything.
The article was all about application speed, if only one specific factor relating to application speed. What's the point of discussing memory allocation speed if it doesn't contribute to overall application speed? Wouldn't that be a somewhat irrelevant thing to discuss if it were *just* about memory allocation speed? Yeah. Use your real ID, you tard.
Man, isn't that the truth?!?
I read the article and was amused that it focused on how much work (i.e. system processes) memory allocation required in C and Java. Maybe Java doesn't have to work as hard to allocate memory. Looking solely at memory allocation is not a true indicator. Maybe it is a problem with the people developing Java apps. Maybe development methodologies are at fault. In the end it doesn't matter. People hate slow apps and nobody cares why an app is slow. And Java apps are slower. That certainly has been my experience. And not just my experience, but that of most people, else the article would have never been written. How come every Java application I have ever used (even the fabulous jEdit) is considerably slower?
Don't even get me started on how you can always tell a Java app by it's clunky look and feel!
Having said all of that, I have been hearing a lot about Python these days. I wonder how long it will be until we start seeing Python apps where Java apps formerly were? It could happen!
I was SO looking forward to paying $3 for play once DVDs! I feel that that the MPAA needs more of my money!!!
I would be suspicious. I can't tell you how much AOL crapware I had to uninstall and/or purge from the registry when I bought a Dell (don't). The fact that AOL has Netscape now would just make me wonder...
Just give me IE. I guarantee the first two pages I'll visit are mozilla.org and opera.com. Then, no more IE. No crapware for me!
What about it? It is a bottom feeder that disembowls itself when threatened! Sounds about right!
If they have Stargate SG1 on there, and left off DS9, then yeah, something is outta whack. I wouldn't say DS9 was totally the best ever, but at least it did Next Generation proud.
Now, I gotta jump on SG1 with both feet:
every episode of Stargate SG-1/Atlantis and Battlestar Galactica (some of the most popular current sci-fi) is based on the entire series up until that point
Is THAT what's wrong with SG-1? I watched a few episodes of that show, and MAN did it suck! So I guess I had to be in from the beginning to like it? I doubt that would matter. I loved the movie, but Richard Dean Anderson should have quit acting after McGuyver. I know this doesn't add anything intelligent to the discussion, but it HAD to be said: At least IMHO, Stargate SG-1 is the cheesiest, hokiest, most poorly put together SCI-FI show ever. Yet there it is, number eight or six or whatever it got. What a stoopid list!
I found this interesting article on the aptly named Rosetta Project. It's nothing too new, but it shows that there are ways to preserve data. New tech isn't always the answer. Those Babylonians were on to something...
That may be a bit hasty.
Google does have one thing going for it, a recognizable name and a product that is just better than anything M$ has ever come up with, and as a previous poster said, it's free!
What will kill Google in the end (and it's a matter of time, like you alluded to) is what is killing M$ now: brain drain. Google has the best and the brightest. It's only a matter of time until Google becomes a company with an unmanagable suite of applications to support, and then the only innovations we will see are things like a new module on that stoopid customizable portal page they made (cannot remember the uri). The real hackers will of course get bored supporting existing work and move on to the next big thing. It's just the nature of our industry. IMHO, Google will stave off this scenario by sticking to what they do best and staying away from CRAP like AOL.
I actually wonder if M$ is trying to bait Google into buying AOL. Anytime you get away from your core business (aka what you do well) then you are in trouble (musical instrument analogy: Yamaha makes good keyboards. Nobody wants their crappy guitars though). Imagine if M$ had stuck to doing OS...they might (and I say might) have a decent product. Google ought to learn from that and keep doing what they do well.
Ossifying...well put.
If I were Bill Gates, besides permanantly sealing off the gateway to hell I have in my basement, I would break with M$ start a new company. Let's face it, the guy did some nice stuff way back in the day. By that I don't necessarily mean DOS either...we can forget how novel the concept of a "software company" or a "personal computer" was 20 years ago and he played a large part in changing that (...donning my asbestos now).
It's amazing what you can accomplish unencumbered by Suits and PR types. Part of running a big company should be knowing when to kill it. If they don't kill it, it'll die a slow painful death from immobility. Kind of like corporate ALS, I guess.
--
Ok, gotta go. Mom sez no more slashdot and boy does she sound mad!