What about that? I think it's still much more likely than the other options listed. It wouldn't end the Earth (nor would for example Gamma burst), but it would end the civilization and/or kill all humans.
When I try to load the wikipedia page for "virgin killer" album, I get "404 not found", "Not Found - The requested URL en.wikipedia.org was not found on this server."
I think this is coming from some proxy server. The page loads just fine from Google cache, images included.
I agree that there are cases where PostgreSQL or will not do. But they are not "many cases". In many cases, Oracle is an expensive overkill. In many cases Oracle introduces more overhead supporting the database than it is worth.
First of all, there is nothing wrong with achieving your current goals and THEN trying to achieve more difficult goals. Step by step. Overengineering is as much a problem as is shortsightedness. Building system now that will satisfy requirements that will arise in 10 years is stupid, because in 10 years so much can change that your current technologies, requirements and methods are obsolete. At least in software, incremental development is what succeeds, and grandiose vaporvare always fails.
And about safety. Sorry to sound cruel, but getting several people killed to get into space is no big deal. Obsession with safety is really slowing us down here. If we were to believe "The Right Stuff", there were times when 2 test pilots a WEEK got killed in crashes. Lots of people die in lots of silly ways- car crashes, suicides, smoking, drugs, crime, obesity caused heart diseases. Getting killed while trying to get into space is probably one of the better ways to go.
I don't believe I'm writing this, probably I have been trolled.
We already grow more than enough food to feed everyone. The problem is constant wars, corruption, politics and distribution.
And world is not black and white. You don't have to chose between evil companies doing GM food, or not doing GM food at all. And EU doesn't even ban GM foods, it just requires labels on GM food saying that it is GM food so that people can make their own decisions. Or are you saying that we should cram down our throats whatever the corps are pushing without asking? Wake up. Take a look at enhancements in most GM foods. Pesticide resistance & good looks for marketing. Neither helps poor 3rd world farmers combat famines.
Besides, EU regulations don't prevent GM foods from being pushed in 3rd world countries. What are you so angry about? Starving people in Europe?
In 10 years board of directors is retired in their own private islands, and side effects of GM modifications are just starting to show up. Some ill effects on health take a lot of time. Stuff like higher cancer rates are hard to notice or to attribute to specific cause. Or higher chance of allergies in kids. Or lower intelligence, lower fertility, higher chance of birth defects. There are lots of things that you can sweep under the rug and it will take a long time for them to be noticed.
This is the issue. I read an article the other day about voter concerns in USA. Iraq and Economy were #1 and #2, health care #3, education nowhere on the list.
This means that the Ruling Elite/Government must force the education on the people who don't care about it or don't want it. This means democracy doesn't really work.
And I doubt that will ever happen. Corrupt Ruling Elite will not do anything to improve education, bacause as you said educated people are harder to manipulate to stay in power. It's just not in their best interest to do so.
Heh, I consider myself educated, and GM crops scare me shitless.
The thing is- I believe properly done GM modified crops would be very nice and productive and all that. But right now, we have asshole companies like Monsanto running GM modification. And these people can not be trusted. They would gladly poison millions of people or induce birth defects or do ANYTHING if it would increase their profits and if they could get away with it.
It's not the GM modification per se I have a problem with. It's the companies that do it. And that there is no real quality control of GM crops.
>> The above mentioned people have a right to vote too, you know.
This is the problem. If you get the masses making decisions, you get idiotic decisions, because none of us is as stupid as all of us. And you get manipulation of votes by mass media.
On the other hand, if you concentrate decision making in the hands of elite, you get corruption.
Any suggestions how to solve this?
I was thinking it would be nice to have something like a hive mind with error correction. Like we can build reliable systems out of flawed components. (using parity, checksums. etc) We could try to build a reliable decision making body out of flawed people.
South Ossetia is a Georgian province. Population there is NOT Russian, but they were given Russian passports around the time when Georgia split off from Soviet Union. The region was mostly governed by Russians, and they supported it with weapons and fueled separatist movement there. And there were provocations from Russian/Ossetian side before Georgia invaded last Friday. See August 1-7 buildup on Wikipedia article. Same thing with Abkhazia. Russian occupation and annexation of Abkhazia was completely unwarranted and unprovoked- Georgia did nothing to Abkhazia.
In general, this is just a part of The Great Game. Divide your enemies, make Abkhazians, Ossetians, Georgians hate each other and fight each other, and rule them all. But I still think that Russia provoked this war, and they were preparing for this war long time before Georgian strike on Friday. Russia has been meddling and fighting in Caucasus for hundreds of years now. They have been meddling with other neighboring countries as well. And if the world doesn't stand up to their bullying, this will make Russia feel invincible and beyond punishment. I wonder who would suffer next. Ukraine? Baltic states? Poland? Chechnya is still occupied, and genocide there is still ongoing. Russia never cared and will never care for lives of people, their own citizens or not, nor for peace.
And don't get me started on peacekeepers. Russia having "peacekeepers" in Ossetia is similar to Nazi Germany having peacekeepers in Poland.
Getting complex client side JS working well on different browsers is difficult. If GWT Java => JS compiler can take care of that automatically, it will save TONS of effort.
Yes, Microsoft's influence did a lot to commoditize hardware. But at what price? Embrace, extend, extinguish, broken standards, stifling innovation and crushing competition? People are now writing applications that use a freaking WEB BROWSER as an application client to work around desktop monopoly. How screwed up is that? The most widely used operating system still doesn't have a proper software packaging nor automatic upgrade for installed packages.
For crying out loud, two main operating systems in use today is a rehash of Windows NT and a rehash of Unix which is 40 years old? Why isn't there something completely different? No radical changes. No disruptive technologies. No big breakthroughs. Microsoft monopoly is partially to blame.
Maybe if there was no Microsoft, we would have some working standards for operating systems, software and file formats. Maybe we would have a healthy marketplace for software. Maybe computers would be even more widespread and accessible. Maybe we would have innovations we cannot dream of right now, because they never happened. Because they were doomed in an environment with a hostile desktop monopoly and nobody even bothered.
I don't know how reliable are their numbers, but the article mentioned in previous article, http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_01_12_a_suv.html says that if you measure deaths per million of cars, small cars are less dangerous.
This means that if you end up in a crash driving a small car, especially if you crash into a big vehicle, you are more likely to get killed. But with a small car, you won't crash as much as in a SUV, because of better braking and handling (active safety).
Besides, when it comes to crashes, you don't always crash into another vehicle. You can run off the road, crash into a pole or a tree, etc. And there I doubt driving a SUV will help you all that much. The study you linked doesn't take this into account.
When it comes to me, I'd rather drive a medium sized car with good safety rating & proper handling & good tires. But I'm from Europe.
Um, enriching your shareholders at the cost of general public, by using any means necessary is often destructive to the environment, society, employees and more. And since corporations cannot have morals, and can go around laws or change laws at will, there is nothing to stop them from doing evil. So it IS destructive.
And most of the time, this kind of greed is short-sighted, and harmful to shareholders as well.
Hmm. I bought a Samsung laser printer recently, and I was pleasantly surprised that they had non-intrusive drivers. No system tray icons, no bullshit. Just shut up and do your job drivers. It was like 1990s all over again...
Heh. I felt the same way too about Baroque Cycle. On top of that, I went to live to London, and started reading Baroque cycle simultaneously. It was quite an experience... And I felt very empty afterwards.
By the way- duality of intellectual live and normal life, and intellectuals staying away from society is not a new idea. Steppenwolf and The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse cover it quite well. As well as other fiction stories. I wonder what is Stephenson's take on this one.
The problem is, normal life corrupts people and distracts them away from intellectual pursuits. You will not be 100% devoted to glass bead game if you have a family to take care of. And your decisions will be influenced by greed, wealth, power, caring and love to your close ones, etc.
Of course it is inefficient and Wrong(tm), and I have commented before on this same issue. And don't get me started on writing rich web applications that run on different browsers. Cross-browser compatibility very frustrating and maybe even harder than cross-platform compatibility.
However, what else do you suggest?
1. A Browser is already available on most systems, nothing to install.
2. Having an application run inside your Browser is reasonably secure.
3. HTTP is a protocol that is enabled/working on 100% of machines connected to the internet.
4. Zero administration. User doesn't have to do anything to get it working.
If you were to have another Application Client, you would need:
1. Damn good design and balance between various issues (performance, friendliness to user, ease of development, security, features, integration into OS, etc). And of course open standards. This can be achieved, but it's not easy. A lot of projects tried it and failed.
2. Popularity. It would have to be on >30% of machines out there. You would basically have to convince Microsoft to include it with Windows. And that is not going to happen, because it would threaten their office monopoly and other products.
3. Networking. You would have to convince millions of clueless network admins and security policy makers to allow another protocol on their network, especially in corporate networks. Not going to happen, and will impede your popularity a lot.
So writing applications for browsers is a really bad idea, but it is the best we have. If Microsoft didn't have a monopoly, and we could easily distribute another client to desktop/home machines, this might be less of an issue.
And practice shows that thin clients are a GOOD idea if you have clueless users. And most of the users are. You cannot trust users to administer their machines properly. Well designed server is more reliable than a malware ridden desktop machine. And it can backup files automatically, preserve user settings, work from different places, etc.
The thing about art is that it also obeys Sturgeon's Law. 90% of it is crap.
You are familar with (subset of) 100% of current art, 90% of which is crap. And you are familar with (subset of) 10% of old art that is not crap because it survived the test of time. You have to take it into account when judging art.
There are definitely good movies and books made nowadays. And there are worthy artists. You just have to dig deeper to find them.
Slashdot Mirror
We still have those bombs, remember?
What about that? I think it's still much more likely than the other options listed. It wouldn't end the Earth (nor would for example Gamma burst), but it would end the civilization and/or kill all humans.
--Coder
It's erotica. Porn = explicit SEX, or naked people in a way designed to arouse you sexually. Erotica= just naked people, can be art.
That picture is more art than porn, even though it has an underage naked girl in it.
--Coder
When I try to load the wikipedia page for "virgin killer" album, I get "404 not found", "Not Found - The requested URL en.wikipedia.org was not found on this server."
I think this is coming from some proxy server. The page loads just fine from Google cache, images included.
--Coder
Wow, that was well informed. Is there a way to add you as a friend? I'd like to remember to read more of what you comment around here.
--Coder
I agree that there are cases where PostgreSQL or will not do. But they are not "many cases". In many cases, Oracle is an expensive overkill. In many cases Oracle introduces more overhead supporting the database than it is worth.
--Coder
Geneforge series, Exile series, Avernum, Nethergate- all are simply brilliant. I liked Exile 3 most of all, but all are well worth playing.
--Coder
First of all, there is nothing wrong with achieving your current goals and THEN trying to achieve more difficult goals. Step by step. Overengineering is as much a problem as is shortsightedness. Building system now that will satisfy requirements that will arise in 10 years is stupid, because in 10 years so much can change that your current technologies, requirements and methods are obsolete. At least in software, incremental development is what succeeds, and grandiose vaporvare always fails.
And about safety. Sorry to sound cruel, but getting several people killed to get into space is no big deal. Obsession with safety is really slowing us down here. If we were to believe "The Right Stuff", there were times when 2 test pilots a WEEK got killed in crashes. Lots of people die in lots of silly ways- car crashes, suicides, smoking, drugs, crime, obesity caused heart diseases. Getting killed while trying to get into space is probably one of the better ways to go.
--Coder
I don't believe I'm writing this, probably I have been trolled.
We already grow more than enough food to feed everyone. The problem is constant wars, corruption, politics and distribution.
And world is not black and white. You don't have to chose between evil companies doing GM food, or not doing GM food at all. And EU doesn't even ban GM foods, it just requires labels on GM food saying that it is GM food so that people can make their own decisions. Or are you saying that we should cram down our throats whatever the corps are pushing without asking? Wake up. Take a look at enhancements in most GM foods. Pesticide resistance & good looks for marketing. Neither helps poor 3rd world farmers combat famines.
Besides, EU regulations don't prevent GM foods from being pushed in 3rd world countries. What are you so angry about? Starving people in Europe?
--Coder
In 10 years board of directors is retired in their own private islands, and side effects of GM modifications are just starting to show up. Some ill effects on health take a lot of time. Stuff like higher cancer rates are hard to notice or to attribute to specific cause. Or higher chance of allergies in kids. Or lower intelligence, lower fertility, higher chance of birth defects. There are lots of things that you can sweep under the rug and it will take a long time for them to be noticed.
--Coder
This is the issue. I read an article the other day about voter concerns in USA. Iraq and Economy were #1 and #2, health care #3, education nowhere on the list.
This means that the Ruling Elite/Government must force the education on the people who don't care about it or don't want it. This means democracy doesn't really work.
And I doubt that will ever happen. Corrupt Ruling Elite will not do anything to improve education, bacause as you said educated people are harder to manipulate to stay in power. It's just not in their best interest to do so.
--Coder
Heh, I consider myself educated, and GM crops scare me shitless.
The thing is- I believe properly done GM modified crops would be very nice and productive and all that. But right now, we have asshole companies like Monsanto running GM modification. And these people can not be trusted. They would gladly poison millions of people or induce birth defects or do ANYTHING if it would increase their profits and if they could get away with it.
It's not the GM modification per se I have a problem with. It's the companies that do it. And that there is no real quality control of GM crops.
--Coder
>> The above mentioned people have a right to vote too, you know.
This is the problem. If you get the masses making decisions, you get idiotic decisions, because none of us is as stupid as all of us. And you get manipulation of votes by mass media.
On the other hand, if you concentrate decision making in the hands of elite, you get corruption.
Any suggestions how to solve this?
I was thinking it would be nice to have something like a hive mind with error correction. Like we can build reliable systems out of flawed components. (using parity, checksums. etc) We could try to build a reliable decision making body out of flawed people.
--Coder
South Ossetia is a Georgian province. Population there is NOT Russian, but they were given Russian passports around the time when Georgia split off from Soviet Union. The region was mostly governed by Russians, and they supported it with weapons and fueled separatist movement there. And there were provocations from Russian/Ossetian side before Georgia invaded last Friday. See August 1-7 buildup on Wikipedia article. Same thing with Abkhazia. Russian occupation and annexation of Abkhazia was completely unwarranted and unprovoked- Georgia did nothing to Abkhazia.
In general, this is just a part of The Great Game. Divide your enemies, make Abkhazians, Ossetians, Georgians hate each other and fight each other, and rule them all. But I still think that Russia provoked this war, and they were preparing for this war long time before Georgian strike on Friday. Russia has been meddling and fighting in Caucasus for hundreds of years now. They have been meddling with other neighboring countries as well. And if the world doesn't stand up to their bullying, this will make Russia feel invincible and beyond punishment. I wonder who would suffer next. Ukraine? Baltic states? Poland? Chechnya is still occupied, and genocide there is still ongoing. Russia never cared and will never care for lives of people, their own citizens or not, nor for peace.
And don't get me started on peacekeepers. Russia having "peacekeepers" in Ossetia is similar to Nazi Germany having peacekeepers in Poland.
--Coder
I haven't had that much fun exercising before I started my Krav Maga training.
Kicks to the groin & elbows to the face FTW!
--Coder
Um, you can if you wish. Have you heard of Progress Quest? :)
--Coder
Getting complex client side JS working well on different browsers is difficult. If GWT Java => JS compiler can take care of that automatically, it will save TONS of effort.
--Coder
But we have to look at alternative costs.
Yes, Microsoft's influence did a lot to commoditize hardware. But at what price? Embrace, extend, extinguish, broken standards, stifling innovation and crushing competition? People are now writing applications that use a freaking WEB BROWSER as an application client to work around desktop monopoly. How screwed up is that? The most widely used operating system still doesn't have a proper software packaging nor automatic upgrade for installed packages.
For crying out loud, two main operating systems in use today is a rehash of Windows NT and a rehash of Unix which is 40 years old? Why isn't there something completely different? No radical changes. No disruptive technologies. No big breakthroughs. Microsoft monopoly is partially to blame.
Maybe if there was no Microsoft, we would have some working standards for operating systems, software and file formats. Maybe we would have a healthy marketplace for software. Maybe computers would be even more widespread and accessible. Maybe we would have innovations we cannot dream of right now, because they never happened. Because they were doomed in an environment with a hostile desktop monopoly and nobody even bothered.
--Coder
I don't know how reliable are their numbers, but the article mentioned in previous article, http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_01_12_a_suv.html says that if you measure deaths per million of cars, small cars are less dangerous.
This means that if you end up in a crash driving a small car, especially if you crash into a big vehicle, you are more likely to get killed. But with a small car, you won't crash as much as in a SUV, because of better braking and handling (active safety).
Besides, when it comes to crashes, you don't always crash into another vehicle. You can run off the road, crash into a pole or a tree, etc. And there I doubt driving a SUV will help you all that much. The study you linked doesn't take this into account.
When it comes to me, I'd rather drive a medium sized car with good safety rating & proper handling & good tires. But I'm from Europe.
--Coder
Um, enriching your shareholders at the cost of general public, by using any means necessary is often destructive to the environment, society, employees and more. And since corporations cannot have morals, and can go around laws or change laws at will, there is nothing to stop them from doing evil. So it IS destructive.
And most of the time, this kind of greed is short-sighted, and harmful to shareholders as well.
--Coder
Hmm. I bought a Samsung laser printer recently, and I was pleasantly surprised that they had non-intrusive drivers. No system tray icons, no bullshit. Just shut up and do your job drivers. It was like 1990s all over again...
--Coder
This is a Flash plugin problem, not java problem.
Why on earth is it under Java section and with Java tag?
--Coder
That was the funniest shit I have read in a looong time.
Thanks, you made my day.
--Coder
Heh. I felt the same way too about Baroque Cycle. On top of that, I went to live to London, and started reading Baroque cycle simultaneously. It was quite an experience... And I felt very empty afterwards.
By the way- duality of intellectual live and normal life, and intellectuals staying away from society is not a new idea. Steppenwolf and The Glass Bead Game by Herman Hesse cover it quite well. As well as other fiction stories. I wonder what is Stephenson's take on this one.
The problem is, normal life corrupts people and distracts them away from intellectual pursuits. You will not be 100% devoted to glass bead game if you have a family to take care of. And your decisions will be influenced by greed, wealth, power, caring and love to your close ones, etc.
--Coder
Of course it is inefficient and Wrong(tm), and I have commented before on this same issue. And don't get me started on writing rich web applications that run on different browsers. Cross-browser compatibility very frustrating and maybe even harder than cross-platform compatibility.
However, what else do you suggest?
1. A Browser is already available on most systems, nothing to install.
2. Having an application run inside your Browser is reasonably secure.
3. HTTP is a protocol that is enabled/working on 100% of machines connected to the internet.
4. Zero administration. User doesn't have to do anything to get it working.
If you were to have another Application Client, you would need:
1. Damn good design and balance between various issues (performance, friendliness to user, ease of development, security, features, integration into OS, etc). And of course open standards. This can be achieved, but it's not easy. A lot of projects tried it and failed.
2. Popularity. It would have to be on >30% of machines out there. You would basically have to convince Microsoft to include it with Windows. And that is not going to happen, because it would threaten their office monopoly and other products.
3. Networking. You would have to convince millions of clueless network admins and security policy makers to allow another protocol on their network, especially in corporate networks. Not going to happen, and will impede your popularity a lot.
So writing applications for browsers is a really bad idea, but it is the best we have. If Microsoft didn't have a monopoly, and we could easily distribute another client to desktop/home machines, this might be less of an issue.
And practice shows that thin clients are a GOOD idea if you have clueless users. And most of the users are. You cannot trust users to administer their machines properly. Well designed server is more reliable than a malware ridden desktop machine. And it can backup files automatically, preserve user settings, work from different places, etc.
--Coder
The thing about art is that it also obeys Sturgeon's Law. 90% of it is crap.
You are familar with (subset of) 100% of current art, 90% of which is crap. And you are familar with (subset of) 10% of old art that is not crap because it survived the test of time. You have to take it into account when judging art.
There are definitely good movies and books made nowadays. And there are worthy artists. You just have to dig deeper to find them.
--Coder